THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS
By Flavius Josephus
Translated by William Whiston
CONTENTS
PREFACE
BOOK I. Containing The Interval Of Three
Thousand Eight Hundred And Thirty-Three Years. — From The Creation
To The Death Of Isaac.CHAPTER 1. The Constitution Of The World And
The Disposition Of The Elements.CHAPTER 2. Concerning The Posterity Of Adam,
And The Ten Generations From Him To The Deluge.CHAPTER 4. Concerning The Tower Of Babylon, And
The Confusion Of Tongues.CHAPTER 5. After What Manner The Posterity Of
Noah Sent Out Colonies, And Inhabited The Whole Earth.CHAPTER 6. How Every Nation Was Denominated
From Their First Inhabitants.CHAPTER 9. The Destruction Of The Sodomites By
The Assyrian War.CHAPTER 13. Concerning Isaac The Legitimate Son
Of Abraham.CHAPTER 14. Concerning Sarah Abraham’s Wife;
And How She Ended Her Days.CHAPTER 15. How The Nation Of The Troglodytes
Were Derived From Abraham By Keturah.CHAPTER 16. How Isaac Took Rebeka To Wife.
CHAPTER 17. Concerning The Death Of Abraham.
CHAPTER 18. Concerning The Sons Of Isaac, Esau
And Jacob; Of Their Nativity And Education.CHAPTER 20. Concerning The Meeting Of Jacob And
Esau.CHAPTER 21. Concerning The Violation Of Dina’s
Chastity.CHAPTER 22. How Isaac Died, And Was Buried In
Hebron.BOOK II. Containing The Interval Of Two
Hundred And Twenty Years.—From The Death Of Isaac To The Exodus
Out Of Egypt.CHAPTER 4. Concerning The Signal Chastity Of
Joseph.CHAPTER 5. What Things Befell Joseph In
Prison.CHAPTER 6. How Joseph When He Was Become
Famous In Egypt, Had His Brethren In Subjection.CHAPTER 7. The Removal Of Joseph’s Father With
All His Family, To Him, On Account Of The Famine.CHAPTER 8. Of The Death Of Jacob And Joseph.
CHAPTER 10. How Moses Made War With The
Ethiopians.CHAPTER 11. How Moses Fled Out Of Egypt Into
Midian.CHAPTER 12. Concerning The Burning Bush And
The Rod Of Moses.CHAPTER 13. How Moses And Aaron Returned Into
Egypt To Pharaoh.CHAPTER 14. Concerning The Ten Plagues Which
Came Upon The Egyptians.CHAPTER 15. How The Hebrews Under The Conduct
Of Moses Left Egypt.BOOK III. Containing The Interval Of
Two Years.—From The Exodus Out Of Egypt, To The Rejection Of That
Generation.CHAPTER 3. That Moses Kindly Received-His
Father-In-Law, Jethro, When He Came To Him To Mount Sinai.CHAPTER 7. Concerning The Garments Of The
Priests, And Of The High Priest.CHAPTER 8. Of The Priesthood Of Aaron.
CHAPTER 9. The Manner Of Our Offering
Sacrifices.CHAPTER 10. Concerning The Festivals; And How
Each Day Of Such Festival Is To Be Observed.CHAPTER 11. Of The Purifications.
BOOK IV. Containing The Interval Of
Thirty-Eight Years.—From The Rejection Of That Generation To The
Death Of Moses.CHAPTER 1. Fight Of The Hebrews With The
Canaanites Without The Consent Of Moses; And Their Defeat.CHAPTER 4. What Happened To The Hebrews During
Thirty-Eight Years In The Wilderness.CHAPTER 6. Concerning Balaam The Prophet And
What Kind Of Man He Was.CHAPTER 7. How The Hebrews Fought With The
Midianites, And Overcame Them.CHAPTER 8. The Polity Settled By Moses; And
How He Disappeared From Among Mankind.BOOK V. Containing The Interval Of Four
Hundred And Seventy-Six Years.—From The Death Of Moses To The
Death Of Eli.CHAPTER 7. That The Judges Who Succeeded
Gideon Made War With The Adjoining Nations For A Long Time.CHAPTER 8. Concerning The Fortitude Of Samson,
And What Mischiefs He Brought Upon The Philistines.BOOK VI. Containing The Interval Of
Thirty-Two Years.—From The Death Of Eli To The Death Of Saul.
CHAPTER 6. How The Philistines Made Another
Expedition Against The Hebrews And Were Beaten.CHAPTER 7. Saul’s War With The Amalekites, And
Conquest Of Them.BOOK VII. Containing The Interval Of
Forty Years.—From The Death Of Saul To The Death Of David.
CHAPTER 6. How The War Was Waged Against The
Ammonites And Happily Concluded.CHAPTER 10. How, When Absalom Was Beaten, He
Was Caught In A Tree By His Hair And Was Slain.BOOK VIII. Containing The Interval Of
One Hundred And Sixty-Three Years.—From The Death Of David To The
Death Of Ahab.CHAPTER 1. How Solomon, When He Had Received
The Kingdom Took Off His Enemies.CHAPTER 3. Of The Building Of This Temple
BOOK IX. Containing The Interval Of One
Hundred And Fifty-Seven Years.—From The Death Of Ahab To The
Captivity Of The Ten Tribes.CHAPTER 2. Concerning Ahaziah; The King Of
Israel; And Again Concerning The Prophet Elijah.CHAPTER 5. Concerning The Wickedness Of
Jehoram King O Jerusalem; His Defeat And Death.BOOK X. Containing The Interval Of One
Hundred And Eighty-Two Years And A Half.—From The Captivity Of The
Ten Tribes To The First Year Of Cyrus.CHAPTER 10. Concerning Daniel And What Befell
Him At Babylon.BOOK XI. Containing The Interval Of Two
Hundred And Fifty-Three Years And Five Months.—From The First Of
Cyrus To The Death Of Alexander The Great.CHAPTER 4. How The Temple Was Built While The
Cutheans Endeavored In Vain To Obstruct The Work.BOOK XII. Containing The Interval Of A
Hundred And Seventy Years.—From The Death Of Alexander The Great
To The Death Of Judas Maccabeus.BOOK XIII. Containing The Interval Of
Eighty-Two Years.—From The Death Of Judas Maccabeus To The Death
Of Queen Alexandra.BOOK XIV. Containing The Interval Of
Thirty-Two Years.—From The Death Of Queen Alexandra To The Death
Of Antigonus.BOOK XV. Containing The Interval Of
Eighteen Years.—From The Death Of Antigonus To The Finishing Of
The Temple By Herod.BOOK XVI. Containing The Interval Of
Twelve Years.—From The Finishing Of The Temple By Herod To The
Death Of Alexander And Aristobulus.BOOK XVII. Containing The Interval Of
Fourteen Years.—From The Death Of Alexander And Aristobulus To The
Banishment Of Archelaus.CHAPTER 8. Concerning Herod’s Death, And
Testament, And Burial.CHAPTER 9. How The People Raised A Sedition
Against Archelaus, And How He Sailed To Rome.CHAPTER 10. A Sedition Against Sabinus; And
How Varus Brought The Authors Of It To Punishment.CHAPTER 11. An Embassage To Cæsar; And How
Cæsar Confirmed Herod’s Testament.CHAPTER 12. Concerning A Spurious Alexander.
CHAPTER 13. How Archelaus Upon A Second
Accusation, Was Banished To Vienna.BOOK XVIII. Containing The Interval Of
Thirty-Two Years.—From The Banishment Of Archelus To The Departure
From Babylon.CHAPTER 7. How Herod The Tetrarch Was
Banished.BOOK XIX. Containing The Interval Of
Three Years And A Half.—From The Departure Out Of Babylon To
Fadus, The Roman Procurator.CHAPTER 1. How Caius [1] Was Slain By Cherea.
CHAPTER 8. What Other Acts Were Done By
Agrippa Until His Death; And After What Manner He Died.BOOK XX. Containing The Interval Of
Twenty-Two Years.—From Fadus The Procurator To Florus.CHAPTER 7. Felix Is Made Procurator Of Judea;
As Also Concerning Agrippa, Junior And His Sisters.
PREFACE.1
1. Those who undertake to write histories, do not, I perceive, take that
trouble on one and the same account, but for many reasons, and those such
as are very different one from another. For some of them apply themselves
to this part of learning to show their skill in composition, and that they
may therein acquire a reputation for speaking finely: others of them there
are, who write histories in order to gratify those that happen to be
concerned in them, and on that account have spared no pains, but rather
gone beyond their own abilities in the performance: but others there are,
who, of necessity and by force, are driven to write history, because they
are concerned in the facts, and so cannot excuse themselves from
committing them to writing, for the advantage of posterity; nay, there are
not a few who are induced to draw their historical facts out of darkness
into light, and to produce them for the benefit of the public, on account
of the great importance of the facts themselves with which they have been
concerned. Now of these several reasons for writing history, I must
profess the two last were my own reasons also; for since I was myself
interested in that war which we Jews had with the Romans, and knew myself
its particular actions, and what conclusion it had, I was forced to give
the history of it, because I saw that others perverted the truth of those
actions in their writings.
2. Now I have undertaken the present work, as thinking it will appear to
all the Greeks 2 worthy of their study; for it
will contain all our antiquities, and the constitution of our government,
as interpreted out of the Hebrew Scriptures. And indeed I did formerly
intend, when I wrote of the war, 3 to
explain who the Jews originally were,—what fortunes they had been
subject to,—and by what legislature they had been instructed in
piety, and the exercise of other virtues,—what wars also they had
made in remote ages, till they were unwillingly engaged in this last with
the Romans: but because this work would take up a great compass, I
separated it into a set treatise by itself, with a beginning of its own,
and its own conclusion; but in process of time, as usually happens to such
as undertake great things, I grew weary and went on slowly, it being a
large subject, and a difficult thing to translate our history into a
foreign, and to us unaccustomed language. However, some persons there were
who desired to know our history, and so exhorted me to go on with it; and,
above all the rest, Epaphroditus, 4 a man
who is a lover of all kind of learning, but is principally delighted with
the knowledge of history, and this on account of his having been himself
concerned in great affairs, and many turns of fortune, and having shown a
wonderful rigor of an excellent nature, and an immovable virtuous
resolution in them all. I yielded to this man’s persuasions, who always
excites such as have abilities in what is useful and acceptable, to join
their endeavors with his. I was also ashamed myself to permit any laziness
of disposition to have a greater influence upon me, than the delight of
taking pains in such studies as were very useful: I thereupon stirred up
myself, and went on with my work more cheerfully. Besides the foregoing
motives, I had others which I greatly reflected on; and these were, that
our forefathers were willing to communicate such things to others; and
that some of the Greeks took considerable pains to know the affairs of our
nation.
3. I found, therefore, that the second of the Ptolemies was a king who was
extraordinarily diligent in what concerned learning, and the collection of
books; that he was also peculiarly ambitious to procure a translation of
our law, and of the constitution of our government therein contained, into
the Greek tongue. Now Eleazar the high priest, one not inferior to any
other of that dignity among us, did not envy the forenamed king the
participation of that advantage, which otherwise he would for certain have
denied him, but that he knew the custom of our nation was, to hinder
nothing of what we esteemed ourselves from being communicated to others.
Accordingly, I thought it became me both to imitate the generosity of our
high priest, and to suppose there might even now be many lovers of
learning like the king; for he did not obtain all our writings at that
time; but those who were sent to Alexandria as interpreters, gave him only
the books of the law, while there were a vast number of other matters in
our sacred books. They, indeed, contain in them the history of five
thousand years; in which time happened many strange accidents, many
chances of war, and great actions of the commanders, and mutations of the
form of our government. Upon the whole, a man that will peruse this
history, may principally learn from it, that all events succeed well, even
to an incredible degree, and the reward of felicity is proposed by God;
but then it is to those that follow his will, and do not venture to break
his excellent laws: and that so far as men any way apostatize from the
accurate observation of them, what was practical before becomes
impracticable 5 and whatsoever they set about
as a good thing, is converted into an incurable calamity. And now I exhort
all those that peruse these books, to apply their minds to God; and to
examine the mind of our legislator, whether he hath not understood his
nature in a manner worthy of him; and hath not ever ascribed to him such
operations as become his power, and hath not preserved his writings from
those indecent fables which others have framed, although, by the great
distance of time when he lived, he might have securely forged such lies;
for he lived two thousand years ago; at which vast distance of ages the
poets themselves have not been so hardy as to fix even the generations of
their gods, much less the actions of their men, or their own laws. As I
proceed, therefore, I shall accurately describe what is contained in our
records, in the order of time that belongs to them; for I have already
promised so to do throughout this undertaking; and this without adding any
thing to what is therein contained, or taking away any thing therefrom.
4. But because almost all our constitution depends on the wisdom of Moses,
our legislator, I cannot avoid saying somewhat concerning him beforehand,
though I shall do it briefly; I mean, because otherwise those that read my
book may wonder how it comes to pass, that my discourse, which promises an
account of laws and historical facts, contains so much of philosophy. The
reader is therefore to know, that Moses deemed it exceeding necessary,
that he who would conduct his own life well, and give laws to others, in
the first place should consider the Divine nature; and, upon the
contemplation of God’s operations, should thereby imitate the best of all
patterns, so far as it is possible for human nature to do, and to endeavor
to follow after it: neither could the legislator himself have a right mind
without such a contemplation; nor would any thing he should write tend to
the promotion of virtue in his readers; I mean, unless they be taught
first of all, that God is the Father and Lord of all things, and sees all
things, and that thence he bestows a happy life upon those that follow
him; but plunges such as do not walk in the paths of virtue into
inevitable miseries. Now when Moses was desirous to teach this lesson to
his countrymen, he did not begin the establishment of his laws after the
same manner that other legislators did; I mean, upon contracts and other
rights between one man and another, but by raising their minds upwards to
regard God, and his creation of the world; and by persuading them, that we
men are the most excellent of the creatures of God upon earth. Now when
once he had brought them to submit to religion, he easily persuaded them
to submit in all other things: for as to other legislators, they followed
fables, and by their discourses transferred the most reproachful of human
vices unto the gods, and afforded wicked men the most plausible excuses
for their crimes; but as for our legislator, when he had once demonstrated
that God was possessed of perfect virtue, he supposed that men also ought
to strive after the participation of it; and on those who did not so
think, and so believe, he inflicted the severest punishments. I exhort,
therefore, my readers to examine this whole undertaking in that view; for
thereby it will appear to them, that there is nothing therein disagreeable
either to the majesty of God, or to his love to mankind; for all things
have here a reference to the nature of the universe; while our legislator
speaks some things wisely, but enigmatically, and others under a decent
allegory, but still explains such things as required a direct explication
plainly and expressly. However, those that have a mind to know the reasons
of every thing, may find here a very curious philosophical theory, which I
now indeed shall wave the explication of; but if God afford me time for
it, I will set about writing it 6 after I
have finished the present work. I shall now betake myself to the history
before me, after I have first mentioned what Moses says of the creation of
the world, which I find described in the sacred books after the manner
following.
FOOTNOTES
1 (return)
[ This preface of Josephus
is excellent in its kind, and highly worthy the repeated perusal of the
reader, before he set about the perusal of the work itself.]
2 (return)
[ That is, all the
Gentiles, both Greeks and Romans.]
3 (return)
[ We may seasonably note
here, that Josephus wrote his Seven Books of the Jewish War long before he
wrote these his Antiquities. Those books of the War were published about
A.D. 75, and these Antiquities, A. D. 93, about eighteen years later.]
4 (return)
[ This Epaphroditus was
certainly alive in the third year of Trajan, A.D. 100. See the note on the
First Book Against Apion, sect. 1. Who he was we do not know; for as to
Epaphroditus, the freedman of Nero, and afterwards Domitian’s secretary,
who was put to death by Domitian in the 14th or 15th year of his reign, he
could not be alive in the third of Trajan.]
5 (return)
[ Josephus here plainly
alludes to the famous Greek proverb, If God be with us, every thing that
is impossible becomes possible.]
6 (return)
[ As to this intended work
of Josephus concerning the reasons of many of the Jewish laws, and what
philosophical or allegorical sense they would bear, the loss of which work
is by some of the learned not much regretted, I am inclinable, in part, to
Fabricius’s opinion, ap. Havercamp, p. 63, 61, That “we need not doubt but
that, among some vain and frigid conjectures derived from Jewish
imaginations, Josephus would have taught us a greater number of excellent
and useful things, which perhaps nobody, neither among the Jews, nor among
the Christians, can now inform us of; so that I would give a great deal to
find it still extant.”]
BOOK I. Containing The Interval Of Three Thousand Eight Hundred And
Thirty-Three Years. — From The Creation To The Death Of Isaac.
CHAPTER 1. The Constitution Of The World And The Disposition Of The
Elements.
1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. But when the
earth did not come into sight, but was covered with thick darkness, and a
wind moved upon its surface, God commanded that there should be light: and
when that was made, he considered the whole mass, and separated the light
and the darkness; and the name he gave to one was Night, and the other he
called Day: and he named the beginning of light, and the time of rest, The
Evening and The Morning, and this was indeed the first day. But Moses said
it was one day; the cause of which I am able to give even now; but because
I have promised to give such reasons for all things in a treatise by
itself, I shall put off its exposition till that time. After this, on the
second day, he placed the heaven over the whole world, and separated it
from the other parts, and he determined it should stand by itself. He also
placed a crystalline [firmament] round it, and put it together in a manner
agreeable to the earth, and fitted it for giving moisture and rain, and
for affording the advantage of dews. On the third day he appointed the dry
land to appear, with the sea itself round about it; and on the very same
day he made the plants and the seeds to spring out of the earth. On the
fourth day he adorned the heaven with the sun, the moon, and the other
stars, and appointed them their motions and courses, that the vicissitudes
of the seasons might be clearly signified. And on the fifth day he
produced the living creatures, both those that swim, and those that fly;
the former in the sea, the latter in the air: he also sorted them as to
society and mixture, for procreation, and that their kinds might increase
and multiply. On the sixth day he created the four-footed beasts, and made
them male and female: on the same day he also formed man. Accordingly
Moses says, That in just six days the world, and all that is therein, was
made. And that the seventh day was a rest, and a release from the labor of
such operations; whence it is that we Celebrate a rest from our labors on
that day, and call it the Sabbath, which word denotes rest in the Hebrew
tongue.
2. Moreover, Moses, after the seventh day was over1 begins to
talk philosophically; and concerning the formation of man, says thus: That
God took dust from the ground, and formed man, and inserted in him a
spirit and a soul.2 This man was called Adam, which in
the Hebrew tongue signifies one that is red, because he was formed out of
red earth, compounded together; for of that kind is virgin and true earth.
God also presented the living creatures, when he had made them, according
to their kinds, both male and female, to Adam, who gave them those names
by which they are still called. But when he saw that Adam had no female
companion, no society, for there was no such created, and that he wondered
at the other animals which were male and female, he laid him asleep, and
took away one of his ribs, and out of it formed the woman; whereupon Adam
knew her when she was brought to him, and acknowledged that she was made
out of himself. Now a woman is called in the Hebrew tongue Issa; but the
name of this woman was Eve, which signifies the mother of all living.
3. Moses says further, that God planted a paradise in the east,
flourishing with all sorts of trees; and that among them was the tree of
life, and another of knowledge, whereby was to be known what was good and
evil; and that when he brought Adam and his wife into this garden, he
commanded them to take care of the plants. Now the garden was watered by
one river,3
which ran round about the whole earth, and was parted into four parts. And
Phison, which denotes a multitude, running into India, makes its exit into
the sea, and is by the Greeks called Ganges. Euphrates also, as well as
Tigris, goes down into the Red Sea.4 Now the name
Euphrates, or Phrath, denotes either a dispersion, or a flower: by Tiris,
or Diglath, is signified what is swift, with narrowness; and Geon runs
through Egypt, and denotes what arises from the east, which the Greeks
call Nile.
4. God therefore commanded that Adam and his wife should eat of all the
rest of the plants, but to abstain from the tree of knowledge; and
foretold to them, that if they touched it, it would prove their
destruction. But while all the living creatures had one language, 5
at that time the serpent, which then lived together with Adam and his
wife, shewed an envious disposition, at his supposal of their living
happily, and in obedience to the commands of God; and imagining, that when
they disobeyed them, they would fall into calamities, he persuaded the
woman, out of a malicious intention, to taste of the tree of knowledge,
telling them, that in that tree was the knowledge of good and evil; which
knowledge, when they should obtain, they would lead a happy life; nay, a
life not inferior to that of a god: by which means he overcame the woman,
and persuaded her to despise the command of God. Now when she had tasted
of that tree, and was pleased with its fruit, she persuaded Adam to make
use of it also. Upon this they perceived that they were become naked to
one another; and being ashamed thus to appear abroad, they invented
somewhat to cover them; for the tree sharpened their understanding; and
they covered themselves with fig-leaves; and tying these before them, out
of modesty, they thought they were happier than they were before, as they
had discovered what they were in want of. But when God came into the
garden, Adam, who was wont before to come and converse with him, being
conscious of his wicked behavior, went out of the way. This behavior
surprised God; and he asked what was the cause of this his procedure; and
why he, that before delighted in that conversation, did now fly from it,
and avoid it. When he made no reply, as conscious to himself that he had
transgressed the command of God, God said, “I had before determined about
you both, how you might lead a happy life, without any affliction, and
care, and vexation of soul; and that all things which might contribute to
your enjoyment and pleasure should grow up by my providence, of their own
accord, without your own labor and pains-taking; which state of labor and
pains-taking would soon bring on old age, and death would not be at any
remote distance: but now thou hast abused this my good-will, and hast
disobeyed my commands; for thy silence is not the sign of thy virtue, but
of thy evil conscience.” However, Adam excused his sin, and entreated God
not to be angry at him, and laid the blame of what was done upon his wife;
and said that he was deceived by her, and thence became an offender; while
she again accused the serpent. But God allotted him punishment, because he
weakly submitted to the counsel of his wife; and said the ground should
not henceforth yield its fruits of its own accord, but that when it should
be harassed by their labor, it should bring forth some of its fruits, and
refuse to bring forth others. He also made Eve liable to the inconveniency
of breeding, and the sharp pains of bringing forth children; and this
because she persuaded Adam with the same arguments wherewith the serpent
had persuaded her, and had thereby brought him into a calamitous
condition. He also deprived the serpent of speech, out of indignation at
his malicious disposition towards Adam. Besides this, he inserted poison
under his tongue, and made him an enemy to men; and suggested to them,
that they should direct their strokes against his head, that being the
place wherein lay his mischievous designs towards men, and it being
easiest to take vengeance on him, that way. And when he had deprived him
of the use of his feet, he made him to go rolling all along, and dragging
himself upon the ground. And when God had appointed these penalties for
them, he removed Adam and Eve out of the garden into another place.
CHAPTER 2. Concerning The Posterity Of Adam, And The Ten Generations From
Him To The Deluge.
1. Adam and Eve had two sons: the elder of them was named Cain; which
name, when it is interpreted, signifies a possession: the younger was
Abel, which signifies sorrow. They had also daughters. Now the two
brethren were pleased with different courses of life: for Abel, the
younger, was a lover of righteousness; and believing that God was present
at all his actions, he excelled in virtue; and his employment was that of
a shepherd. But Cain was not only very wicked in other respects, but was
wholly intent upon getting; and he first contrived to plough the ground.
He slew his brother on the occasion following:—They had resolved to
sacrifice to God. Now Cain brought the fruits of the earth, and of his
husbandry; but Abel brought milk, and the first-fruits of his flocks: but
God was more delighted with the latter oblation,6 when he was
honored with what grew naturally of its own accord, than he was with what
was the invention of a covetous man, and gotten by forcing the ground;
whence it was that Cain was very angry that Abel was preferred by God
before him; and he slew his brother, and hid his dead body, thinking to
escape discovery. But God, knowing what had been done, came to Cain, and
asked him what was become of his brother, because he had not seen him of
many days; whereas he used to observe them conversing together at other
times. But Cain was in doubt with himself, and knew not what answer to
give to God. At first he said that he was himself at a loss about his
brother’s disappearing; but when he was provoked by God, who pressed him
vehemently, as resolving to know what the matter was, he replied, he was
not his brother’s guardian or keeper, nor was he an observer of what he
did. But, in return, God convicted Cain, as having been the murderer of
his brother; and said, “I wonder at thee, that thou knowest not what is
become of a man whom thou thyself hast destroyed.” God therefore did not
inflict the punishment [of death] upon him, on account of his offering
sacrifice, and thereby making supplication to him not to be extreme in his
wrath to him; but he made him accursed, and threatened his posterity in
the seventh generation. He also cast him, together with his wife, out of
that land. And when he was afraid that in wandering about he should fall
among Wild beasts, and by that means perish, God bid him not to entertain
such a melancholy suspicion, and to go over all the earth without fear of
what mischief he might suffer from wild beasts; and setting a mark upon
him, that he might be known, he commanded him to depart.
2. And when Cain had traveled over many countries, he, with his wife,
built a city, named Nod, which is a place so called, and there he settled
his abode; where also he had children. However, he did not accept of his
punishment in order to amendment, but to increase his wickedness; for he
only aimed to procure every thing that was for his own bodily pleasure,
though it obliged him to be injurious to his neighbors. He augmented his
household substance with much wealth, by rapine and violence; he excited
his acquaintance to procure pleasures and spoils by robbery, and became a
great leader of men into wicked courses. He also introduced a change in
that way of simplicity wherein men lived before; and was the author of
measures and weights. And whereas they lived innocently and generously
while they knew nothing of such arts, he changed the world into cunning
craftiness. He first of all set boundaries about lands: he built a city,
and fortified it with walls, and he compelled his family to come together
to it; and called that city Enoch, after the name of his eldest son Enoch.
Now Jared was the son of Enoch; whose son was Malaliel; whose son was
Mathusela; whose son was Lamech; who had seventy-seven children by two
wives, Silla and Ada. Of those children by Ada, one was Jabal: he erected
tents, and loved the life of a shepherd. But Jubal, who was born of the
same mother with him, exercised himself in music;7 and invented
the psaltery and the harp. But Tubal, one of his children by the other
wife, exceeded all men in strength, and was very expert and famous in
martial performances. He procured what tended to the pleasures of the body
by that method; and first of all invented the art of making brass. Lamech
was also the father of a daughter, whose name was Naamah. And because he
was so skillful in matters of divine revelation, that he knew he was to be
punished for Cain’s murder of his brother, he made that known to his
wives. Nay, even while Adam was alive, it came to pass that the posterity
of Cain became exceeding wicked, every one successively dying, one after
another, more wicked than the former. They were intolerable in war, and
vehement in robberies; and if any one were slow to murder people, yet was
he bold in his profligate behavior, in acting unjustly, and doing injuries
for gain.
3. Now Adam, who was the first man, and made out of the earth, [for our
discourse must now be about him,] after Abel was slain, and Cain fled
away, on account of his murder, was solicitous for posterity, and had a
vehement desire of children, he being two hundred and thirty years old;
after which time he lived other seven hundred, and then died. He had
indeed many other children,8 but Seth in particular. As for the
rest, it would be tedious to name them; I will therefore only endeavor to
give an account of those that proceeded from Seth. Now this Seth, when he
was brought up, and came to those years in which he could discern what was
good, became a virtuous man; and as he was himself of an excellent
character, so did he leave children behind him who imitated his virtues.9
All these proved to be of good dispositions. They also inhabited the same
country without dissensions, and in a happy condition, without any
misfortunes falling upon them, till they died. They also were the
inventors of that peculiar sort of wisdom which is concerned with the
heavenly bodies, and their order. And that their inventions might not be
lost before they were sufficiently known, upon Adam’s prediction that the
world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and at another
time by the violence and quantity of water, they made two pillars, 10
the one of brick, the other of stone: they inscribed their discoveries on
them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the
flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries to
mankind; and also inform them that there was another pillar of brick
erected by them. Now this remains in the land of Siriad to this day.
CHAPTER 3. Concerning The Flood; And After What Manner Noah Was Saved In
An Ark, With His Kindred, And Afterwards Dwelt In The Plain Of Shinar.
1. Now this posterity of Seth continued to esteem God as the Lord of the
universe, and to have an entire regard to virtue, for seven generations;
but in process of time they were perverted, and forsook the practices of
their forefathers; and did neither pay those honors to God which were
appointed them, nor had they any concern to do justice towards men. But
for what degree of zeal they had formerly shown for virtue, they now
showed by their actions a double degree of wickedness, whereby they made
God to be their enemy. For many angels11 of God
accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers
of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own
strength; for the tradition is, that these men did what resembled the acts
of those whom the Grecians call giants. But Noah was very uneasy at what
they did; and being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change
their dispositions and their acts for the better: but seeing they did not
yield to him, but were slaves to their wicked pleasures, he was afraid
they would kill him, together with his wife and children, and those they
had married; so he departed out of that land.
2. Now God loved this man for his righteousness: yet he not only condemned
those other men for their wickedness, but determined to destroy the whole
race of mankind, and to make another race that should be pure from
wickedness; and cutting short their lives, and making their years not so
many as they formerly lived, but one hundred and twenty only,12
he turned the dry land into sea; and thus were all these men destroyed:
but Noah alone was saved; for God suggested to him the following
contrivance and way of escape:—That he should make an ark of four
stories high, three hundred cubits13 long,
fifty cubits broad, and thirty cubits high. Accordingly he entered into
that ark, and his wife, and sons, and their wives, and put into it not
only other provisions, to support their wants there, but also sent in with
the rest all sorts of living creatures, the male and his female, for the
preservation of their kinds; and others of them by sevens. Now this ark
had firm walls, and a roof, and was braced with cross beams, so that it
could not be any way drowned or overborne by the violence of the water.
And thus was Noah, with his family, preserved. Now he was the tenth from
Adam, as being the son of Lamech, whose father was Mathusela; he was the
son of Enoch, the son of Jared; and Jared was the son of Malaleel, who,
with many of his sisters, were the children of Cainan, the son of Enos.
Now Enos was the son of Seth, the son of Adam.
3. This calamity happened in the six hundredth year of Noah’s government,
[age,] in the second month, 14 called by the Macedonians Dius,
but by the Hebrews Marchesuan: for so did they order their year in Egypt.
But Moses appointed that ú Nisan, which is the same with Xanthicus, should
be the first month for their festivals, because he brought them out of
Egypt in that month: so that this month began the year as to all the
solemnities they observed to the honor of God, although he preserved the
original order of the months as to selling and buying, and other ordinary
affairs. Now he says that this flood began on the twenty-seventh
[seventeenth] day of the forementioned month; and this was two thousand
six hundred and fifty-six [one thousand six hundred and fifty-six] years
from Adam, the first man; and the time is written down in our sacred
books, those who then lived having noted down,[15] with great accuracy,
both the births and deaths of illustrious men.
4. For indeed Seth was born when Adam was in his two hundred and thirtieth
year, who lived nine hundred and thirty years. Seth begat Enos in his two
hundred and fifth year; who, when he had lived nine hundred and twelve
years, delivered the government to Cainan his son, whom he had in his
hundred and ninetieth year. He lived nine hundred and five years. Cainan,
when he had lived nine hundred and ten years, had his son Malaleel, who
was born in his hundred and seventieth year. This Malaleel, having lived
eight hundred and ninety-five years, died, leaving his son Jared, whom he
begat when he was in his hundred and sixty-fifth year. He lived nine
hundred and sixty-two years; and then his son Enoch succeeded him, who was
born when his father was one hundred and sixty-two years old. Now he, when
he had lived three hundred and sixty-five years, departed and went to God;
whence it is that they have not written down his death. Now Mathusela, the
son of Enoch, who was born to him when he was one hundred and sixty-five
years old, had Lamech for his son when he was one hundred and eighty-seven
years of age; to whom he delivered the government, when he had retained it
nine hundred and sixty-nine years. Now Lamech, when he had governed seven
hundred and seventy-seven years, appointed Noah, his son, to be ruler of
the people, who was born to Lamech when he was one hundred and eighty-two
years old, and retained the government nine hundred and fifty years. These
years collected together make up the sum before set down. But let no one
inquire into the deaths of these men; for they extended their lives along
together with their children and grandchildren; but let him have regard to
their births only.15
5. When God gave the signal, and it began to rain, the water poured down
forty entire days, till it became fifteen cubits higher than the earth;
which was the reason why there was no greater number preserved, since they
had no place to fly to. When the rain ceased, the water did but just begin
to abate after one hundred and fifty days, [that is, on the seventeenth
day of the seventh month,] it then ceasing to subside for a little while.
After this, the ark rested on the top of a certain mountain in Armenia;
which, when Noah understood, he opened it; and seeing a small piece of
land about it, he continued quiet, and conceived some cheerful hopes of
deliverance. But a few days afterward, when the water was decreased to a
greater degree, he sent out a raven, as desirous to learn whether any
other part of the earth were left dry by the water, and whether he might
go out of the ark with safety; but the raven, finding all the land still
overflowed, returned to Noah again. And after seven days he sent out a
dove, to know the state of the ground; which came back to him covered with
mud, and bringing an olive branch: hereby Noah learned that the earth was
become clear of the flood. So after he had staid seven more days, he sent
the living creatures out of the ark; and both he and his family went out,
when he also sacrificed to God, and feasted with his companions. However,
the Armenians call this place, [GREEK] 16 The Place
of Descent; for the ark being saved in that place, its remains are shown
there by the inhabitants to this day.
6. Now all the writers of barbarian histories make mention of this flood,
and of this ark; among whom is Berosus the Chaldean. For when he is
describing the circumstances of the flood, he goes on thus: “It is said
there is still some part of this ship in Armenia, at the mountain of the
Cordyaeans; and that some people carry off pieces of the bitumen, which
they take away, and use chiefly as amulets for the averting of mischiefs.”
Hieronymus the Egyptian also, who wrote the Phoenician Antiquities, and
Mnaseas, and a great many more, make mention of the same. Nay, Nicolaus of
Damascus, in his ninety-sixth book, hath a particular relation about them;
where he speaks thus: “There is a great mountain in Armenia, over Minyas,
called Baris, upon which it is reported that many who fled at the time of
the Deluge were saved; and that one who was carried in an ark came on
shore upon the top of it; and that the remains of the timber were a great
while preserved. This might be the man about whom Moses the legislator of
the Jews wrote.”
7. But as for Noah, he was afraid, since God had determined to destroy
mankind, lest he should drown the earth every year; so he offered
burnt-offerings, and besought God that nature might hereafter go on in its
former orderly course, and that he would not bring on so great a judgment
any more, by which the whole race of creatures might be in danger of
destruction: but that, having now punished the wicked, he would of his
goodness spare the remainder, and such as he had hitherto judged fit to be
delivered from so severe a calamity; for that otherwise these last must be
more miserable than the first, and that they must be condemned to a worse
condition than the others, unless they be suffered to escape entirely;
that is, if they be reserved for another deluge; while they must be
afflicted with the terror and sight of the first deluge, and must also be
destroyed by a second. He also entreated God to accept of his sacrifice,
and to grant that the earth might never again undergo the like effects of
‘his wrath; that men might be permitted to go on cheerfully in cultivating
the same; to build cities, and live happily in them; and that they might
not be deprived of any of those good things which they enjoyed before the
Flood; but might attain to the like length of days, and old age, which the
ancient people had arrived at before.
8. When Noah had made these supplications, God, who loved the man for his
righteousness, granted entire success to his prayers, and said, that it
was not he who brought the destruction on a polluted world, but that they
underwent that vengeance on account of their own wickedness; and that he
had not brought men into the world if he had himself determined to destroy
them, it being an instance of greater wisdom not to have granted them life
at all, than, after it was granted, to procure their destruction; “But the
injuries,” said he, “they offered to my holiness and virtue, forced me to
bring this punishment upon them. But I will leave off for the time to come
to require such punishments, the effects of so great wrath, for their
future wicked actions, and especially on account of thy prayers. But if I
shall at any time send tempests of rain, in an extraordinary manner, be
not affrighted at the largeness of the showers; for the water shall no
more overspread the earth. However, I require you to abstain from shedding
the blood of men, and to keep yourselves pure from murder; and to punish
those that commit any such thing. I permit you to make use of all the
other living creatures at your pleasure, and as your appetites lead you;
for I have made you lords of them all, both of those that walk on the
land, and those that swim in the waters, and of those that fly in the
regions of the air on high, excepting their blood, for therein is the
life. But I will give you a sign that I have left off my anger by my bow.”
[whereby is meant the rainbow, for they determined that the rainbow was
the bow of God]. And when God had said and promised thus, he went away.
9. Now when Noah had lived three hundred and fifty years after the Flood,
and that all that time happily, he died, having lived the number of nine
hundred and fifty years. But let no one, upon comparing the lives of the
ancients with our lives, and with the few years which we now live, think
that what we have said of them is false; or make the shortness of our
lives at present an argument, that neither did they attain to so long a
duration of life, for those ancients were beloved of God, and [lately]
made by God himself; and because their food was then fitter for the
prolongation of life, might well live so great a number of years: and
besides, God afforded them a longer time of life on account of their
virtue, and the good use they made of it in astronomical and geometrical
discoveries, which would not have afforded the time of foretelling [the
periods of the stars] unless they had lived six hundred years; for the
great year is completed in that interval. Now I have for witnesses to what
I have said, all those that have written Antiquities, both among the
Greeks and barbarians; for even Manetho, who wrote the Egyptian History,
and Berosus, who collected the Chaldean Monuments, and Mochus, and
Hestieus, and, besides these, Hieronymus the Egyptian, and those who
composed the Phoenician History, agree to what I here say: Hesiod also,
and Hecatseus, Hellanicus, and Acusilaus; and, besides these, Ephorus and
Nicolaus relate that the ancients lived a thousand years. But as to these
matters, let every one look upon them as he thinks fit.
CHAPTER 4. Concerning The Tower Of Babylon, And The Confusion Of Tongues.
1. Now the sons of Noah were three,—Shem, Japhet, and Ham, born one
hundred years before the Deluge. These first of all descended from the
mountains into the plains, and fixed their habitation there; and persuaded
others who were greatly afraid of the lower grounds on account of the
flood, and so were very loath to come down from the higher places, to
venture to follow their examples. Now the plain in which they first dwelt
was called Shinar. God also commanded them to send colonies abroad, for
the thorough peopling of the earth, that they might not raise seditions
among themselves, but might cultivate a great part of the earth, and enjoy
its fruits after a plentiful manner. But they were so ill instructed that
they did not obey God; for which reason they fell into calamities, and
were made sensible, by experience, of what sin they had been guilty: for
when they flourished with a numerous youth, God admonished them again to
send out colonies; but they, imagining the prosperity they enjoyed was not
derived from the favor of God, but supposing that their own power was the
proper cause of the plentiful condition they were in, did not obey him.
Nay, they added to this their disobedience to the Divine will, the
suspicion that they were therefore ordered to send out separate colonies,
that, being divided asunder, they might the more easily be Oppressed.
2. Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of
God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man, and of great
strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it was
through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own
courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the
government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear
of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power. He also
said he would be revenged on God, if he should have a mind to drown the
world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to be
able to reach! and that he would avenge himself on God for destroying
their forefathers!
3. Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of
Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they
built a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree
negligent about the work: and, by reason of the multitude of hands
employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than any one could expect; but
the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that
thereby its great height seemed, upon the view, to be less than it really
was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mortar, made of
bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit water. When God saw that
they acted so madly, he did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since
they were not grown wiser by the destruction of the former sinners; but he
caused a tumult among them, by producing in them divers languages, and
causing that, through the multitude of those languages, they should not be
able to understand one another. The place wherein they built the tower is
now called Babylon, because of the confusion of that language which they
readily understood before; for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel,
confusion. The Sibyl also makes mention of this tower, and of the
confusion of the language, when she says thus: “When all men were of one
language, some of them built a high tower, as if they would thereby ascend
up to heaven, but the gods sent storms of wind and overthrew the tower,
and gave every one his peculiar language; and for this reason it was that
the city was called Babylon.” But as to the plan of Shinar, in the country
of Babylonia, Hestiaeus mentions it, when he says thus: “Such of the
priests as were saved, took the sacred vessels of Jupiter Enyalius, and
came to Shinar of Babylonia.”
CHAPTER 5. After What Manner The Posterity Of Noah Sent Out Colonies, And
Inhabited The Whole Earth.
1. After this they were dispersed abroad, on account of their languages,
and went out by colonies every where; and each colony took possession of
that land which they light upon, and unto which God led them; so that the
whole continent was filled with them, both the inland and the maritime
countries. There were some also who passed over the sea in ships, and
inhabited the islands: and some of those nations do still retain the
denominations which were given them by their first founders; but some have
lost them also, and some have only admitted certain changes in them, that
they might be the more intelligible to the inhabitants. And they were the
Greeks who became the authors of such mutations. For when in after-ages
they grew potent, they claimed to themselves the glory of antiquity;
giving names to the nations that sounded well [in Greek] that they might
be better understood among themselves; and setting agreeable forms of
government over them, as if they were a people derived from themselves.
CHAPTER 6. How Every Nation Was Denominated From Their First Inhabitants.
1. Now they were the grandchildren of Noah, in honor of whom names were
imposed on the nations by those that first seized upon them. Japhet, the
son of Noah, had seven sons: they inhabited so, that, beginning at the
mountains Taurus and Amanus, they proceeded along Asia, as far as the
river Tansis, and along Europe to Cadiz; and settling themselves on the
lands which they light upon, which none had inhabited before, they called
the nations by their own names. For Gomer founded those whom the Greeks
now call Galatians, [Galls,] but were then called Gomerites. Magog founded
those that from him were named Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called
Scythians. Now as to Javan and Madai, the sons of Japhet; from Madai came
the Madeans, who are called Medes, by the Greeks; but from Javan, Ionia,
and all the Grecians, are derived. Thobel founded the Thobelites, who are
now called Iberes; and the Mosocheni were founded by Mosoch; now they are
Cappadocians. There is also a mark of their ancient denomination still to
be shown; for there is even now among them a city called Mazaca, which may
inform those that are able to understand, that so was the entire nation
once called. Thiras also called those whom he ruled over Thirasians; but
the Greeks changed the name into Thracians. And so many were the countries
that had the children of Japhet for their inhabitants. Of the three sons
of Gomer, Aschanax founded the Aschanaxians, who are now called by the
Greeks Rheginians. So did Riphath found the Ripheans, now called
Paphlagonians; and Thrugramma the Thrugrammeans, who, as the Greeks
resolved, were named Phrygians. Of the three sons of Javan also, the son
of Japhet, Elisa gave name to the Eliseans, who were his subjects; they
are now the Aeolians. Tharsus to the Tharsians, for so was Cilicia of old
called; the sign of which is this, that the noblest city they have, and a
metropolis also, is Tarsus, the tau being by change put for the theta.
Cethimus possessed the island Cethima: it is now called Cyprus; and from
that it is that all islands, and the greatest part of the sea-coasts, are
named Cethim by the Hebrews: and one city there is in Cyprus that has been
able to preserve its denomination; it has been called Citius by those who
use the language of the Greeks, and has not, by the use of that dialect,
escaped the name of Cethim. And so many nations have the children and
grandchildren of Japhet possessed. Now when I have premised somewhat,
which perhaps the Greeks do not know, I will return and explain what I
have omitted; for such names are pronounced here after the manner of the
Greeks, to please my readers; for our own country language does not so
pronounce them: but the names in all cases are of one and the same ending;
for the name we here pronounce Noeas, is there Noah, and in every case
retains the same termination.
2. The children of Ham possessed the land from Syria and Amanus, and the
mountains of Libanus; seizing upon all that was on its sea-coasts, and as
far as the ocean, and keeping it as their own. Some indeed of its names
are utterly vanished away; others of them being changed, and another sound
given them, are hardly to be discovered; yet a few there are which have
kept their denominations entire. For of the four sons of Ham, time has not
at all hurt the name of Chus; for the Ethiopians, over whom he reigned,
are even at this day, both by themselves and by all men in Asia, called
Chusites. The memory also of the Mesraites is preserved in their name; for
all we who inhabit this country [of Judea] called Egypt Mestre, and the
Egyptians Mestreans. Phut also was the founder of Libya, and called the
inhabitants Phutites, from himself: there is also a river in the country
of Moors which bears that name; whence it is that we may see the greatest
part of the Grecian historiographers mention that river and the adjoining
country by the appellation of Phut: but the name it has now has been by
change given it from one of the sons of Mesraim, who was called Lybyos. We
will inform you presently what has been the occasion why it has been
called Africa also. Canaan, the fourth son of Ham, inhabited the country
now called Judea, and called it from his own name Canaan. The children of
these [four] were these: Sabas, who founded the Sabeans; Evilas, who
founded the Evileans, who are called Getuli; Sabathes founded the
Sabathens, they are now called by the Greeks Astaborans; Sabactas settled
the Sabactens; and Ragmus the Ragmeans; and he had two sons, the one of
whom, Judadas, settled the Judadeans, a nation of the western Ethiopians,
and left them his name; as did Sabas to the Sabeans: but Nimrod, the son
of Chus, staid and tyrannized at Babylon, as we have already informed you.
Now all the children of Mesraim, being eight in number, possessed the
country from Gaza to Egypt, though it retained the name of one only, the
Philistim; for the Greeks call part of that country Palestine. As for the
rest, Ludieim, and Enemim, and Labim, who alone inhabited in Libya, and
called the country from himself, Nedim, and Phethrosim, and Chesloim, and
Cephthorim, we know nothing of them besides their names; for the Ethiopic
war17
which we shall describe hereafter, was the cause that those cities were
overthrown. The sons of Canaan were these: Sidonius, who also built a city
of the same name; it is called by the Greeks Sidon Amathus inhabited in
Amathine, which is even now called Amathe by the inhabitants, although the
Macedonians named it Epiphania, from one of his posterity: Arudeus
possessed the island Aradus: Arucas possessed Arce, which is in Libanus.
But for the seven others, [Eueus,] Chetteus, Jebuseus, Amorreus, Gergesus,
Eudeus, Sineus, Samareus, we have nothing in the sacred books but their
names, for the Hebrews overthrew their cities; and their calamities came
upon them on the occasion following.
3. Noah, when, after the deluge, the earth was resettled in its former
condition, set about its cultivation; and when he had planted it with
vines, and when the fruit was ripe, and he had gathered the grapes in
their season, and the wine was ready for use, he offered sacrifice, and
feasted, and, being drunk, he fell asleep, and lay naked in an unseemly
manner. When his youngest son saw this, he came laughing, and showed him
to his brethren; but they covered their father’s nakedness. And when Noah
was made sensible of what had been done, he prayed for prosperity to his
other sons; but for Ham, he did not curse him, by reason of his nearness
in blood, but cursed his prosperity: and when the rest of them escaped
that curse, God inflicted it on the children of Canaan. But as to these
matters, we shall speak more hereafter.
4. Shem, the third son of Noah, had five sons, who inhabited the land that
began at Euphrates, and reached to the Indian Ocean. For Elam left behind
him the Elamites, the ancestors of the Persians. Ashur lived at the city
Nineve; and named his subjects Assyrians, who became the most fortunate
nation, beyond others. Arphaxad named the Arphaxadites, who are now called
Chaldeans. Aram had the Aramites, which the Greeks called Syrians; as Laud
founded the Laudites, which are now called Lydians. Of the four sons of
Aram, Uz founded Trachonitis and Damascus: this country lies between
Palestine and Celesyria. Ul founded Armenia; and Gather the Bactrians; and
Mesa the Mesaneans; it is now called Charax Spasini. Sala was the son of
Arphaxad; and his son was Heber, from whom they originally called the Jews
Hebrews. 18
Heber begat Joetan and Phaleg: he was called Phaleg, because he was born
at the dispersion of the nations to their several countries; for Phaleg
among the Hebrews signifies division. Now Joctan, one of the sons of
Heber, had these sons, Elmodad, Saleph, Asermoth, Jera, Adoram, Aizel,
Decla, Ebal, Abimael, Sabeus, Ophir, Euilat, and Jobab. These inhabited
from Cophen, an Indian river, and in part of Asia adjoining to it. And
this shall suffice concerning the sons of Shem.
5. I will now treat of the Hebrews. The son of Phaleg, whose father Was
Heber, was Ragau; whose son was Serug, to whom was born Nahor; his son was
Terah, who was the father of Abraham, who accordingly was the tenth from
Noah, and was born in the two hundred and ninety-second year after the
deluge; for Terah begat Abram in his seventieth year. Nahor begat Haran
when he was one hundred and twenty years old; Nahor was born to Serug in
his hundred and thirty-second year; Ragau had Serug at one hundred and
thirty; at the same age also Phaleg had Ragau; Heber begat Phaleg in his
hundred and thirty-fourth year; he himself being begotten by Sala when he
was a hundred and thirty years old, whom Arphaxad had for his son at the
hundred and thirty-fifth year of his age. Arphaxad was the son of Shem,
and born twelve years after the deluge. Now Abram had two brethren, Nahor
and Haran: of these Haran left a son, Lot; as also Sarai and Milcha his
daughters; and died among the Chaldeans, in a city of the Chaldeans,
called Ur; and his monument is shown to this day. These married their
nieces. Nabor married Milcha, and Abram married Sarai. Now Terah hating
Chaldea, on account of his mourning for Ilaran, they all removed to Haran
of Mesopotamia, where Terah died, and was buried, when he had lived to be
two hundred and five years old; for the life of man was already, by
degrees, diminished, and became shorter than before, till the birth of
Moses; after whom the term of human life was one hundred and twenty years,
God determining it to the length that Moses happened to live. Now Nahor
had eight sons by Milcha; Uz and Buz, Kemuel, Chesed, Azau, Pheldas,
Jadelph, and Bethuel. These were all the genuine sons of Nahor; for Teba,
and Gaam, and Tachas, and Maaca, were born of Reuma his concubine: but
Bethuel had a daughter, Rebecca, and a son, Laban.
CHAPTER 7. How Abram Our Forefather Went Out Of The Land Of The Chaldeans,
And Lived In The Land Then Called Canaan But Now Judea.
1. Now Abram, having no son of his own, adopted Lot, his brother Haran’s
son, and his wife Sarai’s brother; and he left the land of Chaldea when he
was seventy-five years old, and at the command of God went into Canaan,
and therein he dwelt himself, and left it to his posterity. He was a
person of great sagacity, both for understanding all things and persuading
his hearers, and not mistaken in his opinions; for which reason he began
to have higher notions of virtue than others had, and he determined to
renew and to change the opinion all men happened then to have concerning
God; for he was the first that ventured to publish this notion, That there
was but one God, the Creator of the universe; and that, as to other
[gods], if they contributed any thing to the happiness of men, that each
of them afforded it only according to his appointment, and not by their
own power. This his opinion was derived from the irregular phenomena that
were visible both at land and sea, as well as those that happen to the
sun, and moon, and all the heavenly bodies, thus:—”If [said he]
these bodies had power of their own, they would certainly take care of
their own regular motions; but since they do not preserve such regularity,
they make it plain, that in so far as they co-operate to our advantage,
they do it not of their own abilities, but as they are subservient to Him
that commands them, to whom alone we ought justly to offer our honor and
thanksgiving.” For which doctrines, when the Chaldeans, and other people
of Mesopotamia, raised a tumult against him, he thought fit to leave that
country; and at the command and by the assistance of God, he came and
lived in the land of Canaan. And when he was there settled, he built an
altar, and performed a sacrifice to God.
2. Berosus mentions our father Abram without naming him, when he says
thus: “In the tenth generation after the Flood, there was among the
Chaldeans a man righteous and great, and skillful in the celestial
science.” But Hecatseus does more than barely mention him; for he
composed, and left behind him, a book concerning him. And Nicolaus of
Damascus, in the fourth book of his History, says thus: “Abram reigned at
Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with an army out of the land above
Babylon, called the land of the Chaldeans: but, after a long time, he got
him up, and removed from that country also, with his people, and went into
the land then called the land of Canaan, but now the land of Judea, and
this when his posterity were become a multitude; as to which posterity of
his, we relate their history in another work. Now the name of Abram is
even still famous in the country of Damascus; and there is shown a village
named from him, The Habitation of Abram.”
CHAPTER 8. That When There Was A Famine In Canaan, Abram Went Thence Into
Egypt; And After He Had Continued There A While He Returned Back Again.
1. Now, after this, when a famine had invaded the land of Canaan, and
Abram had discovered that the Egyptians were in a flourishing condition,
he was disposed to go down to them, both to partake of the plenty they
enjoyed, and to become an auditor of their priests, and to know what they
said concerning the gods; designing either to follow them, if they had
better notions than he, or to convert them into a better way, if his own
notions proved the truest. Now, seeing he was to take Sarai with him, and
was afraid of the madness of the Egyptians with regard to women, lest the
king should kill him on occasion of his wife’s great beauty, he contrived
this device:—he pretended to be her brother, and directed her in a
dissembling way to pretend the same, for he said it would be for their
benefit. Now, as soon as he came into Egypt, it happened to Abram as he
supposed it would; for the fame of his wife’s beauty was greatly talked
of; for which reason Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, would not be satisfied
with what was reported of her, but would needs see her himself, and was
preparing to enjoy her; but God put a stop to his unjust inclinations, by
sending upon him a distemper, and a sedition against his government. And
when he inquired of the priests how he might be freed from these
calamities, they told him that this his miserable condition was derived
from the wrath of God, upon account of his inclinations to abuse the
stranger’s wife. He then, out of fear, asked Sarai who she was, and who it
was that she brought along with her. And when he had found out the truth,
he excused himself to Abram, that supposing the woman to be his sister,
and not his wife, he set his affections on her, as desiring an affinity
with him by marrying her, but not as incited by lust to abuse her. He also
made him a large present in money, and gave him leave to enter into
conversation with the most learned among the Egyptians; from which
conversation his virtue and his reputation became more conspicuous than
they had been before.
2. For whereas the Egyptians were formerly addicted to different customs,
and despised one another’s sacred and accustomed rites, and were very
angry one with another on that account, Abram conferred with each of them,
and, confuting the reasonings they made use of, every one for their own
practices, demonstrated that such reasonings were vain and void of truth:
whereupon he was admired by them in those conferences as a very wise man,
and one of great sagacity, when he discoursed on any subject he undertook;
and this not only in understanding it, but in persuading other men also to
assent to him. He communicated to them arithmetic, and delivered to them
the science of astronomy; for before Abram came into Egypt they were
unacquainted with those parts of learning; for that science came from the
Chaldeans into Egypt, and from thence to the Greeks also.
3. As soon as Abram was come back into Canaan, he parted the land between
him and Lot, upon account of the tumultuous behavior of their shepherds,
concerning the pastures wherein they should feed their flocks. However, he
gave Lot his option, or leave, to choose which lands he would take; and he
took himself what the other left, which were the lower grounds at the foot
of the mountains; and he himself dwelt in Hebron, which is a city seven
years more ancient than Tunis of Egypt. But Lot possessed the land of the
plain, and the river Jordan, not far from the city of Sodom, which was
then a fine city, but is now destroyed, by the will and wrath of God, the
cause of which I shall show in its proper place hereafter.
CHAPTER 9. The Destruction Of The Sodomites By The Assyrian War.
At this time, when the Assyrians had the dominion over Asia, the people of
Sodom were in a flourishing condition, both as to riches and the number of
their youth. There were five kings that managed the affairs of this
county: Ballas, Barsas, Senabar, and Sumobor, with the king of Bela; and
each king led on his own troops: and the Assyrians made war upon them;
and, dividing their army into four parts, fought against them. Now every
part of the army had its own commander; and when the battle was joined,
the Assyrians were conquerors, and imposed a tribute on the kings of the
Sodomites, who submitted to this slavery twelve years; and so long they
continued to pay their tribute: but on the thirteenth year they rebelled,
and then the army of the Assyrians came upon them, under their commanders
Amraphel, Arioch, Chodorlaomer, and Tidal. These kings had laid waste all
Syria, and overthrown the offspring of the giants. And when they were come
over against Sodom, they pitched their camp at the vale called the Slime
Pits, for at that time there were pits in that place; but now, upon the
destruction of the city of Sodom, that vale became the Lake Asphaltites,
as it is called. However, concerning this lake we shall speak more
presently. Now when the Sodomites joined battle with the Assyrians, and
the fight was very obstinate, many of them were killed, and the rest were
carried captive; among which captives was Lot, who had come to assist the
Sodomites.
CHAPTER 10. How Abram Fought With The Assyrians, And Overcame Them, And
Saved The Sodomite Prisoners, And Took From The Assyrians The Prey They
Had Gotten.
1. When, Abram heard of their calamity, he was at once afraid for Lot his
kinsman, and pitied the Sodomites, his friends and neighbors; and thinking
it proper to afford them assistance, he did not delay it, but marched
hastily, and the fifth night fell upon the Assyrians, near Dan, for that
is the name of the other spring of Jordan; and before they could arm
themselves, he slew some as they were in their beds, before they could
suspect any harm; and others, who were not yet gone to sleep, but were so
drunk they could not fight, ran away. Abram pursued after them, till, on
the second day, he drove them in a body unto Hoba, a place belonging to
Damascus; and thereby demonstrated that victory does not depend on
multitude and the number of hands, but the alacrity and courage of
soldiers overcome the most numerous bodies of men, while he got the
victory over so great an army with no more than three hundred and eighteen
of his servants, and three of his friends: but all those that fled
returned home ingloriously.
2. So Abram, when he had saved the captive Sodomites, who had been taken
by the Assyrians, and Lot also, his kinsman, returned home in peace. Now
the king of Sodom met him at a certain place, which they called The King’s
Dale, where Melchisedec, king of the city Salem, received him. That name
signifies, the righteous king: and such he was, without dispute, insomuch
that, on this account, he was made the priest of God: however, they
afterward called Salem Jerusalem. Now this Melchisedec supplied Abram’s
army in an hospitable manner, and gave them provisions in abundance; and
as they were feasting, he began to praise him, and to bless God for
subduing his enemies under him. And when Abram gave him the tenth part of
his prey, he accepted of the gift: but the king of Sodom desired Abram to
take the prey, but entreated that he might have those men restored to him
whom Abram had saved from the Assyrians, because they belonged to him. But
Abram would not do so; nor would make any other advantage of that prey
than what his servants had eaten; but still insisted that he should afford
a part to his friends that had assisted him in the battle. The first of
them was called Eschol, and then Enner, and Mambre.
3. And God commended his virtue, and said, Thou shalt not however lose the
rewards thou hast deserved to receive by such thy glorious actions. He
answered, And what advantage will it be to me to have such rewards, when I
have none to enjoy them after me?—for he was hitherto childless. And
God promised that he should have a son, and that his posterity should be
very numerous; insomuch that their number should be like the stars. When
he heard that, he offered a sacrifice to God, as he commanded him. The
manner of the sacrifice was this:—He took an heifer of three years
old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram in like manner of three
years old, and a turtle-dove, and a pigeon 19 and as he
was enjoined, he divided the three former, but the birds he did not
divide. After which, before he built his altar, where the birds of prey
flew about, as desirous of blood, a Divine voice came to him, declaring
that their neighbors would be grievous to his posterity, when they should
be in Egypt, for four hundred years; 20 during
which time they should be afflicted, but afterwards should overcome their
enemies, should conquer the Canaanites in war, and possess themselves of
their land, and of their cities.
4. Now Abram dwelt near the oak called Ogyges,—the place belongs to
Canaan, not far from the city of Hebron. But being uneasy at his wife’s
barrenness, he entreated God to grant that he might have male issue; and
God required of him to be of good courage, and said that he would add to
all the rest of the benefits that he had bestowed upon him, ever since he
led him out of Mesopotamia, the gift of children. Accordingly Sarai, at
God’s command, brought to his bed one of her handmaidens, a woman of
Egyptian descent, in order to obtain children by her; and when this
handmaid was with child, she triumphed, and ventured to affront Sarai, as
if the dominion were to come to a son to be born of her. But when Abram
resigned her into the hand of Sarai, to punish her, she contrived to fly
away, as not able to bear the instances of Sarai’s severity to her; and
she entreated God to have compassion on her. Now a Divine Angel met her,
as she was going forward in the wilderness, and bid her return to her
master and mistress, for if she would submit to that wise advice, she
would live better hereafter; for that the reason of her being in such a
miserable case was this, that she had been ungrateful and arrogant towards
her mistress. He also told her, that if she disobeyed God, and went on
still in her way, she should perish; but if she would return back, she
should become the mother of a son who should reign over that country.
These admonitions she obeyed, and returned to her master and mistress, and
obtained forgiveness. A little while afterwards, she bare Ismael; which
may be interpreted Heard of God, because God had heard his mother’s
prayer.
5. The forementioned son was born to Abram when he was eighty-six years
old: but when he was ninety-nine, God appeared to him, and promised him
that he Should have a son by Sarai, and commanded that his name should be
Isaac; and showed him, that from this son should spring great nations and
kings, and that they should obtain all the land of Canaan by war, from
Sidon to Egypt. But he charged him, in order to keep his posterity unmixed
with others, that they should be circumcised in the flesh of their
foreskin, and that this should be done on the eighth day after they were
born: the reason of which circumcision I will explain in another place.
And Abram inquiring also concerning Ismael, whether he should live or not,
God signified to him that he should live to be very old, and should be the
father of great nations. Abram therefore gave thanks to God for these
blessings; and then he, and all his family, and his son Ismael, were
circumcised immediately; the son being that day thirteen years of age, and
he ninety-nine.
CHAPTER 11. How God Overthrew The Nation Of The Sodomites, Out Of His
Wrath Against Them For Their Sins.
1. About this time the Sodomites grew proud, on account of their riches
and great wealth; they became unjust towards men, and impious towards God,
insomuch that they did not call to mind the advantages they received from
him: they hated strangers, and abused themselves with Sodomitical
practices. God was therefore much displeased at them, and determined to
punish them for their pride, and to overthrow their city, and to lay waste
their country, until there should neither plant nor fruit grow out of it.
2. When God had thus resolved concerning the Sodomites, Abraham, as he sat
by the oak of Mambre, at the door of his tent, saw three angels; and
thinking them to be strangers, he rose up, and saluted them, and desired
they would accept of an entertainment, and abide with him; to which, when
they agreed, he ordered cakes of meal to be made presently; and when he
had slain a calf, he roasted it, and brought it to them, as they sat under
the oak. Now they made a show of eating; and besides, they asked him about
his wife Sarah, where she was; and when he said she was within, they said
they would come again hereafter, and find her become a mother. Upon which
the woman laughed, and said that it was impossible she should bear
children, since she was ninety years of age, and her husband was a
hundred. Then they concealed themselves no longer, but declared that they
were angels of God; and that one of them was sent to inform them about the
child, and two of the overthrow of Sodom.
3. When Abraham heard this, he was grieved for the Sodomites; and he rose
up, and besought God for them, and entreated him that he would not destroy
the righteous with the wicked. And when God had replied that there was no
good man among the Sodomites; for if there were but ten such man among
them, he would not punish any of them for their sins, Abraham held his
peace. And the angels came to the city of the Sodomites, and Lot entreated
them to accept of a lodging with him; for he was a very generous and
hospitable man, and one that had learned to imitate the goodness of
Abraham. Now when the Sodomites saw the young men to be of beautiful
countenances, and this to an extraordinary degree, and that they took up
their lodgings with Lot, they resolved themselves to enjoy these beautiful
boys by force and violence; and when Lot exhorted them to sobriety, and
not to offer any thing immodest to the strangers, but to have regard to
their lodging in his house; and promised that if their inclinations could
not be governed, he would expose his daughters to their lust, instead of
these strangers; neither thus were they made ashamed.
4. But God was much displeased at their impudent behavior, so that he both
smote those men with blindness, and condemned the Sodomites to universal
destruction. But Lot, upon God’s informing him of the future destruction
of the Sodomites, went away, taking with him his wife and daughters, who
were two, and still virgins; for those that were betrothed 21
to them were above the thoughts of going, and deemed that Lot’s words were
trifling. God then cast a thunderbolt upon the city, and set it on fire,
with its inhabitants; and laid waste the country with the like burning, as
I formerly said when I wrote the Jewish War. 22 But Lot’s
wife continually turning back to view the city as she went from it, and
being too nicely inquisitive what would become of it, although God had
forbidden her so to do, was changed into a pillar of salt;23
for I have seen it, and it remains at this day. Now he and his daughters
fled to a certain small place, encompassed with the fire, and settled in
it: it is to this day called Zoar, for that is the word which the Hebrews
use for a small thing. There it was that he lived a miserable life, on
account of his having no company, and his want of provisions.
5. But his daughters, thinking that all mankind were destroyed, approached
to their father, 24 though taking care not to be
perceived. This they did, that human kind might not utterly fail: and they
bare sons; the son of the elder was named Moab, Which denotes one derived
from his father; the younger bare Ammon, which name denotes one derived
from a kinsman. The former of whom was the father of the Moabites, which
is even still a great nation; the latter was the father of the Ammonites;
and both of them are inhabitants of Celesyria. And such was the departure
of Lot from among the Sodomites.
CHAPTER 12. Concerning Abimelech; And Concerning Ismael The Son Of
Abraham; And Concerning The Arabians, Who Were His Posterity.
1. Abraham now removed to Gerar of Palestine, leading Sarah along with
him, under the notion of his sister, using the like dissimulation that he
had used before, and this out of fear: for he was afraid of Abimelech, the
king of that country, who did also himself fall in love with Sarah, and
was disposed to corrupt her; but he was restrained from satisfying his
lust by a dangerous distemper which befell him from God. Now when his
physicians despaired of curing him, he fell asleep, and saw a dream,
warning him not to abuse the stranger’s wife; and when he recovered, he
told his friends that God had inflicted that disease upon him, by way of
punishment, for his injury to the stranger; and in order to preserve the
chastity of his wife, for that she did not accompany him as his sister,
but as his legitimate wife; and that God had promised to be gracious to
him for the time to come, if this person be once secure of his wife’s
chastity. When he had said this, by the advice of his friends, he sent for
Abraham, and bid him not to be concerned about his wife, or fear the
corruption of her chastity; for that God took care of him, and that it was
by his providence that he received his wife again, without her suffering
any abuse. And he appealed to God, and to his wife’s conscience; and said
that he had not any inclination at first to enjoy her, if he had known she
was his wife; but since, said he, thou leddest her about as thy sister, I
was guilty of no offense. He also entreated him to be at peace with him,
and to make God propitious to him; and that if he thought fit to continue
with him, he should have what he wanted in abundance; but that if he
designed to go away, he should be honorably conducted, and have whatsoever
supply he wanted when he came thither. Upon his saying this, Abraham told
him that his pretense of kindred to his wife was no lie, because she was
his brother’s daughter; and that he did not think himself safe in his
travels abroad, without this sort of dissimulation; and that he was not
the cause of his distemper, but was only solicitous for his own safety: he
said also, that he was ready to stay with him. Whereupon Abimelech
assigned him land and money; and they coventanted to live together without
guile, and took an oath at a certain well called Beersheba, which may be
interpreted, The Well of the Oath: and so it is named by the people of the
country unto this day.
2. Now in a little time Abraham had a son by Sarah, as God had foretold to
him, whom he named Isaac, which signifies Laughter. And indeed they so
called him, because Sarah laughed when God 25 said that
she should bear a son, she not expecting such a thing, as being past the
age of child-bearing, for she was ninety years old, and Abraham a hundred;
so that this son was born to them both in the last year of each of those
decimal numbers. And they circumcised him upon the eighth day and from
that time the Jews continue the custom of circumcising their sons within
that number of days. But as for the Arabians, they circumcise after the
thirteenth year, because Ismael, the founder of their nation, who was born
to Abraham of the concubine, was circumcised at that age; concerning whom
I will presently give a particular account, with great exactness.
3. As for Sarah, she at first loved Ismael, who was born of her own
handmaid Hagar, with an affection not inferior to that of her own son, for
he was brought up in order to succeed in the government; but when she
herself had borne Isaac, she was not willing that Ismael should be brought
up with him, as being too old for him, and able to do him injuries when
their father should be dead; she therefore persuaded Abraham to send him
and his mother to some distant country. Now, at the first, he did not
agree to what Sarah was so zealous for, and thought it an instance of the
greatest barbarity, to send away a young child 26 and a
woman unprovided of necessaries; but at length he agreed to it, because
God was pleased with what Sarah had determined: so he delivered Ismael to
his mother, as not yet able to go by himself; and commanded her to take a
bottle of water, and a loaf of bread, and so to depart, and to take
Necessity for her guide. But as soon as her necessary provisions failed,
she found herself in an evil case; and when the water was almost spent,
she laid the young child, who was ready to expire, under a fig-tree, and
went on further, that so he might die while she was absent. But a Divine
Angel came to her, and told her of a fountain hard by, and bid her take
care, and bring up the child, because she should be very happy by the
preservation of Ismael. She then took courage, upon the prospect of what
was promised her, and, meeting with some shepherds, by their care she got
clear of the distresses she had been in.
4. When the lad was grown up, he married a wife, by birth an Egyptian,
from whence the mother was herself derived originally. Of this wife were
born to Ismael twelve sons; Nabaioth, Kedar, Abdeel, Mabsam, Idumas,
Masmaos, Masaos, Chodad, Theman, Jetur, Naphesus, Cadmas. These inhabited
all the country from Euphrates to the Red Sea, and called it Nabatene.
They are an Arabian nation, and name their tribes from these, both because
of their own virtue, and because of the dignity of Abraham their father.
CHAPTER 13. Concerning Isaac The Legitimate Son Of Abraham.
1. Now Abraham greatly loved Isaac, as being his only begotten 27
and given to him at the borders of old age, by the favor of God. The child
also endeared himself to his parents still more, by the exercise of every
virtue, and adhering to his duty to his parents, and being zealous in the
worship of God. Abraham also placed his own happiness in this prospect,
that, when he should die, he should leave this his son in a safe and
secure condition; which accordingly he obtained by the will of God: who
being desirous to make an experiment of Abraham’s religious disposition
towards himself, appeared to him, and enumerated all the blessings he had
bestowed on him; how he had made him superior to his enemies; and that his
son Isaac, who was the principal part of his present happiness, was
derived from him; and he said that he required this son of his as a
sacrifice and holy oblation. Accordingly he commanded him to carry him to
the mountain Moriah, and to build an altar, and offer him for a
burnt-offering upon it for that this would best manifest his religious
disposition towards him, if he preferred what was pleasing to God, before
the preservation of his own son.
2. Now Abraham thought that it was not right to disobey God in any thing,
but that he was obliged to serve him in every circumstance of life, since
all creatures that live enjoy their life by his providence, and the
kindness he bestows on them. Accordingly he concealed this command of God,
and his own intentions about the slaughter of his son, from his wife, as
also from every one of his servants, otherwise he should have been
hindered from his obedience to God; and he took Isaac, together with two
of his servants, and laying what things were necessary for a sacrifice
upon an ass, he went away to the mountain. Now the two servants went along
with him two days; but on the third day, as soon as he saw the mountain,
he left those servants that were with him till then in the plain, and,
having his son alone with him, he came to the mountain. It was that
mountain upon which king David afterwards built the temple. 28
Now they had brought with them every thing necessary for a sacrifice,
excepting the animal that was to be offered only. Now Isaac was
twenty-five years old. And as he was building the altar, he asked his
father what he was about to offer, since there was no animal there for an
oblation:—to which it was answered, “That God would provide himself
an oblation, he being able to make a plentiful provision for men out of
what they have not, and to deprive others of what they already have, when
they put too much trust therein; that therefore, if God pleased to be
present and propitious at this sacrifice, he would provide himself an
oblation.”
3. As soon as the altar was prepared, and Abraham had laid on the wood,
and all things were entirely ready, he said to his son, “O son, I poured
out a vast number of prayers that I might have thee for my son; when thou
wast come into the world, there was nothing that could contribute to thy
support for which I was not greatly solicitous, nor any thing wherein I
thought myself happier than to see thee grown up to man’s estate, and that
I might leave thee at my death the successor to my dominion; but since it
was by God’s will that I became thy father, and it is now his will that I
relinquish thee, bear this consecration to God with a generous mind; for I
resign thee up to God who has thought fit now to require this testimony of
honor to himself, on account of the favors he hath conferred on me, in
being to me a supporter and defender. Accordingly thou, my son, wilt now
die, not in any common way of going out of the world, but sent to God, the
Father of all men, beforehand, by thy own father, in the nature of a
sacrifice. I suppose he thinks thee worthy to get clear of this world
neither by disease, neither by war, nor by any other severe way, by which
death usually comes upon men, but so that he will receive thy soul with
prayers and holy offices of religion, and will place thee near to himself,
and thou wilt there be to me a succorer and supporter in my old age; on
which account I principally brought thee up, and thou wilt thereby procure
me God for my Comforter instead of thyself.”
4. Now Isaac was of such a generous disposition as became the son of such
a father, and was pleased with this discourse; and said, “That he was not
worthy to be born at first, if he should reject the determination of God
and of his father, and should not resign himself up readily to both their
pleasures; since it would have been unjust if he had not obeyed, even if
his father alone had so resolved.” So he went immediately to the altar to
be sacrificed. And the deed had been done if God had not opposed it; for
he called loudly to Abraham by his name, and forbade him to slay his son;
and said, “It was not out of a desire of human blood that he was commanded
to slay his son, nor was he willing that he should be taken away from him
whom he had made his father, but to try the temper of his mind, whether he
would be obedient to such a command. Since therefore he now was satisfied
as to that his alacrity, and the surprising readiness he showed in this
his piety, he was delighted in having bestowed such blessings upon him;
and that he would not be wanting in all sort of concern about him, and in
bestowing other children upon him; and that his son should live to a very
great age; that he should live a happy life, and bequeath a large
principality to his children, who should be good and legitimate.” He
foretold also, that his family should increase into many nations 29
and that those patriarchs should leave behind them an everlasting name;
that they should obtain the possession of the land of Canaan, and be
envied by all men. When God had said this, he produced to them a ram,
which did not appear before, for the sacrifice. So Abraham and Isaac
receiving each other unexpectedly, and having obtained the promises of
such great blessings, embraced one another; and when they had sacrificed,
they returned to Sarah, and lived happily together, God affording them his
assistance in all things they desired.
CHAPTER 14. Concerning Sarah Abraham’s Wife; And How She Ended Her Days.
Now Sarah died a little while after, having lived one hundred and
twenty-seven years. They buried her in Hebron; the Canaanites publicly
allowing them a burying-place; which piece of ground Abraham bought for
four hundred shekels, of Ephron, an inhabitant of Hebron. And both Abraham
and his descendants built themselves sepulchers in that place.
CHAPTER 15. How The Nation Of The Troglodytes Were Derived From Abraham By
Keturah.
Abraham after this married Keturah, by whom six sons were born to him, men
of courage, and of sagacious minds: Zambran, and Jazar, and Madan, and
Madian, and Josabak, and Sous. Now the sons of Sous were Sabathan and
Dadan. The sons of Dadan were Latusim, and Assur, and Luom. The sons of
Madiau were Ephas, and Ophren, and Anoch, and Ebidas, and Eldas. Now, for
all these sons and grandsons, Abraham contrived to settle them in
colonies; and they took possession of Troglodytis, and the country of
Arabia the Happy, as far as it reaches to the Red Sea. It is related of
this Ophren, that he made war against Libya, and took it, and that his
grandchildren, when they inhabited it, called it [from his name] Africa.
And indeed Alexander Polyhistor gives his attestation to what I here say;
who speaks thus: “Cleodemus the prophet, who was also called Malchus, who
wrote a History of the Jews, in agreement with the History of Moses, their
legislator, relates, that there were many sons born to Abraham by Keturah:
nay, he names three of them, Apher, and Surim, and Japhran. That from
Surim was the land of Assyria denominated; and that from the other two
[Apher and Japbran] the country of Africa took its name, because these men
were auxiliaries to Hercules, when he fought against Libya and Antaeus;
and that Hercules married Aphra’s daughter, and of her he begat a son,
Diodorus; and that Sophon was his son, from whom that barbarous people
called Sophacians were denominated.”
CHAPTER 16. How Isaac Took Rebeka To Wife.
1. Now when Abraham, the father of Isaac, had resolved to take Rebeka, who
was grand-daughter to his brother Nahor, for a wife to his son Isaac, who
was then about forty years old, he sent the ancientest of his servants to
betroth her, after he had obliged him to give him the strongest assurances
of his fidelity; which assurances were given after the manner following:—They
put each other’s hands under each other’s thighs; then they called upon
God as the witness of what was to be done. He also sent such presents to
those that were there as were in esteem, on account that that they either
rarely or never were seen in that country, The servant got thither not
under a considerable time; for it requires much time to pass through
Meopotamia, in which it is tedious traveling, both in the winter for the
depth of the clay, and in summer for want of water; and, besides this, for
the robberies there committed, which are not to be avoided by travelers
but by caution beforehand. However, the servant came to Haran; and when he
was in the suburbs, he met a considerable number of maidens going to the
water; he therefore prayed to God that Rebeka might be found among them,
or her whom Abraham sent him as his servant to espouse to his son, in case
his will were that this marriage should be consummated, and that she might
be made known to him by the sign, That while others denied him water to
drink, she might give it him.
2. With this intention he went to the well, and desired the maidens to
give him some water to drink: but while the others refused, on pretense
that they wanted it all at home, and could spare none for him, one only of
the company rebuked them for their peevish behavior towards the stranger;
and said, What is there that you will ever communicate to anybody, who
have not so much as given the man some water? She then offered him water
in an obliging manner. And now he began to hope that his grand affair
would succeed; but desiring still to know the truth, he commended her for
her generosity and good nature, that she did not scruple to afford a
sufficiency of water to those that wanted it, though it cost her some
pains to draw it; and asked who were her parents, and wished them joy of
such a daughter. “And mayst thou be espoused,” said he, “to their
satisfaction, into the family of an agreeable husband, and bring him
legitimate children.” Nor did she disdain to satisfy his inquiries, but
told him her family. “They,” says she, “call me Rebeka; my father was
Bethuel, but he is dead; and Laban is my brother; and, together with my
mother, takes care of all our family affairs, and is the guardian of my
virginity.” When the servant heard this, he was very glad at what had
happened, and at what was told him, as perceiving that God had thus
plainly directed his journey; and producing his bracelets, and some other
ornaments which it was esteemed decent for virgins to wear, he gave them
to the damsel, by way of acknowledgment, and as a reward for her kindness
in giving him water to drink; saying, it was but just that she should have
them, because she was so much more obliging than any of the rest. She
desired also that he would come and lodge with them, since the approach of
the night gave him not time to proceed farther. And producing his precious
ornaments for women, he said he desired to trust them to none more safely
than to such as she had shown herself to be; and that he believed he might
guess at the humanity of her mother and brother, that they would not be
displeased, from the virtue he found in her; for he would not be
burdensome, but would pay the hire for his entertainment, and spend his
own money. To which she replied, that he guessed right as to the humanity
of her parents; but complained that he should think them so parsimonious
as to take money, for that he should have all on free cost. But she said
she would first inform her brother Laban, and, if he gave her leave, she
would conduct him in.
3. As soon then as this was over, she introduced the stranger; and for the
camels, the servants of Laban brought them in, and took care of them; and
he was himself brought in to supper by Laban. And, after supper, he says
to him, and to the mother of the damsel, addressing himself to her,
“Abraham is the son of Terah, and a kinsman of yours; for Nahor, the
grandfather of these children, was the brother of Abraham, by both father
and mother; upon which account he hath sent me to you, being desirous to
take this damsel for his son to wife. He is his legitimate son, and is
brought up as his only heir. He could indeed have had the most happy of
all the women in that country for him, but he would not have his son marry
any of them; but, out of regard to his own relations, he desired him to
match here, whose affection and inclination I would not have you despise;
for it was by the good pleasure of God that other accidents fell out in my
journey, and that thereby I lighted upon your daughter and your house; for
when I was near to the city, I saw a great many maidens coming to a well,
and I prayed that I might meet with this damsel, which has come to pass
accordingly. Do you therefore confirm that marriage, whose espousals have
been already made by a Divine appearance; and show the respect you have
for Abraham, who hath sent me with so much solicitude, in giving your
consent to the marriage of this damsel.” Upon this they understood it to
be the will of God, and greatly approved of the offer, and sent their
daughter, as was desired. Accordingly Isaac married her, the inheritance
being now come to him; for the children by Keturah were gone to their own
remote habitations.
CHAPTER 17. Concerning The Death Of Abraham.
A Little while after this Abraham died. He was a man of incomparable
virtue, and honored by God in a manner agreeable to his piety towards him.
The whole time of his life was one hundred seventy and five years, and he
was buried in Hebron, with his wife Sarah, by their sons Isaac and Ismael.
CHAPTER 18. Concerning The Sons Of Isaac, Esau And Jacob; Of Their
Nativity And Education.
1. Now Isaac’s wife proved with child, after the death of Abraham; 30
and when her belly was greatly burdened, Isaac was very anxious, and
inquired of God; who answered, that Rebeka should bear twins; and that two
nations should take the names of those sons; and that he who appeared the
second should excel the elder. Accordingly she, in a little time, as God
had foretold, bare twins; the elder of whom, from his head to his feet,
was very rough and hairy; but the younger took hold of his heel as they
were in the birth. Now the father loved the elder, who was called Esau, a
name agreeable to his roughness, for the Hebrews call such a hairy
roughness [Esau, 31 or] Seir; but Jacob the younger
was best beloved by his mother.
2. When there was a famine in the land, Isaac resolved to go into Egypt,
the land there being good; but he went to Gerar, as God commanded him.
Here Abimelech the king received him, because Abraham had formerly lived
with him, and had been his friend. And as in the beginning he treated him
exceeding kindly, so he was hindered from continuing in the same
disposition to the end, by his envy at him; for when he saw that God was
with Isaac, and took such great care of him, he drove him away from him.
But Isaac, when he saw how envy had changed the temper of Abimelech
retired to a place called the Valley, not far from Gerar: and as he was
digging a well, the shepherds fell upon him, and began to fight, in order
to hinder the work; and because he did not desire to contend, the
shepherds seemed to get the him, so he still retired, and dug another and
when certain other shepherds of Abimelech began to offer him violence, he
left that also, still retired, thus purchasing security to himself a
rational and prudent conduct. At length they gave him leave to dig a well
without disturbance. He named this well Rehoboth, which denotes a large
space; but of the former wells, one was called Escon, which denotes
strife, the other Sitenna, name signifies enmity.
3. It was now that Isaac’s affairs increased, and in a flourishing
condition; and this his great riches. But Abimelech, thinking in
opposition to him, while their living made them suspicious of each other,
and retiring showing a secret enmity also, he afraid that his former
friendship with Isaac would not secure him, if Isaac should endeavor the
injuries he had formerly offered him; he therefore renewed his friendship
with him, Philoc, one of his generals. And when he had obtained every
thing he desired, by reason of Isaac’s good nature, who preferred the
earlier friendship Abimelech had shown to himself and his father to his
later wrath against him, he returned home.
4. Now when Esau, one of the sons of Isaac, whom the father principally
loved, was now come to the age of forty years, he married Adah, the
daughter of Helon, and Aholibamah, the daughter of Esebeon; which Helon
and Esebeon were great lords among the Canaanites: thereby taking upon
himself the authority, and pretending to have dominion over his own
marriages, without so much as asking the advice of his father; for had
Isaac been the arbitrator, he had not given him leave to marry thus, for
he was not pleased with contracting any alliance with the people of that
country; but not caring to be uneasy to his son by commanding him to put
away these wives, he resolved to be silent.
5. But when he was old, and could not see at all, he called Esau to him,
and told him, that besides his blindness, and the disorder of his eyes,
his very old age hindered him from his worship of God [by sacrifice]; he
bid him therefore to go out a hunting, and when he had caught as much
venison as he could, to prepare him a supper 32 that after
this he might make supplication to God, to be to him a supporter and an
assister during the whole time of his life; saying, that it was uncertain
when he should die, and that he was desirous, by prayers for him, to
procure, beforehand, God to be merciful to him.
6. Accordingly, Esau went out a hunting. But Rebeka 33 thinking
it proper to have the supplication made for obtaining the favor of God to
Jacob, and that without the consent of Isaac, bid him kill kids of the
goats, and prepare a supper. So Jacob obeyed his mother, according to all
her instructions. Now when the supper was got ready, he took a goat’s
skin, and put it about his arm, that by reason of its hairy roughness, he
might by his father be believed to be Esau; for they being twins, and in
all things else alike, differed only in this thing. This was done out of
his fear, that before his father had made his supplications, he should be
caught in his evil practice, and lest he should, on the contrary, provoke
his father to curse him. So he brought in the supper to his father. Isaac
perceivest to be Esau. So suspecting no deceit, he ate the supper, and
betook himself to his prayers and intercessions with God; and said, “O
Lord of all ages, and Creator of all substance; for it was thou that didst
propose to my father great plenty of good things, and hast vouchsafed to
bestow on me what I have; and hast promised to my posterity to be their
kind supporter, and to bestow on them still greater blessings; do thou
therefore confirm these thy promises, and do not overlook me, because of
my present weak condition, on account of which I most earnestly pray to
thee. Be gracious to this my son; and preserve him and keep him from every
thing that is evil. Give him a happy life, and the possession of as many
good things as thy power is able to bestow. Make him terrible to his
enemies, and honorable and beloved among his friends.”
7. Thus did Isaac pray to God, thinking his prayers had been made for
Esau. He had but just finished them, when Esau came in from hunting. And
when Isaac perceived his mistake, he was silent: but Esau required that he
might be made partaker of the like blessing from his father that his
brother had partook of; but his father refused it, because all his prayers
had been spent upon Jacob: so Esau lamented the mistake. However, his
father being grieved at his weeping, said, that “he should excel in
hunting and strength of body, in arms, and all such sorts of work; and
should obtain glory for ever on those accounts, he and his posterity after
him; but still should serve his brother.”
8. Now the mother delivered Jacob, when she was afraid that his brother
would inflict some punishment upon him because of the mistake about the
prayers of Isaac; for she persuaded her husband to take a wife for Jacob
out of Mesopotamia, of her own kindred, Esau having married already
Basemmath, the daughter of Ismael, without his father’s consent; for Isaac
did not like the Canaanites, so that he disapproved of Esau’s former
marriages, which made him take Basemmath to wife, in order to please him;
and indeed he had a great affection for her.
CHAPTER 19. Concerning Jacob’s Flight Into Mesopotamia, By Reason Of The
Fear He Was In Of His Brother.
1. Now Jacob was sent by his mother to Mesopotamia, in order to marry
Laban her brother’s daughter [which marriage was permitted by Isaac, on
account of his obsequiousness to the desires of his wife]; and he
accordingly journeyed through the land of Canaan; and because he hated the
people of that country, he would not lodge with any of them, but took up
his lodging in the open air, and laid his head on a heap of stones that he
had gathered together. At which time he saw in his sleep such a vision
standing by him:—he seemed to see a ladder that reached from the
earth unto heaven, and persons descending upon the ladder that seemed more
excellent than human; and at last God himself stood above it, and was
plainly visible to him, who, calling him by his name, spake to him in
these words:—
2. “O Jacob, it is not fit for thee, who art the son of a good father, and
grandson of one who had obtained a great reputation for his eminent
virtue, to be dejected at thy present circumstances, but to hope for
better times, for thou shalt have great abundance of all good things, by
my assistance: for I brought Abraham hither, out of Mesopotamia, when he
was driven away by his kinsmen, and I made thy father a happy man, nor
will I bestow a lesser degree of happiness on thyself: be of good courage,
therefore, and under my conduct proceed on this thy journey, for the
marriage thou goest so zealously about shall be consummated. And thou
shalt have children of good characters, but their multitude shall be
innumerable; and they shall leave what they have to a still more numerous
posterity, to whom, and to whose posterity, I give the dominion of all the
land, and their posterity shall fill the entire earth and sea, so far as
the sun beholds them: but do not thou fear any danger, nor be afraid of
the many labors thou must undergo, for by my providence I will direct thee
what thou art to do in the time present, and still much more in the time
to come.”
3. Such were the predictions which God made to Jacob; whereupon he became
very joyful at what he had seen and heard; and he poured oil on the
stones, because on them the prediction of such great benefits was made. He
also vowed a vow, that he would offer sacrifices upon them, if he lived
and returned safe; and if he came again in such a condition, he would give
the tithe of what he had gotten to God. He also judged the place to be
honorable and gave it the name of Bethel, which, in the Greek, is
interpreted, The House of God.
4. So he proceeded on his journey to Mesopotamia, and at length came to
Haran; and meeting with shepherds in the suburbs, with boys grown up, and
maidens sitting about a certain well, he staid with them, as wanting water
to drink; and beginning to discourse with them, he asked them whether they
knew such a one as Laban, and whether he was still alive. Now they all
said they knew him, for he was not so inconsiderable a person as to be
unknown to any of them; and that his daughter fed her father’s flock
together with them; and that indeed they wondered that she was not yet
come, for by her means thou mightest learn more exactly whatever thou
desirest to know about that family. While they were saying this the damsel
came, and the other shepherds that came down along with her. Then they
showed her Jacob, and told her that he was a stranger, who came to inquire
about her father’s affairs. But she, as pleased, after the custom of
children, with Jacob’s coming, asked him who he was, and whence he came to
them, and what it was he lacked that he came thither. She also wished it
might be in their power to supply the wants he came about.
5. But Jacob was quite overcome, not so much by their kindred, nor by that
affection which might arise thence, as by his love to the damsel, and his
surprise at her beauty, which was so flourishing, as few of the women of
that age could vie with. He said then, “There is a relation between thee
and me, elder than either thy or my birth, if thou be the daughter of
Laban; for Abraham was the son of Terah, as well as Haran and Nahor. Of
the last of whom [Nahor] Bethuel thy grandfather was the son. Isaac my
father was the son of Abraham and of Sarah, who was the daughter of Haran.
But there is a nearer and later cement of mutual kindred which we bear to
one another, for my mother Rebeka was sister to Laban thy father, both by
the same father and mother; I therefore and thou are cousin-germans. And I
am now come to salute you, and to renew that affinity which is proper
between us.” Upon this the damsel, at the mention of Rebeka, as usually
happens to young persons, wept, and that out of the kindness she had for
her father, and embraced Jacob, she having learned an account of Rebeka
from her father, and knew that her parents loved to hear her named; and
when she had saluted him, she said that “he brought the most desirable and
greatest pleasures to her father, with all their family, who was always
mentioning his mother, and always thinking of her, and her alone; and that
this will make thee equal in his eyes to any advantageous circumstances
whatsoever.” Then she bid him go to her father, and follow her while she
conducted him to him; and not to deprive him of such a pleasure, by
staying any longer away from him.
6. When she had said thus, she brought him to Laban; and being owned by
his uncle, he was secure himself, as being among his friends; and he
brought a great deal of pleasure to them by his unexpected coning. But a
little while afterward, Laban told him that he could not express in words
the joy he had at his coming; but still he inquired of him the occasion of
his coming, and why he left his aged mother and father, when they wanted
to be taken care of by him; and that he would afford him all the
assistance he wanted. Then Jacob gave him an account of the whole occasion
of his journey, and told him, “that Isaac had two sons that were twins,
himself and Esau; who, because he failed of his father’s prayers, which by
his mother’s wisdom were put up for him, sought to kill him, as deprived
of the kingdom 34 which was to be given him of
God, and of the blessings for which their father prayed; and that this was
the occasion of his coming hither, as his mother had commanded him to do:
for we are all [says he] brethren one to another; but our mother esteems
an alliance with your family more than she does one with the families of
the country; so I look upon yourself and God to be the supporters of my
travels, and think myself safe in my present circumstances.”
7. Now Laban promised to treat him with great humanity, both on account of
his ancestors, and particularly for the sake of his mother, towards whom,
he said, he would show his kindness, even though she were absent, by
taking care of him; for he assured him he would make him the head shepherd
of his flock, and give him authority sufficient for that purpose; and when
he should have a mind to return to his parents, he would send him back
with presents, and this in as honorable a manner as the nearness of their
relation should require. This Jacob heard gladly; and said he would
willingly, and with pleasure, undergo any sort of pains while he tarried
with him, but desired Rachel to wife, as the reward of those pains, who
was not only on other accounts esteemed by him, but also because she was
the means of his coming to him; for he said he was forced by the love of
the damsel to make this proposal. Laban was well pleased with this
agreement, and consented to give the damsel to him, as not desirous to
meet with any better son-in-law; and said he would do this, if he would
stay with him some time, for he was not willing to send his daughter to be
among the Canaanites, for he repented of the alliance he had made already
by marrying his sister there. And when Jacob had given his consent to
this, he agreed to stay seven years; for so many years he had resolved to
serve his father-in-law, that, having given a specimen of his virtue, it
might be better known what sort of a man he was. And Jacob, accepting of
his terms, after the time was over, he made the wedding-feast; and when it
was night, without Jacob’s perceiving it, he put his other daughter into
bed to him, who was both elder than Rachel, and of no comely countenance:
Jacob lay with her that night, as being both in drink and in the dark.
However, when it was day, he knew what had been done to him; and he
reproached Laban for his unfair proceeding with him; who asked pardon for
that necessity which forced him to do what he did; for he did not give him
Lea out of any ill design, but as overcome by another greater necessity:
that, notwithstanding this, nothing should hinder him from marrying
Rachel; but that when he had served another seven years, he would give him
her whom he loved. Jacob submitted to this condition, for his love to the
damsel did not permit him to do otherwise; and when another seven years
were gone, he took Rachel to wife.
8. Now each of these had handmaids, by their father’s donation. Zilpha was
handmaid to Lea, and Bilha to Rachel; by no means slaves, 35
but however subject to their mistresses. Now Lea was sorely troubled at
her husband’s love to her sister; and she expected she should be better
esteemed if she bare him children: so she entreated God perpetually; and
when she had borne a son, and her husband was on that account better
reconciled to her, she named her son Reubel, because God had had mercy
upon her, in giving her a son, for that is the signification of this name.
After some time she bare three more sons; Simeon, which name signifies
that God had hearkened to her prayer. Then she bare Levi, the confirmer of
their friendship. After him was born Judah, which denotes thanksgiving.
But Rachel, fearing lest the fruitfulness of her sister should make
herself enjoy a lesser share of Jacob’s affections, put to bed to him her
handmaid Bilha; by whom Jacob had Dan: one may interpret that name into
the Greek tongue, a divine judgment. And after him Nephthalim, as it were,
unconquerable in stratagems, since Rachel tried to conquer the
fruitfulness of her sister by this stratagem. Accordingly, Lea took the
same method, and used a counter-stratagem to that of her sister; for she
put to bed to him her own handmaid. Jacob therefore had by Zilpha a son,
whose name was Gad, which may be interpreted fortune; and after him Asher,
which may be called a happy man, because he added glory to Lea. Now
Reubel, the eldest son of Lea, brought apples of mandrakes 36
to his mother. When Rachel saw them, she desired that she would give her
the apples, for she longed to eat them; but when she refused, and bid her
be content that she had deprived her of the benevolence she ought to have
had from her husband, Rachel, in order to mitigate her sister’s anger,
said she would yield her husband to her; and he should lie with her that
evening. She accepted of the favor, and Jacob slept with Lea, by the favor
of Rachel. She bare then these sons: Issachar, denoting one born by hire:
and Zabulon, one born as a pledge of benevolence towards her; and a
daughter, Dina. After some time Rachel had a son, named Joseph, which
signified there should be another added to him.
9. Now Jacob fed the flocks of Laban his father-in-law all this time,
being twenty years, after which he desired leave of his father-in-law to
take his wives and go home; but when his father-in-law would not give him
leave, he contrived to do it secretly. He made trial therefore of the
disposition of his wives what they thought of this journey;—when
they appeared glad, and approved of it. Rachel took along with her the
images of the gods, which, according to their laws, they used to worship
in their own country, and ran away together with her sister. The children
also of them both, and the handmaids, and what possessions they had, went
along with them. Jacob also drove away half the cattle, without letting
Laban know of it beforehand But the reason why Rachel took the images of
the gods, although Jacob had taught her to despise such worship of those
gods, was this, That in case they were pursued, and taken by her father,
she might have recourse to these images, in order to obtain his pardon.
10. But Laban, after one day’s time, being acquainted with Jacob’s and his
daughters’ departure, was much troubled, and pursued after them, leading a
band of men with him; and on the seventh day overtook them, and found them
resting on a certain hill; and then indeed he did not meddle with them,
for it was even-tide; but God stood by him in a dream, and warned him to
receive his son-in-law and his daughters in a peaceable manner; and not to
venture upon any thing rashly, or in wrath to but to make a league with
Jacob. And he told him, that if he despised their small number, attacked them
in a hostile manner, he would assist them. When Laban had been thus
forewarned by God, he called Jacob to him the next day, in order to treat
with him, and showed him what dream he had; in dependence whereupon he
came confidently to him, and began to accuse him, alleging that he had
entertained him when he was poor, and in want of all things, and had given
him plenty of all things which he had. “For,” said he, “I have joined my
daughters to thee in marriage, and supposed that thy kindness to me be
greater than before; but thou hast had no regard to either thy mother’s
relations to me, nor to the affinity now newly contracted between us; nor
to those wives whom thou hast married; nor to those children, of whom I am
the grandfather. Thou hast treated me as an enemy, driving away my cattle,
and by persuading my daughters to run away from their father; and by
carrying home those sacred paternal images which were worshipped by my
forefathers, and have been honored with the like worship which they paid
them by myself. In short, thou hast done this whilst thou art my kinsman,
and my sister’s son, and the husband of my daughters, and was hospitably
treated by me, and didst eat at my table.” When Laban had said this, Jacob
made his defense—That he was not the only person in whom God had
implanted the love of his native country, but that he had made it natural
to all men; and that therefore it was but reasonable that, after so long
time, he should go back to it. “But as to the prey, of whose driving away
thou accusest me, if any other person were the arbitrator, thou wouldst be
found in the wrong; for instead of those thanks I ought to have had from
thee, for both keeping thy cattle, and increasing them, how is it that
thou art unjustly angry at me because I have taken, and have with me, a
small portion of them? But then, as to thy daughters, take notice, that it
is not through any evil practices of mine that they follow me in my return
home, but from that just affection which wives naturally have to their
husbands. They follow therefore not so properly myself as their own
children.” And thus far of his apology was made, in order to clear himself
of having acted unjustly. To which he added his own complaint and
accusation of Laban; saying, “While I was thy sister’s son, and thou hadst
given me thy daughters in marriage, thou hast worn me out with thy harsh
commands, and detained me twenty years under them. That indeed which was
required in order to my marrying thy daughters, hard as it was, I own to
have been tolerable; but as to those that were put upon me after those
marriages, they were worse, and such indeed as an enemy would have
avoided.” For certainly Laban had used Jacob very ill; for when he saw
that God was assisting to Jacob in all that he desired, he promised him,
that of the young cattle which should be born, he should have sometimes
what was of a white color, and sometimes what should be of a black color;
but when those that came to Jacob’s share proved numerous, he did not keep
his faith with him, but said he would give them to him the next year,
because of his envying him the multitude of his possessions. He promised
him as before, because he thought such an increase was not to be expected;
but when it appeared to be fact, he deceived him.
11. But then, as to the sacred images, he bid him search for them; and
when Laban accepted of the offer, Rachel, being informed of it, put those
images into that camel’s saddle on which she rode, and sat upon it; and
said, that her natural purgation hindered her rising up: so Laban left off
searching any further, not supposing that his daughter in such
circumstances would approach to those images. So he made a league with
Jacob, and bound it by oaths, that he would not bear him any malice on
account of what had happened; and Jacob made the like league, and promised
to love Laban’s daughters. And these leagues they confirmed with oaths
also, which the made upon certain as whereon they erected a pillar, in the
form of an altar: whence that hill is called Gilead; and from thence they
call that land the Land of Gilead at this day. Now when they had feasted,
after the making of the league, Laban returned home.
CHAPTER 20. Concerning The Meeting Of Jacob And Esau.
1. Now as Jacob was proceeding on his journey to the land of Canaan,
angels appeared to him, and suggested to him good hope of his future
condition; and that place he named the Camp of God. And being desirous of
knowing what his brother’s intentions were to him, he sent messengers, to
give him an exact account of every thing, as being afraid, on account of
the enmities between them. He charged those that were sent, to say to
Esau, “Jacob had thought it wrong to live together with him while he was
in anger against him, and so had gone out of the country; and that he now,
thinking the length of time of his absence must have made up their
differences, was returning; that he brought with him his wives, and his
children, with what possessions he had gotten; and delivered himself, with
what was most dear to him, into his hands; and should think it his
greatest happiness to partake together with his brother of what God had
bestowed upon him.” So these messengers told him this message. Upon which
Esau was very glad, and met his brother with four hundred men. And Jacob,
when he heard that he was coming to meet him with such a number of men,
was greatly afraid: however, he committed his hope of deliverance to God;
and considered how, in his present circumstances, he might preserve
himself and those that were with him, and overcome his enemies if they
attacked him injuriously. He therefore distributed his company into parts;
some he sent before the rest, and the others he ordered to come close
behind, that so, if the first were overpowered when his brother attacked
them, they might have those that followed as a refuge to fly unto. And
when he had put his company in this order, he sent some of them to carry
presents to his brother. The presents were made up of cattle, and a great
number of four-footed beasts, of many kinds, such as would be very
acceptable to those that received them, on account of their rarity. Those
who were sent went at certain intervals of space asunder, that, by
following thick, one after another, they might appear to be more numerous,
that Esau might remit of his anger on account of these presents, if he
were still in a passion. Instructions were also given to those that were
sent to speak gently to him.
2. When Jacob had made these appointments all the day, and night came on,
he moved on with his company; and, as they were gone over a certain river
called Jabboc, Jacob was left behind; and meeting with an angel, he
wrestled with him, the angel beginning the struggle: but he prevailed over
the angel, who used a voice, and spake to him in words, exhorting him to
be pleased with what had happened to him, and not to suppose that his
victory was a small one, but that he had overcome a divine angel, and to
esteem the victory as a sign of great blessings that should come to him,
and that his offspring should never fall, and that no man should be too
hard for his power. He also commanded him to be called Israel, which in
the Hebrew tongue signifies one that struggled with the divine angel. 37
These promises were made at the prayer of Jacob; for when he perceived him
to be the angel of God, he desired he would signify to him what should
befall him hereafter. And when the angel had said what is before related,
he disappeared; but Jacob was pleased with these things, and named the
place Phanuel, which signifies, the face of God. Now when he felt pain, by
this struggling, upon his broad sinew, he abstained from eating that sinew
himself afterward; and for his sake it is still not eaten by us.
3. When Jacob understood that his brother was near, he ordered his wives
to go before, each by herself, with the handmaids, that they might see the
actions of the men as they were fighting, if Esau were so disposed. He
then went up to his brother Esau, and bowed down to him, who had no evil
design upon him, but saluted him; and asked him about the company of the
children and of the women; and desired, when he had understood all he
wanted to know about them, that he would go along with him to their
father; but Jacob pretending that the cattle were weary, Esau returned to
Seir, for there was his place of habitation, he having named the place
Roughness, from his own hairy roughness.
CHAPTER 21. Concerning The Violation Of Dina’s Chastity.
1. Hereupon Jacob came to the place, till this day called Tents [Succoth];
from whence he went to Shechem, which is a city of the Canaanites. Now as
the Shechemites were keeping a festival Dina, who was the only daughter of
Jacob, went into the city to see the finery of the women of that country.
But when Shechem, the son of Hamor the king, saw her, he defiled her by
violence; and being greatly in love with her, desired of his father that
he would procure the damsel to him for a wife. To which desire he
condescended, and came to Jacob, desiring him to give leave that his son
Shechem might, according to law, marry Dina. But Jacob, not knowing how to
deny the desire of one of such great dignity, and yet not thinking it
lawful to marry his daughter to a stranger, entreated him to give him
leave to have a consultation about what he desired him to do. So the king
went away, in hopes that Jacob would grant him this marriage. But Jacob
informed his sons of the defilement of their sister, and of the address of
Hamor; and desired them to give their advice what they should do. Upon
thiss, the greatest part said nothing, not knowing what advice to give.
But Simeon and Levi, the brethren of the damsel by the same mother, agreed
between themselves upon the action following: It being now the time of a
festival, when the Shechemites were employed in ease and feasting, they
fell upon the watch when they were asleep, and, coming into the city, slew
all the males 38 as also the king, and his son,
with them; but spared the women. And when they had done this without their
father’s consent, they brought away their sister.
2. Now while Jacob was astonished at the greatness of this act, and was
severely blaming his sons for it, God stood by him, and bid him be of good
courage; but to purify his tents, and to offer those sacrifices which he
had vowed to offer when he went first into Mesopotamia, and saw his
vision. As he was therefore purifying his followers, he lighted upon the
gods of Laban; [for he did not before know they were stolen by Rachel;]
and he hid them in the earth, under an oak, in Shechem. And departing
thence, he offered sacrifice at Bethel, the place where he saw his dream,
when he went first into Mesopotamia.
3. And when he was gone thence, and was come over against Ephrata, he
there buried Rachel, who died in child-bed: she was the only one of
Jacob’s kindred that had not the honor of burial at Hebron. And when he
had mourned for her a great while, he called the son that was born of her
Benjamin, 39
because of the sorrow the mother had with him. These are all the children
of Jacob, twelve males and one female.–Of them eight were
legitimate,–viz. six of Lea, and two of Rachel; and four were of the
handmaids, two of each; all whose names have been set down already.
CHAPTER 22. How Isaac Died, And Was Buried In Hebron.
From thence Jacob came to Hebron, a city situate among the Canaanites; and
there it was that Isaac lived: and so they lived together for a little
while; for as to Rebeka, Jacob did not find her alive. Isaac also died not
long after the coming of his son; and was buried by his sons, with his
wife, in Hebron, where they had a monument belonging to them from their
forefathers. Now Isaac was a man who was beloved of God, and was
vouchsafed great instances of providence by God, after Abraham his father,
and lived to be exceeding old; for when he had lived virtuously one
hundred and eighty-five years, he then died.
FOOTNOTES:
1 (return)
[ Since Josephus, in his
Preface, sect. 4, says that Moses wrote some things enigmatically, some
allegorically, and the rest in plain words, since in his account of the
first chapter of Genesis, and the first three verses of the second, he
gives us no hints of any mystery at all; but when he here comes to ver. 4,
etc., he says that Moses, after the seventh day was over, began to talk
philosophically; it is not very improbable that he understood the rest of
the second and the third chapters in some enigmatical, or allegorical, or
philosophical sense. The change of the name of God just at this place,
from Elohim to Jehovah Elohim, from God to Lord God, in the Hebrew,
Samaritan, and Septuagint, does also not a little favor some such change
in the narration or construction.]
2 (return)
[ We may observe here, that
Josephus supposed man to be compounded of spirit, soul, and body, with St.
Paul, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, and the rest of the ancients: he elsewhere
says also, that the blood of animals was forbidden to be eaten, as having
in it soul and spirit, Antiq. B. III. ch. 11. sect. 2.]
3 (return)
[ Whence this strange notion
came, which yet is not peculiar to Joseph, but, as Dr. Hudson says here,
is derived from older authors, as if four of the greatest rivers in the
world, running two of them at vast distances from the other two, by some
means or other watered paradise, is hard to say. Only since Josephus has
already appeared to allegorize this history, and take notice that these
four names had a particular signification; Phison for Ganges, a multitude;
Phrath for Euphrates, either a dispersion or a flower; Diglath for Tigris,
what is swift, with narrowness; and Geon for Nile, what arises from the
east,—we perhaps mistake him when we suppose he literally means
those four rivers; especially as to Geon or Nile, which arises from the
east, while he very well knew the literal Nile arises from the south;
though what further allegorical sense he had in view, is now, I fear,
impossible to be determined.]
4 (return)
[ By the Red Sea is not here
meant the Arabian Gulf, which alone we now call by that name, but all that
South Sea, which included the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, as far as the
East Indies; as Reland and Hudson here truly note, from the old
geographers.]
5 (return)
[ Hence it appears, that
Josephus thought several, at least, of the brute animals, particularly the
serpent, could speak before the fall. And I think few of the more perfect
kinds of those animals want the organs of speech at this day. Many
inducements there are also to a notion, that the present state they are
in, is not their original state; and that their capacities have been once
much greater than we now see them, and are capable of being restored to
their former condition. But as to this most ancient, and authentic, and
probably allegorical account of that grand affair of the fall of our first
parents, I have somewhat more to say in way of conjecture, but being only
a conjecture, I omit it: only thus far, that the imputation of the sin of
our first parents to their posterity, any further than as some way the
cause or occasion of man’s mortality, seems almost entirely groundless;
and that both man, and the other subordinate creatures, are hereafter to
be delivered from the curse then brought upon them, and at last to be
delivered from that bondage of corruption, Romans 8:19-22.]
6 (return)
[ St. John’s account of the
reason why God accepted the sacrifice of Abel, and rejected that of Cain;
as also why Cain slew Abel, on account of that his acceptance with God, is
much better than this of Josephus: I mean, because “Cain was of the evil
one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own
works were evil, and his brother’s righteous,” 1 John 3:12. Josephus’s
reason seems to be no better than a pharisaical notion or tradition.]
7 (return)
[ From this Jubal, not
improbably, came Jobel, the trumpet of jobel or jubilee; that large and
loud musical instrument, used in proclaiming the liberty at the year of
jubilee.]
8 (return)
[ The number of Adam’s
children, as says the old tradition was thirty-three sons, and
twenty-three daughters.]
9 (return)
[ What is here said of Seth
and his posterity, that they were very good and virtuous, and at the same
time very happy, without any considerable misfortunes, for seven
generations, [see ch. 2. sect. 1, before; and ch. 3. sect. 1, hereafter,]
is exactly agreeable to the state of the world and the conduct of
Providence in all the first ages.]
10 (return)
[ Of Josephus’s mistake
here, when he took Seth the son of Adam, for Seth or Sesostris, king of
Egypt, the erector of this pillar in the land of Siriad, see Essay on the
Old Testament, Appendix, p. 159, 160. Although the main of this relation
might be true, and Adam might foretell a conflagration and a deluge, which
all antiquity witnesses to be an ancient tradition; nay, Seth’s posterity
might engrave their inventions in astronomy on two such pillars; yet it is
no way credible that they could survive the deluge, which has buried all
such pillars and edifices far under ground in the sediment of its waters,
especially since the like pillars of the Egyptian Seth or Sesostris were
extant after the flood, in the land of Siriad, and perhaps in the days of
Josephus also, as is shown in the place here referred to.]
11 (return)
[ This notion, that the
fallen angels were, in some sense, the fathers of the old giants, was the
constant opinion of antiquity.]
12 (return)
[ Josephus here supposes
that the life of these giants, for of them only do I understand him, was
now reduced to 120 years; which is confirmed by the fragment of Enoch,
sect. 10, in Authent. Rec. Part I. p. 268. For as to the rest of mankind,
Josephus himself confesses their lives were much longer than 120 years,
for many generations after the flood, as we shall see presently; and he
says they were gradually shortened till the days of Moses, and then fixed
[for some time] at 120, ch. 6. sect. 5. Nor indeed need we suppose that
either Enoch or Josephus meant to interpret these 120 years for the life
of men before the flood, to be different from the 120 years of God’s
patience [perhaps while the ark was preparing] till the deluge; which I
take to be the meaning of God when he threatened this wicked world, that
if they so long continued impenitent, their days should be no more than
120 years.]
13 (return)
[ A cubit is about 21
English inches.]
14 (return)
[ Josephus here truly
determines, that the year at the Flood began about the autumnal equinox.
As to what day of the month the Flood began, our Hebrew and Samaritan, and
perhaps Josephus’s own copy, more rightly placed it on the 17th day,
instead of the 27th, as here; for Josephus agrees with them, as to the
distance of 150 days to the 17th day of the 7th month, as Genesis 7. ult.
with 8:3.]
15 (return)
[ Josephus here takes
notice, that these ancient genealogies were first set down by those that
then lived, and from them were transmitted down to posterity; which I
suppose to be the true account of that matter. For there is no reason to
imagine that men were not taught to read and write soon after they were
taught to speak; and perhaps all by the Messiah himself, who, under the
Father, was the Creator or Governor of mankind, and who frequently in
those early days appeared to them.]
16 (return)
[ This [GREEK], or Place of
Descent, is the proper rendering of the Armenian name of this very city.
It is called in Ptolemy Naxuana, and by Moses Chorenensis, the Armenian
historian, Idsheuan; but at the place itself Nachidsheuan, which signifies
The first place of descent, and is a lasting monument of the preservation
of Noah in the ark, upon the top of that mountain, at whose foot it was
built, as the first city or town after the flood. See Antiq. B. XX. ch. 2.
sect. 3; and Moses Chorenensis, who also says elsewhere, that another town
was related by tradition to have been called Seron, or, The Place of
Dispersion, on account of the dispersion of Xisuthrus’s or Noah’s sons,
from thence first made. Whether any remains of this ark be still
preserved, as the people of the country suppose, I cannot certainly tell.
Mons. Tournefort had, not very long since, a mind to see the place
himself, but met with too great dangers and difficulties to venture
through them.]
17 (return)
[ One observation ought not
here to be neglected, with regard to that Ethiopic war which Moses, as
general of the Egyptians, put an end to, Antiq. B. II. ch. 10., and about
which our late writers seem very much unconcerned; viz. that it was a war
of that consequence, as to occasion the removal or destruction of six or
seven nations of the posterity of Mitzraim, with their cities; which
Josephus would not have said, if he had not had ancient records to justify
those his assertions, though those records be now all lost.]
18 (return)
[ That the Jews were called
Hebrews from this their progenitor Heber, our author Josephus here rightly
affirms; and not from Abram the Hebrew, or passenger over Euphrates, as
many of the moderns suppose. Shem is also called the father of all the
children of Heber, or of all the Hebrews, in a history long before Abram
passed over Euphrates, Genesis 10:21, though it must be confessed that,
Genesis 14:13, where the original says they told Abram the Hebrew, the
Septuagint renders it the passenger, [GREEK]: but this is spoken only of
Abram himself, who had then lately passed over Euphrates, and is another
signification of the Hebrew word, taken as an appellative, and not as a
proper name.]
19 (return)
[ It is worth noting here,
that God required no other sacrifices under the law of Moses, than what
were taken from these five kinds of animals which he here required of
Abram. Nor did the Jews feed upon any other domestic animals than the
three here named, as Reland observes on Antiq. B. IV. ch. 4. sect. 4.]
20 (return)
[ As to this affliction of
Abram’s posterity for 400 years, see Antiq. B. II. ch. 9. sect. 1.]
21 (return)
[ These sons-in-law to Lot,
as they are called, Genesis 19:12-14, might be so styled, because they
were betrothed to Lot’s daughters, though not yet married to them. See the
note on Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 13. sect. 1.]
22 (return)
[ Of the War, B. IV. ch. 8.
sect. 4.]
23 (return)
[ This pillar of salt was,
we see here, standing in the days of Josephus, and he had seen it. That it
was standing then is also attested by Clement of Rome, contemporary with
Josephus; as also that it was so in the next century, is attested by
Irenaeus, with the addition of an hypothesis, how it came to last so long,
with all its members entire.—Whether the account that some modern
travelers give be true, that it is still standing, I do not know. Its
remote situation, at the most southern point of the Sea of Sodom, in the
wild and dangerous deserts of Arabia, makes it exceeding difficult for
inquisitive travelers to examine the place; and for common reports of
country people, at a distance, they are not very satisfactory. In the mean
time, I have no opinion of Le Clerc’s dissertation or hypothesis about
this question, which can only be determined by eye-witnesses. When
Christian princes, so called, lay aside their foolish and unchristian wars
and quarrels, and send a body of fit persons to travel over the east, and
bring us faithful accounts of all ancient monuments, and procure us copies
of all ancient records, at present lost among us, we may hope for full
satisfaction in such inquiries; but hardly before.]
24 (return)
[ I see no proper wicked
intention in these daughters of Lot, when in a case which appeared to them
of unavoidable necessity, they procured themselves to be with child by
their father. Without such an unavoidable necessity, incest is a horrid
crime; but whether in such a case of necessity, as they apprehended this
to be, according to Josephus, it was any such crime, I am not satisfied.
In the mean time, their making their father drunk, and their solicitous
concealment of what they did from him, shows that they despaired of
persuading him to an action which, at the best, could not but be very
suspicious and shocking to so good a man.]
25 (return)
[ It is well worth
observation, that Josephus here calls that principal Angel, who appeared
to Abraham and foretold the birth of Isaac, directly God; which language
of Josephus here, prepares us to believe those other expressions of his,
that Jesus was a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, Antiq. B.
XVIII. ch. 3. sect. 3, and of God the Word, in his homily concerning
Hades, may be both genuine. Nor is the other expression of Divine Angel,
used presently, and before, also of any other signification.]
26 (return)
[ Josephus here calls
Ismael a young child or infant, though he was about 13 years of age; as
Judas calls himself and his brethren young men, when he was 47, and had
two children, Antiq. B. II. ch. 6. sect. 8, and they were of much the same
age; as is a damsel of 12 years old called a little child, Mark 5:39-42,
five several times. Herod is also said by Josephus to be a very young man
at 25. See the note on Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 9. sect 2, and of the War, B. I.
ch. 10. And Aristobulus is styled a very little child at 16 years of age,
Antiq. B. XV. ch. 2. sect. 6, 7. Domitian also is called by him a very
young child, when he went on his German expedition at about 18 years of
age, of the War, B. VII. ch. 4. sect. 2. Samson’s wife, and Ruth, when
they were widows, are called children, Antiq. B. V. ch. 8. sect. 6, and
ch. 9. sect. 2 3.]
27 (return)
[ Note, that both here and
Hebrews 11:17, Isaac is called Abraham’s only begotten son, though he at
the same time had another son, Ismael. The Septuagint expresses the true
meaning, by rendering the text the beloved son.]
28 (return)
[ Here is a plain error in
the copies which say that king David afterwards built the temple on this
Mount Moriah, while it was certainly no other than king Solomon who built
that temple, as indeed Procopius cites it from Josephus. For it was for
certain David, and not Solomon, who built the first altar there, as we
learn, 2 Samuel 24:18, etc.; 1 Chronicles 21:22, etc.; and Antiq. B. VII.
ch. 13. sect. 4.]
29 (return)
[ It seems both here, and
in God’s parallel blessing to Jacob, ch. 19. sect. 1, that Josephus had
yet no notion of the hidden meaning of that most important and most
eminent promise, “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed. He saith not, and of seeds, as of many, but as of one; and to thy
seed, which is Christ,” Galatians 3:16. Nor is it any wonder, he being, I
think, as yet not a Christian. And had he been a Christian, yet since he
was, to be sure, till the latter part of his life, no more than an
Ebionite Christian, who, above all the apostles, rejected and despised St.
Paul, it would be no great wonder if he did not now follow his
interpretation. In the mean time, we have in effect St. Paul’s exposition
in the Testament of Reuben, sect. 6, in Authent. Rec. Part I. p. 302, who
charges his sons “to worship the seed of Judah, who should die for them in
visible and invisible wars; and should be among them an eternal king.” Nor
is that observation of a learned foreigner of my acquaintance to be
despised, who takes notice, that as seeds in the plural, must signify
posterity, so seed in the singular may signify either posterity, or a
single person; and that in this promise of all nations being happy in the
seed of Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob, etc., it is always used in the
singular. To which I shall add, that it is sometimes, as it were,
paraphrased by the son of Abraham, the son of David, etc., which is
capable of no such ambiguity.]
30 (return)
[ The birth of Jacob and
Esau is here said to be after Abraham’s death: it should have been after
Sarah’s death. The order of the narration in Genesis, not always exactly
according to the order of time, seems to have led Josephus into this
error, as Dr. Bernard observes here.]
31 (return)
[ For Seir in Josephus, the
coherence requires that we read Esau or Seir, which signify the same
thing.]
32 (return)
[ The supper of savory
meat, as we call it, Genesis 27:4, to be caught by hunting, was intended
plainly for a festival or a sacrifice; and upon the prayers that were
frequent at sacrifices, Isaac expected, as was then usual in such eminent
cases, that a divine impulse would come upon him, in order to the blessing
of his son there present, and his foretelling his future behavior and
fortune. Whence it must be, that when Isaac had unwittingly blessed Jacob,
and was afterwards made sensible of his mistake, yet did he not attempt to
alter it, how earnestly soever his affection for Esau might incline him to
wish it might be altered, because he knew that this blessing came not from
himself, but from God, and that an alteration was out of his power. A
second afflatus then came upon him, and enabled him to foretell Esau’s
future behavior and foretell Esau’s future behavior and fortune also.]
33 (return)
[ Whether Jacob or his
mother Rebeka were most blameable in this imposition upon Isaac in his old
age, I cannot determine. However the blessing being delivered as a
prediction of future events, by a Divine impulse, and foretelling things
to befall to the posterity of Jacob and Esau in future ages, was for
certain providential; and according to what Rebeka knew to be the purpose
of God, when he answered her inquiry, “before the children were born,”
Genesis 25:23, “that one people should be stronger than the other people;
and the elder, Esau, should serve the younger, Jacob.” Whether Isaac knew
or remembered this old oracle, delivered in our copies only to Rebeka; or
whether, if he knew and remembered it, he did not endeavor to alter the
Divine determination, out of his fondness for his elder and worser son
Esau, to the damage of his younger and better son Jacob, as Josephus
elsewhere supposes, Antiq. B. II. ch. 7. sect. 3; I cannot certainly say.
If so, this might tempt Rebeka to contrive, and Jacob to put this
imposition upon him. However, Josephus says here, that it was Isaac, and
not Rebeka, who inquired of God at first, and received the forementioned
oracle, sect. 1; which, if it be the true reading, renders Isaac’s
procedure more inexcusable. Nor was it probably any thing else that so
much encouraged Esau formerly to marry two Canaanitish wives, without his
parents’ consent, as Isaac’s unhappy fondness for him.]
34 (return)
[ By this “deprivation of
the kingdom that was to be given Esau of God,” as the first-born, it
appears that Josephus thought that a “kingdom to be derived from God” was
due to him whom Isaac should bless as his first-born, which I take to be
that kingdom which was expected under the Messiah, who therefore was to be
born of his posterity whom Isaac should so bless. Jacob therefore by
obtaining this blessing of the first-born, became the genuine heir of that
kingdom, in opposition to Esau.]
35 (return)
[ Here we have the
difference between slaves for life and servants, such as we now hire for a
time agreed upon on both sides, and dismiss again after he time contracted
for is over, which are no slaves, but free men and free women.
Accordingly, when the Apostolical Constitutions forbid a clergyman to
marry perpetual servants or slaves, B. VI. ch. 17., it is meant only of
the former sort; as we learn elsewhere from the same Constitutions, ch.
47. Can. LXXXII. But concerning these twelve sons of Jacob, the reasons of
their several names, and the times of their several births in the
intervals here assigned, their several excellent characters, their several
faults and repentance, the several accidents of their lives, with their
several prophecies at their deaths, see the Testaments of these twelve
patriarchs, still preserved at large in the Authent. Rec. Part I. p.
294-443.]
36 (return)
[ I formerly explained
these mandrakes, as we, with the Septuagint, and Josephus, render the
Hebrew word Dudaim, of the Syrian Maux, with Ludolphus, Antbent. Rec. Part
I. p. 420; but have since seen such a very probable account in M. S. of my
learned friend Mr. Samuel Barker, of what we still call mandrakes, and
their description by the ancient naturalists and physicians, as inclines
me to think these here mentioned were really mandrakes, and no other.]
37 (return)
[ Perhaps this may be the
proper meaning of the word Israel, by the present and the old Jerusalem
analogy of the Hebrew tongue. In the mean time, it is certain that the
Hellenists of the first century, in Egypt and elsewhere, interpreted
Israel to be a man seeing God, as is evident from the argument
fore-cited.]
38 (return)
[ Of this slaughter of the
Shechemites by Simeon and Levi, see Authent. Rec. Part I. p. 309, 418,
432-439. But why Josephus has omitted the circumcision of these
Shechemites, as the occasion of their death; and of Jacob’s great grief,
as in the Testament of Levi, sect. 5; I cannot tell.]
39 (return)
[ Since Benoni signifies
the son of my sorrow, and Benjamin the son of days, or one born in the
father’s old age, Genesis 44:20, I suspect Josephus’s present copies to be
here imperfect, and suppose that, in correspondence to other copies, he
wrote that Rachel called her son’s name Benoni, but his father called him
Benjamin, Genesis 35:18. As for Benjamin, as commonly explained, the son
of the right hand, it makes no sense at all, and seems to be a gross
modern error only. The Samaritan always writes this name truly Benjamin,
which probably is here of the same signification, only with the Chaldee
termination in, instead of im in the Hebrew; as we pronounce cherubin or
cherubim indifferently. Accordingly, both the Testament of Benjamin, sect.
2, p. 401, and Philo de Nominum Mutatione, p. 1059, write the name
Benjamin, but explain it not the son of the right hand, but the son of
days.]
BOOK II. Containing The Interval Of Two Hundred And Twenty Years.—From
The Death Of Isaac To The Exodus Out Of Egypt.
CHAPTER 1. How Esau And Jacob, Isaac’s Sons Divided Their Habitation; And
Esau Possessed Idumea And Jacob Canaan.
1. After the death of Isaac, his sons divided their habitations
respectively; nor did they retain what they had before; but Esau departed
from the city of Hebron, and left it to his brother, and dwelt in Seir,
and ruled over Idumea. He called the country by that name from himself,
for he was named Adom; which appellation he got on the following occasion:—One
day returning from the toil of hunting very hungry, [it was when he was a
child in age,] he lighted on his brother when he was getting ready
lentile-pottage for his dinner, which was of a very red color; on which
account he the more earnestly longed for it, and desired him to give him
some of it to eat: but he made advantage of his brother’s hunger, and
forced him to resign up to him his birthright; and he, being pinched with
famine, resigned it up to him, under an oath. Whence it came, that, on
account of the redness of this pottage, he was, in way of jest, by his
contemporaries, called Adom, for the Hebrews call what is red Adom; and
this was the name given to the country; but the Greeks gave it a more
agreeable pronunciation, and named it Idumea.
2. He became the father of five sons; of whom Jaus, and Jalomus, and
Coreus, were by one wife, whose name was Alibama; but of the rest, Aliphaz
was born to him by Ada, and Raguel by Basemmath: and these were the sons
of Esau. Aliphaz had five legitimate sons; Theman, Omer, Saphus, Gotham,
and Kanaz; for Amalek was not legitimate, but by a concubine, whose name
was Thamna. These dwelt in that part of Idumea which is called Gebalitis,
and that denominated from Amalek, Amalekitis; for Idumea was a large
country, and did then preserve the name of the whole, while in its several
parts it kept the names of its peculiar inhabitants.
CHAPTER 2. How Joseph, The Youngest Of Jacob’s Sons, Was Envied By His
Brethren, When Certain Dreams Had Foreshown His Future Happiness.
1. It happened that Jacob came to so great happiness as rarely any other
person had arrived at. He was richer than the rest of the inhabitants of
that country; and was at once envied and admired for such virtuous sons,
for they were deficient in nothing, but were of great souls, both for
laboring with their hands and enduring of toil; and shrewd also in
understanding. And God exercised such a providence over him, and such a
care of his happiness, as to bring him the greatest blessings, even out of
what appeared to be the most sorrowful condition; and to make him the
cause of our forefathers’ departure out of Egypt, him and his posterity.
The occasion was this:—When Jacob had his son Joseph born to him by
Rachel, his father loved him above the rest of his sons, both because of
the beauty of his body, and the virtues of his mind, for he excelled the
rest in prudence. This affection of his father excited the envy and the
hatred of his brethren; as did also his dreams which he saw, and related
to his father, and to them, which foretold his future happiness, it being
usual with mankind to envy their very nearest relations such their
prosperity. Now the visions which Joseph saw in his sleep were these:—
2. When they were in the middle of harvest, and Joseph was sent by his
father, with his brethren, to gather the fruits of the earth, he saw a
vision in a dream, but greatly exceeding the customary appearances that
come when we are asleep; which, when he was got up, he told his brethren,
that they might judge what it portended. He said, he saw the last night,
that his wheat-sheaf stood still in the place where he set it, but that
their sheaves ran to bow down to it, as servants bow down to their
masters. But as soon as they perceived the vision foretold that he should
obtain power and great wealth, and that his power should be in opposition
to them, they gave no interpretation of it to Joseph, as if the dream were
not by them understood: but they prayed that no part of what they
suspected to be its meaning might come to pass; and they bare a still
greater hatred to him on that account.
3. But God, in opposition to their envy, sent a second vision to Joseph,
which was much more wonderful than the former; for it seemed to him that
the sun took with him the moon, and the rest of the stars, and came down
to the earth, and bowed down to him. He told the vision to his father, and
that, as suspecting nothing of ill-will from his brethren, when they were
there also, and desired him to interpret what it should signify. Now Jacob
was pleased with the dream: for, considering the prediction in his mind,
and shrewdly and wisely guessing at its meaning, he rejoiced at the great
things thereby signified, because it declared the future happiness of his
son; and that, by the blessing of God, the time would come when he should
be honored, and thought worthy of worship by his parents and brethren, as
guessing that the moon and sun were like his mother and father; the
former, as she that gave increase and nourishment to all things; and the
latter, he that gave form and other powers to them; and that the stars
were like his brethren, since they were eleven in number, as were the
stars that receive their power from the sun and moon.
4. And thus did Jacob make a judgment of this vision, and that a shrewd
one also. But these interpretations caused very great grief to Joseph’s
brethren; and they were affected to him hereupon as if he were a certain
stranger, that was to those good things which were signified by the dreams
and not as one that was a brother, with whom it was probable they should
be joint-partakers; and as they had been partners in the same parentage,
so should they be of the same happiness. They also resolved to kill the
lad; and having fully ratified that intention of theirs, as soon as their
collection of the fruits was over, they went to Shechem, which is a
country good for feeding of cattle, and for pasturage; there they fed
their flocks, without acquainting their father with their removal thither;
whereupon he had melancholy suspicions about them, as being ignorant of
his sons’ condition, and receiving no messenger from the flocks that could
inform him of the true state they were in; so, because he was in great
fear about them, he sent Joseph to the flocks, to learn the circumstances
his brethren were in, and to bring him word how they did.
CHAPTER 3. How Joseph Was Thus Sold By His Brethren Into Egypt, By Reason
Of Their Hatred To Him; And How He There Grew Famous And Illustrious And
Had His Brethren Under His Power.
1. Now these brethren rejoiced as soon as they saw their brother coming to
them, not indeed as at the presence of a near relation, or as at the
presence of one sent by their father, but as at the presence of an enemy,
and one that by Divine Providence was delivered into their hands; and they
already resolved to kill him, and not let slip the opportunity that lay
before them. But when Reubel, the eldest of them, saw them thus disposed,
and that they had agreed together to execute their purpose, he tried to
restrain them, showing them the heinous enterprise they were going about,
and the horrid nature of it; that this action would appear wicked in the
sight of God, and impious before men, even though they should kill one not
related to them; but much more flagitious and detestable to appear to have
slain their own brother, by which act the father must be treated unjustly
in the son’s slaughter, and the mother 1 also be in
perplexity while she laments that her son is taken away from her, and this
not in a natural way neither. So he entreated them to have a regard to
their own consciences, and wisely to consider what mischief would betide
them upon the death of so good a child, and their youngest brother; that
they would also fear God, who was already both a spectator and a witness
of the designs they had against their brother; that he would love them if
they abstained from this act, and yielded to repentance and amendment; but
in case they proceeded to do the fact, all sorts of punishments would
overtake them from God for this murder of their brother, since they
polluted his providence, which was every where present, and which did not
overlook what was done, either in deserts or in cities; for wheresoever a
man is, there ought he to suppose that God is also. He told them further,
that their consciences would be their enemies, if they attempted to go
through so wicked an enterprise, which they can never avoid, whether it be
a good conscience; or whether it be such a one as they will have within
them when once they have killed their brother. He also added this besides
to what he had before said, that it was not a righteous thing to kill a
brother, though he had injured them; that it is a good thing to forget the
actions of such near friends, even in things wherein they might seem to
have offended; but that they were going to kill Joseph, who had been
guilty of nothing that was ill towards them, in whose case the infirmity
of his small age should rather procure him mercy, and move them to unite
together in the care of his preservation. That the cause of killing him
made the act itself much worse, while they determined to take him off out
of envy at his future prosperity, an equal share of which they would
naturally partake while he enjoyed it, since they were to him not
strangers, but the nearest relations, for they might reckon upon what God
bestowed upon Joseph as their own; and that it was fit for them to
believe, that the anger of God would for this cause be more severe upon
them, if they slew him who was judged by God to be worthy of that
prosperity which was to be hoped for; and while, by murdering him, they
made it impossible for God to bestow it upon him.
2. Reubel said these and many other things, and used entreaties to them,
and thereby endeavored to divert them from the murder of their brother.
But when he saw that his discourse had not mollified them at all, and that
they made haste to do the fact, he advised them to alleviate the
wickedness they were going about, in the manner of taking Joseph off; for
as he had exhorted them first, when they were going to revenge themselves,
to be dissuaded from doing it; so, since the sentence for killing their
brother had prevailed, he said that they would not, however, be so grossly
guilty, if they would be persuaded to follow his present advice, which
would include what they were so eager about, but was not so very bad, but,
in the distress they were in, of a lighter nature. He begged of them,
therefore, not to kill their brother with their own hands, but to cast him
into the pit that was hard by, and so to let him die; by which they would
gain so much, that they would not defile their own hands with his blood.
To this the young men readily agreed; so Reubel took the lad and tied him
to a cord, and let him down gently into the pit, for it had no water at
all in it; who, when he had done this, went his way to seek for such
pasturage as was fit for feeding his flocks.
3. But Judas, being one of Jacob’s sons also, seeing some Arabians, of the
posterity of Ismael, carrying spices and Syrian wares out of the land of
Gilead to the Egyptians, after Rubel was gone, advised his brethren to
draw Joseph out of the pit, and sell him to the Arabians; for if he should
die among strangers a great way off, they should be freed from this
barbarous action. This, therefore, was resolved on; so they drew Joseph up
out of the pit, and sold him to the merchants for twenty pounds 2
He was now seventeen years old. But Reubel, coming in the night-time to
the pit, resolved to save Joseph, without the privity of his brethren; and
when, upon his calling to him, he made no answer, he was afraid that they
had destroyed him after he was gone; of which he complained to his
brethren; but when they had told him what they had done, Reubel left off
his mourning.
4. When Joseph’s brethren had done thus to him, they considered what they
should do to escape the suspicions of their father. Now they had taken
away from Joseph the coat which he had on when he came to them at the time
they let him down into the pit; so they thought proper to tear that coat
to pieces, and to dip it into goats’ blood, and then to carry it and show
it to their father, that he might believe he was destroyed by wild beasts.
And when they had so done, they came to the old man, but this not till
what had happened to his son had already come to his knowledge. Then they
said that they had not seen Joseph, nor knew what mishap had befallen him;
but that they had found his coat bloody and torn to pieces, whence they
had a suspicion that he had fallen among wild beasts, and so perished, if
that was the coat he had on when he came from home. Now Jacob had before
some better hopes that his son was only made a captive; but now he laid
aside that notion, and supposed that this coat was an evident argument
that he was dead, for he well remembered that this was the coat he had on
when he sent him to his brethren; so he hereafter lamented the lad as now
dead, and as if he had been the father of no more than one, without taking
any comfort in the rest; and so he was also affected with his misfortune
before he met with Joseph’s brethren, when he also conjectured that Joseph
was destroyed by wild beasts. He sat down also clothed in sackcloth and in
heavy affliction, insomuch that he found no ease when his sons comforted
him, neither did his pains remit by length of time.
CHAPTER 4. Concerning The Signal Chastity Of Joseph.
1. Now Potiphar, an Egyptian, who was chief cook to king Pharaoh, bought
Joseph of the merchants, who sold him to him. He had him in the greatest
honor, and taught him the learning that became a free man, and gave him
leave to make use of a diet better than was allotted to slaves. He
intrusted also the care of his house to him. So he enjoyed these
advantages, yet did not he leave that virtue which he had before, upon
such a change of his condition; but he demonstrated that wisdom was able
to govern the uneasy passions of life, in such as have it in reality, and
do not only put it on for a show, under a present state of prosperity.
2. For when his master’s wife was fallen in love with him, both on account
of his beauty of body, and his dexterous management of affairs; and
supposed, that if she should make it known to him, she could easily
persuade him to come and lie with her, and that he would look upon it as a
piece of happy fortune that his mistress should entreat him, as regarding
that state of slavery he was in, and not his moral character, which
continued after his condition was changed. So she made known her naughty
inclinations, and spake to him about lying with her. However, he rejected
her entreaties, not thinking it agreeable to religion to yield so far to
her, as to do what would tend to the affront and injury of him that
purchased him, and had vouchsafed him so great honors. He, on the
contrary, exhorted her to govern that passion; and laid before her the
impossibility of her obtaining her desires, which he thought might be
conquered, if she had no hope of succeeding; and he said, that as to
himself, he would endure any thing whatever before he would be persuaded
to it; for although it was fit for a slave, as he was, to do nothing
contrary to his mistress, he might well be excused in a case where the
contradiction was to such sort of commands only. But this opposition of
Joseph, when she did not expect it, made her still more violent in her
love to him; and as she was sorely beset with this naughty passion, so she
resolved to compass her design by a second attempt.
3. When, therefore, there was a public festival coming on, in which it was
the custom for women to come to the public solemnity; she pretended to her
husband that she was sick, as contriving an opportunity for solitude and
leisure, that she might entreat Joseph again. Which opportunity being
obtained, she used more kind words to him than before; and said that it
had been good for him to have yielded to her first solicitation, and to
have given her no repulse, both because of the reverence he ought to bear
to her dignity who solicited him, and because of the vehemence of her
passion, by which she was forced though she were his mistress to
condescend beneath her dignity; but that he may now, by taking more
prudent advice, wipe off the imputation of his former folly; for whether
it were that he expected the repetition of her solicitations she had now
made, and that with greater earnestness than before, for that she had
pretended sickness on this very account, and had preferred his
conversation before the festival and its solemnity; or whether he opposed
her former discourses, as not believing she could be in earnest; she now
gave him sufficient security, by thus repeating her application, that she
meant not in the least by fraud to impose upon him; and assured him, that
if he complied with her affections, he might expect the enjoyment of the
advantages he already had; and if he were submissive to her, he should
have still greater advantages; but that he must look for revenge and
hatred from her, in case he rejected her desires, and preferred the
reputation of chastity before his mistress; for that he would gain nothing
by such procedure, because she would then become his accuser, and would
falsely pretend to her husband, that he had attempted her chastity; and
that Potiphar would hearken to her words rather than to his, let his be
ever so agreeable to the truth.
4. When the woman had said thus, and even with tears in her eyes, neither
did pity dissuade Joseph from his chastity, nor did fear compel him to a
compliance with her; but he opposed her solicitations, and did not yield
to her threatenings, and was afraid to do an ill thing, and chose to
undergo the sharpest punishment rather than to enjoy his present
advantages, by doing what his own conscience knew would justly deserve
that he should die for it. He also put her in mind that she was a married
woman, and that she ought to cohabit with her husband only; and desired
her to suffer these considerations to have more weight with her than the
short pleasure of lustful dalliance, which would bring her to repentance
afterwards, would cause trouble to her, and yet would not amend what had
been done amiss. He also suggested to her the fear she would be in lest
they should be caught; and that the advantage of concealment was
uncertain, and that only while the wickedness was not known [would there
be any quiet for them]; but that she might have the enjoyment of her
husband’s company without any danger. And he told her, that in the company
of her husband she might have great boldness from a good conscience, both
before God and before men. Nay, that she would act better like his
mistress, and make use of her authority over him better while she
persisted in her chastity, than when they were both ashamed for what
wickedness they had been guilty of; and that it is much better to a life,
well and known to have been so, than upon the hopes of the concealment of
evil practices.
5. Joseph, by saying this, and more, tried to restrain the violent passion
of the woman, and to reduce her affections within the rules of reason; but
she grew more ungovernable and earnest in the matter; and since she
despaired of persuading him, she laid her hands upon him, and had a mind
to force him. But as soon as Joseph had got away from her anger, leaving
also his garment with her, for he left that to her, and leaped out of her
chamber, she was greatly afraid lest he should discover her lewdness to
her husband, and greatly troubled at the affront he had offered her; so
she resolved to be beforehand with him, and to accuse Joseph falsely to
Potiphar, and by that means to revenge herself on him for his pride and
contempt of her; and she thought it a wise thing in itself, and also
becoming a woman, thus to prevent his accusation. Accordingly she sat
sorrowful and in confusion, framing herself so hypocritically and angrily,
that the sorrow, which was really for her being disappointed of her lust,
might appear to be for the attempt upon her chastity; so that when her
husband came home, and was disturbed at the sight of her and inquired what
was the cause of the disorder she was in, she began to accuse Joseph: and,
“O husband,” said she, “mayst thou not live a day longer if thou dost not
punish the wicked slave who has desired to defile thy bed; who has neither
minded who he was when he came to our house, so as to behave himself with
modesty; nor has he been mindful of what favors he had received from thy
bounty [as he must be an ungrateful man indeed, unless he, in every
respect, carry himself in a manner agreeable to us]: this man, I say, laid
a private design to abuse thy wife, and this at the time of a festival,
observing when thou wouldst be absent. So that it now is clear that his
modesty, as it appeared to be formerly, was only because of the restraint
he was in out of fear of thee, but that he was not really of a good
disposition. This has been occasioned by his being advanced to honor
beyond what he deserved, and what he hoped for; insomuch that he
concluded, that he who was deemed fit to be trusted with thy estate and
the government of thy family, and was preferred above thy eldest servants,
might be allowed to touch thy wife also.” Thus when she had ended her
discourse, she showed him his garment, as if he then left it with her when
he attempted to force her. But Potiphar not being able to disbelieve what
his wife’s tears showed, and what his wife said, and what he saw himself,
and being seduced by his love to his wife, did not set himself about the
examination of the truth; but taking it for granted that his wife was a
modest woman, and condemning Joseph as a wicked man, he threw him into the
malefactors’ prison; and had a still higher opinion of his wife, and bare
her witness that she was a woman of a becoming modesty and chastity.
CHAPTER 5. What Things Befell Joseph In Prison.
1. Now Joseph, commending all his affairs to God, did not betake himself
to make his defense, nor to give an account of the exact circumstances of
the fact, but silently underwent the bonds and the distress he was in,
firmly believing that God, who knew the cause of his affliction, and the
truth of the fact, would be more powerful than those that inflicted the
punishments upon him:—a proof of whose providence he quickly
received; for the keeper of the prison taking notice of his care and
fidelity in the affairs he had set him about, and the dignity of his
countenance, relaxed his bonds, and thereby made his heavy calamity
lighter, and more supportable to him. He also permitted him to make use of
a diet better than that of the rest of the prisoners. Now, as his fellow
prisoners, when their hard labors were over, fell to discoursing one among
another, as is usual in such as are equal sufferers, and to inquire one of
another what were the occasions of their being condemned to a prison:
among them the king’s cupbearer, and one that had been respected by him,
was put in bonds, upon the king’s anger at him. This man was under the
same bonds with Joseph, and grew more familiar with him; and upon his
observing that Joseph had a better understanding than the rest had, he
told him of a dream he had, and desired he would interpret its meaning,
complaining that, besides the afflictions he underwent from the king, God
did also add to him trouble from his dreams.
2. He therefore said, that in his sleep he saw three clusters of grapes
hanging upon three branches of a vine, large already, and ripe for
gathering; and that he squeezed them into a cup which the king held in his
hand; and when he had strained the wine, he gave it to the king to drink,
and that he received it from him with a pleasant countenance. This, he
said, was what he saw; and he desired Joseph, that if he had any portion
of understanding in such matters, he would tell him what this vision
foretold. Who bid him be of good cheer, and expect to be loosed from his
bonds in three days’ time, because the king desired his service, and was
about to restore him to it again; for he let him know that God bestows the
fruit of the vine upon men for good; which wine is poured out to him, and
is the pledge of fidelity and mutual confidence among men; and puts an end
to their quarrels, takes away passion and grief out of the minds of them
that use it, and makes them cheerful. “Thou sayest that thou didst squeeze
this wine from three clusters of grapes with thine hands, and that the
king received it: know, therefore, that this vision is for thy good, and
foretells a release from thy present distress within the same number of
days as the branches had whence thou gatheredst thy grapes in thy sleep.
However, remember what prosperity I have foretold thee when thou hast
found it true by experience; and when thou art in authority, do not
overlook us in this prison, wherein thou wilt leave us when thou art gone
to the place we have foretold; for we are not in prison for any crime; but
for the sake of our virtue and sobriety are we condemned to suffer the
penalty of malefactors, and because we are not willing to injure him that
has thus distressed us, though it were for our own pleasure.” The
cupbearer, therefore, as was natural to do, rejoiced to hear such an
interpretation of his dream, and waited the completion of what had been
thus shown him beforehand.
3. But another servant there was of the king, who had been chief baker,
and was now bound in prison with the cupbearer; he also was in good hope,
upon Joseph’s interpretation of the other’s vision, for he had seen a
dream also; so he desired that Joseph would tell him what the visions he
had seen the night before might mean. They were these that follow:—”Methought,”
says he, “I carried three baskets upon my head; two were full of loaves,
and the third full of sweetmeats and other eatables, such as are prepared
for kings; but that the fowls came flying, and eat them all up, and had no
regard to my attempt to drive them away.” And he expected a prediction
like to that of the cupbearer. But Joseph, considering and reasoning about
the dream, said to him, that he would willingly be an interpreter of good
events to him, and not of such as his dream denounced to him; but he told
him that he had only three days in all to live, for that the [three]
baskets signify, that on the third day he should be crucified, and
devoured by fowls, while he was not able to help himself. Now both these
dreams had the same several events that Joseph foretold they should have,
and this to both the parties; for on the third day before mentioned, when
the king solemnized his birth-day, he crucified the chief baker, but set
the butler free from his bonds, and restored him to his former
ministration.
4. But God freed Joseph from his confinement, after he had endured his
bonds two years, and had received no assistance from the cupbearer, who
did not remember what he had said to him formerly; and God contrived this
method of deliverance for him. Pharaoh the king had seen in his sleep the
same evening two visions; and after them had the interpretations of them
both given him. He had forgotten the latter, but retained the dreams
themselves. Being therefore troubled at what he had seen, for it seemed to
him to be all of a melancholy nature, the next day he called together the
wisest men among the Egyptians, desiring to learn from them the
interpretation of his dreams. But when they hesitated about them, the king
was so much the more disturbed. And now it was that the memory of Joseph,
and his skill in dreams, came into the mind of the king’s cupbearer, when
he saw the confusion that Pharaoh was in; so he came and mentioned Joseph
to him, as also the vision he had seen in prison, and how the event proved
as he had said; as also that the chief baker was crucified on the very
same day; and that this also happened to him according to the
interpretation of Joseph. That Joseph himself was laid in bonds by
Potiphar, who was his head cook, as a slave; but, he said, he was one of
the noblest of the stock of the Hebrews; and said further, his father
lived in great splendor. “If, therefore, thou wilt send for him, and not
despise him on the score of his misfortunes, thou wilt learn what thy
dreams signify.” So the king commanded that they should bring Joseph into
his presence; and those who received the command came and brought him with
them, having taken care of his habit, that it might be decent, as the king
had enjoined them to do.
5. But the king took him by the hand; and, “O young man,” says he, “for my
servant bears witness that thou art at present the best and most skillful
person I can consult with; vouchsafe me the same favors which thou
bestowedst on this servant of mine, and tell me what events they are which
the visions of my dreams foreshow; and I desire thee to suppress nothing
out of fear, nor to flatter me with lying words, or with what may please
me, although the truth should be of a melancholy nature. For it seemed to
me that, as I walked by the river, I saw kine fat and very large, seven in
number, going from the river to the marshes; and other kine of the same
number like them, met them out of the marshes, exceeding lean and
ill-favored, which ate up the fat and the large kine, and yet were no
better than before, and not less miserably pinched with famine. After I
had seen this vision, I awaked out of my sleep; and being in disorder, and
considering with myself what this appearance should be, I fell asleep
again, and saw another dream, much more wonderful than the foregoing,
which still did more affright and disturb me:—I saw seven ears of
corn growing out of one root, having their heads borne down by the weight
of the grains, and bending down with the fruit, which was now ripe and fit
for reaping; and near these I saw seven other ears of corn, meager and
weak, for want of rain, which fell to eating and consuming those that were
fit for reaping, and put me into great astonishment.”
6. To which Joseph replied:—”This dream,” said he, “O king, although
seen under two forms, signifies one and the same event of things; for when
thou sawest the fat kine, which is an animal made for the plough and for
labor, devoured by the worser kine, and the ears of corn eaten up by the
smaller ears, they foretell a famine, and want of the fruits of the earth
for the same number of years, and equal with those when Egypt was in a
happy state; and this so far, that the plenty of these years will be spent
in the same number of years of scarcity, and that scarcity of necessary
provisions will be very difficult to be corrected; as a sign whereof, the
ill-favored kine, when they had devoured the better sort, could not be
satisfied. But still God foreshows what is to come upon men, not to grieve
them, but that, when they know it beforehand, they may by prudence make
the actual experience of what is foretold the more tolerable. If thou,
therefore, carefully dispose of the plentiful crops which will come in the
former years, thou wilt procure that the future calamity will not be felt
by the Egyptians.”
7. Hereupon the king wondered at the discretion and wisdom of Joseph; and
asked him by what means he might so dispense the foregoing plentiful crops
in the happy years, as to make the miserable crops more tolerable. Joseph
then added this his advice: To spare the good crops, and not permit the
Egyptians to spend them luxuriously, but to reserve what they would have
spent in luxury beyond their necessity against the time of want. He also
exhorted him to take the corn of the husbandmen, and give them only so
much as will be sufficient for their food. Accordingly Pharaoh being
surprised at Joseph, not only for his interpretation of the dream, but for
the counsel he had given him, intrusted him with dispensing the corn; with
power to do what he thought would be for the benefit of the people of
Egypt, and for the benefit of the king, as believing that he who first
discovered this method of acting, would prove the best overseer of it. But
Joseph having this power given him by the king, with leave to make use of
his seal, and to wear purple, drove in his chariot through all the land of
Egypt, and took the corn of the husbandmen, 3 allotting
as much to every one as would be sufficient for seed, and for food, but
without discovering to any one the reason why he did so.
CHAPTER 6. How Joseph When He Was Become Famous In Egypt, Had His Brethren
In Subjection.
1. Joseph was now grown up to thirty years of age, and enjoyed great
honors from the king, who called him Psothom Phanech, out of regard to his
prodigious degree of wisdom; for that name denotes the revealer of
secrets. He also married a wife of very high quality; for he married the
daughter of Petephres, 4 one of the priests of Heliopolis;
she was a virgin, and her name was Asenath. By her he had children before
the scarcity came on; Manasseh, the elder, which signifies forgetful,
because his present happiness made him forget his former misfortunes; and
Ephraim, the younger, which signifies restored, because he was restored to
the freedom of his forefathers. Now after Egypt had happily passed over
seven years, according to Joseph’s interpretation of the dreams, the
famine came upon them in the eighth year; and because this misfortune fell
upon them when they had no sense of it beforehand, 5 they were
all sorely afflicted by it, and came running to the king’s gates; and he
called upon Joseph, who sold the corn to them, being become confessedly a
savior to the whole multitude of the Egyptians. Nor did he open this
market of corn for the people of that country only, but strangers had
liberty to buy also; Joseph being willing that all men, who are naturally
akin to one another, should have assistance from those that lived in
happiness.
2. Now Jacob also, when he understood that foreigners might come, sent all
his sons into Egypt to buy corn, for the land of Canaan was grievously
afflicted with the famine; and this great misery touched the whole
continent. He only retained Benjamin, who was born to him by Rachel, and
was of the same mother with Joseph. These sons of Jacob then came into
Egypt, and applied themselves to Joseph, wanting to buy corn; for nothing
of this kind was done without his approbation, since even then only was
the honor that was paid the king himself advantageous to the persons that
paid it, when they took care to honor Joseph also. Now when he well knew
his brethren, they thought nothing of him; for he was but a youth when he
left them, and was now come to an age so much greater, that the lineaments
of his face were changed, and he was not known by them: besides this, the
greatness of the dignity wherein he appeared, suffered them not so much as
to suspect it was he. He now made trial what sentiments they had about
affairs of the greatest consequence; for he refused to sell them corn, and
said they were come as spies of the king’s affairs; and that they came
from several countries, and joined themselves together, and pretended that
they were of kin, it not being possible that a private man should breed up
so many sons, and those of so great beauty of countenance as they were,
such an education of so many children being not easily obtained by kings
themselves. Now this he did in order to discover what concerned his
father, and what happened to him after his own departure from him, and as
desiring to know what was become of Benjamin his brother; for he was
afraid that they had ventured on the like wicked enterprise against him
that they had done to himself, and had taken him off also.
3. Now these brethren of his were under distraction and terror, and
thought that very great danger hung over them; yet not at all reflecting
upon their brother Joseph, and standing firm under the accusations laid
against them, they made their defense by Reubel, the eldest of them, who
now became their spokesman: “We come not hither,” said he, “with any
unjust design, nor in order to bring any harm to the king’s affairs; we
only want to be preserved, as supposing your humanity might be a refuge
for us from the miseries which our country labors under, we having heard
that you proposed to sell corn, not only to your own countrymen, but to
strangers also, and that you determined to allow that corn, in order to
preserve all that want it; but that we are brethren, and of the same
common blood, the peculiar lineaments of our faces, and those not so much
different from one another, plainly show. Our father’s name is Jacob, an
Hebrew man, who had twelve of us for his sons by four wives; which twelve
of us, while we were all alive, were a happy family; but when one of our
brethren, whose name was Joseph, died, our affairs changed for the worse,
for our father could not forbear to make a long lamentation for him; and
we are in affliction, both by the calamity of the death of our brother,
and the miserable state of our aged father. We are now, therefore, come to
buy corn, having intrusted the care of our father, and the provision for
our family, to Benjamin, our youngest brother; and if thou sendest to our
house, thou mayst learn whether we are guilty of the least falsehood in
what we say.”
4. And thus did Reubel endeavor to persuade Joseph to have a better
opinion of them. But when he had learned from them that Jacob was alive,
and that his brother was not destroyed by them, he for the present put
them in prison, as intending to examine more into their affairs when he
should be at leisure. But on the third day he brought them out, and said
to them, “Since you constantly affirm that you are not come to do any harm
to the king’s affairs; that you are brethren, and the sons of the father
whom you named; you will satisfy me of the truth of what you say, if you
leave one of your company with me, who shall suffer no injury here; and
if, when ye have carried corn to your father, you will come to me again,
and bring your brother, whom you say you left there, along with you, for
this shall be by me esteemed an assurance of the truth of what you have
told me.” Hereupon they were in greater grief than before; they wept, and
perpetually deplored one among another the calamity of Joseph; and said,
“They were fallen into this misery as a punishment inflicted by God for
what evil contrivances they had against him.” And Reubel was large in his
reproaches of them for their too late repentance, whence no profit arose
to Joseph; and earnestly exhorted them to bear with patience whatever they
suffered, since it was done by God in way of punishment, on his account.
Thus they spake to one another, not imagining that Joseph understood their
language. A general sadness also seized on them at Reubel’s words, and a
repentance for what they had done; and they condemned the wickedness they
had perpetrated, for which they judged they were justly punished by God.
Now when Joseph saw that they were in this distress, he was so affected at
it that he fell into tears, and not being willing that they should take
notice of him, he retired; and after a while came to them again, and
taking Symeon 6 in order to his being a pledge
for his brethren’s return, he bid them take the corn they had bought, and
go their way. He also commanded his steward privily to put the money which
they had brought with them for the purchase of corn into their sacks, and
to dismiss them therewith; who did what he was commanded to do.
5. Now when Jacob’s sons were come into the land of Canaan, they told
their father what had happened to them in Egypt, and that they were taken
to have come thither as spies upon the king; and how they said they were
brethren, and had left their eleventh brother with their father, but were
not believed; and how they had left Symeon with the governor, until
Benjamin should go thither, and be a testimonial of the truth of what they
had said: and they begged of their father to fear nothing, but to send the
lad along with them. But Jacob was not pleased with any thing his sons had
done; and he took the detention of Symeon heinously, and thence thought it
a foolish thing to give up Benjamin also. Neither did he yield to Reubel’s
persuasion, though he begged it of him, and gave leave that the
grandfather might, in way of requital, kill his own sons, in case any harm
came to Benjamin in the journey. So they were distressed, and knew not
what to do; nay, there was another accident that still disturbed them
more,—the money that was found hidden in their sacks of corn. Yet
when the corn they had brought failed them, and when the famine still
afflicted them, and necessity forced them, Jacob did 7 [not] still
resolve to send Benjamin with his brethren, although there was no
returning into Egypt unless they came with what they had promised. Now the
misery growing every day worse, and his sons begging it of him, he had no
other course to take in his present circumstances. And Judas, who was of a
bold temper on other occasions, spake his mind very freely to him: “That
it did not become him to be afraid on account of his son, nor to suspect
the worst, as he did; for nothing could be done to his son but by the
appointment of God, which must also for certain come to pass, though he
were at home with him; that he ought not to condemn them to such manifest
destruction; nor deprive them of that plenty of food they might have from
Pharaoh, by his unreasonable fear about his son Benjamin, but ought to
take care of the preservation of Symeon, lest, by attempting to hinder
Benjamin’s journey, Symeon should perish. He exhorted him to trust God for
him; and said he would either bring his son back to him safe, or, together
with his, lose his own life.” So that Jacob was at length persuaded, and
delivered Benjamin to them, with the price of the corn doubled; he also
sent presents to Joseph of the fruits of the land of Canaan, balsam and
rosin, as also turpentine and honey. 8 Now their
father shed many tears at the departure of his sons, as well as
themselves. His concern was, that he might receive them back again safe
after their journey; and their concern was, that they might find their
father well, and no way afflicted with grief for them. And this
lamentation lasted a whole day; so that the old man was at last tired with
grief, and staid behind; but they went on their way for Egypt, endeavoring
to mitigate their grief for their present misfortunes, with the hopes of
better success hereafter.
6. As soon as they came into Egypt, they were brought down to Joseph: but
here no small fear disturbed them, lest they should be accused about the
price of the corn, as if they had cheated Joseph. They then made a long
apology to Joseph’s steward; and told him, that when they came home they
found the money in their sacks, and that they had now brought it along
with them. He said he did not know what they meant: so they were delivered
from that fear. And when he had loosed Symeon, and put him into a handsome
habit, he suffered him to be with his brethren; at which time Joseph came
from his attendance on the king. So they offered him their presents; and
upon his putting the question to them about their father, they answered
that they found him well. He also, upon his discovery that Benjamin was
alive, asked whether this was their younger brother; for he had seen him.
Whereupon they said he was: he replied, that the God over all was his
protector. But when his affection to him made him shed tears, he retired,
desiring he might not be seen in that plight by his brethren. Then Joseph
took them to supper, and they were set down in the same order as they used
to sit at their father’s table. And although Joseph treated them all
kindly, yet did he send a mess to Benjamin that was double to what the
rest of the guests had for their shares.
7. Now when after supper they had composed themselves to sleep, Joseph
commanded his steward both to give them their measures of corn, and to
hide its price again in their sacks; and that withal they should put into
Benjamin’s sack the golden cup, out of which he loved himself to drink.—which
things he did, in order to make trial of his brethren, whether they would
stand by Benjamin when he should be accused of having stolen the cup, and
should appear to be in danger; or whether they would leave him, and,
depending on their own innocency, go to their father without him. When the
servant had done as he was bidden, the sons of Jacob, knowing nothing of
all this, went their way, and took Symeon along with them, and had a
double cause of joy, both because they had received him again, and because
they took back Benjamin to their father, as they had promised. But
presently a troop of horsemen encompassed them, and brought with them
Joseph’s servant, who had put the cup into Benjamin’s sack. Upon which
unexpected attack of the horsemen they were much disturbed, and asked what
the reason was that they came thus upon men, who a little before had been
by their lord thought worthy of an honorable and hospitable reception?
They replied, by calling them wicked wretches, who had forgot that very
hospitable and kind treatment which Joseph had given them, and did not
scruple to be injurious to him, and to carry off that cup out of which he
had, in so friendly a manner, drank to them, and not regarding their
friendship with Joseph, no more than the danger they should be in if they
were taken, in comparison of the unjust gain. Hereupon he threatened that
they should be punished; for though they had escaped the knowledge of him
who was but a servant, yet had they not escaped the knowledge of God, nor
had gone off with what they had stolen; and, after all, asked why we come
upon them, as if they knew nothing of the matter: and he told them that
they should immediately know it by their punishment. This, and more of the
same nature, did the servant say, in way of reproach to them: but they
being wholly ignorant of any thing here that concerned them, laughed at
what he said, and wondered at the abusive language which the servant gave
them, when he was so hardy as to accuse those who did not before so much
as retain the price of their corn, which was found in their sacks, but
brought it again, though nobody else knew of any such thing,—so far
were they from offering any injury to Joseph voluntarily. But still,
supposing that a search would be a more sure justification of themselves
than their own denial of the fact, they bid him search them, and that if
any of them had been guilty of the theft, to punish them all; for being no
way conscious to themselves of any crime, they spake with assurance, and,
as they thought, without any danger to themselves also. The servants
desired there might be a search made; but they said the punishment should
extend to him alone who should be found guilty of the theft. So they made
the search; and, having searched all the rest, they came last of all to
Benjamin, as knowing it was Benjamin’s sack in which they had hidden the
cup, they having indeed searched the rest only for a show of accuracy: so
the rest were out of fear for themselves, and were now only concerned
about Benjamin, but still were well assured that he would also be found
innocent; and they reproached those that came after them for their
hindering them, while they might, in the mean while, have gotten a good
way on their journey. But as soon as they had searched Benjamin’s sack,
they found the cup, and took it from him; and all was changed into
mourning and lamentation. They rent their garments, and wept for the
punishment which their brother was to undergo for his theft, and for the
delusion they had put on their father, when they promised they would bring
Benjamin safe to him. What added to their misery was, that this melancholy
accident came unfortunately at a time when they thought they had been
gotten off clear; but they confessed that this misfortune of their
brother, as well as the grief of their father for him, was owing to
themselves, since it was they that forced their father to send him with
them, when he was averse to it.
8. The horsemen therefore took Benjamin and brought him to Joseph, his
brethren also following him; who, when he saw him in custody, and them in
the habit of mourners, said, “How came you, vile wretches as you are, to
have such a strange notion of my kindness to you, and of God’s providence,
as impudently to do thus to your benefactor, who in such an hospitable
manner had entertained you?” Whereupon they gave up themselves to be
punished, in order to save Benjamin; and called to mind what a wicked
enterprise they had been guilty of against Joseph. They also pronounced
him more happy than themselves, if he were dead, in being freed from the
miseries of this life; and if he were alive, that he enjoyed the pleasure
of seeing God’s vengeance upon them. They said further; that they were the
plague of their father, since they should now add to his former affliction
for Joseph, this other affliction for Benjamin. Reubel also was large in
cutting them upon this occasion. But Joseph dismissed them; for he said
they had been guilty of no offense, and that he would content himself with
the lad’s punishment; for he said it was not a fit thing to let him go
free, for the sake of those who had not offended; nor was it a fit thing
to punish them together with him who had been guilty of stealing. And when
he promised to give them leave to go away in safety, the rest of them were
under great consternation, and were able to say nothing on this sad
occasion. But Judas, who had persuaded their father to send the lad from
him, being otherwise also a very bold and active man, determined to hazard
himself for the preservation of his brother. “It is true,” 9
said he, “O governor, that we have been very wicked with regard to thee,
and on that account deserved punishment; even all of us may justly be
punished, although the theft were not committed by all, but only by one of
us, and he the youngest also; but yet there remains some hope for us, who
otherwise must be under despair on his account, and this from thy
goodness, which promises us a deliverance out of our present danger. And
now I beg thou wilt not look at us, or at that great crime we have been
guilty of, but at thy own excellent nature, and take advice of thine own
virtue, instead of that wrath thou hast against us; which passion those
that otherwise are of lower character indulge, as they do their strength,
and that not only on great, but also on very trifling occasions. Overcome,
sir, that passion, and be not subdued by it, nor suffer it to slay those
that do not otherwise presume upon their own safety, but are desirous to
accept of it from thee; for this is not the first time that thou wilt
bestow it on us, but before, when we came to buy corn, thou affordedst us
great plenty of food, and gavest us leave to carry so much home to our
family as has preserved them from perishing by famine. Nor is there any
difference between not overlooking men that were perishing for want of
necessaries, and not punishing those that seem to be offenders, and have
been so unfortunate as to lose the advantage of that glorious benefaction
which they received from thee. This will be an instance of equal favor,
though bestowed after a different manner; for thou wilt save those this
way whom thou didst feed the other; and thou wilt hereby preserve alive,
by thy own bounty, those souls which thou didst not suffer to be
distressed by famine, it being indeed at once a wonderful and a great
thing to sustain our lives by corn, and to bestow on us that pardon,
whereby, now we are distressed, we may continue those lives. And I am
ready to suppose that God is willing to afford thee this opportunity of
showing thy virtuous disposition, by bringing us into this calamity, that
it may appear thou canst forgive the injuries that are done to thyself,
and mayst be esteemed kind to others, besides those who, on other
accounts, stand in need of thy assistance; since it is indeed a right
thing to do well to those who are in distress for want of food, but still
a more glorious thing to save those who deserve to be punished, when it is
on account of heinous offenses against thyself; for if it be a thing
deserving commendation to forgive such as have been guilty of small
offenses, that tend to a person’s loss, and this be praiseworthy in him
that overlooks such offenses, to restrain a man’s passion as to crimes
which are capital to the guilty, is to be like the most excellent nature
of God himself. And truly, as for myself, had it not been that we had a
father, who had discovered, on occasion of the death of Joseph, how
miserably he is always afflicted at the loss of his sons, I had not made
any words on account of the saving of our own lives; I mean, any further
than as that would be an excellent character for thyself, to preserve even
those that would have nobody to lament them when they were dead, but we
would have yielded ourselves up to suffer whatsoever thou pleasedst; but
now [for we do not plead for mercy to ourselves, though indeed, if we die,
it will be while we are young, and before we have had the enjoyment of
life] have regard to our father, and take pity of his old age, on whose
account it is that we make these supplications to thee. We beg thou wilt
give us those lives which this wickedness of ours has rendered obnoxious
to thy punishment; and this for his sake who is not himself wicked, nor
does his being our father make us wicked. He is a good man, and not worthy
to have such trials of his patience; and now, we are absent, he is
afflicted with care for us. But if he hear of our deaths, and what was the
cause of it, he will on that account die an immature death; and the
reproachful manner of our ruin will hasten his end, and will directly kill
him; nay, will bring him to a miserable death, while he will make haste to
rid himself out of the world, and bring himself to a state of
insensibility, before the sad story of our end come abroad into the rest
of the world. Consider these things in this manner, although our
wickedness does now provoke thee with a just desire of punishing that
wickedness, and forgive it for our father’s sake; and let thy
commiseration of him weigh more with thee than our wickedness. Have regard
to the old age of our father, who, if we perish, will be very lonely while
he lives, and will soon die himself also. 10 Grant
this boon to the name of fathers, for thereby thou wilt honor him that
begat thee, and will grant it to thyself also, who enjoyest already that
denomination; thou wilt then, by that denomination, be preserved of God,
the Father of all,—by showing a pious regard to which, in the case
of our father, thou wilt appear to honor him who is styled by the same
name; I mean, if thou wilt have this pity on our father, upon this
consideration, how miserable he will be if he be deprived of his sons! It
is thy part therefore to bestow on us what God has given us, when it is in
thy power to take it away, and so to resemble him entirely in charity; for
it is good to use that power, which can either give or take away, on the
merciful side; and when it is in thy power to destroy, to forget that thou
ever hadst that power, and to look on thyself as only allowed power for
preservation; and that the more any one extends this power, the greater
reputation does he gain to himself. Now, by forgiving our brother what he
has unhappily committed, thou wilt preserve us all; for we cannot think of
living if he be put to death, since we dare not show ourselves alive to
our father without our brother, but here must we partake of one and the
same catastrophe of his life. And so far we beg of thee, O governor, that
if thou condemnest our brother to die, thou wilt punish us together with
him, as partners of his crime,—for we shall not think it reasonable
to be reserved to kill ourselves for grief of our brother’s death, but so
to die rather as equally guilty with him of this crime. I will only leave
with thee this one consideration, and then will say no more, viz. that our
brother committed this fault when he was young, and not yet of confirmed
wisdom in his conduct; and that men naturally forgive such young persons.
I end here, without adding what more I have to say, that in case thou
condemnest us, that omission may be supposed to have hurt us, and
permitted thee to take the severer side. But in case thou settest us free,
that this may be ascribed to thy own goodness, of which thou art inwardly
conscious, that thou freest us from condemnation; and that not by barely
preserving us, but by granting us such a favor as will make us appear more
righteous than we really are, and by representing to thyself more motives
for our deliverance than we are able to produce ourselves. If, therefore,
thou resolvest to slay him, I desire thou wilt slay me in his stead, and
send him back to his father; or if thou pleasest to retain him with thee
as a slave, I am fitter to labor for thy advantage in that capacity, and,
as thou seest, am better prepared for either of those sufferings.” So
Judas, being very willing to undergo any thing whatever for the
deliverance of his brother, cast himself down at Joseph’s feet, and
earnestly labored to assuage and pacify his anger. All his brethren also
fell down before him, weeping and delivering themselves up to destruction
for the preservation of the life of Benjamin.
10. But Joseph, as overcome now with his affections, and no longer able to
personate an angry man, commanded all that were present to depart, that he
might make himself known to his brethren when they were alone; and when
the rest were gone out, he made himself known to his brethren; and said,
“I commend you for your virtue, and your kindness to our brother: I find
you better men than I could have expected from what you contrived about
me. Indeed, I did all this to try your love to your brother; so I believe
you were not wicked by nature in what you did in my case, but that all has
happened according to God’s will, who has hereby procured our enjoyment of
what good things we have; and, if he continue in a favorable disposition,
of what we hope for hereafter. Since, therefore, I know that our father is
safe and well, beyond expectation, and I see you so well disposed to your
brother, I will no longer remember what guilt you seem to have had about
me, but will leave off to hate you for that your wickedness; and do rather
return you my thanks, that you have concurred with the intentions of God
to bring things to their present state. I would have you also rather to
forget the same, since that imprudence of yours is come to such a happy
conclusion, than to be uneasy and blush at those your offenses. Do not,
therefore, let your evil intentions, when you condemned me, and that
bitter remorse which might follow, be a grief to you now, because those
intentions were frustrated. Go, therefore, your way, rejoicing in what has
happened by the Divine Providence, and inform your father of it, lest he
should be spent with cares for you, and deprive me of the most agreeable
part of my felicity; I mean, lest he should die before he comes into my
sight, and enjoys the good things that we now have. Bring, therefore, with
you our father, and your wives and children, and all your kindred, and
remove your habitations hither; for it is not proper that the persons
dearest to me should live remote from me, now my affairs are so
prosperous, especially when they must endure five more years of famine.”
When Joseph had said this, he embraced his brethren, who were in tears and
sorrow; but the generous kindness of their brother seemed to leave among
them no room for fear, lest they should be punished on account of what
they had consulted and acted against him; and they were then feasting. Now
the king, as soon as he heard that Joseph’s brethren were come to him, was
exceeding glad of it, as if it had been a part of his own good fortune;
and gave them wagons full of corn and gold and silver, to be conveyed to
his father. Now when they had received more of their brother part to be
carried to their father, and part as free gifts to every one of
themselves, Benjamin having still more than the rest, they departed.
CHAPTER 7. The Removal Of Joseph’s Father With All His Family, To Him, On
Account Of The Famine.
1. As soon as Jacob came to know, by his sons returning home, in what
state Joseph was, that he had not only escaped death, for which yet he
lived all along in mourning, but that he lived in splendor and happiness,
and ruled over Egypt, jointly with the king, and had intrusted to his care
almost all his affairs, he did not think any thing he was told to be
incredible, considering the greatness of the works of God, and his
kindness to him, although that kindness had, for some late times, been
intermitted; so he immediately and zealously set out upon his journey to
him.
2. When he came to the Well of the Oath, [Beersheba,] he offered sacrifice
to God; and being afraid that the happiness there was in Egypt might tempt
his posterity to fall in love with it, and settle in it, and no more think
of removing into the land of Canaan, and possessing it, as God had
promised them; as also being afraid, lest, if this descent into Egypt were
made without the will of God, his family might be destroyed there; out of
fear, withal, lest he should depart this life before he came to the sight
of Joseph; he fell asleep, revolving these doubts in his mind.
3. But God stood by him, and called him twice by his name; and when he
asked who he was, God said, “No, sure; it is not just that thou, Jacob,
shouldst be unacquainted with that God who has been ever a protector and a
helper to thy forefathers, and after them to thyself: for when thy father
would have deprived thee of the dominion, I gave it thee; and by my
kindness it was that, when thou wast sent into Mesopotamia all alone, thou
obtainedst good wives, and returnedst with many children, and much wealth.
Thy whole family also has been preserved by my providence; and it was I
who conducted Joseph, thy son, whom thou gavest up for lost, to the
enjoyment of great prosperity. I also made him lord of Egypt, so that he
differs but little from a king. Accordingly, I come now as a guide to thee
in this journey; and foretell to thee, that thou shalt die in the arms of
Joseph: and I inform thee, that thy posterity shall be many ages in
authority and glory, and that I will settle them in the land which I have
promised them.”
4. Jacob, encouraged by this dream, went on more cheerfully for Egypt with
his sons, and all belonging to them. Now they were in all seventy. I once,
indeed, thought it best not to set down the names of this family,
especially because of their difficult pronunciation [by the Greeks]; but,
upon the whole, I think it necessary to mention those names, that I may
disprove such as believe that we came not originally from Mesopotamia, but
are Egyptians. Now Jacob had twelve sons; of these Joseph was come thither
before. We will therefore set down the names of Jacob’s children and
grandchildren. Reuben had four sons–Anoch, Phallu, Assaron, Charmi.
Simeon had six–Jamuel, Jamin, Avod, Jachin, Soar, Saul. Levi had three
sons–Gersom, Caath, Merari. Judas had three sons–Sala, Phares, Zerah;
and by Phares two grandchildren, Esrom and Amar. Issachar had four
sons–Thola, Phua, Jasob, Samaron. Zabulon had with him three sons–Sarad,
Helon, Jalel. So far is the posterity of Lea; with whom went her daughter
Dinah. These are thirty-three. Rachel had two sons, the one of whom,
Joseph, had two sons also, Manasses and Ephraim. The other, Benjamin, had
ten sons—Bolau, Bacchar, Asabel, Geras, Naaman, Jes, Ros, Momphis,
Opphis, Arad. These fourteen added to the thirty-three before enumerated,
amount to the number forty-seven. And this was the legitimate posterity of
Jacob. He had besides by Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel, Dan and
Nephtliali; which last had four sons that followed him— Jesel, Guni,
Issari, and Sellim. Dan had an only begotten son, Usi. If these be added
to those before mentioned, they complete the number fifty-four. Gad and
Aser were the sons of Zilpha, who was the handmaid of Lea. These had with
them, Gad seven— Saphoniah, Augis, Sunis, Azabon, Aerin, Erocd,
Ariel. Aser had a daughter, Sarah, and six male children, whose names were
Jomne, Isus, Isoui, Baris, Abar and Melchiel. If we add these, which are
sixteen, to the fifty-four, the forementioned number 70 is completed 11
Jacob not being himself included in that number.
5. When Joseph understood that his father was coming, for Judas his
brother was come before him, and informed him of his approach, he went out
to meet him; and they met together at Heroopolis. But Jacob almost fainted
away at this unexpected and great joy; however, Joseph revived him, being
yet not himself able to contain from being affected in the same manner, at
the pleasure he now had; yet was he not wholly overcome with his passion,
as his father was. After this, he desired Jacob to travel on slowly; but
he himself took five of his brethren with him, and made haste to the king,
to tell him that Jacob and his family were come; which was a joyful
hearing to him. He also bid Joseph tell him what sort of life his brethren
loved to lead, that he might give them leave to follow the same, who told
him they were good shepherds, and had been used to follow no other
employment but this alone. Whereby he provided for them, that they should
not be separated, but live in the same place, and take care of their
father; as also hereby he provided, that they might be acceptable to the
Egyptians, by doing nothing that would be common to them with the
Egyptians; for the Egyptians are prohibited to meddle with feeding of
sheep. 12
6. When Jacob was come to the king, and saluted him, and wished all
prosperity to his government, Pharaoh asked him how old he now was; upon
whose answer, that he was a hundred and thirty years old, he admired Jacob
on account of the length of his life. And when he had added, that still he
had not lived so long as his forefathers, he gave him leave to live with
his children in Heliopolis; for in that city the king’s shepherds had
their pasturage.
7. However, the famine increased among the Egyptians, and this heavy
judgment grew more oppressive to them, because neither did the river
overflow the ground, for it did not rise to its former height, nor did God
send rain upon it; 13 nor did they indeed make the
least provision for themselves, so ignorant were they what was to be done;
but Joseph sold them corn for their money. But when their money failed
them, they bought corn with their cattle and their slaves; and if any of
them had a small piece of land, they gave up that to purchase them food,
by which means the king became the owner of all their substance; and they
were removed, some to one place, and some to another, that so the
possession of their country might be firmly assured to the king, excepting
the lands of the priests, for their country continued still in their own
possession. And indeed this sore famine made their minds, as well as their
bodies, slaves; and at length compelled them to procure a sufficiency of
food by such dishonorable means. But when this misery ceased, and the
river overflowed the ground, and the ground brought forth its fruits
plentifully, Joseph came to every city, and gathered the people thereto
belonging together, and gave them back entirely the land which, by their
own consent, the king might have possessed alone, and alone enjoyed the
fruits of it. He also exhorted them to look on it as every one’s own
possession, and to fall to their husbandry with cheerfulness, and to pay
as a tribute to the king, the fifth part 14 of the
fruits for the land which the king, when it was his own, restored to them.
These men rejoiced upon their becoming unexpectedly owners of their lands,
and diligently observed what was enjoined them; and by this means Joseph
procured to himself a greater authority among the Egyptians, and greater
love to the king from them. Now this law, that they should pay the fifth
part of their fruits as tribute, continued until their later kings.
CHAPTER 8. Of The Death Of Jacob And Joseph.
1. Now when Jacob had lived seventeen years in Egypt, he fell into a
disease, and died in the presence of his sons; but not till he made his
prayers for their enjoying prosperity, and till he had foretold to them
prophetically how every one of them was to dwell in the land of Canaan.
But this happened many years afterward. He also enlarged upon the praises
of Joseph 15 how he had not remembered the
evil doings of his brethren to their disadvantage; nay, on the contrary,
was kind to them, bestowing upon them so many benefits, as seldom are
bestowed on men’s own benefactors. He then commanded his own sons that
they should admit Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasses, into their number,
and divide the land of Canaan in common with them; concerning whom we
shall treat hereafter. However, he made it his request that he might be
buried at Hebron. So he died, when he had lived full a hundred and fifty
years, three only abated, having not been behind any of his ancestors in
piety towards God, and having such a recompense for it, as it was fit
those should have who were so good as these were. But Joseph, by the
king’s permission, carried his father’s dead body to Hebron, and there
buried it, at a great expense. Now his brethren were at first unwilling to
return back with him, because they were afraid lest, now their father was
dead, he should punish them for their secret practices against him; since
he was now gone, for whose sake he had been so gracious to them. But he
persuaded them to fear no harm, and to entertain no suspicions of him: so
he brought them along with him, and gave them great possessions, and never
left off his particular concern for them.
2. Joseph also died when he had lived a hundred and ten years; having been
a man of admirable virtue, and conducting all his affairs by the rules of
reason; and used his authority with moderation, which was the cause of his
so great felicity among the Egyptians, even when he came from another
country, and that in such ill circumstances also, as we have already
described. At length his brethren died, after they had lived happily in
Egypt. Now the posterity and sons of these men, after some time, carried
their bodies, and buried them at Hebron: but as to the bones of Joseph,
they carried them into the land of Canaan afterward, when the Hebrews went
out of Egypt, for so had Joseph made them promise him upon oath. But what
became of every one of these men, and by what toils they got the
possession of the land of Canaan, shall be shown hereafter, when I have
first explained upon what account it was that they left Egypt.
CHAPTER 9. Concerning The Afflictions That Befell The Hebrews In Egypt,
During Four Hundred Years. 16
1. Now it happened that the Egyptians grew delicate and lazy, as to
pains-taking, and gave themselves up to other pleasures, and in particular
to the love of gain. They also became very ill-affected towards the
Hebrews, as touched with envy at their prosperity; for when they saw how
the nation of the Israelites flourished, and were become eminent already
in plenty of wealth, which they had acquired by their virtue and natural
love of labor, they thought their increase was to their own detriment. And
having, in length of time, forgotten the benefits they had received from
Joseph, particularly the crown being now come into another family, they
became very abusive to the Israelites, and contrived many ways of
afflicting them; for they enjoined them to cut a great number of channels
for the river, and to build walls for their cities and ramparts, that they
might restrain the river, and hinder its waters from stagnating, upon its
running over its own banks: they set them also to build pyramids, 17
and by all this wore them out; and forced them to learn all sorts of
mechanical arts, and to accustom themselves to hard labor. And four
hundred years did they spend under these afflictions; for they strove one
against the other which should get the mastery, the Egyptians desiring to
destroy the Israelites by these labors, and the Israelites desiring to
hold out to the end under them.
2. While the affairs of the Hebrews were in this condition, there was this
occasion offered itself to the Egyptians, which made them more solicitous
for the extinction of our nation. One of those sacred scribes, 18
who are very sagacious in foretelling future events truly, told the king,
that about this time there would a child be born to the Israelites, who,
if he were reared, would bring the Egyptian dominion low, and would raise
the Israelites; that he would excel all men in virtue, and obtain a glory
that would be remembered through all ages. Which thing was so feared by
the king, that, according to this man’s opinion, he commanded that they
should cast every male child, which was born to the Israelites, into the
river, and destroy it; that besides this, the Egyptian midwives 19
should watch the labors of the Hebrew women, and observe what is born, for
those were the women who were enjoined to do the office of midwives to
them; and by reason of their relation to the king, would not transgress
his commands. He enjoined also, that if any parents should disobey him,
and venture to save their male children alive, 20 they and
their families should be destroyed. This was a severe affliction indeed to
those that suffered it, not only as they were deprived of their sons, and
while they were the parents themselves, they were obliged to be
subservient to the destruction of their own children, but as it was to be
supposed to tend to the extirpation of their nation, while upon the
destruction of their children, and their own gradual dissolution, the
calamity would become very hard and inconsolable to them. And this was the
ill state they were in. But no one can be too hard for the purpose of God,
though he contrive ten thousand subtle devices for that end; for this
child, whom the sacred scribe foretold, was brought up and concealed from
the observers appointed by the king; and he that foretold him did not
mistake in the consequences of his preservation, which were brought to
pass after the manner following:—
3. A man whose name was Amram, one of the nobler sort of the Hebrews, was
afraid for his whole nation, lest it should fail, by the want of young men
to be brought up hereafter, and was very uneasy at it, his wife being then
with child, and he knew not what to do. Hereupon he betook himself to
prayer to God; and entreated him to have compassion on those men who had
nowise transgressed the laws of his worship, and to afford them
deliverance from the miseries they at that time endured, and to render
abortive their enemies’ hopes of the destruction of their nation.
Accordingly God had mercy on him, and was moved by his supplication. He
stood by him in his sleep, and exhorted him not to despair of his future
favors. He said further, that he did not forget their piety towards him,
and would always reward them for it, as he had formerly granted his favor
to their forefathers, and made them increase from a few to so great a
multitude. He put him in mind, that when Abraham was come alone out of
Mesopotamia into Canaan, he had been made happy, not only in other
respects, but that when his wife was at first barren, she was afterwards
by him enabled to conceive seed, and bare him sons. That he left to Ismael
and to his posterity the country of Arabia; as also to his sons by Ketura,
Troglodytis; and to Isaac, Canaan. That by my assistance, said he, he did
great exploits in war, which, unless you be yourselves impious, you must
still remember. As for Jacob, he became well known to strangers also, by
the greatness of that prosperity in which he lived, and left to his sons,
who came into Egypt with no more than seventy souls, while you are now
become above six hundred thousand. Know therefore that I shall provide for
you all in common what is for your good, and particularly for thyself what
shall make thee famous; for that child, out of dread of whose nativity the
Egyptians have doomed the Israelite children to destruction, shall be this
child of thine, and shall be concealed from those who watch to destroy
him: and when he is brought up in a surprising way, he shall deliver the
Hebrew nation from the distress they are under from the Egyptians. His
memory shall be famous while the world lasts; and this not only among the
Hebrews, but foreigners also:—all which shall be the effect of my
favor to thee, and to thy posterity. He shall also have such a brother,
that he shall himself obtain my priesthood, and his posterity shall have
it after him to the end of the world.
4. When the vision had informed him of these things, Amram awaked and told
it to Jochebed who was his wife. And now the fear increased upon them on
account of the prediction in Amram’s dream; for they were under concern,
not only for the child, but on account of the great happiness that was to
come to him also. However, the mother’s labor was such as afforded a
confirmation to what was foretold by God; for it was not known to those
that watched her, by the easiness of her pains, and because the throes of
her delivery did not fall upon her with violence. And now they nourished
the child at home privately for three months; but after that time Amram,
fearing he should be discovered, and, by falling under the king’s
displeasure, both he and his child should perish, and so he should make
the promise of God of none effect, he determined rather to trust the
safety and care of the child to God, than to depend on his own concealment
of him, which he looked upon as a thing uncertain, and whereby both the
child, so privately to be nourished, and himself should be in imminent
danger; but he believed that God would some way for certain procure the
safety of the child, in order to secure the truth of his own predictions.
When they had thus determined, they made an ark of bulrushes, after the
manner of a cradle, and of a bigness sufficient for an infant to be laid
in, without being too straitened: they then daubed it over with slime,
which would naturally keep out the water from entering between the
bulrushes, and put the infant into it, and setting it afloat upon the
river, they left its preservation to God; so the river received the child,
and carried him along. But Miriam, the child’s sister, passed along upon
the bank over against him, as her mother had bid her, to see whither the
ark would be carried, where God demonstrated that human wisdom was
nothing, but that the Supreme Being is able to do whatsoever he pleases:
that those who, in order to their own security, condemn others to
destruction, and use great endeavors about it, fail of their purpose; but
that others are in a surprising manner preserved, and obtain a prosperous
condition almost from the very midst of their calamities; those, I mean,
whose dangers arise by the appointment of God. And, indeed, such a
providence was exercised in the case of this child, as showed the power of
God.
5. Thermuthis was the king’s daughter. She was now diverting herself by
the banks of the river; and seeing a cradle borne along by the current,
she sent some that could swim, and bid them bring the cradle to her. When
those that were sent on this errand came to her with the cradle, and she
saw the little child, she was greatly in love with it, on account of its
largeness and beauty; for God had taken such great care in the formation
of Moses, that he caused him to be thought worthy of bringing up, and
providing for, by all those that had taken the most fatal resolutions, on
account of the dread of his nativity, for the destruction of the rest of
the Hebrew nation. Thermuthis bid them bring her a woman that might afford
her breast to the child; yet would not the child admit of her breast, but
turned away from it, and did the like to many other women. Now Miriam was
by when this happened, not to appear to be there on purpose, but only as
staying to see the child; and she said, “It is in vain that thou, O queen,
callest for these women for the nourishing of the child, who are no way of
kin to it; but still, if thou wilt order one of the Hebrew women to be
brought, perhaps it may admit the breast of one of its own nation.” Now
since she seemed to speak well, Thermuthis bid her procure such a one, and
to bring one of those Hebrew women that gave suck. So when she had such
authority given her, she came back and brought the mother, who was known
to nobody there. And now the child gladly admitted the breast, and seemed
to stick close to it; and so it was, that, at the queen’s desire, the
nursing of the child was entirely intrusted to the mother.
6. Hereupon it was that Thermuthis imposed this name Mouses upon him, from
what had happened when he was put into the river; for the Egyptians call
water by the name of Mo, and such as are saved out of it, by the name of
Uses: so by putting these two words together, they imposed this name upon
him. And he was, by the confession of all, according to God’s prediction,
as well for his greatness of mind as for his contempt of difficulties, the
best of all the Hebrews, for Abraham was his ancestor of the seventh
generation. For Moses was the son of Amram, who was the son of Caath,
whose father Levi was the son of Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, who was
the son of Abraham. Now Moses’s understanding became superior to his age,
nay, far beyond that standard; and when he was taught, he discovered
greater quickness of apprehension than was usual at his age, and his
actions at that time promised greater, when he should come to the age of a
man. God did also give him that tallness, when he was but three years old,
as was wonderful. And as for his beauty, there was nobody so unpolite as,
when they saw Moses, they were not greatly surprised at the beauty of his
countenance; nay, it happened frequently, that those that met him as he
was carried along the road, were obliged to turn again upon seeing the
child; that they left what they were about, and stood still a great while
to look on him; for the beauty of the child was so remarkable and natural
to him on many accounts, that it detained the spectators, and made them
stay longer to look upon him.
7. Thermuthis therefore perceiving him to be so remarkable a child,
adopted him for her son, having no child of her own. And when one time had
carried Moses to her father, she showed him to him, and said she thought
to make him her successor, if it should please God she should have no
legitimate child of her own; and to him, “I have brought up a child who is
of a divine form, 21 and of a generous mind; and as
I have received him from the bounty of the river, in, I thought proper to
adopt him my son, and the heir of thy kingdom.” And she had said this, she
put the infant into her father’s hands: so he took him, and hugged him to
his breast; and on his daughter’s account, in a pleasant way, put his
diadem upon his head; but Moses threw it down to the ground, and, in a
puerile mood, he wreathed it round, and trod upon his feet, which seemed
to bring along with evil presage concerning the kingdom of Egypt. But when
the sacred scribe saw this, [he was the person who foretold that his
nativity would lay the dominion of that kingdom low,] he made a violent
attempt to kill him; and crying out in a frightful manner, he said, “This,
O king! this child is he of whom God foretold, that if we kill him we
shall be in no danger; he himself affords an attestation to the prediction
of the same thing, by his trampling upon thy government, and treading upon
thy diadem. Take him, therefore, out of the way, and deliver the Egyptians
from the fear they are in about him; and deprive the Hebrews of the hope
they have of being encouraged by him.” But Thermuthis prevented him, and
snatched the child away. And the king was not hasty to slay him, God
himself, whose providence protected Moses, inclining the king to spare
him. He was, therefore, educated with great care. So the Hebrews depended
on him, and were of good hopes great things would be done by him; but the
Egyptians were suspicious of what would follow such his education. Yet
because, if Moses had been slain, there was no one, either akin or
adopted, that had any oracle on his side for pretending to the crown of
Egypt, and likely to be of greater advantage to them, they abstained from
killing him.
CHAPTER 10. How Moses Made War With The Ethiopians.
1. Moses, therefore, when he was born, and brought up in the foregoing
manner, and came to the age of maturity, made his virtue manifest to the
Egyptians; and showed that he was born for the bringing them down, and
raising the Israelites. And the occasion he laid hold of was this:—The
Ethiopians, who are next neighbors to the Egyptians, made an inroad into
their country, which they seized upon, and carried off the effects of the
Egyptians, who, in their rage, fought against them, and revenged the
affronts they had received from them; but being overcome in battle, some
of them were slain, and the rest ran away in a shameful manner, and by
that means saved themselves; whereupon the Ethiopians followed after them
in the pursuit, and thinking that it would be a mark of cowardice if they
did not subdue all Egypt, they went on to subdue the rest with greater
vehemence; and when they had tasted the sweets of the country, they never
left off the prosecution of the war: and as the nearest parts had not
courage enough at first to fight with them, they proceeded as far as
Memphis, and the sea itself, while not one of the cities was able to
oppose them. The Egyptians, under this sad oppression, betook themselves
to their oracles and prophecies; and when God had given them this counsel,
to make use of Moses the Hebrew, and take his assistance, the king
commanded his daughter to produce him, that he might be the general 22
of their army. Upon which, when she had made him swear he would do him no
harm, she delivered him to the king, and supposed his assistance would be
of great advantage to them. She withal reproached the priest, who, when
they had before admonished the Egyptians to kill him, was not ashamed now
to own their want of his help.
2. So Moses, at the persuasion both of Thermuthis and the king himself,
cheerfully undertook the business: and the sacred scribes of both nations
were glad; those of the Egyptians, that they should at once overcome their
enemies by his valor, and that by the same piece of management Moses would
be slain; but those of the Hebrews, that they should escape from the
Egyptians, because Moses was to be their general. But Moses prevented the
enemies, and took and led his army before those enemies were apprized of
his attacking them; for he did not march by the river, but by land, where
he gave a wonderful demonstration of his sagacity; for when the ground was
difficult to be passed over, because of the multitude of serpents, [which
it produces in vast numbers, and, indeed, is singular in some of those
productions, which other countries do not breed, and yet such as are worse
than others in power and mischief, and an unusual fierceness of sight,
some of which ascend out of the ground unseen, and also fly in the air,
and so come upon men at unawares, and do them a mischief,] Moses invented
a wonderful stratagem to preserve the army safe, and without hurt; for he
made baskets, like unto arks, of sedge, and filled them with ibes, 23
and carried them along with them; which animal is the greatest enemy to
serpents imaginable, for they fly from them when they come near them; and
as they fly they are caught and devoured by them, as if it were done by
the harts; but the ibes are tame creatures, and only enemies to the
serpentine kind: but about these ibes I say no more at present, since the
Greeks themselves are not unacquainted with this sort of bird. As soon,
therefore, as Moses was come to the land which was the breeder of these
serpents, he let loose the ibes, and by their means repelled the
serpentine kind, and used them for his assistants before the army came
upon that ground. When he had therefore proceeded thus on his journey, he
came upon the Ethiopians before they expected him; and, joining battle
with them, he beat them, and deprived them of the hopes they had of
success against the Egyptians, and went on in overthrowing their cities,
and indeed made a great slaughter of these Ethiopians. Now when the
Egyptian army had once tasted of this prosperous success, by the means of
Moses, they did not slacken their diligence, insomuch that the Ethiopians
were in danger of being reduced to slavery, and all sorts of destruction;
and at length they retired to Saba, which was a royal city of Ethiopia,
which Cambyses afterwards named Mero, after the name of his own sister.
The place was to be besieged with very great difficulty, since it was both
encompassed by the Nile quite round, and the other rivers, Astapus and
Astaboras, made it a very difficult thing for such as attempted to pass
over them; for the city was situate in a retired place, and was inhabited
after the manner of an island, being encompassed with a strong wall, and
having the rivers to guard them from their enemies, and having great
ramparts between the wall and the rivers, insomuch, that when the waters
come with the greatest violence, it can never be drowned; which ramparts
make it next to impossible for even such as are gotten over the rivers to
take the city. However, while Moses was uneasy at the army’s lying idle,
[for the enemies durst not come to a battle,] this accident happened:—Tharbis
was the daughter of the king of the Ethiopians: she happened to see Moses
as he led the army near the walls, and fought with great courage; and
admiring the subtilty of his undertakings, and believing him to be the
author of the Egyptians’ success, when they had before despaired of
recovering their liberty, and to be the occasion of the great danger the
Ethiopians were in, when they had before boasted of their great
achievements, she fell deeply in love with him; and upon the prevalancy of
that passion, sent to him the most faithful of all her servants to
discourse with him about their marriage. He thereupon accepted the offer,
on condition she would procure the delivering up of the city; and gave her
the assurance of an oath to take her to his wife; and that when he had
once taken possession of the city, he would not break his oath to her. No
sooner was the agreement made, but it took effect immediately; and when
Moses had cut off the Ethiopians, he gave thanks to God, and consummated
his marriage, and led the Egyptians back to their own land.
CHAPTER 11. How Moses Fled Out Of Egypt Into Midian.
1. Now the Egyptians, after they had been preserved by Moses, entertained
a hatred to him, and were very eager in compassing their designs against
him, as suspecting that he would take occasion, from his good success, to
raise a sedition, and bring innovations into Egypt; and told the king he
ought to be slain. The king had also some intentions of himself to the
same purpose, and this as well out of envy at his glorious expedition at
the head of his army, as out of fear of being brought low by him and being
instigated by the sacred scribes, he was ready to undertake to kill Moses:
but when he had learned beforehand what plots there were against him, he
went away privately; and because the public roads were watched, he took
his flight through the deserts, and where his enemies could not suspect he
would travel; and, though he was destitute of food, he went on, and
despised that difficulty courageously; and when he came to the city
Midian, which lay upon the Red Sea, and was so denominated from one of
Abraham’s sons by Keturah, he sat upon a certain well, and rested himself
there after his laborious journey, and the affliction he had been in. It
was not far from the city, and the time of the day was noon, where he had
an occasion offered him by the custom of the country of doing what
recommended his virtue, and afforded him an opportunity of bettering his
circumstances.
2. For that country having but little water, the shepherds used to seize
on the wells before others came, lest their flocks should want water, and
lest it should be spent by others before they came. There were now come,
therefore, to this well seven sisters that were virgins, the daughters of
Raguel, a priest, and one thought worthy by the people of the country of
great honor. These virgins, who took care of their father’s flocks, which
sort of work it was customary and very familiar for women to do in the
country of the Troglodytes, they came first of all, and drew water out of
the well in a quantity sufficient for their flocks, into troughs, which
were made for the reception of that water; but when the shepherds came
upon the maidens, and drove them away, that they might have the command of
the water themselves, Moses, thinking it would be a terrible reproach upon
him if he overlooked the young women under unjust oppression, and should
suffer the violence of the men to prevail over the right of the maidens,
he drove away the men, who had a mind to more than their share, and
afforded a proper assistance to the women; who, when they had received
such a benefit from him, came to their father, and told him how they had
been affronted by the shepherds, and assisted by a stranger, and entreated
that he would not let this generous action be done in vain, nor go without
a reward. Now the father took it well from his daughters that they were so
desirous to reward their benefactor; and bid them bring Moses into his
presence, that he might be rewarded as he deserved. And when Moses came,
he told him what testimony his daughters bare to him, that he had assisted
them; and that, as he admired him for his virtue, he said that Moses had
bestowed such his assistance on persons not insensible of benefits, but
where they were both able and willing to return the kindness, and even to
exceed the measure of his generosity. So he made him his son, and gave him
one of his daughters in marriage; and appointed him to be the guardian and
superintendent over his cattle; for of old, all the wealth of the
barbarians was in those cattle.
CHAPTER 12. Concerning The Burning Bush And The Rod Of Moses.
1. Now Moses, when he had obtained the favor of Jethro, for that was one
of the names of Raguel, staid there and fed his flock; but some time
afterward, taking his station at the mountain called Sinai, he drove his
flocks thither to feed them. Now this is the highest of all the mountains
thereabout, and the best for pasturage, the herbage being there good; and
it had not been before fed upon, because of the opinion men had that God
dwelt there, the shepherds not daring to ascend up to it; and here it was
that a wonderful prodigy happened to Moses; for a fire fed upon a thorn
bush, yet did the green leaves and the flowers continue untouched, and the
fire did not at all consume the fruit branches, although the flame was
great and fierce. Moses was affrighted at this strange sight, as it was to
him; but he was still more astonished when the fire uttered a voice, and
called to him by name, and spake words to him, by which it signified how
bold he had been in venturing to come into a place whither no man had ever
come before, because the place was divine; and advised him to remove a
great way off from the flame, and to be contented with what he had seen;
and though he were himself a good man, and the offspring of great men, yet
that he should not pry any further; and he foretold to him, that he should
have glory and honor among men, by the blessing of God upon him. He also
commanded him to go away thence with confidence to Egypt, in order to his
being the commander and conductor of the body of the Hebrews, and to his
delivering his own people from the injuries they suffered there: “For,”
said God, “they shall inhabit this happy land which your forefather
Abraham inhabited, and shall have the enjoyment of all good things.” But
still he enjoined them, when he brought the Hebrews out of the land of
Egypt, to come to that place, and to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
there, Such were the divine oracles which were delivered out of the fire.
2. But Moses was astonished at what he saw, and much more at what he
heard; and he said, “I think it would be an instance of too great madness,
O Lord, for one of that regard I bear to thee, to distrust thy power,
since I myself adore it, and know that it has been made manifest to my
progenitors: but I am still in doubt how I, who am a private man, and one
of no abilities, should either persuade my own countrymen to leave the
country they now inhabit, and to follow me to a land whither I lead them;
or, if they should be persuaded, how can I force Pharaoh to permit them to
depart, since they augment their own wealth and prosperity by the labors
and works they put upon them?”
3. But God persuaded him to be courageous on all occasions, and promised
to be with him, and to assist him in his words, when he was to persuade
men; and in his deeds, when he was to perform wonders. He bid him also to
take a signal of the truth of what he said, by throwing his rod upon the
ground, which, when he had done, it crept along, and was become a serpent,
and rolled itself round in its folds, and erected its head, as ready to
revenge itself on such as should assault it; after which it become a rod
again as it was before. After this God bid Moses to put his right hand
into his bosom: he obeyed, and when he took it out it was white, and in
color like to chalk, but afterward it returned to its wonted color again.
He also, upon God’s command, took some of the water that was near him, and
poured it upon the ground, and saw the color was that of blood. Upon the
wonder that Moses showed at these signs, God exhorted him to be of good
courage, and to be assured that he would be the greatest support to him;
and bid him make use of those signs, in order to obtain belief among all
men, that “thou art sent by me, and dost all things according to my
commands. Accordingly I enjoin thee to make no more delays, but to make
haste to Egypt, and to travel night and day, and not to draw out the time,
and so make the slavery of the Hebrews and their sufferings to last the
longer.”
4. Moses having now seen and heard these wonders that assured him of the
truth of these promises of God, had no room left him to disbelieve them:
he entreated him to grant him that power when he should be in Egypt; and
besought him to vouchsafe him the knowledge of his own name; and since he
had heard and seen him, that he would also tell him his name, that when he
offered sacrifice he might invoke him by such his name in his oblations.
Whereupon God declared to him his holy name, which had never been
discovered to men before; concerning which it is not lawful for me to say
any more 24 Now these signs accompanied
Moses, not then only, but always when he prayed for them: of all which
signs he attributed the firmest assent to the fire in the bush; and
believing that God would be a gracious supporter to him, he hoped he
should be able to deliver his own nation, and bring calamities on the
Egyptians.
CHAPTER 13. How Moses And Aaron Returned Into Egypt To Pharaoh.
1. So Moses, when he understood that the Pharaoh, in whose reign he fled
away, was dead, asked leave of Raguel to go to Egypt, for the benefit of
his own people. And he took with him Zipporah, the daughter of Raguel,
whom he had married, and the children he had by her, Gersom and Eleazer,
and made haste into Egypt. Now the former of those names, Gersom, in the
Hebrew tongue, signifies that he was in a strange land; and Eleazer, that,
by the assistance of the God of his fathers, he had escaped from the
Egyptians. Now when they were near the borders, Aaron his brother, by the
command of God, met him, to whom he declared what had befallen him at the
mountain, and the commands that God had given him. But as they were going
forward, the chief men among the Hebrews, having learned that they were
coming, met them: to whom Moses declared the signs he had seen; and while
they could not believe them, he made them see them, So they took courage
at these surprising and unexpected sights, and hoped well of their entire
deliverance, as believing now that God took care of their preservation.
2. Since then Moses found that the Hebrews would be obedient to whatsoever
he should direct, as they promised to be, and were in love with liberty,
he came to the king, who had indeed but lately received the government,
and told him how much he had done for the good of the Egyptians, when they
were despised by the Ethiopians, and their country laid waste by them; and
how he had been the commander of their forces, and had labored for them,
as if they had been his own people and he informed him in what danger he
had been during that expedition, without having any proper returns made
him as he had deserved. He also informed him distinctly what things
happened to him at Mount Sinai; and what God said to him; and the signs
that were done by God, in order to assure him of the authority of those
commands which he had given him. He also exhorted him not to disbelieve
what he told him, nor to oppose the will of God.
3. But when the king derided Moses; he made him in earnest see the signs
that were done at Mount Sinai. Yet was the king very angry with him and
called him an ill man, who had formerly run away from his Egyptian
slavery, and came now back with deceitful tricks, and wonders, and magical
arts, to astonish him. And when he had said this, he commanded the priests
to let him see the same wonderful sights; as knowing that the Egyptians
were skillful in this kind of learning, and that he was not the only
person who knew them, and pretended them to be divine; as also he told
him, that when he brought such wonderful sights before him, he would only
be believed by the unlearned. Now when the priests threw down their rods,
they became serpents. But Moses was not daunted at it; and said, “O king,
I do not myself despise the wisdom of the Egyptians, but I say that what I
do is so much superior to what these do by magic arts and tricks, as
Divine power exceeds the power of man: but I will demonstrate that what I
do is not done by craft, or counterfeiting what is not really true, but
that they appear by the providence and power of God.” And when he had said
this, he cast his rod down upon the ground, and commanded it to turn
itself into a serpent. It obeyed him, and went all round, and devoured the
rods of the Egyptians, which seemed to be dragons, until it had consumed
them all. It then returned to its own form, and Moses took it into his
hand again.
4. However, the king was no more moved when it was done than before; and
being very angry, he said that he should gain nothing by this his cunning
and shrewdness against the Egyptians;—and he commanded him that was
the chief taskmaster over the Hebrews, to give them no relaxation from
their labors, but to compel them to submit to greater oppressions than
before; and though he allowed them chaff before for making their bricks,
he would allow it them no longer, but he made them to work hard at
brick-making in the day-time, and to gather chaff in the night. Now when
their labor was thus doubled upon them, they laid the blame upon Moses,
because their labor and their misery were on his account become more
severe to them. But Moses did not let his courage sink for the king’s
threatenings; nor did he abate of his zeal on account of the Hebrews’
complaints; but he supported himself, and set his soul resolutely against
them both, and used his own utmost diligence to procure liberty to his
countrymen. So he went to the king, and persuaded him to let the Hebrews
go to Mount Sinai, and there to sacrifice to God, because God had enjoined
them so to do. He persuaded him also not to counterwork the designs of
God, but to esteem his favor above all things, and to permit them to
depart, lest, before he be aware, he lay an obstruction in the way of the
Divine commands, and so occasion his own suffering such punishments as it
was probable any one that counterworked the Divine commands should
undergo, since the severest afflictions arise from every object to those
that provoke the Divine wrath against them; for such as these have neither
the earth nor the air for their friends; nor are the fruits of the womb
according to nature, but every thing is unfriendly and adverse towards
them. He said further, that the Egyptians should know this by sad
experience; and that besides, the Hebrew people should go out of their
country without their consent.
CHAPTER 14. Concerning The Ten Plagues Which Came Upon The Egyptians.
1. But when the king despised the words of Moses, and had no regard at all
to them, grievous plagues seized the Egyptians; every one of which I will
describe, both because no such plagues did ever happen to any other nation
as the Egyptians now felt, and because I would demonstrate that Moses did
not fail in any one thing that he foretold them; and because it is for the
good of mankind, that they may learn this caution—Not to do anything
that may displease God, lest he be provoked to wrath, and avenge their
iniquities upon them. For the Egyptian river ran with bloody water at the
command of God, insomuch that it could not be drunk, and they had no other
spring of water neither; for the water was not only of the color of blood,
but it brought upon those that ventured to drink of it, great pains and
bitter torment. Such was the river to the Egyptians; but it was sweet and
fit for drinking to the Hebrews, and no way different from what it
naturally used to be. As the king therefore knew not what to do in these
surprising circumstances, and was in fear for the Egyptians, he gave the
Hebrews leave to go away; but when the plague ceased, he changed his mind
again, end would not suffer them to go. 25
2. But when God saw that he was ungrateful, and upon the ceasing of this
calamity would not grow wiser, he sent another plague upon the Egyptians:—An
innumerable multitude of frogs consumed the fruit of the ground; the river
was also full of them, insomuch that those who drew water had it spoiled
by the blood of these animals, as they died in, and were destroyed by, the
water; and the country was full of filthy slime, as they were born, and as
they died: they also spoiled their vessels in their houses which they
used, and were found among what they eat and what they drank, and came in
great numbers upon their beds. There was also an ungrateful smell, and a
stink arose from them, as they were born, and as they died therein. Now,
when the Egyptians were under the oppression of these miseries, the king
ordered Moses to take the Hebrews with him, and be gone. Upon which the
whole multitude of the frogs vanished away; and both the land and the
river returned to their former natures. But as soon as Pharaoh saw the
land freed from this plague, he forgot the cause of it, and retained the
Hebrews; and, as though he had a mind to try the nature of more such
judgments, he would not yet suffer Moses and his people to depart, having
granted that liberty rather out of fear than out of any good
consideration.
3. Accordingly, God punished his falseness with another plague, added to
the former; for there arose out of the bodies of the Egyptians an
innumerable quantity of lice, by which, wicked as they were, they
miserably perished, as not able to destroy this sort of vermin either with
washes or with ointments. At which terrible judgment the king of Egypt was
in disorder, upon the fear into which he reasoned himself, lest his people
should be destroyed, and that the manner of this death was also
reproachful, so that he was forced in part to recover himself from his
wicked temper to a sounder mind, for he gave leave for the Hebrews
themselves to depart. But when the plague thereupon ceased, he thought it
proper to require that they should leave their children and wives behind
them, as pledges of their return; whereby he provoked God to be more
vehemently angry at him, as if he thought to impose on his providence, and
as if it were only Moses, and not God, who punished the Egyptians for the
sake of the Hebrews: for he filled that country full of various sorts of
pestilential creatures, with their various properties, such indeed as had
never come into the sight of men before, by whose means the men perished
themselves, and the land was destitute of husbandmen for its cultivation;
but if any thing escaped destruction from them, it was killed by a
distemper which the men underwent also.
4. But when Pharaoh did not even then yield to the will of God, but, while
he gave leave to the husbands to take their wives with them, yet insisted
that the children should be left behind, God presently resolved to punish
his wickedness with several sorts of calamities, and those worse than the
foregoing, which yet had so generally afflicted them; for their bodies had
terrible boils, breaking forth with blains, while they were already
inwardly consumed; and a great part of the Egyptians perished in this
manner. But when the king was not brought to reason by this plague, hail
was sent down from heaven; and such hail it was, as the climate of Egypt
had never suffered before, nor was it like to that which falls in other
climates in winter time, 26 but was larger than that which
falls in the middle of spring to those that dwell in the northern and
north-western regions. This hail broke down their boughs laden with fruit.
After this a tribe of locusts consumed the seed which was not hurt by the
hail; so that to the Egyptians all hopes of the future fruits of the
ground were entirely lost.
5. One would think the forementioned calamities might have been sufficient
for one that was only foolish, without wickedness, to make him wise, and
to make him Sensible what was for his advantage. But Pharaoh, led not so
much by his folly as by his wickedness, even when he saw the cause of his
miseries, he still contested with God, and willfully deserted the cause of
virtue; so he bid Moses take the Hebrews away, with their wives and
children, to leave their cattle behind, since their own cattle were
destroyed. But when Moses said that what he desired was unjust, since they
were obliged to offer sacrifices to God of those cattle, and the time
being prolonged on this account, a thick darkness, without the least
light, spread itself over the Egyptians, whereby their sight being
obstructed, and their breathing hindered by the thickness of the air, they
died miserably, and under a terror lest they should be swallowed up by the
dark cloud. Besides this, when the darkness, after three days and as many
nights, was dissipated, and when Pharaoh did not still repent and let the
Hebrews go, Moses came to him and said, “How long wilt thou be disobedient
to the command of God? for he enjoins thee to let the Hebrews go; nor is
there any other way of being freed from the calamities you are under, unless
you do so.” But the king angry at what he said, and threatened to cut off
his head if he came any more to trouble him these matters. Hereupon Moses
said he not speak to him any more about them, for he himself, together
with the principal men among the Egyptians, should desire the Hebrews
away. So when Moses had said this, he his way.
6. But when God had signified, that with one plague he would compel the
Egyptians to let Hebrews go, he commanded Moses to tell the people that
they should have a sacrifice ready, and they should prepare themselves on
the tenth day of the month Xanthicus, against the fourteenth, [which month
is called by the Egyptians Pharmuth, Nisan by the Hebrews; but the
Macedonians call it Xanthicus,] and that he should carry the Hebrews with
all they had. Accordingly, he having got the Hebrews ready for their
departure, and having sorted the people into tribes, he kept them together
in one place: but when the fourteenth day was come, and all were ready to
depart they offered the sacrifice, and purified their houses with the
blood, using bunches of hyssop for that purpose; and when they had supped,
they burnt the remainder of the flesh, as just ready to depart. Whence it
is that we do still offer this sacrifice in like manner to this day, and
call this festival Pascha which signifies the feast of the passover;
because on that day God passed us over, and sent the plague upon the
Egyptians; for the destruction of the first-born came upon the Egyptians
that night, so that many of the Egyptians who lived near the king’s
palace, persuaded Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go. Accordingly he called for
Moses, and bid them be gone; as supposing, that if once the Hebrews were
gone out of the country, Egypt should be freed from its miseries. They
also honored the Hebrews with gifts; 27 some, in
order to get them to depart quickly, and others on account of their
neighborhood, and the friendship they had with them.
CHAPTER 15. How The Hebrews Under The Conduct Of Moses Left Egypt.
1. So the Hebrews went out of Egypt, while the Egyptians wept, and
repented that they had treated them so hardly.—Now they took their
journey by Letopolis, a place at that time deserted, but where Babylon was
built afterwards, when Cambyses laid Egypt waste: but as they went away
hastily, on the third day they came to a place called Beelzephon, on the
Red Sea; and when they had no food out of the land, because it was a
desert, they eat of loaves kneaded of flour, only warmed by a gentle heat;
and this food they made use of for thirty days; for what they brought with
them out of Egypt would not suffice them any longer time; and this only
while they dispensed it to each person, to use so much only as would serve
for necessity, but not for satiety. Whence it is that, in memory of the
want we were then in, we keep a feast for eight days, which is called the
feast of unleavened bread. Now the entire multitude of those that went
out, including the women and children, was not easy to be numbered, but
those that were of an age fit for war, were six hundred thousand.
2. They left Egypt in the month Xanthicus, on the fifteenth day of the
lunar month; four hundred and thirty years after our forefather Abraham
came into Canaan, but two hundred and fifteen years only after Jacob
removed into Egypt. 28 It was the eightieth year of
the age of Moses, and of that of Aaron three more. They also carried out
the bones of Joesph with them, as he had charged his sons to do.
3. But the Egyptians soon repented that the Hebrews were gone; and the
king also was mightily concerned that this had been procured by the magic
arts of Moses; so they resolved to go after them. Accordingly they took
their weapons, and other warlike furniture, and pursued after them, in
order to bring them back, if once they overtook them, because they would
now have no pretense to pray to God against them, since they had already
been permitted to go out; and they thought they should easily overcome
them, as they had no armor, and would be weary with their journey; so they
made haste in their pursuit, and asked of every one they met which way
they were gone. And indeed that land was difficult to be traveled over,
not only by armies, but by single persons. Now Moses led the Hebrews this
way, that in case the Egyptians should repent and be desirous to pursue
after them, they might undergo the punishment of their wickedness, and of
the breach of those promises they had made to them. As also he led them
this way on account of the Philistines, who had quarreled with them, and
hated them of old, that by all means they might not know of their
departure, for their country is near to that of Egypt; and thence it was
that Moses led them not along the road that tended to the land of the
Philistines, but he was desirous that they should go through the desert,
that so after a long journey, and after many afflictions, they might enter
upon the land of Canaan. Another reason of this was, that God commanded
him to bring the people to Mount Sinai, that there they might offer him
sacrifices. Now when the Egyptians had overtaken the Hebrews, they
prepared to fight them, and by their multitude they drove them into a
narrow place; for the number that pursued after them was six hundred
chariots, with fifty thousand horsemen, and two hundred thousand foot-men,
all armed. They also seized on the passages by which they imagined the
Hebrews might fly, shutting them up 29 between
inaccessible precipices and the sea; for there was [on each side] a [ridge
of] mountains that terminated at the sea, which were impassable by reason
of their roughness, and obstructed their flight; wherefore they there
pressed upon the Hebrews with their army, where [the ridges of] the
mountains were closed with the sea; which army they placed at the chops of
the mountains, that so they might deprive them of any passage into the
plain.
4. When the Hebrews, therefore, were neither able to bear up, being thus,
as it were, besieged, because they wanted provisions, nor saw any possible
way of escaping; and if they should have thought of fighting, they had no
weapons; they expected a universal destruction, unless they delivered
themselves up to the Egyptians. So they laid the blame on Moses, and
forgot all the signs that had been wrought by God for the recovery of
their freedom; and this so far, that their incredulity prompted them to
throw stones at the prophet, while he encouraged them and promised them
deliverance; and they resolved that they would deliver themselves up to
the Egyptians. So there was sorrow and lamentation among the women and
children, who had nothing but destruction before their eyes, while they
were encompassed with mountains, the sea, and their enemies, and discerned
no way of flying from them.
5. But Moses, though the multitude looked fiercely at him, did not,
however, give over the care of them, but despised all dangers, out of his
trust in God, who, as he had afforded them the several steps already taken
for the recovery of their liberty, which he had foretold them, would not
now suffer them to be subdued by their enemies, to be either made slaves
or be slain by them; and, standing in midst of them, he said, “It is not
just of us to distrust even men, when they have hitherto well managed our
affairs, as if they would not be the same hereafter; but it is no better
than madness, at this time to despair of the providence of God, by whose
power all those things have been performed he promised, when you expected
no such things: I mean all that I have been concerned in for deliverance
and escape from slavery. Nay, when we are in the utmost distress, as you
see we ought rather to hope that God will succor us, by whose operation it
is that we are now in this narrow place, that he may out of such difficulties
as are otherwise insurmountable and out of which neither you nor your
enemies expect you can be delivered, and may at once demonstrate his own
power and his providence over us. Nor does God use to give his help in
small difficulties to those whom he favors, but in such cases where no one
can see how any hope in man can better their condition. Depend, therefore,
upon such a Protector as is able to make small things great, and to show
that this mighty force against you is nothing but weakness, and be not
affrighted at the Egyptian army, nor do you despair of being preserved,
because the sea before, and the mountains behind, afford you no
opportunity for flying, for even these mountains, if God so please, may be
made plain ground for you, and the sea become dry land.”
CHAPTER 16. How The Sea Was Divided Asunder For The Hebrews, When They
Were Pursued By The Egyptians, And So Gave Them An Opportunity Of Escaping
From Them.
1. When Moses had said this, he led them to the sea, while the Egyptians
looked on; for they were within sight. Now these were so distressed by the
toil of their pursuit, that they thought proper to put off fighting till
the next day. But when Moses was come to the sea-shore, he took his rod,
and made supplication to God, and called upon him to be their helper and
assistant; and said “Thou art not ignorant, O Lord, that it is beyond
human strength and human contrivance to avoid the difficulties we are now
under; but it must be thy work altogether to procure deliverance to this
army, which has left Egypt at thy appointment. We despair of any other
assistance or contrivance, and have recourse only to that hope we have in
thee; and if there be any method that can promise us an escape by thy
providence, we look up to thee for it. And let it come quickly, and
manifest thy power to us; and do thou raise up this people unto good
courage and hope of deliverance, who are deeply sunk into a disconsolate
state of mind. We are in a helpless place, but still it is a place that
thou possessest; still the sea is thine, the mountains also that enclose
us are thine; so that these mountains will open themselves if thou
commandest them, and the sea also, if thou commandest it, will become dry
land. Nay, we might escape by a flight through the air, if thou shouldst
determine we should have that way of salvation.”
2. When Moses had thus addressed himself to God, he smote the sea with his
rod, which parted asunder at the stroke, and receiving those waters into
itself, left the ground dry, as a road and a place of flight for the
Hebrews. Now when Moses saw this appearance of God, and that the sea went
out of its own place, and left dry land, he went first of all into it, and
bid the Hebrews to follow him along that divine road, and to rejoice at
the danger their enemies that followed them were in; and gave thanks to
God for this so surprising a deliverance which appeared from him.
3. Now, while these Hebrews made no stay, but went on earnestly, as led by
God’s presence with them, the Egyptians supposed first that they were
distracted, and were going rashly upon manifest destruction. But when they
saw that they were going a great way without any harm, and that no
obstacle or difficulty fell in their journey, they made haste to pursue
them, hoping that the sea would be calm for them also. They put their
horse foremost, and went down themselves into the sea. Now the Hebrews,
while these were putting on their armor, and therein spending their time,
were beforehand with them, and escaped them, and got first over to the
land on the other side without any hurt. Whence the others were
encouraged, and more courageously pursued them, as hoping no harm would
come to them neither: but the Egyptians were not aware that they went into
a road made for the Hebrews, and not for others; that this road was made
for the deliverance of those in danger, but not for those that were
earnest to make use of it for the others’ destruction. As soon, therefore,
as ever the whole Egyptian army was within it, the sea flowed to its own
place, and came down with a torrent raised by storms of wind, 30
and encompassed the Egyptians. Showers of rain also came down from the
sky, and dreadful thunders and lightning, with flashes of fire.
Thunderbolts also were darted upon them. Nor was there any thing which
used to be sent by God upon men, as indications of his wrath, which did
not happen at this time, for a dark and dismal night oppressed them. And
thus did all these men perish, so that there was not one man left to be a
messenger of this calamity to the rest of the Egyptians.
4. But the Hebrews were not able to contain themselves for joy at their
wonderful deliverance, and destruction of their enemies; now indeed
supposing themselves firmly delivered, when those that would have forced
them into slavery were destroyed, and when they found they had God so
evidently for their protector. And now these Hebrews having escaped the
danger they were in, after this manner, and besides that, seeing their
enemies punished in such a way as is never recorded of any other men
whomsoever, were all the night employed in singing of hymns, and in mirth.
31
Moses also composed a song unto God, containing his praises, and a
thanksgiving for his kindness, in hexameter verse. 32
5. As for myself, I have delivered every part of this history as I found
it in the sacred books; nor let any one wonder at the strangeness of the
narration if a way were discovered to those men of old time, who were free
from the wickedness of the modern ages, whether it happened by the will of
God or whether it happened of its own accord;—while, for the sake of
those that accompanied Alexander, king of Macedonia, who yet lived,
comparatively but a little while ago, the Pamphylian Sea retired and
afforded them a passage 33 through itself, had no other
way to go; I mean, when it was the will of God to destroy the monarchy of
the Persians: and this is confessed to be true by all that have written
about the actions of Alexander. But as to these events, let every one
determine as he pleases.
6. On the next day Moses gathered together the weapons of the Egyptians,
which were brought to the camp of the Hebrews by the current of the sea,
and the force of the winds resisting it; and he conjectured that this also
happened by Divine Providence, that so they might not be destitute of
weapons. So when he had ordered the Hebrews to arm themselves with them,
he led them to Mount Sinai, in order to offer sacrifice to God, and to
render oblations for the salvation of the multitude, as he was charged to
do beforehand.
FOOTNOTES
1 (return)
[ We may here observe, that
in correspondence to Joseph’s second dream, which implied that his mother,
who was then alive, as well as his father, should come and bow down to
him, Josephus represents her here as still alive after she was dead, for
the decorum of the dream that foretold it, as the interpretation of the
dream does also in all our copies, Genesis 37:10.]
2 (return)
[ The Septuagint have twenty
pieces of gold; the Testament of Gad thirty; the Hebrew and Samaritan
twenty of silver; and the vulgar Latin thirty. What was the true number
and true sum cannot therefore now be known.]
3 (return)
[ That is, bought it for
Pharaoh at a very low price.]
4 (return)
[ This Potiphar, or, as
Josephus, Petephres, who was now a priest of On, or Heliopolis, is the
same name in Josephus, and perhaps in Moses also, with him who is before
called head cook or captain of the guard, and to whom Joseph was sold. See
Genesis 37:36; 39:1, with 41:50. They are also affirmed to be one and the
same person in the Testament of Joseph, sect. 18, for he is there said to
have married the daughter of his master and mistress. Nor is this a notion
peculiar to that Testament, but, as Dr. Bernard confesses, note on Antiq.
B. II. ch. 4. sect. 1, common to Josephus, to the Septuagint interpreters,
and to other learned Jews of old time.]
5 (return)
[ This entire ignorance of
the Egyptians of these years of famine before they came, told us before,
as well as here, ch. 5. sect. 7, by Josephus, seems to me almost
incredible. It is in no other copy that I know of.]
6 (return)
[ The reason why Symeon
might be selected out of the rest for Joseph’s prisoner, is plain in the
Testament of Symeon, viz. that he was one of the bitterest of all Joseph’s
brethren against him, sect. 2; which appears also in part by the Testament
of Zabulon, sect. 3.]
7 (return)
[ The coherence seems to me
to show that the negative particle is here wanting, which I have supplied
in brackets, and I wonder none have hitherto suspected that it ought to be
supplied.]
8 (return)
[ Of the precious balsam of
Judea, and the turpentine, see the note on Antiq. B. VIII. ch. 6. sect.
6.]
9 (return)
[ This oration seems to me
too large, and too unusual a digression, to have been composed by Judas on
this occasion. It seems to me a speech or declamation composed formerly,
in the person of Judas, and in the way of oratory, that lay by him, and
which he thought fit to insert on this occasion. See two more such
speeches or declamations, Antiq. B. VI. ch. 14. sect. 4]
10 (return)
[ In all this speech of
Judas we may observe, that Josephus still supposed that death was the
punishment of theft in Egypt, in the days of Joseph, though it never was
so among the Jews, by the law of Moses.]
11 (return)
[ All the Greek copies of
Josephus have the negative particle here, that Jacob himself was not
reckoned one of the 70 souls that came into Egypt; but the old Latin
copies want it, and directly assure us he was one of them. It is therefore
hardly certain which of these was Josephus’s true reading, since the
number 70 is made up without him, if we reckon Leah for one; but if she be
not reckoned, Jacob must himself be one, to complete the number.]
12 (return)
[ Josephus thought that
the Egyptians hated or despised the employment of a shepherd in the days
of Joseph; whereas Bishop Cumberland has shown that they rather hated such
Poehnician or Canaanite shepherds that had long enslaved the Egyptians of
old time. See his Sanchoniatho, p. 361, 362.]
13 (return)
[ Reland here puts the
question, how Josephus could complain of its not raining in Egypt during
this famine, while the ancients affirm that it never does naturally rain
there. His answer is, that when the ancients deny that it rains in Egypt,
they only mean the Upper Egypt above the Delta, which is called Egypt in
the strictest sense; but that in the Delta [and by consequence in the
Lower Egypt adjoining to it] it did of old, and still does, rain
sometimes. See the note on Antiq. B. III. ch. 1. sect. 6.]
14 (return)
[ Josephus supposes that
Joseph now restored the Egyptians their lands again upon the payment of a
fifth part as tribute. It seems to me rather that the land was now
considered as Pharaoh’s land, and this fifth part as its rent, to be paid
to him, as he was their landlord, and they his tenants; and that the lands
were not properly restored, and this fifth part reserved as tribute only,
till the days of Sesostris. See Essay on the Old Testament, Append. 148,
149.]
15 (return)
[ As to this encomium upon
Joseph, as preparatory to Jacob’s adopting Ephraim and Manasses into his
own family, and to be admitted for two tribes, which Josephus here
mentions, all our copies of Genesis omit it, ch. 48.; nor do we know
whence he took it, or whether it be not his own embellishment only.]
16 (return)
[ As to the affliction of
Abraham’s posterity for 400 years, see Antiq. B. I. ch. 10. sect. 3; and
as to what cities they built in Egypt, under Pharaoh Sesostris, and of
Pharaoh Sesostris’s drowning in the Red Sea, see Essay on the Old
Testament, Append. p. 132-162.]
17 (return)
[ Of this building of the
pyramids of Egypt by the Israelites, see Perizonius Orig. Aegyptiac, ch.
21. It is not impossible they might build one or more of the small ones;
but the larger ones seem much later. Only, if they be all built of stone,
this does not so well agree with the Israelites’ labors, which are said to
have been in brick, and not in stone, as Mr. Sandys observes in his
Travels. p. 127, 128.]
18 (return)
[ Dr. Bernard informs us
here, that instead of this single priest or prophet of the Egyptians,
without a name in Josephus, the Targum of Jonathan names the two famous
antagonists of Moses, Jannes and Jambres. Nor is it at all unlikely that
it might be one of these who foreboded so much misery to the Egyptians,
and so much happiness to the Israelites, from the rearing of Moses.]
19 (return)
[ Josephus is clear that
these midwives were Egyptians, and not Israelites, as in our other copies:
which is very probable, it being not easily to be supposed that Pharaoh
could trust the Israelite midwives to execute so barbarous a command
against their own nation. (Consult, therefore, and correct hence our
ordinary copies, Exodus 1:15, 22.) And, indeed, Josephus seems to have had
much completer copies of the Pentateuch, or other authentic records now
lost, about the birth and actions of Moses, than either our Hebrew,
Samaritan, or Greek Bibles afford us, which enabled him to be so large and
particular about him.]
20 (return)
[ Of this grandfather of
Sesostris, Ramestes the Great, who slew the Israelite infants, and of the
inscription on his obelisk, containing, in my opinion, one of the oldest
records of mankind, see Essay on the Old Test. Append. p. 139, 145, 147,
217-220.]
21 (return)
[ What Josephus here says
of the beauty of Moses, that he was of a divine form, is very like what
St. Stephen says of the same beauty; that Moses was beautiful in the sight
of Acts 7:20.]
22 (return)
[ This history of Moses,
as general of the Egyptians against the Ethiopians, is wholly omitted in
our Bibles; but is thus by Irenaeus, from Josephus, and that soon after
his own age:—”Josephus says, that when Moses was nourished in the
palace, he was appointed general of the army against the Ethiopians, and
conquered them, when he married that king’s daughter; because, out of her
affection for him, she delivered the city up to him.” See the Fragments of
Irenaeus, ap. edit. Grab. p. 472. Nor perhaps did St. Stephen refer to any
thing else when he said of Moses, before he was sent by God to the
Israelites, that he was not only learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians, but was also mighty in words and in deeds, Acts 7:22.]
23 (return)
[ Pliny speaks of these
birds called ibes; and says, “The Egyptians invoked them against the
serpents,” Hist. Nat. B. X. ch. 28. Strabo speaks of this island Meroe,
and these rivers Astapus and Astaboras, B. XVI. p. 771, 786; and B XVII.
p. 82].]
24 (return)
[ This superstitious fear
of discovering the name with four letters, which of late we have been used
falsely to pronounce Jehovah, but seems to have been originally pronounced
Jahoh, or Jao, is never, I think, heard of till this passage of Josephus;
and this superstition, in not pronouncing that name, has continued among
the Rabbinical Jews to this day [though whether the Samaritans and
Caraites observed it so early, does not appear]. Josephus also durst not
set down the very words of the ten commandments, as we shall see
hereafter, Antiq. B. III. ch. 5. sect. 4, which superstitious silence I
think has yet not been continued even by the Rabbins. It is, however, no
doubt but both these cautious concealments were taught Josephus by the
Pharisees, a body of men at once very wicked and very superstitious.]
25 (return)
[ Of this judicial
hardening the hearts and blinding the eyes of wicked men, or infatuating
them, as a just punishment for their other willful sins, to their own
destruction, see the note on Antiq. B. VII. ch. 9. sect. 6.]
26 (return)
[ As to this winter or
spring hail near Egypt and Judea, see the like on thunder and lightning
there, in the note on Antiq. B. VI. ch. 5. sect. 6.]
27 (return)
[ These large presents
made to the Israelites, of vessels of and vessels of gold, and raiment,
were, as Josephus truly calls them, gifts really given them; not lent
them, as our English falsely renders them. They were spoils required, not
of them, Genesis 15:14; Exodus 3:22; 11:2; Psalm 105:37,] as the same
version falsely renders the Hebrew word Exodus 12:35, 36. God had ordered
the Jews to demand these as their pay and reward, during their long and
bitter slavery in Egypt, as atonements for the lives of the Egyptians, and
as the condition of the Jews’ departure, and of the Egyptians’ deliverance
from these terrible judgments, which, had they not now ceased, they had
soon been all dead men, as they themselves confess, ch. 12. 33. Nor was
there any sense in borrowing or lending, when the Israelites were finally
departing out of the land for ever.]
28 (return)
[ Why our Masorete copy so
groundlessly abridges this account in Exodus 12:40, as to ascribe 430
years to the sole peregrination of the Israelites in Egypt, when it is
clear even by that Masorete chronology elsewhere, as well as from the
express text itself, in the Samaritan, Septuagint, and Josephus, that they
sojourned in Egypt but half that time,–and that by consequence, the other
half of their peregrination was in the land of Canaan, before they came
into Egypt,–is hard to say. See Essay on the Old Testament, p. 62, 63.]
29 (return)
[ Take the main part of
Reland’s excellent note here, which greatly illustrates Josephus, and the
Scripture, in this history, as follows: “[A traveller, says Reland, whose
name was] Eneman, when he returned out of Egypt, told me that he went the
same way from Egypt to Mount Sinai, which he supposed the Israelites of
old traveled; and that he found several mountainous tracts, that ran down
towards the Red Sea. He thought the Israelites had proceeded as far as the
desert of Etham, Exodus 13:20, when they were commanded by God to return
back, Exodus 14:2, and to pitch their camp between Migdol and the sea; and
that when they were not able to fly, unless by sea, they were shut in on
each side by mountains. He also thought we might evidently learn hence,
how it might be said that the Israelites were in Etham before they went
over the sea, and yet might be said to have come into Etham after they had
passed over the sea also. Besides, he gave me an account how he passed
over a river in a boat near the city Suez, which he says must needs be the
Heroopolia of the ancients, since that city could not be situate any where
else in that neighborhood.” As to the famous passage produced here by Dr.
Bernard, out of Herodotus, as the most ancient heathen testimony of the
Israelites coming from the Red Sea into Palestine, Bishop Cumberland has
shown that it belongs to the old Canaanite or Phoenician shepherds, and
their retiring out of Egypt into Canaan or Phoenicia, long before the days
of Moses. Sanchoniatho, p. 374, &c.]
30 (return)
[ Of these storms of wind,
thunder, and lightning, at this drowning of Pharaoh’s army, almost wanting
in our copies of Exodus, but fully extant in that of David, Psalm
77:16-18, and in that of Josephus here, see Essay on the Old Test. Append.
p. 15,1, 155.]
31 (return)
[ What some have here
objected against this passage of the Israelites over the Red Sea, in this
one night, from the common maps, viz. that this sea being here about
thirty miles broad, so great an army could not pass over it in so short a
time, is a great mistake. Mons. Thevenot, an authentic eye-witness,
informs us, that this sea, for about five days’ journey, is no where more
than about eight or nine miles over-cross, and in one place but four or
five miles, according to De Lisle’s map, which is made from the best
travelers themselves, and not copied from others. What has been further
objected against this passage of the Israelites, and drowning of the
Egyptians, being miraculous also, viz. that Moses might carry the
Israelites over at a low tide without any miracle, while yet the
Egyptians, not knowing the tide so well as he, might be drowned upon the
return of the tide, is a strange story indeed! That Moses, who never had
lived here, should know the quantity and time of the flux and reflux of
the Red Sea better than the Egyptians themselves in its neighborhood! Yet
does Artapanus, an ancient heathen historian, inform us, that this was
what the more ignorant Memphites, who lived at a great distance,
pretended, though he confesses, that the more learned Heliopolitans, who
lived much nearer, owned the destruction of the Egyptians, and the
deliverance of the Israelites, to have been miraculous: and De Castro, a
mathematician, who surveyed this sea with great exactness, informs us,
that there is no great flux or reflux in this part of the Red Sea, to give
a color to this hypothesis; nay, that at the elevation of the tide there
is little above half the height of a man. See Essay on the Old Test.
Append. p. 239, 240. So vain and groundless are these and the like
evasions and subterfuges of our modern sceptics and unbelievers, and so
certainly do thorough inquiries and authentic evidence disprove and
confute such evasions and subterfuges upon all occasions.]
32 (return)
[ What that hexameter
verse, in which Moses’s triumphant song is here said to be written,
distinctly means, our present ignorance of the old Hebrew metre or measure
will not let us determine. Nor does it appear to me certain that even
Josephus himself had a distinct notion of it, though he speaks of several
sort of that metre or measure, both here and elsewhere. Antiq. B. IV. ch.
8. sect. 44; and B. VII. ch. 12. sect. 3.]
33 (return)
[ Take here the original
passages of the four old authors that still remain, as to this transit of
Alexander the Great over the Pamphylian Sea: I mean, of Callisthenes,
Strabu, Arrian, and Appian. As to Callisthenes, who himself accompanied
Alexander in this expedition, Eustathius, in his Notes on the third Iliad
of Homer, [as Dr. Bernard here informs us,] says, That “this Callisthenes
wrote how the Pamphylian Sea did not only open a passage for Alexander,
but, by rising and did pay him homage as its king.” Strabo’s is this
[Geog. B. XIV. p. 666]: “Now about Phaselis is that narrow passage, by the
sea-side, through which his army. There is a mountain called Climax,
adjoins to the Sea of Pamphylia, leaving a narrow passage on the shore,
which, in calm weather, is bare, so as to be passable by travelers, but
when the sea overflows, it is covered to a great degree by the waves. Now
then, the ascent by the mountains being round about and steep, in still
weather they make use of the road along the coast. But Alexander fell into
the winter season, and committing himself chiefly to fortune, he marched
on before the waves retired; and so it happened that were a whole day in
journeying over it, and were under water up to the navel.” Arrian’s
account is this [B. I. p. 72, 73]: “Alexander removed from Phaselis, he
sent some part his army over the mountains to Perga; which road the
Thracians showed him. A difficult way it was, but short. He himself
conducted those that were with him by the sea-shore. This road is
impassable at any other time than when the north wind blows; but if the
south wind prevail, there is no passing by the shore. Now at this time,
after strong south winds, a north wind blew, and that not without the
Divine Providence, [as both he and they that were with him supposed,] and
afforded him an easy and quick passage.” Appian, when he compares Cæsar
and Alexander together, [De Bel. Civil. B. II. p. 522,] says, “That they
both depended on their boldness and fortune, as much as on their skill in
war. As an instance of which, Alexander journeyed over a country without
water, in the heat of summer, to the oracle of [Jupiter] Hammon, and
quickly passed over the Bay of Pamphylia, when, by Divine Providence, the
sea was cut off—thus Providence restraining the sea on his account,
as it had sent him rain when he traveled [over the desert].” N. B.—Since,
in the days of Josephus, as he assures us, all the more numerous original
historians of Alexander gave the account he has here set down, as to the
providential going back of the waters of the Pamphylian Sea, when he was
going with his army to destroy the Persian monarchy, which the fore-named
authors now remaining fully confirm, it is without all just foundation
that Josephus is here blamed by some late writers for quoting those
ancient authors upon the present occasion; nor can the reflections of
Plutarch, or any other author later than Josephus, be in the least here
alleged to contradict him. Josephus went by all the evidence he then had,
and that evidence of the most authentic sort also. So that whatever the
moderns may think of the thing itself, there is hence not the least color
for finding fault with Josephus: he would rather have been much to blame
had he omitted these quotations.]
BOOK III. Containing The Interval Of Two Years.—From The Exodus
Out Of Egypt, To The Rejection Of That Generation.
CHAPTER 1. How Moses When He Had Brought The People Out Of Egypt Led Them
To Mount Sinai; But Not Till They Had Suffered Much In Their Journey.
1. When the Hebrews had obtained such a wonderful deliverance, the country
was a great trouble to them, for it was entirely a desert, and without
sustenance for them; and also had exceeding little water, so that it not
only was not at all sufficient for the men, but not enough to feed any of
the cattle, for it was parched up, and had no moisture that might afford
nutriment to the vegetables; so they were forced to travel over this
country, as having no other country but this to travel in. They had indeed
carried water along with them from the land over which they had traveled
before, as their conductor had bidden them; but when that was spent, they
were obliged to draw water out of wells, with pain, by reason of the
hardness of the soil. Moreover, what water they found was bitter, and not
fit for drinking, and this in small quantities also; and as they thus
traveled, they came late in the evening to a place called Marah, 1
which had that name from the badness of its water, for Mar denotes
bitterness. Thither they came afflicted both by the tediousness of their
journey, and by their want of food, for it entirely failed them at that
time. Now here was a well, which made them choose to stay in the place,
which, although it were not sufficient to satisfy so great an army, did
yet afford them some comfort, as found in such desert places; for they
heard from those who had been to search, that there was nothing to be
found, if they traveled on farther. Yet was this water bitter, and not fit
for men to drink; and not only so, but it was intolerable even to the
cattle themselves.
2. When Moses saw how much the people were cast down, and that the
occasion of it could not be contradicted, for the people were not in the
nature of a complete army of men, who might oppose a manly fortitude to
the necessity that distressed them; the multitude of the children, and of
the women also, being of too weak capacities to be persuaded by reason,
blunted the courage of the men themselves,—he was therefore in great
difficulties, and made everybody’s calamity his own; for they ran all of
them to him, and begged of him; the women begged for their infants, and
the men for the women, that he would not overlook them, but procure some
way or other for their deliverance. He therefore betook himself to prayer
to God, that he would change the water from its present badness, and make
it fit for drinking. And when God had granted him that favor, he took the
top of a stick that lay down at his feet, and divided it in the middle,
and made the section lengthways. He then let it down into the well, and
persuaded the Hebrews that God had hearkened to his prayers, and had
promised to render the water such as they desired it to be, in case they
would be subservient to him in what he should enjoin them to do, and this
not after a remiss or negligent manner. And when they asked what they were
to do in order to have the water changed for the better, he bid the
strongest men among them that stood there, to draw up water 2
and told them, that when the greatest part was drawn up, the remainder
would be fit to drink. So they labored at it till the water was so
agitated and purged as to be fit to drink.
3. And now removing from thence they came to Elim; which place looked well
at a distance, for there was a grove of palm-trees; but when they came
near to it, it appeared to be a bad place, for the palm-trees were no more
than seventy; and they were ill-grown and creeping trees, by the want of
water, for the country about was all parched, and no moisture sufficient
to water them, and make them hopeful and useful, was derived to them from
the fountains, which were in number twelve: they were rather a few moist
places than springs, which not breaking out of the ground, nor running
over, could not sufficiently water the trees. And when they dug into the
sand, they met with no water; and if they took a few drops of it into
their hands, they found it to be useless, on account of its mud. The trees
were too weak to bear fruit, for want of being sufficiently cherished and
enlivened by the water. So they laid the blame on their conductor, and
made heavy complaints against him; and said that this their miserable
state, and the experience they had of adversity, were owing to him; for
that they had then journeyed an entire thirty days, and had spent all the
provisions they had brought with them; and meeting with no relief, they
were in a very desponding condition. And by fixing their attention upon
nothing but their present misfortunes, they were hindered from remembering
what deliverances they had received from God, and those by the virtue and
wisdom of Moses also; so they were very angry at their conductor, and were
zealous in their attempt to stone him, as the direct occasion of their
present miseries.
4. But as for Moses himself, while the multitude were irritated and
bitterly set against him, he cheerfully relied upon God, and upon his
consciousness of the care he had taken of these his own people; and he
came into the midst of them, even while they clamored against him, and had
stones in their hands in order to despatch him. Now he was of an agreeable
presence, and very able to persuade the people by his speeches;
accordingly he began to mitigate their anger, and exhorted them not to be
over-mindful of their present adversities, lest they should thereby suffer
the benefits that had formerly been bestowed on them to slip out of their
memories; and he desired them by no means, on account of their present
uneasiness, to cast those great and wonderful favors and gifts, which they
had obtained of God, out of their minds, but to expect deliverance out of
those their present troubles which they could not free themselves from,
and this by the means of that Divine Providence which watched over them.
Seeing it is probable that God tries their virtue, and exercises their
patience by these adversities, that it may appear what fortitude they
have, and what memory they retain of his former wonderful works in their
favor, and whether they will not think of them upon occasion of the
miseries they now feel. He told them, it appeared they were not really
good men, either in patience, or in remembering what had been successfully
done for them, sometimes by contemning God and his commands, when by those
commands they left the land of Egypt; and sometimes by behaving themselves
ill towards him who was the servant of God, and this when he had never
deceived them, either in what he said, or had ordered them to do by God’s
command. He also put them in mind of all that had passed; how the
Egyptians were destroyed when they attempted to detain them, contrary to
the command of God; and after what manner the very same river was to the
others bloody, and not fit for drinking, but was to them sweet, and fit
for drinking; and how they went a new road through the sea, which fled a
long way from them, by which very means they were themselves preserved,
but saw their enemies destroyed; and that when they were in want of
weapons, God gave them plenty of them;-and so he recounted all the
particular instances, how when they were, in appearance, just going to be
destroyed, God had saved them in a surprising manner; and that he had
still the same power; and that they ought not even now to despair of his
providence over them; and accordingly he exhorted them to continue quiet,
and to consider that help would not come too late, though it come not
immediately, if it be present with them before they suffer any great
misfortune; that they ought to reason thus: that God delays to assist
them, not because he has no regard to them, but because he will first try
their fortitude, and the pleasure they take in their freedom, that he may
learn whether you have souls great enough to bear want of food, and
scarcity of water, on its account; or whether you rather love to be
slaves, as cattle are slaves to such as own them, and feed them liberally,
but only in order to make them more useful in their service. That as for
himself, he shall not be so much concerned for his own preservation; for
if he die unjustly, he shall not reckon it any affliction, but that he is
concerned for them, lest, by casting stones at him, they should be thought
to condemn God himself.
5. By this means Moses pacified the people, and restrained them from
stoning him, and brought them to repent of what they were going to do. And
because he thought the necessity they were under made their passion less
unjustifiable, he thought he ought to apply himself to God by prayer and
supplication; and going up to an eminence, he requested of God for some
succor for the people, and some way of deliverance from the want they were
in, because in him, and in him alone, was their hope of salvation; and he
desired that he would forgive what necessity had forced the people to do,
since such was the nature of mankind, hard to please, and very complaining
under adversities. Accordingly God promised he would take care of them,
and afford them the succor they were desirous of. Now when Moses had heard
this from God, he came down to the multitude. But as soon as they saw him
joyful at the promises he had received from God, they changed their sad
countenances into gladness. So he placed himself in the midst of them, and
told them he came to bring them from God a deliverance from their present
distresses. Accordingly a little after came a vast number of quails, which
is a bird more plentiful in this Arabian Gulf than any where else, flying
over the sea, and hovered over them, till wearied with their laborious
flight, and, indeed, as usual, flying very near to the earth, they fell
down upon the Hebrews, who caught them, and satisfied their hunger with
them, and supposed that this was the method whereby God meant to supply
them with food. Upon which Moses returned thanks to God for affording them
his assistance so suddenly, and sooner than he had promised them.
6. But presently after this first supply of food, he sent them a second;
for as Moses was lifting up his hands in prayer, a dew fell down; and
Moses, when he found it stick to his hands, supposed this was also come
for food from God to them. He tasted it; and perceiving that the people
knew not what it was, and thought it snowed, and that it was what usually
fell at that time of the year, he informed them that this dew did not fall
from heaven after the manner they imagined, but came for their
preservation and sustenance. So he tasted it, and gave them some of it,
that they might be satisfied about what he told them. They also imitated
their conductor, and were pleased with the food, for it was like honey in
sweetness and pleasant taste, but like in its body to bdellium, one of the
sweet spices, and in bigness equal to coriander seed. And very earnest
they were in gathering it; but they were enjoined to gather it equally 3—the
measure of an omer for each one every day, because this food should not
come in too small a quantity, lest the weaker might not be able to get
their share, by reason of the overbearing of the strong in collecting it.
However, these strong men, when they had gathered more than the measure
appointed for them, had no more than others, but only tired themselves
more in gathering it, for they found no more than an omer apiece; and the
advantage they got by what was superfluous was none at all, it corrupting,
both by the worms breeding in it, and by its bitterness. So divine and
wonderful a food was this! It also supplied the want of other sorts of
food to those that fed on it. And even now, in all that place, this manna
comes down in rain, 4 according to what Moses then
obtained of God, to send it to the people for their sustenance. Now the
Hebrews call this food manna: for the particle man, in our language, is
the asking of a question. What is this? So the Hebrews were very joyful at
what was sent them from heaven. Now they made use of this food for forty
years, or as long as they were in the wilderness.
7. As soon as they were removed thence, they came to Rephidim, being
distressed to the last degree by thirst; and while in the foregoing days
they had lit on a few small fountains, but now found the earth entirely
destitute of water, they were in an evil case. They again turned their
anger against Moses; but he at first avoided the fury of the multitude,
and then betook himself to prayer to God, beseeching him, that as he had
given them food when they were in the greatest want of it, so he would
give them drink, since the favor of giving them food was of no value to
them while they had nothing to drink. And God did not long delay to give
it them, but promised Moses that he would procure them a fountain, and
plenty of water, from a place they did not expect any. So he commanded him
to smite the rock which they saw lying there, 5 with his
rod, and out of it to receive plenty of what they wanted; for he had taken
care that drink should come to them without any labor or pains-taking.
When Moses had received this command from God, he came to the people, who
waited for him, and looked upon him, for they saw already that he was
coming apace from his eminence. As soon as he was come, he told them that
God would deliver them from their present distress, and had granted them
an unexpected favor; and informed them, that a river should run for their
sakes out of the rock. But they were amazed at that hearing, supposing
they were of necessity to cut the rock in pieces, now they were distressed
by their thirst and by their journey; while Moses only smiting the rock
with his rod, opened a passage, and out of it burst water, and that in
great abundance, and very clear. But they were astonished at this
wonderful effect; and, as it were, quenched their thirst by the very sight
of it. So they drank this pleasant, this sweet water; and such it seemed
to be, as might well be expected where God was the donor. They were also
in admiration how Moses was honored by God; and they made grateful returns
of sacrifices to God for his providence towards them. Now that Scripture,
which is laid up in the temple, 6 informs us,
how God foretold to Moses, that water timid in this manner be derived out
of the rock.’
CHAPTER 2. How The Amalekites And The Neighbouring Nations, Made War With
The Hebrews And Were Beaten And Lost A Great Part Of Their Army.
1. The name of the Hebrews began already to be every where renowned, and
rumors about them ran abroad. This made the inhabitants of those countries
to be in no small fear. Accordingly they sent ambassadors to one another,
and exhorted one another to defend themselves, and to endeavor to destroy
these men. Those that induced the rest to do so, were such as inhabited
Gobolitis and Petra. They were called Amalekites, and were the most
warlike of the nations that lived thereabout; and whose kings exhorted one
another, and their neighbors, to go to this war against the Hebrews;
telling them that an army of strangers, and such a one as had run away
from slavery under the Egyptians, lay in wait to ruin them; which army
they were not, in common prudence and regard to their own safety, to
overlook, but to crush them before they gather strength, and come to be in
prosperity: and perhaps attack them first in a hostile manner, as
presuming upon our indolence in not attacking them before; and that we
ought to avenge ourselves of them for what they have done in the
wilderness, but that this cannot be so well done when they have once laid
their hands on our cities and our goods: that those who endeavor to crush
a power in its first rise, are wiser than those that endeavor to put a
stop to its progress when it is become formidable; for these last seem to
be angry only at the flourishing of others, but the former do not leave
any room for their enemies to become troublesome to them. After they had
sent such embassages to the neighboring nations, and among one another,
they resolved to attack the Hebrews in battle.
2. These proceedings of the people of those countries occasioned
perplexity and trouble to Moses, who expected no such warlike
preparations. And when these nations were ready to fight, and the
multitude of the Hebrews were obliged to try the fortune of war, they were
in a mighty disorder, and in want of all necessaries, and yet were to make
war with men who were thoroughly well prepared for it. Then therefore it
was that Moses began to encourage them, and to exhort them to have a good
heart, and rely on God’s assistance by which they had been put in a state of
freedom and to hope for victory over those who were ready to fight with
them, in order to deprive them of that blessing: that they were to suppose
their own army to be numerous, wanting nothing, neither weapons, nor
money, nor provisions, nor such other conveniences as, when men are in
possession of, they fight undauntedly; and that they are to judge
themselves to have all these advantages in the Divine assistance. They are
also to suppose the enemy’s army to be small, unarmed, weak, and such as
want those conveniences which they know must be wanted, when it is God’s
will that they shall be beaten; and how valuable God’s assistance is, they
had experienced in abundance of trials; and those such as were more
terrible than war, for that is only against men; but these were against
famine and thirst, things indeed that are in their own nature insuperable;
as also against mountains, and that sea which afforded them no way for
escaping; yet had all these difficulties been conquered by God’s gracious
kindness to them. So he exhorted them to be courageous at this time, and
to look upon their entire prosperity to depend on the present conquest of
their enemies.
3. And with these words did Moses encourage the multitude, who then called
together the princes of their tribes, and their chief men, both separately
and conjointly. The young men he charged to obey their elders, and the
elders to hearken to their leader. So the people were elevated in their
minds, and ready to try their fortune in battle, and hoped to be thereby
at length delivered from all their miseries: nay, they desired that Moses
would immediately lead them against their enemies without the least delay,
that no backwardness might be a hindrance to their present resolution. So
Moses sorted all that were fit for war into different troops, and set
Joshua, the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim, over them; one that was
of great courage, and patient to undergo labors; of great abilities to
understand, and to speak what was proper; and very serious in the worship
of God; and indeed made like another Moses, a teacher of piety towards
God. He also appointed a small party of the armed men to be near the
water, and to take care of the children, and the women, and of the entire
camp. So that whole night they prepared themselves for the battle; they
took their weapons, if any of them had such as were well made, and
attended to their commanders as ready to rush forth to the battle as soon
as Moses should give the word of command. Moses also kept awake, teaching
Joshua after what manner he should order his camp. But when the day began,
Moses called for Joshua again, and exhorted him to approve himself in
deeds such a one as a his reputation made men expect from him; and to gain
glory by the present expedition, in the opinion of those under him, for
his exploits in this battle. He also gave a particular exhortation to the
principal men of the Hebrews, and encouraged the whole army as it stood
armed before him. And when he had thus animated the army, both by his
words and works, and prepared every thing, he retired to a mountain, and
committed the army to God and to Joshua.
4. So the armies joined battle; and it came to a close fight, hand to
hand, both sides showing great alacrity, and encouraging one another. And
indeed while Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven 7
the Hebrews were too hard for the Amalekites: but Moses not being able to
sustain his hands thus stretched out, [for as often as he let down his
hands, so often were his own people worsted,] he bade his brother Aaron,
and Hur their sister Miriam’s husband, to stand on each side of him, and
take hold of his hands, and not permit his weariness to prevent it, but to
assist him in the extension of his hands. When this was done, the Hebrews
conquered the Amalekites by main force; and indeed they had all perished,
unless the approach of the night had obliged the Hebrews to desist from
killing any more. So our forefathers obtained a most signal and most
seasonable victory; for they not only overcame those that fought against
them, but terrified also the neighboring nations, and got great and
splendid advantages, which they obtained of their enemies by their hard
pains in this battle: for when they had taken the enemy’s camp, they got
ready booty for the public, and for their own private families, whereas
till then they had not any sort of plenty, of even necessary food. The
forementioned battle, when they had once got it, was also the occasion of
their prosperity, not only for the present, but for the future ages also;
for they not only made slaves of the bodies of their enemies, but subdued
their minds also, and after this battle, became terrible to all that dwelt
round about them. Moreover, they acquired a vast quantity of riches; for a
great deal of silver and gold was left in the enemy’s camp; as also brazen
vessels, which they made common use of in their families; many utensils
also that were embroidered there were of both sorts, that is, of what were
weaved, and what were the ornaments of their armor, and other things that
served for use in the family, and for the furniture of their rooms; they
got also the prey of their cattle, and of whatsoever uses to follow camps,
when they remove from one place to another. So the Hebrews now valued
themselves upon their courage, and claimed great merit for their valor;
and they perpetually inured themselves to take pains, by which they deemed
every difficulty might be surmounted. Such were the consequences of this
battle.
5. On the next day, Moses stripped the dead bodies of their enemies, and
gathered together the armor of those that were fled, and gave rewards to
such as had signalized themselves in the action; and highly commended
Joshua, their general, who was attested to by all the army, on account of
the great actions he had done. Nor was any one of the Hebrews slain; but
the slain of the enemy’s army were too many to be enumerated. So Moses
offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to God, and built an altar, which he
named The Lord the Conqueror. He also foretold that the Amalekites should
utterly be destroyed; and that hereafter none of them should remain,
because they fought against the Hebrews, and this when they were in the
wilderness, and in their distress also. Moreover, he refreshed the army
with feasting. And thus did they fight this first battle with those that
ventured to oppose them, after they were gone out of Egypt. But when Moses
had celebrated this festival for the victory, he permitted the Hebrews to
rest for a few days, and then he brought them out after the fight, in
order of battle; for they had now many soldiers in light armor. And going
gradually on, he came to Mount Sinai, in three months’ time after they
were removed out of Egypt; at which mountain, as we have before related,
the vision of the bush, and the other wonderful appearances, had happened.
CHAPTER 3. That Moses Kindly Received-His Father-In-Law, Jethro, When He
Came To Him To Mount Sinai.
Now when Raguel, Moses’s father-in-law, understood in what a prosperous
condition his affairs were, he willingly came to meet him and Moses and
his children, and pleased himself with his coming. And when he had offered
sacrifice, he made a feast for the multitude, near the Bush he had
formerly seen; which multitude, every one according to their families,
partook of the feast. But Aaron and his family took Raguel, and sung hymns
to God, as to Him who had been the author procurer of their deliverance
and their freedom. They also praised their conductor, as him by whose
virtue it was that all things had succeeded with them. Raguel also, in his
eucharistical oration to Moses, made great encomiums upon the whole
multitude; and he could not but admire Moses for his fortitude, and that
humanity he had shewn in the delivery of his friends.
CHAPTER 4. How Raguel Suggested To Moses To Set His People In Order, Under
Their Rulers Of Thousands, And Rulers Of Hundreds, Who Lived Without Order
Before; And How Moses Complied In All Things With His Father-In-Law’s
Admonition.
1. The next day, as Raguel saw Moses in the middle of a crowd of business for he
determined the differences of those that referred them to him, every one
still going to him, and supposing that they should then only obtain
justice, if he were the arbitrator; and those that lost their causes
thought it no harm, while they thought they lost them justly, and not by
partiality. Raguel however said nothing to him at that time, as not
desirous to be any hinderance to such as had a mind to make use of the
virtue of their conductor. But afterward he took him to himself, and when
he had him alone, he instructed him in what he ought to do; and advised
him to leave the trouble of lesser causes to others, but himself to take
care of the greater, and of the people’s safety, for that certain others
of the Hebrews might be found that were fit to determine causes, but that
nobody but a Moses could take of the safety of so many ten thousands. “Be
therefore,” says he, “insensible of thine own virtue, and what thou hast
done by ministering under God to the people’s preservation. Permit,
therefore, the determination of common causes to be done by others, but do
thou reserve thyself to the attendance on God only, and look out for
methods of preserving the multitude from their present distress. Make use
of the method I suggest to you, as to human affairs; and take a review of
the army, and appoint chosen rulers over tens of thousands, and then over
thousands; then divide them into five hundreds, and again into hundreds,
and into fifties; and set rulers over each of them, who may distinguish
them into thirties, and keep them in order; and at last number them by
twenties and by tens: and let there be one commander over each number, to
be denominated from the number of those over whom they are rulers, but
such as the whole multitude have tried, and do approve of, as being good
and righteous men; 8 and let those rulers decide the
controversies they have one with another. But if any great cause arise,
let them bring the cognizance of it before the rulers of a higher dignity;
but if any great difficulty arise that is too hard for even their
determination, let them send it to thee. By these means two advantages
will be gained; the Hebrews will have justice done them, and thou wilt be
able to attend constantly on God, and procure him to be more favorable to
the people.”
2. This was the admonition of Raguel; and Moses received his advice very
kindly, and acted according to his suggestion. Nor did he conceal the
invention of this method, nor pretend to it himself, but informed the
multitude who it was that invented it: nay, he has named Raguel in the
books he wrote, as the person who invented this ordering of the people, as
thinking it right to give a true testimony to worthy persons, although he
might have gotten reputation by ascribing to himself the inventions of
other men; whence we may learn the virtuous disposition of Moses: but of
such his disposition, we shall have proper occasion to speak in other
places of these books.
CHAPTER 5. How Moses Ascended Up To Mount Sinai, And Received Laws From
God, And Delivered Them To The Hebrews.
1. Now Moses called the multitude together, and told them that he was
going from them unto mount Sinai to converse with God; to receive from
him, and to bring back with him, a certain oracle; but he enjoined them to
pitch their tents near the mountain, and prefer the habitation that was
nearest to God, before one more remote. When he had said this, he ascended
up to Mount Sinai, which is the highest of all the mountains that are in
that country 9 and is not only very difficult to
be ascended by men, on account of its vast altitude, but because of the
sharpness of its precipices also; nay, indeed, it cannot be looked at
without pain of the eyes: and besides this, it was terrible and
inaccessible, on account of the rumor that passed about, that God dwelt
there. But the Hebrews removed their tents as Moses had bidden them, and
took possession of the lowest parts of the mountain; and were elevated in
their minds, in expectation that Moses would return from God with promises
of the good things he had proposed to them. So they feasted and waited for
their conductor, and kept themselves pure as in other respects, and not
accompanying with their wives for three days, as he had before ordered
them to do. And they prayed to God that he would favorably receive Moses
in his conversing with him, and bestow some such gift upon them by which
they might live well. They also lived more plentifully as to their diet;
and put on their wives and children more ornamental and decent clothing
than they usually wore.
2. So they passed two days in this way of feasting; but on the third day,
before the sun was up, a cloud spread itself over the whole camp of the
Hebrews, such a one as none had before seen, and encompassed the place
where they had pitched their tents; and while all the rest of the air was
clear, there came strong winds, that raised up large showers of rain,
which became a mighty tempest. There was also such lightning, as was
terrible to those that saw it; and thunder, with its thunderbolts, were
sent down, and declared God to be there present in a gracious way to such
as Moses desired he should be gracious. Now, as to these matters, every
one of my readers may think as he pleases; but I am under a necessity of
relating this history as it is described in the sacred books. This sight,
and the amazing sound that came to their ears, disturbed the Hebrews to a
prodigious degree, for they were not such as they were accustomed to; and
then the rumor that was spread abroad, how God frequented that mountain,
greatly astonished their minds, so they sorrowfully contained themselves
within their tents, as both supposing Moses to be destroyed by the Divine
wrath, and expecting the like destruction for themselves.
3. When they were under these apprehensions, Moses appeared as joyful and
greatly exalted. When they saw him, they were freed from their fear, and
admitted of more comfortable hopes as to what was to come. The air also
was become clear and pure of its former disorders, upon the appearance of
Moses; whereupon he called together the people to a congregation, in order
to their hearing what God would say to them: and when they were gathered
together, he stood on an eminence whence they might all hear him, and
said, “God has received me graciously, O Hebrews, as he has formerly done;
and has suggested a happy method of living for you, and an order of
political government, and is now present in the camp: I therefore charge
you, for his sake and the sake of his works, and what we have done by his
means, that you do not put a low value on what I am going to say, because
the commands have been given by me that now deliver them to you, nor
because it is the tongue of a man that delivers them to you; but if you
have a due regard to the great importance of the things themselves, you
will understand the greatness of Him whose institutions they are, and who
has not disdained to communicate them to me for our common advantage; for
it is not to be supposed that the author of these institutions is barely
Moses, the son of Amram and Jochebed, but He who obliged the Nile to run
bloody for your sakes, and tamed the haughtiness of the Egyptians by
various sorts of judgments; he who provided a way through the sea for us;
he who contrived a method of sending us food from heaven, when we were
distressed for want of it; he who made the water to issue out of a rock,
when we had very little of it before; he by whose means Adam was made to
partake of the fruits both of the land and of the sea; he by whose means
Noah escaped the deluge; he by whose means our forefather Abraham, of a
wandering pilgrim, was made the heir of the land of Canaan; he by whose
means Isaac was born of parents that were very old; he by whose means
Jacob was adorned with twelve virtuous sons; he by whose means Joseph
became a potent lord over the Egyptians; he it is who conveys these
instructions to you by me as his interpreter. And let them be to you
venerable, and contended for more earnestly by you than your own children
and your own wives; for if you will follow them, you will lead a happy
life you will enjoy the land fruitful, the sea calm, and the fruit of the
womb born complete, as nature requires; you will be also terrible to your
enemies for I have been admitted into the presence of God and been made a
hearer of his incorruptible voice so great is his concern for your nation,
and its duration.”
4. When he had said this, he brought the people, with their wives and
children, so near the mountain, that they might hear God himself speaking
to them about the precepts which they were to practice; that the energy of
what should be spoken might not be hurt by its utterance by that tongue of
a man, which could but imperfectly deliver it to their understanding. And
they all heard a voice that came to all of them from above, insomuch that
no one of these words escaped them, which Moses wrote on two tables; which
it is not lawful for us to set down directly, but their import we will
declare 10
5. The first commandment teaches us that there is but one God, and that we
ought to worship him only. The second commands us not to make the image of
any living creature to worship it. The third, that we must not swear by
God in a false matter. The fourth, that we must keep the seventh day, by
resting from all sorts of work. The fifth, that we must honor our parents.
The sixth that we must abstain from murder. The seventh that we must not
commit adultery. The eighth, that we must not be guilty of theft. The
ninth, that we must not bear false witness. The tenth, that we must not
admit of the desire of any thing that is another’s.
6. Now when the multitude had heard God himself giving those precepts
which Moses had discoursed of, they rejoiced at what was said; and the
congregation was dissolved: but on the following days they came to his
tent, and desired him to bring them, besides, other laws from God.
Accordingly he appointed such laws, and afterwards informed them in what
manner they should act in all cases; which laws I shall make mention of in
their proper time; but I shall reserve most of those laws for another
work, 11
and make there a distinct explication of them.
7. When matters were brought to this state, Moses went up again to Mount
Sinai, of which he had told them beforehand. He made his ascent in their
sight; and while he staid there so long a time, [for he was absent from
them forty days,] fear seized upon the Hebrews, lest Moses should have
come to any harm; nor was there any thing else so sad, and that so much
troubled them, as this supposal that Moses was perished. Now there was a
variety in their sentiments about it; some saying that he was fallen among
wild beasts; and those that were of this opinion were chiefly such as were
ill-disposed to him; but others said that he was departed, and gone to
God; but the wiser sort were led by their reason to embrace neither of
those opinions with any satisfaction, thinking, that as it was a thing
that sometimes happens to men to fall among wild beasts and perish that
way, so it was probable enough that he might depart and go to God, on
account of his virtue; they therefore were quiet, and expected the event:
yet were they exceeding sorry upon the supposal that they were deprived of
a governor and a protector, such a one indeed as they could never recover
again; nor would this suspicion give them leave to expect any comfortable
event about this man, nor could they prevent their trouble and melancholy
upon this occasion. However, the camp durst not remove all this while,
because Moses had bidden them afore to stay there.
8. But when the forty days, and as many nights, were over, Moses came
down, having tasted nothing of food usually appointed for the nourishment
of men. His appearance filled the army with gladness, and he declared to
them what care God had of them, and by what manner of conduct of their
lives they might live happily; telling them, that during these days of his
absence he had suggested to him also that he would have a tabernacle built
for him, into which he would descend when he came to them, and how we
should carry it about with us when we remove from this place; and that
there would be no longer any occasion for going up to Mount Sinai, but
that he would himself come and pitch his tabernacle amongst us, and be
present at our prayers; as also, that the tabernacle should be of such
measures and construction as he had shown him, and that you are to fall to
the work, and prosecute it diligently. When he had said this, he showed
them the two tables, with the ten commandments engraven upon them, five
upon each table; and the writing was by the hand of God.
CHAPTER 6. Concerning The Tabernacle Which Moses Built In The Wilderness
For The Honor Of God And Which Seemed To Be A Temple.
1. Hereupon the Israelites rejoiced at what they had seen and heard of
their conductor, and were not wanting in diligence according to their
ability; for they brought silver, and gold, and brass, and of the best
sorts of wood, and such as would not at all decay by putrefaction; camels’
hair also, and sheep-skins, some of them dyed of a blue color, and some of
a scarlet; some brought the flower for the purple color, and others for
white, with wool dyed by the flowers aforementioned; and fine linen and
precious stones, which those that use costly ornaments set in ouches of
gold; they brought also a great quantity of spices; for of these materials
did Moses build the tabernacle, which did not at all differ from a movable
and ambulatory temple. Now when these things were brought together with
great diligence, [for every one was ambitious to further the work even
beyond their ability,] he set architects over the works, and this by the
command of God; and indeed the very same which the people themselves would
have chosen, had the election been allowed to them. Now their names are
set down in writing in the sacred books; and they were these: Besaleel,
the son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, the grandson of Miriam, the sister
of their conductor and Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of
Dan. Now the people went on with what they had undertaken with so great
alacrity, that Moses was obliged to restrain them, by making proclamation,
that what had been brought was sufficient, as the artificers had informed
him; so they fell to work upon the building of the tabernacle. Moses also
informed them, according to the direction of God, both what the measures
were to be, and its largeness; and how many vessels it ought to contain
for the use of the sacrifices. The women also were ambitious to do their
parts, about the garments of the priests, and about other things that
would be wanted in this work, both for ornament and for the divine service
itself.
2. Now when all things were prepared, the gold, and the silver, and the
brass, and what was woven, Moses, when he had appointed beforehand that
there should be a festival, and that sacrifices should be offered
according to every one’s ability, reared up the tabernacle 12
and when he had measured the open court, fifty cubits broad and a hundred
long, he set up brazen pillars, five cubits high, twenty on each of the
longer sides, and ten pillars for the breadth behind; every one of the
pillars also had a ring. Their chapiters were of silver, but their bases
were of brass: they resembled the sharp ends of spears, and were of brass,
fixed into the ground. Cords were also put through the rings, and were
tied at their farther ends to brass nails of a cubit long, which, at every
pillar, were driven into the floor, and would keep the tabernacle from
being shaken by the violence of winds; but a curtain of fine soft linen
went round all the pillars, and hung down in a flowing and loose manner
from their chapiters, and enclosed the whole space, and seemed not at all
unlike to a wall about it. And this was the structure of three of the
sides of this enclosure; but as for the fourth side, which was fifty
cubits in extent, and was the front of the whole, twenty cubits of it were
for the opening of the gates, wherein stood two pillars on each side,
after the resemblance of open gates. These were made wholly of silver, and
polished, and that all over, excepting the bases, which were of brass. Now
on each side of the gates there stood three pillars, which were inserted
into the concave bases of the gates, and were suited to them; and round
them was drawn a curtain of fine linen; but to the gates themselves, which
were twenty cubits in extent, and five in height, the curtain was composed
of purple, and scarlet, and blue, and fine linen, and embroidered with
many and divers sorts of figures, excepting the figures of animals. Within
these gates was the brazen laver for purification, having a basin beneath
of the like matter, whence the priests might wash their hands and sprinkle
their feet; and this was the ornamental construction of the enclosure
about the court of the tabernacle, which was exposed to the open air.
3. As to the tabernacle itself, Moses placed it in the middle of that
court, with its front to the east, that, when the sun arose, it might send
its first rays upon it. Its length, when it was set up, was thirty cubits,
and its breadth was twelve [ten] cubits. The one of its walls was on the
south, and the other was exposed to the north, and on the back part of it
remained the west. It was necessary that its height should be equal to its
breadth [ten cubits]. There were also pillars made of wood, twenty on each
side; they were wrought into a quadrangular figure, in breadth a cubit and
a half, but the thickness was four fingers: they had thin plates of gold
affixed to them on both sides, inwardly and outwardly: they had each of
them two tenons belonging to them, inserted into their bases, and these
were of silver, in each of which bases there was a socket to receive the
tenon; but the pillars on the west wall were six. Now all these tenons and
sockets accurately fitted one another, insomuch that the joints were
invisible, and both seemed to be one entire and united wall. It was also
covered with gold, both within and without. The number of pillars was
equal on the opposite sides, and there were on each part twenty, and every
one of them had the third part of a span in thickness; so that the number
of thirty cubits were fully made up between them; but as to the wall
behind, where the six pillars made up together only nine cubits, they made
two other pillars, and cut them out of one cubit, which they placed in the
corners, and made them equally fine with the other. Now every one of the
pillars had rings of gold affixed to their fronts outward, as if they had
taken root in the pillars, and stood one row over against another round
about, through which were inserted bars gilt over with gold, each of them
five cubits long, and these bound together the pillars, the head of one
bar running into another, after the nature of one tenon inserted into
another; but for the wall behind, there was but one row of bars that went
through all the pillars, into which row ran the ends of the bars on each
side of the longer walls; the male with its female being so fastened in
their joints, that they held the whole firmly together; and for this
reason was all this joined so fast together, that the tabernacle might not
be shaken, either by the winds, or by any other means, but that it might
preserve itself quiet and immovable continually.
4. As for the inside, Moses parted its length into three partitions. At
the distance of ten cubits from the most secret end, Moses placed four
pillars, the workmanship of which was the very same with that of the rest;
and they stood upon the like bases with them, each a small matter distant
from his fellow. Now the room within those pillars was the most holy
place; but the rest of the room was the tabernacle, which was open for the
priests. However, this proportion of the measures of the tabernacle proved
to be an imitation of the system of the world; for that third part thereof
which was within the four pillars, to which the priests were not admitted,
is, as it were, a heaven peculiar to God. But the space of the twenty
cubits, is, as it were, sea and land, on which men live, and so this part
is peculiar to the priests only. But at the front, where the entrance was
made, they placed pillars of gold, that stood on bases of brass, in number
seven; but then they spread over the tabernacle veils of fine linen and
purple, and blue, and scarlet colors, embroidered. The first veil was ten
cubits every way, and this they spread over the pillars which parted the
temple, and kept the most holy place concealed within; and this veil was
that which made this part not visible to any. Now the whole temple was
called The Holy Place: but that part which was within the four pillars,
and to which none were admitted, was called The Holy of Holies. This veil
was very ornamental, and embroidered with all sorts of flowers which the
earth produces; and there were interwoven into it all sorts of variety
that might be an ornament, excepting the forms of animals. Another veil
there was which covered the five pillars that were at the entrance. It was
like the former in its magnitude, and texture, and color; and at the
corner of every pillar a ring retained it from the top downwards half the
depth of the pillars, the other half affording an entrance for the
priests, who crept under it. Over this there was a veil of linen, of the
same largeness with the former: it was to be drawn this way or that way by
cords, the rings of which, fixed to the texture of the veil, and to the
cords also, were subservient to the drawing and undrawing of the veil, and
to the fastening it at the corner, that then it might be no hinderance to
the view of the sanctuary, especially on solemn days; but that on other
days, and especially when the weather was inclined to snow, it might be
expanded, and afford a covering to the veil of divers colors. Whence that
custom of ours is derived, of having a fine linen veil, after the temple
has been built, to be drawn over the entrances. But the ten other curtains
were four cubits in breadth, and twenty-eight in length; and had golden
clasps, in order to join the one curtain to the other, which was done so
exactly that they seemed to be one entire curtain. These were spread over
the temple, and covered all the top and parts of the walls, on the sides
and behind, so far as within one cubit of the ground. There were other
curtains of the same breadth with these, but one more in number, and
longer, for they were thirty cubits long; but these were woven of hair,
with the like subtilty as those of wool were made, and were extended
loosely down to the ground, appearing like a triangular front and
elevation at the gates, the eleventh curtain being used for this very
purpose. There were also other curtains made of skins above these, which
afforded covering and protection to those that were woven both in hot
weather and when it rained. And great was the surprise of those who viewed
these curtains at a distance, for they seemed not at all to differ from
the color of the sky. But those that were made of hair and of skins,
reached down in the same manner as did the veil at the gates, and kept off
the heat of the sun, and what injury the rains might do. And after this
manner was the tabernacle reared.
5. There was also an ark made, sacred to God, of wood that was naturally
strong, and could not be corrupted. This was called Eron in our own
language. Its construction was thus: its length was five spans, but its
breadth and height was each of them three spans. It was covered all over
with gold, both within and without, so that the wooden part was not seen.
It had also a cover united to it, by golden hinges, after a wonderful
manner; which cover was every way evenly fitted to it, and had no
eminences to hinder its exact conjunction. There were also two golden
rings belonging to each of the longer boards, and passing through the
entire wood, and through them gilt bars passed along each board, that it
might thereby be moved and carried about, as occasion should require; for
it was not drawn in a cart by beasts of burden, but borne on the shoulders
of the priests. Upon this its cover were two images, which the Hebrews
call Cherubims; they are flying creatures, but their form is not like to
that of any of the creatures which men have seen, though Moses said he had
seen such beings near the throne of God. In this ark he put the two tables
whereon the ten commandments were written, five upon each table, and two
and a half upon each side of them; and this ark he placed in the most holy
place.
6. But in the holy place he placed a table, like those at Delphi. Its
length was two cubits, and its breadth one cubit, and its height three
spans. It had feet also, the lower half of which were complete feet,
resembling those which the Dorians put to their bedsteads; but the upper
parts towards the table were wrought into a square form. The table had a
hollow towards every side, having a ledge of four fingers’ depth, that
went round about like a spiral, both on the upper and lower part of the
body of the work. Upon every one of the feet was there also inserted a
ring, not far from the cover, through which went bars of wood beneath, but
gilded, to be taken out upon occasion, there being a cavity where it was
joined to the rings; for they were not entire rings; but before they came
quite round they ended in acute points, the one of which was inserted into
the prominent part of the table, and the other into the foot; and by these
it was carried when they journeyed: Upon this table, which was placed on
the north side of the temple, not far from the most holy place, were laid
twelve unleavened loaves of bread, six upon each heap, one above another:
they were made of two tenth-deals of the purest flour, which tenth-deal
[an omer] is a measure of the Hebrews, containing seven Athenian cotyloe;
and above those loaves were put two vials full of frankincense. Now after
seven days other loaves were brought in their stead, on the day which is
by us called the Sabbath; for we call the seventh day the Sabbath. But for
the occasion of this intention of placing loaves here, we will speak to it
in another place.
7. Over against this table, near the southern wall, was set a candlestick
of cast gold, hollow within, being of the weight of one hundred pounds,
which the Hebrews call Chinchares, if it be turned into the Greek
language, it denotes a talent. It was made with its knops, and lilies, and
pomegranates, and bowls [which ornaments amounted to seventy in all]; by
which means the shaft elevated itself on high from a single base, and
spread itself into as many branches as there are planets, including the
sun among them. It terminated in seven heads, in one row, all standing
parallel to one another; and these branches carried seven lamps, one by
one, in imitation of the number of the planets. These lamps looked to the
east and to the south, the candlestick being situate obliquely.
8. Now between this candlestick and the table, which, as we said, were
within the sanctuary, was the altar of incense, made of wood indeed, but
of the same wood of which the foregoing vessels were made, such as was not
liable to corruption; it was entirely crusted over with a golden plate.
Its breadth on each side was a cubit, but the altitude double. Upon it was
a grate of gold, that was extant above the altar, which had a golden crown
encompassing it round about, whereto belonged rings and bars, by which the
priests carried it when they journeyed. Before this tabernacle there was
reared a brazen altar, but it was within made of wood, five cubits by
measure on each side, but its height was but three, in like manner adorned
with brass plates as bright as gold. It had also a brazen hearth of
network; for the ground underneath received the fire from the hearth,
because it had no basis to receive it. Hard by this altar lay the basins,
and the vials, and the censers, and the caldrons, made of gold; but the
other vessels, made for the use of the sacrifices, were all of brass. And
such was the construction of the tabernacle; and these were the vessels
thereto belonging.
CHAPTER 7. Concerning The Garments Of The Priests, And Of The High Priest.
1. There were peculiar garments appointed for the priests, and for all the
rest, which they call Cohanoeoe [-priestly] garments, as also for the high
priests, which they call Cahanoeoe Rabbae, and denote the high priest’s
garments. Such was therefore the habit of the rest. But when the priest
approaches the sacrifices, he purifies himself with the purification which
the law prescribes; and, in the first place, he puts on that which is
called Machanase, which means somewhat that is fast tied. It is a girdle,
composed of fine twined linen, and is put about the privy parts, the feet
being to be inserted into them in the nature of breeches, but above half
of it is cut off, and it ends at the thighs, and is there tied fast.
2. Over this he wore a linen vestment, made of fine flax doubled: it is
called Chethone, and denotes linen, for we call linen by the name of
Chethone. This vestment reaches down to the feet, and sits close to the
body; and has sleeves that are tied fast to the arms: it is girded to the
breast a little above the elbows, by a girdle often going round, four
fingers broad, but so loosely woven, that you would think it were the skin
of a serpent. It is embroidered with flowers of scarlet, and purple, and
blue, and fine twined linen, but the warp was nothing but fine linen. The
beginning of its circumvolution is at the breast; and when it has gone
often round, it is there tied, and hangs loosely there down to the ankles:
I mean this, all the time the priest is not about any laborious service,
for in this position it appears in the most agreeable manner to the
spectators; but when he is obliged to assist at the offering sacrifices,
and to do the appointed service, that he may not be hindered in his
operations by its motion, he throws it to the left, and bears it on his
shoulder. Moses indeed calls this belt Albaneth; but we have learned from
the Babylonians to call it Emia, for so it is by them called. This
vestment has no loose or hollow parts any where in it, but only a narrow
aperture about the neck; and it is tied with certain strings hanging down
from the edge over the breast and back, and is fastened above each
shoulder: it is called Massabazanes.
3. Upon his head he wears a cap, not brought to a conic form nor
encircling the whole head, but still covering more than the half of it,
which is called Masnaemphthes; and its make is such that it seems to be a
crown, being made of thick swathes, but the contexture is of linen; and it
is doubled round many times, and sewed together; besides which, a piece of
fine linen covers the whole cap from the upper part, and reaches down to
the forehead, and hides the seams of the swathes, which would otherwise
appear indecently: this adheres closely upon the solid part of the head,
and is thereto so firmly fixed, that it may not fall off during the sacred
service about the sacrifices. So we have now shown you what is the habit
of the generality of the priests.
4. The high priest is indeed adorned with the same garments that we have
described, without abating one; only over these he puts on a vestment of a
blue color. This also is a long robe, reaching to his feet, [in our
language it is called Meeir,] and is tied round with a girdle, embroidered
with the same colors and flowers as the former, with a mixture of gold
interwoven. To the bottom of which garment are hung fringes, in color like
pomegranates, with golden bells 13 by a
curious and beautiful contrivance; so that between two bells hangs a
pomegranate, and between two pomegranates a bell. Now this vesture was not
composed of two pieces, nor was it sewed together upon the shoulders and
the sides, but it was one long vestment so woven as to have an aperture
for the neck; not an oblique one, but parted all along the breast and the
back. A border also was sewed to it, lest the aperture should look too
indecently: it was also parted where the hands were to come out.
5. Besides these, the high priest put on a third garment, which was called
the Ephod, which resembles the Epomis of the Greeks. Its make was after
this manner: it was woven to the depth of a cubit, of several colors, with
gold intermixed, and embroidered, but it left the middle of the breast
uncovered: it was made with sleeves also; nor did it appear to be at all
differently made from a short coat. But in the void place of this garment
there was inserted a piece of the bigness of a span, embroidered with
gold, and the other colors of the ephod, and was called Essen, [the
breastplate,] which in the Greek language signifies the Oracle. This piece
exactly filled up the void space in the ephod. It was united to it by
golden rings at every corner, the like rings being annexed to the ephod,
and a blue riband was made use of to tie them together by those rings; and
that the space between the rings might not appear empty, they contrived to
fill it up with stitches of blue ribands. There were also two sardonyxes
upon the ephod, at the shoulders, to fasten it in the nature of buttons,
having each end running to the sardonyxes of gold, that they might be
buttoned by them. On these were engraven the names of the sons of Jacob,
in our own country letters, and in our own tongue, six on each of the
stones, on either side; and the elder sons’ names were on the right
shoulder. Twelve stones also there were upon the breast-plate,
extraordinary in largeness and beauty; and they were an ornament not to be
purchased by men, because of their immense value. These stones, however,
stood in three rows, by four in a row, and were inserted into the
breastplate itself, and they were set in ouches of gold, that were
themselves inserted in the breastplate, and were so made that they might
not fall out. Now the first three stones were a sardonyx, a topaz, and an
emerald. The second row contained a carbuncle, a jasper, and a sapphire.
The first of the third row was a ligure, then an amethyst, and the third
an agate, being the ninth of the whole number. The first of the fourth row
was a chrysolite, the next was an onyx, and then a beryl, which was the
last of all. Now the names of all those sons of Jacob were engraven in
these stones, whom we esteem the heads of our tribes, each stone having
the honor of a name, in the order according to which they were born. And
whereas the rings were too weak of themselves to bear the weight of the
stones, they made two other rings of a larger size, at the edge of that
part of the breastplate which reached to the neck, and inserted into the
very texture of the breastplate, to receive chains finely wrought, which
connected them with golden bands to the tops of the shoulders, whose
extremity turned backwards, and went into the ring, on the prominent back
part of the ephod; and this was for the security of the breastplate, that
it might not fall out of its place. There was also a girdle sewed to the
breastplate, which was of the forementioned colors, with gold intermixed,
which, when it had gone once round, was tied again upon the seam, and hung
down. There were also golden loops that admitted its fringes at each
extremity of the girdle, and included them entirely.
6. The high priest’s mitre was the same that we described before, and was
wrought like that of all the other priests; above which there was another,
with swathes of blue embroidered, and round it was a golden crown
polished, of three rows, one above another; out of which arose a cup of
gold, which resembled the herb which we call Saccharus; but those Greeks
that are skillful in botany call it Hyoscyamus. Now, lest any one that has
seen this herb, but has not been taught its name, and is unacquainted with
its nature, or, having known its name, knows not the herb when he sees it,
I shall give such as these are a description of it. This herb is
oftentimes in tallness above three spans, but its root is like that of a
turnip [for he that should compare it thereto would not be mistaken]; but
its leaves are like the leaves of mint. Out of its branches it sends out a
calyx, cleaving to the branch; and a coat encompasses it, which it
naturally puts off when it is changing, in order to produce its fruit.
This calyx is of the bigness of the bone of the little finger, but in the
compass of its aperture is like a cup. This I will further describe, for
the use of those that are unacquainted with it. Suppose a sphere be
divided into two parts, round at the bottom, but having another segment
that grows up to a circumference from that bottom; suppose it become
narrower by degrees, and that the cavity of that part grow decently
smaller, and then gradually grow wider again at the brim, such as we see
in the navel of a pomegranate, with its notches. And indeed such a coat
grows over this plant as renders it a hemisphere, and that, as one may
say, turned accurately in a lathe, and having its notches extant above it,
which, as I said, grow like a pomegranate, only that they are sharp, and
end in nothing but prickles. Now the fruit is preserved by this coat of
the calyx, which fruit is like the seed of the herb Sideritis: it sends
out a flower that may seem to resemble that of poppy. Of this was a crown
made, as far from the hinder part of the head to each of the temples; but
this Ephielis, for so this calyx may be called, did not cover the
forehead, but it was covered with a golden plate, 14 which
had inscribed upon it the name of God in sacred characters. And such were
the ornaments of the high priest.
7. Now here one may wonder at the ill-will which men bear to us, and which
they profess to bear on account of our despising that Deity which they
pretend to honor; for if any one do but consider the fabric of the
tabernacle, and take a view of the garments of the high priest, and of
those vessels which we make use of in our sacred ministration, he will
find that our legislator was a divine man, and that we are unjustly
reproached by others; for if any one do without prejudice, and with
judgment, look upon these things, he will find they were every one made in
way of imitation and representation of the universe. When Moses
distinguished the tabernacle into three parts, 15 and
allowed two of them to the priests, as a place accessible and common, he
denoted the land and the sea, these being of general access to all; but he
set apart the third division for God, because heaven is inaccessible to
men. And when he ordered twelve loaves to be set on the table, he denoted
the year, as distinguished into so many months. By branching out the
candlestick into seventy parts, he secretly intimated the Decani, or
seventy divisions of the planets; and as to the seven lamps upon the
candlesticks, they referred to the course of the planets, of which that is
the number. The veils, too, which were composed of four things, they
declared the four elements; for the fine linen was proper to signify the
earth, because the flax grows out of the earth; the purple signified the
sea, because that color is dyed by the blood of a sea shell-fish; the blue
is fit to signify the air; and the scarlet will naturally be an indication
of fire. Now the vestment of the high priest being made of linen,
signified the earth; the blue denoted the sky, being like lightning in its
pomegranates, and in the noise of the bells resembling thunder. And for
the ephod, it showed that God had made the universe of four elements; and
as for the gold interwoven, I suppose it related to the splendor by which
all things are enlightened. He also appointed the breastplate to be placed
in the middle of the ephod, to resemble the earth, for that has the very
middle place of the world. And the girdle which encompassed the high
priest round, signified the ocean, for that goes round about and includes
the universe. Each of the sardonyxes declares to us the sun and the moon;
those, I mean, that were in the nature of buttons on the high priest’s
shoulders. And for the twelve stones, whether we understand by them the
months, or whether we understand the like number of the signs of that
circle which the Greeks call the Zodiac, we shall not be mistaken in their
meaning. And for the mitre, which was of a blue color, it seems to me to
mean heaven; for how otherwise could the name of God be inscribed upon it?
That it was also illustrated with a crown, and that of gold also, is
because of that splendor with which God is pleased. Let this explication
16
suffice at present, since the course of my narration will often, and on
many occasions, afford me the opportunity of enlarging upon the virtue of
our legislator.
CHAPTER 8. Of The Priesthood Of Aaron.
1. When what has been described was brought to a conclusion, gifts not
being yet presented, God appeared to Moses, and enjoined him to bestow the
high priesthood upon Aaron his brother, as upon him that best of them all
deserved to obtain that honor, on account of his virtue. And when he had
gathered the multitude together, he gave them an account of Aaron’s
virtue, and of his good-will to them, and of the dangers he had undergone
for their sakes. Upon which, when they had given testimony to him in all
respects, and showed their readiness to receive him, Moses said to them,
“O you Israelites, this work is already brought to a conclusion, in a
manner most acceptable to God, and according to our abilities. And now
since you see that he is received into this tabernacle, we shall first of
all stand in need of one that may officiate for us, and may minister to
the sacrifices, and to the prayers that are to be put up for us. And
indeed had the inquiry after such a person been left to me, I should have
thought myself worthy of this honor, both because all men are naturally
fond of themselves, and because I am conscious to myself that I have taken
a great deal of pains for your deliverance; but now God himself has
determined that Aaron is worthy of this honor, and has chosen him for his
priest, as knowing him to be the most righteous person among you. So that
he is to put on the vestments which are consecrated to God; he is to have
the care of the altars, and to make provision for the sacrifices; and he
it is that must put up prayers for you to God, who will readily hear them,
not only because he is himself solicitous for your nation, but also
because he will receive them as offered by one that he hath himself chosen
to this office.” The Hebrews were pleased with what was said, and they
gave their approbation to him whom God had ordained; for Aaron was of them
all the most deserving of this honor, on account of his own stock and gift
of prophecy, and his brother’s virtue. He had at that time four sons,
Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.17
2. Now Moses commanded them to make use of all the utensils which were
more than were necessary to the structure of the tabernacle, for covering
the tabernacle itself, the candlestick, and altar of incense, and the
other vessels, that they might not be at all hurt when they journeyed,
either by the rain, or by the rising of the dust. And when he had gathered
the multitude together again, he ordained that they should offer half a
shekel for every man, as an oblation to God; which shekel is a piece among
the Hebrews, and is equal to four Athenian drachmae. 18
Whereupon they readily obeyed what Moses had commanded; and the number of
the offerers was six hundred and five thousand five hundred and fifty. Now
this money that was brought by the men that were free, was given by such
as were about twenty years old, but under fifty; and what was collected
was spent in the uses of the tabernacle.
3. Moses now purified the tabernacle and the priests; which purification
was performed after the following manner:—He commanded them to take
five hundred shekels of choice myrrh, an equal quantity of cassia, and
half the foregoing weight of cinnamon and calamus [this last is a sort of
sweet spice]; to beat them small, and wet them with an hin of oil of
olives [an hin is our own country measure, and contains two Athenian
choas, or congiuses]; then mix them together, and boil them, and prepare
them after the art of the apothecary, and make them into a very sweet
ointment; and afterward to take it to anoint and to purify the priests
themselves, and all the tabernacle, as also the sacrifices. There were
also many, and those of various kinds, of sweet spices, that belonged to
the tabernacle, and such as were of very great price, and were brought to
the golden altar of incense; the nature of which I do not now describe,
lest it should be troublesome to my readers; but incense 19
was to be offered twice a-day, both before sun-rising and at sun-setting.
They were also to keep oil already purified for the lamps; three of which
were to give light all day long, 20 upon the
sacred candlestick, before God, and the rest were to be lighted at the
evening.
4. Now all was finished. Besaleel and Aholiab appeared to be the most
skillful of the workmen; for they invented finer works than what others
had done before them, and were of great abilities to gain notions of what
they were formerly ignorant of; and of these, Besaleel was judged to be
the best. Now the whole time they were about this work was the interval of
seven months; and after this it was that was ended the first year since
their departure out of Egypt. But at the beginning of the second year, on
the month Xanthicus, as the Macedonians call it, but on the month Nisan,
as the Hebrews call it, on the new moon, they consecrated the tabernacle,
and all its vessels, which I have already described.
5. Now God showed himself pleased with the work of the Hebrews, and did
not permit their labors to be in vain; nor did he disdain to make use of
what they had made, but he came and sojourned with them, and pitched his
tabernacle in the holy house. And in the following manner did he come to
it:—The sky was clear, but there was a mist over the tabernacle
only, encompassing it, but not with such a very deep and thick cloud as is
seen in the winter season, nor yet in so thin a one as men might be able
to discern any thing through it, but from it there dropped a sweet dew,
and such a one as showed the presence of God to those that desired and
believed it.
6. Now when Moses had bestowed such honorary presents on the workmen, as
it was fit they should receive, who had wrought so well, he offered
sacrifices in the open court of the tabernacle, as God commanded him; a
bull, a ram, and a kid of the goats, for a sin-offering. Now I shall speak
of what we do in our sacred offices in my discourse about sacrifices; and
therein shall inform men in what cases Moses bid us offer a whole
burnt-offering, and in what cases the law permits us to partake of them as
of food. And when Moses had sprinkled Aaron’s vestments, himself, and his
sons, with the blood of the beasts that were slain, and had purified them
with spring waters and ointment, they became God’s priests. After this
manner did he consecrate them and their garments for seven days together.
The same he did to the tabernacle, and the vessels thereto belonging, both
with oil first incensed, as I said, and with the blood of bulls and of
rams, slain day by day one, according to its kind. But on the eighth day
he appointed a feast for the people, and commanded them to offer sacrifice
according to their ability. Accordingly they contended one with another,
and were ambitious to exceed each other in the sacrifices which they
brought, and so fulfilled Moses’s injunctions. But as the sacrifices lay
upon the altar, a sudden fire was kindled from among them of its own
accord, and appeared to the sight like fire from a flash of lightning, and
consumed whatsoever was upon the altar.
7. Hereupon an affliction befell Aaron, considered as a man and a father,
but was undergone by him with true fortitude; for he had indeed a firmness
of soul in such accidents, and he thought this calamity came upon him
according to God’s will: for whereas he had four sons, as I said before,
the two elder of them, Nadab and Abihu, did not bring those sacrifices
which Moses bade them bring, but which they used to offer formerly, and
were burnt to death. Now when the fire rushed upon them, and began to burn
them, nobody could quench it. Accordingly they died in this manner. And
Moses bid their father and their brethren to take up their bodies, to
carry them out of the camp, and to bury them magnificently. Now the
multitude lamented them, and were deeply affected at this their death,
which so unexpectedly befell them. But Moses entreated their brethren and
their father not to be troubled for them, and to prefer the honor of God
before their grief about them; for Aaron had already put on his sacred
garments.
8. But Moses refused all that honor which he saw the multitude ready to
bestow upon him, and attended to nothing else but the service of God. He
went no more up to Mount Sinai; but he went into the tabernacle, and
brought back answers from God for what he prayed for. His habit was also
that of a private man, and in all other circumstances he behaved himself
like one of the common people, and was desirous to appear without
distinguishing himself from the multitude, but would have it known that he
did nothing else but take care of them. He also set down in writing the
form of their government, and those laws by obedience whereto they would
lead their lives so as to please God, and so as to have no quarrels one
among another. However, the laws he ordained were such as God suggested to
him; so I shall now discourse concerning that form of government, and
those laws.
9. I will now treat of what I before omitted, the garment of the high
priest: for he [Moses] left no room for the evil practices of [false]
prophets; but if some of that sort should attempt to abuse the Divine
authority, he left it to God to be present at his sacrifices when he
pleased, and when he pleased to be absent. 21 And he
was willing this should be known, not to the Hebrews only, but to those
foreigners also who were there. For as to those stones, 22
which we told you before, the high priest bare on his shoulders, which
were sardonyxes, [and I think it needless to describe their nature, they
being known to every body,] the one of them shined out when God was
present at their sacrifices; I mean that which was in the nature of a
button on his right shoulder, bright rays darting out thence, and being
seen even by those that were most remote; which splendor yet was not
before natural to the stone. This has appeared a wonderful thing to such
as have not so far indulged themselves in philosophy, as to despise Divine
revelation. Yet will I mention what is still more wonderful than this: for
God declared beforehand, by those twelve stones which the high priest bare
on his breast, and which were inserted into his breastplate, when they
should be victorious in battle; for so great a splendor shone forth from
them before the army began to march, that all the people were sensible of
God’s being present for their assistance. Whence it came to pass that
those Greeks, who had a veneration for our laws, because they could not
possibly contradict this, called that breastplate the Oracle. Now this
breastplate, and this sardonyx, left off shining two hundred years before
I composed this book, God having been displeased at the transgressions of
his laws. Of which things we shall further discourse on a fitter
opportunity; but I will now go on with my proposed narration.
10. The tabernacle being now consecrated, and a regular order being
settled for the priests, the multitude judged that God now dwelt among
them, and betook themselves to sacrifices and praises to God as being now
delivered from all expectation of evils and as entertaining a hopeful
prospect of better times hereafter. They offered also gifts to God some as
common to the whole nation, and others as peculiar to themselves, and
these tribe by tribe; for the heads of the tribes combined together, two
by two, and brought a waggon and a yoke of oxen. These amounted to six,
and they carried the tabernacle when they journeyed. Besides which, each
head of a tribe brought a bowl, and a charger, and a spoon, of ten darics,
full of incense. Now the charger and the bowl were of silver, and together
they weighed two hundred shekels, but the bowl cost no more than seventy
shekels; and these were full of fine flour mingled with oil, such as they
used on the altar about the sacrifices. They brought also a young bullock,
and a ram, with a lamb of a year old, for a whole burnt-offering, as also
a goat for the forgiveness of sins. Every one of the heads of the tribes
brought also other sacrifices, called peace-offerings, for every day two
bulls, and five rams, with lambs of a year old, and kids of the goats.
These heads of tribes were twelve days in sacrificing, one sacrificing
every day. Now Moses went no longer up to Mount Sinai, but went into the
tabernacle, and learned of God what they were to do, and what laws should
be made; which laws were preferable to what have been devised by human
understanding, and proved to be firmly observed for all time to come, as
being believed to be the gift of God, insomuch that the Hebrews did not
transgress any of those laws, either as tempted in times of peace by
luxury, or in times of war by distress of affairs. But I say no more here
concerning them, because I have resolved to compose another work
concerning our laws.
CHAPTER 9. The Manner Of Our Offering Sacrifices.
1. I Will now, however, make mention of a few of our laws which belong to
purifications, and the like sacred offices, since I am accidentally come
to this matter of sacrifices. These sacrifices were of two sorts; of those
sorts one was offered for private persons, and the other for the people in
general; and they are done in two different ways. In the one case, what is
slain is burnt, as a whole burnt-offering, whence that name is given to
it; but the other is a thank-offering, and is designed for feasting those
that sacrifice. I will speak of the former. Suppose a private man offer a
burnt-offering, he must slay either a bull, a lamb, or a kid of the goats,
and the two latter of the first year, though of bulls he is permitted to
sacrifice those of a greater age; but all burnt-offerings are to be of
males. When they are slain, the priests sprinkle the blood round about the
altar; they then cleanse the bodies, and divide them into parts, and salt
them with salt, and lay them upon the altar, while the pieces of wood are
piled one upon another, and the fire is burning; they next cleanse the
feet of the sacrifices, and the inwards, in an accurate manner and so lay
them to the rest to be purged by the fire, while the priests receive the
hides. This is the way of offering a burnt-offering.
2. But those that offer thank-offerings do indeed sacrifice the same
creatures, but such as are unblemished, and above a year old; however,
they may take either males or females. They also sprinkle the altar with
their blood; but they lay upon the altar the kidneys and the caul, and all
the fat, and the lobe of the liver, together with the rump of the lamb;
then, giving the breast and the right shoulder to the priests, the
offerers feast upon the remainder of the flesh for two days; and what
remains they burn.
3. The sacrifices for sins are offered in the same manner as is the
thank-offering. But those who are unable to purchase complete sacrifices,
offer two pigeons, or turtle doves; the one of which is made a
burnt-offering to God, the other they give as food to the priests. But we
shall treat more accurately about the oblation of these creatures in our
discourse concerning sacrifices. But if a person fall into sin by
ignorance, he offers an ewe lamb, or a female kid of the goats, of the
same age; and the priests sprinkle the blood at the altar, not after the
former manner, but at the corners of it. They also bring the kidneys and
the rest of the fat, together with the lobe of the liver, to the altar,
while the priests bear away the hides and the flesh, and spend it in the
holy place, on the same day; 23 for the law does not permit
them to leave of it until the morning. But if any one sin, and is
conscious of it himself, but hath nobody that can prove it upon him, he
offers a ram, the law enjoining him so to do; the flesh of which the
priests eat, as before, in the holy place, on the same day. And if the
rulers offer sacrifices for their sins, they bring the same oblations that
private men do; only they so far differ, that they are to bring for
sacrifices a bull or a kid of the goats, both males.
4. Now the law requires, both in private and public sacrifices, that the
finest flour be also brought; for a lamb the measure of one tenth deal,—for
a ram two,—and for a bull three. This they consecrate upon the
altar, when it is mingled with oil; for oil is also brought by those that
sacrifice; for a bull the half of an hin, and for a ram the third part of
the same measure, and one quarter of it for a lamb. This hin is an ancient
Hebrew measure, and is equivalent to two Athenian choas [or congiuses].
They bring the same quantity of oil which they do of wine, and they pour
the wine about the altar; but if any one does not offer a complete
sacrifice of animals, but brings fine flour only for a vow, he throws a
handful upon the altar as its first-fruits, while the priests take the
rest for their food, either boiled or mingled with oil, but made into
cakes of bread. But whatsoever it be that a priest himself offers, it must
of necessity be all burnt. Now the law forbids us to sacrifice any animal
at the same time with its dam; and, in other cases, not till the eighth
day after its birth. Other sacrifices there are also appointed for
escaping distempers, or for other occasions, in which meat-offerings are
consumed, together with the animals that are sacrificed; of which it is
not lawful to leave any part till the next day, only the priests are to
take their own share.
CHAPTER 10. Concerning The Festivals; And How Each Day Of Such Festival Is
To Be Observed.
1. The law requires, that out of the public expenses a lamb of the first
year be killed every day, at the beginning and at the ending of the day;
but on the seventh day, which is called the Sabbath, they kill two, and
sacrifice them in the same manner. At the new moon, they both perform the
daily sacrifices, and slay two bulls, with seven lambs of the first year,
and a kid of the goats also, for the expiation of sins; that is, if they
have sinned through ignorance.
2. But on the seventh month, which the Macedonians call Hyperberetaeus,
they make an addition to those already mentioned, and sacrifice a bull, a
ram, and seven lambs, and a kid of the goats, for sins.
3. On the tenth day of the same lunar month, they fast till the evening;
and this day they sacrifice a bull, and two rams, and seven lambs, and a
kid of the goats, for sins. And, besides these, they bring two kids of the
goats; the one of which is sent alive out of the limits of the camp into
the wilderness for the scapegoat, and to be an expiation for the sins of
the whole multitude; but the other is brought into a place of great
cleanness, within the limits of the camp, and is there burnt, with its
skin, without any sort of cleansing. With this goat was burnt a bull, not
brought by the people, but by the high priest, at his own charges; which,
when it was slain, he brought of the blood into the holy place, together
with the blood of the kid of the goats, and sprinkled the ceiling with his
finger seven times, as also its pavement, and again as often toward the
most holy place, and about the golden altar: he also at last brings it
into the open court, and sprinkles it about the great altar. Besides this,
they set the extremities, and the kidneys, and the fat, with the lobe of
the liver, upon the altar. The high priest likewise presents a ram to God
as a burnt-offering.
4. Upon the fifteenth day of the same month, when the season of the year
is changing for winter, the law enjoins us to pitch tabernacles in every
one of our houses, so that we preserve ourselves from the cold of that
time of the year; as also that when we should arrive at our own country,
and come to that city which we should have then for our metropolis,
because of the temple therein to be built, and keep a festival for eight
days, and offer burnt-offerings, and sacrifice thank-offerings, that we
should then carry in our hands a branch of myrtle, and willow, and a bough
of the palm-tree, with the addition of the pome citron: That the
burnt-offering on the first of those days was to be a sacrifice of
thirteen bulls, and fourteen lambs, and fifteen rams, with the addition of
a kid of the goats, as an expiation for sins; and on the following days
the same number of lambs, and of rams, with the kids of the goats; but
abating one of the bulls every day till they amounted to seven only. On
the eighth day all work was laid aside, and then, as we said before, they
sacrificed to God a bullock, a ram, and seven lambs, with a kid of the
goats, for an expiation of sins. And this is the accustomed solemnity of
the Hebrews, when they pitch their tabernacles.24
5. In the month of Xanthicus, which is by us called Nisan, and is the
beginning of our year, on the fourteenth day of the lunar month, when the
sun is in Aries, [for in this month it was that we were delivered from
bondage under the Egyptians,] the law ordained that we should every year
slay that sacrifice which I before told you we slew when we came out of
Egypt, and which was called the Passover; and so we do celebrate this
passover in companies, leaving nothing of what we sacrifice till the day
following. The feast of unleavened bread succeeds that of the passover,
and falls on the fifteenth day of the month, and continues seven days,
wherein they feed on unleavened bread; on every one of which days two
bulls are killed, and one ram, and seven lambs. Now these lambs are
entirely burnt, besides the kid of the goats which is added to all the
rest, for sins; for it is intended as a feast for the priest on every one
of those days. But on the second day of unleavened bread, which is the
sixteenth day of the month, they first partake of the fruits of the earth,
for before that day they do not touch them. And while they suppose it
proper to honor God, from whom they obtain this plentiful provision, in
the first place, they offer the first-fruits of their barley, and that in
the manner following: They take a handful of the ears, and dry them, then
beat them small, and purge the barley from the bran; they then bring one
tenth deal to the altar, to God; and, casting one handful of it upon the
fire, they leave the rest for the use of the priest. And after this it is
that they may publicly or privately reap their harvest. They also at this
participation of the first-fruits of the earth, sacrifice a lamb, as a
burnt-offering to God.
6. When a week of weeks has passed over after this sacrifice, [which weeks
contain forty and nine days,] on the fiftieth day, which is Pentecost, but
is called by the Hebrews Asartha, which signifies Pentecost, they bring to
God a loaf, made of wheat flour, of two tenth deals, with leaven; and for
sacrifices they bring two lambs; and when they have only presented them to
God, they are made ready for supper for the priests; nor is it permitted
to leave any thing of them till the day following. They also slay three
bullocks for a burnt-offering, and two rams; and fourteen lambs, with two
kids of the goats, for sins; nor is there anyone of the festivals but in
it they offer burnt-offerings; they also allow themselves to rest on every
one of them. Accordingly, the law prescribes in them all what kinds they
are to sacrifice, and how they are to rest entirely, and must slay
sacrifices, in order to feast upon them.
7. However, out of the common charges, baked bread [was set on the table
of shew-bread], without leaven, of twenty-four tenth deals of flour, for
so much is spent upon this bread; two heaps of these were baked, they were
baked the day before the sabbath, but were brought into the holy place on
the morning of the sabbath, and set upon the holy table, six on a heap,
one loaf still standing over against another; where two golden cups full
of frankincense were also set upon them, and there they remained till
another sabbath, and then other loaves were brought in their stead, while
the loaves were given to the priests for their food, and the frankincense
was burnt in that sacred fire wherein all their offerings were burnt also;
and so other frankincense was set upon the loaves instead of what was
there before. The high priest also, of his own charges, offered a
sacrifice, and that twice every day. It was made of flour mingled with
oil, and gently baked by the fire; the quantity was one tenth deal of
flour; he brought the half of it to the fire in the morning, and the other
half at night. The account of these sacrifices I shall give more
accurately hereafter; but I think I have premised what for the present may
be sufficient concerning them.
CHAPTER 11. Of The Purifications.
1. Moses took out the tribe of Levi from communicating with the rest of
the people, and set them apart to be a holy tribe; and purified them by
water taken from perpetual springs, and with such sacrifices as were
usually offered to God on the like occasions. He delivered to them also
the tabernacle, and the sacred vessels, and the other curtains, which were
made for covering the tabernacle, that they might minister under the
conduct of the priests, who had been already consecrated to God.
2. He also determined concerning animals; which of them might be used for
food, and which they were obliged to abstain from; which matters, when
this work shall give me occasion, shall be further explained; and the
causes shall be added by which he was moved to allot some of them to be
our food, and enjoined us to abstain from others. However, he entirely
forbade us the use of blood for food, and esteemed it to contain the soul
and spirit. He also forbade us to eat the flesh of an animal that died of
itself, as also the caul, and the fat of goats, and sheep, and bulls.
3. He also ordered that those whose bodies were afflicted with leprosy,
and that had a gonorrhea, should not come into the city; nay, he removed
the women, when they had their natural purgations, till the seventh day;
after which he looked on them as pure, and permitted them to come in
again. The law permits those also who have taken care of funerals to come
in after the same manner, when this number of days is over; but if any
continued longer than that number of days in a state of pollution, the law
appointed the offering two lambs for a sacrifice; the one of which they
are to purge by fire, and for the other, the priests take it for
themselves. In the same manner do those sacrifice who have had the
gonorrhea. But he that sheds his seed in his sleep, if he go down into
cold water, has the same privilege with those that have lawfully
accompanied with their wives. And for the lepers, he suffered them not to
come into the city at all, nor to live with any others, as if they were in
effect dead persons; but if any one had obtained by prayer to God, the
recovery from that distemper, and had gained a healthful complexion again,
such a one returned thanks to God, with several sorts of sacrifices;
concerning which we will speak hereafter.
4. Whence one cannot but smile at those who say that Moses was himself
afflicted with the leprosy when he fled out of Egypt, and that he became
the conductor of those who on that account left that country, and led them
into the land of Canaan; for had this been true, Moses would not have made
these laws to his own dishonor, which indeed it was more likely he would
have opposed, if others had endeavored to introduce them; and this the
rather, because there are lepers in many nations, who yet are in honor,
and not only free from reproach and avoidance, but who have been great
captains of armies, and been intrusted with high offices in the
commonwealth, and have had the privilege of entering into holy places and
temples; so that nothing hindered, but if either Moses himself, or the
multitude that was with him, had been liable to such a misfortune in the
color of his skin, he might have made laws about them for their credit and
advantage, and have laid no manner of difficulty upon them. Accordingly,
it is a plain case, that it is out of violent prejudice only that they
report these things about us. But Moses was pure from any such distemper,
and lived with countrymen who were pure of it also, and thence made the
laws which concerned others that had the distemper. He did this for the
honor of God. But as to these matters, let every one consider them after
what manner he pleases.
5. As to the women, when they have born a child, Moses forbade them to
come into the temple, or touch the sacrifices, before forty days were
over, supposing it to be a boy; but if she hath born a girl, the law is
that she cannot be admitted before twice that number of days be over. And
when after the before-mentioned time appointed for them, they perform
their sacrifices, the priests distribute them before God.
6. But if any one suspect that his wife has been guilty of adultery, he
was to bring a tenth deal of barley flour; they then cast one handful to
God and gave the rest of it to the priests for food. One of the priests
set the woman at the gates that are turned towards the temple, and took
the veil from her head, and wrote the name of God on parchment, and
enjoined her to swear that she had not at all injured her husband; and to
wish that, if she had violated her chastity, her right thigh might be put
out of joint; that her belly might swell; and that she might die thus: but
that if her husband, by the violence of his affection, and of the jealousy
which arose from it, had been rashly moved to this suspicion, that she
might bear a male child in the tenth month. Now when these oaths were
over, the priest wiped the name of God out of the parchment, and wrung the
water into a vial. He also took some dust out of the temple, if any
happened to be there, and put a little of it into the vial, and gave it
her to drink; whereupon the woman, if she were unjustly accused, conceived
with child, and brought it to perfection in her womb: but if she had
broken her faith of wedlock to her husband, and had sworn falsely before
God, she died in a reproachful manner; her thigh fell off from her, and
her belly swelled with a dropsy. And these are the ceremonies about
sacrifices, and about the purifications thereto belonging, which Moses
provided for his countrymen. He also prescribed the following laws to
them:—
CHAPTER 12. Several Laws.
1. As for adultery, Moses forbade it entirely, as esteeming it a happy
thing that men should be wise in the affairs of wedlock; and that it was
profitable both to cities and families that children should be known to be
genuine. He also abhorred men’s lying with their mothers, as one of the
greatest crimes; and the like for lying with the father’s wife, and with
aunts, and sisters, and sons’ wives, as all instances of abominable
wickedness. He also forbade a man to lie with his wife when she was
defiled by her natural purgation: and not to come near brute beasts; nor
to approve of the lying with a male, which was to hunt after unlawful
pleasures on account of beauty. To those who were guilty of such insolent
behavior, he ordained death for their punishment.
2. As for the priests, he prescribed to them a double degree of purity 25
for he restrained them in the instances above, and moreover forbade them
to marry harlots. He also forbade them to marry a slave, or a captive, and
such as got their living by cheating trades, and by keeping inns; as also
a woman parted from her husband, on any account whatsoever. Nay, he did
not think it proper for the high priest to marry even the widow of one
that was dead, though he allowed that to the priests; but he permitted him
only to marry a virgin, and to retain her. Whence it is that the high
priest is not to come near to one that is dead, although the rest are not
prohibited from coming near to their brethren, or parents, or children,
when they are dead; but they are to be unblemished in all respects. He
ordered that the priest who had any blemish, should have his portion
indeed among the priests, but he forbade him to ascend the altar, or to
enter into the holy house. He also enjoined them, not only to observe
purity in their sacred ministrations, but in their daily conversation,
that it might be unblamable also. And on this account it is that those who
wear the sacerdotal garments are without spot, and eminent for their
purity and sobriety: nor are they permitted to drink wine so long as they
wear those garments. 26 Moreover, they offer sacrifices
that are entire, and have no defect whatsoever.
3. And truly Moses gave them all these precepts, being such as were
observed during his own lifetime; but though he lived now in the
wilderness, yet did he make provision how they might observe the same laws
when they should have taken the land of Canaan. He gave them rest to the
land from ploughing and planting every seventh year, as he had prescribed
to them to rest from working every seventh day; and ordered, that then
what grew of its own accord out of the earth should in common belong to
all that pleased to use it, making no distinction in that respect between
their own countrymen and foreigners: and he ordained, that they should do
the same after seven times seven years, which in all are fifty years; and
that fiftieth year is called by the Hebrews The Jubilee, wherein debtors
are freed from their debts, and slaves are set at liberty; which slaves
became such, though they were of the same stock, by transgressing some of
those laws the punishment of which was not capital, but they were punished
by this method of slavery. This year also restores the land to its former
possessors in the manner following:—When the Jubilee is come, which
name denotes liberty, he that sold the land, and he that bought it, meet
together, and make an estimate, on one hand, of the fruits gathered; and,
on the other hand, of the expenses laid out upon it. If the fruits
gathered come to more than the expenses laid out, he that sold it takes
the land again; but if the expenses prove more than the fruits, the
present possessor receives of the former owner the difference that was
wanting, and leaves the land to him; and if the fruits received, and the
expenses laid out, prove equal to one another, the present possessor
relinquishes it to the former owners. Moses would have the same law obtain
as to those houses also which were sold in villages; but he made a
different law for such as were sold in a city; for if he that sold it
tendered the purchaser his money again within a year, he was forced to
restore it; but in case a whole year had intervened, the purchaser was to
enjoy what he had bought. This was the constitution of the laws which
Moses learned of God when the camp lay under Mount Sinai, and this he
delivered in writing to the Hebrews.
4. Now when this settlement of laws seemed to be well over, Moses thought
fit at length to take a review of the host, as thinking it proper to
settle the affairs of war. So he charged the heads of the tribes,
excepting the tribe of Levi, to take an exact account of the number of
those that were able to go to war; for as to the Levites, they were holy,
and free from all such burdens. Now when the people had been numbered,
there were found six hundred thousand that were able to go to war, from
twenty to fifty years of age, besides three thousand six hundred and
fifty. Instead of Levi, Moses took Manasseh, the son of Joseph, among the
heads of tribes; and Ephraim instead of Joseph. It was indeed the desire
of Jacob himself to Joseph, that he would give him his sons to be his own
by adoption, as I have before related.
5. When they set up the tabernacle, they received it into the midst of
their camp, three of the tribes pitching their tents on each side of it;
and roads were cut through the midst of these tents. It was like a
well-appointed market; and every thing was there ready for sale in due
order; and all sorts of artificers were in the shops; and it resembled
nothing so much as a city that sometimes was movable, and sometimes fixed.
The priests had the first places about the tabernacle; then the Levites,
who, because their whole multitude was reckoned from thirty days old, were
twenty-three thousand eight hundred and eighty males; and during the time
that the cloud stood over the tabernacle, they thought proper to stay in
the same place, as supposing that God there inhabited among them; but when
that removed, they journeyed also.
6. Moreover, Moses was the inventor of the form of their trumpet, which
was made of silver. Its description is this:—In length it was little
less than a cubit. It was composed of a narrow tube, somewhat thicker than
a flute, but with so much breadth as was sufficient for admission of the
breath of a man’s mouth: it ended in the form of a bell, like common
trumpets. Its sound was called in the Hebrew tongue Asosra. Two of these
being made, one of them was sounded when they required the multitude to
come together to congregations. When the first of them gave a signal, the
heads of the tribes were to assemble, and consult about the affairs to
them properly belonging; but when they gave the signal by both of them,
they called the multitude together. Whenever the tabernacle was removed,
it was done in this solemn order:—At the first alarm of the trumpet,
those whose tents were on the east quarter prepared to remove; when the
second signal was given, those that were on the south quarter did the
like; in the next place, the tabernacle was taken to pieces, and was
carried in the midst of six tribes that went before, and of six that
followed, all the Levites assisting about the tabernacle; when the third
signal was given, that part which had their tents towards the west put
themselves in motion; and at the fourth signal those on the north did so
likewise. They also made use of these trumpets in their sacred
ministrations, when they were bringing their sacrifices to the altar as
well on the Sabbaths as on the rest of the [festival] days; and now it was
that Moses offered that sacrifice which was called the Passover in the
Wilderness, as the first he had offered after the departure out of Egypt.
CHAPTER 13. Moses Removed From Mount Sinai, And Conducted The People To
The Borders Of The Canaanites.
A Little while afterwards he rose up, and went from Mount Sinai; and,
having passed through several mansions, of which we will speak he came to
a place called Hazeroth, where the multitude began again to be mutinous,
and to Moses for the misfortunes they had suffered their travels; and that
when he had persuaded to leave a good land, they at once had lost land,
and instead of that happy state he had them, they were still wandering in
their miserable condition, being already in want of water; and if the manna
should happen to fail, must then utterly perish. Yet while they spake many
and sore things against the there was one of them who exhorted them to be
unmindful of Moses, and of what great pains he had been at about their
common safety; not to despair of assistance from God. The multitude
thereupon became still more unruly, and mutinous against Moses than
before. Hereupon Moses, although he was so basely abused by them
encouraged them in their despairing conditioned and promised that he would
procure them a quantity of flesh-meat, and that not for a few days only,
but for many days. This they were not to believe; and when one of them
asked, whence he could obtain such vast plenty of what he promised, he
replied, “Neither God nor I, we hear such opprobrious language from will
leave off our labors for you; and this soon appear also.” As soon as ever
he had said this, the whole camp was filled with quails, they stood round about
them, and gathered great numbers. However, it was not long ere God
punished the Hebrews for their insolence, those reproaches they had used
towards him, no small number of them died; and still to this day the place
retains the memory of this destruction and is named Kibrothhattaavah,
which is, Graves of Lust.
CHAPTER 14. How Moses Sent Some Persons To Search Out The Land Of The
Canaanites, And The Largeness Of Their Cities; And Further That When Those
Who Were Sent Were Returned, After Forty Days And Reported That They
Should Not Be A Match For Them, And Extolled The Strength Of The
Canaanites The Multitude Were Disturbed And Fell Into Despair; And Were
Resolved To Stone Moses, And To Return Back Again Into Egypt, And Serve
The Egyptians.
1. When Moses had led the Hebrews away from thence to a place called
Paran, which was near to the borders of the Canaanites, and a place
difficult to be continued in, he gathered the multitude together to a
congregation; and standing in the midst of them, he said, “Of the two
things that God determined to bestow upon us, liberty, and the possession
of a Happy Country, the one of them ye already are partakers of, by the
gift of God, and the other you will quickly obtain; for we now have our
abode near the borders of the Canaanites, and nothing can hinder the
acquisition of it, when we now at last are fallen upon it: I say, not only
no king nor city, but neither the whole race of mankind, if they were all
gathered together, could do it. Let us therefore prepare ourselves for the
work, for the Canaanites will not resign up their land to us without
fighting, but it must be wrested from them by great struggles in war. Let
us then send spies, who may take a view of the goodness of the land, and
what strength it is of; but, above all things, let us be of one mind, and
let us honor God, who above all is our helper and assister.”
2. When Moses had said thus, the multitude requited him with marks of
respect; and chose twelve spies, of the most eminent men, one out of each
tribe, who, passing over all the land of Canaan, from the borders of
Egypt, came to the city Hamath, and to Mount Lebanon; and having learned
the nature of the land, and of its inhabitants, they came home, having
spent forty days in the whole work. They also brought with them of the
fruits which the land bare; they also showed them the excellency of those
fruits, and gave an account of the great quantity of the good things that
land afforded, which were motives to the multitude to go to war. But then
they terrified them again with the great difficulty there was in obtaining
it; that the rivers were so large and deep that they could not be passed
over; and that the hills were so high that they could not travel along for
them; that the cities were strong with walls, and their firm
fortifications round about them. They told them also, that they found at
Hebron the posterity of the giants. Accordingly these spies, who had seen
the land of Canaan, when they perceived that all these difficulties were
greater there than they had met with since they came out of Egypt, they
were affrighted at them themselves, and endeavored to affright the
multitude also.
3. So they supposed, from what they had heard, that it was impossible to
get the possession of the country. And when the congregation was
dissolved, they, their wives and children, continued their lamentation, as
if God would not indeed assist them, but only promised them fair. They
also again blamed Moses, and made a clamor against him and his brother
Aaron, the high priest. Accordingly they passed that night very ill, and
with contumelious language against them; but in the morning they ran to a
congregation, intending to stone Moses and Aaron, and so to return back
into Egypt.
4. But of the spies, there were Joshua the son of Nun, of the tribe of
Ephraim, and Caleb of the tribe of Judah, that were afraid of the
consequence, and came into the midst of them, and stilled the multitude,
and desired them to be of good courage; and neither to condemn God, as
having told them lies, nor to hearken to those who had affrighted them, by
telling them what was not true concerning the Canaanites, but to those
that encouraged them to hope for good success; and that they should gain
possession of the happiness promised them, because neither the height of
mountains, nor the depth of rivers, could hinder men of true courage from
attempting them, especially while God would take care of them beforehand,
and be assistant to them. “Let us then go,” said they, “against our
enemies, and have no suspicion of ill success, trusting in God to conduct
us, and following those that are to be our leaders.” Thus did these two
exhort them, and endeavor to pacify the rage they were in. But Moses and
Aaron fell on the ground, and besought God, not for their own deliverance,
but that he would put a stop to what the people were unwarily doing, and
would bring their minds to a quiet temper, which were now disordered by
their present passion. The cloud also did now appear, and stood over the
tabernacle, and declared to them the presence of God to be there.
CHAPTER 15. How Moses Was Displeased At This, And Foretold That God Was
Angry And That They Should Continue In The Wilderness For Forty Years And
Not, During That Time, Either Return Into Egypt Or Take Possession Of
Canaan.
1. Moses came now boldly to the multitude, and informed them that God was
moved at their abuse of him, and would inflict punishment upon them, not
indeed such as they deserved for their sins, but such as parents inflict
on their children, in order to their correction. For, he said, that when
he was in the tabernacle, and was bewailing with ears that destruction
which was coming upon them God put him in mind what things he had done for
them, and what benefits they had received from him, and yet how ungrateful
they had been to him that just now they had been induced, through the
timorousness of the spies, to think that their words were truer than his
own promise to them; and that on this account, though he would not indeed
destroy them all, nor utterly exterminate their nation, which he had
honored more than any other part of mankind, yet he would not permit them
to take possession of the land of Canaan, nor enjoy its happiness; but
would make them wander in the wilderness, and live without a fixed
habitation, and without a city, for forty years together, as a punishment
for this their transgression; but that he had promised to give that land
to our children, and that he would make them the possessors of those good
things which, by your ungoverned passions, you have deprived yourselves
of.
2. When Moses had discoursed thus to them according to the direction of
God, the multitude grieved, and were in affliction; and entreated Most to
procure their reconciliation to God, and to permit them no longer to
wander in the wilderness, but bestow cities upon them. But he replied,
that God would not admit of any such trial, for that God was not moved to
this determination from any human levity or anger, but that he had
judicially condemned them to that punishment. Now we are not to disbelieve
that Moses, who was but a single person, pacified so many ten thousands
when they were in anger, and converted them to a mildness temper; for God
was with him, and prepared way to his persuasions of the multitude; and as
they had often been disobedient, they were now sensible that such
disobedience was disadvantageous to them and that they had still thereby
fallen into calamities.
3. But this man was admirable for his virtue, and powerful in making men
give credit to what he delivered, not only during the time of his natural
life, but even there is still no one of the Hebrews who does not act even
now as if Moses were present, and ready to punish him if he should do any
thing that is indecent; nay, there is no one but is obedient to what laws
he ordained, although they might be concealed in their transgressions.
There are also many other demonstrations that his power was more than
human, for still some there have been, who have come from the parts beyond
Euphrates, a journey of four months, through many dangers, and at great
expenses, in honor of our temple; and yet, when they had offered their
oblations, could not partake of their own sacrifices, because Moses had
forbidden it, by somewhat in the law that did not permit them, or somewhat
that had befallen them, which our ancient customs made inconsistent
therewith; some of these did not sacrifice at all, and others left their
sacrifices in an imperfect condition; many were not able, even at first,
so much as to enter the temple, but went their ways in this as preferring
a submission to the laws of Moses before the fulfilling of their own
inclinations, they had no fear upon them that anybody could convict them,
but only out of a reverence to their own conscience. Thus this
legislation, which appeared to be divine, made this man to be esteemed as
one superior to his own nature. Nay, further, a little before the
beginning of this war, when Claudius was emperor of the Romans, and Ismael
was our high priest, and when so great a famine 27 was come
upon us, that one tenth deal [of wheat] was sold for four drachmae, and
when no less than seventy cori of flour were brought into the temple, at
the feast of unleavened bread, [these cori are thirty-one Sicilian, but
forty-one Athenian medimni,] not one of the priests was so hardy as to eat
one crumb of it, even while so great a distress was upon the land; and
this out of a dread of the law, and of that wrath which God retains
against acts of wickedness, even when no one can accuse the actors. Whence
we are not to wonder at what was then done, while to this very day the
writings left by Moses have so great a force, that even those that hate us
do confess, that he who established this settlement was God, and that it
was by the means of Moses, and of his virtue; but as to these matters, let
every one take them as he thinks fit.
FOOTNOTES:
1 (return)
[ Dr. Bernard takes notice
here, that this place Mar, where the waters were bitter, is called by the
Syrians and Arabians Mariri, and by the Syrians sometimes Morath, all
derived from the Hebrew Mar. He also takes notice, that it is called The
Bitter Fountain by Pliny himself; which waters remain there to this day,
and are still bitter, as Thevenot assures us and that there are also
abundance of palm-trees. See his Travels, Part I. ch. 26. p. 166.]
2 (return)
[ The additions here to
Moses’s account of the sweetening of the waters at Marah, seem derived
from some ancient profane author, and he such an author also as looks less
authentic than are usually followed by Josephus. Philo has not a syllable
of these additions, nor any other ancienter writer that we know of. Had
Josephus written these his Antiquities for the use of Jews, he would
hardly have given them these very improbable circumstances; but writing to
Gentiles, that they might not complain of his omission of any accounts of
such miracles derived from Gentiles, he did not think proper to conceal
what he had met with there about this matter. Which procedure is perfectly
agreeable to the character and usage of Josephus upon many occasions. This
note is, I confess, barely conjectural; and since Josephus never tells us
when his own copy, taken out of the temple, had such additions, or when
any ancient notes supplied them; or indeed when they are derived from
Jewish, and when from Gentile antiquity,—we can go no further than
bare conjectures in such cases; only the notions of Jews were generally so
different from those of Gentiles, that we may sometimes make no improbable
conjectures to which sort such additions belong. See also somewhat like
these additions in Josephus’s account of Elisha’s making sweet the bitter
and barren spring near Jericho, War, B. IV. ch. 8. sect. 3.]
3 (return)
[ It seems to me, from what
Moses, Exodus 16:18, St. Paul, 2 Corinthians 8:15, and Josephus here say,
compared together, that the quantity of manna that fell daily, and did not
putrefy, was just so much as came to an omer apiece, through the whole
host of Israel, and no more.]
4 (return)
[ This supposal, that the
sweet honey-dew or manna, so celebrated in ancient and modern authors, as
falling usually in Arabia, was of the very same sort with this manna sent
to the Israelites, savors more of Gentilism than of Judaism or
Christianity. It is not improbable that some ancient Gentile author, read
by Josephus, so thought; nor would he here contradict him; though just
before, and Antiq. B. IV. ch. 3. sect. 2, he seems directly to allow that
it had not been seen before. However, this food from heaven is here
described to be like snow; and in Artapanus, a heathen writer, it is
compared to meal, color like to snow, rained down by God,” Essay on the
Old Test. Append. p. 239. But as to the derivation of the word manna,
whether from man, which Josephus says then signified What is it or from
mannah, to divide, i.e., a dividend or portion allotted to every one, it
is uncertain: I incline to the latter derivation. This manna is called
angels’ food, Psalm 78:26, and by our Sacior, John 6:31, etc., as well as
by Josephus here and elsewhere, Antiq. B. III. ch. 5. sect. 3, said to be
sent the Jews from heaven.]
5 (return)
[ This rock is there at this
day, as the travelers agree; and must be the same that was there in the
days of Moses, as being too large to be brought thither by our modern
carriages.]
6 (return)
[ Note here, that the small
book of the principal laws of Moses is ever said to be laid up in the holy
house itself; but the larger Pentateuch, as here, some where within the
limits of the temple and its courts only. See Antiq. B. V. ch. 1. sect.
17.]
7 (return)
[ This eminent circumstance,
that while Moses’s hands were lift up towards heaven, the Israelites
prevailed, and while they were let down towards the earth, the Amalekites
prevailed, seems to me the earliest intimation we have of the proper
posture, used of old, in solemn prayer, which was the stretching out of
the hands [and eyes] towards heaven, as other passages of the Old and New
Testament inform us. Nay, by the way, this posture seemed to have
continued in the Christian church, till the clergy, instead of learning
their prayers by heart, read them out of a book, which is in a great
measure inconsistent with such an elevated posture, and which seems to me
to have been only a later practice, introduced under the corrupt state of
the church; though the constant use of divine forms of prayer, praise, and
thanksgiving, appears to me to have been the practice of God’s people,
patriarchs, Jews, and Christians, in all the past ages.]
8 (return)
[ This manner of electing
the judges and officers of the Israelites by the testimonies and suffrages
of the people, before they were ordained by God, or by Moses, deserves to
be carefully noted, because it was the pattern of the like manner of the
choice and ordination of bishops, presbyters, and deacons, in the
Christian church.]
9 (return)
[ Since this mountain,
Sinai, is here said to be the highest of all the mountains that are in
that country, it must be that now called St. Katherine’s, which is
one-third higher than that within a mile of it, now called Sinai, as Mons.
Thevenot informs us, Travels, Part I. ch. 23. p. 168. The other name of
it, Horeb, is never used by Josephus, and perhaps was its name among the
Egyptians only, whence the Israelites were lately come, as Sinai was its
name among the Arabians, Canaanites, and other nations. Accordingly when
[1 Kings 9:8: the Scripture says that Elijah came to Horeb, the mount of
God, Josephus justly says, Antiq. B. VIII. ch. 13. sect. 7, that he came
to the mountain called Sinai: and Jerome, here cited by Dr. Hudson, says,
that he took this mountain to have two names, Sinai and Choreb. De Nomin.
Heb. p. 427.]
10 (return)
[ Of this and another like
superstitious notion of the Pharisees, which Josephus complied with, see
the note on Antiq. B. II. ch. 12. sect. 4.]
11 (return)
[ This other work of
Josephus, here referred to, seems to be that which does not appear to have
been ever published, which yet he intended to publish, about the reasons
of many of the laws of Moses; of which see the note on the Preface, sect.
4.]
12 (return)
[ Of this tabernacle of
Moses, with its several parts and furniture, see my description at large,
chap. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12., hereto belonging.]
13 (return)
[ The use of these golden
bells at the bottom of the high priest’s long garment, seems to me to have
been this: That by shaking his garment at the time of his offering incense
in the temple, on the great day of expiation, or at other proper periods
of his sacred ministrations there, on the great festivals, the people
might have notice of it, and might fall to their own prayers at the time
of incense, or other proper periods; and so the whole congregation might
at once offer those common prayers jointly with the high priest himself to
the Almighty See Luke 1:10; Revelation 8:3, 4. Nor probably is the son of
Sirach to be otherwise understood, when he says of Aaron, the first high
priest, Ecelus. 45:9, “And God encompassed Aaron with pomegranates, and
with many golden bells round about, that as he went there might be a
sound, and a noise made that might be heard in the temple, for a memorial
to the children of his people.”]
14 (return)
[ The reader ought to take
notice here, that the very Mosaic Petalon, or golden plate, for the
forehead of the Jewish high priest, was itself preserved, not only till
the days of Josephus, but of Origen; and that its inscription, Holiness to
the Lord, was in the Samaritan characters. See Antiq. B. VIII. ch. 3.
sect. 8, Essay on the Old Test. p. 154, and Reland, De pol. Templi, p.
132.]
15 (return)
[ When Josephus, both here
and ch. 6. sect. 4, supposes the tabernacle to have been parted into three
parts, he seems to esteem the bare entrance to be a third division,
distinct from the holy and the most holy places; and this the rather,
because in the temple afterward there was a real distinct third part,
which was called the Porch: otherwise Josephus would contradict his own
description of the tabernacle, which gives as a particular account of no
more than two parts.]
16 (return)
[ This explication of the
mystical meaning of the Jewish tabernacle and its vessels, with the
garments of the high priest, is taken out of Philo, and fitted to Gentile
philosophical notions. This may possibly be forgiven in Jews, greatly
versed in heathen learning and philosophy, as Philo had ever been, and as
Josephus had long been when he wrote these Antiquities. In the mean time,
it is not to be doubted, but in their education they must have both
learned more Jewish interpretations, such as we meet with in the Epistle
of Barnabas, in that to the Hebrews, and elsewhere among the old Jews.
Accordingly when Josephus wrote his books of the Jewish War, for the use
of the Jews, at which time he was comparatively young, and less used to
Gentile books, we find one specimen of such a Jewish interpretation; for
there [B. VII. ch. 5. sect. 5: he makes the seven branches of the
temple-candlestick, with their seven lamps, an emblem of the seven days of
creation and rest, which are here emblems of the seven planets. Nor
certainly ought ancient Jewish emblems to be explained any other way than
according to ancient Jewish, and not Gentile, notions. See of the War, B.
I. ch. 33. sect. 2.]
17 (return)
[ It is well worth our
observation, that the two principal qualifications required in this
section for the constitution of the first high priest, [viz. that he
should have an excellent character for virtuous and good actions; as also
that he should have the approbation of the people,] are here noted by
Josephus, even where the nomination belonged to God himself; which are the
very same qualifications which the Christian religion requires in the
choice of Christian bishops, priests, and deacons; as the Apostolical
Constitutions inform us, B. II. ch. 3.]
18 (return)
[ This weight and value of
the Jewish shekel, in the days of Josephus, equal to about 2s. 10d.
sterling, is, by the learned Jews, owned to be one-fifth larger than were
their old shekels; which determination agrees perfectly with the remaining
shekels that have Samaritan inscriptions, coined generally by Simon the
Maccabee, about 230 years before Josephus published his Antiquities, which
never weigh more than 2s. 4d., and commonly but 2s. 4d. See Reland De
Nummis Samaritanorum, p. 138.]
19 (return)
[ The incense was here
offered, according to Josephus’s opinion, before sun-rising, and at
sun-setting; but in the days of Pompey, according to the same Josephus,
the sacrifices were offered in the morning, and at the ninth hour. Antiq.
B. XIV. ch. 4. sect. 3.]
20 (return)
[ Hence we may correct the
opinions of the modern Rabbins, who say that only one of the seven lamps
burned in the day-time; whereas our Josephus, an eyewitness, says there
were three.]
21 (return)
[ Of this strange
expression, that Moses “left it to God to be present at his sacrifices
when he pleased, and when he pleased to be absent,” see the note on B. II.
against Apion, sect. 16.]
22 (return)
[ These answers by the
oracle of Urim and Thummim, which words signify, light and perfection, or,
as the Septuagint render them, revelation and truth, and denote nothing
further, that I see, but the shining stones themselves, which were used,
in this method of illumination, in revealing the will of God, after a
perfect and true manner, to his people Israel: I say, these answers were
not made by the shining of the precious stones, after an awkward manner,
in the high priest’s breastplate, as the modern Rabbins vainly suppose;
for certainly the shining of the stones might precede or accompany the
oracle, without itself delivering that oracle, see Antiq. B. VI. ch. 6.
sect. 4; but rather by an audible voice from the mercy- seat between the
cherubims. See Prideaux’s Connect. at the year 534. This oracle had been
silent, as Josephus here informs us, two hundred years before he wrote his
Antiquities, or ever since the days of the last good high priest of the
family of the Maccabees, John Hyrcanus. Now it is here very well worth our
observation, that the oracle before us was that by which God appeared to
be present with, and gave directions to, his people Israel as their King,
all the while they submitted to him in that capacity; and did not set over
them such independent kings as governed according to their own wills and
political maxims, instead of Divine directions. Accordingly we meet with
this oracle [besides angelic and prophetic admonitions] all along from the
days of Moses and Joshua to the anointing of Saul, the first of the
succession of the kings, Numbers 27:21; Joshua 6:6, etc.; 19:50; Judges
1:1; 18:4-6, 30, 31; 20:18, 23, 26-28; 21:1, etc.; 1 Samuel 1:17, 18; 3.
per tot.; 4. per tot.; nay, till Saul’s rejection of the Divine commands
in the war with Amalek, when he took upon him to act as he thought fit, 1
Samuel 14:3, 18, 19, 36, 37, then this oracle left Saul entirely, [which
indeed he had seldom consulted before, 1 Samuel 14:35; 1 Chronicles 10:14;
13:3; Antiq. B. 7 ch. 4 sect 2.] and accompanied David, who was anointed
to succeed him, and who consulted God by it frequently, and complied with
its directions constantly [1 Samuel 14:37, 41; 15:26; 22:13, 15; 23:9, 10;
30:7, 8, 18; 2 Samuel 2:1; 5:19, 23; 21:1; 23:14; 1 Chronicles 14:10, 14;
Antiq. B IV ch. 12 sect. 5]. Saul, indeed, long after his rejection by
God, and when God had given him up to destruction for his disobedience,
did once afterwards endeavor to consult God when it was too late; but God
would not then answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by
prophets, 1 Samuel 28:6. Nor did any of David’s successors, the kings of
Judah, that we know of, consult God by this oracle, till the very
Babylonish captivity itself, when those kings were at an end; they taking
upon them, I suppose, too much of despotic power and royalty, and too
little owning the God of Israel for the supreme King of Israel, though a
few of them consulted the prophets sometimes, and were answered by them.
At the return of the two tribes, without the return of the kingly
government, the restoration of this oracle was expected, Nehemiah 7;63; 1
Esd. 5:40; 1 Macc. 4:46; 14:41. And indeed it may seem to have been
restored for some time after the Babylonish captivity, at least in the
days of that excellent high priest, John Hyrcanus, whom Josephus esteemed
as a king, a priest, and a prophet; and who, he says, foretold several
things that came to pass accordingly; but about the time of his death, he
here implies, that this oracle quite ceased, and not before. The following
high priests now putting diadems on their heads, and ruling according to
their own will, and by their own authority, like the other kings of the
pagan countries about them; so that while the God of Israel was allowed to
be the supreme King of Israel, and his directions to be their authentic
guides, God gave them such directions as their supreme King and Governor,
and they were properly under a theocracy, by this oracle of Urim, but no
longer [see Dr. Bernard’s notes here]; though I confess I cannot but
esteem the high priest Jaddus’s divine dream, Antiq. B. XI. ch. 8. sect.
4, and the high priest Caiaphas’s most remarkable prophecy, John 11:47-52,
as two small remains or specimens of this ancient oracle, which properly
belonged to the Jewish high priests: nor perhaps ought we entirely to
forget that eminent prophetic dream of our Josephus himself, [Footnote one
next to a high priest, as of the family of the Asamoneans or Maccabees,]
as to the succession of Vespasian and Titus to the Roman empire, and that
in the days of Nero, and before either Galba, Otho, or Vitellius were
thought of to succeed him. Of the War, B. III. ch. 8. sect. 9. This, I
think, may well be looked on as the very last instance of any thing like
the prophetic Urim among the Jewish nation, and just preceded their fatal
desolation: but how it could possibly come to pass that such great men as
Sir John Marsham and Dr. Spenser, should imagine that this oracle of Urim
and Thummim with other practices as old or older than the law of Moses,
should have been ordained in imitation of somewhat like them among the
Egyptians, which we never hear of till the days of Diodorus Siculus,
Aelian, and Maimonides, or little earlier than the Christian era at the
highest, is almost unaccountable; while the main business of the law of
Moses was evidently to preserve the Israelites from the idolatrous and
superstitious practices of the neighboring pagan nations; and while it is
so undeniable, that the evidence for the great antiquity of Moses’s law is
incomparably beyond that for the like or greater antiquity of such customs
in Egypt or other nations, which indeed is generally none at all, it is
most absurd to derive any of Moses’s laws from the imitation of those
heathen practices, Such hypotheses demonstrate to us how far inclination
can prevail over evidence, in even some of the most learned part of
mankind.]
23 (return)
[ What Reland well
observes here, out of Josephus, as compared with the law of Moses,
Leviticus 7:15, [that the eating of the sacrifice the same day it was
offered, seems to mean only before the morning of the next, although the
latter part, i.e. the night, be in strictness part of the next day,
according to the Jewish reckoning,] is greatly to be observed upon other
occasions also. The Jewish maxim in such cases, it seems, is this: That
the day goes before the night; and this appears to me to be the language
both of the Old and New Testament. See also the note on Antiq. B. IV. ch.
4. sect. 4, and Reland’s note on B. IV. ch. 8. sect. 28.]
24 (return)
[ We may here note, that
Josephus frequently calls the camp the city, and the court of the Mosaic
tabernacle a temple, and the tabernacle itself a holy house, with allusion
to the latter city, temple, and holy house, which he knew so well long
afterwards.]
25 (return)
[ These words of Josephus
are remarkable, that the lawgiver of the Jews required of the priests a
double degree of parity, in comparison of that required of the people, of
which he gives several instances immediately. It was for certain the case
also among the first Christians, of the clergy, in comparison of the
laity, as the Apostolical Constitutions and Canons every where inform us.]
26 (return)
[ We must here note with
Reland, that the precept given to the priests of not drinking wine while
they wore the sacred garments, is equivalent; to their abstinence from it
all the while they ministered in the temple; because they then always, and
then only, wore those sacred garments, which were laid up there from one
time of ministration to another.]
27 (return)
[ See Antiq, B. XX. ch. 2.
sect, 6. and Acts 11:28.]
BOOK IV. Containing The Interval Of Thirty-Eight Years.—From
The Rejection Of That Generation To The Death Of Moses.
CHAPTER 1. Fight Of The Hebrews With The Canaanites Without The Consent Of
Moses; And Their Defeat.
1. Now this life of the Hebrews in the wilderness was so disagreeable and
troublesome to them, and they were so uneasy at it, that although God had
forbidden them to meddle with the Canaanites, yet could they not be
persuaded to be obedient to the words of Moses, and to be quiet; but
supposing they should be able to beat their enemies, without his
approbation, they accused him, and suspected that he made it his business
to keep them in a distressed condition, that they might always stand in need of
his assistance. Accordingly they resolved to fight with the Canaanites,
and said that God gave them his assistance, not out of regard to Moses’s
intercessions, but because he took care of their entire nation, on account
of their forefathers, whose affairs he took under his own conduct; as
also, that it was on account of their own virtue that he had formerly
procured them their liberty, and would be assisting to them, now they were
willing to take pains for it. They also said that they were possessed of
abilities sufficient for the conquest of their enemies, although Moses
should have a mind to alienate God from them; that, however, it was for
their advantage to be their own masters, and not so far to rejoice in
their deliverance from the indignities they endured under the Egyptians,
as to bear the tyranny of Moses over them, and to suffer themselves to be
deluded, and live according to his pleasure, as though God did only
foretell what concerns us out of his kindness to him, as if they were not
all the posterity of Abraham; that God made him alone the author of all
the knowledge we have, and we must still learn it from him; that it would
be a piece of prudence to oppose his arrogant pretenses, and to put their
confidence in God, and to resolve to take possession of that land which he
had promised them, and not to give ear to him, who on this account, and
under the pretense of Divine authority, forbade them so to do.
Considering, therefore, the distressed state they were in at present, and
that in those desert places they were still to expect things would be
worse with them, they resolved to fight with the Canaanites, as submitting
only to God, their supreme Commander, and not waiting for any assistance
from their legislator.
2. When, therefore, they had come to this resolution, as being best for
them, they went against their enemies; but those enemies were not dismayed
either at the attack itself, or at the great multitude that made it, and
received them with great courage. Many of the Hebrews were slain; and the
remainder of the army, upon the disorder of their troops, were pursued,
and fled, after a shameful manner, to their camp. Whereupon this
unexpected misfortune made them quite despond; and they hoped for nothing
that was good; as gathering from it, that this affliction came from the
wrath of God, because they rashly went out to war without his approbation.
3. But when Moses saw how deeply they were affected with this defeat, and
being afraid lest the enemies should grow insolent upon this victory, and
should be desirous of gaining still greater glory, and should attack them,
he resolved that it was proper to withdraw the army into the wilderness to
a further distance from the Canaanites: so the multitude gave themselves
up again to his conduct, for they were sensible that, without his care for
them, their affairs could not be in a good condition; and he caused the
host to remove, and he went further into the wilderness, as intending
there to let them rest, and not to permit them to fight the Canaanites
before God should afford them a more favorable opportunity.
CHAPTER 2. The Sedition Of Corah And Of The Multitude Against Moses, And
Against His Brother, Concerning The Priesthood.
1. That which is usually the case of great armies, and especially upon ill
success, to be hard to be pleased, and governed with difficulty, did now
befall the Jews; for they being in number six hundred thousand, and by
reason of their great multitude not readily subject to their governors,
even in prosperity, they at this time were more than usually angry, both
against one another and against their leader, because of the distress they
were in, and the calamities they then endured. Such a sedition overtook
them, as we have not the like example either among the Greeks or the
Barbarians, by which they were in danger of being all destroyed, but were
notwithstanding saved by Moses, who would not remember that he had been
almost stoned to death by them. Nor did God neglect to prevent their ruin;
but, notwithstanding the indignities they had offered their legislator and
the laws, and disobedience to the commandments which he had sent them by
Moses, he delivered them from those terrible calamities which, without his
providential care, had been brought upon them by this sedition. So I will
first explain the cause whence this sedition arose, and then will give an
account of the sedition itself; as also of what settlements made for their
government after it was over.
2. Corah, a Hebrew of principal account, both by his family and by his
wealth, one that was also able to speak well, and one that could easily
persuade the people by his speeches, saw that Moses was in an exceeding
great dignity, and was at it, and envied him on that account, [he of the
same tribe with Moses, and of kin to him,] was particularly grieved,
because he thought he better deserved that honorable post on account of
great riches, and not inferior to him in his birth. So he raised a clamor
against him among the Levites, who were of the same tribe, and among his
kindred, saying, “That it was a very sad thing that they should overlook
Moses, while he hunted after and paved the way to glory for himself, and by
ill arts should obtain it, under the pretense of God’s command, while,
contrary to laws, he had given the priesthood to Aaron, the common
suffrage of the multitude, but by his own vote, as bestowing dignities in
a way on whom he pleased.” He added, “That this concealed way of imposing
on them was harder to be borne than if it had been done by an open force
upon them, because he did now not only usurp their power without their consent,
but even they were unapprised of his contrivances against them; for
whosoever is conscious to himself that he deserves any dignity, aims to
get it by persuasion, and not by an arrogant method of violence; those
that believe it impossible to obtain honors justly, make a show of
goodness, and do not introduce force, but by cunning tricks grow wickedly
powerful. That it was proper for the multitude to punish such men, even
while they think themselves concealed in their designs, and not suffer
them to gain strength till they have them for their open enemies. For what
account,” added he, “is Moses able to give, why he has bestowed the
priesthood on Aaron and his sons? for if God had determined to bestow that
honor on one of the tribe of Levi, I am more worthy of it than he is; I
myself being equal to Moses by my family, and superior to him both in
riches and in age: but if God had determined to bestow it on the eldest
be, that of Reuben might have it most justly; and then Dathan, and Abiram,
and [On, the son of] Peleth, would have it; for these are the oldest men
of that tribe, and potent on account of their great wealth also.”
3. Now Corah, when he said this, had a mind to appear to take care of the
public welfare, but in reality he was endeavoring to procure to have that
dignity transferred by the multitude to himself. Thus did he, out of a
malignant design, but with plausible words, discourse to those of his own
tribe; when these words did gradually spread to more people, and when the
hearers still added to what tended to the scandals that were cast upon
Aaron, the whole army was full of them. Now of those that conspired with
Corah, there were two hundred and fifty, and those of the principal men
also, who were eager to have the priesthood taken away from Moses’s
brother, and to bring him into disgrace: nay, the multitude themselves
were provoked to be seditious, and attempted to stone Moses, and gathered
themselves together after an indecent manner, with confusion and disorder.
And now all were, in a tumultuous manner, raising a clamour before the
tabernacle of God, to prosecute the tyrant, and to relieve the multitude
from their slavery under him who, under color of the Divine laid violent
injunctions upon them; for had it been God who chose one that was to
perform the office of a priest, he would have raised person to that
dignity, and would not have produced such a one as was inferior to many others
nor have given him that office; and that in he had judged it fit to bestow
it on Aaron, he would have permitted it to the multitude to bestow it, and
not have left it to be bestowed by his own brother.
4. Now although Moses had a great while ago foreseen this calumny of
Corah, and had seen the people were irritated, yet was he not affrighted
at it; but being of good courage, because given them right advice about
their affairs, and knowing that his brother had been made partaker of the
priesthood at the command of God, and not by his own favor to him, he came
to the assembly; and as for the multitude, he said not a word to them, but
spake as loud to Corah as he could; and being very skillful in making
speeches, and having this natural talent, among others, that he could
greatly move the multitude with his discourses, he said, “O Corah, both
thou and all these with thee [pointing to the two hundred and fifty men]
seem to be worthy of this honor; nor do I pretend but that this whole
company may be worthy of the like dignity, although they may not be so
rich or so great as you are: nor have I taken and given this office to my
brother because he excelled others in riches, for thou exceedest us both
in the greatness of thy wealth; 1 nor indeed
because he was of an eminent family, for God, by giving us the same common
ancestor, has made our families equal: nay, nor was it out of brotherly
affection, which another might yet have justly done; for certainly, unless
I had bestowed this honor out of regard to God, and to his laws, I had not
passed by myself, and given it to another, as being nearer of kin to
myself than to my brother, and having a closer intimacy with myself than I
have with him; for surely it would not be a wise thing for me to expose
myself to the dangers of offending, and to bestow the happy employment on
this account upon another. But I am above such base practices: nor would
God have overlooked this matter, and seen himself thus despised; nor would
he have suffered you to be ignorant of what you were to do, in order to
please him; but he hath himself chosen one that is to perform that sacred
office to him, and thereby freed us from that care. So that it was not a
thing that I pretend to give, but only according to the determination of
God; I therefore propose it still to be contended for by such as please to
put in for it, only desiring that he who has been already preferred, and
has already obtained it, may be allowed now also to offer himself for a
candidate. He prefers your peace, and your living without sedition, to
this honorable employment, although in truth it was with your approbation
that he obtained it; for though God were the donor, yet do we not offend
when we think fit to accept it with your good-will; yet would it have been
an instance of impiety not to have taken that honorable employment when he
offered it; nay, it had been exceedingly unreasonable, when God had
thought fit any one should have it for all time to come, and had made it
secure and firm to him, to have refused it. However, he himself will judge
again who it shall be whom he would have to offer sacrifices to him, and
to have the direction of matters of religion; for it is absurd that Corah,
who is ambitious of this honor, should deprive God of the power of giving
it to whom he pleases. Put an end, therefore, to your sedition and
disturbance on this account; and tomorrow morning do every one of you that
desire the priesthood bring a censer from home, and come hither with
incense and fire: and do thou, O Corah, leave the judgment to God, and
await to see on which side he will give his determination upon this
occasion, but do not thou make thyself greater than God. Do thou also
come, that this contest about this honorable employment may receive
determination. And I suppose we may admit Aaron without offense, to offer
himself to this scrutiny, since he is of the same lineage with thyself,
and has done nothing in his priesthood that can be liable to exception.
Come ye therefore together, and offer your incense in public before all
the people; and when you offer it, he whose sacrifice God shall accept
shall be ordained to the priesthood, and shall be clear of the present
calumny on Aaron, as if I had granted him that favor because he was my
brother.”
CHAPTER 3. How Those That Stirred Up This Sedition Were Destroyed,
According To The Will Of God; And How Aaron, Moses’s Brother Both He And
His Posterity, Retained The Priesthood.
1. When Moses had said this, the multitude left off the turbulent behavior
they had indulged, and the suspicion they had of Moses, and commended what
he had said; for those proposals were good, and were so esteemed of the
people. At that time therefore they dissolved the assembly. But on the
next day they came to the congregation, in order to be present at the
sacrifice, and at the determination that was to be made between the
candidates for the priesthood. Now this congregation proved a turbulent
one, and the multitude were in great suspense in expectation of what was
to be done; for some of them would have been pleased if Moses had been
convicted of evil practices, but the wiser sort desired that they might be
delivered from the present disorder and disturbance; for they were afraid,
that if this sedition went on, the good order of their settlement would
rather be destroyed; but the whole body of the people do naturally delight
in clamors against their governors, and, by changing their opinions upon
the harangues of every speaker, disturb the public tranquillity. And now
Moses sent messengers for Abiram and Dathan, and ordered them to come to
the assembly, and wait there for the holy offices that were to be
performed. But they answered the messenger, that they would not obey his
summons; nay, would not overlook Moses’s behavior, who was growing too
great for them by evil practices. Now when Moses heard of this their
answer, he desired the heads of the people to follow him, and he went to
the faction of Dathan, not thinking it any frightful thing at all to go to
these insolent people; so they made no opposition, but went along with
him. But Dathan, and his associates, when they understood that Moses and
the principal of the people were coming to them, came out, with their
wives and children, and stood before their tents, and looked to see what
Moses would do. They had also their servants about them to defend
themselves, in case Moses should use force against them.
2. But he came near, and lifted up his hands to heaven, and cried out with
a loud voice, in order to be heard by the whole multitude, and said, “O
Lord of the creatures that are in the heaven, in the earth, and in the
sea; for thou art the most authentic witness to what I have done, that it
has all been done by thy appointment, and that it was thou that affordedst
us assistance when we attempted any thing, and showedst mercy on the
Hebrews in all their distresses; do thou come now, and hear all that I
say, for no action or thought escapes thy knowledge; so that thou wilt not
disdain to speak what is true, for my vindication, without any regard to
the ungrateful imputations of these men. As for what was done before I was
born, thou knowest best, as not learning them by report, but seeing them,
and being present with them when they were done; but for what has been
done of late, and which these men, although they know them well enough,
unjustly pretend to suspect, be thou my witness. When I lived a private
quiet life, I left those good things which, by my own diligence, and by
thy counsel, I enjoyed with Raguel my father-in-law; and I gave myself up
to this people, and underwent many miseries on their account. I also bore
great labors at first, in order to obtain liberty for them, and now in
order to their preservation; and have always showed myself ready to assist
them in every distress of theirs. Now, therefore, since I am suspected by
those very men whose being is owing to my labors, come thou, as it is
reasonable to hope thou wilt; thou, I say, who showedst me that fire at
mount Sinai, and madest me to hear its voice, and to see the several
wonders which that place afforded thou who commandedst me to go to Egypt,
and declare thy will to this people; thou who disturbest the happy estate
of the Egyptians, and gavest us the opportunity of flying away from out
under them, and madest the dominion of Pharaoh inferior to my dominion;
thou who didst make the sea dry land for us, when we knew not whither to
go, and didst overwhelm the Egyptians with those destructive waves which
had been divided for us; thou who didst bestow upon us the security of
weapons when we were naked; thou who didst make the fountains that were
corrupted to flow, so as to be fit for drinking, and didst furnish us with
water that came out of the rocks, when we were in want of it; thou who
didst preserve our lives with [quails, which was] food from the sea, when
the fruits of the ground failed us; thou didst send us such food from
heaven as had never been seen before; thou who didst suggest to us the
knowledge of thy laws, and appoint to us a form of government,—come thou,
I say, O Lord of the whole world, and that as such a Judge and a Witness
to me as cannot be bribed, and show how I never admitted of any gift
against justice from any of the Hebrews; and have never condemned a man
that ought to have been acquitted, on account of one that was rich; and
have never attempted to hurt this commonwealth. I am now and am suspected
of a thing the remotest from my intentions, as if I had given the
preisthood to Aaron, not at thy command, but out own favor to him; do thou
at this time demonstrate that all things are administered by thy
providence and that nothing happens by chance, but is governed by thy
will, and thereby attains its end: as also demonstrate that thou takest
care that have done good to the Hebrews; demonstrate this, I say, by the
punishment of Abiram and Dathan, who condemn thee as an insensible Being,
and one overcome by my contrivances. This thou do by inflicting such an
open punishment on these men who so madly fly in the face of thy glory, as
will take them out of the world, not in an manner, but so that it may
appear they do die after the manner of other men: let that ground which
they tread upon open about them and consume them, with their families and
goods. This will be a demonstration of thy power to all and this method of
their sufferings will be an instruction of wisdom for those that entertain
profane sentiments of thee. By this means I shall be a good servant, in
the precepts thou hast given by me. But if the calumnies they have raised
against me be true, mayst thou preserve these men from every evil
accident, and bring all that destruction on me which I have imprecated
upon them. And when thou hast inflicted punishment on those that have
endeavored to deal unjustly with this people, bestow upon them concord and
peace. Save this multitude that follow thy commandments, and preserve them
free from harm, and let them not partake of the punishment of those that
have sinned; for thou knowest thyself it is not just, that for the
wickedness of those men the whole body of the Israelites should suffer
punishment.”
3. When Moses had said this, with tears in his eyes, the ground was moved
on a sudden; and the agitation that set it in motion was like that which
the wind produces in waves of the sea. The people were all affrighted; and
the ground that was about their tents sunk down at the great noise, with a
terrible sound, and carried whatsoever was dear to the seditious into
itself, who so entirely perished, that there was not the least appearance
that any man had ever been seen there, the earth that had opened itself
about them, closing again, and becoming entire as it was before, insomuch
that such as saw it afterward did not perceive that any such accident had
happened to it. Thus did these men perish, and become a demonstration of
the power of God. And truly, any one would lament them, not only on
account of this calamity that befell them, which yet deserves our
commiseration, but also because their kindred were pleased with their
sufferings; for they forgot the relation they bare to them, and at the
sight of this sad accident approved of the judgment given against them;
and because they looked upon the people about Dathan as pestilent men,
they thought they perished as such, and did not grieve for them.
4. And now Moses called for those that contended about the priesthood,
that trial might be made who should be priest, and that he whose sacrifice
God was best pleased with might be ordained to that function. There
attended two hundred and fifty men, who indeed were honored by the people,
not only on account of the power of their ancestors, but also on account
of their own, in which they excelled the others: Aaron also and Corah came
forth, and they all offered incense, in those censers of theirs which they
brought with them, before the tabernacle. Hereupon so great a fire shone
out as no one ever saw in any that is made by the hand of man, neither in
those eruptions out of the earth that are caused by subterraneous
burn-rags, nor in such fires as arise of their own accord in the woods,
when the agitation is caused by the trees rubbing one against another: but
this fire was very bright, and had a terrible flame, such as is kindled at
the command of God; by whose irruption on them, all the company, and Corah
himself, were destroyed, 2 and this so entirely, that their
very bodies left no remains behind them. Aaron alone was preserved, and
not at all hurt by the fire, because it was God that sent the fire to burn
those only who ought to be burned. Hereupon Moses, after these men were
destroyed, was desirous that the memory of this judgment might be
delivered down to posterity, and that future ages might be acquainted with
it; and so he commanded Eleazar, the son of Aaron, to put their censers
near the brazen altar, that they might be a memorial to posterity of what
these men suffered, for supposing that the power of God might be eluded.
And thus Aaron was now no longer esteemed to have the priesthood by the
favor of Moses, but by the public judgment of God; and thus he and his
children peaceably enjoyed that honor afterward.
CHAPTER 4. What Happened To The Hebrews During Thirty-Eight Years In The
Wilderness.
1. However, this sedition was so far from ceasing upon this destruction,
that it grew much stronger, and became more intolerable. And the occasion
of its growing worse was of that nature, as made it likely the calamity
would never cease, but last for a long time; for the men, believing
already that nothing is done without the providence of God, would have it
that these things came thus to pass not without God’s favor to Moses; they
therefore laid the blame upon him that God was so angry, and that this
happened not so much because of the wickedness of those that were
punished, as because Moses procured the punishment; and that these men had
been destroyed without any sin of theirs, only because they were zealous
about the Divine worship; as also, that he who had been the cause of this
diminution of the people, by destroying so many men, and those the most
excellent of them all, besides his escaping any punishment himself, had
now given the priesthood to his brother so firmly, that nobody could any
longer dispute it with him; for no one else, to be sure, could now put in
for it, since he must have seen those that first did so to have miserably
perished. Nay, besides this, the kindred of those that were destroyed made
great entreaties to the multitude to abate the arrogance of Moses, because
it would be safest for them so to do.
2. Now Moses, upon his hearing for a good while that the people were
tumultuous, was afraid that they would attempt some other innovation, and
that some great and sad calamity would be the consequence. He called the
multitude to a congregation, and patiently heard what apology they had to
make for themselves, without opposing them, and this lest he should
imbitter the multitude: he only desired the heads of the tribes to bring
their rods, 3 with the names of their tribes
inscribed upon them, and that he should receive the priesthood in whose
rod God should give a sign. This was agreed to. So the rest brought their
rods, as did Aaron also, who had written the tribe of Levi on his rod.
These rods Moses laid up in the tabernacle of God. On the next day he
brought out the rods, which were known from one another by those who
brought them, they having distinctly noted them, as had the multitude
also; and as to the rest, in the same form Moses had received them, in
that they saw them still; but they also saw buds and branches grown out of
Aaron’s rod, with ripe fruits upon them; they were almonds, the rod having
been cut out of that tree. The people were so amazed at this strange
sight, that though Moses and Aaron were before under some degree of
hatred, they now laid that hatred aside, and began to admire the judgment
of God concerning them; so that hereafter they applauded what God had
decreed, and permitted Aaron to enjoy the priesthood peaceably. And thus
God ordained him priest three several times, and he retained that honor
without further disturbance. And hereby this sedition of the Hebrews,
which had been a great one, and had lasted a great while, was at last
composed.
3. And now Moses, because the tribe of Levi was made free from war and
warlike expeditions, and was set apart for the Divine worship, lest they
should want and seek after the necessaries of life, and so neglect the
temple, commanded the Hebrews, according to the will of God, that when
they should gain the possession of the land of Canaan, they should assign
forty-eight good and fair cities to the Levites; and permit them to enjoy
their suburbs, as far as the limit of two thousand cubits would extend
from the walls of the city. And besides this, he appointed that the people
should pay the tithe of their annual fruits of the earth, both to the
Levites and to the priests. And this is what that tribe receives of the
multitude; but I think it necessary to set down what is paid by all,
peculiarly to the priests.
4. Accordingly he commanded the Levites to yield up to the priests
thirteen of their forty-eight cities, and to set apart for them the tenth
part of the tithes which they every year receive of the people; as also,
that it was but just to offer to God the first-fruits of the entire
product of the ground; and that they should offer the first-born of those
four-footed beasts that are appointed for sacrifices, if it be a male, to
the priests, to be slain, that they and their entire families may eat them
in the holy city; but that the owners of those first-born which are not
appointed for sacrifices in the laws of our country, should bring a shekel
and a half in their stead: but for the first-born of a man, five shekels:
that they should also have the first-fruits out of the shearing of the
sheep; and that when any baked bread corn, and made loaves of it, they
should give somewhat of what they had baked to them. Moreover, when any
have made a sacred vow, I mean those that are called Nazarites, that
suffer their hair to grow long, and use no wine, when they consecrate
their hair, 4 and offer it for a sacrifice,
they are to allot that hair for the priests [to be thrown into the fire].
Such also as dedicate themselves to God, as a corban, which denotes what
the Greeks call a gift, when they are desirous of being freed from that
ministration, are to lay down money for the priests; thirty shekels if it
be a woman, and fifty if it be a man; but if any be too poor to pay the
appointed sum, it shall be lawful for the priests to determine that sum as
they think fit. And if any slay beasts at home for a private festival, but
not for a religious one, they are obliged to bring the maw and the cheek,
[or breast,] and the right shoulder of the sacrifice, to the priests. With
these Moses contrived that the priests should be plentifully maintained,
besides what they had out of those offerings for sins which the people
gave them, as I have set it down in the foregoing book. He also ordered,
that out of every thing allotted for the priests, their servants, [their
sons,] their daughters, and their wives, should partake, as well as
themselves, excepting what came to them out of the sacrifices that were
offered for sins; for of those none but the males of the family of the
priests might eat, and this in the temple also, and that the same day they
were offered.
5. When Moses had made these constitutions, after the sedition was over,
he removed, together with the whole army, and came to the borders of
Idumea. He then sent ambassadors to the king of the Idumeans, and desired
him to give him a passage through his country; and agreed to send him what
hostages he should desire, to secure him from an injury. He desired him
also, that he would allow his army liberty to buy provisions; and, if he
insisted upon it, he would pay down a price for the very water they should
drink. But the king was not pleased with this embassage from Moses: nor
did he allow a passage for the army, but brought his people armed to meet
Moses, and to hinder them, in case they should endeavor to force their
passage. Upon which Moses consulted God by the oracle, who would not have
him begin the war first; and so he withdrew his forces, and traveled round
about through the wilderness.
6. Then it was that Miriam, the sister of Moses, came to her end, having
completed her fortieth year 5 since she left Egypt, on the
first 6
day of the lunar month Xanthicus. They then made a public funeral for her,
at a great expense. She was buried upon a certain mountain, which they
call Sin: and when they had mourned for her thirty days, Moses purified
the people after this manner: He brought a heifer that had never been used
to the plough or to husbandry, that was complete in all its parts, and
entirely of a red color, at a little distance from the camp, into a place
perfectly clean. This heifer was slain by the high priest, and her blood
sprinkled with his finger seven times before the tabernacle of God; after
this, the entire heifer was burnt in that state, together with its skin
and entrails; and they threw cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet wool,
into the midst of the fire; then a clean man gathered all her ashes
together, and laid them in a place perfectly clean. When therefore any
persons were defiled by a dead body, they put a little of these ashes into
spring water, with hyssop, and, dipping part of these ashes in it, they
sprinkled them with it, both on the third day, and on the seventh, and
after that they were clean. This he enjoined them to do also when the
tribes should come into their own land.
7. Now when this purification, which their leader made upon the mourning
for his sister, as it has been now described, was over, he caused the army
to remove and to march through the wilderness and through Arabia; and when
he came to a place which the Arabians esteem their metropolis, which was
formerly called Arce, but has now the name of Petra, at this place, which
was encompassed with high mountains, Aaron went up one of them in the
sight of the whole army, Moses having before told him that he was to die,
for this place was over against them. He put off his pontifical garments,
and delivered them to Eleazar his son, to whom the high priesthood
belonged, because he was the elder brother; and died while the multitude
looked upon him. He died in the same year wherein he lost his sister,
having lived in all a hundred twenty and three years. He died on the first
day of that lunar month which is called by the Athenians Hecatombaeon, by
the Macedonians Lous, but by the Hebrews Abba.
CHAPTER 5. How Moses Conquered Sihon And Og Kings Of The Amorites, And
Destroyed Their Whole Army And Then Divided Their Land By Lot To Two
Tribes And A Half Of The Hebrews.
1. The people mourned for Aaron thirty days, and when this mourning was
over, Moses removed the army from that place, and came to the river Arnon,
which, issuing out of the mountains of Arabia, and running through all
that wilderness, falls into the lake Asphaltitis, and becomes the limit
between the land of the Moabites and the land of the Amorites. This land
is fruitful, and sufficient to maintain a great number of men, with the
good things it produces. Moses therefore sent messengers to Sihon, the
king of this country, desiring that he would grant his army a passage,
upon what security he should please to require; he promised that he should
be no way injured, neither as to that country which Sihon governed, nor as
to its inhabitants; and that he would buy his provisions at such a price
as should be to their advantage, even though he should desire to sell them
their very water. But Sihon refused his offer, and put his army into
battle array, and was preparing every thing in order to hinder their
passing over Arnon.
2. When Moses saw that the Amorite king was disposed to enter upon
hostilities with them, he thought he ought not to bear that insult; and,
determining to wean the Hebrews from their indolent temper, and prevent
the disorders which arose thence, which had been the occasion of their
former sedition, [nor indeed were they now thoroughly easy in their
minds,] he inquired of God, whether he would give him leave to fight?
which when he had done, and God also promised him the victory, he was
himself very courageous, and ready to proceed to fighting. Accordingly he
encouraged the soldiers; and he desired of them that they would take the
pleasure of fighting, now God gave them leave so to do. They then, upon
the receipt of this permission, which they so much longed for, put on
their whole armor, and set about the work without delay. But the Amorite
king was not now like to himself when the Hebrews were ready to attack
him; but both he himself was affrighted at the Hebrews, and his army,
which before had showed themselves to be of good courage, were then found
to be timorous: so they could not sustain the first onset, nor bear up
against the Hebrews, but fled away, as thinking this would afford them a
more likely way for their escape than fighting, for they depended upon
their cities, which were strong, from which yet they reaped no advantage
when they were forced to fly to them; for as soon as the Hebrews saw them
giving ground, they immediately pursued them close; and when they had
broken their ranks, they greatly terrified them, and some of them broke
off from the rest, and ran away to the cities. Now the Hebrews pursued
them briskly, and obstinately persevered in the labors they had already
undergone; and being very skillful in slinging, and very dexterous in
throwing of darts, or any thing else of that kind, and also having nothing
but light armor, which made them quick in the pursuit, they overtook their
enemies; and for those that were most remote, and could not be overtaken,
they reached them by their slings and their bows, so that many were slain;
and those that escaped the slaughter were sorely wounded, and these were
more distressed with thirst than with any of those that fought against
them, for it was the summer season; and when the greatest number of them
were brought down to the river out of a desire to drink, as also when
others fled away by troops, the Hebrews came round them, and shot at them;
so that, what with darts and what with arrows, they made a slaughter of
them all. Sihon their king was also slain. So the Hebrews spoiled the dead
bodies, and took their prey. The land also which they took was full of
abundance of fruits, and the army went all over it without fear, and fed
their cattle upon it; and they took the enemies prisoners, for they could
no way put a stop to them, since all the fighting men were destroyed. Such
was the destruction which overtook the Amorites, who were neither
sagacious in counsel, nor courageous in action. Hereupon the Hebrews took
possession of their land, which is a country situate between three rivers,
and naturally resembled an island: the river Arnon being its southern; the
river Jabbok determining its northern side, which running into Jordan
loses its own name, and takes the other; while Jordan itself runs along by
it, on its western coast.
3. When matters were come to this state, Og, the king of Gilead and
Gaulanitis, fell upon the Israelites. He brought an army with him, and in
haste to the assistance of his friend Sihon: but though he found him
already slain, yet did he resolve still to come and fight the Hebrews,
supposing he should be too hard for them, and being desirous to try their
valor; but failing of his hope, he was both himself slain in the battle,
and all his army was destroyed. So Moses passed over the river Jabbok, and
overran the kingdom of Og. He overthrew their cities, and slew all their
inhabitants, who yet exceeded in riches all the men in that part of the
continent, on account of the goodness of the soil, and the great quantity
of their wealth. Now Og had very few equals, either in the largeness of
his body, or handsomeness of his appearance. He was also a man of great
activity in the use of his hands, so that his actions were not unequal to
the vast largeness and handsome appearance of his body. And men could
easily guess at his strength and magnitude when they took his bed at
Rabbath, the royal city of the Ammonites; its structure was of iron, its
breadth four cubits, and its length a cubit more than double thereto.
However, his fall did not only improve the circumstances of the Hebrews
for the present, but by his death he was the occasion of further good
success to them; for they presently took those sixty cities, which were
encompassed with excellent walls, and had been subject to him, and all got
both in general and in particular a great prey.
CHAPTER 6. Concerning Balaam The Prophet And What Kind Of Man He Was.
1. Now Moses, when he had brought his army to Jordan; pitched his camp in
the great plain over against Jericho. This city is a very happy situation,
and very fit for producing palm-trees and balsam. And now the Israelites
began to be very proud of themselves, and were very eager for fighting.
Moses then, after he had offered for a few days sacrifices of thanksgiving
to God, and feasted the people, sent a party of armed men to lay waste the
country of the Midianites, and to take their cities. Now the occasion
which he took for making war upon them was this that follows:—
2. When Balak, the king of the Moabites, who had from his ancestors a
friendship and league with the Midianites, saw how great the Israelites
were grown, he was much affrighted on account of his own and his kingdom’s
danger; for he was not acquainted with this, that the Hebrews would not
meddle with any other country, but were to be contented with the
possession of the land of Canaan, God having forbidden them to go any
farther 7
So he, with more haste than wisdom, resolved to make an attempt upon them
by words; but he did not judge it prudent to fight against them, after
they had such prosperous successes, and even became out of ill successes
more happy than before, but he thought to hinder them, if he could, from
growing greater, and so he resolved to send ambassadors to the Midianites
about them. Now these Midianites knowing there was one Balaam, who lived
by Euphrates, and was the greatest of the prophets at that time, and one
that was in friendship with them, sent some of their honorable princes
along with the ambassadors of Balak, to entreat the prophet to come to
them, that he might imprecate curses to the destruction of the Israelites.
So Balaam received the ambassadors, and treated them very kindly; and when
he had supped, he inquired what was God’s will, and what this matter was
for which the Midianites entreated him to come to them. But when God
opposed his going, he came to the ambassadors, and told them that he was
himself very willing and desirous to comply with their request, but
informed them that God was opposite to his intentions, even that God who
had raised him to great reputation on account of the truth of his
predictions; for that this army, which they entreated him to come and
curse, was in the favor of God; on which account he advised them to go
home again, and not to persist in their enmity against the Israelites; and
when he had given them that answer, he dismissed the ambassadors.
3. Now the Midianites, at the earnest request and fervent entreaties of
Balak, sent other ambassadors to Balaam, who, desiring to gratify the men,
inquired again of God; but he was displeased at [second] trial 8
and bid him by no means to contradict the ambassadors. Now Balaam did not
imagine that God gave this injunction in order to deceive him, so he went
along with the ambassadors; but when the divine angel met him in the way,
when he was in a narrow passage, and hedged in with a wall on both sides,
the ass on which Balaam rode understood that it was a divine spirit that
met him, and thrust Balaam to one of the walls, without regard to the
stripes which Balaam, when he was hurt by the wall, gave her; but when the
ass, upon the angel’s continuing to distress her, and upon the stripes
which were given her, fell down, by the will of God, she made use of the
voice of a man, and complained of Balaam as acting unjustly to her; that
whereas he had no fault to find with her in her former service to him, he now
inflicted stripes upon her, as not understanding that she was hindered
from serving him in what he was now going about, by the providence of God.
And when he was disturbed by reason of the voice of the ass, which was
that of a man, the angel plainly appeared to him, and blamed him for the
stripes he had given his ass; and informed him that the brute creature was
not in fault, but that he was himself come to obstruct his journey, as
being contrary to the will of God. Upon which Balaam was afraid, and was
preparing to return back again: yet did God excite him to go on his
intended journey, but added this injunction, that he should declare
nothing but what he himself should suggest to his mind.
4. When God had given him this charge, he came to Balak; and when the king
had entertained him in a magnificent manner, he desired him to go to one
of the mountains to take a view of the state of the camp of the Hebrews.
Balak himself also came to the mountain, and brought the prophet along
with him, with a royal attendance. This mountain lay over their heads, and
was distant sixty furlongs from the camp. Now when he saw them, he desired
the king to build him seven altars, and to bring him as many bulls and
rams; to which desire the king did presently conform. He then slew the
sacrifices, and offered them as burnt-offerings, that he might observe
some signal of the flight of the Hebrews. Then said he, “Happy is this
people, on whom God bestows the possession of innumerable good things, and
grants them his own providence to be their assistant and their guide; so
that there is not any nation among mankind but you will be esteemed
superior to them in virtue, and in the earnest prosecution of the best
rules of life, and of such as are pure from wickedness, and will leave
those rules to your excellent children; and this out of the regard that
God bears to you, and the provision of such things for you as may render
you happier than any other people under the sun. You shall retain that
land to which he hath sent you, and it shall ever be under the command of
your children; and both all the earth, as well as the seas, shall be
filled with your glory: and you shall be sufficiently numerous to supply
the world in general, and every region of it in particular, with
inhabitants out of your stock. However, O blessed army! wonder that you
are become so many from one father: and truly, the land of Canaan can now
hold you, as being yet comparatively few; but know ye that the whole world
is proposed to be your place of habitation for ever. The multitude of your
posterity also shall live as well in the islands as on the continent, and
that more in number than are the stars of heaven. And when you are become
so many, God will not relinquish the care of you, but will afford you an
abundance of all good things in times of peace, with victory and dominion
in times of war. May the children of your enemies have an inclination to
fight against you; and may they be so hardy as to come to arms, and to
assault you in battle, for they will not return with victory, nor will
their return be agreeable to their children and wives. To so great a
degree of valor will you be raised by the providence of God, who is able
to diminish the affluence of some, and to supply the wants of others.”
5. Thus did Balaam speak by inspiration, as not being in his own power,
but moved to say what he did by the Divine Spirit. But then Balak was
displeased, and said he had broken the contract he had made, whereby he
was to come, as he and his confederates had invited him, by the promise of
great presents: for whereas he came to curse their enemies, he had made an
encomium upon them, and had declared that they were the happiest of men.
To which Balaam replied, “O Balak, if thou rightly considerest this whole
matter, canst thou suppose that it is in our power to be silent, or to say
any thing, when the Spirit of God seizes upon us?—for he puts such
words as he pleases in our mouths, and such discourses as we are not
ourselves conscious of. I well remember by what entreaties both you and
the Midianites so joyfully brought me hither, and on that account I took
this journey. It was my prayer, that I might not put any affront upon you,
as to what you desired of me; but God is more powerful than the purposes I
had made to serve you; for those that take upon them to foretell the
affairs of mankind, as from their own abilities, are entirely unable to do
it, or to forbear to utter what God suggests to them, or to offer violence
to his will; for when he prevents us and enters into us, nothing that we
say is our own. I then did not intend to praise this army, nor to go over
the several good things which God intended to do to their race; but since
he was so favorable to them, and so ready to bestow upon them a happy life
and eternal glory, he suggested the declaration of those things to me: but
now, because it is my desire to oblige thee thyself, as well as the
Midianites, whose entreaties it is not decent for me to reject, go to, let
us again rear other altars, and offer the like sacrifices that we did
before, that I may see whether I can persuade God to permit me to bind
these men with curses.” Which, when Balak had agreed to, God would not,
even upon second sacrifices, consent to his cursing the Israelites. 9
Then fell Balaam upon his face, and foretold what calamities would befall
the several kings of the nations, and the most eminent cities, some of
which of old were not so much as inhabited; which events have come to pass
among the several people concerned, both in the foregoing ages, and in
this, till my own memory, both by sea and by land. From which completion
of all these predictions that he made, one may easily guess that the rest
will have their completion in time to come.
6. But Balak being very angry that the Israelites were not cursed, sent
away Balaam without thinking him worthy of any honor. Whereupon, when he
was just upon his journey, in order to pass the Euphrates, he sent for
Balak, and for the princes of the Midianites, and spake thus to them:—”O
Balak, and you Midianites that are here present, [for I am obliged even
without the will of God to gratify you,] it is true no entire destruction
can seize upon the nation of the Hebrews, neither by war, nor by plague,
nor by scarcity of the fruits of the earth, nor can any other unexpected
accident be their entire ruin; for the providence of God is concerned to
preserve them from such a misfortune; nor will it permit any such calamity
to come upon them whereby they may all perish; but some small misfortunes,
and those for a short time, whereby they may appear to be brought low, may
still befall them; but after that they will flourish again, to the terror
of those that brought those mischiefs upon them. So that if you have a
mind to gain a victory over them for a short space of time, you will
obtain it by following my directions:—Do you therefore set out the
handsomest of such of your daughters as are most eminent for beauty, 10
and proper to force and conquer the modesty of those that behold them, and
these decked and trimmed to the highest degree able. Then do you send them
to be near camp, and give them in charge, that the young men of the
Hebrews desire their allow it them; and when they see they are enamored of
them, let them take leaves; and if they entreat them to stay, let give
their consent till they have persuaded leave off their obedience to their
own laws, the worship of that God who established them to worship the gods
of the Midianites and for by this means God will be angry at them 11.”
Accordingly, when Balaam had suggested counsel to them, he went his way.
7. So when the Midianites had sent their daughters, as Balaam had exhorted
them, the Hebrew men were allured by their beauty, and came with them, and
besought them not to grudge them the enjoyment of their beauty, nor to
deny them their conversation. These daughters of Midianites received their
words gladly, and consented to it, and staid with them; but when they
brought them to be enamored of them, and their inclinations to them were
grown to ripeness, they began to think of departing from them: then it was
that these men became greatly disconsolate at the women’s departure, and
they were urgent with them not to leave them, but begged they would
continue there, and become their wives; and they promised them they should
be owned as mistresses all they had. This they said with an oath, and
called God for the arbitrator of what they promised; and this with tears
in their eyes, and all such marks of concern, as might shew how miserable
they thought themselves without them, and so might move their compassion
for them. So the women, as soon as they perceived they had made their
slaves, and had caught them with their conservation began to speak thus to
them:—
8. “O you illustrious young men! we have of our own at home, and great
plenty of good things there, together with the natural, affectionate
parents and friends; nor is it out of our want of any such things that we
came to discourse with you; nor did we admit of your invitation with
design to prostitute the beauty of our bodies for gain; but taking you for
brave and worthy men, we agreed to your request, that we might treat you
with such honors as hospitality required: and now seeing you say that you
have a great affection for us, and are troubled when you think we are
departing, we are not averse to your entreaties; and if we may receive
such assurance of your good-will as we think can be alone sufficient, we
will be glad to lead our lives with you as your wives; but we are afraid
that you will in time be weary of our company, and will then abuse us, and
send us back to our parents, after an ignominious manner.” And they
desired that they would excuse them in their guarding against that danger.
But the young men professed they would give them any assurance they should
desire; nor did they at all contradict what they requested, so great was
the passion they had for them. “If then,” said they, “this be your
resolution, since you make use of such customs and conduct of life as are
entirely different from all other men, 12 insomuch
that your kinds of food are peculiar to yourselves, and your kinds of
drink not common to others, it will be absolutely necessary, if you would
have us for your wives, that you do withal worship our gods. Nor can there
be any other demonstration of the kindness which you say you already have,
and promise to have hereafter to us, than this, that you worship the same
gods that we do. For has any one reason to complain, that now you are come
into this country, you should worship the proper gods of the same country?
especially while our gods are common to all men, and yours such as belong
to nobody else but yourselves.” So they said they must either come into
such methods of divine worship as all others came into, or else they must
look out for another world, wherein they may live by themselves, according
to their own laws.
9. Now the young men were induced by the fondness they had for these women
to think they spake very well; so they gave themselves up to what they
persuaded them, and transgressed their own laws, and supposing there were
many gods, and resolving that they would sacrifice to them according to
the laws of that country which ordained them, they both were delighted
with their strange food, and went on to do every thing that the women
would have them do, though in contradiction to their own laws; so far
indeed that this transgression was already gone through the whole army of
the young men, and they fell into a sedition that was much worse than the
former, and into danger of the entire abolition of their own institutions;
for when once the youth had tasted of these strange customs, they went
with insatiable inclinations into them; and even where some of the
principal men were illustrious on account of the virtues of their fathers,
they also were corrupted together with the rest.
10. Even Zimri, the head of the tribe of Simeon accompanied with Cozbi, a
Midianitish women, who was the daughter of Sur, a man of authority in that
country; and being desired by his wife to disregard the laws of Moses, and
to follow those she was used to, he complied with her, and this both by
sacrificing after a manner different from his own, and by taking a
stranger to wife. When things were thus, Moses was afraid that matters
should grow worse, and called the people to a congregation, but then
accused nobody by name, as unwilling to drive those into despair who, by
lying concealed, might come to repentance; but he said that they did not
do what was either worthy of themselves, or of their fathers, by
preferring pleasure to God, and to the living according to his will; that
it was fit they should change their courses while their affairs were still
in a good state, and think that to be true fortitude which offers not
violence to their laws, but that which resists their lusts. And besides
that, he said it was not a reasonable thing, when they had lived soberly
in the wilderness, to act madly now when they were in prosperity; and that
they ought not to lose, now they have abundance, what they had gained when
they had little:— and so did he endeavor, by saying this, to correct
the young inert, and to bring them to repentance for what they had done.
11. But Zimri arose up after him, and said, “Yes, indeed, Moses, thou art
at liberty to make use of such laws as thou art so fond of, and hast, by
accustoming thyself to them, made them firm; otherwise, if things had not
been thus, thou hadst often been punished before now, and hadst known that
the Hebrews are not easily put upon; but thou shalt not have me one of thy
followers in thy tyrannical commands, for thou dost nothing else hitherto,
but, under pretense of laws, and of God, wickedly impose on us slavery,
and gain dominion to thyself, while thou deprivest us of the sweetness of
life, which consists in acting according to our own wills, and is the
right of free-men, and of those that have no lord over them. Nay, indeed,
this man is harder upon the Hebrews then were the Egyptians themselves, as
pretending to punish, according to his laws, every one’s acting what is
most agreeable to himself; but thou thyself better deservest to suffer
punishment, who presumest to abolish what every one acknowledges to be
what is good for him, and aimest to make thy single opinion to have more
force than that of all the rest; and what I now do, and think to be right,
I shall not hereafter deny to be according to my own sentiments. I have
married, as thou sayest rightly, a strange woman, and thou hearest what I
do from myself as from one that is free, for truly I did not intend to
conceal myself. I also own that I sacrificed to those gods to whom you do
not think it fit to sacrifice; and I think it right to come at truth by
inquiring of many people, and not like one that lives under tyranny, to
suffer the whole hope of my life to depend upon one man; nor shall any one
find cause to rejoice who declares himself to have more authority over my
actions than myself.”
12. Now when Zimri had said these things, about what he and some others
had wickedly done, the people held their peace, both out of fear of what
might come upon them, and because they saw that their legislator was not
willing to bring his insolence before the public any further, or openly to
contend with him; for he avoided that, lest many should imitate the
impudence of his language, and thereby disturb the multitude. Upon this
the assembly was dissolved. However, the mischievous attempt had proceeded
further, if Zimri had not been first slain, which came to pass on the
following occasion:—Phineas, a man in other respects better than the
rest of the young men, and also one that surpassed his contemporaries in
the dignity of his father, [for he was the son of Eleazar the high priest,
and the grandson of [Aaron] Moses’s brother,] who was greatly troubled at
what was done by Zimri, he resolved in earnest to inflict punishment on
him, before his unworthy behavior should grow stronger by impunity, and in
order to prevent this transgression from proceeding further, which would
happen if the ringleaders were not punished. He was of so great
magnanimity, both in strength of mind and body, that when he undertook any
very dangerous attempt, he did not leave it off till he overcame it, and
got an entire victory. So he came into Zimri’s tent, and slew him with his
javelin, and with it he slew Cozbi also, Upon which all those young men
that had a regard to virtue, and aimed to do a glorious action, imitated
Phineas’s boldness, and slew those that were found to be guilty of the
same crime with Zimri. Accordingly many of those that had transgressed
perished by the magnanimous valor of these young men; and the rest all
perished by a plague, which distemper God himself inflicted upon them; so
that all those their kindred, who, instead of hindering them from such
wicked actions, as they ought to have done, had persuaded them to go on,
were esteemed by God as partners in their wickedness, and died.
Accordingly there perished out of the army no fewer than fourteen 13
[twenty-four] thousand at this time.
13. This was the cause why Moses was provoked to send an army to destroy
the Midianites, concerning which expedition we shall speak presently, when
we have first related what we have omitted; for it is but just not to pass
over our legislator’s due encomium, on account of his conduct here,
because, although this Balaam, who was sent for by the Midianites to curse
the Hebrews, and when he was hindered from doing it by Divine Providence,
did still suggest that advice to them, by making use of which our enemies
had well nigh corrupted the whole multitude of the Hebrews with their
wiles, till some of them were deeply infected with their opinions; yet did
he do him great honor, by setting down his prophecies in writing. And
while it was in his power to claim this glory to himself, and make men
believe they were his own predictions, there being no one that could be a
witness against him, and accuse him for so doing, he still gave his
attestation to him, and did him the honor to make mention of him on this
account. But let every one think of these matters as he pleases.
CHAPTER 7. How The Hebrews Fought With The Midianites, And Overcame Them.
1. Now Moses sent an army against the land of Midian, for the causes
forementioned, in all twelve thousand, taking an equal number out of every
tribe, and appointed Phineas for their commander; of which Phineas we made
mention a little before, as he that had guarded the laws of the Hebrews,
and had inflicted punishment on Zimri when he had transgressed them. Now
the Midianites perceived beforehand how the Hebrews were coming, and would
suddenly be upon them: so they assembled their army together, and
fortified the entrances into their country, and there awaited the enemy’s
coming. When they were come, and they had joined battle with them, an
immense multitude of the Midianites fell; nor could they be numbered, they
were so very many: and among them fell all their kings, five in number,
viz. Evi, Zur, Reba, Hur, and Rekem, who was of the same name with a city,
the chief and capital of all Arabia, which is still now so called by the
whole Arabian nation, Arecem, from the name of the king that built it; but
is by the Greeks called—Petra. Now when the enemies were
discomfited, the Hebrews spoiled their country, and took a great prey, and
destroyed the men that were its inhabitants, together with the women; only
they let the virgins alone, as Moses had commanded Phineas to do, who
indeed came back, bringing with him an army that had received no harm, and
a great deal of prey; fifty-two thousand beeves, seventy-five thousand six
hundred sheep, sixty thousand asses, with an immense quantity of gold and
silver furniture, which the Midianites made use of in their houses; for
they were so wealthy, that they were very luxurious. There were also led
captive about thirty-two thousand virgins. 14 So Moses
parted the prey into parts, and gave one fiftieth part to Eleazar and the
two priests, and another fiftieth part to the Levites; and distributed the
rest of the prey among the people. After which they lived happily, as
having obtained an abundance of good things by their valor, and there
being no misfortune that attended them, or hindered their enjoyment of
that happiness.
2. But Moses was now grown old, and appointed Joshua for his successor,
both to receive directions from God as a prophet, and for a commander of
the army, if they should at any time stand in need of such a one; and this
was done by the command of God, that to him the care of the public should
be committed. Now Joshua had been instructed in all those kinds of
learning which concerned the laws and God himself, and Moses had been his
instructor.
3. At this time it was that the two tribes of Gad and Reuben, and the half
tribe of Manasseh, abounded in a multitude of cattle, as well as in all
other kinds of prosperity; whence they had a meeting, and in a body came
and besought Moses to give them, as their peculiar portion, that land of
the Amorites which they had taken by right of war, because it was
fruitful, and good for feeding of cattle; but Moses, supposing that they
were afraid of fighting with the Canaanites, and invented this provision
for their cattle as a handsome excuse for avoiding that war, he called
them arrant cowards, and said they had only contrived a decent excuse for
that cowardice; and that they had a mind to live in luxury and ease, while
all the rest were laboring with great pains to obtain the land they were
desirous to have; and that they were not willing to march along, and
undergo the remaining hard service, whereby they were, under the Divine
promise, to pass over Jordan, and overcome those our enemies which God had
shown them, and so obtain their land. But these tribes, when they saw that
Moses was angry with them, and when they could not deny but he had a just
cause to be displeased at their petition, made an apology for themselves;
and said, that it was not on account of their fear of dangers, nor on
account of their laziness, that they made this request to him, but that
they might leave the prey they had gotten in places of safety, and thereby
might be more expedite, and ready to undergo difficulties, and to fight
battles. They added this also, that when they had built cities, wherein
they might preserve their children, and wives, and possessions, if he
would bestow them upon them, they would go along with the rest of the
army. Hereupon Moses was pleased with what they said; so he called for
Eleazar the high priest, and Joshua, and the chief of the tribes, and
permitted these tribes to possess the land of the Amorites; but upon this
condition, that they should join with their kinsmen in the war until all
things were settled. Upon which condition they took possession of the
country, and built them strong cities, and put into them their children
and their wives, and whatsoever else they had that might be an impediment
to the labors of their future marches.
4. Moses also now built those ten cities which were to be of the number of
the forty-eight [for the Levites;]; three of which he allotted to those
that slew any person involuntarily, and fled to them; and he assigned the
same time for their banishment with that of the life of that high priest
under whom the slaughter and flight happened; after which death of the
high priest he permitted the slayer to return home. During the time of his
exile, the relations of him that was slain may, by this law, kill the
manslayer, if they caught him without the bounds of the city to which he
fled, though this permission was not granted to any other person. Now the
cities which were set apart for this flight were these: Bezer, at the
borders of Arabia; Ramoth, of the land of Gilead; and Golan, in the land
of Bashan. There were to be also, by Moses’s command, three other cities
allotted for the habitation of these fugitives out of the cities of the
Levites, but not till after they should be in possession of the land of
Canaan.
5. At this time the chief men of the tribe of Manasseh came to Moses, and
informed him that there was an eminent man of their tribe dead, whose name
was Zelophehad, who left no male children, but left daughters; and asked
him whether these daughters might inherit his land or not. He made this
answer, That if they shall marry into their own tribe, they shall carry
their estate along with them; but if they dispose of themselves in
marriage to men of another tribe, they shall leave their inheritance in
their father’s tribe. And then it was that Moses ordained, that every
one’s inheritance should continue in his own tribe.
CHAPTER 8. The Polity Settled By Moses; And How He Disappeared From Among
Mankind.
1. When forty years were completed, within thirty days, Moses gathered the
congregation together near Jordan, where the city Abila now stands, a
place full of palm-trees; and all the people being come together, he spake
thus to them:—
2. “O you Israelites and fellow soldiers, who have been partners with me
in this long and uneasy journey; since it is now the will of God, and the
course of old age, at a hundred and twenty, requires it that I should
depart out of this life; and since God has forbidden me to be a patron or
an assistant to you in what remains to be done beyond Jordan; I thought it
reasonable not to leave off my endeavors even now for your happiness, but
to do my utmost to procure for you the eternal enjoyment of good things,
and a memorial for myself, when you shall be in the fruition of great
plenty and prosperity. Come, therefore, let me suggest to you by what
means you may be happy, and may leave an eternal prosperous possession
thereof to your children after you, and then let me thus go out of the
world; and I cannot but deserve to be believed by you, both on account of
the great things I have already done for you, and because, when souls are
about to leave the body, they speak with the sincerest freedom. O children
of Israel! there is but one source of happiness for all mankind, the favor
of God 15
for he alone is able to give good things to those that deserve them, and
to deprive those of them that sin against him; towards whom, if you behave
yourselves according to his will, and according to what I, who well
understand his mind, do exhort you to, you will both be esteemed blessed,
and will be admired by all men; and will never come into misfortunes, nor
cease to be happy: you will then preserve the possession of the good
things you already have, and will quickly obtain those that you are at
present in want of,—only do you be obedient to those whom God would
have you to follow. Nor do you prefer any other constitution of government
before the laws now given you; neither do you disregard that way of Divine
worship which you now have, nor change it for any other form: and if you
do this, you will be the most courageous of all men, in undergoing the
fatigues of war, and will not be easily conquered by any of your enemies;
for while God is present with you to assist you, it is to be expected that
you will be able to despise the opposition of all mankind; and great
rewards of virtue are proposed for you, if you preserve that virtue
through your whole lives. Virtue itself is indeed the principal and the
first reward, and after that it bestows abundance of others; so that your
exercise of virtue towards other men will make your own lives happy, and
render you more glorious than foreigners can be, and procure you an
undisputed reputation with posterity. These blessings you will be able to
obtain, in case you hearken to and observe those laws which, by Divine
revelation, I have ordained for you; that is, in case you withal meditate
upon the wisdom that is in them. I am going from you myself, rejoicing in
the good things you enjoy; and I recommend you to the wise conduct of your
law, to the becoming order of your polity, and to the virtues of your
commanders, who will take care of what is for your advantage. And that
God, who has been till now your Leader, and by whose goodwill I have
myself been useful to you, will not put a period now to his providence
over you, but as long as you desire to have him your Protector in your
pursuits after virtue, so long will you enjoy his care over you. Your high
priest also Eleazar, as well as Joshua, with the senate, and chief of your
tribes, will go before you, and suggest the best advices to you; by
following which advices you will continue to be happy: to whom do you give
ear without reluctance, as sensible that all such as know well how to be
governed, will also know how to govern, if they be promoted to that
authority themselves. And do not you esteem liberty to consist in opposing
such directions as your governors think fit to give you for your practice,—as
at present indeed you place your liberty in nothing else but abusing your
benefactors; which error if you can avoid for the time to come, your
affairs will be in a better condition than they have hitherto been. Nor do
you ever indulge such a degree of passion in these matters, as you have
oftentimes done when you have been very angry at me; for you know that I
have been oftener in danger of death from you than from our enemies. What
I now put you in mind of, is not done in order to reproach you; for I do
not think it proper, now I am going out of the world, to bring this to
your remembrance, in order to leave you offended at me, since, at the time
when I underwent those hardships from you, I was not angry at you; but I
do it in order to make you wiser hereafter, and to teach you that this
will be for your security; I mean, that you never be injurious to those
that preside over you, even when you are become rich, as you will be to a
great degree when you have passed over Jordan, and are in possession of
the land of Canaan. Since, when you shall have once proceeded so far by
your wealth, as to a contempt and disregard of virtue, you will also
forfeit the favor of God; and when you have made him your enemy, you will
be beaten in war, and will have the land which you possess taken away
again from you by your enemies, and this with great reproaches upon your
conduct. You will be scattered over the whole world, and will, as slaves,
entirely fill both sea and land; and when once you have had the experience
of what I now say, you will repent, and remember the laws you have broken,
when it is too late. Whence I would advise you, if you intend to preserve
these laws, to leave none of your enemies alive when you have conquered
them, but to look upon it as for your advantage to destroy them all, lest,
if you permit them to live, you taste of their manners, and thereby
corrupt your own proper institutions. I also do further exhort you, to
overthrow their altars, and their groves, and whatsoever temples they have
among them, and to burn all such, their nation, and their very memory with
fire; for by this means alone the safety of your own happy constitution
can be firmly secured to you. And in order to prevent your ignorance of
virtue, and the degeneracy of your nature into vice, I have also ordained
you laws, by Divine suggestion, and a form of government, which are so
good, that if you regularly observe them, you will be esteemed of all men
the most happy.”
3. When he had spoken thus, he gave them the laws and the constitution of
government written in a book. Upon which the people fell into tears, and
appeared already touched with the sense that they should have a great want
of their conductor, because they remembered what a number of dangers he
had passed through, and what care he had taken of their preservation: they
desponded about what would come upon them after he was dead, and thought
they should never have another governor like him; and feared that God
would then take less care of them when Moses was gone, who used to
intercede for them. They also repented of what they had said to him in the
wilderness when they were angry, and were in grief on those accounts,
insomuch that the whole body of the people fell into tears with such
bitterness, that it was past the power of words to comfort them in their
affliction. However, Moses gave them some consolation; and by calling them
off the thought how worthy he was of their weeping for him, he exhorted
them to keep to that form of government he had given them; and then the
congregation was dissolved at that time.
4. Accordingly, I shall now first describe this form of government which
was agreeable to the dignity and virtue of Moses; and shall thereby inform
those that read these Antiquities, what our original settlements were, and
shall then proceed to the remaining histories. Now those settlements are
all still in writing, as he left them; and we shall add nothing by way of
ornament, nor any thing besides what Moses left us; only we shall so far
innovate, as to digest the several kinds of laws into a regular system;
for they were by him left in writing as they were accidentally scattered
in their delivery, and as he upon inquiry had learned them of God. On
which account I have thought it necessary to premise this observation
beforehand, lest any of my own countrymen should blame me, as having been
guilty of an offense herein. Now part of our constitution will include the
laws that belong to our political state. As for those laws which Moses
left concerning our common conversation and intercourse one with another,
I have reserved that for a discourse concerning our manner of life, and
the occasions of those laws; which I propose to myself, with God’s
assistance, to write, after I have finished the work I am now upon.
5. When you have possessed yourselves of the land of Canaan, and have
leisure to enjoy the good things of it, and when you have afterward
determined to build cities, if you will do what is pleasing to God, you
will have a secure state of happiness. Let there be then one city of the
land of Canaan, and this situate in the most agreeable place for its
goodness, and very eminent in itself, and let it be that which God shall
choose for himself by prophetic revelation. Let there also be one temple
therein, and one altar, not reared of hewn stones, but of such as you
gather together at random; which stones, when they are whited over with
mortar, will have a handsome appearance, and be beautiful to the sight.
Let the ascent to it be not by steps 16 but by
an acclivity of raised earth. And let there be neither an altar nor a
temple in any other city; for God is but one, and the nation of the
Hebrews is but one.
6. He that blasphemeth God, let him be stoned; and let him hang upon a
tree all that day, and then let him be buried in an ignominious and
obscure manner.
7. Let those that live as remote as the bounds of the land which the
Hebrews shall possess, come to that city where the temple shall be, and
this three times in a year, that they may give thanks to God for his
former benefits, and may entreat him for those they shall want hereafter;
and let them, by this means, maintain a friendly correspondence with one
another by such meetings and feastings together, for it is a good thing
for those that are of the same stock, and under the same institution of
laws, not to be unacquainted with each other; which acquaintance will be
maintained by thus conversing together, and by seeing and talking with one
another, and so renewing the memorials of this union; for if they do not
thus converse together continually, they will appear like mere strangers
to one another.
8. Let there be taken out of your fruits a tenth, besides that which you
have allotted to give to the priests and Levites. This you may indeed sell
in the country, but it is to be used in those feasts and sacrifices that
are to be celebrated in the holy city; for it is fit that you should enjoy
those fruits of the earth which God gives you to possess, so as may be to
the honor of the donor.
9. You are not to offer sacrifices out of the hire of a woman who is a
harlot 17
for the Deity is not pleased with any thing that arises from such abuses
of nature; of which sort none can be worse than this prostitution of the
body. In like manner no one may take the price of the covering of a bitch,
either of one that is used in hunting, or in keeping of sheep, and thence
sacrifice to God.
10. Let no one blaspheme those gods which other cities esteem such; 18
nor may any one steal what belongs to strange temples, nor take away the
gifts that are dedicated to any god.
11. Let not any one of you wear a garment made of woolen and linen, for
that is appointed to be for the priests alone.
12. When the multitude are assembled together unto the holy city for
sacrificing every seventh year, at the feast of tabernacles, let the high
priest stand upon a high desk, whence he may be heard, and let him read
the laws to all the people; and let neither the women nor the children be
hindered from hearing, no, nor the servants neither; for it is a good
thing that those laws should be engraven in their souls, and preserved in
their memories, that so it may not be possible to blot them out; for by
this means they will not be guilty of sin, when they cannot plead
ignorance of what the laws have enjoined them. The laws also will have a
greater authority among them, as foretelling what they will suffer if they
break them; and imprinting in their souls by this hearing what they
command them to do, that so there may always be within their minds that
intention of the laws which they have despised and broken, and have
thereby been the causes of their own mischief. Let the children also learn
the laws, as the first thing they are taught, which will be the best thing
they can be taught, and will be the cause of their future felicity.
13. Let every one commemorate before God the benefits which he bestowed
upon them at their deliverance out of the land of Egypt, and this twice
every day, both when the day begins and when the hour of sleep comes on,
gratitude being in its own nature a just thing, and serving not only by
way of return for past, but also by way of invitation of future favors.
They are also to inscribe the principal blessings they have received from
God upon their doors, and show the same remembrance of them upon their
arms; as also they are to bear on their forehead and their arm those
wonders which declare the power of God, and his good-will towards them,
that God’s readiness to bless them may appear every where conspicuous
about them. 19
14. Let there be seven men to judge in every city, 20 and
these such as have been before most zealous in the exercise of virtue and
righteousness. Let every judge have two officers allotted him out of the
tribe of Levi. Let those that are chosen to judge in the several cities be
had in great honor; and let none be permitted to revile any others when
these are present, nor to carry themselves in an insolent manner to them;
it being natural that reverence towards those in high offices among men
should procure men’s fear and reverence towards God. Let those that judge
be permitted to determine according as they think to be right, unless any
one can show that they have taken bribes, to the perversion of justice, or
can allege any other accusation against them, whereby it may appear that
they have passed an unjust sentence; for it is not fit that causes should
be openly determined out of regard to gain, or to the dignity of the
suitors, but that the judges should esteem what is right before all other
things, otherwise God will by that means be despised, and esteemed
inferior to those, the dread of whose power has occasioned the unjust
sentence; for justice is the power of God. He therefore that gratifies
those in great dignity, supposes them more potent than God himself. But if
these judges be unable to give a just sentence about the causes that come
before them, [which case is not unfrequent in human affairs,] let them
send the cause undetermined to the holy city, and there let the high
priest, the prophet, and the sanhedrim, determine as it shall seem good to
them.
15. But let not a single witness be credited, but three, or two at the
least, and those such whose testimony is confirmed by their good lives.
But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity
and boldness of their sex 21 Nor let servants be admitted to
give testimony, on account of the ignobility of their soul; since it is
probable that they may not speak truth, either out of hope of gain, or
fear of punishment. But if any one be believed to have borne false
witness, let him, when he is convicted, suffer all the very same
punishments which he against whom he bore witness was to have suffered.
16. If a murder be committed in any place, and he that did it be not
found, nor is there any suspicion upon one as if he had hated the man, and
so had killed him, let there be a very diligent inquiry made after the
man, and rewards proposed to any one who will discover him; but if still
no information can be procured, let the magistrates and senate of those
cities that lie near the place in which the murder was committed, assemble
together, and measure the distance from the place where the dead body
lies; then let the magistrates of the nearest city thereto purchase a
heifer, and bring it to a valley, and to a place therein where there is no
land ploughed or trees planted, and let them cut the sinews of the heifer;
then the priests and Levites, and the senate of that city, shall take
water and wash their hands over the head of the heifer; and they shall
openly declare that their hands are innocent of this murder, and that they
have neither done it themselves, nor been assisting to any that did it.
They shall also beseech God to be merciful to them, that no such horrid
act may any more be done in that land.
17. Aristocracy, and the way of living under it, is the best constitution:
and may you never have any inclination to any other form of government;
and may you always love that form, and have the laws for your governors,
and govern all your actions according to them; for you need no supreme
governor but God. But if you shall desire a king, let him be one of your
own nation; let him be always careful of justice and other virtues
perpetually; let him submit to the laws, and esteem God’s commands to be
his highest wisdom; but let him do nothing without the high priest and the
votes of the senators: let him not have a great number of wives, nor
pursue after abundance of riches, nor a multitude of horses, whereby he
may grow too proud to submit to the laws. And if he affect any such
things, let him be restrained, lest he become so potent that his state be
inconsistent with your welfare.
18. Let it not be esteemed lawful to remove boundaries, neither our own,
nor of those with whom we are at peace. Have a care you do not take those
landmarks away which are, as it were, a divine and unshaken limitation of
rights made by God himself, to last for ever; since this going beyond
limits, and gaining ground upon others, is the occasion of wars and
seditions; for those that remove boundaries are not far off an attempt to
subvert the laws.
19. He that plants a piece of land, the trees of which produce fruits
before the fourth year, is not to bring thence any first-fruits to God,
nor is he to make use of that fruit himself, for it is not produced in its
proper season; for when nature has a force put upon her at an unseasonable
time, the fruit is not proper for God, nor for the master’s use; but let
the owner gather all that is grown on the fourth year, for then it is in
its proper season. And let him that has gathered it carry it to the holy
city, and spend that, together with the tithe of his other fruits, in
feasting with his friends, with the orphans, and the widows. But on the
fifth year the fruit is his own, and he may use it as he pleases.
20. You are not to sow with seed a piece of land which is planted with
vines, for it is enough that it supply nourishment to that plant, and be
not harassed by ploughing also. You are to plough your land with oxen, and
not to oblige other animals to come under the same yoke with them; but to
till your land with those beasts that are of the same kind with each
other. The seeds are also to be pure, and without mixture, and not to be
compounded of two or three sorts, since nature does not rejoice in the
union of things that are not in their own nature alike; nor are you to
permit beasts of different kinds to gender together, for there is reason
to fear that this unnatural abuse may extend from beasts of different
kinds to men, though it takes its first rise from evil practices about
such smaller things. Nor is any thing to be allowed, by imitation whereof
any degree of subversion may creep into the constitution. Nor do the laws
neglect small matters, but provide that even those may be managed after an
unblamable manner.
21. Let not those that reap, and gather in the corn that is reaped, gather
in the gleanings also; but let them rather leave some handfuls for those
that are in want of the necessaries of life, that it may be a support and
a supply to them, in order to their subsistence. In like manner when they
gather their grapes, let them leave some smaller bunches for the poor, and
let them pass over some of the fruits of the olive-trees, when they gather
them, and leave them to be partaken of by those that have none of their
own; for the advantage arising from the exact collection of all, will not
be so considerable to the owners as will arise from the gratitude of the
poor. And God will provide that the land shall more willingly produce what
shall be for the nourishment of its fruits, in case you do not merely take
care of your own advantage, but have regard to the support of others also.
Nor are you to muzzle the mouths of the oxen when they tread the ears of
corn in the thrashing-floor; for it is not just to restrain our
fellow-laboring animals, and those that work in order to its production,
of this fruit of their labors. Nor are you to prohibit those that pass by
at the time when your fruits are ripe to touch them, but to give them
leave to fill themselves full of what you have; and this whether they be
of your own country or strangers,—as being glad of the opportunity
of giving them some part of your fruits when they are ripe; but let it not
be esteemed lawful for them to carry any away. Nor let those that gather
the grapes, and carry them to the wine-presses, restrain those whom they
meet from eating of them; for it is unjust, out of envy, to hinder those
that desire it, to partake of the good things that come into the world
according to God’s will, and this while the season is at the height, and
is hastening away as it pleases God. Nay, if some, out of bashfulness, are
unwilling to touch these fruits, let them be encouraged to take of them [I
mean, those that are Israelites] as if they were themselves the owners and
lords, on account of the kindred there is between them. Nay, let them
desire men that come from other countries, to partake of these tokens of
friendship which God has given in their proper season; for that is not to
be deemed as idly spent, which any one out of kindness communicates to
another, since God bestows plenty of good things on men, not only for
themselves to reap the advantage, but also to give to others in a way of
generosity; and he is desirous, by this means, to make known to others his
peculiar kindness to the people of Israel, and how freely he communicates
happiness to them, while they abundantly communicate out of their great
superfluities to even these foreigners also. But for him that acts
contrary to this law, let him be beaten with forty stripes save one 22
by the public executioner; let him undergo this punishment, which is a
most ignominious one for a free-man, and this because he was such a slave
to gain as to lay a blot upon his dignity; for it is proper for you who
have had the experience of the afflictions in Egypt, and of those in the
wilderness, to make provision for those that are in the like
circumstances; and while you have now obtained plenty yourselves, through
the mercy and providence of God, to distribute of the same plenty, by the
like sympathy, to such as stand in need of it.
22. Besides those two tithes, which I have already said you are to pay
every year, the one for the Levites, the other for the festivals, you are
to bring every third year a third tithe to be distributed to those that
want; 23
to women also that are widows, and to children that are orphans. But as to
the ripe fruits, let them carry that which is ripe first of all into the
temple; and when they have blessed God for that land which bare them, and
which he had given them for a possession, when they have also offered
those sacrifices which the law has commanded them to bring, let them give
the first-fruits to the priests. But when any one hath done this, and hath
brought the tithe of all that he hath, together with those first-fruits
that are for the Levites, and for the festivals, and when he is about to
go home, let him stand before the holy house, and return thanks to God,
that he hath delivered them from the injurious treatment they had in
Egypt, and hath given them a good land, and a large, and lets them enjoy
the fruits thereof; and when he hath openly testified that he hath fully
paid the tithes [and other dues] according to the laws of Moses, let him
entreat God that he will be ever merciful and gracious to him, and
continue so to be to all the Hebrews, both by preserving the good things
which he hath already given them, and by adding what it is still in his
power to bestow upon them.
23. Let the Hebrews marry, at the age fit for it, virgins that are free,
and born of good parents. And he that does not marry a virgin, let him not
corrupt another man’s wife, and marry her, nor grieve her former husband.
Nor let free men marry slaves, although their affections should strongly
bias any of them so to do; for it is decent, and for the dignity of the
persons themselves, to govern those their affections. And further, no one
ought to marry a harlot, whose matrimonial oblations, arising from the
prostitution of her body, God will not receive; for by these means the
dispositions of the children will be liberal and virtuous; I mean, when
they are not born of base parents, and of the lustful conjunction of such
as marry women that are not free. If any one has been espoused to a woman
as to a virgin, and does not afterward find her so to be, let him bring
his action, and accuse her, and let him make use of such indications 24
to prove his accusation as he is furnished withal; and let the father or
the brother of the damsel, or some one that is after them nearest of kin
to her, defend her If the damsel obtain a sentence in her favor, that she
had not been guilty, let her live with her husband that accused her; and
let him not have any further power at all to put her away, unless she give
him very great occasions of suspicion, and such as can be no way
contradicted. But for him that brings an accusation and calumny against
his wife in an impudent and rash manner, let him be punished by receiving
forty stripes save one, and let him pay fifty shekels to her father: but
if the damsel be convicted, as having been corrupted, and is one of the
common people, let her be stoned, because she did not preserve her
virginity till she were lawfully married; but if she were the daughter of
a priest, let her be burnt alive. If any one has two wives, and if he
greatly respect and be kind to one of them, either out of his affection to
her, or for her beauty, or for some other reason, while the other is of
less esteem with him; and if the son of her that is beloved be the younger
by birth than another born of the other wife, but endeavors to obtain the
right of primogeniture from his father’s kindness to his mother, and would
thereby obtain a double portion of his father’s substance, for that double
portion is what I have allotted him in the laws,—let not this be
permitted; for it is unjust that he who is the elder by birth should be
deprived of what is due to him, on the father’s disposition of his estate,
because his mother was not equally regarded by him. He that hath corrupted
a damsel espoused to another man, in case he had her consent, let both him
and her be put to death, for they are both equally guilty; the man,
because he persuaded the woman willingly to submit to a most impure
action, and to prefer it to lawful wedlock; the woman, because she was
persuaded to yield herself to be corrupted, either for pleasure or for
gain. However, if a man light on a woman when she is alone, and forces
her, where nobody was present to come to her assistance, let him only be
put to death. Let him that hath corrupted a virgin not yet espoused marry
her; but if the father of the damsel be not willing that she should be his
wife, let him pay fifty shekels as the price of her prostitution. He that
desires to be divorced from his wife for any cause 25
whatsoever, [and many such causes happen among men,] let him in writing
give assurance that he will never use her as his wife any more; for by
this means she may be at liberty to marry another husband, although before
this bill of divorce be given, she is not to be permitted so to do: but if
she be misused by him also, or if, when he is dead, her first husband
would marry her again, it shall not be lawful for her to return to him. If
a woman’s husband die, and leave her without children, let his brother
marry her, and let him call the son that is born to him by his brother’s
name, and educate him as the heir of his inheritance, for this procedure
will be for the benefit of the public, because thereby families will not
fail, and the estate will continue among the kindred; and this will be for
the solace of wives under their affliction, that they are to be married to
the next relation of their former husbands. But if the brother will not
marry her, let the woman come before the senate, and protest openly that
this brother will not admit her for his wife, but will injure the memory
of his deceased brother, while she is willing to continue in the family,
and to bear him children. And when the senate have inquired of him for
what reason it is that he is averse to this marriage, whether he gives a
bad or a good reason, the matter must come to this issue, That the woman
shall loose the sandals of the brother, and shall spit in his face, and
say, He deserves this reproachful treatment from her, as having injured
the memory of the deceased. And then let him go away out of the senate,
and bear this reproach upon him all his life long; and let her marry to
whom she pleases, of such as seek her in marriage. But now, if any man
take captive, either a virgin, or one that hath been married, 26
and has a mind to marry her, let him not be allowed to bring her to bed to
him, or to live with her as his wife, before she hath her head shaven, and
hath put on her mourning habit, and lamented her relations and friends
that were slain in the battle, that by this means she may give vent to her
sorrow for them, and after that may betake herself to feasting and
matrimony; for it is good for him that takes a woman, in order to have
children by her, to be complaisant to her inclinations, and not merely to
pursue his own pleasure, while he hath no regard to what is agreeable to
her. But when thirty days are past, as the time of mourning, for so many
are sufficient to prudent persons for lamenting the dearest friends, then
let them proceed to the marriage; but in case when he hath satisfied his
lust, he be too proud to retain her for his wife, let him not have it in
his power to make her a slave, but let her go away whither she pleases,
and have that privilege of a free woman.
24. As to those young men that despise their parents, and do not pay them
honor, but offer them affronts, either because they are ashamed of them or
think themselves wiser than they,—in the first place, let their
parents admonish them in words, [for they are by nature of authority
sufficient for becoming their judges,] and let them say thus to them:—That
they cohabited together, not for the sake of pleasure, nor for the
augmentation of their riches, by joining both their stocks together, but
that they might have children to take care of them in their old age, and
might by them have what they then should want. And say further to him,
“That when thou wast born, we took thee up with gladness, and gave God the
greatest thanks for thee, and brought time up with great care, and spared
for nothing that appeared useful for thy preservation, and for thy
instruction in what was most excellent. And now, since it is reasonable to
forgive the sins of those that are young, let it suffice thee to have
given so many indications Of thy contempt of us; reform thyself, and act
more wisely for the time to come; considering that God is displeased with
those that are insolent towards their parents, because he is himself the
Father of the whole race of mankind, and seems to bear part of that
dishonor which falls upon those that have the same name, when they do not
meet with dire returns from their children. And on such the law inflicts
inexorable punishment; of which punishment mayst thou never have the
experience.” Now if the insolence of young men be thus cured, let them
escape the reproach which their former errors deserved; for by this means
the lawgiver will appear to be good, and parents happy, while they never
behold either a son or a daughter brought to punishment. But if it happen
that these words and instructions, conveyed by them in order to reclaim
the man, appear to be useless, then the offender renders the laws
implacable enemies to the insolence he has offered his parents; let him
therefore be brought forth 27 by these very parents out of
the city, with a multitude following him, and there let him be stoned; and
when he has continued there for one whole day, that all the people may see
him, let him be buried in the night. And thus it is that we bury all whom
the laws condemn to die, upon any account whatsoever. Let our enemies that
fall in battle be also buried; nor let any one dead body lie above the
ground, or suffer a punishment beyond what justice requires.
25. Let no one lend to any one of the Hebrews upon usury, neither usury of
what is eaten or what is drunken, for it is not just to make advantage of
the misfortunes of one of thy own countrymen; but when thou hast been
assistant to his necessities, think it thy gain if thou obtainest their
gratitude to thee; and withal that reward which will come to thee from
God, for thy humanity towards him.
26. Those who have borrowed either silver or any sort of fruits, whether
dry or wet, [I mean this, when the Jewish affairs shall, by the blessing
of God, be to their own mind,] let the borrowers bring them again, and
restore them with pleasure to those who lent them, laying them up, as it
were, in their own treasuries, and justly expecting to receive them
thence, if they shall want them again. But if they be without shame, and
do not restore it, let not the lender go to the borrower’s house, and take
a pledge himself, before judgment be given concerning it; but let him
require the pledge, and let the debtor bring it of himself, without the
least opposition to him that comes upon him under the protection of the
law. And if he that gave the pledge be rich, let the creditor retain it
till what he lent be paid him again; but if he be poor, let him that takes
it return it before the going down of the sun, especially if the pledge be
a garment, that the debtor may have it for a covering in his sleep, God
himself naturally showing mercy to the poor. It is also not lawful to take
a millstone, nor any utensil thereto belonging, for a pledge, that the
debtor, may not be deprived of instruments to get their food withal, and
lest they be undone by their necessity.
27. Let death be the punishment for stealing a man; but he that hath
purloined gold or silver, let him pay double. If any one kill a man that
is stealing something out of his house, let him be esteemed guiltless,
although the man were only breaking in at the wall. Let him that hath
stolen cattle pay fourfold what is lost, excepting the case of an ox, for
which let the thief pay fivefold. Let him that is so poor that he cannot
pay what mulet is laid upon him, be his servant to whom he was adjudged to
pay it.
28. If any one be sold to one of his own nation, let him serve him six
years, and on the seventh let him go free. But if he have a son by a woman
servant in his purchaser’s house, and if, on account of his good-will to
his master, and his natural affection to his wife and children, he will be
his servant still, let him be set free only at the coming of the year of
jubilee, which is the fiftieth year, and let him then take away with him
his children and wife, and let them be free also.
29. If any one find gold or silver on the road, let him inquire after him
that lost it, and make proclamation of the place where he found it, and
then restore it to him again, as not thinking it right to make his own
profit by the loss of another. And the same rule is to be observed in
cattle found to have wandered away into a lonely place. If the owner be
not presently discovered, let him that is the finder keep it with himself,
and appeal to God that he has not purloined what belongs to another.
30. It is not lawful to pass by any beast that is in distress, when in a
storm it is fallen down in the mire, but to endeavor to preserve it, as
having a sympathy with it in its pain.
31. It is also a duty to show the roads to those who do not know them, and
not to esteem it a matter for sport, when we hinder others’ advantages, by
setting them in a wrong way.
32. In like manner, let no one revile a person blind or dumb.
33. If men strive together, and there be no instrument of iron, let him
that is smitten be avenged immediately, by inflicting the same punishment
on him that smote him: but if when he is carried home he lie sick many
days, and then die, let him that smote him not escape punishment; but if
he that is smitten escape death, and yet be at great expense for his cure,
the smiter shall pay for all that has been expended during the time of his
sickness, and for all that he has paid the physician. He that kicks a
woman with child, so that the woman miscarry, 28 let him
pay a fine in money, as the judges shall determine, as having diminished
the multitude by the destruction of what was in her womb; and let money
also be given the woman’s husband by him that kicked her; but if she die
of the stroke, let him also be put to death, the law judging it equitable
that life should go for life.
34. Let no one of the Israelites keep any poison 29 that may
cause death, or any other harm; but if he be caught with it, let him be
put to death, and suffer the very same mischief that he would have brought
upon them for whom the poison was prepared.
35. He that maimeth any one, let him undergo the like himself, and be
deprived of the same member of which he hath deprived the other, unless he
that is maimed will accept of money instead of it 30 for the
law makes the sufferer the judge of the value of what he hath suffered,
and permits him to estimate it, unless he will be more severe.
36. Let him that is the owner of an ox which pusheth with his horn, kill
him: but if he pushes and gores any one in the thrashing-floor, let him be
put to death by stoning, and let him not be thought fit for food: but if
his owner be convicted as having known what his nature was, and hath not
kept him up, let him also be put to death, as being the occasion of the
ox’s having killed a man. But if the ox have killed a man-servant, or a
maid-servant, let him be stoned; and let the owner of the ox pay thirty
shekels 31
to the master of him that was slain; but if it be an ox that is thus
smitten and killed, let both the oxen, that which smote the other and that
which was killed, be sold, and let the owners of them divide their price
between them.
37. Let those that dig a well or a pit be careful to lay planks over them,
and so keep them shut up, not in order to hinder any persons from drawing
water, but that there may be no danger of falling into them. But if any
one’s beast fall into such a well or pit thus digged, and not shut up, and
perish, let the owner pay its price to the owner of the beast. Let there
be a battlement round the tops of your houses instead of a wall, that may
prevent any persons from rolling down and perishing.
38. Let him that has received any thing in trust for another, take care to
keep it as a sacred and divine thing; and let no one invent any
contrivance whereby to deprive him that hath intrusted it with him of the
same, and this whether he be a man or a woman; no, not although he or she
were to gain an immense sum of gold, and this where he cannot be convicted
of it by any body; for it is fit that a man’s own conscience, which knows
what he hath, should in all cases oblige him to do well. Let this
conscience be his witness, and make him always act so as may procure him
commendation from others; but let him chiefly have regard to God, from
whom no wicked man can lie concealed: but if he in whom the trust was
reposed, without any deceit of his own, lose what he was intrusted withal,
let him come before the seven judges, and swear by God that nothing hath
been lost willingly, or with a wicked intention, and that he hath not made
use of any part thereof, and so let him depart without blame; but if he
hath made use of the least part of what was committed to him, and it be
lost, let him be condemned to repay all that he had received. After the
same manner as in these trusts it is to be, if any one defraud those that
undergo bodily labor for him. And let it be always remembered, that we are
not to defraud a poor man of his wages, as being sensible that God has
allotted these wages to him instead of land and other possessions; nay,
this payment is not at all to be delayed, but to be made that very day,
since God is not willing to deprive the laborer of the immediate use of
what he hath labored for.
39. You are not to punish children for the faults of their parents, but on
account of their own virtue rather to vouchsafe them commiseration,
because they were born of wicked parents, than hatred, because they were
born of bad ones. Nor indeed ought we to impute the sin of children to
their fathers, while young persons indulge themselves in many practices
different from what they have been instructed in, and this by their proud
refusal of such instruction.
40. Let those that have made themselves eunuchs be had in detestation; and
do you avoid any conversation with them who have deprived themselves of
their manhood, and of that fruit of generation which God has given to men
for the increase of their kind: let such be driven away, as if they had
killed their children, since they beforehand have lost what should procure
them; for evident it is, that while their soul is become effeminate, they
have withal transfused that effeminacy to their body also. In like manner
do you treat all that is of a monstrous nature when it is looked on; nor
is it lawful to geld men or any other animals. 32
41. Let this be the constitution of your political laws in time of peace,
and God will be so merciful as to preserve this excellent settlement free
from disturbance: and may that time never come which may innovate any
thing, and change it for the contrary. But since it must needs happen that
mankind fall into troubles and dangers, either undesignedly or
intentionally, come let us make a few constitutions concerning them, that
so being apprised beforehand what ought to be done, you may have salutary
counsels ready when you want them, and may not then be obliged to go to
seek what is to be done, and so be unprovided, and fall into dangerous
circumstances. May you be a laborious people, and exercise your souls in
virtuous actions, and thereby possess and inherit the land without wars;
while neither any foreigners make war upon it, and so afflict you, nor any
internal sedition seize upon it, whereby you may do things that are
contrary to your fathers, and so lose the laws which they have
established. And may you continue in the observation of those laws which
God hath approved of, and hath delivered to you. Let all sort of warlike
operations, whether they befall you now in your own time, or hereafter in
the times of your posterity, be done out of your own borders: but when you
are about to go to war, send embassages and heralds to those who are your
voluntary enemies, for it is a right thing to make use of words to them
before you come to your weapons of war; and assure them thereby, that
although you have a numerous army, with horses and weapons, and, above
these, a God merciful to you, and ready to assist you, you do however
desire them not to compel you to fight against them, nor to take from them
what they have, which will indeed be our gain, but what they will have no
reason to wish we should take to ourselves. And if they hearken to you, it
will be proper for you to keep peace with them; but if they trust in their
own strength, as superior to yours, and will not do you justice, lead your
army against them, making use of God as your supreme Commander, but
ordaining for a lieutenant under him one that is of the greatest courage
among you; for these different commanders, besides their being an obstacle
to actions that are to be done on the sudden, are a disadvantage to those
that make use of them. Lead an army pure, and of chosen men, composed of
all such as have extraordinary strength of body and hardiness of soul; but
do you send away the timorous part, lest they run away in the time of
action, and so afford an advantage to your enemies. Do you also give leave
to those that have lately built them houses, and have not yet lived in
them a year’s time; and to those that have planted them vineyards, and
have not yet been partakers of their fruits,—to continue in their
own country; as well as those also who have betrothed, or lately married
them wives, lest they have such an affection for these things that they be
too sparing of their lives, and, by reserving themselves for these
enjoyments, they become voluntary cowards, on account of their wives.
42. When you have pitched your camp, take care that you do nothing that is
cruel. And when you are engaged in a siege; and want timber for the making
of warlike engines, do not you render the land naked by cutting down trees
that bear fruit, but spare them, as considering that they were made for
the benefit of men; and that if they could speak, they would have a just
plea against you, because, though they are not occasions of the war, they
are unjustly treated, and suffer in it, and would, if they were able,
remove themselves into another land. When you have beaten your enemies in
battle, slay those that have fought against you; but preserve the others
alive, that they may pay you tribute, excepting the nation of the
Canaanites; for as to that people, you must entirely destroy them.
43, Take care, especially in your battles, that no woman use the habit of
a man, nor man the garment of a woman.
44. This was the form of political government which was left us by Moses.
Moreover, he had already delivered laws in writing 33 in the
fortieth year [after they came out of Egypt], concerning which we will
discourse in another book. But now on the following days [for he called
them to assemble continually] he delivered blessings to them, and curses
upon those that should not live according to the laws, but should
transgress the duties that were determined for them to observe. After
this, he read to them a poetic song, which was composed in hexameter
verse, and left it to them in the holy book: it contained a prediction of
what was to come to pass afterward; agreeably whereto all things have
happened all along, and do still happen to us; and wherein he has not at
all deviated from the truth. Accordingly, he delivered these books to the
priest, 34
with the ark; into which he also put the ten commandments, written on two
tables. He delivered to them the tabernacle also, and exhorted the people,
that when they had conquered the land, and were settled in it, they should
not forget the injuries of the Amalekites, but make war against them, and
inflict punishment upon them for what mischief they did them when they
were in the wilderness; and that when they had got possession of the land
of the Canaanites, and when they had destroyed the whole multitude of its
inhabitants, as they ought to do, they should erect an altar that should
face the rising sun, not far from the city of Shechem, between the two
mountains, that of Gerizzim, situate on the right hand, and that called
Ebal, on the left; and that the army should be so divided, that six tribes
should stand upon each of the two mountains, and with them the Levites and
the priests. And that first, those that were upon Mount Gerizzim should
pray for the best blessings upon those who were diligent about the worship
of God, and the observation of his laws, and who did not reject what Moses
had said to them; while the other wished them all manner of happiness
also; and when these last put up the like prayers, the former praised
them. After this, curses were denounced upon those that should transgress
those laws, they, answering one another alternately, by way of
confirmation of what had been said. Moses also wrote their blessings and
their curses, that they might learn them so thoroughly, that they might
never be forgotten by length of time. And when he was ready to die, he
wrote these blessings and curses upon the altar, on each side of it; where
he says also the people stood, and then sacrificed and offered
burnt-offerings, though after that day they never offered upon it any
other sacrifice, for it was not lawful so to do. These are the
constitutions of Moses; and the Hebrew nation still live according to
them.
45. On the next day, Moses called the people together, with the women and
children, to a congregation, so as the very slaves were present also, that
they might engage themselves to the observation of these laws by oath; and
that, duly considering the meaning of God in them, they might not, either
for favor of their kindred, or out of fear of any one, or indeed for any
motive whatsoever, think any thing ought to be preferred to these laws,
and so might transgress them. That in case any one of their own blood, or
any city, should attempt to confound or dissolve their constitution of
government, they should take vengeance upon them, both all in general, and
each person in particular; and when they had conquered them, should
overturn their city to the very foundations, and, if possible, should not
leave the least footsteps of such madness: but that if they were not able
to take such vengeance, they should still demonstrate that what was done
was contrary to their wills. So the multitude bound themselves by oath so
to do.
46. Moses taught them also by what means their sacrifices might be the
most acceptable to God; and how they should go forth to war, making use of
the stones [in the high priest’s breastplate] for their direction, 35
as I have before signified. Joshua also prophesied while Moses was
present. And when Moses had recapitulated whatsoever he had done for the
preservation of the people, both in their wars and in peace, and had
composed them a body of laws, and procured them an excellent form of
government, he foretold, as God had declared to him that if they
transgressed that institution for the worship of God, they should
experience the following miseries:—Their land should be full of
weapons of war from their enemies, and their cities should be overthrown,
and their temple should be burnt that they should be sold for slaves, to
such men as would have no pity on them in their afflictions; that they
would then repent, when that repentance would no way profit them under
their sufferings. “Yet,” said he, “will that God who founded your nation,
restore your cities to your citizens, with their temple also; and you
shall lose these advantages not once only, but often.”
47. Now when Moses had encouraged Joshua to lead out the army against the
Canaanites, by telling him that God would assist him in all his
undertakings, and had blessed the whole multitude, he said, “Since I am
going to my forefathers, and God has determined that this should be the
day of my departure to them, I return him thanks while I am still alive
and present with you, for that providence he hath exercised over you,
which hath not only delivered us from the miseries we lay under, but hath
bestowed a state of prosperity upon us; as also, that he hath assisted me
in the pains I took, and in all the contrivances I had in my care about
you, in order to better your condition, and hath on all occasions showed
himself favorable to us; or rather he it was who first conducted our
affairs, and brought them to a happy conclusion, by making use of me as a
vicarious general under him, and as a minister in those matters wherein he
was willing to do you good: on which account I think it proper to bless
that Divine Power which will take care of you for the time to come, and
this in order to repay that debt which I owe him, and to leave behind me a
memorial that we are obliged to worship and honor him, and to keep those
laws which are the most excellent gift of all those he hath already
bestowed upon us, or which, if he continue favorable to us, he will bestow
upon us hereafter. Certainly a human legislator is a terrible enemy when
his laws are affronted, and are made to no purpose. And may you never
experience that displeasure of God which will be the consequence of the
neglect of these his laws, which he, who is your Creator, hath given you.”
48. When Moses had spoken thus at the end of his life, and had foretold
what would befall to every one of their tribes 36
afterward, with the addition of a blessing to them, the multitude fell
into tears, insomuch that even the women, by beating their breasts, made
manifest the deep concern they had when he was about to die. The children
also lamented still more, as not able to contain their grief; and thereby
declared, that even at their age they were sensible of his virtue and
mighty deeds; and truly there seemed to be a strife betwixt the young and
the old who should most grieve for him. The old grieved because they knew
what a careful protector they were to be deprived of, and so lamented
their future state; but the young grieved, not only for that, but also
because it so happened that they were to be left by him before they had
well tasted of his virtue. Now one may make a guess at the excess of this
sorrow and lamentation of the multitude, from what happened to the
legislator himself; for although he was always persuaded that he ought not
to be cast down at the approach of death, since the undergoing it was
agreeable to the will of God and the law of nature, yet what the people
did so overbore him, that he wept himself. Now as he went thence to the
place where he was to vanish out of their sight, they all followed after
him weeping; but Moses beckoned with his hand to those that were remote
from him, and bade them stay behind in quiet, while he exhorted those that
were near to him that they would not render his departure so lamentable.
Whereupon they thought they ought to grant him that favor, to let him
depart according as he himself desired; so they restrained themselves,
though weeping still towards one another. All those who accompanied him
were the senate, and Eleazar the high priest, and Joshua their commander.
Now as soon as they were come to the mountain called Abarim, [which is a
very high mountain, situate over against Jericho, and one that affords, to
such as are upon it, a prospect of the greatest part of the excellent land
of Canaan,] he dismissed the senate; and as he was going to embrace
Eleazar and Joshua, and was still discoursing with them, a cloud stood
over him on the sudden, and he disappeared in a certain valley, although
he wrote in the holy books that he died, which was done out of fear, lest
they should venture to say that, because of his extraordinary virtue, he
went to God.
49. Now Moses lived in all one hundred and twenty years; a third part of
which time, abating one month, he was the people’s ruler; and he died on
the last month of the year, which is called by the Macedonians Dystrus,
but by us Adar, on the first day of the month. He was one that exceeded
all men that ever were in understanding, and made the best use of what
that understanding suggested to him. He had a very graceful way of
speaking and addressing himself to the multitude; and as to his other
qualifications, he had such a full command of his passions, as if he
hardly had any such in his soul, and only knew them by their names, as
rather perceiving them in other men than in himself. He was also such a
general of an army as is seldom seen, as well as such a prophet as was
never known, and this to such a degree, that whatsoever he pronounced, you
would think you heard the voice of God himself. So the people mourned for
him thirty days: nor did ever any grief so deeply affect the Hebrews as
did this upon the death of Moses: nor were those that had experienced his
conduct the only persons that desired him, but those also that perused the
laws he left behind him had a strong desire after him, and by them
gathered the extraordinary virtue he was master of. And this shall suffice
for the declaration of the manner of the death of Moses.
FOOTNOTES:
1 (return)
[ Reland here takes notice,
that although our Bibles say little or nothing of these riches of Corah,
yet that both the Jews and Mahommedans, as well as Josephus, are full of
it.]
2 (return)
[ It appears here, and from
the Samaritan Pentateuch, and, in effect, from the psalmist, as also from
the Apostolical Constitutions, from Clement’s First Epistle to the
Corinthians, from Ignatius’s Epistle to the Magnesians, and from Eusebius,
that Corah was not swallowed up with the Reubenites, but burned with the
Levites of his own tribe. See Essay on the Old Testament, p. 64, 65.]
3 (return)
[ Concerning these twelve
rods of the twelve tribes of Israel, see St. Clement’s account, much
larger than that in our Bibles, 1 Epist. sect. 45; as is Josephus’s
present account in measure larger also.]
4 (return)
[ Grotius, on Numbers 6:18,
takes notice that the Greeks also, aswell as the Jews, sometimes
consecrated the hair of their heads to the gods.]
5 (return)
[ Josephus here uses this
phrase, “when the fortieth year was completed,” for when it was begun; as
does St. Luke when the day of Pentecost was completed,” Acts 2:1.]
6 (return)
[ Whether Miriam died, as
Josephus’s. Greek copies imply, on the first day of the month, may be
doubted, because the Latin copies say it was on the tenth, and so say the
Jewish calendars also, as Dr. Bernard assures us. It is said her sepulcher
is still extant near Petra, the old capital city of Arabia Petraea, at
this day; as also that of Aaron, not far off.]
7 (return)
[ What Josephus here remarks
is well worth our remark in this place also; viz. that the Israelites were
never to meddle with the Moabites, or Ammonites, or any other people, but
those belonging to the land of Canaan, and the countries of Sihon and Og
beyond Jordan, as far as the desert and Euphrates, and that therefore no
other people had reason to fear the conquests of the Israelites; but that
those countries given them by God were their proper and peculiar portion
among the nations, and that all who endeavored to dispossess them might
ever be justly destroyed by them.]
8 (return)
[ Note that Josephus never
supposes Balaam to be an idolater, nor to seek idolatrous enchantments, or
to prophesy falsely, but to be no other than an ill-disposed prophet of
the true God; and intimates that God’s answer the second time, permitting
him to go, was ironical, and on design that he deceived [which sort of
deception, by way of punishment for former crimes, Josephus never scruples
to admit, as ever esteeming such wicked men justly and providentially
deceived]. But perhaps we had better keep here close to the text which
says Numbers 23:20, 21, that God only permitted Balaam to go along with
the ambassadors, in case they came and called him, or positively insisted
on his going along with them, on any terms; whereas Balaam seems out of
impatience to have risen up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and
rather to have called them, than staid for their calling him, so zealous
does he seem to have been for his reward of divination, his wages of
unrighteousness, Numbers 23:7, 17, 18, 37; 2 Peter 2:15; Jude 5, 11; which
reward or wages the truly religious prophets of God never required nor
accepted, as our Josephus justly takes notice in the cases of Samuel,
Antiq. B. V. ch. 4. sect. 1, and Daniel, Antiq. B. X. ch. 11. sect. 3. See
also Genesis 14:22, 23; 2 Kings 5:15, 16, 26, 27; and Acts 8;17-24.]
9 (return)
[ Whether Josephus had in
his copy but two attempts of Balaam in all to curse Israel; or whether by
this his twice offering sacrifice, he meant twice besides that first time
already mentioned, which yet is not very probable; cannot now be certainly
determined. In the mean time, all other copies have three such attempts of
Balaam to curse them in the present history.]
10 (return)
[ Such a large and
distinct account of this perversion of the Israelites by the Midianite
women, of which our other copies give us but short intimations, Numbers
31:16 2 Peter 2:15; Jude 11; Revelation 2:14, is preserved, as Reland
informs us, in the Samaritan Chronicle, in Philo, and in other writings of
the Jews, as well as here by Josephus.]
11 (return)
[ This grand maxim, That
God’s people of Israel could never be hurt nor destroyed, but by drawing
them to sin against God, appears to be true, by the entire history of that
people, both in the Bible and in Josephus; and is often taken notice of in
them both. See in particular a most remarkable Ammonite testimony to this
purpose, Judith 5:5-21.]
12 (return)
[ What Josephus here puts
into the mouths of these Midianite women, who came to entice the
Israelites to lewdness and idolatry, viz. that their worship of the God of
Israel, in opposition to their idol gods, implied their living according
to the holy laws which the true God had given them by Moses, in opposition
to those impure laws which were observed under their false gods, well
deserves our consideration; and gives us a substantial reason for the
great concern that was ever shown under the law of Moses to preserve the
Israelites from idolatry, and in the worship of the true God; it being of
no less consequence than, Whether God’s people should be governed by the
holy laws of the true God, or by the impure laws derived from demons,
under the pagan idolatry.]
13 (return)
[ The mistake in all
Josephus’s copies, Greek and Latin which have here fourteen thousand
instead of twenty-four thousand, is so flagrant, that our very learned
editors, Bernard and Hudson, have put the latter number directly into the
text. I choose rather to put it in brackets.]
14 (return)
[ The slaughter of all the
Midianite women that had prostituted themselves to the lewd Israelites,
and the preservation of those that had not been guilty therein; the last
of which were no fewer than thirty-two thousand, both here and Numbers
31:15-17, 35, 40, 46, and both by the particular command of God; are
highly remarkable, and show that, even in nations otherwise for their
wickedness doomed to destruction, the innocent were sometimes particularly
and providentially taken care of, and delivered from that destruction;
which directly implies, that it was the wickedness of the nations of
Canaan, and nothing else, that occasioned their excision. See Genesis
15;16; 1 Samuel 15:18, 33; Apost. Constit. B. VIII. ch. 12. p. 402. In the
first of which places, the reason of the delay of the punishment of the
Amorites is given, because “their iniquity was not yet full.” In the
secured, Saul is ordered to go and “destroy the sinners, the Amalekites;”
plainly implying that they were therefore to be destroyed, because they
were sinners, and not otherwise. In the third, the reason is given why
king Agag was not to be spared, viz. because of his former cruelty: “As
thy sword hath made the [Hebrew] women childless, so shall thy mother be
made childless among women by the Hebrews.” In the last place, the
apostles, or their amanuensis Clement, gave this reason for the necessity
of the coming of Christ, that “men had formerly perverted both the
positive law, and that of nature; and had cast out of their mind the
memory of the Flood, the burning of Sodom, the plagues of the Egyptians,
and the slaughter of the inhabitants of Palestine,” as signs of the most
amazing impenitence and insensibility, under the punishments of horrid
wickedness.]
15 (return)
[ Josephus here, in this
one sentence, sums up his notion of Moses’s very long and very serious
exhortations in the book of Deuteronomy; and his words are so true, and of
such importance, that they deserve to be had in constant remembrance.]
16 (return)
[ This law, both here and
Exodus 20:25, 26, of not going up to God’s altar by ladder-steps, but on
an acclivity, seems not to have belonged to the altar of the tabernacle,
which was in all but three cubits high, Exodus 27:4; nor to that of
Ezekiel, which was expressly to be gone up to by steps, ch. 43:17; but
rather to occasional altars of any considerable altitude and largeness; as
also probably to Solomon’s altar, to which it is here applied by Josephus,
as well as to that in Zorobabel’s and Herod’s temple, which were, I think,
all ten cubits high. See 2 Chronicles 4:1, and Antiq. B. VIII. ch. 3.
sect. 7. The reason why these temples, and these only, were to have this
ascent on an acclivity, and not by steps, is obvious, that before the
invention of stairs, such as we now use, decency could not be otherwise
provided for in the loose garments which the priests wore, as the law
required. See Lamy of the Tabernacle and Temple, p. 444.]
17 (return)
[ The hire of public or
secret harlots was given to Venus in Syria, as Lucian informs us, p. 878;
and against some such vile practice of the old idolaters this law seems to
have been made.]
18 (return)
[ The Apostolical
Constitutions, B. II. ch. 26. sect. 31, expound this law of Moses, Exodus
22. 28, “Thou shalt not revile or blaspheme the gods,” or magistrates,
which is a much more probable exposition than this of Josephus, of heathen
gillis, as here, and against Apion, B. II. ch. 3. sect. 31. What book of
the law was thus publicly read, see the note on Antiq. B. X. ch. 5. sect.
5, and 1 Esd. 9:8-55.]
19 (return)
[ Whether these
phylacteries, and other Jewish memorials of the law here mentioned by
Josephus, and by Muses, [besides the fringes on the borders of their
garments, Numbers 15:37,] were literally meant by God, I much question.
That they have been long observed by the Pharisees and Rabbinical Jews is
certain; however, the Karaites, who receive not the unwritten traditions
of the elders, but keep close to the written law, with Jerome and Grotius,
think they were not literally to be understood; as Bernard and Reland here
take notice. Nor indeed do I remember that, either in the ancienter books
of the Old Testament, or in the books we call Apocrypha, there are any
signs of such literal observations appearing among the Jews, though their
real or mystical signification, i.e. the constant remembrance and
observation of the laws of God by Moses, be frequently inculcated in all
the sacred writings.]
20 (return)
[ Here, as well as
elsewhere, sect. 38, of his Life, sect. 14, and of the War, B. II. ch. 20.
sect. 5, are but seven judges appointed for small cities, instead of
twenty-three in the modern Rabbins; which modern Rabbis are always but of
very little authority in comparison of our Josephus.]
21 (return)
[ I have never observed
elsewhere, that in the Jewish government women were not admitted as legal
witnesses in courts of justice. None of our copies of the Pentateuch say a
word of it. It is very probable, however, that this was the exposition of
the scribes and Pharisees, and the practice of the Jews in the days of
Josephus.]
22 (return)
[ This penalty of “forty
stripes save one,” here mentioned, and sect. 23, was five times inflicted
on St. Paul himself by the Jews, 2 Corinthians 11:24]
23 (return)
[ Josephus’s plain and
express interpretation of this law of Moses, Deuteronomy 14:28, 29; 26:12,
etc., that the Jews were bound every third year to pay three tithes, that
to the Levites, that for sacrifices at Jerusalem, and this for the
indigent, the widow, and the orphans, is fully confirmed by the practice
of good old Tobit, even when he was a captive in Assyria, against the
opinions of the Rabbins, Tobit 1:6-8.]
24 (return)
[ These tokens of
virginity, as the Hebrew and Septuagint style them, Deuteronomy 22:15, 17,
20, seem to me very different from what our later interpreters suppose.
They appear rather to have been such close linen garments as were never
put off virgins, after, a certain age, till they were married, but before
witnesses, and which, while they were entire, were certain evidences of
such virginity. See these, Antiq. B. VII. ch. 8. sect. 1; 2 Samuel 13:18;
Isaiah 6:1 Josephus here determines nothing what were these particular
tokens of virginity or of corruption: perhaps he thought he could not
easily describe them to the heathens, without saying what they might have
thought a breach of modesty; which seeming breach of modesty laws cannot
always wholly avoid.]
25 (return)
[ These words of Josephus
are very like those of the Pharisees to our Savior upon this very subject,
Matthew 19:3, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every
cause?”]
26 (return)
[ Here it is supposed that
this captive’s husband, if she were before a married woman, was dead
before, or rather was slain in this very battle, otherwise it would have
been adultery in him that married her.]
27 (return)
[ See Herod the Great
insisting on the execution of this law, with relation to two of his own
sons, before the judges at Berytus, Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 11. sect. 2.]
28 (return)
[ Philo and others appear
to have understood this law, Exodus 21:22, 23, better than Josephus, who
seems to allow, that though the infant in the mother’s womb, even after
the mother were quick, and so the infant had a rational soul, were killed
by the stroke upon the mother, yet if the mother escaped, the offender
should only be fined, and not put to death; while the law seems rather to
mean, that if the infant in that case be killed, though the mother escape,
the offender must be put to death, and not only when the mother is killed,
as Josephus understood it. It seems this was the exposition of the
Pharisees in the days of Josephus.]
29 (return)
[ What we render a witch,
according to our modern notions of witchcraft, Exodus 22:15, Philo and
Josephus understood of a poisoner, or one who attempted by secret and
unlawful drugs or philtra, to take away the senses or the lives of men.]
30 (return)
[ This permission of
redeeming this penalty with money is not in our copies, Exodus 21:24, 25;
Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21.]
31 (return)
[ We may here note, that
thirty shekels, the price our Savior was sold for by Judas to the Jews,
Matthew 26:15, and 27;3, was the old value of a bought servant or slave
among that people.]
32 (return)
[ This law against
castration, even of brutes, is said to be so rigorous elsewhere, as to
inflict death on him that does it which seems only a Pharisaical
interpretation in the days of Josephus of that law, Leviticus 21:20, and
22:24: only we may hence observe, that the Jews could then have no oxen
which are gelded, but only bulls and cows, in Judea.]
33 (return)
[ These laws seem to be
those above-mentioned, sect, 4, of this chapter.]
34 (return)
[ What laws were now
delivered to the priests, see the note on Antiq. B. III. ch. 1. sect. 7.]
35 (return)
[ Of the exact place where
this altar was to be built, whether nearer Mount Gerizzim or Mount Ebal,
according to Josephus, see Essay on the Old Testament, p. 168—171.
Dr. Bernard well observes here, how unfortunate this neglect of consulting
the Urim was to Joshua himself, in the case of the Gibeonites, who put a
trick upon him, and ensnared him, together with the rest of the Jewish
rulers, with a solemn oath to preserve them, contrary to his commission to
extirpate all the Canaanites, root and branch; which oath he and the other
rulers never durst break. See Scripture Politics, p. 55, 56; and this
snare they were brought into because they “did not ask counsel at the
mouth of the Lord,” Joshua 9:14.]
36 (return)
[ Since Josephus assures
us here, as is most naturally to be supposed, and as the Septuagint gives
the text, Deuteronomy 33:6, that Moses blessed every one of the tribes of
Israel, it is evident that Simeon was not omitted in his copy, as it
unhappily now is, both in our Hebrew and Samaritan copies.]
BOOK V. Containing The Interval Of Four Hundred And Seventy-Six
Years.—From The Death Of Moses To The Death Of Eli.
CHAPTER 1. How Joshua, The Commander Of The Hebrews, Made War With The
Canaanites, And Overcame Them, And Destroyed Them, And Divided Their Land
By Lot To The Tribes Of Israel.
1. When Moses was taken away from among men, in the manner already
described, and when all the solemnities belonging to the mourning for him
were finished, and the sorrow for him was over, Joshua commanded the
multitude to get themselves ready for an expedition. He also sent spies to
Jericho to discover what forces they had, and what were their intentions;
but he put his camp in order, as intending soon to pass over Jordan at a
proper season. And calling to him the rulers of the tribe of Reuben, and
the governors of the tribe of Gad, and [the half tribe of] Manasseh, for
half of this tribe had been permitted to have their habitation in the
country of the Amorites, which was the seventh part of the land of Canaan,
1
he put them in mind what they had promised Moses; and he exhorted them
that, for the sake of the care that Moses had taken of them who had never
been weary of taking pains for them no, not when he was dying, and for the
sake of the public welfare, they would prepare themselves, and readily
perform what they had promised; so he took fifty thousand of them who
followed him, and he marched from Abila to Jordan, sixty furlongs.
2. Now when he had pitched his camp, the spies came to him immediately,
well acquainted with the whole state of the Canaanites; for at first,
before they were at all discovered, they took a full view of the city of
Jericho without disturbance, and saw which parts of the walls were strong,
and which parts were otherwise, and indeed insecure, and which of the
gates were so weak as might afford an entrance to their army. Now those
that met them took no notice of them when they saw them, and supposed they
were only strangers, who used to be very curious in observing everything
in the city, and did not take them for enemies; but at even they retired
to a certain inn that was near to the wall, whither they went to eat their
supper; which supper when they had done, and were considering how to get
away, information was given to the king as he was at supper, that there
were some persons come from the Hebrews’ camp to view the city as spies,
and that they were in the inn kept by Rahab, and were very solicitous that
they might not be discovered. So he sent immediately some to them, and
commanded to catch them, and bring them to him, that he might examine them
by torture, and learn what their business was there. As soon as Rahab
understood that these messengers were coming, she hid the spies under
stalks of flax, which were laid to dry on the top of her house; and said
to the messengers that were sent by the king, that certain unknown
strangers had supped with her a little before sun-setting, and were gone
away, who might easily be taken, if they were any terror to the city, or
likely to bring any danger to the king. So these messengers being thus
deluded by the woman, 2 and suspecting no imposition,
went their ways, without so much as searching the inn; but they
immediately pursued them along those roads which they most probably
supposed them to have gone, and those particularly which led to the river,
but could hear no tidings of them; so they left off the pains of any
further pursuit. But when the tumult was over, Rahab brought the men down,
and desired them as soon as they should have obtained possession of the
land of Canaan, when it would be in their power to make her amends for her
preservation of them, to remember what danger she had undergone for their
sakes; for that if she had been caught concealing them, she could not have
escaped a terrible destruction, she and all her family with her, and so
bid them go home; and desired them to swear to her to preserve her and her
family when they should take the city, and destroy all its inhabitants, as
they had decreed to do; for so far she said she had been assured by those
Divine miracles of which she had been informed. So these spies
acknowledged that they owed her thanks for what she had done already, and
withal swore to requite her kindness, not only in words, but in deeds. But
they gave her this advice, That when she should perceive that the city was
about to be taken, she should put her goods, and all her family, by way of
security, in her inn, and to hang out scarlet threads before her doors,
[or windows,] that the commander of the Hebrews might know her house, and
take care to do her no harm; for, said they, we will inform him of this
matter, because of the concern thou hast had to preserve us: but if any
one of thy family fall in the battle, do not thou blame us; and we beseech
that God, by whom we have sworn, not then to be displeased with us, as
though we had broken our oaths. So these men, when they had made this
agreement, went away, letting themselves down by a rope from the wall, and
escaped, and came and told their own people whatsoever they had done in
their journey to this city. Joshua also told Eleazar the high priest, and
the senate, what the spies had sworn to Rahab, who continued what had been
sworn.
3. Now while Joshua, the commander, was in fear about their passing over
Jordan, for the river ran with a strong current, and could not be passed
over with bridges, for there never had been bridges laid over it hitherto;
and while he suspected, that if he should attempt to make a bridge, that
their enemies would not afford him time to perfect it, and for ferry-boats
they had none,-God promised so to dispose of the river, that they might
pass over it, and that by taking away the main part of its waters. So
Joshua, after two days, caused the army and the whole multitude to pass
over in the manner following:—The priests went first of all, having
the ark with them; then went the Levites bearing the tabernacle and the
vessels which belonged to the sacrifices; after which the entire multitude
followed, according to their tribes, having their children and their wives
in the midst of them, as being afraid for them, lest they should be borne
away by the stream. But as soon as the priests had entered the river
first, it appeared fordable, the depth of the water being restrained and
the sand appearing at the bottom, because the current was neither so
strong nor so swift as to carry it away by its force; so they all passed
over the river without fear, finding it to be in the very same state as
God had foretold he would put it in; but the priests stood still in the
midst of the river till the multitude should be passed over, and should
get to the shore in safety; and when all were gone over, the priests came
out also, and permitted the current to run freely as it used to do before.
Accordingly the river, as soon as the Hebrews were come out of it, arose
again presently, and came to its own proper magnitude as before.
4. So the Hebrews went on farther fifty furlongs, and pitched their camp
at the distance of ten furlongs from Jericho; but Joshua built an altar of
those stones which all the heads of the tribes, at the command of the
prophets, had taken out of the deep, to be afterwards a memorial of the
division of the stream of this river, and upon it offered sacrifice to
God; and in that place celebrated the passover, and had great plenty of
all the things which they wanted hitherto; for they reaped the corn of the
Canaanites, which was now ripe, and took other things as prey; for then it
was that their former food, which was manna, and of which they had eaten
forty years, failed them.
5. Now while the Israelites did this, and the Canaanites did not attack
them, but kept themselves quiet within their own walls, Joshua resolved to
besiege them; so on the first day of the feast [of the passover], the
priests carried the ark round about, with some part of the armed men to be
a guard to it. These priests went forward, blowing with their seven
trumpets; and exhorted the army to be of good courage, and went round
about the city, with the senate following them; and when the priests had
only blown with the trumpets, for they did nothing more at all, they
returned to the camp. And when they had done this for six days, on the
seventh Joshua gathered the armed men and all the people together, and
told them these good tidings, That the city should now be taken, since God
would on that day give it them, by the falling down of the walls, and this
of their own accord, and without their labor. However, he charged them to
kill every one they should take, and not to abstain from the slaughter of
their enemies, either for weariness or for pity, and not to fall on the
spoil, and be thereby diverted from pursuing their enemies as they ran
away; but to destroy all the animals, and to take nothing for their own
peculiar advantage. He commanded them also to bring together all the
silver and gold, that it might be set apart as first-fruits unto God out
of this glorious exploit, as having gotten them from the city they first
took; only that they should save Rahab and her kindred alive, because of
the oath which the spies had sworn to her.
6. When he had said this, and had set his army in order, he brought it
against the city: so they went round the city again, the ark going before
them, and the priests encouraging the people to be zealous in the work;
and when they had gone round it seven times, and had stood still a little,
the wall fell down, while no instruments of war, nor any other force, was
applied to it by the Hebrews.
7. So they entered into Jericho, and slew all the men that were therein,
while they were affrighted at the surprising overthrow of the walls, and
their courage was become useless, and they were not able to defend
themselves; so they were slain, and their throats cut, some in the ways,
and others as caught in their houses; nothing afforded them assistance,
but they all perished, even to the women and the children; and the city
was filled with dead bodies, and not one person escaped. They also burnt
the whole city, and the country about it; but they saved alive Rahab, with
her family, who had fled to her inn. And when she was brought to him,
Joshua owned to her that they owed her thanks for her preservation of the
spies: so he said he would not appear to be behind her in his benefaction
to her; whereupon he gave her certain lands immediately, and had her in
great esteem ever afterwards.
8. And if any part of the city escaped the fire, he overthrew it from the
foundation; and he denounced a curse 3against its
inhabitants, if any should desire to rebuild it; how, upon his laying the
foundation of the walls, he should be deprived of his eldest son; and upon
finishing it, he should lose his youngest son. But what happened hereupon
we shall speak of hereafter.
9. Now there was an immense quantity of silver and gold, and besides those
of brass also, that was heaped together out of the city when it was taken,
no one transgressing the decree, nor purloining for their own peculiar
advantage; which spoils Joshua delivered to the priests, to be laid up
among their treasures. And thus did Jericho perish.
10. But there was one Achar, 4 the son [of Charmi, the son] of
Zebedias, of the tribe of Judah, who finding a royal garment woven
entirely of gold, and a piece of gold that weighed two hundred shekels; 5
and thinking it a very hard case, that what spoils he, by running some
hazard, had found, he must give away, and offer it to God, who stood in no
need of it, while he that wanted it must go without it,—made a deep
ditch in his own tent, and laid them up therein, as supposing he should
not only be concealed from his fellow soldiers, but from God himself also.
11. Now the place where Joshua pitched his camp was called Gilgal, which
denotes liberty; 6 for since now they had passed
over Jordan, they looked on themselves as freed from the miseries which
they had undergone from the Egyptians, and in the wilderness.
12. Now, a few days after the calamity that befell Jericho, Joshua sent
three thousand armed men to take Ai, a city situate above Jericho; but,
upon the sight of the people of Ai, with them they were driven back, and
lost thirty-six of their men. When this was told the Israelites, it made
them very sad, and exceeding disconsolate, not so much because of the
relation the men that were destroyed bare to them, though those that were
destroyed were all good men, and deserved their esteem, as by the despair
it occasioned; for while they believed that they were already, in effect,
in possession of the land, and should bring back the army out of the
battles without loss, as God had promised beforehand, they now saw
unexpectedly their enemies bold with success; so they put sackcloth over
their garments, and continued in tears and lamentation all the day,
without the least inquiry after food, but laid what had happened greatly
to heart.
13. When Joshua saw the army so much afflicted, and possessed with
forebodings of evil as to their whole expedition, he used freedom with
God, and said, “We are not come thus far out of any rashness of our own,
as though we thought ourselves able to subdue this land with our own
weapons, but at the instigation of Moses thy servant for this purpose,
because thou hast promised us, by many signs, that thou wouldst give us
this land for a possession, and that thou wouldst make our army always
superior in war to our enemies, and accordingly some success has already
attended upon us agreeably to thy promises; but because we have now
unexpectedly been foiled, and have lost some men out of our army, we are
grieved at it, as fearing what thou hast promised us, and what Moses
foretold us, cannot be depended on by us; and our future expectation
troubles us the more, because we have met with such a disaster in this our
first attempt. But do thou, O Lord, free us from these suspicions, for
thou art able to find a cure for these disorders, by giving us victory,
which will both take away the grief we are in at present, and prevent our
distrust as to what is to come.”
14. These intercessions Joshua put up to God, as he lay prostrate on his
face: whereupon God answered him, That he should rise up, and purify his
host from the pollution that had got into it; that “things consecrated to
me have been impudently stolen from me,” and that “this has been the
occasion why this defeat had happened to them;” and that when they should
search out and punish the offender, he would ever take care they should
have the victory over their enemies. This Joshua told the people; and
calling for Eleazar the high priest, and the men in authority, he cast
lots, tribe by tribe; and when the lot showed that this wicked action was
done by one of the tribe of Judah, he then again proposed the lot to the
several families thereto belonging; so the truth of this wicked action was
found to belong to the family of Zachar; and when the inquiry was made man
by man, they took Achar, who, upon God’s reducing him to a terrible
extremity, could not deny the fact: so he confessed the theft, and
produced what he had taken in the midst of them, whereupon he was
immediately put to death; and attained no more than to be buried in the
night in a disgraceful manner, and such as was suitable to a condemned
malefactor.
15. When Joshua had thus purified the host, he led them against Ai: and
having by night laid an ambush round about the city, he attacked the
enemies as soon as it was day; but as they advanced boldly against the
Israelites, because of their former victory, he made them believe he
retired, and by that means drew them a great way from the city, they still
supposing that they were pursuing their enemies, and despised them, as
though the case had been the same with that in the former battle; after
which Joshua ordered his forces to turn about, and placed them against
their front. He then made the signals agreed upon to those that lay in
ambush, and so excited them to fight; so they ran suddenly into the city,
the inhabitants being upon the walls, nay, others of them being in
perplexity, and coming to see those that were without the gates.
Accordingly, these men took the city, and slew all that they met with; but
Joshua forced those that came against him to come to a close fight, and
discomfited them, and made them run away; and when they were driven
towards the city, and thought it had not been touched, as soon as they saw
it was taken, and perceived it was burnt, with their wives and children,
they wandered about in the fields in a scattered condition, and were no
way able to defend themselves, because they had none to support them. Now
when this calamity was come upon the men of Ai, there were a great number
of children, and women, and servants, and an immense quantity of other
furniture. The Hebrews also took herds of cattle, and a great deal of
money, for this was a rich country. So when Joshua came to Gilgal, he
divided all these spoils among the soldiers.
16. But the Gibeonites, who inhabited very near to Jerusalem, when they
saw what miseries had happened to the inhabitants of Jericho; and to those
of Ai, and suspected that the like sore calamity would come as far as
themselves, they did not think fit to ask for mercy of Joshua; for they
supposed they should find little mercy from him, who made war that he
might entirely destroy the nation of the Canaanites; but they invited the
people of Cephirah and Kiriathjearim, who were their neighbors, to join in
league with them; and told them that neither could they themselves avoid
the danger they were all in, if the Israelites should prevent them, and
seize upon them: so when they had persuaded them, they resolved to
endeavor to escape the forces of the Israelites. Accordingly, upon their
agreement to what they proposed, they sent ambassadors to Joshua to make a
league of friendship with him, and those such of the citizens as were best
approved of, and most capable of doing what was most advantageous to the
multitude. Now these ambassadors thought it dangerous to confess
themselves to be Canaanites, but thought they might by this contrivance
avoid the danger, namely, by saying that they bare no relation to the
Canaanites at all, but dwelt at a very great distance from them: and they
said further, that they came a long way, on account of the reputation he
had gained for his virtue; and as a mark of the truth of what they said,
they showed him the habit they were in, for that their clothes were new
when they came out, but were greatly worn by the length of thee they had
been on their journey; for indeed they took torn garments, on purpose that
they might make him believe so. So they stood in the midst of the people,
and said that they were sent by the people of Gibeon, and of the
circumjacent cities, which were very remote from the land where they now
were, to make such a league of friendship with them, and this on such
conditions as were customary among their forefathers; for when they
understood that, by the favor of God, and his gift to them, they were to
have the possession of the land of Canaan bestowed upon them, they said
that they were very glad to hear it, and desired to be admitted into the
number of their citizens. Thus did these ambassadors speak; and showing
them the marks of their long journey, they entreated the Hebrews to make a
league of friendship with them. Accordingly Joshua, believing what they
said, that they were not of the nation of the Canaanites, entered into
friendship with them; and Eleazar the high priest, with the senate, sware
to them that they would esteem them their friends and associates, and
would attempt nothing that should be unfair against them, the multitude
also assenting to the oaths that were made to them. So these men, having
obtained what they desired, by deceiving the Israelites, went home: but
when Joshua led his army to the country at the bottom of the mountains of
this part of Canaan, he understood that the Gibeonites dwelt not far from
Jerusalem, and that they were of the stock of the Canaanites; so he sent
for their governors, and reproached them with the cheat they had put upon
him; but they alleged, on their own behalf, that they had no other way to
save themselves but that, and were therefore forced to have recourse to
it. So he called for Eleazar the high priest, and for the senate, who
thought it right to make them public servants, that they might not break
the oath they had made to them; and they ordained them to be so. And this
was the method by which these men found safety and security under the
calamity that was ready to overtake them.
17. But the king of Jerusalem took it to heart that the Gibeonites had
gone over to Joshua; so he called upon the kings of the neighboring
nations to join together, and make war against them. Now when the
Gibeonites saw these kings, which were four, besides the king of
Jerusalem, and perceived that they had pitched their camp at a certain
fountain not far from their city, and were getting ready for the siege of
it, they called upon Joshua to assist them; for such was their case, as to
expect to be destroyed by these Canaanites, but to suppose they should be
saved by those that came for the destruction of the Canaanites, because of
the league of friendship that was between them. Accordingly, Joshua made
haste with his whole army to assist them, and marching day and night, in
the morning he fell upon the enemies as they were going up to the siege;
and when he had discomfited them, he followed them, and pursued them down
the descent of the hills. The place is called Bethhoron; where he also
understood that God assisted him, which he declared by thunder and
thunderbolts, as also by the falling of hail larger than usual. Moreover,
it happened that the day was lengthened 7 that the
night might not come on too soon, and be an obstruction to the zeal of the
Hebrews in pursuing their enemies; insomuch that Joshua took the kings,
who were hidden in a certain cave at Makkedah, and put them to death. Now,
that the day was lengthened at this thee, and was longer than ordinary, is
expressed in the books laid up in the temple.
18. These kings which made war with, and were ready to fight the
Gibeonites, being thus overthrown, Joshua returned again to the
mountainous parts of Canaan; and when he had made a great slaughter of the
people there, and took their prey, he came to the camp at Gilgal. And now
there went a great fame abroad among the neighboring people of the courage
of the Hebrews; and those that heard what a number of men were destroyed,
were greatly affrighted at it: so the kings that lived about Mount
Libanus, who were Canaanites, and those Canaanites that dwelt in the plain
country, with auxiliaries out of the land of the Philistines, pitched
their camp at Beroth, a city of the Upper Galilee, not far from Cadesh,
which is itself also a place in Galilee. Now the number of the whole army
was three hundred thousand armed footmen, and ten thousand horsemen, and
twenty thousand chariots; so that the multitude of the enemies affrighted
both Joshua himself and the Israelites; and they, instead of being full of
hopes of good success, were superstitiously timorous, with the great
terror with which they were stricken. Whereupon God upbraided them with
the fear they were in, and asked them whether they desired a greater help
than he could afford them; and promised them that they should overcome
their enemies; and withal charged them to make their enemies’ horses
useless, and to burn their chariots. So Joshua became full of courage upon
these promises of God, and went out suddenly against the enemies; and
after five days’ march he came upon them, and joined battle with them, and
there was a terrible fight, and such a number were slain as could not be
believed by those that heard it. He also went on in the pursuit a great
way, and destroyed the entire army of the enemies, few only excepted, and
all the kings fell in the battle; insomuch, that when there wanted men to
be killed, Joshua slew their horses, and burnt their chariots and passed
all over their country without opposition, no one daring to meet him in
battle; but he still went on, taking their cities by siege, and again
killing whatever he took.
19. The fifth year was now past, and there was not one of the Canaanites
remained any longer, excepting some that had retired to places of great
strength. So Joshua removed his camp to the mountainous country, and
placed the tabernacle in the city of Shiloh, for that seemed a fit place
for it, because of the beauty of its situation, until such thee as their
affairs would permit them to build a temple; and from thence he went to
Shechem, together with all the people, and raised an altar where Moses had
beforehand directed; then did he divide the army, and placed one half of
them on Mount Gerizzim, and the other half on Mount Ebal, on which
mountain the altar was; he also placed there the tribe of Levi, and the
priests. And when they had sacrificed, and denounced the [blessings and
the] curses, and had left them engraven upon the altar, they returned to
Shiloh.
20. And now Joshua was old, and saw that the cities of the Canaanites were
not easily to be taken, not only because they were situate in such strong
places, but because of the strength of the walls themselves, which being
built round about, the natural strength of the places on which the cities
stood, seemed capable of repelling their enemies from besieging them, and
of making those enemies despair of taking them; for when the Canaanites
had learned that the Israelites came out of Egypt in order to destroy
them, they were busy all that time in making their cities strong. So he
gathered the people together to a congregation at Shiloh; and when they,
with great zeal and haste, were come thither, he observed to them what
prosperous successes they had already had, and what glorious things had
been done, and those such as were worthy of that God who enabled them to
do those things, and worthy of the virtue of those laws which they
followed. He took notice also, that thirty-one of those kings that
ventured to give them battle were overcome, and every army, how great
soever it were, that confided in their own power, and fought with them,
was utterly destroyed; so that not so much as any of their posterity
remained. And as for the cities, since some of them were taken, but the
others must be taken in length of time, by long sieges, both on account of
the strength of their walls, and of the confidence the inhabitants had in
them thereby, he thought it reasonable that those tribes that came along
with them from beyond Jordan, and had partaken of the dangers they had
undergone, being their own kindred, should now be dismissed and sent home,
and should have thanks for the pains they had taken together with them. As
also, he thought it reasonable that they should send one man out of every
tribe, and he such as had the testimony of extraordinary virtue, who
should measure the land faithfully, and without any fallacy or deceit
should inform them of its real magnitude.
21. Now Joshua, when he had thus spoken to them, found that the multitude
approved of his proposal. So he sent men to measure their country, and
sent with them some geometricians, who could not easily fail of knowing
the truth, on account of their skill in that art. He also gave them a
charge to estimate the measure of that part of the land that was most
fruitful, and what was not so good: for such is the nature of the land of
Canaan, that one may see large plains, and such as are exceeding fit to
produce fruit, which yet, if they were compared to other parts of the
country, might be reckoned exceedingly fruitful; yet, if it be compared
with the fields about Jericho, and to those that belong to Jerusalem, will
appear to be of no account at all; and although it so falls out that these
people have but a very little of this sort of land, and that it is, for
the main, mountainous also, yet does it not come behind other parts, on
account of its exceeding goodness and beauty; for which reason Joshua
thought the land for the tribes should be divided by estimation of its
goodness, rather than the largeness of its measure, it often happening
that one acre of some sort of land was equivalent to a thousand other
acres. Now the men that were sent, which were in number ten, traveled all
about, and made an estimation of the land, and in the seventh month came
to him to the city of Shiloh, where they had set up the tabernacle.
22. So Joshua took both Eleazar and the senate, and with them the heads of
the tribes, and distributed the land to the nine tribes, and to the
half-tribe of Manasseh, appointing the dimensions to be according to the
largeness of each tribe. So when he had cast lots, Judah had assigned him
by lot the upper part of Judea, reaching as far as Jerusalem, and its
breadth extended to the Lake of Sodom. Now in the lot of this tribe there
were the cities of Askelon and Gaza. The lot of Simeon, which was the
second, included that part of Idumea which bordered upon Egypt and Arabia.
As to the Benjamites, their lot fell so, that its length reached from the
river Jordan to the sea, but in breadth it was bounded by Jerusalem and
Bethel; and this lot was the narrowest of all, by reason of the goodness
of the land, for it included Jericho and the city of Jerusalem. The tribe
of Ephraim had by lot the land that extended in length from the river
Jordan to Gezer; but in breadth as far as from Bethel, till it ended at
the Great Plain. The half-tribe of Manasseh had the land from Jordan to
the city of Dora; but its breadth was at Bethsham, which is now called
Scythopolis. And after these was Issachar, which had its limits in length,
Mount Carmel and the river, but its limit in breadth was Mount Tabor. The
tribe of Zebulon’s lot included the land which lay as far as the Lake of
Genesareth, and that which belonged to Carmel and the sea. The tribe of
Aser had that part which was called the Valley, for such it was, and all
that part which lay over-against Sidon. The city Arce belonged to their
share, which is also named Actipus. The Naphthalites received the eastern
parts, as far as the city of Damascus and the Upper Galilee, unto Mount
Libanus, and the Fountains of Jordan, which rise out of that mountain;
that is, out of that part of it whose limits belong to the neighboring
city of Arce. The Danites’ lot included all that part of the valley which
respects the sun-setting, and were bounded by Azotus and Dora; as also
they had all Jamnia and Gath, from Ekron to that mountain where the tribe
of Judah begins.
23. After this manner did Joshua divide the six nations that bear the name
of the sons of Canaan, with their land, to be possessed by the nine tribes
and a half; for Moses had prevented him, and had already distributed the
land of the Amorites, which itself was so called also from one of the sons
of Canaan, to the two tribes and a half, as we have shown already. But the
parts about Sidon, as also those that belonged to the Arkites, and the
Amathites, and the Aradians, were not yet regularly disposed of.
24. But now was Joshua hindered by his age from executing what he intended
to do [as did those that succeeded him in the government, take little care
of what was for the advantage of the public]; so he gave it in charge to
every tribe to leave no remainder of the race of the Canaanites in the
land that had been divided to them by lot; that Moses had assured them
beforehand, and they might rest fully satisfied about it, that their own
security and their observation of their own laws depended wholly upon it.
Moreover, he enjoined them to give thirty-eight cities to the Levites, for
they had already received ten in the country of the Amorites; and three of
these he assigned to those that fled from the man-slayers, who were to
inhabit there; for he was very solicitous that nothing should be neglected
which Moses had ordained. These cities were, of the tribe of Judah,
Hebron; of that of Ephraim, Shechem; and of that of Naphthali, Cadesh,
which is a place of the Upper Galilee. He also distributed among them the
rest of the prey not yet distributed, which was very great; whereby they
had an affluence of great riches, both all in general, and every one in
particular; and this of gold and of vestments, and of other furniture,
besides a multitude of cattle, whose number could not be told.
25. After this was over, he gathered the army together to a congregation,
and spake thus to those tribes that had their settlement in the land of
the Amorites beyond Jordan,—for fifty thousand of them had armed
themselves, and had gone to the war along with them:—”Since that
God, who is the Father and Lord of the Hebrew nation, has now given us
this land for a possession, and promised to preserve us in the enjoyment
of it as our own for ever; and since you have with alacrity offered
yourselves to assist us when we wanted that assistance on all occasions,
according to his command; it is but just, now all our difficulties are
over, that you should be permitted to enjoy rest, and that we should
trespass on your alacrity to help us no longer; that so, if we should
again stand in need of it, we may readily have it on any future emergency,
and not tire you out so much now as may make you slower in assisting us
another time. We, therefore, return you our thanks for the dangers you
have undergone with us, and we do it not at this time only, but we shall
always be thus disposed; and be so good as to remember our friends, and to
preserve in mind what advantages we have had from them; and how you have
put off the enjoyments of your own happiness for our sakes, and have
labored for what we have now, by the goodwill of God, obtained, and
resolved not to enjoy your own prosperity till you had afforded us that
assistance. However, you have, by joining your labor with ours, gotten
great plenty of riches, and will carry home with you much prey, with gold
and silver, and, what is more than all these, our good-will towards you,
and a mind willingly disposed to make a requital of your kindness to us,
in what case soever you shall desire it, for you have not omitted any
thing which Moses beforehand required of you, nor have you despised him
because he was dead and gone from you, so that there is nothing to
diminish that gratitude which we owe to you. We therefore dismiss you
joyful to your own inheritances; and we entreat you to suppose, that there
is no limit to be set to the intimate relation that is between us; and
that you will not imagine, because this river is interposed between us,
that you are of a different race from us, and not Hebrews; for we are all
the posterity of Abraham, both we that inhabit here, and you that inhabit
there; and it is the same God that brought our forefathers and yours into
the world, whose worship and form of government we are to take care of,
which he has ordained, and are most carefully to observe; because while
you continue in those laws, God will also show himself merciful and
assisting to you; but if you imitate the other nations, and forsake those
laws, he will reject your nation.” When Joshua had spoken thus, and
saluted them all, both those in authority one by one, and the whole
multitude in common, he himself staid where he was; but the people
conducted those tribes on their journey, and that not without tears in
their eyes; and indeed they hardly knew how to part one from the other.
26. Now when the tribe of Reuben, and that of Gad, and as many of the
Manassites as followed them, were passed over the river, they built an
altar on the banks of Jordan, as a monument to posterity, and a sign of
their relation to those that should inhabit on the other side. But when
those on the other side heard that those who had been dismissed had built
an altar, but did not hear with what intention they built it, but supposed
it to be by way of innovation, and for the introduction of strange gods,
they did not incline to disbelieve it; but thinking this defamatory
report, as if it were built for divine worship, was credible, they
appeared in arms, as though they would avenge themselves on those that
built the altar; and they were about to pass over the river, and to punish
them for their subversion of the laws of their country; for they did not
think it fit to regard them on account of their kindred or the dignity of
those that had given the occasion, but to regard the will of God, and the
manner wherein he desired to be worshipped; so these men put themselves in
array for war. But Joshua, and Eleazar the high priest, and the senate,
restrained them; and persuaded them first to make trial by words of their
intention, and afterwards, if they found that their intention was evil,
then only to proceed to make war upon them. Accordingly, they sent as
ambassadors to them Phineas the son of Eleazar, and ten more persons that
were in esteem among the Hebrews, to learn of them what was in their mind,
when, upon passing over the river, they had built an altar upon its banks.
And as soon as these ambassadors were passed over, and were come to them,
and a congregation was assembled, Phineas stood up and said, That the
offense they had been guilty of was of too heinous a nature to be punished
by words alone, or by them only to be amended for the future; yet that
they did not so look at the heinousness of their transgression as to have
recourse to arms, and to a battle for their punishment immediately, but
that, on account of their kindred, and the probability there was that they
might be reclaimed, they took this method of sending an ambassage to them:
“That when we have learned the true reasons by which you have been moved
to build this altar, we may neither seem to have been too rash in
assaulting you by our weapons of war, if it prove that you made the altar
for justifiable reasons, and may then justly punish you if the accusation
prove true; for we can hardly hardly suppose that you, have been
acquainted with the will of God and have been hearers of those laws which
he himself hath given us, now you are separated from us, and gone to that
patrimony of yours, which you, through the grace of God, and that
providence which he exercises over you, have obtained by lot, can forget
him, and can leave that ark and that altar which is peculiar to us, and
can introduce strange gods, and imitate the wicked practices of the
Canaanites. Now this will appear to have been a small crime if you repent
now, and proceed no further in your madness, but pay a due reverence to,
and keep in mind the laws of your country; but if you persist in your
sins, we will not grudge our pains to preserve our laws; but we will pass
over Jordan and defend them, and defend God also, and shall esteem of you
as of men no way differing from the Canaanites, but shall destroy you in
the like manner as we destroyed them; for do not you imagine that, because
you are got over the river, you are got out of the reach of God’s power;
you are every where in places that belong to him, and impossible it is to
overrun his power, and the punishment he will bring on men thereby: but if
you think that your settlement here will be any obstruction to your
conversion to what is good, nothing need hinder us from dividing the land
anew, and leaving this old land to be for the feeding of sheep; but you
will do well to return to your duty, and to leave off these new crimes;
and we beseech you, by your children and wives, not to force us to punish
you. Take therefore such measures in this assembly, as supposing that your
own safety, and the safety of those that are dearest to you, is therein
concerned, and believe that it is better for you to be conquered by words,
than to continue in your purpose, and to experience deeds and war
therefore.”
27. When Phineas had discoursed thus, the governors of the assembly, and
the whole multitude, began to make an apology for themselves, concerning
what they were accused of; and they said, That they neither would depart
from the relation they bare to them, nor had they built the altar by way
of innovation; that they owned one and the same common God with all the
Hebrews, and that brazen altar which was before the tabernacle, on which
they would offer their sacrifices; that as to the altar they had raised,
on account of which they were thus suspected, it was not built for
worship, “but that it might be a sign and a monument of our relation to
you for ever, and a necessary caution to us to act wisely, and to continue
in the laws of our country, but not a handle for transgressing them, as
you suspect: and let God be our authentic witness, that this was the
occasion of our building this altar: whence we beg you will have a better
opinion of us, and do not impute such a thing to us as would render any of
the posterity of Abraham well worthy of perdition, in case they attempt to
bring in new rites, and such as are different from our usual practices.”
28. When they had made this answer, and Phineas had commended them for it,
he came to Joshua, and explained before the people what answer they had
received. Now Joshua was glad that he was under no necessity of setting
them in array, or of leading them to shed blood, and make war against men
of their own kindred; and accordingly he offered sacrifices of
thanksgiving to God for the same. So Joshua after that dissolved this
great assembly of the people, and sent them to their own inheritances,
while he himself lived in Shechem. But in the twentieth year after this,
when he was very old, he sent for those of the greatest dignity in the
several cities, with those in authority, and the senate, and as many of
the common people as could be present; and when they were come, he put
them in mind of all the benefits God had bestowed on them, which could not
but be a great many, since from a low estate they were advanced to so
great a degree of glory and plenty; and exhorted them to take notice of
the intentions of God, which had been so gracious towards them; and told
them that the Deity would continue their friend by nothing else but their
piety; and that it was proper for him, now that he was about to depart out
of this life, to leave such an admonition to them; and he desired that
they would keep in memory this his exhortation to them.
29. So Joshua, when he had thus discoursed to them, died, having lived a
hundred and ten years; forty of which he lived with Moses, in order to
learn what might be for his advantage afterwards. He also became their
commander after his death for twenty-five years. He was a man that wanted
not wisdom nor eloquence to declare his intentions to the people, but very
eminent on both accounts. He was of great courage and magnanimity in
action and in dangers, and very sagacious in procuring the peace of the
people, and of great virtue at all proper seasons. He was buried in the
city of Timnab, of the tribe of Ephraim 9 About the
same time died Eleazar the high priest, leaving the high priesthood to his
son Phineas. His monument also, and sepulcher, are in the city of Gabatha.
CHAPTER 2. How, After The Death Of Joshua Their Commander, The Israelites
Transgressed The Laws Of Their Country, And Experienced Great Afflictions;
And When There Was A Sedition Arisen, The Tribe Of Benjamin Was Destroyed
Excepting Only Six Hundred Men.
1. After the death of Joshua and Eleazar, Phineas prophesied, 10
that according to God’s will they should commit the government to the
tribe of Judah, and that this tribe should destroy the race of the
Canaanites; for then the people were concerned to learn what was the will
of God. They also took to their assistance the tribe of Simeon; but upon
this condition, that when those that had been tributary to the tribe of
Judah should be slain, they should do the like for the tribe of Simeon.
2. But the affairs of the Canaanites were at this time in a flourishing
condition, and they expected the Israelites with a great army at the city
Bezek, having put the government into the hands of Adonibezek, which name
denotes the Lord of Bezek, for Adoni in the Hebrew tongue signifies Lord.
Now they hoped to have been too hard for the Israelites, because Joshua
was dead; but when the Israelites had joined battle with them, I mean the
two tribes before mentioned, they fought gloriously, and slew above ten
thousand of them, and put the rest to flight; and in the pursuit they took
Adonibezek, who, when his fingers and toes were cut off by them, said,
“Nay, indeed, I was not always to lie concealed from God, as I find by
what I now endure, while I have not been ashamed to do the same to
seventy-two kings.” 11 So they carried him alive as
far as Jerusalem; and when he was dead, they buried him in the earth, and
went on still in taking the cities: and when they had taken the greatest
part of them, they besieged Jerusalem; and when they had taken the lower
city, which was not under a considerable time, they slew all the
inhabitants; but the upper city was not to be taken without great
difficulty, through the strength of its walls, and the nature of the
place.
3. For which reason they removed their camp to Hebron; and when they had
taken it, they slew all the inhabitants. There were till then left the
race of giants, who had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely
different from other men, that they were surprising to the sight, and
terrible to the hearing. The bones of these men are still shown to this
very day, unlike to any credible relations of other men. Now they gave
this city to the Levites as an extraordinary reward, with the suburbs of
two thousand cities; but the land thereto belonging they gave as a free
gift to Caleb, according to the injunctions of Moses. This Caleb was one
of the spies which Moses sent into the land of Canaan. They also gave land
for habitation to the posterity of Jethro, the Midianite, who was the
father-in-law to Moses; for they had left their own country, and followed
them, and accompanied them in the wilderness.
4. Now the tribes of Judah and Simeon took the cities which were in the
mountainous part of Canaan, as also Askelon and Ashdod, of those that lay
near the sea; but Gaza and Ekron escaped them, for they, lying in a flat
country, and having a great number of chariots, sorely galled those that
attacked them. So these tribes, when they were grown very rich by this
war, retired to their own cities, and laid aside their weapons of war.
5. But the Benjamites, to whom belonged Jerusalem, permitted its
inhabitants to pay tribute. So they all left off, the one to kill, and the
other to expose themselves to danger, and had time to cultivate the
ground. The rest of the tribes imitated that of Benjamin, and did the
same; and, contenting themselves with the tributes that were paid them,
permitted the Canaanites to live in peace.
6. However, the tribe of Ephraim, when they besieged Bethel, made no
advance, nor performed any thing worthy of the time they spent, and of the
pains they took about that siege; yet did they persist in it, still
sitting down before the city, though they endured great trouble thereby:
but, after some time, they caught one of the citizens that came to them to
get necessaries, and they gave him some assurances that, if he would
deliver up the city to them, they would preserve him and his kindred; so
he aware that, upon those terms, he would put the city into their hands.
Accordingly, he that, thus betrayed the city was preserved with his
family; and the Israelites slew all the inhabitants, and retained the city
for themselves.
7. After this, the Israelites grew effeminate as to fighting any more
against their enemies, but applied themselves to the cultivation of the
land, which producing them great plenty and riches, they neglected the
regular disposition of their settlement, and indulged themselves in luxury
and pleasures; nor were they any longer careful to hear the laws that
belonged to their political government: whereupon God was provoked to
anger, and put them in mind, first, how, contrary to his directions, they
had spared the Canaanites; and, after that, how those Canaanites, as
opportunity served, used them very barbarously. But the Israelites, though
they were in heaviness at these admonitions from God, yet were they still
very unwilling to go to war; and since they got large tributes from the
Canaanites, and were indisposed for taking pains by their luxury, they
suffered their aristocracy to be corrupted also, and did not ordain
themselves a senate, nor any other such magistrates as their laws had
formerly required, but they were very much given to cultivating their
fields, in order to get wealth; which great indolence of theirs brought a
terrible sedition upon them, and they proceeded so far as to fight one
against another, from the following occasion:—
8. There was a Levite 12 a man of a vulgar family, that
belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, and dwelt therein: this man married a
wife from Bethlehem, which is a place belonging to the tribe of Judah. Now
he was very fond of his wife, and overcome with her beauty; but he was
unhappy in this, that he did not meet with the like return of affection
from her, for she was averse to him, which did more inflame his passion
for her, so that they quarreled one with another perpetually; and at last
the woman was so disgusted at these quarrels, that she left her husband,
and went to her parents in the fourth month. The husband being very uneasy
at this her departure, and that out of his fondness for her, came to his
father and mother-in-law, and made up their quarrels, and was reconciled
to her, and lived with them there four days, as being kindly treated by
her parents. On the fifth day he resolved to go home, and went away in the
evening; for his wife’s parents were loath to part with their daughter,
and delayed the time till the day was gone. Now they had one servant that
followed them, and an ass on which the woman rode; and when they were near
Jerusalem, having gone already thirty furlongs, the servant advised them
to take up their lodgings some where, lest some misfortune should befall
them if they traveled in the night, especially since they were not far off
enemies, that season often giving reason for suspicion of dangers from
even such as are friends; but the husband was not pleased with this
advice, nor was he willing to take up his lodging among strangers, for the
city belonged to the Canaanites, but desired rather to go twenty furlongs
farther, and so to take their lodgings in some Israelite city.
Accordingly, he obtained his purpose, and came to Gibeah, a city of the
tribe of Benjamin, when it was just dark; and while no one that lived in
the market-place invited him to lodge with him, there came an old man out
of the field, one that was indeed of the tribe of Ephraim, but resided in
Gibeah, and met him, and asked him who he was, and for what reason he came
thither so late, and why he was looking out for provisions for supper when
it was dark? To which he replied, that he was a Levite, and was bringing
his wife from her parents, and was going home; but he told him his
habitation was in the tribe of Ephraim: so the old man, as well because of
their kindred as because they lived in the same tribe, and also because
they had thus accidentally met together, took him in to lodge with him.
Now certain young men of the inhabitants of Gibeah, having seen the woman
in the market-place, and admiring her beauty, when they understood that
she lodged with the old man, came to the doors, as contemning the weakness
and fewness of the old man’s family; and when the old man desired them to
go away, and not to offer any violence or abuse there, they desired him to
yield them up the strange woman, and then he should have no harm done to
him: and when the old man alleged that the Levite was of his kindred, and
that they would be guilty of horrid wickedness if they suffered themselves
to be overcome by their pleasures, and so offend against their laws, they
despised his righteous admonition, and laughed him to scorn. They also
threatened to kill him if he became an obstacle to their inclinations;
whereupon, when he found himself in great distress, and yet was not
willing to overlook his guests, and see them abused, he produced his own
daughter to them; and told them that it was a smaller breach of the law to
satisfy their lust upon her, than to abuse his guests, supposing that he
himself should by this means prevent any injury to be done to those
guests. When they no way abated of their earnestness for the strange
woman, but insisted absolutely on their desires to have her, he entreated
them not to perpetrate any such act of injustice; but they proceeded to
take her away by force, and indulging still more the violence of their
inclinations, they took the woman away to their house, and when they had
satisfied their lust upon her the whole night, they let her go about
daybreak. So she came to the place where she had been entertained, under
great affliction at what had happened; and was very sorrowful upon
occasion of what she had suffered, and durst not look her husband in the
face for shame, for she concluded that he would never forgive her for what
she had done; so she fell down, and gave up the ghost: but her husband
supposed that his wife was only fast asleep, and, thinking nothing of a
more melancholy nature had happened, endeavored to raise her up, resolving
to speak comfortably to her, since she did not voluntarily expose herself
to these men’s lust, but was forced away to their house; but as soon as he
perceived she was dead, he acted as prudently as the greatness of his
misfortunes would admit, and laid his dead wife upon the beast, and
carried her home; and cutting her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, he
sent them to every tribe, and gave it in charge to those that carried
them, to inform the tribes of those that were the causes of his wife’s
death, and of the violence they had offered to her.
9. Upon this the people were greatly disturbed at what they saw, and at
what they heard, as never having had the experience of such a thing
before; so they gathered themselves to Shiloh, out of a prodigious and a
just anger, and assembling in a great congregation before the tabernacle,
they immediately resolved to take arms, and to treat the inhabitants of
Gibeah as enemies; but the senate restrained them from doing so, and
persuaded them, that they ought not so hastily to make war upon people of
the same nation with them, before they discoursed them by words concerning
the accusation laid against them; it being part of their law, that they
should not bring an army against foreigners themselves, when they appear
to have been injurious, without sending an ambassage first, and trying
thereby whether they will repent or not: and accordingly they exhorted
them to do what they ought to do in obedience to their laws, that is, to
send to the inhabitants of Gibeah, to know whether they would deliver up
the offenders to them, and if they deliver them up, to rest satisfied with
the punishment of those offenders; but if they despised the message that
was sent them, to punish them by taking, up arms against them. Accordingly
they sent to the inhabitants of Gibeah, and accused the young men of the
crimes committed in the affair of the Levite’s wife, and required of them
those that had done what was contrary to the law, that they might be
punished, as having justly deserved to die for what they had done; but the
inhabitants of Gibeah would not deliver up the young men, and thought it
too reproachful to them, out of fear of war, to submit to other men’s
demands upon them; vaunting themselves to be no way inferior to any in
war, neither in their number nor in courage. The rest of their tribe were
also making great preparation for war, for they were so insolently mad as
also to resolve to repel force by force.
10. When it was related to the Israelites what the inhabitants of Gibeah
had resolved upon, they took their oath that no one of them would give his
daughter in marriage to a Benjamite, but make war with greater fury
against them than we have learned our forefathers made war against the
Canaanites; and sent out presently an army of four hundred thousand
against them, while the Benjamites’ army-was twenty-five thousand and six
hundred; five hundred of whom were excellent at slinging stones with their
left hands, insomuch that when the battle was joined at Gibeah the
Benjamites beat the Israelites, and of them there fell two thousand men;
and probably more had been destroyed had not the night came on and
prevented it, and broken off the fight; so the Benjamites returned to the
city with joy, and the Israelites returned to their camp in a great fright
at what had happened. On the next day, when they fought again, the
Benjamites beat them; and eighteen thousand of the Israelites were slain,
and the rest deserted their camp out of fear of a greater slaughter. So
they came to Bethel, 13 a city that was near their
camp, and fasted on the next day; and besought God, by Phineas the high
priest, that his wrath against them might cease, and that he would be
satisfied with these two defeats, and give them the victory and power over
their enemies. Accordingly God promised them so to do, by the prophesying
of Phineas.
11. When therefore they had divided the army into two parts, they laid the
one half of them in ambush about the city Gibeah by night, while the other
half attacked the Benjamites, who retiring upon the assault, the
Benjamites pursued them, while the Hebrews retired by slow degrees, as
very desirous to draw them entirely from the city; and the other followed
them as they retired, till both the old men and the young men that were
left in the city, as too weak to fight, came running out together with
them, as willing to bring their enemies under. However, when they were a
great way from the city the Hebrews ran away no longer, but turned back to
fight them, and lifted up the signal they had agreed on to those that lay
in ambush, who rose up, and with a great noise fell upon the enemy. Now,
as soon as ever they perceived themselves to be deceived, they knew not
what to do; and when they were driven into a certain hollow place which
was in a valley, they were shot at by those that encompassed them, till
they were all destroyed, excepting six hundred, which formed themselves
into a close body of men, and forced their passage through the midst of
their enemies, and fled to the neighboring mountains, and, seizing upon
them, remained there; but the rest of them, being about twenty-five
thousand, were slain. Then did the Israelites burn Gibeah, and slew the
women, and the males that were under age; and did the same also to the
other cities of the Benjamites; and, indeed, they were enraged to that
degree, that they sent twelve thousand men out of the army, and gave them
orders to destroy Jabesh Gilead, because it did not join with them in
fighting against the Benjamites. Accordingly, those that were sent slew
the men of war, with their children and wives, excepting four hundred
virgins. To such a degree had they proceeded in their anger, because they
not only had the suffering of the Levite’s wife to avenge, but the
slaughter of their own soldiers.
12. However, they afterward were sorry for the calamity they had brought
upon the Benjamites, and appointed a fast on that account, although they
supposed those men had suffered justly for their offense against the laws;
so they recalled by their ambassadors those six hundred which had escaped.
These had seated themselves on a certain rock called Rimmon, which was in
the wilderness. So the ambassadors lamented not only the disaster that had
befallen the Benjamites, but themselves also, by this destruction of their
kindred; and persuaded them to take it patiently; and to come and unite
with them, and not, so far as in them lay, to give their suffrage to the
utter destruction of the tribe of Benjamin; and said to them, “We give you
leave to take the whole land of Benjamin to yourselves, and as much prey
as you are able to carry away with you.” So these men with sorrow
confessed, that what had been done was according to the decree of God, and
had happened for their own wickedness; and assented to those that invited
them, and came down to their own tribe. The Israelites also gave them the
four hundred virgins of Jabesh Gilead for wives; but as to the remaining
two hundred, they deliberated about it how they might compass wives enough
for them, and that they might have children by them; and whereas they had,
before the war began, taken an oath, that no one would give his daughter
to wife to a Benjamite, some advised them to have no regard to what they
had sworn, because the oath had not been taken advisedly and judiciously,
but in a passion, and thought that they should do nothing against God, if
they were able to save a whole tribe which was in danger of perishing; and
that perjury was then a sad and dangerous thing, not when it is done out
of necessity, but when it is done with a wicked intention. But when the
senate were affrighted at the very name of perjury, a certain person told
them that he could show them a way whereby they might procure the
Benjamites wives enough, and yet keep their oath. They asked him what his
proposal was. He said, “That three times in a year, when we meet in
Shiloh, our wives and our daughters accompany us: let then the Benjamites
be allowed to steal away, and marry such women as they can catch, while we
will neither incite them nor forbid them; and when their parents take it
ill, and desire us to inflict punishment upon them, we will tell them,
that they were themselves the cause of what had happened, by neglecting to
guard their daughters, and that they ought not to be over angry at the
Benjamites, since that anger was permitted to rise too high already.” So
the Israelites were persuaded to follow this advice, and decreed, That the
Benjamites should be allowed thus to steal themselves wives. So when the
festival was coming on, these two hundred Benjamites lay in ambush before
the city, by two and three together, and waited for the coming of the
virgins, in the vineyards and other places where they could lie concealed.
Accordingly the virgins came along playing, and suspected nothing of what
was coming upon them, and walked after an unguarded manner, so those that
laid scattered in the road, rose up, and caught hold of them: by this
means these Benjamites got them wives, and fell to agriculture, and took
good care to recover their former happy state. And thus was this tribe of
the Benjamites, after they had been in danger of entirely perishing, saved
in the manner forementioned, by the wisdom of the Israelites; and
accordingly it presently flourished, and soon increased to be a multitude,
and came to enjoy all other degrees of happiness. And such was the
conclusion of this war.
CHAPTER 3. How The Israelites After This Misfortune Grew Wicked And Served
The Assyrians; And How God Delivered Them By Othniel, Who Ruled Over The
Forty Years.
1. Now it happened that the tribe of Dan suffered in like manner with the
tribe of Benjamin; and it came to do so on the occasion following:—When
the Israelites had already left off the exercise of their arms for war,
and were intent upon their husbandry, the Canaanites despised them, and
brought together an army, not because they expected to suffer by them, but
because they had a mind to have a sure prospect of treating the Hebrews
ill when they pleased, and might thereby for the time to come dwell in
their own cities the more securely; they prepared therefore their
chariots, and gathered their soldiery together, their cities also combined
together, and drew over to them Askelon and Ekron, which were within the
tribe of Judah, and many more of those that lay in the plain. They also
forced the Danites to fly into the mountainous country, and left them not
the least portion of the plain country to set their foot on. Since then
these Danites were not able to fight them, and had not land enough to
sustain them, they sent five of their men into the midland country, to
seek for a land to which they might remove their habitation. So these men
went as far as the neighborhood of Mount Libanus, and the fountains of the
Lesser Jordan, at the great plain of Sidon, a day’s journey from the city;
and when they had taken a view of the land, and found it to be good and
exceeding fruitful, they acquainted their tribe with it, whereupon they
made an expedition with the army, and built there the city Dan, of the
same name with the son of Jacob, and of the same name with their own
tribe.
2. The Israelites grew so indolent, and unready of taking pains, that
misfortunes came heavier upon them, which also proceeded in part from
their contempt of the Divine worship; for when they had once fallen off
from the regularity of their political government, they indulged
themselves further in living according to their own pleasure, and
according to their own will, till they were full of the evil doings that
were common among the Canaanites. God therefore was angry with them, and
they lost that their happy state which they had obtained by innumerable
labors, by their luxury; for when Chushan, king of the Assyrians, had made
war against them, they lost many of their soldiers in the battle, and when
they were besieged, they were taken by force; nay, there were some who,
out of fear, voluntarily submitted to him, and though the tribute laid
upon them was more than they could bear, yet did they pay it, and
underwent all sort of oppression for eight years; after which time they
were freed from them in the following manner:—
3. There was one whose name was Othniel, the son of Kenaz, of the tribe of
Judah, an active man and of great courage. He had an admonition from God
not to overlook the Israelites in such a distress as they were now in, but
to endeavor boldly to gain them their liberty; so when he had procured
some to assist him in this dangerous undertaking, [and few they were, who,
either out of shame at their present circumstances, or out of a desire of
changing them, could be prevailed on to assist him,] he first of all
destroyed that garrison which Chushan had set over them; but when it was
perceived that he had not failed in his first attempt, more of the people
came to his assistance; so they joined battle with the Assyrians, and
drove them entirely before them, and compelled them to pass over
Euphrates. Hereupon Othniel, who had given such proofs of his valor,
received from the multitude authority to judge the people; and when he had
ruled over them forty years, he died.
CHAPTER 4. How Our People Served The Moabites Eighteen Years, And Were
Then Delivered From Slavery By One Ehud Who Retained The Dominion Eighty
Years.
1. When Othniel was dead, the affairs of the Israelites fell again into
disorder: and while they neither paid to God the honor due to him, nor
were obedient to the laws, their afflictions increased, till Eglon, king
of the Moabites, did so greatly despise them on account of the disorders
of their political government, that he made war upon them, and overcame
them in several battles, and made the most courageous to submit, and
entirely subdued their army, and ordered them to pay him tribute. And when
he had built him a royal palace at Jericho, 14 he
omitted no method whereby he might distress them; and indeed he reduced
them to poverty for eighteen years. But when God had once taken pity of
the Israelites, on account of their afflictions, and was moved to
compassion by their supplications put up to him, he freed them from the
hard usage they had met with under the Moabites. This liberty he procured
for them in the following manner;—
2. There was a young man of the tribe of Benjamin, whose name was Ehud,
the son of Gera, a man of very great courage in bold undertakings, and of
a very strong body, fit for hard labor, but best skilled in using his left
hand, in which was his whole strength; and he also dwelt at Jericho. Now
this man became familiar with Eglon, and that by means of presents, with
which he obtained his favor, and insinuated himself into his good opinion;
whereby he was also beloved of those that were about the king. Now, when
on a time he was bringing presents to the king, and had two servants with
him, he put a dagger on his right thigh secretly, and went in to him: it
was then summer time, and the middle of the day, when the guards were not
strictly on their watch, both because of the heat, and because they were
gone to dinner. So the young man, when he had offered his presents to the
king, who then resided in a small parlor that stood conveniently to avoid
the heat, fell into discourse with him, for they were now alone, the king
having bid his servants that attended him to go their ways, because he had
a mind to talk with Ehud. He was now sitting on his throne; and fear
seized upon Ehud lest he should miss his stroke, and not give him a deadly
wound; so he raised himself up, and said he had a dream to impart to him
by the command of God; upon which the king leaped out of his throne for
joy of the dream; so Ehud smote him to the heart, and leaving his dagger
in his body, he went out and shut the door after him. Now the king’s
servants were very still, as supposing that the king had composed himself
to sleep.
3. Hereupon Ehud informed the people of Jericho privately of what he had
done, and exhorted them to recover their liberty; who heard him gladly,
and went to their arms, and sent messengers over the country, that should
sound trumpets of rams’ horns; for it was our custom to call the people
together by them. Now the attendants of Eglon were ignorant of what
misfortune had befallen him for a great while; but, towards the evening,
fearing some uncommon accident had happened, they entered into his parlor,
and when they found him dead, they were in great disorder, and knew not
what to do; and before the guards could be got together, the multitude of
the Israelites came upon them, so that some of them were slain
immediately, and some were put to flight, and ran away toward the country
of Moab, in order to save themselves. Their number was above ten thousand.
The Israelites seized upon the ford of Jordan, and pursued them, and slew
them, and many of them they killed at the ford, nor did one of them escape
out of their hands; and by this means it was that the Hebrews freed
themselves from slavery under the Moabites. Ehud also was on this account
dignified with the government over all the multitude, and died after he
had held the government eighty years 15 He was a
man worthy of commendation, even besides what he deserved for the
forementioned act of his. After him Shamgat, the son of Anath, was elected
for their governor, but died in the first year of his government.
CHAPTER 5. How The Canaanites Brought The Israelites Under Slavery For
Twenty Years; After Which They Were Delivered By Barak And Deborah, Who
Ruled Over Them For Forty Years.
1. And now it was that the Israelites, taking no warning by their former
misfortunes to amend their manners, and neither worshipping God nor
submitting to the laws, were brought under slavery by Jabin, the king of
the Canaanites, and that before they had a short breathing time after the
slavery under the Moabites; for this Jabin out of Hazor, a city that was
situate over the Semechonitis, and had in pay three hundred footmen, and
ten thousand horsemen, with fewer than three thousand chariots. Sisera was
commander of all his army, and was the principal person in the king’s
favor. He so sorely beat the Israelites when they fought with him, that he
ordered them to pay tribute.
2. So they continued to that hardship for twenty years, as not good enough
of themselves to grow wise by their misfortunes. God was willing also
hereby the more to subdue their obstinacy and ingratitude towards himself:
so when at length they were become penitent, and were so wise as to learn
that their calamities arose from their contempt of the laws, they besought
Deborah, a certain prophetess among them, [which name in the Hebrew tongue
signifies a Bee,] to pray to God to take pity on them, and not to overlook
them, now they were ruined by the Canaanites. So God granted them
deliverance, and chose them a general, Barak, one that was of the tribe of
Naphtali. Now Barak, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies Lightning.
3. So Deborah sent for Barak, and bade him choose out ten thousand young
men to go against the enemy, because God had said that that number was
sufficient, and promised them victory. But when Barak said that he would
not be the general unless she would also go as a general with him, she had
indignation at what he said “Thou, O Barak, deliverest up meanly that
authority which God hath given thee into the hand of a woman, and I do not
reject it!” So they collected ten thousand men, and pitched their camp at
Mount Tabor, where, at the king’s command, Sisera met them, and pitched
his camp not far from the enemy; whereupon the Israelites, and Barak
himself, were so affrighted at the multitude of those enemies, that they
were resolved to march off, had not Deborah retained them, and commanded
them to fight the enemy that very day, for that they should conquer them,
and God would be their assistance.
4. So the battle began; and when they were come to a close fight, there
came down from heaven a great storm, with a vast quantity of rain and
hail, and the wind blew the rain in the face of the Canaanites, and so
darkened their eyes, that their arrows and slings were of no advantage to
them, nor would the coldness of the air permit the soldiers to make use of
their swords; while this storm did not so much incommode the Israelites,
because it came in their backs. They also took such courage, upon the
apprehension that God was assisting them, that they fell upon the very
midst of their enemies, and slew a great number of them; so that some of
them fell by the Israelites, some fell by their own horses, which were put
into disorder, and not a few were killed by their own chariots. At last
Sisera, as soon as he saw himself beaten, fled away, and came to a woman
whose name was Jael, a Kenite, who received him, when he desired to be
concealed; and when he asked for somewhat to drink, she gave him sour
milk, of which he drank so unmeasurably that he fell asleep; but when he
was asleep, Jael took an iron nail, and with a hammer drove it through his
temples into the floor; and when Barak came a little afterward, she showed
Sisera nailed to the ground: and thus was this victory gained by a woman,
as Deborah had foretold. Barak also fought with Jabin at Hazor; and when
he met with him, he slew him: and when the general was fallen, Barak
overthrew the city to the foundation, and was the commander of the
Israelites for forty years.
CHAPTER 6. How The Midianites And Other Nations Fought Against The
Israelites And Beat Them, And Afflicted Their Country For Seven Years, How
They Were Delivered By Gideon, Who Ruled Over The Multitude For Forty
Years.
1. Now when Barak and Deborah were dead, whose deaths happened about the
same time, afterwards the Midianites called the Amalekites and Arabians to
their assistance, and made war against the Israelites, and were too hard
for those that fought against them; and when they had burnt the fruits of
the earth, they carried off the prey. Now when they had done this for
three years, the multitude of the Israelites retired to the mountains, and
forsook the plain country. They also made themselves hollows under ground,
and caverns, and preserved therein whatsoever had escaped their enemies;
for the Midianites made expeditions in harvest-time, but permitted them to
plough the land in winter, that so, when the others had taken the pains,
they might have fruits for them to carry away. Indeed, there ensued a
famine and a scarcity of food; upon which they betook themselves to their
supplications to God, and besought him to save them.
2. Gideon also, the son of Joash, one of the principal persons of the
tribe of Manasseh, brought his sheaves of corn privately, and thrashed
them at the wine-press; for he was too fearful of their enemies to thrash
them openly in the thrashing-floor. At this time somewhat appeared to him
in the shape of a young man, and told him that he was a happy man, and
beloved of God. To which he immediately replied, “A mighty indication of
God’s favor to me, that I am forced to use this wine-press instead of a
thrashing-floor!” But the appearance exhorted him to be of good courage,
and to make an attempt for the recovery of their liberty. He answered,
that it was impossible for him to recover it, because the tribe to which
he belonged was by no means numerous; and because he was but young
himself, and too inconsiderable to think of such great actions. But the
other promised him, that God would supply what he was defective in, and
would afford the Israelites victory under his conduct.
3. Now, therefore, as Gideon was relating this to some young men, they
believed him, and immediately there was an army of ten thousand men got
ready for fighting. But God stood by Gideon in his sleep, and told him
that mankind were too fond of themselves, and were enemies to such as
excelled in virtue. Now that they might not pass God over, but ascribe the
victory to him, and might not fancy it obtained by their own power,
because they were a great many, and able of themselves to fight their
enemies, but might confess that it was owing to his assistance, he advised
him to bring his army about noon, in the violence of the heat, to the
river, and to esteem those that bent down on their knees, and so drank, to
be men of courage; but for all those that drank tumultuously, that he
should esteem them to do it out of fear, and as in dread of their enemies.
And when Gideon had done as God had suggested to him, there were found
three hundred men that took water with their hands tumultuously; so God
bid him take these men, and attack the enemy. Accordingly they pitched
their camp at the river Jordan, as ready the next day to pass over it.
4. But Gideon was in great fear, for God had told him beforehand that he
should set upon his enemies in the night-time; but God, being willing to
free him from his fear, bid him take one of his soldiers, and go near to
the Midianites’ tents, for that he should from that very place have his
courage raised, and grow bold. So he obeyed, and went and took his servant
Phurah with him; and as he came near to one of the tents, he discovered
that those that were in it were awake, and that one of them was telling to
his fellow soldier a dream of his own, and that so plainly that Gideon
could hear him. The dream was this:—He thought he saw a barley-cake,
such a one as could hardly be eaten by men, it was so vile, rolling
through the camp, and overthrowing the royal tent, and the tents of all
the soldiers. Now the other soldier explained this vision to mean the
destruction of the army; and told them what his reason was which made him
so conjecture, viz. That the seed called barley was all of it allowed to
be of the vilest sort of seed, and that the Israelites were known to be
the vilest of all the people of Asia, agreeably to the seed of barley, and
that what seemed to look big among the Israelites was this Gideon and the
army that was with him; “and since thou sayest thou didst see the cake
overturning our tents, I am afraid lest God hath granted the victory over
us to Gideon.”
5. When Gideon had heard this dream, good hope and courage came upon him;
and he commanded his soldiers to arm themselves, and told them of this
vision of their enemies. They also took courage at what was told them, and
were ready to perform what he should enjoin them. So Gideon divided his
army into three parts, and brought it out about the fourth watch of the
night, each part containing a hundred men: they all bare empty pitchers
and lighted lamps in their hands, that their onset might not be discovered
by their enemies. They had also each of them a ram’s horn in his right
hand, which he used instead of a trumpet. The enemy’s camp took up a large
space of ground, for it happened that they had a great many camels; and as
they were divided into different nations, so they were all contained in
one circle. Now when the Hebrews did as they were ordered beforehand, upon
their approach to their enemies, and, on the signal given, sounded with
their rams’ horns, and brake their pitchers, and set upon their enemies
with their lamps, and a great shout, and cried, “Victory to Gideon, by
God’s assistance,” a disorder and a fright seized upon the other men while
they were half asleep, for it was night-time, as God would have it; so
that a few of them were slain by their enemies, but the greatest part by
their own soldiers, on account of the diversity of their language; and
when they were once put into disorder, they killed all that they met with,
as thinking them to be enemies also. Thus there was a great slaughter
made. And as the report of Gideon’s victory came to the Israelites, they
took their weapons and pursued their enemies, and overtook them in a
certain valley encompassed with torrents, a place which these could not
get over; so they encompassed them, and slew them all, with their kings,
Oreb and Zeeb. But the remaining captains led those soldiers that were
left, which were about eighteen thousand, and pitched their camp a great
way off the Israelites. However, Gideon did not grudge his pains, but
pursued them with all his army, and joining battle with them, cut off the
whole enemies’ army, and took the other leaders, Zeba and Zalmuna, and
made them captives. Now there were slain in this battle of the Midianites,
and of their auxiliaries the Arabians, about a hundred and twenty
thousand; and the Hebrews took a great prey, gold, and silver, and
garments, and camels, and asses. And when Gideon was come to his own
country of Ophrah, he slew the kings of the Midianites.
6. However, the tribe of Ephraim was so displeased at the good success of
Gideon, that they resolved to make war against him, accusing him because
he did not tell them of his expedition against their enemies. But Gideon,
as a man of temper, and that excelled in every virtue, pleaded, that it
was not the result of his own authority or reasoning, that made him attack
the enemy without them; but that it was the command of God, and still the
victory belonged to them as well as those in the army. And by this method
of cooling their passions, he brought more advantage to the Hebrews, than
by the success he had against these enemies, for he thereby delivered them
from a sedition which was arising among them; yet did this tribe
afterwards suffer the punishment of this their injurious treatment of
Gideon, of which we will give an account in due time.
7. Hereupon Gideon would have laid down the government, but was
over-persuaded to take it, which he enjoyed forty years, and distributed
justice to them, as the people came to him in their differences; and what
he determined was esteemed valid by all. And when he died, he was buried
in his own country of Ophrah.
CHAPTER 7. That The Judges Who Succeeded Gideon Made War With The
Adjoining Nations For A Long Time.
1. Now Gideon had seventy sons that were legitimate, for he had many
wives; but he had also one that was spurious, by his concubine Drumah,
whose name was Abimelech, who, after his father’s death, retired to
Shechem to his mother’s relations, for they were of that place: and when
he had got money of such of them as were eminent for many instances of
injustice, he came with them to his father’s house, and slew all his
brethren, except Jotham, for he had the good fortune to escape and be
preserved; but Abimelech made the government tyrannical, and constituted
himself a lord, to do what he pleased, instead of obeying the laws; and he
acted most rigidly against those that were the patrons of justice.
2. Now when, on a certain time, there was a public festival at Shechem,
and all the multitude was there gathered together, Jotham his brother,
whose escape we before related, went up to Mount Gerizzim, which hangs
over the city Shechem, and cried out so as to be heard by the multitude,
who were attentive to him. He desired they would consider what he was
going to say to them: so when silence was made, he said, That when the
trees had a human voice, and there was an assembly of them gathered
together, they desired that the fig-tree would rule over them; but when
that tree refused so to do, because it was contented to enjoy that honor
which belonged peculiarly to the fruit it bare, and not that which should
be derived to it from abroad, the trees did not leave off their intentions
to have a ruler, so they thought proper to make the offer of that honor to
the vine; but when the vine was chosen, it made use of the same words
which the fig-tree had used before, and excused itself from accepting the
government: and when the olive-tree had done the same, the brier, whom the
trees had desired to take the kingdom, [it is a sort of wood good for
firing,] it promised to take the government, and to be zealous in the
exercise of it; but that then they must sit down under its shadow, and if
they should plot against it to destroy it, the principle of fire that was
in it should destroy them. He told them, that what he had said was no
laughing matter; for that when they had experienced many blessings from
Gideon, they overlooked Abimelech, when he overruled all, and had joined
with him in slaying his brethren; and that he was no better than a fire
himself. So when he had said this, he went away, and lived privately in
the mountains for three years, out of fear of Abimelech.
3. A little while after this festival, the Shechemites, who had now
repented themselves of having slain the sons of Gideon, drove Abimelech
away, both from their city and their tribe; whereupon he contrived how he
might distress their city. Now at the season of vintage, the people were
afraid to go out and gather their fruits, for fear Abimelech should do
them some mischief. Now it happened that there had come to them a man of
authority, one Gaal, that sojourned with them, having his armed men and
his kinsmen with him; so the Shechemites desired that he would allow them
a guard during their vintage; whereupon he accepted of their desires, and
so the people went out, and Gaal with them at the head of his soldiery. So
they gathered their fruit with safety; and when they were at supper in
several companies, they then ventured to curse Abimelech openly; and the
magistrates laid ambushes in places about the city, and caught many of
Abimelech’s followers, and destroyed them.
4. Now there was one Zebul, a magistrate of the Shechemites, that had
entertained Abimelech. He sent messengers, and informed him how much Gaal
had irritated the people against him, and excited him to lay ambushes
before the city, for that he would persuade Gaal to go out against him,
which would leave it in his power to be revenged on him; and when that was
once done, he would bring him to be reconciled to the city. So Abimelech
laid ambushes, and himself lay with them. Now Gaal abode in the suburbs,
taking little care of himself; and Zebul was with him. Now as Gaal saw the
armed men coming on, he said to Zebul, That some armed men were coming;
but the other replied, They were only shadows of huge stones: and when
they were come nearer, Gaal perceived what was the reality, and said, They
were not shadows, but men lying in ambush. Then said Zebul, “Didst not
thou reproach Abimelech for cowardice? why dost thou not then show how
very courageous thou art thyself, and go and fight him?” So Gaal, being in
disorder, joined battle with Abimelech, and some of his men fell;
whereupon he fled into the city, and took his men with him. But Zebul
managed his matters so in the city, that he procured them to expel Gaal
out of the city, and this by accusing him of cowardice in this action with
the soldiers of Ahimelech. But Abimelech, when he had learned that the
Shechemites were again coming out to gather their grapes, placed ambushes
before the city, and when they were coming out, the third part of his army
took possession of the gates, to hinder the citizens from returning in
again, while the rest pursued those that were scattered abroad, and so
there was slaughter every where; and when he had overthrown the city to
the very foundations, for it was not able to bear a siege, and had sown
its ruins with salt, he proceeded on with his army till all the
Shechemites were slain. As for those that were scattered about the
country, and so escaped the danger, they were gathered together unto a
certain strong rock, and settled themselves upon it, and prepared to build
a wall about it: and when Abimelech knew their intentions, he prevented
them, and came upon them with his forces, and laid faggots of dry wood
round the place, he himself bringing some of them, and by his example
encouraging the soldiers to do the same. And when the rock was encompassed
round about with these faggots, they set them on fire, and threw in
whatsoever by nature caught fire the most easily: so a mighty flame was
raised, and nobody could fly away from the rock, but every man perished,
with their wives and children, in all about fifteen hundred men, and the
rest were a great number also. And such was the calamity which fell upon
the Shechemites; and men’s grief on their account had been greater than it
was, had they not brought so much mischief on a person who had so well
deserved of them, and had they not themselves esteemed this as a
punishment for the same.
5. Now Abimelech, when he had affrighted the Israelites with the miseries
he had brought upon the Shechemites, seemed openly to affect greater
authority than he now had, and appeared to set no bounds to his violence,
unless it were with the destruction of all. Accordingly he marched to
Thebes, and took the city on the sudden; and there being a great tower
therein, whereunto the whole multitude fled, he made preparation to
besiege it. Now as he was rushing with violence near the gates, a woman
threw a piece of a millstone upon his head, upon which Abimelech fell
down, and desired his armor-bearer to kill him lest his death should be
thought to be the work of a woman:—who did what he was bid to do. So
he underwent this death as a punishment for the wickedness he had
perpetrated against his brethren, and his insolent barbarity to the
Shechemites. Now the calamity that happened to those Shechemites was
according to the prediction of Jotham, However, the army that was with
Abimelech, upon his fall, was scattered abroad, and went to their own
homes.
6. Now it was that Jair the Gileadite, 16 of the
tribe of Manasseh, took the government. He was a man happy in other
respects also, but particularly in his children, who were of a good
character. They were thirty in number, and very skillful in riding on
horses, and were intrusted with the government of the cities of Gilead. He
kept the government twenty-two years, and died an old man; and he was
buried in Camon, a city of Gilead.
7. And now all the affairs of the Hebrews were managed uncertainly, and
tended to disorder, and to the contempt of God and of the laws. So the
Ammonites and Philistines had them in contempt, and laid waste the country
with a great army; and when they had taken all Perea, they were so
insolent as to attempt to gain the possession of all the rest. But the
Hebrews, being now amended by the calamities they had undergone, betook
themselves to supplications to God; and brought sacrifices to him,
beseeching him not to be too severe upon them, but to be moved by their
prayers to leave off his anger against them. So God became more merciful
to them, and was ready to assist them.
8. When the Ammonites had made an expedition into the land of Gilead, the
inhabitants of the country met them at a certain mountain, but wanted a
commander. Now there was one whose name was Jephtha, who, both on account
of his father’s virtue, and on account of that army which he maintained at
his own expenses, was a potent man: the Israelites therefore sent to him,
and entreated him to come to their assistance, and promised him the
dominion over them all his lifetime. But he did not admit of their
entreaty; and accused them, that they did not come to his assistance when
he was unjustly treated, and this in an open manner by his brethren; for
they cast him off, as not having the same mother with the rest, but born
of a strange mother, that was introduced among them by his father’s
fondness; and this they did out of a contempt of his inability [to
vindicate himself]. So he dwelt in the country of Gilead, as it is called,
and received all that came to him, let them come from what place soever,
and paid them wages. However, when they pressed him to accept the
dominion, and sware they would grant him the government over them all his
life, he led them to the war.
9. And when Jephtha had taken immediate care of their affairs, he placed
his army at the city Mizpeh, and sent a message to the Ammonite [king],
complaining of his unjust possession of their land. But that king sent a
contrary message; and complained of the exodus of the Israelites out of
Egypt, and desired him to go out of the land of the Amorites, and yield it
up to him, as at first his paternal inheritance. But Jephtha returned this
answer: That he did not justly complain of his ancestors about the land of
the Amorites, and ought rather to thank them that they left the land of
the Ammonites to them, since Moses could have taken it also; and that
neither would he recede from that land of their own, which God had
obtained for them, and they had now inhabited [above] three hundred years,
but would fight with them about it.
10. And when he had given them this answer, he sent the ambassadors away.
And when he had prayed for victory, and had vowed to perform sacred
offices, and if he came home in safety, to offer in sacrifice what living
creature soever should first meet him, 17 he
joined battle with the enemy, and gained a great victory, and in his
pursuit slew the enemies all along as far as the city of Minnith. He then
passed over to the land of the Ammonites, and overthrew many of their
cities, and took their prey, and freed his own people from that slavery
which they had undergone for eighteen years. But as he came back, he fell
into a calamity no way correspondent to the great actions he had done; for
it was his daughter that came to meet him; she was also an only child and
a virgin: upon this Jephtha heavily lamented the greatness of his
affliction, and blamed his daughter for being so forward in meeting him,
for he had vowed to sacrifice her to God. However, this action that was to
befall her was not ungrateful to her, since she should die upon occasion
of her father’s victory, and the liberty of her fellow citizens: she only
desired her father to give her leave, for two months, to bewail her youth
with her fellow citizens; and then she agreed, that at the forementioned
time he might do with her according to his vow. Accordingly, when that
time was over, he sacrificed his daughter as a burnt-offering, offering
such an oblation as was neither conformable to the law nor acceptable to
God, not weighing with himself what opinion the hearers would have of such
a practice.
11. Now the tribe of Ephraim fought against him, because he did not take
them along with him in his expedition against the Ammonites, but because
he alone had the prey, and the glory of what was done to himself. As to
which he said, first, that they were not ignorant how his kindred had
fought against him, and that when they were invited, they did not come to
his assistance, whereas they ought to have come quickly, even before they
were invited. And in the next place, that they were going to act unjustly;
for while they had not courage enough to fight their enemies, they came
hastily against their own kindred: and he threatened them that, with God’s
assistance, he would inflict a punishment upon them, unless they would
grow wiser. But when he could not persuade them, he fought with them with
those forces which he sent for out of Gilead, and he made a great
slaughter among them; and when they were beaten, he pursued them, and
seized on the passages of Jordan by a part of his army which he had sent
before, and slew about forty-two thousand of them.
12. So when Jephtha had ruled six years, he died, and was buried in his
own country, Sebee, which is a place in the land of Gilead.
13. Now when Jephtha was dead, Ibzan took the government, being of the
tribe of Judah, and of the city of Bethlehem. He had sixty children,
thirty of them sons, and the rest daughters; all whom he left alive behind
him, giving the daughters in marriage to husbands, and taking wives for
his sons. He did nothing in the seven years of his administration that was
worth recording, or deserved a memorial. So he died an old man, and was
buried in his own country.
14. When Ibzan was dead after this manner, neither did Helon, who
succeeded him in the government, and kept it ten years, do any thing
remarkable: he was of the tribe of Zebulon.
15. Abdon also, the son of Hilel, of the tribe of Ephraim, and born at the
city Pyrathon, was ordained their supreme governor after Helon. He is only
recorded to have been happy in his children; for the public affairs were
then so peaceable, and in such security, that neither did he perform any
glorious action. He had forty sons, and by them left thirty grandchildren;
and he marched in state with these seventy, who were all very skillful in
riding horses; and he left them all alive after him. He died an old man,
and obtained a magnificent burial in Pyrathon.
CHAPTER 8. Concerning The Fortitude Of Samson, And What Mischiefs He
Brought Upon The Philistines.
1. After Abdon was dead, the Philistines overcame the Israelites, and
received tribute of them for forty years; from which distress they were
delivered after this manner:—
2. There was one Manoah, a person of such great virtue, that he had few
men his equals, and without dispute the principal person of his country.
He had a wife celebrated for her beauty, and excelling her contemporaries.
He had no children; and, being uneasy at his want of posterity, he
entreated God to give them seed of their own bodies to succeed them; and
with that intent he came constantly into the suburbs 18
together with his wife; which suburbs were in the Great Plain. Now he was
fond of his wife to a degree of madness, and on that account was
unmeasurably jealous of her. Now, when his wife was once alone, an
apparition was seen by her: it was an angel of God, and resembled a young
man beautiful and tall, and brought her the good news that she should have
a son, born by God’s providence, that should be a goodly child, of great
strength; by whom, when he was grown up to man’s estate, the Philistines
should be afflicted. He exhorted her also not to poll his hair, and that
he should avoid all other kinds of drink, [for so had God commanded,] and
be entirely contented with water. So the angel, when he had delivered that
message, went his way, his coming having been by the will of God.
3. Now the wife informed her husband when he came home of what the angel
had said, who showed so great an admiration of the beauty and tallness of
the young man that had appeared to her, that her husband was astonished,
and out of himself for jealousy, and such suspicions as are excited by
that passion: but she was desirous of having her husband’s unreasonable
sorrow taken away; accordingly she entreated God to send the angel again,
that he might be seen by her husband. So the angel came again by the favor
of God, while they were in the suburbs, and appeared to her when she was
alone without her husband. She desired the angel to stay so long till she
might bring her husband; and that request being granted, she goes to call
Manoah. When he saw the angel he was not yet free from suspicion, and he
desired him to inform him of all that he had told his wife; but when he
said it was sufficient that she alone knew what he had said, he then
requested of him to tell who he was, that when the child was born they
might return him thanks, and give him a present. He replied that he did
not want any present, for that he did not bring them the good news of the
birth of a son out of the want of any thing. And when Manoah had entreated
him to stay, and partake of his hospitality, he did not give his consent.
However he was persuaded, at the earnest request of Manoah to stay so long
as while he brought him one mark of his hospitality; so he slew a kid of
the goats, and bid his wife boil it. When all was ready, the angel
enjoined him to set the loaves and the flesh, but without the vessels,
upon the rock; which when they had done, he touched the flesh with the rod
which he had in his hand, which, upon the breaking out of a flame, was
consumed, together with the loaves; and the angel ascended openly, in
their sight, up to heaven, by means of the smoke, as by a vehicle. Now
Manoah was afraid that some danger would come to them from this sight of
God; but his wife bade him be of good courage, for that God appeared to
them for their benefit.
4. So the woman proved with child, and was careful to observe the
injunctions that were given her; and they called the child, when he was
born, Samson, which name signifies one that is strong. So the child grew
apace; and it appeared evidently that he would be a prophet, 19
both by the moderation of his diet, and the permission of his hair to
grow.
5. Now when he once came with his parents to Timhath, a city of the
Philistines, when there was a great festival, he fell in love with a maid
of that country, and he desired of his parents that they would procure him
the damsel for his wife: but they refused so to do, because she was not of
the stock of Israel; yet because this marriage was of God, who intended to
convert it to the benefit of the Hebrews, he over-persuaded them to
procure her to be espoused to him. And as he was continually coming to her
parents, he met a lion, and though he was naked, he received his onset,
and strangled him with his hands, and cast the wild beast into a woody
piece of ground on the inside of the road.
6. And when he was going another time to the damsel, he lit upon a swarm
of bees making their combs in the breast of that lion; and taking three
honey-combs away, he gave them, together with the rest of his presents, to
the damsel. Now the people of Timhath, out of a dread of the young man’s
strength, gave him during the time of the wedding-feast [for he then
feasted them all] thirty of the most stout of their youth, in pretense to
be his companions, but in reality to be a guard upon him, that he might
not attempt to give them any disturbance. Now as they were drinking
merrily and playing, Samson said, as was usual at such times, “Come, if I
propose you a riddle, and you can expound it in these seven days’ time, I
will give you every one a linen shirt and a garment, as the reward of your
wisdom.” So they being very ambitious to obtain the glory of wisdom,
together with the gains, desired him to propose his riddle. He, “That a
devourer produced sweet food out of itself, though itself were very
disagreeable.” And when they were not able, in three days’ time, to find
out the meaning of the riddle, they desired the damsel to discover it by
the means of her husband, and tell it them; and they threatened to burn
her if she did not tell it them. So when the damsel entreated Samson to
tell it her, he at first refused to do it; but when she lay hard at him,
and fell into tears, and made his refusal to tell it a sign of his
unkindness to her, he informed her of his slaughter of a lion, and how he
found bees in his breast, and carried away three honey-combs, and brought
them to her. Thus he, suspecting nothing of deceit, informed her of all,
and she revealed it to those that desired to know it. Then on the seventh
day, whereon they were to expound the riddle proposed to them, they met
together before sun-setting, and said, “Nothing is more disagreeable than
a lion to those that light on it, and nothing is sweeter than honey to
those that make use of it.” To which Samson made this rejoinder: “Nothing
is more deceitful than a woman for such was the person that discovered my
interpretation to you.” Accordingly he gave them the presents he had
promised them, making such Askelonites as met him upon the road his prey,
who were themselves Philistines also. But he divorced this his wife; and
the girl despised his anger, and was married to his companion, who made
the former match between them.
7. At this injurious treatment Samson was so provoked, that he resolved to
punish all the Philistines, as well as her: so it being then summer-time,
and the fruits of the land being almost ripe enough for reaping, he caught
three hundred foxes, and joining lighted torches to their tails, he sent
them into the fields of the Philistines, by which means the fruits of the
fields perished. Now when the Philistines knew that this was Samson’s
doing, and knew also for what cause he did it, they sent their rulers to
Timhath, and burnt his former wife, and her relations, who had been the
occasion of their misfortunes.
8. Now when Samson had slain many of the Philistines in the plain country,
he dwelt at Etam, which is a strong rock of the tribe of Judah; for the
Philistines at that time made an expedition against that tribe: but the
people of Judah said that they did not act justly with them, in inflicting
punishments upon them while they paid their tribute, and this only on
account of Samson’s offenses. They answered, that in case they would not
be blamed themselves, they must deliver up Samson, and put him into their
power. So they being desirous not to be blamed themselves, came to the
rock with three thousand armed men, and complained to Samson of the bold
insults he had made upon the Philistines, who were men able to bring
calamity upon the whole nation of the Hebrews; and they told him they were
come to take him, and to deliver him up to them, and put him into their
power; so they desired him to bear this willingly. Accordingly, when he
had received assurance from them upon oath, that they would do him no
other harm than only to deliver him into his enemies’ hands, he came down
from the rock, and put himself into the power of his countrymen. Then did
they bind him with two cords, and lead him on, in order to deliver him to
the Philistines; and when they came to a certain place, which is now
called the Jaw-bone, on account of the great action there performed by
Samson, though of old it had no particular name at all, the Philistines,
who had pitched their camp not far off, came to meet them with joy and
shouting, as having done a great thing, and gained what they desired; but
Samson broke his bonds asunder, and catching up the jaw-bone of an ass
that lay down at his feet, fell upon his enemies, and smiting them with
his jaw-bone, slew a thousand of them, and put the rest to flight and into
great disorder.
9. Upon this slaughter Samson was too proud of what he had performed, and
said that this did not come to pass by the assistance of God, but that his
success was to be ascribed to his own courage; and vaunted himself, that
it was out of a dread of him that some of his enemies fell and the rest
ran away upon his use of the jaw-bone; but when a great thirst came upon
him, he considered that human courage is nothing, and bare his testimony
that all is to be ascribed to God, and besought him that he would not be
angry at any thing he had said, nor give him up into the hands of his
enemies, but afford him help under his affliction, and deliver him from
the misfortune he was under. Accordingly God was moved with his
entreaties, and raised him up a plentiful fountain of sweet water at a
certain rock whence it was that Samson called the place the Jaw-bone, 20
and so it is called to this day.
10. After this fight Samson held the Philistines in contempt, and came to
Gaza, and took up his lodgings in a certain inn. When the rulers of Gaza
were informed of his coming thither, they seized upon the gates, and
placed men in ambush about them, that he might not escape without being
perceived; but Samson, who was acquainted with their contrivances against
him, arose about midnight, and ran by force upon the gates, with their
posts and beams, and the rest of their wooden furniture, and carried them
away on his shoulders, and bare them to the mountain that is over Hebron,
and there laid them down.
11. However, he at length 21 transgressed the laws of his
country, and altered his own regular way of living, and imitated the
strange customs of foreigners, which thing was the beginning of his
miseries; for he fell in love with a woman that was a harlot among the
Philistines: her name was Delilah, and he lived with her. So those that
administered the public affairs of the Philistines came to her, and, with
promises, induced her to get out of Samson what was the cause of that his
strength, by which he became unconquerable to his enemies. Accordingly,
when they were drinking, and had the like conversation together, she
pretended to admire the actions he had done, and contrived to get out of
him by subtlety, by what means he so much excelled others in strength.
Samson, in order to delude Delilah, for he had not yet lost his senses,
replied, that if he were bound with seven such green withs of a vine as
might still be wreathed, he should be weaker than any other man. The woman
said no more then, but told this to the rulers of the Philistines, and hid
certain of the soldiers in ambush within the house; and when he was
disordered in drink and asleep, she bound him as fast as possible with the
withs; and then upon her awakening him, she told him some of the people
were upon him; but he broke the withs, and endeavored to defend himself,
as though some of the people were upon him. Now this woman, in the
constant conversation Samson had with her, pretended that she took it very
ill that he had such little confidence in her affections to him, that he
would not tell her what she desired, as if she would not conceal what she
knew it was for his interest to have concealed. However, he deluded her
again, and told her, that if they bound him with seven cords, he should
lose his strength. And when, upon doing this, she gained nothing, he told
her the third time, that his hair should be woven into a web; but when,
upon doing this, the truth was not yet discovered, at length Samson, upon
Delilah’s prayer, [for he was doomed to fall into some affliction,] was
desirous to please her, and told her that God took care of him, and that
he was born by his providence, and that “thence it is that I suffer my
hair to grow, God having charged me never to poll my head, and thence my
strength is according to the increase and continuance of my hair.” When
she had learned thus much, and had deprived him of his hair, she delivered
him up to his enemies, when he was not strong enough to defend himself
from their attempts upon him; so they put out his eyes, and bound him, and
had him led about among them.
12. But in process of time Samson’s hair grew again. And there was a
public festival among the Philistines, when the rulers, and those of the
most eminent character, were feasting together; [now the room wherein they
were had its roof supported by two pillars;] so they sent for Samson, and
he was brought to their feast, that they might insult him in their cups.
Hereupon he, thinking it one of the greatest misfortunes, if he should not
be able to revenge himself when he was thus insulted, persuaded the boy
that led him by the hand, that he was weary and wanted to rest himself,
and desired he would bring him near the pillars; and as soon as he came to
them, he rushed with force against them, and overthrew the house, by
overthrowing its pillars, with three thousand men in it, who were all
slain, and Samson with them. And such was the end of this man, when he had
ruled over the Israelites twenty years. And indeed this man deserves to be
admired for his courage and strength, and magnanimity at his death, and
that his wrath against his enemies went so far as to die himself with
them. But as for his being ensnared by a woman, that is to be ascribed to
human nature, which is too weak to resist the temptations to that sin; but
we ought to bear him witness, that in all other respects he was one of
extraordinary virtue. But his kindred took away his body, and buried it in
Sarasat his own country, with the rest of his family.
CHAPTER 9. How Under Eli’s Government Of The Israelites Booz Married Ruth,
From Whom Came Obed The Grandfather Of David.
1. Now after the death of Samson, Eli the high priest was governor of the
Israelites. Under him, when the country was afflicted with a famine,
Elimelech of Bethlehem, which is a city of the tribe of Judah, being not
able to support his family under so sore a distress, took with him Naomi
his wife, and the children that were born to him by her, Chillon and
Mahlon, and removed his habitation into the land of Moab; and upon the
happy prosperity of his affairs there, he took for his sons wives of the
Moabites, Orpah for Chillon, and Ruth for Mahlon. But in the compass of
ten years, both Elimelech, and a little while after him, the sons, died;
and Naomi being very uneasy at these accidents, and not being able to bear
her lonesome condition, now those that were dearest to her were dead, on
whose account it was that she had gone away from her own country, she
returned to it again, for she had been informed it was now in a
flourishing condition. However, her daughters-in-law were not able to
think of parting with her; and when they had a mind to go out of the
country with her, she could not dissuade them from it; but when they
insisted upon it, she wished them a more happy wedlock than they had with
her sons, and that they might have prosperity in other respects also; and
seeing her own affairs were so low, she exhorted them to stay where they
were, and not to think of leaving their own country, and partaking with
her of that uncertainty under which she must return. Accordingly Orpah
staid behind; but she took Ruth along with her, as not to be persuaded to
stay behind her, but would take her fortune with her, whatsoever it should
prove.
2. When Ruth was come with her mother-in-law to Bethlehem, Booz, who was
near of kin to Elimelech, entertained her; and when Naomi was so called by
her fellow citizens, according to her true name, she said, “You might more
truly call me Mara.” Now Naomi signifies in the Hebrew tongue happiness,
and Mara, sorrow. It was now reaping time; and Ruth, by the leave of her
mother-in-law, went out to glean, that they might get a stock of corn for
their food. Now it happened that she came into Booz’s field; and after
some time Booz came thither, and when he saw the damsel, he inquired of
his servant that was set over the reapers concerning the girl. The servant
had a little before inquired about all her circumstances, and told them to
his master, who kindly embraced her, both on account of her affection to
her mother-in-law, and her remembrance of that son of hers to whom she had
been married, and wished that she might experience a prosperous condition;
so he desired her not to glean, but to reap what she was able, and gave
her leave to carry it home. He also gave it in charge to that servant who
was over the reapers, not to hinder her when she took it away, and bade
him give her her dinner, and make her drink when he did the like to the
reapers. Now what corn Ruth received of him she kept for her
mother-in-law, and came to her in the evening, and brought the ears of
corn with her; and Naomi had kept for her a part of such food as her
neighbors had plentifully bestowed upon her. Ruth also told her
mother-in-law what Booz had said to her; and when the other had informed
her that he was near of kin to them, and perhaps was so pious a man as to
make some provision for them, she went out again on the days following, to
gather the gleanings with Booz’s maidservants.
3. It was not many days before Booz, after the barley was winnowed, slept
in his thrashing-floor. When Naomi was informed of this circumstance she
contrived it so that Ruth should lie down by him, for she thought it might
be for their advantage that he should discourse with the girl. Accordingly
she sent the damsel to sleep at his feet; who went as she bade her, for
she did not think it consistent with her duty to contradict any command of
her mother-in-law. And at first she lay concealed from Booz, as he was
fast asleep; but when he awaked about midnight, and perceived a woman
lying by him, he asked who she was;—and when she told him her name,
and desired that he whom she owned for her lord would excuse her, he then
said no more; but in the morning, before the servants began to set about
their work, he awaked her, and bid her take as much barley as she was able
to carry, and go to her mother-in-law before any body there should see
that she had lain down by him, because it was but prudent to avoid any
reproach that might arise on that account, especially when there had been
nothing done that was ill. But as to the main point she aimed at, the
matter should rest here,—”He that is nearer of kin than I am, shall
be asked whether he wants to take thee to wife: if he says he does, thou
shalt follow him; but if he refuse it, I will marry thee, according to the
law.”
4. When she had informed her mother-in-law of this, they were very glad of
it, out of the hope they had that Booz would make provision for them. Now
about noon Booz went down into the city, and gathered the senate together,
and when he had sent for Ruth, he called for her kinsman also; and when he
was come, he said, “Dost not thou retain the inheritance of Elimelech and
his sons?” He confessed that he did retain it, and that he did as he was
permitted to do by the laws, because he was their nearest kinsman. Then
said Booz, “Thou must not remember the laws by halves, but do every thing
according to them; for the wife of Mahlon is come hither, whom thou must
marry, according to the law, in case thou wilt retain their fields.” So
the man yielded up both the field and the wife to Booz, who was himself of
kin to those that were dead, as alleging that he had a wife already, and
children also; so Booz called the senate to witness, and bid the woman to
loose his shoe, and spit in his face, according to the law; and when this
was done, Booz married Ruth, and they had a son within a year’s time.
Naomi was herself a nurse to this child; and by the advice of the women,
called him Obed, as being to be brought up in order to be subservient to
her in her old age, for Obed in the Hebrew dialect signifies a servant.
The son of Obed was Jesse, and David was his son, who was king, and left
his dominions to his sons for one and twenty generations. I was therefore
obliged to relate this history of Ruth, because I had a mind to
demonstrate the power of God, who, without difficulty, can raise those
that are of ordinary parentage to dignity and splendor, to which he
advanced David, though he were born of such mean parents.
CHAPTER 10. Concerning The Birth Of Samuel; And How He Foretold The
Calamity That Befell The Sons Of Eli.
1. And now upon the ill state of the affairs of the Hebrews, they made war
again upon the Philistines. The occasion was this: Eli, the high priest,
had two sons, Hophni and Phineas. These sons of Eli were guilty of
injustice towards men, and of impiety towards God, and abstained from no
sort of wickedness. Some of their gifts they carried off, as belonging to
the honorable employment they had; others of them they took away by
violence. They also were guilty of impurity with the women that came to
worship God at the tabernacle, obliging some to submit to their lust by
force, and enticing others by bribes; nay, the whole course of their lives
was no better than tyranny. Their father therefore was angry at them for
such their wickedness, and expected that God would suddenly inflict his
punishments upon them for what they had done. The multitude took it
heinously also. And as soon as God had foretold what calamity would befall
Eli’s sons, which he did both to Eli himself and to Samuel the prophet,
who was yet but a child, he openly showed his sorrow for his sons’
destruction.
2. I will first despatch what I have to say about the prophet Samuel, and
after that will proceed to speak of the sons of Eli, and the miseries they
brought on the whole people of the Hebrews. Elcanah, a Levite, one of a
middle condition among his fellow citizens, and one that dwelt at
Ramathaim, a city of the tribe of Ephraim, married two wives, Hannah and
Peninnah. He had children by the latter; but he loved the other best,
although she was barren. Now Elcanah came with his wives to the city
Shiloh to sacrifice, for there it was that the tabernacle of God was
fixed, as we have formerly said. Now when, after he had sacrificed, he
distributed at that festival portions of the flesh to his wives and
children, and when Hannah saw the other wife’s children sitting round
about their mother, she fell into tears, and lamented herself on account
of her barrenness and lonesomeness; and suffering her grief to prevail
over her husband’s consolations to her, she went to the tabernacle to
beseech God to give her seed, and to make her a mother; and to vow to
consecrate the first son she should bear to the service of God, and this
in such a way, that his manner of living should not be like that of
ordinary men. And as she continued at her prayers a long time, Eli, the
high priest, for he sat there before the tabernacle, bid her go away,
thinking she had been disordered with wine; but when she said she had
drank water, but was in sorrow for want of children, and was beseeching
God for them, he bid her be of good cheer, and told her that God would
send her children.
3. So she came to her husband full of hope, and ate her meal with
gladness. And when they had returned to their own country she found
herself with child, and they had a son born to them, to whom they gave the
name of Samuel, which may be styled one that was asked of God. They
therefore came to the tabernacle to offer sacrifice for the birth of the
child, and brought their tithes with them; but the woman remembered the
vows she had made concerning her son, and delivered him to Eli, dedicating
him to God, that he might become a prophet. Accordingly his hair was
suffered to grow long, and his drink was water. So Samuel dwelt and was
brought up in the temple. But Elcanah had other sons by Hannah, and three
daughters.
4. Now when Samuel was twelve years old, he began to prophesy: and once
when he was asleep, God called to him by his name; and he, supposing he
had been called by the high priest, came to him: but when the high priest
said he did not call him, God did so thrice. Eli was then so far
illuminated, that he said to him, “Indeed, Samuel, I was silent now as
well as before: it is God that calls thee; do thou therefore signify it to
him, and say, I am here ready.” So when he heard God speak again, he
desired him to speak, and to deliver what oracles he pleased to him, for
he would not fail to perform any ministration whatsoever he should make
use of him in;—to which God replied, “Since thou art here ready,
learn what miseries are coming upon the Israelites,—such indeed as
words cannot declare, nor faith believe; for the sons of Eli shall die on
one day, and the priesthood shall be transferred into the family of
Eleazar; for Eli hath loved his sons more than he hath loved my worship,
and to such a degree as is not for their advantage.” Which message Eli
obliged the prophet by oath to tell him, for otherwise he had no
inclination to afflict him by telling it. And now Eli had a far more sure
expectation of the perdition of his sons; but the glory of Samuel
increased more and more, it being found by experience that whatsoever he
prophesied came to pass accordingly. 22
CHAPTER 11. Herein Is Declared What Befell The Sons Of Eli, The Ark, And
The People And How Eli Himself Died Miserably.
1. About this time it was that the Philistines made war against the
Israelites, and pitched their camp at the city Aphek. Now when the
Israelites had expected them a little while, the very next day they joined
battle, and the Philistines were conquerors, and slew above four thousand
of the Hebrews, and pursued the rest of their multitude to their camp.
2. So the Hebrews being afraid of the worst, sent to the senate, and to
the high priest, and desired that they would bring the ark of God, that by
putting themselves in array, when it was present with them, they might be
too hard for their enemies, as not reflecting that he who had condemned
them to endure these calamities was greater than the ark, and for whose
sake it was that this ark came to be honored. So the ark came, and the
sons of the high priest with it, having received a charge from their
father, that if they pretended to survive the taking of the ark, they
should come no more into his presence, for Phineas officiated already as
high priest, his father having resigned his office to him, by reason of
his great age. So the Hebrews were full of courage, as supposing that, by
the coming of the ark, they should be too hard for their enemies: their
enemies also were greatly concerned, and were afraid of the ark’s coming
to the Israelites: however, the upshot did not prove agreeable to the
expectation of both sides, but when the battle was joined, that victory
which the Hebrews expected was gained by the Philistines, and that defeat
the Philistines were afraid of fell to the lot of the Israelites, and
thereby they found that they had put their trust in the ark in vain, for
they were presently beaten as soon as they came to a close fight with
their enemies, and lost about thirty thousand men, among whom were the
sons of the high priest; but the ark was carried away by the enemies.
3. When the news of this defeat came to Shiloh, with that of the captivity
of the ark, [for a certain young man, a Benjamite, who was in the action,
came as a messenger thither,] the whole city was full of lamentations. And
Eli, the high priest, who sat upon a high throne at one of the gates,
heard their mournful cries, and supposed that some strange thing had
befallen his family. So he sent for the young man; and when he understood
what had happened in the battle, he was not much uneasy as to his sons, or
what was told him withal about the army, as having beforehand known by
Divine revelation that those things would happen, and having himself
declared them beforehand,—for what sad things come unexpectedly they
distress men the most; but as soon as [he heard] the ark was carried
captive by their enemies, he was very much grieved at it, because it fell
out quite differently from what he expected; so he fell down from his
throne and died, having in all lived ninety-eight years, and of them
retained the government forty.
4. On the same day his son Phineas’s wife died also, as not able to
survive the misfortune of her husband; for they told her of her husband’s
death as she was in labor. However, she bare a son at seven months, who
lived, and to whom they gave the name of Icabod, which name signifies
disgrace,—and this because the army received a disgrace at this
time.
5. Now Eli was the first of the family of Ithamar, the other son of Aaron,
that had the government; for the family of Eleazar officiated as high
priest at first, the son still receiving that honor from the father which
Eleazar bequeathed to his son Phineas; after whom Abiezer his son took the
honor, and delivered it to his son, whose name was Bukki, from whom his
son Ozi received it; after whom Eli, of whom we have been speaking, had
the priesthood, and so he and his posterity until the time of Solomon’s
reign; but then the posterity of Eleazar reassumed it.
FOOTNOTES
1 (return)
[ The Amorites were one of
the seven nations of Canaan. Hence Reland is willing to suppose that
Josephus did not here mean that their land beyond Jordan was a seventh
part of the whole land of Canaan, but meant the Arnorites as a seventh
nation. His reason is, that Josephus, as well as our Bible, generally
distinguish the land beyond Jordan from the land of Canaan; nor can it be
denied, that in strictness they were all forgot: yet after two tribes and
a half of the twelve tribes came to inherit it, it might in a general way
altogether be well included under the land of Canaan, or Palestine, or
Judea, of which we have a clear example here before us in Josephus, whose
words evidently imply, that taking the whole land of Canaan, or that
inhabited by all the twelve tribes together, and parting it into seven
parts, the part beyond Jordan was in quantity of ground one seventh part
of the whole. And this well enough agrees to Reland’s own map of that
country, although this land beyond Jordan was so peculiarly fruitful, and
good for pasturage, as the two tribes and a half took notice, Numbers
32:1, 4, 16, that it maintained about a fifth part of the whole people.]
2 (return)
[ It plainly appears by the
history of these spies, and the innkeeper Rahab’s deception of the king of
Jericho’s messengers, by telling them what was false in order to save the
lives of the spies, and yet the great commendation of her faith and good
works in the New Testament, Hebrews 11:31; James 2:25, as well as by many
other parallel examples, both in the Old Testament and in Josephus, that
the best men did not then scruple to deceive those public enemies who
might justly be destroyed; as also might deceive ill men in order to save
life, and deliver themselves from the tyranny of their unjust oppressors,
and this by telling direct falsehoods; I mean, all this where no oath was
demanded of them, otherwise they never durst venture on such a procedure.
Nor was Josephus himself of any other opinion or practice, as I shall
remark in the note on Antiq. B. IX. ch. 4. sect. 3. And observe, that I
still call this woman Rahab, an innkeeper, not a harlot, the whole
history, both in our copies, and especially in Josephus, implying no more.
It was indeed so frequent a thing, that women who were innkeepers were
also harlots, or maintainers of harlots, that the word commonly used for
real harlots was usually given them. See Dr. Bernard’s note here, and
Judges 11:1, and Antiq. B. V. ch. 7. sect. 8.]
3 (return)
[ Upon occasion of this
devoting of Jericho to destruction, and the exemplary punishment of Achar,
who broke that duerein or anathema, and of the punishment of the future
breaker of it, Hiel, 1 Kings 16:34, as also of the punishment of Saul, for
breaking the like chefera or anathema, against the Amalekites, 1 Samuel
15., we may observe what was the true meaning of that law, Leviticus
27:28: “None devoted which shall be devoted of shall be redeemed; but
shall be put to death;” i.e. whenever any of the Jews’ public enemies had
been, for their wickedness, solemnly devoted to destruction, according to
the Divine command, as were generally the seven wicked nations of Canaan,
and those sinners the Amalekites, 1 Samuel 15:18, it was utterly unlawful
to permit those enemies to be redeemed; but they were to be all utterly
destroyed. See also Numbers 23:2, 3.]
4 (return)
[ That the name of this
chief was not Achan, as in the common copies, but Achar, as here in
Josephus, and in the Apostolical Constit. B. VII. ch. 2., and elsewhere,
is evident by the allusion to that name in the curse of Joshua, “Why hast
thou troubled us?—the Lord shall trouble thee;” where the Hebrew
word alludes only to the name Achar, but not to Achan. Accordingly, this
Valley of Achar, or Achor, was and is a known place, a little north of
Gilgal, so called from the days of Joshua till this day. See Joshua 7:26;
Isaiah 65:10; Hosea 2:15; and Dr. Bernard’s notes here.]
5 (return)
[ Here Dr. Bernard very
justly observes, that a few words are dropped out of Josephus’s copies, on
account of the repetition of the word shekels, and that it ought to be
read thus:—”A piece of gold that weighed fifty shekels, and one of
silver that weighed two hundred shekels,” as in our other copies, Joshua
7:21.]
6 (return)
[ I agree here with Dr.
Bernard, and approve of Josephus’s interpretation of Gilgal for liberty.
See Joshua 5:9.]
7 (return)
[ Whether this lengthening
of the day, by the standing still of the sun and moon, were physical and
real, by the miraculous stoppage of the diurnal motion of the earth for
about half a revolution, or whether only apparent, by aerial phosphori
imitating the sun and moon as stationary so long, while clouds and the
night hid the real ones, and this parhelion or mock sun affording
sufficient light for Joshua’s pursuit and complete victory, [which aerial
phosphori in other shapes have been more than ordinarily common of late
years,] cannot now be determined: philosophers and astronomers will
naturally incline to this latter hypothesis. In the mean time, the fact
itself was mentioned in the book of Jasher, now lost, Joshua 10:13, and is
confirmed by Isaiah, 28:21, Habakkuk, 3:11, and by the son of Sirach,
Ecclus. 46:4. In the 18th Psalm of Solomon, yet it is also said of the
luminaries, with relation, no doubt, to this and the other miraculous
standing still and going back, in the days of Joshua and Hezekiah, “They
have not wandered, from the day that he created them; they have not
forsaken their way, from ancient generations, unless it were when God
enjoined them [so to do] by the command of his servants.” See Authent.
Rec. part i. p. 154. [8: Of the books laid up in the temple, see the note
on Antiq. B. III. ch. 1. sect. 7.]
9 (return)
[ Since not only Procopius
and Suidas, but an earlier author, Moses Chorenensis, p. 52, 53, and
perhaps from his original author Mariba Carina, one as old as Alexander
the Great, sets down the famous inscription at Tangier concerning the old
Canaanites driven out of Palestine by Joshua, take it here in that
author’s own words: “We are those exiles that were governors of the
Canaanites, but have been driven away by Joshua the robber, and are come
to inhabit here.” See the note there. Nor is it unworthy of our notice
what Moses Chorenensis adds, p. 53, and this upon a diligent examination,
viz. that “one of those eminent men among the Canaanites came at the same
time into Armenia, and founded the Genthuniaa family, or tribe; and that
this was confirmed by the manners of the same family or tribe, as being
like those of the Canaanites.”]
10 (return)
[ By prophesying, when
spoken of a high priest, Josephus, both here and frequently elsewhere,
means no more than consulting God by Urim, which the reader is still to
bear in mind upon all occasions. And if St. John, who was contemporary
with Josephus, and of the same country, made use of this style, when he
says that “Caiaphas being high priest that year, prophesied that Jesus
should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also he
should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered
abroad,” chap. 11;51, 52, he may possibly mean, that this was revealed to
the high priest by an extraordinary voice from between the cherubims, when
he had his breastplate, or Urim and Thummim, on before; or the most holy
place of the temple, which was no other than the oracle of Urim and
Thummim. Of which above, in the note on Antiq. B. III. ch. 8. sect. 9.]
11 (return)
[ This great number of
seventy-two reguli, or small kings, over whom Adonibezek had tyrannized,
and for which he was punished according to the lex talionis, as well as
the thirty-one kings of Canaan subdued by Joshua, and named in one
chapter, Joshua 12., and thirty-two kings, or royal auxiliaries to
Benhadad king of Syria, 1 Kings 20:1; Antiq. B. VIII. ch. 14. sect. 1,
intimate to us what was the ancient form of government among several
nations before the monarchies began, viz. that every city or large town,
with its neighboring villages, was a distinct government by itself; which
is the more remarkable, because this was certainly the form of
ecclesiastical government that was settled by the apostles, and preserved
throughout the Christian church in the first ages of Christianity. Mr.
Addison is of opinion, that “it would certainly be for the good of mankind
to have all the mighty empires and monarchies of the world cantoned out
into petty states and principalities, which, like so many large families,
might lie under the observation of their proper governors, so that the
care of the prince might extend itself to every individual person under
his protection; though he despairs of such a scheme being brought about,
and thinks that if it were, it would quickly be destroyed.” Remarks on
Italy, 4to, p. 151. Nor is it unfit to be observed here, that the Armenian
records, though they give us the history of thirty-nine of their
ancientest heroes or governors after the Flood, before the days of
Sardanapalus, had no proper king till the fortieth, Parerus. See Moses
Chorehensis, p. 55. And that Almighty God does not approve of such
absolute and tyrannical monarchies, any one may learn that reads
Deuteronomy 17:14-20, and 1 Samuel 8:1-22; although, if such kings are set
up as own him for their supreme King, and aim to govern according to his
laws, he hath admitted of them, and protected them and their subjects in
all generations.]
12 (return)
[ Josephus’s early date of
this history before the beginning of the Judges, or when there was no king
in Israel, Judges 19;1, is strongly confirmed by the large number of
Benjamites, both in the days of Asa and Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 14:8,
and 16:17, who yet were here reduced to six hundred men; nor can those
numbers be at all supposed genuine, if they were reduced so late as the
end of the Judges, where our other copies place this reduction.]
13 (return)
[ Josephus seems here to
have made a small mistake, when he took the Hebrew word Bethel, which
denotes the house of God, or the tabernacle, Judges 20:18, for the proper
name of a place, Bethel, it no way appearing that the tabernacle was ever
at Bethel; only so far it is true, that Shiloh, the place of the
tabernacle in the days of the Judges, was not far from Bethel.]
14 (return)
[ It appears by the sacred
history, Judges 1:16; 3:13, that Eglon’s pavilion or palace was at the
City of Palm-Trees, as the place where Jericho had stood is called after
its destruction by Joshua, that is, at or near the demolished city.
Accordingly, Josephus says it was at Jericho, or rather in that fine
country of palm-trees, upon, or near to, the same spot of ground on which
Jericho had formerly stood, and on which it was rebuilt by Hiel, 1 Kings
16:31. Our other copies that avoid its proper name Jericho, and call it
the City of Palm-Trees only, speak here more accurately than Josephus.]
15 (return)
[ These eighty years for
the government of Ehud are necessary to Josephus’s usual large numbers
between the exodus and the building of the temple, of five hundred and
ninety-two or six hundred and twelve years, but not to the smallest number
of four hundred and eighty years, 1 Kings 6:1; which lesser number
Josephus seems sometimes to have followed. And since in the beginning of
the next chapter it is said by Josephus, that there was hardly a breathing
time for the Israelites before Jabin came and enslaved them, it is highly
probable that some of the copies in his time had here only eight years
instead of eighty; as had that of Theophilus of Antioch, Ad Autolye. 1.
iii., and this most probably from his copy of Josephus.]
16 (return)
[ Our present copies of
Josephus all omit Tola among the judges, though the other copies have him
next after Abimelech, and allot twenty-three years to his administration,
Judges 10:1, 2; yet do all Josephus’s commentators conclude, that in
Josephus’s sum of the years of the judges, his twenty-three years are
included; hence we are to confess, that somewhat has been here lost out of
his copies.]
17 (return)
[ Josephus justly condemns
Jephtha, as do the Apostolical Constitutions, B. VII. ch. 37., for his
rash vow, whether it were for sacrificing his daughter, as Josephus
thought, or for dedicating her, who was his only child, to perpetual
virginity, at the tabernacle or elsewhere, which I rather suppose. If he
had vowed her for a sacrifice, she ought to have been redeemed, Leviticus
27:1-8; but of the sense of ver. 28, 29, as relating not to things vowed
to. God, but devoted to destruction, see the note on Antiq. B. V. ch. 1.
sect. 8.]
18 (return)
[ I can discover no reason
why Manoah and his wife came so constantly into these suburbs to pray for
children, but because there was a synagogue or place of devotion in those
suburbs.]
19 (return)
[ Here, by a prophet,
Josephus seems only to mean one that was born by a particular providence,
lived after the manner of a Nazarite devoted to God, and was to have an
extraordinary commission and strength from God for the judging and
avenging his people Israel, without any proper prophetic revelations at
all.]
20 (return)
[ This fountain, called
Lehi, or the Jaw-bone, is still in being, as travelers assure us, and was
known by this very name in the days of Josephus, and has been known by the
same name in all those past ages. See Antiq. B. VII. ch. 12. sect. 4.]
21 (return)
[ See this justly observed
in the Apostolical Constitutions, B. VII. ch. 37., that Samson’s prayer
was heard, but that it was before this his transgression.]
22 (return)
[ Although there had been
a few occasional prophets before, yet was this Samuel the first of a
constant succession of prophets in the Jewish nation, as is implied in St.
Peter’s words, Acts 3:24 “Yea, and all the prophets, from Samuel, and
those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of
those days.” See also Acts 13:20. The others were rather sometime called
righteous men, Matthew 10:41; 13:17.]
BOOK VI. Containing The Interval Of Thirty-Two Years.—From The
Death Of Eli To The Death Of Saul.
CHAPTER 1. The Destruction That Came Upon The Philistines, And Upon Their
Land, By The Wrath Of Go On Account Of Their Having Carried The Ark Away
Captive; And After What Manner They Sent It Back To The Hebrews.
1. When the Philistines had taken the ark of the Hebrews captive, as I
said a little before, they carried it to the city of Ashdod, and put it by
their own god, who was called Dagon, 1 as one of
their spoils; but when they went into his temple the next morning to
worship their god, they found him paying the same worship to the ark, for
he lay along, as having fallen down from the basis whereon he had stood:
so they took him up, and set him on his basis again, and were much
troubled at what had happened; and as they frequently came to Dagon and
found him still lying along, in a posture of adoration to the ark, they
were in very great distress and confusion. At length God sent a very
destructive disease upon the city and country of Ashdod, for they died of
the dysentery or flux, a sore distemper, that brought death upon them very
suddenly; for before the soul could, as usual in easy deaths, be well
loosed from the body, they brought up their entrails, and vomited up what
they had eaten, and what was entirely corrupted by the disease. And as to
the fruits of their country, a great multitude of mice arose out of the
earth and hurt them, and spared neither the plants nor the fruits. Now
while the people of Ashdod were under these misfortunes, and were not able
to support themselves under their calamities, they perceived that they
suffered thus because of the ark, and that the victory they had gotten,
and their having taken the ark captive, had not happened for their good;
they therefore sent to the people of Askelon, and desired that they would
receive the ark among them. This desire of the people of Ashdod was not
disagreeable to those of Askelon, so they granted them that favor. But
when they had gotten the ark, they were in the same miserable condition;
for the ark carried along with it the disasters that the people of Ashdod
had suffered, to those who received it from them. Those of Askelon also
sent it away from themselves to others: nor did it stay among those others
neither; for since they were pursued by the same disasters, they still
sent it to the neighboring cities; so that the ark went round, after this
manner, to the five cities of the Philistines, as though it exacted these
disasters as a tribute to be paid it for its coming among them.
2. When those that had experienced these miseries were tired out with
them, and when those that heard of them were taught thereby not to admit
the ark among them, since they paid so dear a tribute for it, at length
they sought for some contrivance and method how they might get free from
it: so the governors of the five cities, Gath, and Ekron, and Askelon, as
also of Gaza, and Ashdod, met together, and considered what was fit to be
done; and at first they thought proper to send the ark back to its own
people, as allowing that God had avenged its cause; that the miseries they
had undergone came along with it, and that these were sent on their cities
upon its account, and together with it. However, there were those that
said they should not do so, nor suffer themselves to be deluded, as
ascribing the cause of their miseries to it, because it could not have
such power and force upon them; for, had God had such a regard to it, it
would not have been delivered into the hands of men. So they exhorted them
to be quiet, and to take patiently what had befallen them, and to suppose
there was no other cause of it but nature, which, at certain revolutions
of time, produces such mutations in the bodies of men, in the earth, in
plants, and in all things that grow out of the earth. But the counsel that
prevailed over those already described, was that of certain men, who were
believed to have distinguished themselves in former times for their
understanding and prudence, and who, in their present circumstances,
seemed above all the rest to speak properly. These men said it was not
right either to send the ark away, or to retain it, but to dedicate five
golden images, one for every city, as a thank-offering to God, on account
of his having taken care of their preservation, and having kept them alive
when their lives were likely to be taken away by such distempers as they
were not able to bear up against. They also would have them make five
golden mice like to those that devoured and destroyed their country 2
to put them in a bag, and lay them upon the ark; to make them a new cart
also for it, and to yoke milch kine to it 3 but to shut
up their calves, and keep them from them, lest, by following after them,
they should prove a hinderance to their dams, and that the dams might
return the faster out of a desire of those calves; then to drive these
milch kine that carried the ark, and leave it at a place where three ways
met, and So leave it to the kine to go along which of those ways they
pleased; that in case they went the way to the Hebrews, and ascended to
their country, they should suppose that the ark was the cause of their
misfortunes; but if they turned into another road, they said, “We will
pursue after it, and conclude that it has no such force in it.”
3. So they determined that these men spake well; and they immediately
confirmed their opinion by doing accordingly. And when they had done as
has been already described, they brought the cart to a place where three
ways met, and left it there and went their ways; but the kine went the
right way, and as if some persons had driven them, while the rulers of the
Philistines followed after them, as desirous to know where they would
stand still, and to whom they would go. Now there was a certain village of
the tribe of Judah, the name of which was Bethshemesh, and to that village
did the kine go; and though there was a great and good plain before them
to proceed in, they went no farther, but stopped the cart there. This was
a sight to those of that village, and they were very glad; for it being
then summer-time, and all the inhabitants being then in the fields
gathering in their fruits, they left off the labors of their hands for
joy, as soon as they saw the ark, and ran to the cart, and taking the ark
down, and the vessel that had the images in it, and the mice, they set
them upon a certain rock which was in the plain; and when they had offered
a splendid sacrifice to God, and feasted, they offered the cart and the
kine as a burnt-offering: and when the lords of the Philistines saw this,
they returned back.
4. But now it was that the wrath of God overtook them, and struck seventy
persons of the village of Bethshemesh dead, who, not being priests, and so
not worthy to touch the ark, had approached to it. 4 Those of
that village wept for these that had thus suffered, and made such a
lamentation as was naturally to be expected on so great a misfortune that
was sent from God; and every one mourned for his own relation. And since
they acknowledged themselves unworthy of the ark’s abode with them, they
sent to the public senate of the Israelites, and informed them that the
ark was restored by the Philistines; which when they knew, they brought it
away to Kirjathjearim, a city in the neighborhood of Bethshemesh. In this
city lived one Abinadab, by birth a Levite, and who was greatly commended
for his righteous and religious course of life; so they brought the ark to
his house, as to a place fit for God himself to abide in, since therein
did inhabit a righteous man. His sons also ministered to the Divine
service at the ark, and were the principal curators of it for twenty
years; for so many years it continued in Kirjathjearim, having been but
four months with the Philistines.
CHAPTER 2. The Expedition Of The Philistines Against The Hebrews And The
Hebrews’ Victory Under The Conduct Of Samuel The Prophet, Who Was Their
General.
1. Now while the city of Kirjathjearim had the ark with them, the whole
body of the people betook themselves all that time to offer prayers and
sacrifices to God, and appeared greatly concerned and zealous about his
worship. So Samuel the prophet, seeing how ready they were to do their
duty, thought this a proper time to speak to them, while they were in this
good disposition, about the recovery of their liberty, and of the
blessings that accompanied the same. Accordingly he used such words to
them as he thought were most likely to excite that inclination, and to
persuade them to attempt it: “O you Israelites,” said he, “to whom the
Philistines are still grievous enemies, but to whom God begins to be
gracious, it behooves you not only to be desirous of liberty, but to take
the proper methods to obtain it. Nor are you to be contented with an
inclination to get clear of your lords and masters, while you still do
what will procure your continuance under them. Be righteous then, and cast
wickedness out of your souls, and by your worship supplicate the Divine
Majesty with all your hearts, and persevere in the honor you pay to him;
for if you act thus, you will enjoy prosperity; you will be freed from
your slavery, and will get the victory over your enemies: which blessings
it is not possible you should attain, either by weapons of war, or by the
strength of your bodies, or by the multitude of your assistants; for God
has not promised to grant these blessings by those means, but by being
good and righteous men; and if you will be such, I will be security to you
for the performance of God’s promises.” When Samuel had said thus, the
multitude applauded his discourse, and were pleased with his exhortation
to them, and gave their consent to resign themselves up to do what was
pleasing to God. So Samuel gathered them together to a certain city called
Mizpeh, which, in the Hebrew tongue, signifies a watch-tower; there they
drew water, and poured it out to God, and fasted all day, and betook
themselves to their prayers.
2. This their assembly did not escape the notice of the Philistines: so
when they had learned that so large a company had met together, they fell
upon the Hebrews with a great army and mighty forces, as hoping to assault
them when they did not expect it, nor were prepared for it. This thing
affrighted the Hebrews, and put them into disorder and terror; so they
came running to Samuel, and said that their souls were sunk by their
fears, and by the former defeat they had received, and “that thence it was
that we lay still, lest we should excite the power of our enemies against
us. Now while thou hast brought us hither to offer up our prayers and
sacrifices, and take oaths [to be obedient], our enemies are making an
expedition against us, while we are naked and unarmed; wherefore we have
no other hope of deliverance but that by thy means, and by the assistance
God shall afford us upon thy prayers to him, we shall obtain deliverance
from the Philistines.” Hereupon Samuel bade them be of good cheer, and
promised them that God would assist them; and taking a sucking lamb, he
sacrificed it for the multitude, and besought God to hold his protecting
hand over them when they should fight with the Philistines, and not to
overlook them, nor suffer them to come under a second misfortune.
Accordingly God hearkened to his prayers, and accepting their sacrifice
with a gracious intention, and such as was disposed to assist them, he
granted them victory and power over their enemies. Now while the altar had
the sacrifice of God upon it, and had not yet consumed it wholly by its
sacred fire, the enemy’s army marched out of their camp, and was put in
order of battle, and this in hope that they should be conquerors, since
the Jews 5
were caught in distressed circumstances, as neither having their weapons
with them, nor being assembled there in order to fight. But things so fell
out, that they would hardly have been credited though they had been
foretold by anybody: for, in the first place, God disturbed their enemies
with an earthquake, and moved the ground under them to such a degree, that
he caused it to tremble, and made them to shake, insomuch that by its
trembling, he made some unable to keep their feet, and made them fall
down, and by opening its chasms, he caused that others should be hurried
down into them; after which he caused such a noise of thunder to come
among them, and made fiery lightning shine so terribly round about them,
that it was ready to burn their faces; and he so suddenly shook their
weapons out of their hands, that he made them fly and return home naked.
So Samuel with the multitude pursued them to Bethcar, a place so called;
and there he set up a stone as a boundary of their victory and their
enemies’ flight, and called it the Stone of Power, as a signal of that
power God had given them against their enemies.
3. So the Philistines, after this stroke, made no more expeditions against
the Israelites, but lay still out of fear, and out of remembrance of what
had befallen them; and what courage the Philistines had formerly against
the Hebrews, that, after this victory, was transferred to the Hebrews.
Samuel also made an expedition against the Philistines, and slew many of
them, and entirely humbled their proud hearts, and took from them that
country, which, when they were formerly conquerors in battle, they had cut
off from the Jews, which was the country that extended from the borders of
Gath to the city of Ekron: but the remains of the Canaanites were at this
time in friendship with the Israelites.
CHAPTER 3. How Samuel When He Was So Infirm With Old Age That He Could Not
Take Care Of The Public Affairs Intrusted Them To His Sons; And How Upon
The Evil Administration Of The Government By Them The Multitude Were So
Angry, That They Required To Have A King To Govern Them, Although Samuel
Was Much Displeased Thereat.
1. But Samuel the prophet, when he had ordered the affairs of the people
after a convenient manner, and had appointed a city for every district of
them, he commanded them to come to such cities, to have the controversies
that they had one with another determined in them, he himself going over
those cities twice in a year, and doing them justice; and by that means he
kept them in very good order for a long time.
2. But afterwards he found himself oppressed with old age, and not able to
do what he used to do, so he committed the government and the care of the
multitude to his sons,—the elder of whom was called Joel, and the
name of the younger was Abiah. He also enjoined them to reside and judge
the people, the one at the city of Bethel, and the other at Beersheba, and
divided the people into districts that should be under the jurisdiction of
each of them. Now these men afford us an evident example and demonstration
how some children are not of the like dispositions with their parents; but
sometimes perhaps good and moderate, though born of wicked parents; and
sometimes showing themselves to be wicked, though born of good parents:
for these men turning aside from their father’s good courses, and taking a
course that was contrary to them, perverted justice for the ‘filthy lucre
of gifts and bribes, and made their determinations not according to truth,
but according to bribery, and turned aside to luxury, and a costly way of
living; so that as, in the first place, they practiced what was contrary
to the will of God, so did they, in the second place, what was contrary to
the will of the prophet their father, who had taken a great deal of care,
and made a very careful provision that the multitude should be righteous.
3. But the people, upon these injuries offered to their former
constitution and government by the prophet’s sons, were very uneasy at
their actions, and came running to the prophet, who then lived at the city
Ramah, and informed him of the transgressions of his sons; and said, That
as he was himself old already, and too infirm by that age of his to
oversee their affairs in the manner he used to do, so they begged of him,
and entreated him, to appoint some person to be king over them, who might
rule over the nation, and avenge them of the Philistines, who ought to be
punished for their former oppressions. These words greatly afflicted
Samuel, on account of his innate love of justice, and his hatred to kingly
government, for he was very fond of an aristocracy, as what made the men
that used it of a divine and happy disposition; nor could he either think
of eating or sleeping, out of his concern and torment of mind at what they
had said, but all the night long did he continue awake and revolved these
notions in his mind.
4. While he was thus disposed, God appeared to him, and comforted him,
saying, That he ought not to be uneasy at what the multitude desired,
because it was not he, but Himself whom they so insolently despised, and
would not have to be alone their king; that they had been contriving these
things from the very day that they came out of Egypt; that however in no
long time they would sorely repent of what they did, which repentance yet
could not undo what was thus done for futurity; that they would be
sufficiently rebuked for their contempt, and the ungrateful conduct they
have used towards me, and towards thy prophetic office. “So I command thee
to ordain them such a one as I shall name beforehand to be their king,
when thou hast first described what mischiefs kingly government will bring
upon them, and openly testified before them into what a great change of
affairs they are hasting.”
5. When Samuel had heard this, he called the Jews early in the morning,
and confessed to them that he was to ordain them a king; but he said that
he was first to describe to them what would follow, what treatment they
would receive from their kings, and with how many mischiefs they must
struggle. “For know ye,” said he, “that, in the first place, they will
take your sons away from you, and they will command some of them to be
drivers of their chariots, and some to be their horsemen, and the guards
of their body, and others of them to be runners before them, and captains
of thousands, and captains of hundreds; they will also make them their
artificers, makers of armor, and of chariots, and of instruments; they
will make them their husbandmen also, and the curators of their own
fields, and the diggers of their own vineyards; nor will there be any
thing which they will not do at their commands, as if they were slaves
bought with money. They will also appoint your daughters to be
confectioners, and cooks, and bakers; and these will be obliged to do all
sorts of work which women slaves, that are in fear of stripes and
torments, submit to. They will, besides this, take away your possessions,
and bestow them upon their eunuchs, and the guards of their bodies, and
will give the herds of your cattle to their own servants: and to say
briefly all at once, you, and all that is yours, will be servants to your
king, and will become no way superior to his slaves; and when you suffer
thus, you will thereby be put in mind of what I now say. And when you
repent of what you have done, you will beseech God to have mercy upon you,
and to grant you a quick deliverance from your kings; but he will not
accept your prayers, but will neglect you, and permit you to suffer the
punishment your evil conduct has deserved.”
6. But the multitude was still so foolish as to be deaf to these
predictions of what would befall them; and too peevish to suffer a
determination which they had injudiciously once made, to be taken out of
their mind; for they could not be turned from their purpose, nor did they
regard the words of Samuel, but peremptorily insisted on their resolution,
and desired him to ordain them a king immediately, and not trouble himself
with fears of what would happen hereafter, for that it was necessary they
should have with them one to fight their battles, and to avenge them of
their enemies, and that it was no way absurd, when their neighbors were
under kingly government, that they should have the same form of government
also. So when Samuel saw that what he had said had not diverted them from
their purpose, but that they continued resolute, he said, “Go you every
one home for the present; when it is fit I will send for you, as soon as I
shall have learned from God who it is that he will give you for your
king.”
CHAPTER 4. The Appointment Of A King Over The Israelites, Whose Name Was
Saul; And This By The Command Of God.
1. Ther was one of the tribe of Benjamin, a man of a good family, and of a
virtuous disposition; his name was Kish. He had a son, a young man of a
comely countenance, and of a tall body, but his understanding and his mind
were preferable to what was visible in him: they called him Saul. Now this
Kish had some fine she-asses that were wandered out of the pasture wherein
they fed, for he was more delighted with these than with any other cattle
he had; so he sent out his son, and one servant with him, to search for
the beasts; but when he had gone over his own tribe in search after the
asses, he went to other tribes, and when he found them not there neither,
he determined to go his way home, lest he should occasion any concern to
his father about himself. But when his servant that followed him told him
as they were near the city of Ramah, that there was a true prophet in that
city, and advised him to go to him, for that by him they should know the
upshot of the affair of their asses, he replied, That if they should go to
him, they had nothing to give him as a reward for his prophecy, for their
subsistence money was spent. The servant answered, that he had still the
fourth part of a shekel, and he would present him with that; for they were
mistaken out of ignorance, as not knowing that the prophet received no
such reward 6 So they went to him; and when
they were before the gates, they lit upon certain maidens that were going
to fetch water, and they asked them which was the prophet’s house. They
showed them which it was; and bid them make haste before he sat down to
supper, for he had invited many guests to a feast, and that he used to sit
down before those that were invited. Now Samuel had then gathered many
together to feast with him on this very account; for while he every day
prayed to God to tell him beforehand whom he would make king, he had
informed him of this man the day before, for that he would send him a
certain young man out of the tribe of Benjamin about this hour of the day;
and he sat on the top of the house in expectation of that time’s being
come. And when the time was completed, he came down and went to supper; so
he met with Saul, and God discovered to him that this was he who should
rule over them. Then Saul went up to Samuel and saluted him, and desired
him to inform him which was the prophet’s house; for he said he was a
stranger and did not know it. When Samuel had told him that he himself was
the person, he led him in to supper, and assured him that the asses were
found which he had been to seek, and that the greatest of good things were
assured to him: he replied, “I am too inconsiderable to hope for any such
thing, and of a tribe to small to have kings made out of it, and of a
family smaller than several other families; but thou tellest me this in
jest, and makest me an object of laughter, when thou discoursest with me
of greater matters than what I stand in need of.” However, the prophet led
him in to the feast, and made him sit down, him and his servant that
followed him, above the other guests that were invited, which were seventy
in number 7
and he gave orders to the servants to set the royal portion before Saul.
And when the time of going to bed was come, the rest rose up, and every
one of them went home; but Saul staid with the prophet, he and his
servant, and slept with him.
2. Now as soon as it was day, Samuel raised up Saul out of his bed, and
conducted him homeward; and when he was out of the city, he desired him to
cause his servant to go before, but to stay behind himself, for that he
had somewhat to say to him when nobody else was present. Accordingly, Saul
sent away his servant that followed him; then did the prophet take a
vessel of oil, and poured it upon the head of the young man, and kissed
him, and said, “Be thou a king, by the ordination of God, against the
Philistines, and for avenging the Hebrews for what they have suffered by
them; of this thou shalt have a sign, which I would have thee take notice
of:—As soon as thou art departed hence, thou will find three men
upon the road, going to worship God at Bethel; the first of whom thou wilt
see carrying three loaves of bread, the second carrying a kid of the
goats, and the third will follow them carrying a bottle of wine. These
three men will salute thee, and speak kindly to thee, and will give thee
two of their loaves, which thou shalt accept of. And thence thou shalt
come to a place called Rachel’s Monument, where thou shalt meet with those
that will tell thee thy asses are found; after this, when thou comest to
Gabatha, thou shalt overtake a company of prophets, and thou shalt be
seized with the Divine Spirit, 8 and prophesy along with them,
till every one that sees thee shall be astonished, and wonder, and say,
Whence is it that the son of Kish has arrived at this degree of happiness?
And when these signs have happened to thee, know that God is with thee;
then do thou salute thy father and thy kindred. Thou shalt also come when
I send for thee to Gilgal, that we may offer thank-offerings to God for
these blessings.” When Samuel had said this, and foretold these things, he
sent the young man away. Now all things fell out to Saul according to the
prophecy of Samuel.
3. But as soon as Saul came into the house of his kinsman Abner, whom
indeed he loved better than the rest of his relations, he was asked by him
concerning his journey, and what accidents happened to him therein; and he
concealed none of the other things from him, no, not his coming to Samuel
the prophet, nor how he told him the asses were found; but he said nothing
to him about the kingdom, and what belonged thereto, which he thought
would procure him envy, and when such things are heard, they are not
easily believed; nor did he think it prudent to tell those things to him,
although he appeared very friendly to him, and one whom he loved above the
rest of his relations, considering, I suppose, what human nature really
is, that no one is a firm friend, neither among our intimates, nor of our
kindred; nor do they preserve that kind disposition when God advances men
to great prosperity, but they are still ill-natured and envious at those
that are in eminent stations.
4. Then Samuel called the people together to the city Mizpeh, and spake to
them in the words following, which he said he was to speak by the command
of God:—That when he had granted them a state of liberty, and
brought their enemies into subjection, they were become unmindful of his
benefits, and rejected God that he should not be their King, as not
considering that it would be most for their advantage to be presided over
by the best of beings, for God is the best of beings, and they chose to
have a man for their king; while kings will use their subjects as beasts,
according to the violence of their own wills and inclinations, and other
passions, as wholly carried away with the lust of power, but will not
endeavor so to preserve the race of mankind as his own workmanship and
creation, which, for that very reason, God would take cake of. “But since
you have come to a fixed resolution, and this injurious treatment of God
has quite prevailed over you, dispose yourselves by your tribes and
scepters, and cast lots.”
5. When the Hebrews had so done, the lot fell upon the tribe of Benjamin;
and when the lot was cast for the families of this tribe, that which was
called Matri was taken; and when the lot was cast for the single persons
of that family, Saul, the son of Kish, was taken for their king. When the
young man knew this, he prevented [their sending for him], and immediately
went away and hid himself. I suppose that it was because he would not have
it thought that he willingly took the government upon him; nay, he showed
such a degree of command over himself, and of modesty, that while the
greatest part are not able to contain their joy, even in the gaining of
small advantages, but presently show themselves publicly to all men, this
man did not only show nothing of that nature, when he was appointed to be
the lord of so many and so great tribes, but crept away and concealed
himself out of the sight of those he was to reign over, and made them seek
him, and that with a good deal of trouble. So when the people were at a
loss, and solicitous, because Saul disappeared, the prophet besought God
to show where the young man was, and to produce him before them. So when
they had learned of God the place where Saul was hidden, they sent men to
bring him; and when he was come, they set him in the midst of the
multitude. Now he was taller than any of them, and his stature was very
majestic.
6. Then said the prophet, “God gives you this man to be your king: see how
he is higher than any of the people, and worthy of this dominion.” So as
soon as the people had made acclamation, God save the king, the prophet
wrote down what would come to pass in a book, and read it in the hearing
of the king, and laid up the book in the tabernacle of God, to be a
witness to future generations of what he had foretold. So when Samuel had
finished this matter, he dismissed the multitude, and came himself to the
city Rainah, for it was his own country. Saul also went away to Gibeah,
where he was born; and many good men there were who paid him the respect
that was due to him; but the greater part were ill men, who despised him
and derided the others, who neither did bring him presents, nor did they
in affection, or even in words, regard to please him.
CHAPTER 5. Saul’s Expedition Against The Nation Of The Ammonites And
Victory Over Them And The Spoils He Took From Them.
1. After one month, the war which Saul had with Nahash, the king of the
Ammonites, obtained him respect from all the people; for this Nahash had
done a great deal of mischief to the Jews that lived beyond Jordan by the
expedition he had made against them with a great and warlike army. He also
reduced their cities into slavery, and that not only by subduing them for
the present, which he did by force and violence, but by weakening them by
subtlety and cunning, that they might not be able afterward to get clear
of the slavery they were under to him; for he put out the right eyes 9
of those that either delivered themselves to him upon terms, or were taken
by him in war; and this he did, that when their left eyes were covered by
their shields, they might be wholly useless in war. Now when the king of
the Ammonites had served those beyond Jordan in this manner, he led his
army against those that were called Gileadites, and having pitched his
camp at the metropolis of his enemies, which was the city of Jabesh, he
sent ambassadors to them, commanding them either to deliver themselves up,
on condition to have their right eyes plucked out, or to undergo a siege,
and to have their cities overthrown. He gave them their choice, whether
they would cut off a small member of their body, or universally perish.
However, the Gileadites were so affrighted at these offers, that they had
not courage to say any thing to either of them, neither that they would
deliver themselves up, nor that they would fight him. But they desired
that he would give them seven days’ respite, that they might send
ambassadors to their countrymen, and entreat their assistance; and if they
came to assist them, they would fight; but if that assistance were
impossible to be obtained from them, they said they would deliver
themselves up to suffer whatever he pleased to inflict upon them.
2. So Nabash, contemning the multitude of the Gileadites and the answer
they gave, allowed them a respite, and gave them leave to send to
whomsoever they pleased for assistance. So they immediately sent to the
Israelites, city by city, and informed them what Nabash had threatened to
do to them, and what great distress they were in. Now the people fell into
tears and grief at the hearing of what the ambassadors from Jabesh said;
and the terror they were in permitted them to do nothing more. But when
the messengers were come to the city of king Saul, and declared the
dangers in which the inhabitants of Jabesh were, the people were in the
same affliction as those in the other cities, for they lamented the
calamity of those related to them. And when Saul was returned from his
husbandry into the city, he found his fellow citizens weeping; and when,
upon inquiry, he had learned the cause of the confusion and sadness they
were in, he was seized with a divine fury, and sent away the ambassadors
from the inhabitants of Jabesh, and promised them to come to their
assistance on the third day, and to beat their enemies before sun-rising,
that the sun upon its rising might see that they had already conquered,
and were freed from the fears they were under: but he bid some of them
stay to conduct them the right way to Jabesh.
3. So being desirous to turn the people to this war against the Ammonites
by fear of the losses they should otherwise undergo, and that they might
the more suddenly be gathered together, he cut the sinews of his oxen, and
threatened to do the same to all such as did not come with their armor to
Jordan the next day, and follow him and Samuel the prophet whithersoever
they should lead them. So they came together, out of fear of the losses
they were threatened with, at the appointed time. And the multitude were
numbered at the city Bezek. And he found the number of those that were
gathered together, besides that of the tribe of Judah, to be seven hundred
thousand, while those of that tribe were seventy thousand. So he passed
over Jordan, and proceeded in marching all that night, thirty furlongs,
and came to Jabesh before sun-rising. So he divided the army into three
companies; and fell upon their enemies on every side on the sudden, and
when they expected no such thing; and joining battle with them, they slew
a great many of the Ammonites, as also their king Nabash. This glorious
action was done by Saul, and was related with great commendation of him to
all the Hebrews; and he thence gained a wonderful reputation for his
valor: for although there were some of them that contemned him before,
they now changed their minds, and honored him, and esteemed him as the
best of men: for he did not content himself with having saved the
inhabitants of Jabesh only, but he made an expedition into the country of
the Ammonites, and laid it all waste, and took a large prey, and so
returned to his own country most gloriously. So the people were greatly
pleased at these excellent performances of Saul, and rejoiced that they
had constituted him their king. They also made a clamor against those that
pretended he would be of no advantage to their affairs; and they said,
Where now are these men?—let them be brought to punishment, with all
the like things that multitudes usually say when they are elevated with
prosperity, against those that lately had despised the authors of it. But
Saul, although he took the good-will and the affection of these men very
kindly, yet did he swear that he would not see any of his countrymen slain
that day, since it was absurd to mix this victory, which God had given
them, with the blood and slaughter of those that were of the same lineage
with themselves; and that it was more agreeable to be men of a friendly
disposition, and so to betake themselves to feasting.
4. And when Samuel had told them that he ought to confirm the kingdom to
Saul by a second ordination of him, they all came together to the city of
Gilgal, for thither did he command them to come. So the prophet anointed
Saul with the holy oil in the sight of the multitude, and declared him to
be king the second time. And so the government of the Hebrews was changed
into a regal government; for in the days of Moses, and his disciple
Joshua, who was their general, they continued under an aristocracy; but
after the death of Joshua, for eighteen years in all, the multitude had no
settled form of government, but were in an anarchy; after which they
returned to their former government, they then permitting themselves to be
judged by him who appeared to be the best warrior and most courageous,
whence it was that they called this interval of their government the
Judges.
5. Then did Samuel the prophet call another assembly also, and said to
them, “I solemnly adjure you by God Almighty, who brought those excellent
brethren, I mean Moses and Aaron, into the world, and delivered our
fathers from the Egyptians, and from the slavery they endured under them,
that you will not speak what you say to gratify me, nor suppress any thing
out of fear of me, nor be overborne by any other passion, but say, What
have I ever done that was cruel or unjust? or what have I done out of
lucre or covetousness, or to gratify others? Bear witness against me, if I
have taken an ox or a sheep, or any such thing, which yet when they are
taken to support men, it is esteemed blameless; or have I taken an ass for
mine own use of any one to his grief?—lay some one such crime to my
charge, now we are in your king’s presence.” But they cried out, that no
such thing had been done by him, but that he had presided over the nation
after a holy and righteous manner.
6. Hereupon Samuel, when such a testimony had been given him by them all,
said, “Since you grant that you are not able to lay any ill thing to my
charge hitherto, come on now, and do you hearken while I speak with great
freedom to you. You have been guilty of great impiety against God, in
asking you a king. It behoves you to remember that our grandfather Jacob
came down into Egypt, by reason of a famine, with seventy souls only of
our family, and that their posterity multiplied there to many ten
thousands, whom the Egyptians brought into slavery and hard oppression;
that God himself, upon the prayers of our fathers, sent Moses and Aaron,
who were brethren, and gave them power to deliver the multitude out of
their distress, and this without a king. These brought us into this very
land which you now possess: and when you enjoyed these advantages from
God, you betrayed his worship and religion; nay, moreover, when you were
brought under the hands of your enemies, he delivered you, first by
rendering you superior to the Assyrians and their forces, he then made you
to overcome the Ammonites and the Moabites, and last of all the
Philistines; and these things have been achieved under the conduct of
Jephtha and Gideon. What madness therefore possessed you to fly from God,
and to desire to be under a king?—yet have I ordained him for king
whom he chose for you. However, that I may make it plain to you that God
is angry and displeased at your choice of kingly government, I will so
dispose him that he shall declare this very plainly to you by strange
signals; for what none of you ever saw here before, I mean a winter storm
in the midst of harvest, 10 I will entreat of God, and will
make it visible to you.” Now, as soon as he had said this, God gave such
great signals by thunder and lightning, and the descent of hail, as
attested the truth of all that the prophet had said, insomuch that they
were amazed and terrified, and confessed they had sinned, and had fallen
into that sin through ignorance; and besought the prophet, as one that was
a tender and gentle father to them, to render God so merciful as to
forgive this their sin, which they had added to those other offenses
whereby they had affronted him and transgressed against him. So he
promised them that he would beseech God, and persuade him to forgive them
these their sins. However, he advised them to be righteous, and to be
good, and ever to remember the miseries that had befallen them on account
of their departure from virtue: as also to remember the strange signs God
had shown them, and the body of laws that Moses had given them, if they
had any desire of being preserved and made happy with their king. But he
said, that if they should grow careless of these things, great judgments
would come from God upon them, and upon their king. And when Samuel had
thus prophesied to the Hebrews, he dismissed them to their own homes,
having confirmed the kingdom to Saul the second time.
CHAPTER 6. How The Philistines Made Another Expedition Against The Hebrews
And Were Beaten.
1. Now Saul chose out of the multitude about three thousand men, and he
took two thousand of them to be the guards of his own body, and abode in
the city Bethel, but he gave the rest of them to Jonathan his son, to be
the guards of his body; and sent him to Gibeah, where he besieged and took
a certain garrison of the Philistines, not far from Gilgal; for the
Philistines of Gibeah had beaten the Jews, and taken their weapons away,
and had put garrisons into the strongest places of the country, and had
forbidden them to carry any instrument of iron, or at all to make use of
any iron in any case whatsoever. And on account of this prohibition it was
that the husbandmen, if they had occasion to sharpen any of their tools,
whether it were the coulter or the spade, or any instrument of husbandry,
they came to the Philistines to do it. Now as soon as the Philistines
heard of this slaughter of their garrison, they were in a rage about it,
and, looking on this contempt as a terrible affront offered them, they
made war against the Jews, with three hundred thousand footmen, and thirty
thousand chariots, and six thousand horses; and they pitched their camp at
the city Michmash. When Saul, the king of the Hebrews, was informed of
this, he went down to the city Gilgal, and made proclamation over all the
country, that they should try to regain their liberty; and called them to
the war against the Philistines, diminishing their forces, and despising
them as not very considerable, and as not so great but they might hazard a
battle with them. But when the people about Saul observed how numerous the
Philistines were, they were under a great consternation; and some of them
hid themselves in caves and in dens under ground, but the greater part
fled into the land beyond Jordan, which belonged to Gad and Reuben.
2. But Saul sent to the prophet, and called him to consult with him about
the war and the public affairs; so he commanded him to stay there for him,
and to prepare sacrifices, for he would come to him within seven days,
that they might offer sacrifices on the seventh day, and might then join
battle with their enemies. So he waited 11 as the
prophet sent to him to do; yet did not he, however, observe the command
that was given him, but when he saw that the prophet tarried longer than
he expected, and that he was deserted by the soldiers, he took the
sacrifices and offered them; and when he heard that Samuel was come, he
went out to meet him. But the prophet said he had not done well in
disobeying the injunctions he had sent to him, and had not staid till his
coming, which being appointed according to the will of God, he had
prevented him in offering up those prayers and those sacrifices that he
should have made for the multitude, and that he therefore had performed
Divine offices in an ill manner, and had been rash in performing them.
Hereupon Saul made an apology for himself, and said that he had waited as
many days as Samuel had appointed him; that he had been so quick in
offering his sacrifices, upon account of the necessity he was in, and
because his soldiers were departing from him, out of their fear of the
enemy’s camp at Michmash, the report being gone abroad that they were
coming down upon him of Gilgal. To which Samuel replied, “Nay, certainly,
if thou hadst been a righteous man, 12 and
hadst not disobeyed me, nor slighted the commands which God suggested to
me concerning the present state of affairs, and hadst not acted more
hastily than the present circumstances required, thou wouldst have been
permitted to reign a long time, and thy posterity after thee.” So Samuel,
being grieved at what happened, returned home; but Saul came to the city
Gibeah, with his son Jonathan, having only six hundred men with him; and
of these the greater part had no weapons, because of the scarcity of iron
in that country, as well as of those that could make such weapons; for, as
we showed a little before, the Philistines had not suffered them to have
such iron or such workmen. Now the Philistines divided their army into
three companies, and took as many roads, and laid waste the country of the
Hebrews, while king Saul and his son Jonathan saw what was done, but were
not able to defend the land, having no more than six hundred men with
them. But as he, and his son, and Abiah the high priest, who was of the
posterity of Eli the high priest, were sitting upon a pretty high hill,
and seeing the land laid waste, they were mightily disturbed at it. Now
Saul’s son agreed with his armor-bearer, that they would go privately to
the enemy’s camp, and make a tumult and a disturbance among them. And when
the armor-bearer had readily promised to follow him whithersoever he
should lead him, though he should be obliged to die in the attempt,
Jonathan made use of the young man’s assistance, and descended from the
hill, and went to their enemies. Now the enemy’s camp was upon a precipice
which had three tops, that ended in a small but sharp and long extremity,
while there was a rock that surrounded them, like lines made to prevent
the attacks of an enemy. There it so happened, that the out-guards of the
camp were neglected, because of the security that here arose from the
situation of the place, and because they thought it altogether impossible,
not only to ascend up to the camp on that quarter, but so much as to come
near it. As soon, therefore, as they came to the camp, Jonathan encouraged
his armor-bearer, and said to him, “Let us attack our enemies; and if,
when they see us, they bid us come up to them, take that for a signal of
victory; but if they say nothing, as not intending to invite us to come
up, let us return back again.” So when they were approaching to the
enemy’s camp, just after break of day, and the Philistines saw them, they
said one to another, “The Hebrews come out of their dens and caves:” and
they said to Jonathan and to his armor-bearer, “Come on, ascend up to us,
that we may inflict a just punishment upon you, for your rash attempt upon
us.” So Saul’s son accepted of that invitation, as what signified to him
victory, and he immediately came out of the place whence they were seen by
their enemies: so he changed his place, and came to the rock, which had
none to guard it, because of its own strength; from thence they crept up
with great labor and difficulty, and so far overcame by force the nature
of the place, till they were able to fight with their enemies. So they
fell upon them as they were asleep, and slew about twenty of them, and
thereby filled them with disorder and surprise, insomuch that some of them
threw away their entire armor and fled; but the greatest part, not knowing
one another, because they were of different nations, suspected one another
to be enemies, [for they did not imagine there were only two of the
Hebrews that came up,] and so they fought one against another; and some of
them died in the battle, and some, as they were flying away, were thrown
down from the rock headlong.
3. Now Saul’s watchmen told the king that the camp of the Philistines was
in confusion; then he inquired whether any body was gone away from the
army; and when he heard that his son, and with him his armor-bearer, were
absent, he bade the high priest take the garments of his high priesthood,
and prophesy to him what success they should have; who said that they
should get the victory, and prevail against their enemies. So he went out
after the Philistines, and set upon them as they were slaying one another.
Those also who had fled to dens and caves, upon hearing that Saul was
gaining a victory, came running to him. When, therefore, the number of the
Hebrews that came to Saul amounted to about ten thousand, he pursued the
enemy, who were scattered all over the country; but then he fell into an
action, which was a very unhappy one, and liable to be very much blamed;
for, whether out of ignorance or whether out of joy for a victory gained
so strangely, [for it frequently happens that persons so fortunate are not
then able to use their reason consistently,] as he was desirous to avenge
himself, and to exact a due punishment of the Philistines, he denounced a
curse 13
upon the Hebrews: That if any one put a stop to his slaughter of the
enemy, and fell on eating, and left off the slaughter or the pursuit
before the night came on, and obliged them so to do, he should be
accursed. Now after Saul had denounced this curse, since they were now in
a wood belonging to the tribe of Ephraim, which was thick and full of
bees, Saul’s son, who did not hear his father denounce that curse, nor
hear of the approbation the multitude gave to it, broke off a piece of a
honey-comb, and ate part of it. But, in the mean time, he was informed
with what a curse his father had forbidden them to taste any thing before
sun-setting: so he left off eating, and said his father had not done well
in this prohibition, because, had they taken some food, they had pursued
the enemy with greater rigor and alacrity, and had both taken and slain
many more of their enemies.
4. When, therefore, they had slain many ten thousands of the Philistines,
they fell upon spoiling the camp of the Philistines, but not till late in
the evening. They also took a great deal of prey and cattle, and killed
them, and ate them with their blood. This was told to the king by the
scribes, that the multitude were sinning against God as they sacrificed,
and were eating before the blood was well washed away, and the flesh was
made clean. Then did Saul give order that a great stone should be rolled
into the midst of them, and he made proclamation that they should kill
their sacrifices upon it, and not feed upon the flesh with the blood, for
that was not acceptable to God. And when all the people did as the king
commanded them, Saul erected an altar there, and offered burnt-offerings
upon it to God 14 This was the first altar that
Saul built.
5. So when Saul was desirous of leading his men to the enemy’s camp before
it was day, in order to plunder it, and when the soldiers were not
unwilling to follow him, but indeed showed great readiness to do as he
commanded them, the king called Ahitub the high priest, and enjoined him
to know of God whether he would grant them the favor and permission to go
against the enemy’s camp, in order to destroy those that were in it. And
when the priest said that God did not give any answer, Saul replied, “And
not without some cause does God refuse to answer what we inquire of him,
while yet a little while ago he declared to us all that we desired
beforehand, and even prevented us in his answer. To be sure there is some
sin against him that is concealed from us, which is the occasion of his
silence. Now I swear by him himself, that though he that hath committed
this sin should prove to be my own son Jonathan, I will slay him, and by
that means will appease the anger of God against us, and that in the very
same manner as if I were to punish a stranger, and one not at all related
to me, for the same offense.” So when the multitude cried out to him so to
do, he presently set all the rest on one side, and he and his son stood on
the other side, and he sought to discover the offender by lot. Now the lot
appeared to fall upon Jonathan himself. So when he was asked by his father
what sin he had been guilty of, and what he was conscious of in the course
of his life that might be esteemed instances of guilt or profaneness, his
answer was this, “O father, I have done nothing more than that yesterday,
without knowing of the curse and oath thou hadst denounced, while I was in
pursuit of the enemy, I tasted of a honey-comb.” But Saul sware that he
would slay him, and prefer the observation of his oath before all the ties
of birth and of nature. And Jonathan was not dismayed at this threatening
of death, but, offering himself to it generously and undauntedly, he said,
“Nor do I desire you, father, to spare me: death will be to me very
acceptable, when it proceeds from thy piety, and after a glorious victory;
for it is the greatest consolation to me that I leave the Hebrews
victorious over the Philistines.” Hereupon all the people were very sorry,
and greatly afflicted for Jonathan; and they sware that they would not
overlook Jonathan, and see him die, who was the author of their victory.
By which means they snatched him out of the danger he was in from his
father’s curse, while they made their prayers to God also for the young
man, that he would remit his sin.
6. So Saul, having slain about sixty thousand of the enemy, returned home
to his own city, and reigned happily: and he also fought against the
neighboring nations, and subdued the Ammonites, and Moabites, and
Philistines, and Edomites, and Amalekites, as also the king of Zobah. He
had three male children, Jonathan, and Isui, and Melchishua; with Merab
and Michal his daughters. He had also Abner, his uncle’s son, for the
captain of his host: that uncle’s name was Ner. Now Ner, and Kish the
father of Saul, were brothers. Saul had also a great many chariots and
horsemen, and against whomsoever he made war he returned conqueror, and
advanced the affairs of the Hebrews to a great degree of success and
prosperity, and made them superior to other nations; and he made such of
the young men as were remarkable for tallness and comeliness the guards of
his body.
CHAPTER 7. Saul’s War With The Amalekites, And Conquest Of Them.
1. Now Samuel came unto Saul, and said to him, that he was sent by God to
put him in mind that God had preferred him before all others, and ordained
him king; that he therefore ought to be obedient to him, and to submit to
his authority, as considering, that though he had the dominion over the
other tribes, yet that God had the dominion over him, and over all things.
That accordingly God said to him, that “because the Amalekites did the
Hebrews a great deal of mischief while they were in the wilderness, and
when, upon their coming out of Egypt, they were making their way to that
country which is now their own, I enjoin thee to punish the Amalekites, by
making war upon them; and when thou hast subdued them, to leave none of
them alive, but to pursue them through every age, and to slay them,
beginning with the women and the infants, and to require this as a
punishment to be inflicted upon them for the mischief they did to our
forefathers; to spare nothing, neither asses nor other beasts, nor to
reserve any of them for your own advantage and possession, but to devote
them universally to God, and, in obedience to the commands of Moses, to
blot out the name of Amalek entirely.” 15
2. So Saul promised to do what he was commanded; and supposing that his
obedience to God would be shown, not only in making war against the
Amalekites, but more fully in the readiness and quickness of his
proceedings, he made no delay, but immediately gathered together all his
forces; and when he had numbered them in Gilgal, he found them to be about
four hundred thousand of the Israelites, besides the tribe of Judah, for
that tribe contained by itself thirty thousand. Accordingly, Saul made an
irruption into the country of the Amalekites, and set many men in several
parties in ambush at the river, that so he might not only do them a
mischief by open fighting, but might fall upon them unexpectedly in the
ways, and might thereby compass them round about, and kill them. And when
he had joined battle with the enemy, he beat them; and pursuing them as
they fled, he destroyed them all. And when that undertaking had succeeded,
according as God had foretold, he set upon the cities of the Amalekites;
he besieged them, and took them by force, partly by warlike machines,
partly by mines dug under ground, and partly by building walls on the
outsides. Some they starved out with famine, and some they gained by other
methods; and after all, he betook himself to slay the women and the
children, and thought he did not act therein either barbarously or
inhumanly; first, because they were enemies whom he thus treated, and, in
the next place, because it was done by the command of God, whom it was
dangerous not to obey. He also took Agag, the enemies’ king, captive,—the
beauty and tallness of whose body he admired so much, that he thought him
worthy of preservation. Yet was not this done however according to the
will of God, but by giving way to human passions, and suffering himself to
be moved with an unseasonable commiseration, in a point where it was not
safe for him to indulge it; for God hated the nation of the Amalekites to
such a degree, that he commanded Saul to have no pity on even those
infants which we by nature chiefly compassionate; but Saul preserved their
king and governor from the miseries which the Hebrews brought on the
people, as if he preferred the fine appearance of the enemy to the memory
of what God had sent him about. The multitude were also guilty, together
with Saul; for they spared the herds and the flocks, and took them for a
prey, when God had commanded they should not spare them. They also carried
off with them the rest of their wealth and riches; but if there were any
thing that was not worthy of regard, that they destroyed.
3. But when Saul had conquered all these Amalekites that reached from
Pelusium of Egypt to the Red Sea, he laid waste all the rest of the
enemy’s country: but for the nation of the Shechemites, he did not touch
them, although they dwelt in the very middle of the country of Midian; for
before the battle, Saul had sent to them, and charged them to depart
thence, lest they should be partakers of the miseries of the Amalekites;
for he had a just occasion for saving them, since they were of the kindred
of Raguel, Moses’s father-in-law.
4. Hereupon Saul returned home with joy, for the glorious things he had
done, and for the conquest of his enemies, as though he had not neglected
any thing which the prophet had enjoined him to do when he was going to
make war with the Amalekites, and as though he had exactly observed all
that he ought to have done. But God was grieved that the king of the
Amalekites was preserved alive, and that the multitude had seized on the
cattle for a prey, because these things were done without his permission;
for he thought it an intolerable thing that they should conquer and
overcome their enemies by that power which he gave them, and then that he
himself should be so grossly despised and disobeyed by them, that a mere
man that was a king would not bear it. He therefore told Samuel the
prophet, that he repented that he had made Saul king, while he did nothing
that he had commanded him, but indulged his own inclinations. When Samuel
heard that, he was in confusion, and began to beseech God all that night
to be reconciled to Saul, and not to be angry with him; but he did not
grant that forgiveness to Saul which the prophet asked for, as not deeming
it a fit thing to grant forgiveness of [such] sins at his entreaties,
since injuries do not otherwise grow so great as by the easy tempers of
those that are injured; or while they hunt after the glory of being
thought gentle and good-natured, before they are aware they produce other
sins. As soon therefore as God had rejected the intercession of the
prophet, and it plainly appeared he would not change his mind, at break of
day Samuel came to Saul at Gilgal. When the king saw him, he ran to him,
and embraced him, and said, “I return thanks to God, who hath given me the
victory, for I have performed every thing that he hath commanded me.” To
which Samuel replied, “How is it then that I hear the bleating of the
sheep and the lowing of the greater cattle in the camp?” Saul made answer,
That the people had reserved them for sacrifices; but that, as to the
nation of the Amalekites, it was entirely destroyed, as he had received it
in command to see done, and that no one man was left; but that he had
saved alive the king alone, and brought him to him, concerning whom, he
said, they would advise together what should be done with him. But the
prophet said, “God is not delighted with sacrifices, but with good and
with righteous men, who are such as follow his will and his laws, and
never think that any thing is well done by them but when they do it as God
had commanded them; that he then looks upon himself as affronted, not when
any one does not sacrifice, but when any one appears to be disobedient to
him. But that from those who do not obey him, nor pay him that duty which
is the alone true and acceptable worship, he will not kindly accept their
oblations, be those they offer ever so many and so fat, and be the
presents they make him ever so ornamental, nay, though they were made of
gold and silver themselves, but he will reject them, and esteem them
instances of wickedness, and not of piety. And that he is delighted with
those that still bear in mind this one thing, and this only, how to do
that, whatsoever it be, which God pronounces or commands for them to do,
and to choose rather to die than to transgress any of those commands; nor
does he require so much as a sacrifice from them. And when these do
sacrifice, though it be a mean oblation, he better accepts of it as the
honor of poverty, than such oblations as come from the richest men that
offer them to him. Wherefore take notice, that thou art under the wrath of
God, for thou hast despised and neglected what he commanded thee. How dost
thou then suppose that he will respect a sacrifice out of such things as
he hath doomed to destruction? unless perhaps thou dost imagine that it is
almost all one to offer it in sacrifice to God as to destroy it. Do thou
therefore expect that thy kingdom will be taken from thee, and that
authority which thou hast abused by such insolent behavior, as to neglect
that God who bestowed it upon thee.” Then did Saul confess that he had
acted unjustly, and did not deny that he had sinned, because he had
transgressed the injunctions of the prophet; but he said that it was out
of a dread and fear of the soldiers, that he did not prohibit and restrain
them when they seized on the prey. “But forgive me,” said he, “and be
merciful to me, for I will be cautious how I offend for the time to come.”
He also entreated the prophet to go back with him, that he might offer his
thank-offerings to God; but Samuel went home, because he saw that God
would not be reconciled to him.
5. But then Saul was so desirous to retain Samuel, that he took hold of
his cloak, and because the vehemence of Samuel’s departure made the motion
to be violent, the cloak was rent. Upon which the prophet said, that after
the same manner should the kingdom be rent from him, and that a good and a
just man should take it; that God persevered in what he had decreed about
him; that to be mutable and changeable in what is determined, is agreeable
to human passions only, but is not agreeable to the Divine Power. Hereupon
Saul said that he had been wicked, but that what was done could not be
undone: he therefore desired him to honor him so far, that the multitude
might see that he would accompany him in worshipping God. So Samuel
granted him that favor, and went with him and worshipped God. Agag also,
the king of the Amalekites, was brought to him; and when the king asked,
How bitter death was? Samuel said, “As thou hast made many of the Hebrew
mothers to lament and bewail the loss of their children, so shalt thou, by
thy death, cause thy mother to lament thee also.” Accordingly, he gave
order to slay him immediately at Gilgal, and then went away to the city
Ramah.
CHAPTER 8. How, Upon Saul’s Transgression Of The Prophet’s Commands,
Samuel Ordained Another Person To Be King Privately, Whose Name Was David,
As God Commanded Him.
1. Now Saul being sensible of the miserable condition he had brought
himself into, and that he had made God to be his enemy, he went up to his
royal palace at Gibeah, which name denotes a hill, and after that day he
came no more into the presence of the prophet. And when Samuel mourned for
him, God bid him leave off his concern for him, and to take the holy oil,
and go to Bethlehem, to Jesse the son of Obed, and to anoint such of his
sons as he should show him for their future king. But Samuel said, he was
afraid lest Saul, when he came to know of it, should kill him, either by
some private method or even openly. But upon God’s suggesting to him a
safe way of going thither, he came to the forementioned city; and when
they all saluted him, and asked what was the occasion of his coming, he
told them he came to sacrifice to God. When, therefore, he had gotten the
sacrifice ready, he called Jesse and his sons to partake of those
sacrifices; and when he saw his eldest son to be a tall and handsome man,
he guessed by his comeliness that he was the person who was to be their
future king. But he was mistaken in judging about God’s providence; for
when Samuel inquired of God whether he should anoint this youth, whom he
so admired, and esteemed worthy of the kingdom, God said, “Men do not see
as God seeth. Thou indeed hast respect to the fine appearance of this
youth, and thence esteemest him worthy of the kingdom, while I propose the
kingdom as a reward, not of the beauty of bodies, but of the virtue of
souls, and I inquire after one that is perfectly comely in that respect; I
mean one who is beautiful in piety, and righteousness, and fortitude, and
obedience, for in them consists the comeliness of the soul.” When God had
said this, Samuel bade Jesse to show him all his sons. So he made five
others of his sons to come to him; of all of whom Eliab was the eldest,
Aminadab the second, Shammall the third, Nathaniel the fourth, Rael the
fifth, and Asam the sixth. And when the prophet saw that these were no way
inferior to the eldest in their countenances, he inquired of God which of
them it was whom he chose for their king. And when God said it was none of
them, he asked Jesse whether he had not some other sons besides these; and
when he said that he had one more, named David, but that he was a
shepherd, and took care of the flocks, Samuel bade them call him
immediately, for that till he was come they could not possibly sit down to
the feast. Now, as soon as his father had sent for David, and he was come,
he appeared to be of a yellow complexion, of a sharp sight, and a comely
person in other respects also. This is he, said Samuel privately to
himself, whom it pleases God to make our king. So he sat down to the
feast, and placed the youth under him, and Jesse also, with his other
sons; after which he took oil in the presence of David, and anointed him,
and whispered him in the ear, and acquainted him that God chose him to be
their king; and exhorted him to be righteous, and obedient to his
commands, for that by this means his kingdom would continue for a long
time, and that his house should be of great splendor, and celebrated in
the world; that he should overthrow the Philistines; and that against what
nations soever he should make war, he should be the conqueror, and survive
the fight; and that while he lived he should enjoy a glorious name, and
leave such a name to his posterity also.
2. So Samuel, when he had given him these admonitions, went away. But the
Divine Power departed from Saul, and removed to David; who, upon this
removal of the Divine Spirit to him, began to prophesy. But as for Saul,
some strange and demoniacal disorders came upon him, and brought upon him
such suffocations as were ready to choke him; for which the physicians
could find no other remedy but this, That if any person could charm those
passions by singing, and playing upon the harp, they advised them to
inquire for such a one, and to observe when these demons came upon him and
disturbed him, and to take care that such a person might stand over him,
and play upon the harp, and recite hymns to him. 16
Accordingly Saul did not delay, but commanded them to seek out such a man.
And when a certain stander-by said that he had seen in the city of
Bethlehem a son of Jesse, who was yet no more than a child in age, but
comely and beautiful, and in other respects one that was deserving of
great regard, who was skillful in playing on the harp, and in singing of
hymns, [and an excellent soldier in war,] he sent to Jesse, and desired
him to take David away from the flocks, and send him to him, for he had a
mind to see him, as having heard an advantageous character of his
comeliness and his valor. So Jesse sent his son, and gave him presents to
carry to Saul. And when he was come, Saul was pleased with him, and made
him his armor-bearer, and had him in very great esteem; for he charmed his
passion, and was the only physician against the trouble he had from the
demons, whensoever it was that it came upon him, and this by reciting of
hymns, and playing upon the harp, and bringing Saul to his right mind
again. However, he sent to Jesse, the father of the child, and desired him
to permit David to stay with him, for that he was delighted with his sight
and company; which stay, that he might not contradict Saul, he granted.
CHAPTER 9. How The Philistines Made Another Expedition Against The Hebrews
Under The Reign Of Saul; And How They Were Overcome By David’s Slaying
Goliath In Single Combat.
1. Now the Philistines gathered themselves together again no very long
time afterward; and having gotten together a great army, they made war
against the Israelites; and having seized a place between Shochoh and
Azekah, they there pitched their camp. Saul also drew out his army to
oppose them; and by pitching his own camp on a certain hill, he forced the
Philistines to leave their former camp, and to encamp themselves upon such
another hill, over-against that on which Saul’s army lay, so that a
valley, which was between the two hills on which they lay, divided their
camps asunder. Now there came down a man out of the camp of the
Philistines, whose name was Goliath, of the city of Gath, a man of vast
bulk, for he was of four cubits and a span in tallness, and had about him
weapons suitable to the largeness of his body, for he had a breastplate on
that weighed five thousand shekels: he had also a helmet and greaves of
brass, as large as you would naturally suppose might cover the limbs of so
vast a body. His spear was also such as was not carried like a light thing
in his right hand, but he carried it as lying on his shoulders. He had
also a lance of six hundred shekels; and many followed him to carry his
armor. Wherefore this Goliath stood between the two armies, as they were
in battle array, and sent out aloud voice, and said to Saul and the
Hebrews, “I will free you from fighting and from dangers; for what
necessity is there that your army should fall and be afflicted? Give me a
man of you that will fight with me, and he that conquers shall have the
reward of the conqueror and determine the war; for these shall serve those
others to whom the conqueror shall belong; and certainly it is much
better, and more prudent, to gain what you desire by the hazard of one man
than of all.” When he had said this, he retired to his own camp; but the
next day he came again, and used the same words, and did not leave off for
forty days together, to challenge the enemy in the same words, till Saul
and his army were therewith terrified, while they put themselves in array
as if they would fight, but did not come to a close battle.
2. Now while this war between the Hebrews and the Philistines was going
on, Saul sent away David to his father Jesse, and contented himself with
those three sons of his whom he had sent to his assistance, and to be
partners in the dangers of the war: and at first David returned to feed
his sheep and his flocks; but after no long time he came to the camp of
the Hebrews, as sent by his father, to carry provisions to his brethren,
and to know what they were doing. While Goliath came again, and challenged
them, and reproached them, that they had no man of valor among them that
durst come down to fight him; and as David was talking with his brethren
about the business for which his father had sent him, he heard the
Philistine reproaching and abusing the army, and had indignation at it,
and said to his brethren, “I am ready to fight a single combat with this
adversary.” Whereupon Eliab, his eldest brother, reproved him, and said
that he spoke too rashly and improperly for one of his age, and bid him go
to his flocks, and to his father. So he was abashed at his brother’s
words, and went away, but still he spake to some of the soldiers that he
was willing to fight with him that challenged them. And when they had
informed Saul what was the resolution of the young man, the king sent for
him to come to him: and when the king asked what he had to say, he
replied, “O king, be not cast down, nor afraid, for I will depress the
insolence of this adversary, and will go down and fight with him, and will
bring him under me, as tall and as great as he is, till he shall be
sufficiently laughed at, and thy army shall get great glory, when he shall
be slain by one that is not yet of man’s estate, neither fit for fighting,
nor capable of being intrusted with the marshalling an army, or ordering a
battle, but by one that looks like a child, and is really no elder in age
than a child.”
3. Now Saul wondered at the boldness and alacrity of David, but durst not
presume on his ability, by reason of his age; but said he must on that
account be too weak to fight with one that was skilled in the art of war.
“I undertake this enterprise,” said David, “in dependence on God’s being
with me, for I have had experience already of his assistance; for I once
pursued after and caught a lion that assaulted my flocks, and took away a
lamb from them; and I snatched the lamb out of the wild beast’s mouth, and
when he leaped upon me with violence, I took him by the tail, and dashed
him against the ground. In the same manner did I avenge myself on a bear
also; and let this adversary of ours be esteemed like one of these wild
beasts, since he has a long while reproached our army, and blasphemed our
God, who yet will reduce him under my power.”
4. However, Saul prayed that the end might be, by God’s assistance, not
disagreeable to the alacrity and boldness of the child; and said, “Go thy
way to the fight.” So he put about him his breastplate, and girded on his
sword, and fitted the helmet to his head, and sent him away. But David was
burdened with his armor, for he had not been exercised to it, nor had he
learned to walk with it; so he said, “Let this armor be thine, O king, who
art able to bear it; but give me leave to fight as thy servant, and as I
myself desire.” Accordingly he laid by the armor, and taking his staff
with him, and putting five stones out of the brook into a shepherd’s bag,
and having a sling in his right hand, he went towards Goliath. But the
adversary seeing him come in such a manner, disdained him, and jested upon
him, as if he had not such weapons with him as are usual when one man
fights against another, but such as are used in driving away and avoiding
of dogs; and said, “Dost thou take me not for a man, but a dog?” To which
he replied, “No, not for a dog, but for a creature worse than a dog.” This
provoked Goliath to anger, who thereupon cursed him by the name of God,
and threatened to give his flesh to the beasts of the earth, and to the
fowls of the air, to be torn in pieces by them. To whom David answered,
“Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a breastplate;
but I have God for my armor in coming against thee, who will destroy thee
and all thy army by my hands for I will this day cut off thy head, and
cast the other parts of thy body to the dogs, and all men shall learn that
God is the protector of the Hebrews, and that our armor and our strength
is in his providence; and that without God’s assistance, all other warlike
preparations and power are useless.” So the Philistine being retarded by
the weight of his armor, when he attempted to meet David in haste, came on
but slowly, as despising him, and depending upon it that he should slay
him, who was both unarmed and a child also, without any trouble at all.
5. But the youth met his antagonist, being accompanied with an invisible
assistant, who was no other than God himself. And taking one of the stones
that he had out of the brook, and had put into his shepherd’s bag, and
fitting it to his sling, he slang it against the Philistine. This stone
fell upon his forehead, and sank into his brain, insomuch that Goliath was
stunned, and fell upon his face. So David ran, and stood upon his
adversary as he lay down, and cut off his head with his own sword; for he
had no sword himself. And upon the fall of Goliath the Philistines were
beaten, and fled; for when they saw their champion prostrate on the
ground, they were afraid of the entire issue of their affairs, and
resolved not to stay any longer, but committed themselves to an
ignominious and indecent flight, and thereby endeavored to save themselves
from the dangers they were in. But Saul and the entire army of the Hebrews
made a shout, and rushed upon them, and slew a great number of them, and
pursued the rest to the borders of Garb, and to the gates of Ekron; so
that there were slain of the Philistines thirty thousand, and twice as
many wounded. But Saul returned to their camp, and pulled their
fortification to pieces, and burnt it; but David carried the head of
Goliath into his own tent, but dedicated his sword to God [at the
tabernacle].
CHAPTER 10. Saul Envies David For His Glorious Success, And Takes An
Occasion Of Entrapping Him, From The Promise He Made Him Of Giving Him His
Daughter In Marriage; But This Upon Condition Of His Bringing Him Six
Hundred Heads Of The Philistines.
1. Now the women were an occasion of Saul’s envy and hatred to David; for
they came to meet their victorious army with cymbals, and drums, and all
demonstrations of joy, and sang thus: The wives said, that “Saul had slain
his many thousands of the Philistines.” The virgins replied, that “David
had slain his ten thousands.” Now, when the king heard them singing thus,
and that he had himself the smallest share in their commendations, and the
greater number, the ten thousands, were ascribed to the young man; and
when he considered with himself that there was nothing more wanting to
David, after such a mighty applause, but the kingdom; he began to be
afraid and suspicious of David. Accordingly he removed him from the
station he was in before, for he was his armor-bearer, which, out of fear,
seemed to him much too near a station for him; and so he made him captain
over a thousand, and bestowed on him a post better indeed in itself, but,
as he thought, more for his own security; for he had a mind to send him
against the enemy, and into battles, as hoping he would be slain in such
dangerous conflicts.
2. But David had God going along with him whithersoever he went, and
accordingly he greatly prospered in his undertakings, and it was visible
that he had mighty success, insomuch that Saul’s daughter, who was still a
virgin, fell in love with him; and her affection so far prevailed over
her, that it could not be concealed, and her father became acquainted with
it. Now Saul heard this gladly, as intending to make use of it for a snare
against David, and he hoped that it would prove the cause of destruction
and of hazard to him; so he told those that informed him of his daughter’s
affection, that he would willingly give David the virgin in marriage, and
said, “I engage myself to marry my daughter to him if he will bring me six
hundred heads of my enemies 17 supposing that when a reward so
ample was proposed to him, and when he should aim to get him great glory,
by undertaking a thing so dangerous and incredible, he would immediately
set about it, and so perish by the Philistines; and my designs about him
will succeed finely to my mind, for I shall be freed from him, and get him
slain, not by myself, but by another man.” So he gave order to his
servants to try how David would relish this proposal of marrying the
damsel. Accordingly, they began to speak thus to him: That king Saul loved
him, as well as did all the people, and that he was desirous of his
affinity by the marriage of this damsel. To which he gave this answer:—”Seemeth
it to you a light thing to be made the king’s son-in-law? It does not seem
so to me, especially when I am one of a family that is low, and without
any glory or honor.” Now when Saul was informed by his servants what
answer David had made, he said,—”Tell him that I do not want any
money nor dowry from him, which would be rather to set my daughter to sale
than to give her in marriage; but I desire only such a son-in-law as hath
in him fortitude, and all other kinds of virtue,” of which he saw David
was possessed, and that his desire was to receive of him, on account of
his marrying his daughter, neither gold nor silver, nor that he should
bring such wealth out of his father’s house, but only some revenge on the
Philistines, and indeed six hundred of their heads, than which a more
desirable or a more glorious present could not be brought him, and that he
had much rather obtain this, than any of the accustomed dowries for his
daughter, viz. that she should be married to a man of that character, and
to one who had a testimony as having conquered his enemies.
3. When these words of Saul were brought to David, he was pleased with
them, and supposed that Saul was really desirous of this affinity with
him; so that without bearing to deliberate any longer, or casting about in
his mind whether what was proposed was possible, or was difficult or not,
he and his companions immediately set upon the enemy, and went about doing
what was proposed as the condition of the marriage. Accordingly, because
it was God who made all things easy and possible to David, he slew many
[of the Philistines], and cut off the heads of six hundred of them, and
came to the king, and by showing him these heads of the Philistines,
required that he might have his daughter in marriage. Accordingly, Saul
having no way of getting off his engagements, as thinking it a base thing
either to seem a liar when he promised him this marriage, or to appear to
have acted treacherously by him, in putting him upon what was in a manner
impossible, in order to have him slain, he gave him his daughter in
marriage: her name was Michal.
CHAPTER 11. How David, Upon Saul’s Laying Snares For Him, Did Yet Escape
The Dangers He Was In By The Affection And Care Of Jonathan And The
Contrivances Of His Wife Michal: And How He Came To Samuel The Prophet.
1. However, Saul was not disposed to persevere long in the state wherein
he was, for when he saw that David was in great esteem, both with God and
with the multitude, he was afraid; and being not able to conceal his fear
as concerning great things, his kingdom and his life, to be deprived of
either of which was a very great calamity, he resolved to have David
slain, and commanded his son Jonathan and his most faithful servants to
kill him: but Jonathan wondered at his father’s change with relation to
David, that it should be made to so great a degree, from showing him no
small good-will, to contrive how to have him killed. Now, because he loved
the young man, and reverenced him for his virtue, he informed him of the
secret charge his father had given, and what his intentions were
concerning him. However, he advised him to take care and be absent the
next day, for that he would salute his father, and, if he met with a
favorable opportunity, he would discourse with him about him, and learn
the cause of his disgust, and show how little ground there was for it, and
that for it he ought not to kill a man that had done so many good things
to the multitude, and had been a benefactor to himself, on account of
which he ought in reason to obtain pardon, had he been guilty of the
greatest crimes; and “I will then inform thee of my father’s resolution.”
Accordingly David complied with such an advantageous advice, and kept
himself then out of the king’s sight.
2. On the next day Jonathan came to Saul, as soon as he saw him in a
cheerful and joyful disposition, and began to introduce a discourse about
David: “What unjust action, O father, either little or great, hast thou
found so exceptionable in David, as to induce thee to order us to slay a
man who hath been of great advantage to thy own preservation, and of still
greater to the punishment of the Philistines? A man who hath delivered the
people of the Hebrews from reproach and derision, which they underwent for
forty days together, when he alone had courage enough to sustain the
challenge of the adversary, and after that brought as many heads of our
enemies as he was appointed to bring, and had, as a reward for the same,
my sister in marriage; insomuch that his death would be very sorrowful to
us, not only on account of his virtue, but on account of the nearness of
our relation; for thy daughter must be injured at the same time that he is
slain, and must be obliged to experience widowhood, before she can come to
enjoy any advantage from their mutual conversation. Consider these things,
and change your mind to a more merciful temper, and do no mischief to a
man, who, in the first place, hath done us the greatest kindness of
preserving thee; for when an evil spirit and demons had seized upon thee,
he cast them out, and procured rest to thy soul from their incursions:
and, in the second place, hath avenged us of our enemies; for it is a base
thing to forget such benefits.” So Saul was pacified with these words, and
sware to his son that he would do David no harm, for a righteous discourse
proved too hard for the king’s anger and fear. So Jonathan sent for David,
and brought him good news from his father, that he was to be preserved. He
also brought him to his father; and David continued with the king as
formerly.
3. About this time it was that, upon the Philistines making a new
expedition against the Hebrews, Saul sent David with an army to fight with
them; and joining battle with them he slew many of them, and after his
victory he returned to the king. But his reception by Saul was not as he
expected upon such success, for he was grieved at his prosperity, because
he thought he would be more dangerous to him by having acted so
gloriously: but when the demoniacal spirit came upon him, and put him into
disorder, and disturbed him, he called for David into his bed-chamber
wherein he lay, and having a spear in his hand, he ordered him to charm
him with playing on his harp, and with singing hymns; which when David did
at his command, he with great force threw the spear at him; but David was
aware of it before it came, and avoided it, and fled to his own house, and
abode there all that day.
4. But at night the king sent officers, and commanded that he should be
watched till the morning, lest he should get quite away, that he might
come into the judgment-hall, and so might be delivered up, and condemned
and slain. But when Michal, David’s wife, the king’s daughter, understood
what her father designed, she came to her husband, as having small hopes
of his deliverance, and as greatly concerned about her own life also, for
she could not bear to live in case she were deprived of him; and she said,
“Let not the sun find thee here when it rises, for if it do, that will be
the last time it will see thee: fly away then while the night may afford
thee opportunity, and may God lengthen it for thy sake; for know this,
that if my father find thee, thou art a dead man.” So she let him down by
a cord out of the window, and saved him: and after she had done so, she
fitted up a bed for him as if he were sick, and put under the bed-clothes
a goat’s liver 18 and when her father, as soon as
it was day, sent to seize David, she said to those that were there, That
he had not been well that night, and showed them the bed covered, and made
them believe, by the leaping of the liver, which caused the bed-clothes to
move also, that David breathed like one that was asthmatic. So when those
that were sent told Saul that David had not been well in the night he
ordered him to be brought in that condition, for he intended to kill him.
Now when they came and uncovered the bed, and found out the woman’s
contrivance, they told it to the king; and when her father complained of
her that she had saved his enemy, and had put a trick upon himself, she
invented this plausible defense for herself, and said, That when he had
threatened to kill her, she lent him her assistance for his preservation,
out of fear; for which her assistance she ought to be forgiven, because it
was not done of her own free choice, but out of necessity: “For,” said
she, “I do not suppose that thou wast so zealous to kill thy enemy, as
thou wast that I should be saved.” Accordingly Saul forgave the damsel;
but David, when he had escaped this danger, came to the prophet Samuel to
Ramah, and told him what snares the king had laid for him, and how he was
very near to death by Saul’s throwing a spear at him, although he had been
no way guilty with relation to him, nor had he been cowardly in his
battles with his enemies, but had succeeded well in them all, by God’s
assistance; which thing was indeed the cause of Saul’s hatred to David.
5. When the prophet was made acquainted with the unjust proceedings of the
king, he left the city Ramah, and took David with him, to a certain place
called Naioth, and there he abode with him. But when it was told Saul that
David was with the prophet, he sent soldiers to him, and ordered them to
take him, and bring him to him: and when they came to Samuel, and found
there a congregation of prophets, they became partakers of the Divine
Spirit, and began to prophesy; which when Saul heard of, he sent others to
David, who prophesying in like manner as did the first, he again sent
others; which third sort prophesying also, at last he was angry, and went
thither in great haste himself; and when he was just by the place, Samuel,
before he saw him, made him prophesy also. And when Saul came to him, he
was disordered in mind 19 and under the vehement
agitation of a spirit; and, putting off his garments, 20
he fell down, and lay on the ground all that day and night, in the
presence of Samuel and David.
6. And David went thence, and came to Jonathan, the son of Saul, and
lamented to him what snares were laid for him by his father; and said,
that though he had been guilty of no evil, nor had offended against him,
yet he was very zealous to get him killed. Hereupon Jonathan exhorted him
not to give credit to such his own suspicions, nor to the calumnies of
those that raised those reports, if there were any that did so, but to
depend on him, and take courage; for that his father had no such
intention, since he would have acquainted him with that matter, and have
taken his advice, had it been so, as he used to consult with him in common
when he acted in other affairs. But David sware to him that so it was; and
he desired him rather to believe him, and to provide for his safety, than
to despise what he, with great sincerity, told him: that he would believe
what he said, when he should either see him killed himself, or learn it
upon inquiry from others: and that the reason why his father did not tell
him of these things, was this, that he knew of the friendship and
affection that he bore towards him.
7. Hereupon, when Jonathan found that this intention of Saul was so well
attested, he asked him what he would have him do for him. To which David
replied, “I am sensible that thou art willing to gratify me in every
thing, and procure me what I desire. Now tomorrow is the new moon, and I
was accustomed to sit down then with the king at supper: now, if it seem
good to thee, I will go out of the city, and conceal myself privately
there; and if Saul inquire why I am absent, tell him that I am gone to my
own city Bethlehem, to keep a festival with my own tribe; and add this
also, that thou gavest me leave so to do. And if he say, as is usually
said in the case of friends that are gone abroad, It is well that he went,
then assure thyself that no latent mischief or enmity may be feared at his
hand; but if he answer otherwise, that will be a sure sign that he hath
some designs against me, Accordingly thou shalt inform me of thy father’s
inclinations; and that out of pity to my case and out of thy friendship
for me, as instances of which friendship thou hast vouchsafed to accept of
the assurances of my love to thee, and to give the like assurances to me,
that is, those of a master to his servant; but if thou discoverest any
wickedness in me, do thou prevent thy father, and kill me thyself.”
8. But Jonathan heard these last words with indignation, and promised to
do what he desired of him, and to inform him if his father’s answers
implied any thing of a melancholy nature, and any enmity against him. And
that he might the more firmly depend upon him, he took him out into the
open field, into the pure air, and sware that he would neglect nothing
that might tend to the preservation of David; and he said, “I appeal to
that God, who, as thou seest, is diffused every where, and knoweth this
intention of mine, before I explain it in words, as the witness of this my
covenant with thee, that I will not leave off to make frequent trims of
the purpose of my father till I learn whether there be any lurking
distemper in the most secret parts of his soul; and when I have learnt it,
I will not conceal it from thee, but will discover it to thee, whether he
be gently or peevishly disposed; for this God himself knows, that I pray
he may always be with thee, for he is with thee now, and will not forsake
thee, and will make thee superior to thine enemies, whether my father be
one of them, or whether I myself be such. Do thou only remember what we
now do; and if it fall out that I die, preserve my children alive, and
requite what kindness thou hast now received to them.” When he had thus
sworn, he dismissed David, bidding him go to a certain place of that plain
wherein he used to perform his exercises; for that, as soon as he knew the
mind of his father, he would come thither to him, with one servant only;
“and if,” says he, “I shoot three darts at the mark, and then bid my
servant to carry these three darts away, for they are before him, know
thou that there is no mischief to be feared from my father; but if thou
hearest me say the contrary, expect the contrary from the king. However,
thou shalt gain security by my means, and shalt by no means suffer any
harm; but see thou dost not forget what I have desired of thee in the time
of thy prosperity, and be serviceable to my children.” Now David, when he
had received these assurances from Jonathan, went his way to the place
appointed.
9. But on the next day, which was the new moon, the king, when he had
purified himself, as the custom was, came to supper; and when there sat by
him his son Jonathan on his right hand, and Abner, the captain of his
host, on the other hand, he saw David’s seat was empty, but said nothing,
supposing that he had not purified himself since he had accompanied with
his wife, and so could not be present; but when he saw that he was not
there the second day of the month neither, he inquired of his son Jonathan
why the son of Jesse did not come to the supper and the feast, neither the
day before nor that day. So Jonathan said, That he was gone, according to
the agreement between them, to his own city, where his tribe kept a
festival, and that by his permission: that he also invited him to come to
their sacrifice; “and,” says Jonathan, “if thou wilt give me leave, I Will
go thither, for thou knowest the good-will that I bear him.” And then it
was that Jonathan understood his father’s hatred to David, and plainly saw
his entire disposition; for Saul could not restrain his anger, but
reproached Jonathan, and called him the son of a runagate, and an enemy;
and said he was a partner with David, and his assistant, and that by his
behavior he showed he had no regard to himself, or to his mother, and
would not be persuaded of this,—that while David is alive, their
kingdom was not secure to them; yet did he bid him send for him, that he
might be punished. And when Jonathan said, in answer, “What hath he done
that thou wilt punish him?” Saul no longer contented himself to express
his anger in bare words, but snatched up his spear, and leaped upon him,
and was desirous to kill him. He did not indeed do what he intended,
because he was hindered by his friends; but it appeared plainly to his son
that he hated David, and greatly desired to despatch him, insomuch that he
had almost slain his son with his own hands on his account.
10. And then it was that the king’s son rose hastily from supper; and
being unable to admit any thing into his mouth for grief, he wept all
night, both because he had himself been near destruction, and because the
death of David was determined: but as soon as it was day, he went out into
the plain that was before the city, as going to perform his exercises, but
in reality to inform his friend what disposition his father was in towards
him, as he had agreed with him to do; and when Jonathan had done what had
been thus agreed, he dismissed his servant that followed him, to return to
the city; but he himself went into the desert, and came into his presence,
and communed with him. So David appeared and fell at Jonathan’s feet, and
bowed down to him, and called him the preserver of his soul; but he lifted
him up from the earth, and they mutually embraced one another, and made a
long greeting, and that not without tears. They also lamented their age,
and that familiarity which envy would deprive them of, and that separation
which must now be expected, which seemed to them no better than death
itself. So recollecting themselves at length from their lamentation, and
exhorting one another to be mindful of the oaths they had sworn to each
other, they parted asunder.
CHAPTER 12. How David Fled To Ahimelech And Afterwards To The Kings Of The
Philistines And Of The Moabites, And How Saul Slew Ahimelech And His
Family.
1. But David fled from the king, and that death he was in danger of by
him, and came to the city Nob, to Ahimelech the priest, who, when he saw
him coming all alone, and neither a friend nor a servant with him, he
wondered at it, and desired to learn of him the cause why there was nobody
with him. To which David answered, That the king had commanded him to do a
certain thing that was to be kept secret, to which, if he had a mind to
know so much, he had no occasion for any one to accompany him; “however, I
have ordered my servants to meet me at such and such a place.” So he
desired him to let him have somewhat to eat; and that in case he would
supply him, he would act the part of a friend, and be assisting to the
business he was now about: and when he had obtained what he desired, he
also asked him whether he had any weapons with him, either sword or spear.
Now there was at Nob a servant of Saul, by birth a Syrian, whose name was
Doeg, one that kept the king’s mules. The high priest said that he had no
such weapons; but, he added, “Here is the sword of Goliath, which, when
thou hadst slain the Philistine, thou didst dedicate to God.”
2. When David had received the sword, he fled out of the country of the
Hebrews into that of the Philistines, over which Achish reigned; and when
the king’s servants knew him, and he was made known to the king himself,
the servants informing him that he was that David who had killed many ten
thousands of the Philistines, David was afraid lest the king should put
him to death, and that he should experience that danger from him which he
had escaped from Saul; so he pretended to be distracted and mad, so that
his spittle ran out of his mouth; and he did other the like actions before
the king of Gath, which might make him believe that they proceeded from
such a distemper. Accordingly the king was very angry at his servants that
they had brought him a madman, and he gave orders that they should eject
David immediately [out of the city].
3. So when David had escaped in this manner out of Gath, he came to the
tribe of Judah, and abode in a cave by the city of Adullam. Then it was
that he sent to his brethren, and informed them where he was, who then
came to him with all their kindred, and as many others as were either in
want or in fear of king Saul, came and made a body together, and told him
they were ready to obey his orders; they were in all about four hundred.
Whereupon he took courage, now such a force and assistance was come to
him; so he removed thence and came to the king of the Moabites, and
desired him to entertain his parents in his country, while the issue of
his affairs were in such an uncertain condition. The king granted him this
favor, and paid great respect to David’s parents all the time they were
with him.
4. As for himself, upon the prophet’s commanding him to leave the desert,
and to go into the portion of the tribe of Judah, and abide there, he
complied therewith; and coming to the city Hareth, which was in that
tribe, he remained there. Now when Saul heard that David had been seen
with a multitude about him, he fell into no small disturbance and trouble;
but as he knew that David was a bold and courageous man, he suspected that
somewhat extraordinary would appear from him, and that openly also, which
would make him weep and put him into distress; so he called together to
him his friends, and his commanders, and the tribe from which he was
himself derived, to the hill where his palace was; and sitting upon a
place called Aroura, his courtiers that were in dignities, and the guards
of his body, being with him, he spake thus to them:—”You that are
men of my own tribe, I conclude that you remember the benefits that I have
bestowed upon you, and that I have made some of you owners of land, and
made you commanders, and bestowed posts of honor upon you, and set some of
you over the common people, and others over the soldiers; I ask you,
therefore, whether you expect greater and more donations from the son of
Jesse? for I know that you are all inclinable to him; [even my own son
Jonathan himself is of that opinion, and persuades you to be of the same];
for I am not unacquainted with the oaths and the covenants that are
between him and David, and that Jonathan is a counselor and an assistant
to those that conspire against me, and none of you are concerned about
these things, but you keep silence and watch, to see what will be the
upshot of these things.” When the king had made this speech, not one of
the rest of those that were present made any answer; but Doeg the Syrian,
who fed his mules, said, that he saw David when he came to the city Nob to
Ahimelech the high priest, and that he learned future events by his
prophesying; that he received food from him, and the sword of Goliath, and
was conducted by him with security to such as he desired to go to.
5. Saul therefore sent for the high priest, and for all his kindred; and
said to them, “What terrible or ungrateful tiring hast thou suffered from
me, that thou hast received the son of Jesse, and hast bestowed on him
both food and weapons, when he was contriving to get the kingdom? And
further, why didst thou deliver oracles to him concerning futurities? For
thou couldst not be unacquainted that he was fled away from me, and that
he hated my family.” But the high priest did not betake himself to deny
what he had done, but confessed boldly that he had supplied him with these
things, not to gratify David, but Saul himself: and he said, “I did not
know that he was thy adversary, but a servant of thine, who was very
faithful to thee, and a captain over a thousand of thy soldiers, and, what
is more than these, thy son-in-law, and kinsman. Men do not choose to
confer such favors on their adversaries, but on those who are esteemed to
bear the highest good-will and respect to them. Nor is this the first time
that I prophesied for him, but I have done it often, and at other times as
well as now. And when he told me that he was sent by thee in great haste
to do somewhat, if I had furnished him with nothing that he desired I
should have thought that it was rather in contradiction to thee than to
him; wherefore do not thou entertain any ill opinion of me, nor do thou
have a suspicion of what I then thought an act of humanity, from what is
now told thee of David’s attempts against thee, for I did then to him as
to thy friend and son-in-law, and captain of a thousand, and not as to
thine adversary.”
6. When the high priest had spoken thus, he did not persuade Saul, his
fear was so prevalent, that he could not give credit to an apology that
was very just. So he commanded his armed men that stood about him to kill
him, and all his kindred; but as they durst not touch the high priest, but
were more afraid of disobeying God than the king, he ordered Doeg the
Syrian to kill them. Accordingly, he took to his assistance such wicked
men as were like himself, and slew Ahimelech and all his family, who were
in all three hundred and eighty-five. Saul also sent to Nob, 21
the city of the priests, and slew all that were there, without sparing
either women or children, or any other age, and burnt it; only there was
one son of Ahimelech, whose name was Abiathar, who escaped. However, these
things came to pass as God had foretold to Eli the high priest, when he
said that his posterity should be destroyed, on account of the
transgression of his two sons.
7. 22
Now this king Saul, by perpetrating so barbarous a crime, and murdering
the whole family of the high-priestly dignity, by having no pity of the
infants, nor reverence for the aged, and by overthrowing the city which
God had chosen for the property, and for the support of the priests and
prophets which were there, and had ordained as the only city allotted for
the education of such men, gives all to understand and consider the
disposition of men, that while they are private persons, and in a low
condition, because it is not in their power to indulge nature, nor to
venture upon what they wish for, they are equitable and moderate, and
pursue nothing but what is just, and bend their whole minds and labors
that way; then it is that they have this belief about God, that he is
present to all the actions of their lives, and that he does not only see
the actions that are done, but clearly knows those their thoughts also,
whence those actions do arise. But when once they are advanced into power
and authority, then they put off all such notions, and, as if they were no
other than actors upon a theater, they lay aside their disguised parts and
manners, and take up boldness, insolence, and a contempt of both human and
Divine laws, and this at a time when they especially stand in need of
piety and righteousness, because they are then most of all exposed to
envy, and all they think, and all they say, are in the view of all men;
then it is that they become so insolent in their actions, as though God
saw them no longer, or were afraid of them because of their power: and
whatsoever it is that they either are afraid of by the rumors they hear,
or they hate by inclination, or they love without reason, these seem to
them to be authentic, and firm, and true, and pleasing both to men and to
God; but as to what will come hereafter, they have not the least regard to
it. They raise those to honor indeed who have been at a great deal of
pains for them, and after that honor they envy them; and when they have
brought them into high dignity, they do not only deprive them of what they
had obtained, but also, on that very account, of their lives also, and
that on wicked accusations, and such as on account of their extravagant
nature, are incredible. They also punish men for their actions, not such
as deserve condemnation, but from calumnies and accusations without
examination; and this extends not only to such as deserve to be punished,
but to as many as they are able to kill. This reflection is openly
confirmed to us from the example of Saul, the son of Kish, who was the
first king who reigned after our aristocracy and government under the
judges were over; and that by his slaughter of three hundred priests and
prophets, on occasion of his suspicion about Ahimelech, and by the
additional wickedness of the overthrow of their city, and this is as he
were endeavoring in some sort to render the temple [tabernacle] destitute
both of priests and prophets, which endeavor he showed by slaying so many
of them, and not suffering the very city belonging to them to remain, that
so others might succeed them.
8. But Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, who alone could be saved out of the
family of priests slain by Saul, fled to David, and informed him of the
calamity that had befallen their family, and of the slaughter of his
father; who hereupon said, He was not unapprised of what would follow with
relation to them when he saw Doeg there; for he had then a suspicion that
the high priest would be falsely accused by him to the king, and he blamed
himself as having been the cause of this misfortune. But he desired him to
stay there, and abide with him, as in a place where he might be better
concealed than any where else.
CHAPTER 13. How David, When He Had Twice The Opportunity Of Killing Saul
Did Not Kill Him. Also Concerning The Death Of Samuel And Nabal.
1. About this time it was that David heard how the Philistines had made an
inroad into the country of Keilah, and robbed it; so he offered himself to
fight against them, if God, when he should be consulted by the prophet,
would grant him the victory. And when the prophet said that God gave a
signal of victory, he made a sudden onset upon the Philistines with his
companions, and he shed a great deal of their blood, and carried off their
prey, and staid with the inhabitants of Keilah till they had securely
gathered in their corn and their fruits. However, it was told Saul the
king that David was with the men of Keilah; for what had been done and the
great success that had attended him, were not confined among the people
where the things were done, but the fame of it went all abroad, and came
to the hearing of others, and both the fact as it stood, and the author of
the fact, were carried to the king’s ears. Then was Saul glad when he
heard David was in Keilah; and he said, “God hath now put him into my
hands, since he hath obliged him to come into a city that hath walls, and
gates, and bars.” So he commanded all the people suddenly, and when they
had besieged and taken it to kill David. But when David perceived this,
and learned of God that if he staid there the men of Keilah would deliver
him up to Saul, he took his four hundred men and retired into a desert
that was over against a city called Engedi. So that when the king heard he
was fled away from the men of Keilah, he left off his expedition against
him.
2. Then David removed thence, and came to a certain place called the New
Place, belonging to Ziph; where Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to him,
and saluted him, and exhorted him to be of good courage, and to hope well
as to his condition hereafter, and not to despond at his present
circumstances, for that he should be king, and have all the forces of the
Hebrews under him: he told him that such happiness uses to come with great
labor and pains: they also took oaths, that they would, all their lives
long, continue in good-will and fidelity one to another; and he called God
to witness, as to what execrations he had made upon himself if he should
transgress his covenant, and should change to a contrary behavior. So
Jonathan left him there, having rendered his cares and fears somewhat
lighter, and returned home. Now the men of Ziph, to gratify Saul, informed
him that David abode with them, and [assured him] that if he would come to
them, they would deliver him up, for that if the king would seize on the
Straits of Ziph, David would not escape to any other people. So the king
commended them, and confessed that he had reason to thank them, because
they had given him information of his enemy; and he promised them, that it
should not be long ere he would requite their kindness. He also sent men
to seek for David, and to search the wilderness wherein he was; and he
promised that he himself would follow them. Accordingly they went before
the king, to hunt for and to catch David, and used endeavors, not only to
show their good-will to Saul, by informing him where his enemy was, but to
evidence the same more plainly by delivering him up into his power. But
these men failed of those their unjust and wicked desires, who, while they
underwent no hazard by not discovering such an ambition of revealing this
to Saul, yet did they falsely accuse and promise to deliver up a man
beloved of God, and one that was unjustly sought after to be put to death,
and one that might otherwise have lain concealed, and this out of
flattery, and expectation of gain from the king; for when David was
apprized of the malignant intentions of the men of Ziph, and the approach
of Saul, he left the Straits of that country, and fled to the great rock
that was in the wilderness of Maon.
3. Hereupon Saul made haste to pursue him thither; for, as he was
marching, he learned that David was gone away from the Straits of Ziph,
and Saul removed to the other side of the rock. But the report that the
Philistines had again made an incursion into the country of the Hebrews,
called Saul another way from the pursuit of David, when he was ready to be
caught; for he returned back again to oppose those Philistines, who were
naturally their enemies, as judging it more necessary to avenge himself of
them, than to take a great deal of pains to catch an enemy of his own, and
to overlook the ravage that was made in the land.
4. And by this means David unexpectedly escaped out of the danger he was
in, and came to the Straits of Engedi; and when Saul had driven the
Philistines out of the land, there came some messengers, who told him that
David abode within the bounds of Engedi: so he took three thousand chosen
men that were armed, and made haste to him; and when he was not far from
those places, he saw a deep and hollow cave by the way-side; it was open
to a great length and breadth, and there it was that David with his four
hundred men were concealed. When therefore he had occasion to ease nature,
he entered into it by himself alone; and being seen by one of David’s
companions, and he that saw him saying to him, that he had now, by God’s
providence, an opportunity of avenging himself of his adversary; and
advising him to cut off his head, and so deliver himself out of that
tedious, wandering condition, and the distress he was in; he rose up, and
only cut off the skirt of that garment which Saul had on: but he soon
repented of what he had done; and said it was not right to kill him that
was his master, and one whom God had thought worthy of the kingdom; “for
that although he were wickedly disposed towards us, yet does it not
behoove me to be so disposed towards him.” But when Saul had left the
cave, David came near and cried out aloud, and desired Saul to hear him;
whereupon the king turned his face back, and David, according to custom,
fell down on his face before the king, and bowed to him; and said, “O
king, thou oughtest not to hearken to wicked men, nor to such as forge
calumnies, nor to gratify them so far as to believe what they say, nor to
entertain suspicions of such as are your best friends, but to judge of the
dispositions of all men by their actions; for calumny deludes men, but
men’s own actions are a clear demonstration of their kindness. Words
indeed, in their own nature, may be either true or false, but men’s
actions expose their intentions nakedly to our view. By these, therefore
it will be well for thee to believe me, as to my regard to thee and to thy
house, and not to believe those that frame such accusations against me as
never came into my mind, nor are possible to be executed, and do this
further by pursuing after my life, and have no concern either day or
night, but how to compass my life and to murder me, which thing I think
thou dost unjustly prosecute; for how comes it about, that thou hast
embraced this false opinion about me, as if I had a desire to kill thee?
Or how canst thou escape the crime of impiety towards God, when thou
wishest thou couldst kill, and deemest thine adversary, a man who had it
in his power this day to avenge himself, and to punish thee, but would not
do it? nor make use of such an opportunity, which, if it had fallen out to
thee against me, thou hadst not let it slip, for when I cut off the skirt
of thy garment, I could have done the same to thy head.” So he showed him
the piece of his garment, and thereby made him agree to what he said to be
true; and added, “I, for certain, have abstained from taking a just
revenge upon thee, yet art thou not ashamed to prosecute me with unjust
hatred. 23
May God do justice, and determine about each of our dispositions.”—But
Saul was amazed at the strange delivery he had received; and being greatly
affected with the moderation and the disposition of the young man, he
groaned; and when David had done the same, the king answered that he had
the justest occasion to groan, “for thou hast been the author of good to
me, as I have been the author of calamity to thee; and thou hast
demonstrated this day, that thou possessest the righteousness of the
ancients, who determined that men ought to save their enemies, though they
caught them in a desert place. I am now persuaded that God reserves the
kingdom for thee, and that thou wilt obtain the dominion over all the
Hebrews. Give me then assurances upon oath, That thou wilt not root out my
family, nor, out of remembrance of what evil I have done thee, destroy my
posterity, but save and preserve my house.” So David sware as he desired,
and sent back Saul to his own kingdom; but he, and those that were with
him, went up the Straits of Mastheroth.
5. About this time Samuel the prophet died. He was a man whom the Hebrews
honored in an extraordinary degree: for that lamentation which the people
made for him, and this during a long time, manifested his virtue, and the
affection which the people bore for him; as also did the solemnity and
concern that appeared about his funeral, and about the complete
observation of all his funeral rites. They buried him in his own city of
Ramah; and wept for him a very great number of days, not looking on it as
a sorrow for the death of another man, but as that in which they were
every one themselves concerned. He was a righteous man, and gentle in his
nature; and on that account he was very dear to God. Now he governed and
presided over the people alone, after the death of Eli the high priest,
twelve years, and eighteen years together with Saul the king. And thus we
have finished the history of Samuel.
6. There was a man that was a Ziphite, of the city of Maon, who was rich,
and had a vast number of cattle; for he fed a flock of three thousand
sheep, and another flock of a thousand goats. Now David had charged his
associates to keep these flocks without hurt and without damage, and to do
them no mischief, neither out of covetousness, nor because they were in
want, nor because they were in the wilderness, and so could not easily be
discovered, but to esteem freedom from injustice above all other motives,
and to look upon the touching of what belonged to another man as a
horrible crime, and contrary to the will of God. These were the
instructions he gave, thinking that the favors he granted this man were
granted to a good man, and one that deserved to have such care taken of
his affairs. This man was Nabal, for that was his name,—a harsh man,
and of a very wicked life, being like a cynic in the course of his
behavior, but still had obtained for his wife a woman of a good character,
wise and handsome. To this Nabal, therefore, David sent ten men of his
attendants at the time when he sheared his sheep, and by them saluted him;
and also wished he might do what he now did for many years to come, but
desired him to make him a present of what he was able to give him, since
he had, to be sure, learned from his shepherds that we had done them no
injury, but had been their guardians a long time together, while we
continued in the wilderness; and he assured him he should never repent of
giving any thing to David. When the messengers had carried this message to
Nabal, he accosted them after an inhuman and rough manner; for he asked
them who David was? and when he heard that he was the son of Jesse, he
said, “Now is the time that fugitives grow insolent, and make a figure,
and leave their masters.” When they told David this, he was wroth, and
commanded four hundred armed men to follow him, and left two hundred to
take care of the stuff, [for he had already six hundred, 24]
and went against Nabal: he also swore that he would that night utterly
destroy the whole house and possessions of Nabal; for that he was grieved,
not only that he had proved ungrateful to them, without making any return
for the humanity they had shown him, but that he had also reproached them,
and used ill language to them, when he had received no cause of disgust
from them.
7. Hereupon one of those that kept the flocks of Nabal, said to his
mistress, Nabal’s wife, that when David sent to her husband he had
received no civil answer at all from him; but that her husband had
moreover added very reproachful language, while yet David had taken
extraordinary care to keep his flocks from harm, and that what had passed
would prove very pernicious to his master. When the servant had said this,
Abigail, for that was his wife’s name, saddled her asses, and loaded them
with all sorts of presents; and, without telling her husband any thing of
what she was about, [for he was not sensible on account of his
drunkenness,] she went to David. She was then met by David as she was
descending a hill, who was coming against Nabal with four hundred men.
When the woman saw David, she leaped down from her ass, and fell on her
face, and bowed down to the ground; and entreated him not to bear in mind
the words of Nabal, since he knew that he resembled his name. Now Nabal,
in the Hebrew tongue, signifies folly. So she made her apology, that she
did not see the messengers whom he sent. “Forgive me, therefore,” said
she, “and thank God, who hath hindered thee from shedding human blood; for
so long as thou keepest thyself innocent, he will avenge thee of wicked
men, 25
for what miseries await Nabal, they will fall upon the heads of thine
enemies. Be thou gracious to me, and think me so far worthy as to accept
of these presents from me; and, out of regard to me, remit that wrath and
that anger which thou hast against my husband and his house, for mildness
and humanity become thee, especially as thou art to be our king.”
Accordingly, David accepted her presents, and said, “Nay, but, O woman, it
was no other than God’s mercy which brought thee to us today, for,
otherwise, thou hadst never seen another day, I having sworn to destroy
Nabal’s house this very night, and to leave alive not one of you who
belonged to a man that was wicked and ungrateful to me and my companions;
but now hast thou prevented me, and seasonably mollified my anger, as
being thyself under the care of God’s providence: but as for Nabal,
although for thy sake he now escape punishment, he will not always avoid
justice; for his evil conduct, on some other occasion, will be his ruin.”
26
8. When David had said this, he dismissed the woman. But when she came
home and found her husband feasting with a great company, and oppressed
with wine, she said nothing to him then about what had happened; but on
the next day, when he was sober, she told him all the particulars, and
made his whole body to appear like that of a dead man by her words, and by
that grief which arose from them; so Nabal survived ten days, and no more,
and then died. And when David heard of his death, he said that God had
justly avenged him of this man, for that Nabal had died by his own
wickedness, and had suffered punishment on his account, while he had kept
his own hands clean. At which time he understood that the wicked are
prosecuted by God; that he does not overlook any man, but bestows on the
good what is suitable to them, and inflicts a deserved punishment on the
wicked. So he sent to Nabal’s wife, and invited her to come to him, to
live with him, and to be his wife. Whereupon she replied to those that
came, that she was not worthy to touch his feet; however, she came, with
all her servants, and became his wife, having received that honor on
account of her wise and righteous course of life. She also obtained the
same honor partly on account of her beauty. Now David had a wife before,
whom he married from the city Abesar; for as to Michal, the daughter of
king Saul, who had been David’s wife, her father had given her in marriage
to Phalti, the son of Laish, who was of the city of Gallim.
9. After this came certain of the Ziphites, and told Saul that David was
come again into their country, and if he would afford them his assistance,
they could catch him. So he came to them with three thousand armed men;
and upon the approach of night, he pitched his camp at a certain place
called Hachilah. But when David heard that Saul was coming against him, he
sent spies, and bid them let him know to what place of the country Saul
was already come; and when they told him that he was at Hachilah, he
concealed his going away from his companions, and came to Saul’s camp,
having taken with him Abishai, his sister Zeruiah’s son, and Ahimelech the
Hittite. Now Saul was asleep, and the armed men, with Abner their
commander, lay round about him in a circle. Hereupon David entered into
the king’s tent; but he did neither kill Saul, though he knew where he
lay, by the spear that was stuck down by him, nor did he give leave to
Abishai, who would have killed him, and was earnestly bent upon it so to
do; for he said it was a horrid crime to kill one that was ordained king
by God, although he was a wicked man; for that he who gave him the
dominion would in time inflict punishment upon him. So he restrained his
eagerness; but that it might appear to have been in his power to have
killed him when he refrained from it, he took his spear, and the cruse of
water which stood by Saul as he lay asleep, without being perceived by any
in the camp, who were all asleep, and went securely away, having performed
every thing among the king’s attendants that the opportunity afforded, and
his boldness encouraged him to do. So when he had passed over a brook, and
was gotten up to the top of a hill, whence he might be sufficiently heard,
he cried aloud to Saul’s soldiers, and to Abner their commander, and
awaked them out of their sleep, and called both to him and to the people.
Hereupon the commander heard him, and asked who it was that called him. To
whom David replied, “It is I, the son of Jesse, whom you make a vagabond.
But what is the matter? Dost thou, that art a man of so great dignity, and
of the first rank in the king’s court, take so little care of thy master’s
body? and is sleep of more consequence to thee than his preservation, and
thy care of him? This negligence of yours deserves death, and punishment
to be inflicted on you, who never perceived when, a little while ago, some
of us entered into your camp, nay, as far as to the king himself, and to
all the rest of you. If thou look for the king’s spear and his cruse of
water, thou wilt learn what a mighty misfortune was ready to overtake you
in your very camp without your knowing it.” Now when Saul knew David’s
voice, and understood that when he had him in his power while he was
asleep, and his guards took no care of him, yet did not he kill him, but
spared him, when he might justly have cut him off, he said that he owed
him thanks for his preservation; and exhorted him to be of good courage,
and not be afraid of suffering any mischief from him any more, and to
return to his own home, for he was now persuaded that he did not love
himself so well as he was loved by him: that he had driven away him that
could guard him, and had given many demonstrations of his good-will to
him: that he had forced him to live so long in a state of banishment, and
in great fears of his life, destitute of his friends and his kindred,
while still he was often saved by him, and frequently received his life
again when it was evidently in danger of perishing. So David bade them
send for the spear and the cruse of water, and take them back; adding this
withal, That God would be the judge of both their dispositions, and of the
actions that flowed from the same, “who knows that then it was this day in
my power to have killed thee I abstained from it.”
10. Thus Saul having escaped the hands of David twice, he went his way to
his royal palace, and his own city: but David was afraid, that if he staid
there he should be caught by Saul; so he thought it better to go up into
the land of the Philistines, and abide there. Accordingly, he came with
the six hundred men that were with him to Achish, the king of Gath, which
was one of their five cities. Now the king received both him and his men,
and gave them a place to inhabit in. He had with him also his two wives,
Ahinoam and Abigail, and he dwelt in Gath. But when Saul heard this, he
took no further care about sending to him, or going after him, because he
had been twice, in a manner, caught by him, while he was himself
endeavoring to catch him. However, David had no mind to continue in the
city of Gath, but desired the king, that since he had received him with
such humanity, that he would grant him another favor, and bestow upon him
some place of that country for his habitation, for he was ashamed, by
living in the city, to be grievous and burdensome to him. So Achish gave
him a certain village called Ziklag; which place David and his sons were
fond of when he was king, and reckoned it to be their peculiar
inheritance. But about those matters we shall give the reader further
information elsewhere. Now the time that David dwelt in Ziklag, in the
land of the Philistines, was four months and twenty days. And now he
privately attacked those Geshurites and Amalekites that were neighbors to
the Philistines, and laid waste their country, and took much prey of their
beasts and camels, and then returned home; but David abstained from the
men, as fearing they should discover him to king Achish; yet did he send
part of the prey to him as a free gift. And when the king inquired whom
they had attacked when they brought away the prey, he said, those that lay
to the south of the Jews, and inhabited in the plain; whereby he persuaded
Achish to approve of what he had done, for he hoped that David had fought
against his own nation, and that now he should have him for his servant
all his life long, and that he would stay in his country.
CHAPTER 14. How Saul Upon God’s Not Answering Him Concerning The Fight
With The Philistines Desired A Necromantic Woman To Raise Up The Soul Of
Samuel To Him; And How He Died, With His Sons Upon The Overthrow Of The
Hebrews In Battle.
1. About the same time the Philistines resolved to make war against the
Israelites, and sent to all their confederates that they would go along
with them to the war to Reggan, [near the city Shunem,] whence they might
gather themselves together, and suddenly attack the Hebrews. Then did
Achish, the king of Gath, desire David to assist them with his armed men
against the Hebrews. This he readily promised; and said that the time was
now come wherein he might requite him for his kindness and hospitality. So
the king promised to make him the keeper of his body, after the victory,
supposing that the battle with the enemy succeeded to their mind; which
promise of honor and confidence he made on purpose to increase his zeal
for his service.
2. Now Saul, the king of the Hebrews, had cast out of the country the
fortune-tellers, and the necromancers, and all such as exercised the like
arts, excepting the prophets. But when he heard that the Philistines were
already come, and had pitched their camp near the city Shunem, situate in
the plain, he made haste to oppose them with his forces; and when he was
come to a certain mountain called Gilboa, he pitched his camp over-against
the enemy; but when he saw the enemy’s army he was greatly troubled,
because it appeared to him to be numerous, and superior to his own; and he
inquired of God by the prophets concerning the battle, that he might know
beforehand what would be the event of it. And when God did not answer him,
Saul was under a still greater dread, and his courage fell, foreseeing, as
was but reasonable to suppose, that mischief would befall him, now God was
not there to assist him; yet did he bid his servants to inquire out for
him some woman that was a necromancer and called up the souls of the dead,
that So he might know whether his affairs would succeed to his mind; for
this sort of necromantic women that bring up the souls of the dead, do by
them foretell future events to such as desire them. And one of his
servants told him that there was such a woman in the city Endor, but was
known to nobody in the camp; hereupon Saul put off his royal apparel, and
took two of those his servants with him, whom he knew to be most faithful
to him, and came to Endor to the woman, and entreated her to act the part
of a fortune-teller, and to bring up such a soul to him as he should name
to her. But when the woman opposed his motion, and said she did not
despise the king, who had banished this sort of fortune- tellers, and that
he did not do well himself, when she had done him no harm, to endeavor to
lay a snare for her, and to discover that she exercised a forbidden art,
in order to procure her to be punished, he sware that nobody should know
what she did; and that he would not tell any one else what she foretold,
but that she should incur no danger. As soon as he had induced her by this
oath to fear no harm, he bid her bring up to him the soul of Samuel. She,
not knowing who Samuel was, called him out of Hades. When he appeared, and
the woman saw one that was venerable, and of a divine form, she was in
disorder; and being astonished at the sight, she said, “Art not thou king
Saul?” for Samuel had informed her who he was. When he had owned that to
be true, and had asked her whence her disorder arose, she said that she
saw a certain person ascend, who in his form was like to a god. And when
he bid her tell him what he resembled, in what habit he appeared, and of
what age he was, she told him he was an old man already, and of a glorious
personage, and had on a sacerdotal mantle. So the king discovered by these
signs that he was Samuel; and he fell down upon the ground, and saluted
and worshipped him. And when the soul of Samuel asked him why he had
disturbed him, and caused him to be brought up, he lamented the necessity
he was under; for he said, that his enemies pressed heavily upon him; that
he was in distress what to do in his present circumstances; that he was
forsaken of God, and could obtain no prediction of what was coming,
neither by prophets nor by dreams; and that “these were the reasons why I
have recourse to time, who always took great care of me.” But 27
Samuel, seeing that the end of Saul’s life was come, said, “It is in vain
for thee to desire to learn of me any thing future, when God hath forsaken
thee: however, hear what I say, that David is to be king, and to finish
this war with good success; and thou art to lose thy dominion and thy
life, because thou didst not obey God in the war with the Amalekites, and
hast not kept his commandments, as I foretold thee while I was alive.
Know, therefore, that the people shall be made subject to their enemies,
and that thou, with thy sons, shall fall in the battle tomorrow, and thou
shalt then be with me [in Hades].”
3. When Saul heard this, he could not speak for grief, and fell down on
the floor, whether it were from the sorrow that arose upon what Samuel had
said, or from his emptiness, for he had taken no food the foregoing day
nor night, he easily fell quite down: and when with difficulty he had
recovered himself, the woman would force him to eat, begging this of him
as a favor on account of her concern in that dangerous instance of
fortune-telling, which it was not lawful for her to have done, because of
the fear she was under of the king, while she knew not who he was, yet did
she undertake it, and go through with it; on which account she entreated
him to admit that a table and food might be set before him, that he might
recover his strength, and so get safe to his own camp. And when he opposed
her motion, and entirely rejected it, by reason of his anxiety, she forced
him, and at last persuaded him to it. Now she had one calf that she was
very fond of, and one that she took a great deal of care of, and fed it
herself; for she was a woman that got her living by the labor of her own
hands, and had no other possession but that one calf; this she killed, and
made ready its flesh, and set it before his servants and himself. So Saul
came to the camp while it was yet night.
4. Now it is but just to recommend the generosity of this woman, 28
because when the king had forbidden her to use that art whence her
circumstances were bettered and improved, and when she had never seen the
king before, she still did not remember to his disadvantage that he had
condemned her sort of learning, and did not refuse him as a stranger, and
one that she had had no acquaintance with; but she had compassion upon
him, and comforted him, and exhorted him to do what he was greatly averse
to, and offered him the only creature she had, as a poor woman, and that
earnestly, and with great humanity, while she had no requital made her for
her kindness, nor hunted after any future favor from him, for she knew he
was to die; whereas men are naturally either ambitious to please those
that bestow benefits upon them, or are very ready to serve those from whom
they may receive some advantage. It would be well therefore to imitate the
example and to do kindnesses to all such as are in want and to think that
nothing is better, nor more becoming mankind, than such a general
beneficence, nor what will sooner render God favorable, and ready to
bestow good things upon us. And so far may suffice to have spoken
concerning this woman. But I shall speak further upon another subject,
which will afford me all opportunity of discoursing on what is for the
advantage of cities, and people, and nations, and suited to the taste of
good men, and will encourage them all in the prosecution of virtue; and is
capable of showing them the desirability of acquiring glory, and an everlasting fame;
and of imprinting in the kings of nations, and the rulers of cities, great
inclination and diligence of doing well; as also of encouraging them to
undergo dangers, and to die for their countries, and of instructing them
how to despise all the most terrible adversities: and I have a fair
occasion offered me to enter on such a discourse by Saul the king of the
Hebrews; for although he knew what was coming upon him, and that he was to
die immediately, by the prediction of the prophet, he did not resolve to
fly from death, nor so far to indulge the love of life as to betray his
own people to the enemy, or to bring a disgrace on his royal dignity; but
exposing himself, as well as all his family and children, to dangers, he
thought it a brave thing to fall together with them, as he was fighting
for his subjects, and that it was better his sons should die thus, showing
their courage, than to leave them to their uncertain conduct afterward,
while, instead of succession and posterity, they gained commendation and a
lasting name. Such a one alone seems to me to be a just, a courageous, and
a prudent man; and when any one has arrived at these dispositions, or
shall hereafter arrive at them, he is the man that ought to be by all
honored with the testimony of a virtuous or courageous man: for as to
those that go out to war with hopes of success, and that they shall return
safe, supposing they should have performed some glorious action, I think
those do not do well who call these valiant men, as so many historians and
other writers who treat of them are wont to do, although I confess those
do justly deserve some commendation also; but those only may be styled
courageous and bold in great undertakings, and despisers of adversities,
who imitate Saul: for as for those that do not know what the event of war
will be as to themselves, and though they do not faint in it, but deliver
themselves up to uncertain futurity, and are tossed this way and that way,
this is not so very eminent an instance of a generous mind, although they
happen to perform many great exploits; but when men’s minds expect no good
event, but they know beforehand they must die, and that they must undergo
that death in the battle also, after this neither to be affrighted, nor to
be astonished at the terrible fate that is coming, but to go directly upon
it, when they know it beforehand, this it is that I esteem the character
of a man truly courageous. Accordingly this Saul did, and thereby
demonstrated that all men who desire fame after they are dead are so to
act as they may obtain the same: this especially concerns kings, who ought
not to think it enough in their high stations that they are not wicked in
the government of their subjects, but to be no more than moderately good
to them. I could say more than this about Saul and his courage, the
subject affording matter sufficient; but that I may not appear to run out
improperly in his commendation, I return again to that history from which
I made this digression.
5. Now when the Philistines, as I said before, had pitched their camp, and
had taken an account of their forces, according to their nations, and
kingdoms, and governments, king Achish came last of all with his own army;
after whom came David with his six hundred armed men. And when the
commanders of the Philistines saw him, they asked the king whence these
Hebrews came, and at whose invitation. He answered that it was David, who
was fled away from his master Saul, and that he had entertained him when
he came to him, and that now he was willing to make him this requital for
his favors, and to avenge himself upon Saul, and so was become his
confederate. The commanders complained of this, that he had taken him for
a confederate who was an enemy; and gave him counsel to send him away,
lest he should unawares do his friends a great deal of mischief by
entertaining him, for that he afforded him an opportunity of being
reconciled to his master by doing a mischief to our army. They thereupon
desired him, out of a prudent foresight of this, to send him away, with
his six hundred armed men, to the place he had given him for his
habitation; for that this was that David whom the virgins celebrated in
their hymns, as having destroyed many ten thousands of the Philistines.
When the king of Gath heard this, he thought they spake well; so he called
David, and said to him, “As for myself, I can bear witness that thou hast
shown great diligence and kindness about me, and on that account it was
that I took thee for my confederate; however, what I have done does not
please the commanders of the Philistines; go therefore within a day’s time
to the place I have given thee, without suspecting any harm, and there
keep my country, lest any of our enemies should make an incursion upon it,
which will be one part of that assistance which I expect from thee.” So
David came to Ziklag, as the king of Gath bade him; but it happened, that
while he was gone to the assistance of the Philistines, the Amalekites had
made an incursion, and taken Ziklag before, and had burnt it; and when
they had taken a great deal of other prey out of that place, and out of
the other parts of the Philistines’ country, they departed.
6. Now when David found that Ziklag was laid waste, and that it was all
spoiled, and that as well his own wives, who were two, as the wives of his
companions, with their children, were made captives, he presently rent his
clothes, weeping and lamenting, together with his friends; and indeed he
was so cast down with these misfortunes, that at length tears themselves
failed him. He was also in danger of being stoned to death by his
companions, who were greatly afflicted at the captivity of their wives and
children, for they laid the blame upon him of what had happened. But when
he had recovered himself out of his grief, and had raised up his mind to
God, he desired the high priest Abiathar to put on his sacerdotal
garments, and to inquire of God, and to prophesy to him, whether God would
grant; that if he pursued after the Amalekites, he should overtake them,
and save their wives and their children, and avenge himself on the
enemies. And when the high priest bade him to pursue after them, he
marched apace, with his four hundred men, after the enemy; and when he was
come to a certain brook called Besor, and had lighted upon one that was
wandering about, an Egyptian by birth, who was almost dead with want and
famine, [for he had continued wandering about without food in the
wilderness three days,] he first of all gave him sustenance, both meat and
drink, and thereby refreshed him. He then asked him to whom he belonged,
and whence he came. Whereupon the man told him he was an Egyptian by
birth, and was left behind by his master, because he was so sick and weak
that he could not follow him. He also informed him that he was one of
those who had burnt and plundered, not only other parts of Judea, but
Ziklag itself also. So David made use of him as a guide to find oat the
Amalekites; and when he had overtaken them, as they lay scattered about on
the ground, some at dinner, some disordered, and entirely drunk with wine,
and in the fruition of their spoils and their prey, he fell upon them on
the sudden, and made a great slaughter among them; for they were naked,
and expected no such thing, but had betaken themselves to drinking and
feasting; and so they were all easily destroyed. Now some of them that
were overtaken as they lay at the table were slain in that posture, and
their blood brought up with it their meat and their drink. They slew
others of them as they were drinking to one another in their cups, and
some of them when their full bellies had made them fall asleep; and for so
many as had time to put on their armor, they slew them with the sword,
with no less ease than they did those that were naked; and for the
partisans of David, they continued also the slaughter from the first hour
of the day to the evening, so that there were, not above four hundred of
the Amalekites left; and they only escaped by getting upon their
dromedaries and camels. Accordingly David recovered not only all the other
spoils which the enemy had carried away, but his wives also, and the wives
of his companions. But when they were come to the place where they had
left the two hundred men, which were not able to follow them, but were
left to take care of the stuff, the four hundred men did not think fit to
divide among them any other parts of what they had gotten, or of the prey,
since they did not accompany them, but pretended to be feeble, and did not
follow them in pursuit of the enemy, but said they should be contented to
have safely recovered their wives; yet did David pronounce that this
opinion of theirs was evil and unjust, and that when God had granted them
such a favor, that they had avenged themselves on their enemies, and had
recovered all that belonged to themselves, they should make an equal
distribution of what they had gotten to all, because the rest had tarried
behind to guard their stuff; and from that time this law obtained among
them, that those who guarded the stuff, should receive an equal share with
those that fought in the battle. Now when David was come to Ziklag, he
sent portions of the spoils to all that had been familiar with him, and to
his friends in the tribe of Judah. And thus ended the affairs of the
plundering of Ziklag, and of the slaughter of the Amalekites.
7. Now upon the Philistines joining battle, there followed a sharp
engagement, and the Philistine, became the conquerors, and slew a great
number of their enemies; but Saul the king of Israel, and his sons, fought
courageously, and with the utmost alacrity, as knowing that their entire
glory lay in nothing else but dying honorably, and exposing themselves to
the utmost danger from the enemy [for they had nothing else to hope for];
so they brought upon themselves the whole power of the enemy, till they
were encompassed round and slain, but not before they had killed many of
the Philistines Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Abinadab, and
Malchisua; and when these were slain the multitude of the Hebrews were put
to flight, and all was disorder, and confusion, and slaughter, upon the
Philistines pressing in upon them. But Saul himself fled, having a strong
body of soldiers about him; and upon the Philistines sending after them
those that threw javelins and shot arrows, he lost all his company except
a few. As for himself, he fought with great bravery; and when he had
received so many wounds, that he was not able to bear up nor to oppose any
longer, and yet was not able to kill himself, he bade his armor-bearer
draw his sword, and run him through, before the enemy should take him
alive. But his armor-bearer not daring to kill his master, he drew his own
sword, and placing himself over against its point, he threw himself upon
it; and when he could neither run it through him, nor, by leaning against
it, make the sword pass through him, he turned him round, and asked a
certain young man that stood by who he was; and when he understood that he
was an Amalekite, he desired him to force the sword through him, because
he was not able to do it with his own hands, and thereby to procure him
such a death as he desired. This the young man did accordingly; and he
took the golden bracelet that was on Saul’s arm, and his royal crown that
was on his head, and ran away. And when Saul’s armor-bearer saw that he
was slain, he killed himself; nor did any of the king’s guards escape, but
they all fell upon the mountain called Gilboa. But when those Hebrews that
dwelt in the valley beyond Jordan, and those who had their cities in the
plain, heard that Saul and his sons were fallen, and that the multitude
about them were destroyed, they left their own cities, and fled to such as
were the best fortified and fenced; and the Philistines, finding those
cities deserted, came and dwelt in them.
8. On the next day, when the Philistines came to strip their enemies that
were slain, they got the bodies of Saul and of his sons, and stripped
them, and cut off their heads; and they sent messengers all about their
country, to acquaint them that their enemies were fallen; and they
dedicated their armor in the temple of Astarte, but hung their bodies on
crosses at the walls of the city Bethshun, which is now called
Scythepolls. But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead heard that they had
dismembered the dead bodies of Saul and of his sons, they deemed it so
horrid a thing to overlook this barbarity, and to suffer them to be
without funeral rites, that the most courageous and hardy among them [and
indeed that city had in it men that were very stout both in body and mind]
journeyed all night, and came to Bethshun, and approached to the enemy’s
wall, and taking down the bodies of Saul and of his sons, they carried
them to Jabesh, while the enemy were not able enough nor bold enough to
hinder them, because of their great courage. So the people of Jabesh wept
all in general, and buried their bodies in the best place of their
country, which was named Areurn; and they observed a public mourning for
them seven days, with their wives and children, beating their breasts, and
lamenting the king and his sons, without either tasting meat or drink 29
[till the evening.]
9. To this his end did Saul come, according to the prophecy of Samuel,
because he disobeyed the commands of God about the Amalekites, and on the
account of his destroying the family of Ahimelech the high priest, with
Ahimelech himself, and the city of the high priests. Now Saul, when he had
reigned eighteen years while Samuel was alive, and after his death two
[and twenty], ended his life in this manner.
FOOTNOTES:
1 (return)
[ Dagon, a famous maritime
god or idol, is generally supposed to have been like a man above the
navel, and like a fish beneath it.]
2 (return)
[ Spanheim informs us here,
that upon the coins of Tenedos, and those of other cities, a field-mouse
is engraven, together with Apollo Smintheus, or Apollo, the driver away of
field-mice, on account of his being supposed to have freed certain tracts
of ground from those mice; which coins show how great a judgment such mice
have sometimes been, and how the deliverance from them was then esteemed
the effect of a divine power; which observations are highly suitable to
this history.]
3 (return)
[ This device of the
Philistines, of having a yoke of kine to draw this cart, into which they
put the ark of the Hebrews, is greatly illustrated by Sanchoniatho’s
account, under his ninth generation, that Agrouerus, or Agrotes, the
husbandman, had a much-worshipped statue and temple, carried about by one
or more yoke of oxen, or kine, in Phoenicia, in the neighborhood of these
Philistines. See Cumberland’s Sanchoniatho, p. 27 and 247; and Essay on
the Old Testament, Append. p. 172.]
4 (return)
[ These seventy men, being
not so much as Levites, touched the ark in a rash or profane manner, and
were slain by the hand of God for such their rashness and profaneness,
according to the Divine threatenings, Numbers 4:15, 20; but how other
copies come to add such an incredible number as fifty thousand in this one
town, or small city, I know not. See Dr. Wall’s Critical Notes on 1 Samuel
6:19.]
5 (return)
[ This is the first place,
so far as I remember, in these Antiquities, where Josephus begins to call
his nation Jews, he having hitherto usually, if not constantly, called
them either Hebrews or Israelites. The second place soon follows; see also
ch. 3. sect. 5.]
6 (return)
[ Of this great mistake of
Saul and his servant, as if true prophet of God would accept of a gift or
present, for foretelling what was desired of him, see the note on B. IV.
ch. 6. sect. 3.]
7 (return)
[ It seems to me not
improbable that these seventy guests of Samuel, as here, with himself at
the head of them, were a Jewish sanhedrim, and that hereby Samuel
intimated to Saul that these seventy-one were to be his constant
counselors, and that he was to act not like a sole monarch, but with the
advice and direction of these seventy-one members of that Jewish sanhedrim
upon all occasions, which yet we never read that he consulted afterward.]
8 (return)
[ An instance of this Divine
fury we have after this in Saul, ch. 5. sect. 2, 3; 1 Samuel 11:6. See the
like, Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25; and 14:6.]
9 (return)
[ Take here Theodoret’s
note, cited by Dr. Hudson:—”He that exposes his shield to the enemy
with his left hand, thereby hides his left eye, and looks at the enemy
with his right eye: he therefore that plucks out that eye, makes men
useless in war.”]
10 (return)
[ Mr. Reland observes
here, and proves elsewhere in his note on Antiq. B. III. ch. 1. sect. 6,
that although thunder and lightning with us usually happen in summer, yet
in Palestine and Syria they are chiefly confined to winter. Josephus takes
notice of the same thing again, War, B. IV. ch. 4. sect. 5.]
11 (return)
[ Saul seems to have staid
till near the time of the evening sacrifice, on the seventh day, which
Samuel the prophet of God had appointed him, but not till the end of that
day, as he ought to have done; and Samuel appears, by delaying to come to
the full time of the evening sacrifice on that seventh day, to have tried
him [who seems to have been already for some time declining from his
strict and bounden subordination to God and his prophet; to have taken
life-guards for himself and his son, which was entirely a new thing in
Israel, and savored of a distrust of God’s providence; and to have
affected more than he ought that independent authority which the pagan
kings took to themselves]; Samuel, I say, seems to have here tried Saul
whether he would stay till the priest came, who alone could lawfully offer
the sacrifices, nor would boldly and profanely usurp the priest’s office,
which he venturing upon, was justly rejected for his profaneness. See
Apost. Constit. B. II. ch. 27. And, indeed, since Saul had accepted kingly
power, which naturally becomes ungovernable and tyrannical, as God
foretold, and the experience of all ages has shown, the Divine settlement
by Moses had soon been laid aside under the kings, had not God, by keeping
strictly to his laws, and severely executing the threatenings therein
contained, restrained Saul and other kings in some degree of obedience to
himself; nor was even this severity sufficient to restrain most of the
future kings of Israel and Judah from the grossest idolatry and impiety.
Of the advantage of which strictness, in the observing Divine laws, and
inflicting their threatened penalties, see Antiq. B. VI. ch. 12. sect. 7;
and Against Apion, B. II. sect. 30, where Josephus speaks of that matter;
though it must be noted that it seems, at least in three instances, that
good men did not always immediately approve of such Divine severity. There
seems to be one instance, 1 Samuel 6:19, 20; another, 1 Samuel 15:11; and
a third, 2 Samuel 6:8, 9; Antiq. B. VI. ch. 7. sect. 2; though they all at
last acquiesced in the Divine conduct, as knowing that God is wiser than
men.]
12 (return)
[ By this answer of
Samuel, and that from a Divine commission, which is fuller in l Samuel
13:14, and by that parallel note in the Apostolical Constitutions just now
quoted, concerning the great wickedness of Saul in venturing, even under a
seeming necessity of affairs, to usurp the priest’s office, and offer
sacrifice without the priest, we are in some degree able to answer that
question, which I have ever thought a very hard one, viz. Whether, if
there were a city or country of lay Christians without any clergymen, it
were lawful for the laity alone to baptize, or celebrate the eucharist,
etc., or indeed whether they alone could ordain themselves either bishops,
priests, or deacons, for the due performance of such sacerdotal
ministrations; or whether they ought not rather, till they procure
clergymen to come among them, to confine themselves within those bounds of
piety and Christianity which belong alone to the laity; such particularly
as are recommended in the first book of the Apostolical Constitutions,
which peculiarly concern the laity, and are intimated in Clement’s
undoubted epistle, sect. 40. To which latter opinion I incline.]
13 (return)
[ This rash vow or curse
of Saul, which Josephus says was confirmed by the people, and yet not
executed, I suppose principally because Jonathan did not know of it, is
very remarkable; it being of the essence of the obligation of all laws,
that they be sufficiently known and promulgated, otherwise the conduct of
Providence, as to the sacredness of solemn oaths and vows, in God’s
refusing to answer by Urim till this breach of Saul’s vow or curse was
understood and set right, and God propitiated by public prayer, is here
very remarkable, as indeed it is every where else in the Old Testament.]
14 (return)
[ Here we have still more
indications of Saul’s affectation of despotic power, and of his
entrenching upon the priesthood, and making and endeavoring to execute a
rash vow or curse, without consulting Samuel or the sanhedrim. In this
view it is also that I look upon this erection of a new altar by Saul, and
his offering of burnt-offerings himself upon it, and not as any proper
instance of devotion or religion, with other commentators.]
15 (return)
[ The reason of this
severity is distinctly given, 1 Samuel 15:18, “Go and utterly destroy the
sinners the Amalekites:” nor indeed do we ever meet with these Amalekites
but as very cruel and bloody people, and particularly seeking to injure
and utterly to destroy the nation of Israel. See Exodus 17:8-16; Numbers
14:45; Deuteronomy 25:17-19; Judges 6:3, 6; 1 Samuel 15:33; Psalms 83:7;
and, above all, the most barbarous of all cruelties, that of Haman the
Agagite, or one of the posterity of Agag, the old king of the Amalekites,
Esther 3:1-15.]
16 (return)
[ Spanheim takes notice
here that the Greeks had such singers of hymns; and that usually children
or youths were picked out for that service; as also, that those called
singers to the harp, did the same that David did here, i.e. join their own
vocal and instrumental music together.]
17 (return)
[ Josephus says thrice in
this chapter, and twice afterwards, ch. 11. sect. 2, and B. VII. ch. 1.
sect. 4, i.e. five times in all, that Saul required not a bare hundred of
the foreskins of the Philistines, but six hundred of their heads. The
Septuagint have 100 foreskins, but the Syriac and Arabic 200. Now that
these were not foreskins, with our other copies, but heads, with
Josephus’s copy, seems somewhat probable, from 1 Samuel 29:4, where all
copies say that it was with the heads of such Philistines that David might
reconcile himself to his master, Saul.]
18 (return)
[ Since the modern Jews
have lost the signification of the Hebrew word here used, cebr; and since
the LXX., as well as Josephus, reader it the liver of the goat, and since
this rendering, and Josephus’s account, are here so much more clear and
probable than those of others, it is almost unaccountable that our
commentators should so much as hesitate about its true interpretation.]
19 (return)
[ These violent and wild
agitations of Saul seem to me to have been no other than demoniacal; and
that the same demon which used to seize him, since he was forsaken of God,
and which the divine hymns and psalms which were sung to the harp by David
used to expel, was now in a judicial way brought upon him, not only in
order to disappoint his intentions against innocent David, but to expose
him to the laughter and contempt of all that saw him, or heard of those
agitations; such violent and wild agitations being never observed in true
prophets, when they were under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. Our
other copies, which say the Spirit of God came him, seem not so here copy,
which mentions nothing of God at all. Nor does Josephus seem to ascribe
this impulse and ecstasy of Saul to any other than to his old demoniacal
spirit, which on all accounts appears the most probable. Nor does the
former description of Saul’s real inspiration by the Divine Spirit, 1
Samuel 10:9- 12; Antiq. B. VI. ch. 4. sect. 2, which was before he was
become wicked, well agree with the descriptions before us.]
20 (return)
[ What is meant by Saul’s
lying down naked all that day, and all that night, 1 Samuel 19:4, and
whether any more than laying aside his royal apparel, or upper garments,
as Josephus seems to understand it, is by no means certain. See the note
on Antiq. B. VIII. ch. 14. sect. 2.
21 (return)
[ This city Nob was not a
city allotted to the priests, nor had the prophets, that we know of, any
particular cities allotted them. It seems the tabernacle was now at Nob,
and probably a school of the prophets was here also. It was full two days’
journey on foot from Jerusalem, 1 Samuel 21:5. The number of priests here
slain in Josephus is three hundred and eighty-five, and but eighty-five in
our Hebrew copies; yet are they three hundred and five in the Septuagint.
I prefer Josephus’s number, the Hebrew having, I suppose, only dropped the
hundreds, the other the tens. This city Nob seems to have been the chief,
or perhaps the only seat of the family of Ithamar, which here perished,
according to God’s former terrible threatenings to Eli, 1 Samuel 2:27-36;
3:11-18. See ch. 14. sect. D, hereafter.]
22 (return)
[ This section contains an
admirable reflection of Josephus concerning the general wickedness of men
in great authority, and the danger they are in of rejecting that regard to
justice and humanity, to Divine Providence and the fear of God, which they
either really had, or pretended to have, while they were in a lower
condition. It can never be too often perused by kings and great men, nor
by those who expect to obtain such elevated dignities among mankind. See
the like reflections of our Josephus, Antiq. B. VII. ch. 1. sect. 5, at
the end; and B. VIII. ch. 10. sect. 2, at the beginning. They are to the
like purport with one branch of Agur’s prayer: “One thing have I required
of thee, deny it me not before I die: Give me not riches, lest I be full,
and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord?” Proverbs 30:7-9.]
23 (return)
[ The phrase in David’s
speech to Saul, as set down in Josephus, that he had abstained from just
revenge, puts me in mind of the like words in the Apostolical
Constitutions, B. VII. ch. 2., “That revenge is not evil, but that
patience is more honorable.”]
24 (return)
[ The number of men that
came first to David, are distinctly in Josephus, and in our common copies,
but four hundred. When he was at Keilah still but four hundred, both in
Josephus and in the LXXX.; but six hundred in our Hebrew copies, 1 Samuel
23:3; see 30:9, 10. Now the six hundred there mentioned are here estimated
by Josephus to have been so many, only by an augmentation of two hundred
afterward, which I suppose is the true solution of this seeming
disagreement.]
25 (return)
[ In this and the two next
sections, we may perceive how Josephus, nay, how Abigail herself, would
understand, the “not avenging ourselves, but heaping coals of fire on the
head of the injurious,” Proverbs 25:22; Romans 12:20, not as we do now, of
them into but of leaving them to the judgment of God, “to whom vengeance
belongeth,” Deuteronomy 32:35; Psalms 94:1; Hebrews 10:30, and who will
take vengeance on the wicked. And since all God’s judgments are just, and
all fit to be executed, and all at length for the good of the persons
punished, I incline to think that to be the meaning of this phrase of
“heaping coals of fire on their heads.”]
26 (return)
[ We may note here, that
how sacred soever an oath was esteemed among the people of God in old
times, they did not think it obligatory where the action was plainly
unlawful. For so we see it was in this case of David, who, although he had
sworn to destroy Nabal and his family, yet does he here, and 1 Samuel
25:32-41, bless God for preventing his keeping his oath, and shedding of
blood, which he had swore to do.]
27 (return)
[ This history of Saul’s
consultation, not with a witch, as we render the Hebrew word here, but
with a necromancer, as the whole history shows, is easily understood,
especially if we consult the Recognitions of Clement, B. I. ch. 5. at
large, and more briefly, and nearer the days of Samuel Ecclus. 46:20,
“Samuel prophesied after his death, and showed the king his end, and lift
up his voice from the earth in prophecy,” to blot out “the wickedness of
the people.” Nor does the exactness of the accomplishment of this
prediction, the very next day, permit us to suppose any imposition upon
Saul in the present history; for as to all modern hypotheses against the
natural sense of such ancient and authentic histories, I take them to be
of very small value or consideration.]
28 (return)
[ These great
commendations of this necromantic woman of Endor, and of Saul’s martial
courage, when yet he knew he should die in the battle, are somewhat
unusual digressions in Josephus. They seem to me extracted from some
speeches or declamations of his composed formerly, in the way of oratory,
that lay by him, and which he thought fit to insert upon this occasion.
See before on Antiq. B. I. ch. 6 sect. 8.]
29 (return)
[ This way of speaking in
Josephus, of fasting “seven days without meat or drink,” is almost like
that of St. Paul, Acts 27:33, “This day is the fourteenth day that ye have
tarried, and continued fasting, having taken nothing:” and as the nature
of the thing, and the impossibility of strictly fasting so long, require
us here to understand both Josephus and the sacred author of this history,
1 Samuel 30:13, from whom he took it, of only fasting fill the evening; so
must we understand St. Paul, either that this was really the fourteenth
day that they had taken nothing till the evening, or else that this was
the fourteenth day of their tempestuous weather in the Adriatic Sea, as
ver. 27, and that on this fourteenth day alone they had continued fasting,
and had taken nothing before that evening. The mention of their long
abstinence, ver. 21, inclines me to believe the former explication to be
the truth, and that the case was then for a fortnight what it was here for
a week, that they kept all those days entirely as lasts till the evening,
but not longer. See Judges 20:26; 21:2; 1 Samuel 14:24; 2 Samuel 1:12;
Antiq. B. VII. ch. 7. sect. 4.]
BOOK VII. Containing The Interval Of Forty Years.—From The
Death Of Saul To The Death Of David.
CHAPTER 1. How David Reigned Over One Tribe At Hebron While The Son Of
Saul Reigned Over The Rest Of The Multitude; And How, In The Civil War
Which Then Arose Asahel And Abner Were Slain.
1. This fight proved to be on the same day whereon David was come back to
Ziklag, after he had overcome the Amalekites. Now when he had been already
two days at Ziklag, there came to him the man who slew Saul, which was the
third day after the fight. He had escaped out of the battle which the
Israelites had with the Philistines, and had his clothes rent, and ashes
upon his head. And when he made his obeisance to David, he inquired of him
whence he came. He replied, from the battle of the Israelites; and he
informed him that the end of it was unfortunate, many ten thousands of the
Israelites having been cut off, and Saul, together with his sons, slain.
He also said that he could well give him this information, because he was
present at the victory gained over the Hebrews, and was with the king when
he fled. Nor did he deny that he had himself slain the king, when he was
ready to be taken by the enemy, and he himself exhorted him to do it,
because, when he was fallen on his sword, his great wounds had made him so
weak that he was not able to kill himself. He also produced demonstrations
that the king was slain, which were the golden bracelets that had been on
the king’s arms, and his crown, which he had taken away from Saul’s dead
body, and had brought them to him. So David having no longer any room to
call in question the truth of what he said, but seeing most evident marks
that Saul was dead, he rent his garments, and continued all that day with
his companions in weeping and lamentation. This grief was augmented by the
consideration of Jonathan; the son of Saul, who had been his most faithful
friend, and the occasion of his own deliverance. He also demonstrated
himself to have such great virtue, and such great kindness for Saul, as
not only to take his death to heart, though he had been frequently in
danger of losing his life by his means, but to punish him that slew him;
for when David had said to him that he was become his own accuser, as the
very man who had slain the king, and when he had understood that he was
the son of an Amalekite, he commanded him to be slain. He also committed
to writing some lamentations and funeral commendations of Saul and
Jonathan, which have continued to my own age.
2. Now when David had paid these honors to the king, he left off his
mourning, and inquired of God by the prophet which of the cities of the
tribe of Judah he would bestow upon him to dwell in; who answered that he
bestowed upon him Hebron. So he left Ziklag, and came to Hebron, and took
with him his wives, who were in number two, and his armed men; whereupon
all the people of the forementioned tribe came to him, and ordained him
their king. But when he heard that the inhabitants of Jabesh- gilead had
buried Saul and his sons [honorably], he sent to them and commended them,
and took what they had done kindly, and promised to make them amends for
their care of those that were dead; and at the same time he informed them
that the tribe of Judah had chosen him for their king.
3. But as soon as Abner, the son of Ner, who was general of Saul’s army,
and a very active man, and good-natured, knew that the king, and Jonathan,
and his two other sons, were fallen in the battle, he made haste into the
camp; and taking away with him the remaining son of Saul, whose name was
Ishbosheth, he passed over to the land beyond Jordan, and ordained him the
king of the whole multitude, excepting the tribe of Judah; and made his
royal seat in a place called in our own language Mahanaim, but in the
language of the Grecians, The Camps; from whence Abner made haste with a
select body of soldiers, to fight with such of the tribe of Judah as were
disposed to it, for he was angry that this tribe had set up David for
their king. But Joab, whose father was Suri, and his mother Zeruiah,
David’s sister, who was general of David’s army, met him, according to
David’s appointment. He had with him his brethren, Abishai and Asahel, as
also all David’s armed men. Now when he met Abner at a certain fountain,
in the city of Gibeon, he prepared to fight. And when Abner said to him,
that he had a mind to know which of them had the more valiant soldiers, it
was agreed between them that twelve soldiers of each side should fight
together. So those that were chosen out by both the generals for this
fight came between the two armies, and throwing their lances one against
the other, they drew their swords, and catching one another by the head,
they held one another fast, and ran each other’s swords into their sides
and groins, until they all, as it were by mutual agreement, perished
together. When these were fallen down dead, the rest of the army came to a
sore battle, and Abner’s men were beaten; and when they were beaten, Joab
did not leave off pursuing them, but he pressed upon them, and excited the
soldiers to follow them close, and not to grow weary of killing them. His
brethren also pursued them with great alacrity, especially the younger,
Asahel, who was the most eminent of them. He was very famous for his
swiftness of foot, for he could not only be too hard for men, but is
reported to have overrun a horse, when they had a race together. This
Asahel ran violently after Abner, and would not turn in the least out of
the straight way, either to the one side or to the other. Hereupon Abner
turned back, and attempted artfully to avoid his violence. Sometimes he
bade him leave off the pursuit, and take the armor of one of his soldiers;
and sometimes, when he could not persuade him so to do, he exhorted him to
restrain himself, and not to pursue him any longer, lest he should force
him to kill him, and he should then not be able to look his brother in the
face: but when Asahel would not admit of any persuasions, but still
continued to pursue him, Abner smote him with his spear, as he held it in
his flight, and that by a back-stroke, and gave him a deadly wound, so
that he died immediately; but those that were with him pursuing Abner,
when they came to the place where Asahel lay, they stood round about the
dead body, and left off the pursuit of the enemy. However, both Joab 1
himself, and his brother Abishai, ran past the dead corpse, and making
their anger at the death of Asahel an occasion of greater zeal against
Abner, they went on with incredible haste and alacrity, and pursued Abner
to a certain place called Ammah: it was about sun-set. Then did Joab
ascend a certain hill, as he stood at that place, having the tribe of
Benjamin with him, whence he took a view of them, and of Abner also.
Hereupon Abner cried aloud, and said that it was not fit that they should
irritate men of the same nation to fight so bitterly one against another;
that as for Asahel his brother, he was himself in the wrong, when he would
not be advised by him not to pursue him any farther, which was the
occasion of his wounding and death. So Joab consented to what he said, and
accepted these his words as an excuse [about Asahel], and called the
soldiers back with the sound of the trumpet, as a signal for their
retreat, and thereby put a stop to any further pursuit. After which Joab
pitched his camp there that night; but Abner marched all that night, and
passed over the river Jordan, and came to Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, to
Mahanaim. On the next day Joab counted the dead men, and took care of all
their funerals. Now there were slain of Abner’s soldiers about three hundred
and sixty; but of those of David nineteen, and Asahel, whose body Joab and
Abishai carried to Bethlehem; and when they had buried him in the
sepulcher of their fathers, they came to David to Hebron. From this time
therefore there began an intestine war, which lasted a great while, in
which the followers of David grew stronger in the dangers they underwent,
and the servants and subjects of Saul’s sons did almost every day become
weaker.
4. About this time David was become the father of six sons, born of as
many mothers. The eldest was by Ahinoam, and he was called Arenon; the
second was Daniel, by his wife Abigail; the name of the third was Absalom,
by Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth he named
Adonijah, by his wife Haggith; the fifth was Shephatiah, by Abital; the
sixth he called Ithream, by Eglah. Now while this intestine war went on,
and the subjects of the two kings came frequently to action and to
fighting, it was Abner, the general of the host of Saul’s son, who, by his
prudence, and the great interest he had among the multitude, made them all
continue with Ishbosheth; and indeed it was a considerable time that they
continued of his party; but afterwards Abner was blamed, and an accusation
was laid against him, that he went in unto Saul’s concubine: her name was
Rispah, the daughter of Aiah. So when he was complained of by Ishbosheth,
he was very uneasy and angry at it, because he had not justice done him by
Ishbosheth, to whom he had shown the greatest kindness; whereupon he
threatened to transfer the kingdom to David, and demonstrate that he did
not rule over the people beyond Jordan by his own abilities and wisdom,
but by his warlike conduct and fidelity in leading his army. So he sent
ambassadors to Hebron to David, and desired that he would give him
security upon oath that he would esteem him his companion and his friend,
upon condition that he should persuade the people to leave Saul’s son, and
choose him king of the whole country; and when David had made that league
with Abner, for he was pleased with his message to him, he desired that he
would give this as the first mark of performance of the present league,
that he might have his wife Michal restored to him, as her whom he had
purchased with great hazards, and with those six hundred heads of the
Philistines which he had brought to Saul her father. So Abner took Michal
from Phaltiel, who was then her husband, and sent her to David, Ishbosheth
himself affording him his assistance, for David had written to him that of
right he ought to have this his wife restored to him. Abner also called
together the elders of the multitude, the commanders and captains of
thousands, and spake thus to them: That he had formerly dissuaded them
from their own resolution, when they were ready to forsake Ishbosheth, and
to join themselves to David; that, however, he now gave them leave so to
do, if they had a mind to it, for they knew that God had appointed David
to be king of all the Hebrews by Samuel the prophet; and had foretold that
he should punish the Philistines, and overcome them, and bring them under.
Now when the elders and rulers heard this, and understood that Abner was
come over to those sentiments about the public affairs which they were of
before, they changed their measures, and came in to David. When these men
had agreed to Abner’s proposal, he called together the tribe of Benjamin,
for all of that tribe were the guards of Ishbosheth’s body, and he spake
to them to the same purpose. And when he saw that they did not in the
least oppose what he said, but resigned themselves up to his opinion, he
took about twenty of his friends and came to David, in order to receive
himself security upon oath from him; for we may justly esteem those things
to be firmer which every one of us do by ourselves, than those which we do
by another. He also gave him an account of what he had said to the rulers,
and to the whole tribe of Benjamin; and when David had received him in a
courteous manner, and had treated him with great hospitality for many
days, Abner, when he was dismissed, desired him to bring the multitude
with him, that he might deliver up the government to him, when David
himself was present, and a spectator of what was done.
5. When David had sent Abner away, Joab, the of his army, came immediately
to Hebron; he had understood that Abner had been with David, and had
parted with him a little before under leagues and agreements that the
government should be delivered up to David, he feared lest David should
place Abner, who had assisted him to gain the kingdom, in the first rank
of dignity, especially since he was a shrewd man in other respects, in
understanding affairs, and in managing them artfully, as proper seasons
should require, and that he should himself be put lower, and be deprived
of the command of the army; so he took a knavish and a wicked course. In
the first place, he endeavored to calumniate Abner to the king, exhorting
him to have a care of him, and not to give attention to what he had
engaged to do for him, because all he did tended to confirm the government
to Saul’s son; that he came to him deceitfully and with guile, and was
gone away in hopes of gaining his purpose by this management: but when he
could not thus persuade David, nor saw him at all exasperated, he betook
himself to a project bolder than the former:—he determined to kill
Abner; and in order thereto, he sent some messengers after him, to whom he
gave in charge, that when they should overtake him they should recall him
in David’s name, and tell him that he had somewhat to say to him about his
affairs, which he had not remembered to speak of when he was with him. Now
when Abner heard what the messengers said, [for they overtook him in a
certain place called Besira, which was distant from Hebron twenty
furlongs,] he suspected none of the mischief which was befalling him, and
came back. Hereupon Joab met him in the gate, and received him in the
kindest manner, as if he were Abner’s most benevolent acquaintance and
friend; for such as undertake the vilest actions, in order to prevent the
suspicion of any private mischief intended, do frequently make the
greatest pretenses to what really good men sincerely do. So he took him
aside from his own followers, as if he would speak with him in private,
and brought him into a void place of the gate, having himself nobody with
him but his brother Abishai; then he drew his sword, and smote him in the
groin; upon which Abner died by this treachery of Joab, which, as he said
himself, was in the way of punishment for his brother Asahel, whom Abner
smote and slew as he was pursuing after him in the battle of Hebron, but
as the truth was, out of his fear of losing his command of the army, and
his dignity with the king, and lest he should be deprived of those
advantages, and Abner should obtain the first rank in David’s court. By
these examples any one may learn how many and how great instances of
wickedness men will venture upon for the sake of getting money and
authority, and that they may not fail of either of them; for as when they
are desirous of obtaining the same, they acquire them by ten thousand evil
practices; so when they are afraid of losing them, they get them confirmed
to them by practices much worse than the former, as if no other calamity
so terrible could befall them as the failure of acquiring so exalted an
authority; and when they have acquired it, and by long custom found the
sweetness of it, the losing it again: and since this last would be the
heaviest of all afflictions they all of them contrive and venture upon the
most difficult actions, out of the fear of losing the same. But let it
suffice that I have made these short reflections upon that subject.
6. When David heard that Abner was slain, it grieved his soul; and he
called all men to witness, with stretching out his hands to God, and
crying out that he was not a partaker in the murder of Abner, and that his
death was not procured by his command or approbation. He also wished the
heaviest curses might light upon him that slew him and upon his whole
house; and he devoted those that had assisted him in this murder to the
same penalties on its account; for he took care not to appear to have had
any hand in this murder, contrary to the assurances he had given and the
oaths he had taken to Abner. However, he commanded all the people to weep
and lament this man, and to honor his dead body with the usual
solemnities; that is, by rending their garments, and putting on sackcloth,
and that things should be the habit in which they should go before the
bier; after which he followed it himself, with the elders and those that
were rulers, lamenting Abner, and by his tears demonstrating his good-will
to him while he was alive, and his sorrow for him now he was dead, and
that he was not taken off with his consent. So he buried him at Hebron in
a magnificent manner, and indited funeral elegies for him; he also stood
first over the monument weeping, and caused others to do the same; nay, so
deeply did the death of Abner disorder him, that his companions could by
no means force him to take any food, but he affirmed with an oath that he
would taste nothing till the sun was set. This procedure gained him the
good-will of the multitude; for such as had an affection for Abner were
mightily satisfied with the respect he paid him when he was dead, and the
observation of that faith he had plighted to him, which was shown in his
vouchsafing him all the usual ceremonies, as if he had been his kinsman
and his friend, and not suffering him to be neglected and injured with a
dishonorable burial, as if he had been his enemy; insomuch that the entire
nation rejoiced at the king’s gentleness and mildness of disposition,
every one being ready to suppose that the king would have taken the same
care of them in the like circumstances, which they saw be showed in the
burial of the dead body of Abner. And indeed David principally intended to
gain a good reputation, and therefore he took care to do what was proper
in this case, whence none had any suspicion that he was the author of
Abner’s death. He also said this to the multitude, that he was greatly
troubled at the death of so good a man; and that the affairs of the
Hebrews had suffered great detriment by being deprived of him, who was of
so great abilities to preserve them by his excellent advice, and by the
strength of his hands in war. But he added, that “God, who hath a regard
to all men’s actions, will not suffer this man [Joab] to go off
unrevenged; but know ye, that I am not able to do any thing to these sons
of Zeruiah, Joab and Abishai, who have more power than I have; but God
will requite their insolent attempts upon their own heads.” And this was
the fatal conclusion of the life of Abner.
CHAPTER 2. That Upon The Slaughter Of Ishbosheth By The Treachery Of His
Friends, David Received The Whole Kingdom.
1. When Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, had heard of the death of Abner, he
took it to heart to be deprived of a man that was of his kindred, and had
indeed given him the kingdom, but was greatly afflicted, and Abner’s death
very much troubled him; nor did he himself outlive any long time, but was
treacherously set upon by the sons of Rimmon, [Baanah and Rechab were
their names,] and was slain by them; for these being of a family of the
Benjamites, and of the first rank among them, thought that if they should
slay Ishbosheth, they should obtain large presents from David, and be made
commanders by him, or, however, should have some other trust committed to
them. So when they once found him alone, and asleep at noon, in an upper
room, when none of his guards were there, and when the woman that kept the
door was not watching, but was fallen asleep also, partly on account of
the labor she had undergone, and partly on account of the heat of the day,
these men went into the room in which Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, lay asleep,
and slew him; they also cut off his head, and took their journey all that
night, and the next day, as supposing themselves flying away from those
they had injured, to one that would accept of this action as a favor, and
would afford them security. So they came to Hebron, and showed David the
head of Ishbosheth, and presented themselves to him as his well-wishers,
and such as had killed one that was his enemy and antagonist. Yet David
did not relish what they had done as they expected, but said to them, “You
vile wretches, you shall immediately receive the punishment you deserve.
Did not you know what vengeance I executed on him that murdered Saul, and
brought me his crown of gold, and this while he who made this slaughter
did it as a favor to him, that he might not be caught by his enemies? Or
do you imagine that I am altered in my disposition, and suppose that I am
not the same man I then was, but am pleased with men that are wicked
doers, and esteem your vile actions, when you are become murderers of your
master, as grateful to me, when you have slain a righteous man upon his
bed, who never did evil to any body, and treated you with great good-will
and respect? Wherefore you shall suffer the punishment due on his account,
and the vengeance I ought to inflict upon you for killing Ishbosheth, and
for supposing that I should take his death kindly at your hands; for you
could not lay a greater blot on my honor, than by making such a supposal.”
When David had said this, he tormented them with all sorts of torments,
and then put them to death; and he bestowed all accustomed rites on the
burial of the head of Ishbosheth, and laid it in the grave of Abner.
2. When these things were brought to this conclusion, all the principal
men of the Hebrew people came to David to Hebron, with the heads of
thousands, and other rulers, and delivered themselves up to him, putting
him in mind of the good-will they had borne to him in Saul’s lifetime, and
the respect they then had not ceased to pay him when he was captain of a
thousand, as also that he was chosen of God by Samuel the prophet, he and
his sons; 2
and declaring besides, how God had given him power to save the land of the
Hebrews, and to overcome the Philistines. Whereupon he received kindly
this their alacrity on his account; and exhorted them to continue in it,
for that they should have no reason to repent of being thus disposed to
him. So when he had feasted them, and treated them kindly, he sent them
out to bring all the people to him; upon which came to him about six
thousand and eight hundred armed men of the tribe of Judah, who bare
shields and spears for their weapons, for these had [till now] continued
with Saul’s son, when the rest of the tribe of Judah had ordained David
for their king. There came also seven thousand and one hundred out of the
tribe of Simeon. Out of the tribe of Levi came four thousand and seven
hundred, having Jehoiada for their leader. After these came Zadok the high
priest, with twenty-two captains of his kindred. Out of the tribe of
Benjamin the armed men were four thousand; but the rest of the tribe
continued, still expecting that some one of the house of Saul should reign
over them. Those of the tribe of Ephraim were twenty thousand and eight
hundred, and these mighty men of valor, and eminent for their strength.
Out of the half tribe of Manasseh came eighteen thousand, of the most
potent men. Out of the tribe of Issachar came two hundred, who foreknew
what was to come hereafter, 3 but of armed men twenty thousand.
Of the tribe of Zebulon fifty thousand chosen men. This was the only tribe
that came universally in to David, and all these had the same weapons with
the tribe of Gad. Out of the tribe of Naphtali the eminent men and rulers
were one thousand, whose weapons were shields and spears, and the tribe
itself followed after, being [in a manner] innumerable [thirty- seven
thousand]. Out of the tribe of Dan there were of chosen men twenty-seven
thousand and six hundred. Out of the tribe of Asher were forty thousand.
Out of the two tribes that were beyond Jordan, and the rest of the tribe
of Manasseh, such as used shields, and spears, and head-pieces, and
swords, were a hundred and twenty thousand. The rest of the tribes also
made use of swords. This multitude came together to Hebron to David, with
a great quantity of corn, and wine, and all other sorts of food, and
established David in his kingdom with one consent. And when the people had
rejoiced for three days in Hebron, David and all the people removed and
came to Jerusalem.
CHAPTER 3. How David Laid Siege To Jerusalem; And When He Had Taken The
City, He Cast The Canaanites Out Of It, And Brought In The Jews To Inhabit
Therein.
1. Now the Jebusites, who were the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and were by
extraction Canaanites, shut their gates, and placed the blind, and the
lame, and all their maimed persons, upon the wall, in way of derision of
the king, and said that the very lame themselves would hinder his entrance
into it. This they did out of contempt of his power, and as depending on
the strength of their walls. David was hereby enraged, and began the siege
of Jerusalem, and employed his utmost diligence and alacrity therein, as
intending by the taking of this place to demonstrate his power, and to
intimidate all others that might be of the like [evil] disposition towards
him. So he took the lower city by force, but the citadel held out still;
4
whence it was that the king, knowing that the proposal of dignities and
rewards would encourage the soldiers to greater actions, promised that he
who should first go over the ditches that were beneath the citadel, and
should ascend to the citadel itself and take it, should have the command
of the entire people conferred upon him. So they all were ambitious to
ascend, and thought no pains too great in order to ascend thither, out of
their desire of the chief command. However, Joab, the son of Zeruiah,
prevented the rest; and as soon as he was got up to the citadel, cried out
to the king, and claimed the chief command.
2. When David had cast the Jebusites out of the citadel, he also rebuilt
Jerusalem, and named it The City of David, and abode there all the time of
his reign; but for the time that he reigned over the tribe of Judah only
in Hebron, it was seven years and six months. Now when he had chosen
Jerusalem to be his royal city, his affairs did more and more prosper, by
the providence of God, who took care that they should improve and be
augmented. Hiram also, the king of the Tyrians, sent ambassadors to him,
and made a league of mutual friendship and assistance with him. He also
sent him presents, cedar-trees, and mechanics, and men skillful in
building and architecture, that they might build him a royal palace at
Jerusalem. Now David made buildings round about the lower city: he also
joined the citadel to it, and made it one body; and when he had
encompassed all with walls, he appointed Joab to take care of them. It was
David, therefore, who first cast the Jebusites out of Jerusalem, and
called it by his own name, The City of David: for under our forefather
Abraham it was called [Salem, or] Solyma; 5 but after
that time, some say that Homer mentions it by that name of Solyma, [for he
named the temple Solyma, according to the Hebrew language, which denotes
security.] Now the whole time from the warfare under Joshua our general
against the Canaanites, and from that war in which he overcame them, and
distributed the land among the Hebrews, [nor could the Israelites ever
cast the Canaanites out of Jerusalem until this time, when David took it
by siege,] this whole time was five hundred and fifteen years.
3. I shall now make mention of Araunah, who was a wealthy man among the
Jebusites, but was not slain by David in the siege of Jerusalem, because
of the good-will he bore to the Hebrews, and a particular benignity and
affection which he had to the king himself; which I shall take a more
seasonable opportunity to speak of a little afterwards. Now David married
other wives over and above those which he had before: he had also
concubines. The sons whom he had were in number eleven, whose names were
Amnon, Emnos, Eban, Nathan, Solomon, Jeban, Elien, Phalna, Ennaphen,
Jenae, Eliphale; and a daughter, Tamar. Nine of these were born of
legitimate wives, but the two last-named of concubines; and Tamar had the
same mother with Absalom.
CHAPTER 4. That When David Had Conquered The Philistines Who Made War
Against Him At Jerusalem, He Removed The Ark To Jerusalem And Had A Mind
To Build A Temple.
1. When the Philistines understood that David was made king of the
Hebrews, they made war against him at Jerusalem; and when they had seized
upon that valley which is called The Valley of the Giants, and is a place
not far from the city, they pitched their camp therein; but the king of
the Jews, who never permitted himself to do any thing without prophecy, 6
and the command of God and without depending on him as a security for the
time to come, bade the high priest to foretell to him what was the will of
God, and what would be the event of this battle. And when he foretold that
he should gain the victory and the dominion, he led out his army against
the Philistines; and when the battle was joined, he came himself behind,
and fell upon the enemy on the sudden, and slew some of them, and put the
rest to flight. And let no one suppose that it was a small army of the
Philistines that came against the Hebrews, as guessing so from the
suddenness of their defeat, and from their having performed no great
action, or that was worth recording, from the slowness of their march, and
want of courage; but let him know that all Syria and Phoenicia, with many
other nations besides them, and those warlike nations also, came to their
assistance, and had a share in this war, which thing was the only cause
why, when they had been so often conquered, and had lost so many ten
thousands of their men, they still came upon the Hebrews with greater
armies; nay, indeed, when they had so often failed of their purpose in
these battles, they came upon David with an army three times as numerous
as before, and pitched their camp on the same spot of ground as before.
The king of Israel therefore inquired of God again concerning the event of
the battle; and the high priest prophesied to him, that he should keep his
army in the groves, called the Groves of Weeping, which were not far from
the enemy’s camp, and that he should not move, nor begin to fight, till
the trees of the grove should be in motion without the wind’s blowing; but
as soon as these trees moved, and the time foretold to him by God was
come, he should, without delay, go out to gain what was an already
prepared and evident victory; for the several ranks of the enemy’s army
did not sustain him, but retreated at the first onset, whom he closely
followed, and slew them as he went along, and pursued them to the city
Gaza [which is the limit of their country]: after this he spoiled their
camp, in which he found great riches; and he destroyed their gods.
2. When this had proved the event of the battle, David thought it proper,
upon a consultation with the elders, and rulers, and captains of
thousands, to send for those that were in the flower of their age out of
all his countrymen, and out of the whole land, and withal for the priests
and the Levites, in order to their going to Kirjathjearim, to bring up the
ark of God out of that city, and to carry it to Jerusalem, and there to
keep it, and offer before it those sacrifices and those other honors with
which God used to be well-pleased; for had they done thus in the reign of
Saul, they had not undergone any great misfortunes at all. So when the
whole body of the people were come together, as they had resolved to do,
the king came to the ark, which the priest brought out of the house of
Aminadab, and laid it upon a new cart, and permitted their brethren and
their children to draw it, together with the oxen. Before it went the
king, and the whole multitude of the people with him, singing hymns to
God, and making use of all sorts of songs usual among them, with variety
of the sounds of musical instruments, and with dancing and singing of
psalms, as also with the sounds of trumpets and of cymbals, and so brought
the ark to Jerusalem. But as they were come to the threshing-floor of
Chidon, a place so called, Uzzah was slain by the anger of God; for as the
oxen shook the ark, he stretched out his hand, and would needs take hold
of it. Now, because he was not a priest 7 and yet
touched the ark, God struck him dead. Hereupon both the king and the
people were displeased at the death of Uzzah; and the place where he died
is still called the Breach of Uzzah unto this day. So David was afraid;
and supposing that if he received the ark to himself into the city, he
might suffer in the like manner as Uzzah had suffered, who, upon his bare
putting out his hand to the ark, died in the manner already mentioned, he
did not receive it to himself into the city, but he took it aside unto a
certain place belonging to a righteous man, whose name was Obededom, who
was by his family a Levite, and deposited the ark with him; and it
remained there three entire months. This augmented the house of Obededom,
and conferred many blessings upon it. And when the king heard what had
befallen Obededom, how he was become, of a poor man in a low estate,
exceeding happy, and the object of envy to all those that saw or inquired
after his house, he took courage, and, hoping that he should meet with no
misfortune thereby, he transferred the ark to his own house; the priests
carrying it, while seven companies of singers, who were set in that order
by the king, went before it, and while he himself played upon the harp,
and joined in the music, insomuch, that when his wife Michel, the daughter
of Saul, who was our first king, saw him so doing, she laughed at him. But
when they had brought in the ark, they placed it under the tabernacle
which David had pitched for it, and he offered costly sacrifices and
peace-offerings, and treated the whole multitude, and dealt both to the
women, and the men, and the infants a loaf of bread and a cake, and
another cake baked in a pan, with the portion of the sacrifice. So when he
had thus feasted the people, he sent them away, and he himself returned to
his own house.
3. But when Michal his wife, the daughter of Saul, came and stood by him,
she wished him all other happiness, and entreated that whatsoever he
should further desire, to the utmost possibility, might be given him by
God, and that he might be favorable to him; yet did she blame him, that so
great a king as he was should dance after an unseemly manner, and in his
dancing, uncover himself among the servants and the handmaidens. But he
replied, that he was not ashamed to do what was acceptable to God, who had
preferred him before her father, and before all others; that he would play
frequently, and dance, without any regard to what the handmaidens and she
herself thought of it. So this Michal, who was David’s wife, had no
children; however, when she was afterward married to him to whom Saul her
father had given her, [for at this time David had taken her away from him,
and had her himself,] she bare five children. But concerning those matters
I shall discourse in a proper place.
4. Now when the king saw that his affairs grew better almost every day, by
the will of God, he thought he should offend him, if, while he himself
continued in houses made of cedar, such as were of a great height, and had
the most curious works of architecture in them, he should overlook the ark
while it was laid in a tabernacle, and was desirous to build a temple to
God, as Moses had predicted such a temple should be built. 8
And when he had discoursed with Nathan the prophet about these things, and
had been encouraged by him to do whatsoever he had a mind to do, as having
God with him, and his helper in all things, he was thereupon the more
ready to set about that building. But God appeared to Nathan that very
night, and commanded him to say to David, 9 that he
took his purpose and his desires kindly, since nobody had before now taken
it into their head to build him a temple, although upon his having such a
notion he would not permit him to build him that temple, because he had
made many wars, and was defiled with the slaughter of his enemies; that,
however, after his death, in his old age, and when he had lived a long
life, there should be a temple built by a son of his, who should take the
kingdom after him, and should be called Solomon, whom he promised to
provide for, as a father provides for his son, by preserving the kingdom
for his son’s posterity, and delivering it to them; but that he would
still punish him, if he sinned, with diseases and barrenness of land. When
David understood this from the prophet, and was overjoyful at this
knowledge of the sure continuance of the dominion to his posterity, and
that his house should be splendid, and very famous, he came to the ark,
and fell down on his face, and began to adore God, and to return thanks to
him for all his benefits, as well for those that he had already bestowed
upon him in raising him from a low state, and from the employment of a
shepherd, to so great dignity of dominion and glory; as for those also
which he had promised to his posterity; and besides, for that providence
which he had exercised over the Hebrews in procuring them the liberty they
enjoyed. And when he had said thus, and had sung a hymn of praise to God,
he went his way.
CHAPTER 5. How David Brought Under The Philistines, And The Moabites, And
The Kings Of Sophene And Of Damascus, And Of The Syrians As Also The
Idumeans, In War; And How He Made A League With The King Of Hamath; And
Was Mindful Of The Friendship That Jonathan, The Son Of Saul, Had Borne
Him.
1. A Litlle while after this, he considered that he ought to make war
against the Philistines, and not to see any idleness or laziness permitted
in his management, that so it might prove, as God had foretold to him,
that when he had overthrown his enemies, he should leave his posterity to
reign in peace afterward: so he called together his army again, and when
he had charged them to be ready and prepared for war, and when he thought
that all things in his army were in a good state, he removed from
Jerusalem, and came against the Philistines; and when he had overcome them
in battle, and had cut off a great part of their country, and adjoined it
to the country of the Hebrews, he transferred the war to the Moabites; and
when he had overcome two parts of their army in battle, he took the
remaining part captive, and imposed tribute upon them, to be paid
annually. He then made war against Iadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of
Sophene; 10 and when he had joined battle
with him at ‘the river Euphrates, he destroyed twenty thousand of his
footmen, and about seven thousand of his horsemen. He also took a thousand
of his chariots, and destroyed the greatest part of them, and ordered that
no more than one hundred should be kept. 11
2. Now when Hadad, king of Damascus and of Syria, heard that David fought
against Hadadezer, who was his friend, he came to his assistance with a
powerful army, in hopes to rescue him; and when he had joined battle with
David at the river Euphrates, he failed of his purpose, and lost in the
battle a great number of his soldiers; for there were slain of the army of
Hadad twenty thousand, and all the rest fled. Nicelens also [of Damascus]
makes mention of this king in the fourth book of his histories; where he
speaks thus: “A great while after these things had happened, there was one
of that country whose name was Hadad, who was become very potent; he
reigned over Damascus, and, the other parts of Syria, excepting Phoenicia.
He made war against David, the king of Judea, and tried his fortune in
many battles, and particularly in the last battle at Euphrates, wherein he
was beaten. He seemed to have been the most excellent of all their kings
in strength and manhood,” Nay, besides this, he says of his posterity,
that “they succeeded one another in his kingdom, and in his name;” where
he thus speaks: “When Hadad was dead, his posterity reigned for ten
generations, each of his successors receiving from his father that his
dominion, and this his name; as did the Ptolemies in Egypt. But the third
was the most powerful of them all, and was willing to avenge the defeat
his forefather had received; so he made an expedition against the Jews,
and laid waste the city which is now called Samaria.” Nor did he err from
the truth; for this is that Hadad who made the expedition against Samaria,
in the reign of Ahab, king of Israel, concerning whom we shall speak in
due place hereafter.
3. Now when David had made an expedition against Damascus, and the other
parts of Syria, and had brought it all into subjection, and had placed
garrisons in the country, and appointed that they should pay tribute, he
returned home. He also dedicated to God at Jerusalem the golden quivers,
the entire armor which the guards of Hadad used to wear; which Shishak,
the king of Egypt, took away when he fought with David’s grandson,
Rehoboam, with a great deal of other wealth which he carried out of
Jerusalem. However, these things will come to be explained in their proper
places hereafter. Now as for the king of the Hebrews, he was assisted by
God, who gave him great success in his wars, and he made all expedition
against the best cities of Hadadezer, Betah and Machen; so he took them by
force, and laid them waste. Therein was found a very great quantity of
gold and silver, besides that sort of brass which is said to be more
valuable than gold; of which brass Solomon made that large vessel which
was called The [Brazen] Sea, and those most curious lavers, when he built
the temple for God.
4. But when the king of Hamath was informed of the ill success of
Hadadezer, and had heard of the ruin of his army, he was afraid on his own
account, and resolved to make a league of friendship and fidelity with
David before he should come against him; so he sent to him his son Joram,
and professed that he owed him thanks for fighting against Hadadezer, who
was his enemy, and made a league with him of mutual assistance and
friendship. He also sent him presents, vessels of ancient workmanship,
both of gold, of silver, and of brass. So when David had made this league
of mutual assistance with Toi, [for that was the name of the king of
Hamath,] and had received the presents he sent him, he dismissed his son
with that respect which was due on both sides; but then David brought
those presents that were sent by him, as also the rest of the gold and
silver which he had taken of the cities whom he had conquered, and
dedicated them to God. Nor did God give victory and success to him only
when he went to the battle himself, and led his own army, but he gave
victory to Abishai, the brother of Joab, general of his forces, over the
Idumeans, 12 and by him to David, when he
sent him with an army into Idumea: for Abishai destroyed eighteen thousand
of them in the battle; whereupon the king [of Israel] placed garrisons
through all Idumea, and received the tribute of the country, and of every
head among them. Now David was in his nature just, and made his
determination with regard to truth. He had for the general of his whole
army Joab; and he made Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, recorder. He also
appointed Zadok, of the family of Phinehas, to be high priest, together
with Abiathar, for he was his friend. He also made Seisan the scribe, and
committed the command over the guards of his body to Benaiah; the son of
Jehoiada. His elder sons were near his body, and had the care of it also.
5. He also called to mind the covenants and the oaths he had made with
Jonathan, the son of Saul, and the friendship and affection Jonathan had
for him; for besides all the rest of his excellent qualities with which he
was endowed, he was also exceeding mindful of such as had at other times
bestowed benefits upon him. He therefore gave order that inquiry should be
made, whether any of Jonathan’s lineage were living, to whom he might make
return of that familiar acquaintance which Jonathan had had with him, and
for which he was still debtor. And when one of Saul’s freed men was
brought to him, who was acquainted with those of his family that were
still living, he asked him whether he could tell him of any one belonging
to Jonathan that was now alive, and capable of a requital of the benefits
which he had received from Jonathan. And he said, that a son of his was
remaining, whose name was Mephibosheth, but that he was lame of his feet;
for that when his nurse heard that the father and grandfather of the child
were fallen in the battle, she snatched him up, and fled away, and let him
fall from her shoulders, and his feet were lamed. So when he had learned
where and by whom he was brought up, he sent messengers to Machir, to the
city of Lodebar, for with him was the son of Jonathan brought up, and sent
for him to come to him. So when Mephibosheth came to the king, he fell on
his face and worshipped him; but David encouraged him, bade him be of good
cheer, and expect better times. So he gave him his father’s house, and all
the estate which his grandfather Saul was in possession of, and bade him
come and diet with him at his own table, and never to be absent one day
from that table. And when the youth had worshipped him on account of his
words and gifts given to him, he called for Ziba, and told him that he had
given the youth his father’s house, and all Saul’s estate. He also ordered
that Ziba should cultivate his land, and take care of it, and bring him
the profits of all to Jerusalem. Accordingly, David brought him to his
table every day, and bestowed upon the youth, Ziba and his sons, who were
in number fifteen, and his servants, who were in number twenty. When the
king had made these appointments, and Ziba had worshipped him, and
promised to do all that he had bidden him, he went his way; so that this
son of Jonathan dwelt at Jerusalem, and dieted at the king’s table, and
had the same care that a son could claim taken of him. He also had himself
a son, whom he named Micha.
CHAPTER 6. How The War Was Waged Against The Ammonites And Happily
Concluded.
1. This were the honors that such as were left of Saul’s and Jonathan’s
lineage received from David. About this time died Nahash, the king of the
Ammonites, who was a friend of David’s; and when his son had succeeded his
father in the kingdom, David sent ambassadors to him to comfort him; and
exhorted him to take his father’s death patiently, and to expect that he
would continue the same kindness to himself which he had shown to his
father. But the princes of the Ammonites took this message in evil part,
and not as David’s kind dispositions gave reason to take it; and they
excited the king to resent it; and said that David had sent men to spy out
the country, and what strength it had, under the pretense of humanity and
kindness. They further advised him to have a care, and not to give heed to
David’s words, lest he should be deluded by him, and so fall into an
inconsolable calamity. Accordingly Nahash’s [son], the king of the
Ammonites, thought these princes spake what was more probable than the
truth would admit, and so abused the ambassadors after a very harsh
manner; for he shaved the one half of their beards, and cut off one half
of their garments, and sent his answer, not in words, but in deeds. When
the king of Israel saw this, he had indignation at it, and showed openly
that he would not overlook this injurious and contumelious treatment, but
would make war with the Ammonites, and would avenge this wicked treatment
of his ambassadors on their king. So that king’s intimate friends and
commanders, understanding that they had violated their league, and were
liable to be punished for the same, made preparations for war; they also
sent a thousand talents to the Syrian king of Mesopotamia, and endeavored
to prevail with him to assist them for that pay, and Shobach. Now these
kings had twenty thousand footmen. They also hired the king of the country
called Maacah, and a fourth king, by name Ishtob; which last had twelve
thousand armed men.
2. But David was under no consternation at this confederacy, nor at the
forces of the Ammonites; and putting his trust in God, because he was
going to war in a just cause, on account of the injurious treatment he had
met with, he immediately sent Joab, the captain of his host, against them,
and gave him the flower of his army, who pitched his camp by Rabbah, the
metropolis of the Ammonites; whereupon the enemy came out, and set
themselves in array, not all of them together, but in two bodies; for the
auxiliaries were set in array in the plain by themselves, but the army of
the Ammonites at the gates over against the Hebrews. When Joab saw this,
he opposed one stratagem against another, and chose out the most hardy
part of his men, and set them in opposition to the king of Syria, and the
kings that were with him, and gave the other part to his brother Abishai,
and bid him set them in opposition to the Ammonites; and said to him, that
in case he should see that the Syrians distressed him, and were too hard
for him, he should order his troops to turn about and assist him; and he
said that he himself would do the same to him, if he saw him in the like
distress from the Ammonites. So he sent his brother before, and encouraged
him to do every thing courageously and with alacrity, which would teach
them to be afraid of disgrace, and to fight manfully; and so he dismissed
him to fight with the Ammonites, while he fell upon the Syrians. And
though they made a strong opposition for a while, Joab slew many of them,
but compelled the rest to betake themselves to flight; which, when the
Ammonites saw, and were withal afraid of Abishai and his army, they staid
no longer, but imitated their auxiliaries, and fled to the city. So Joab,
when he had thus overcome the enemy, returned with great joy to Jerusalem
to the king.
3. This defeat did not still induce the Ammonites to be quiet, nor to own
those that were superior to them to be so, and be still, but they sent to
Chalaman, the king of the Syrians, beyond Euphrates, and hired him for an
auxiliary. He had Shobach for the captain of his host, with eighty
thousand footmen, and ten thousand horsemen. Now when the king of the
Hebrews understood that the Ammonites had again gathered so great an army
together, he determined to make war with them no longer by his generals,
but he passed over the river Jordan himself with all his army; and when he
met them he joined battle with them, and overcame them, and slew forty
thousand of their footmen, and seven thousand of their horsemen. He also
wounded Shobach, the general of Chalaman’s forces, who died of that
stroke; but the people of Mesopotamia, upon such a conclusion of the
battle, delivered themselves up to David, and sent him presents, who at
winter time returned to Jerusalem. But at the beginning of the spring he
sent Joab, the captain of his host, to fight against the Ammonites, who
overran all their country, and laid it waste, and shut them up in their
metropolis Rabbah, and besieged them therein.
CHAPTER 7. How David Fell In Love With Bathsheba, And Slew Her Husband
Uriah, For Which He Is Reproved By Nathan.
1. But David fell now into a very grievous sin, though he were otherwise
naturally a righteous and a religious man, and one that firmly observed
the laws of our fathers; for when late in an evening he took a view round
him from the roof of his royal palace, where he used to walk at that hour,
he saw a woman washing herself in her own house: she was one of
extraordinary beauty, and therein surpassed all other women; her name was
Bathsheba. So he was overcome by that woman’s beauty, and was not able to
restrain his desires, but sent for her, and lay with her. Hereupon she
conceived with child, and sent to the king, that he should contrive some
way for concealing her sin [for, according to the laws of their fathers,
she who had been guilty of adultery ought to be put to death]. So the king
sent for Joab’s armor-bearer from the siege, who was the woman’s husband,
and his name was Uriah. And when he was come, the king inquired of him
about the army, and about the siege; and when he had made answer that all
their affairs went according to their wishes, the king took some portions
of meat from his supper, and gave them to him, and bade him go home to his
wife, and take his rest with her. Uriah did not do so, but slept near the
king with the rest of his armor-bearers. When the king was informed of
this, he asked him why he did not go home to his house, and to his wife,
after so long an absence; which is the natural custom of all men, when
they come from a long journey. He replied, that it was not right, while
his fellow soldiers, and the general of the army, slept upon the ground,
in the camp, and in an enemy’s country, that he should go and take his
rest, and solace himself with his wife. So when he had thus replied, the
king ordered him to stay there that night, that he might dismiss him the
next day to the general. So the king invited Uriah to supper, and after a
cunning and dexterous manlier plied him with drink at supper, till he was
thereby disordered; yet did he nevertheless sleep at the king’s gates
without any inclination to go to his wife. Upon this the king was very
angry at him; and wrote to Joab, and commanded him to punish Uriah, for he
told him that he had offended him; and he suggested to him the manner in
which he would have him punished, that it might not be discovered that he
was himself the author of this his punishment; for he charged him to set
him over against that part of the enemy’s army where the attack would be
most hazardous, and where he might be deserted, and be in the greatest
jeopardy, for he bade him order his fellow soldiers to retire out of the
fight. When he had written thus to him, and sealed the letter with his own
seal, he gave it to Uriah to carry to Joab. When Joab had received it, and
upon reading it understood the king’s purpose, he set Uriah in that place
where he knew the enemy would be most troublesome to them; and gave him
for his partners some of the best soldiers in the army; and said that he
would also come to their assistance with the whole army, that if possible
they might break down some part of the wall, and enter the city. And he
desired him to be glad of the opportunity of exposing himself to such
great pains, and not to be displeased at it, since he was a valiant
soldier, and had a great reputation for his valor, both with the king and
with his countrymen. And when Uriah undertook the work he was set upon
with alacrity, he gave private orders to those who were to be his
companions, that when they saw the enemy make a sally, they should leave
him. When, therefore, the Hebrews made an attack upon the city, the
Ammonites were afraid that the enemy might prevent them, and get up into
the city, and this at the very place whither Uriah was ordered; so they
exposed their best soldiers to be in the forefront, and opened their gates
suddenly, and fell upon the enemy with great vehemence, and ran violently
upon them. When those that were with Uriah saw this, they all retreated
backward, as Joab had directed them beforehand; but Uriah, as ashamed to
run away and leave his post, sustained the enemy, and receiving the
violence of their onset, he slew many of them; but being encompassed
round, and caught in the midst of them, he was slain, and some other of
his companions were slain with him.
2. When this was done, Joab sent messengers to the king, and ordered them
to tell him that he did what he could to take the city soon; but that, as
they made an assault on the wall, they had been forced to retire with
great loss; and bade them, if they saw the king was angry at it, to add
this, that Uriah was slain also. When the king had heard this of the
messengers, he took it heinously, and said that they did wrong when they
assaulted the wall, whereas they ought, by undermining and other
stratagems of war, to endeavor the taking of the city, especially when
they had before their eyes the example of Abimelech, the son of Gideon,
who would needs take the tower in Thebes by force, and was killed by a
large stone thrown at him by an old woman; and although he was a man of
great prowess, he died ignominiously by the dangerous manner of his
assault: that they should remember this accident, and not come near the
enemy’s wall, for that the best method of making war with success was to
call to mind the accidents of former wars, and what good or bad success
had attended them in the like dangerous cases, that so they might imitate
the one, and avoid the other. But when the king was in this disposition,
the messenger told him that Uriah was slain also; whereupon he was
pacified. So he bade the messenger go back to Joab and tell him that this
misfortune is no other than what is common among mankind, and that such is
the nature, and such the accidents of war, insomuch that sometimes the
enemy will have success therein, and sometimes others; but that he ordered
him to go on still in his care about the siege, that no ill accident might
befall him in it hereafter; that they should raise bulwarks and use
machines in besieging the city; and when they have gotten it, to overturn
its very foundations, and to destroy all those that are in it. Accordingly
the messenger carried the king’s message with which he was charged, and
made haste to Joab. But Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, when she was
informed of the death of her husband, mourned for his death many days; and
when her mourning was over, and the tears which she shed for Uriah were
dried up, the king took her to wife presently; and a son was born to him
by her.
3. With this marriage God was not well pleased, but was thereupon angry at
David; and he appeared to Nathan the prophet in his sleep, and complained
of the king. Now Nathan was a fair and prudent man; and considering that
kings, when they fall into a passion, are guided more by that passion than
they are by justice, he resolved to conceal the threatenings that
proceeded from God, and made a good-natured discourse to him, and this
after the manner following:—He desired that the king would give him
his opinion in the following case:—”There were,” said he, “two men
inhabiting the same city, the one of them was rich, and [the other poor].
The rich man had a great many flocks of cattle, of sheep, and of kine; but
the poor man had but one ewe lamb. This he brought up with his children,
and let her eat her food with them; and he had the same natural affection
for her which any one might have for a daughter. Now upon the coming of a
stranger to the rich man, he would not vouchsafe to kill any of his own
flocks, and thence feast his friend; but he sent for the poor man’s lamb,
and took her away from him, and made her ready for food, and thence
feasted the stranger.” This discourse troubled the king exceedingly; and
he denounced to Nathan, that “this man was a wicked man who could dare to
do such a thing; and that it was but just that he should restore the lamb
fourfold, and be punished with death for it also.” Upon this Nathan
immediately said that he was himself the man who ought to suffer those
punishments, and that by his own sentence; and that it was he who had
perpetrated this ‘great and horrid crime.’ He also revealed to him, and
laid before him, the anger of God against him, who had made him king over
the army of the Hebrews, and lord of all the nations, and those many and
great nations round about him; who had formerly delivered him out of the
hands of Saul, and had given him such wives as he had justly and legally
married; and now this God was despised by him, and affronted by his
impiety, when he had married, and now had, another man’s wife; and by
exposing her husband to the enemy, had really slain him; that God would
inflict punishments upon him on account of those instances of wickedness;
that his own wives should be forced by one of his sons; and that he should
be treacherously supplanted by the same son; and that although he had
perpetrated his wickedness secretly, yet should that punishment which he
was to undergo be inflicted publicly upon him; “that, moreover,” said he,
“the child which was born to thee of her shall soon die.” When the king
was troubled at these messages, and sufficiently confounded, and said with
tears and sorrow that he had sinned, [for he was without controversy a
pious man, and guilty of no sin at all in his whole life, excepting those
in the matter of Uriah,] God had compassion on him, and was reconciled to
him, and promised that he would preserve to him both his life and his
kingdom; for he said that, seeing he repented of the things he had done,
he was no longer displeased with him. So Nathan, when he had delivered
this prophecy to the king, returned home.
4. However, God sent a dangerous distemper upon the child that was born to
David of the wife of Uriah, at which the king was troubled, and did not
take any food for seven days, although his servants almost forced him to
take it; but he clothed himself in a black garment, and fell down, and lay
upon the ground in sackcloth, entrusting God for the recovery of the
child, for he vehemently loved the child’s mother; but when, on the
seventh day, the child was dead, the king’s servants durst not tell him of
it, as supposing that when he knew it, he would still less admit of food,
and other care of himself, by reason of his grief at the death of his son,
since when the child was only sick, he so greatly afflicted himself, and
grieved for him: but when the king perceived that his servants were in
disorder, and seemed to be affected, as those who are very desirous to
conceal something, he understood that the child was dead; and when he had
called one of his servants to him, and discovered that so it was, he arose
up and washed himself, and took a white garment, and came into the
tabernacle of God. He also commanded them to set supper before him, and
thereby greatly surprised his kindred and servants, while he did nothing
of this when the child was sick, but did it all when he was dead.
Whereupon having first begged leave to ask him a question, they besought
him to tell them the reason of this his conduct; he then called them
unskillful people, and instructed them how he had hopes of the recovery of
the child while it was alive, and accordingly did all that was proper for
him to do, as thinking by such means to render God propitious to him; but
that when the child was dead, there was no longer any occasion for grief,
which was then to no purpose. When he had said this, they commended the
king’s wisdom and understanding. He then went in unto Bathsheba his wife,
and she conceived and bare a son; and by the command of Nathan the prophet
called his name Solomon.
5. But Joab sorely distressed the Ammonites in the siege, by cutting off
their waters, and depriving them of other means of subsistence, till they
were in the greatest want of meat and drink, for they depended only on one
small well of water, and this they durst not drink of too freely, lest the
fountain should entirely fail them. So he wrote to the king, and informed
him thereof; and persuaded him to come himself to take the city, that he
might have the honor of the victory. Upon this letter of Joab’s, the king
accepted of his good-will and fidelity, and took with him his army, and
came to the destruction of Rabbah; and when he had taken it by force, he
gave it to his soldiers to plunder it; but he himself took the king of the
Ammonites’ crown, whose weight was a talent of gold; 13
and it had in its middle a precious stone called a sardonyx; which crown
David ever after wore on his own head. He also found many other vessels in
the city, and those both splendid and of great price; but as for the men,
he tormented them, 14 and then destroyed them; and
when he had taken the other cities of the Ammonites by force, he treated
them after the same manner.
CHAPTER 8. How Absalom Murdered Amnon, Who Had Forced His Own Sister; And
How He Was Banished And Afterwards Recalled By David.
1. When the king was returned to Jerusalem, a sad misfortune befell his
house, on the occasion following: He had a daughter, who was yet a virgin,
and very handsome, insomuch that she surpassed all the most beautiful
women; her name was Tamar; she had the same mother with Absalom. Now
Amnon, David’s eldest son, fell in love with her, and being not able to
obtain his desires, on account of her virginity, and the custody she was
under, was so much out of order, nay, his grief so eat up his body, that
he grew lean, and his color was changed. Now there was one Jenadab, a
kinsman and friend of his, who discovered this his passion, for he was an
extraordinary wise man, and of great sagacity of mind. When, therefore, he
saw that every morning Amnon was not in body as he ought to be, he came to
him, and desired him to tell him what was the cause of it: however, he
said that he guessed that it arose from the passion of love. Amnon
confessed his passion, that he was in love with a sister of his, who had
the same father with himself. So Jenadab suggested to him by what method
and contrivance he might obtain his desires; for he persuaded him to
pretend sickness, and bade him, when his father should come to him, to beg
of him that his sister might come and minister to him; for if that were
done, he should be better, and should quickly recover from his distemper.
So Amnon lay down on his bed, and pretended to be sick, as Jonadab had
suggested. When his father came, and inquired how he did, he begged of him
to send his sister to him. Accordingly, he presently ordered her to be
brought to him; and when she was come, Amnon bade her make cakes for him,
and fry them in a pan, and do it all with her own hands, because he should
take them better from her hand [than from any one’s else]. So she kneaded
the flour in the sight of her brother, and made him cakes, and baked them
in a pan, and brought them to him; but at that time he would not taste
them, but gave order to his servants to send all that were there out of
his chamber, because he had a mind to repose himself, free from tumult and
disturbance. As soon as what he had commanded was done, he desired his
sister to bring his supper to him into the inner parlor; which, when the
damsel had done, he took hold of her, and endeavored to persuade her to
lie with him. Whereupon the damsel cried out, and said, “Nay, brother, do
not force me, nor be so wicked as to transgress the laws, and bring upon
thyself the utmost confusion. Curb this thy unrighteous and impure lust,
from which our house will get nothing but reproach and disgrace.” She also
advised him to speak to his father about this affair; for he would permit
him [to marry her]. This she said, as desirous to avoid her brother’s
violent passion at present. But he would not yield to her; but, inflamed
with love and blinded with the vehemency of his passion, he forced his
sister: but as soon as Amnon had satisfied his lust, he hated her
immediately, and giving her reproachful words, bade her rise up and be
gone. And when she said that this was a more injurious treatment than the
former, if, now he had forced her, he would not let her stay with him till
the evening, but bid her go away in the day- time, and while it was light,
that she might meet with people that would be witnesses of her shame,—he
commanded his servant to turn her out of his house. Whereupon she was
sorely grieved at the injury and violence that had been offered to her,
and rent her loose coat, [for the virgins of old time wore such loose
coats tied at the hands, and let down to the ankles, that the inner coats
might not be seen,] and sprinkled ashes on her head; and went up the
middle of the city, crying out and lamenting for the violence that had
been offered her. Now Absalom, her brother, happened to meet her, and
asked her what sad thing had befallen her, that she was in that plight;
and when she had told him what injury had been offered her, he comforted
her, and desired her to be quiet, and take all patiently, and not to
esteem her being corrupted by her brother as an injury. So she yielded to
his advice, and left off her crying out, and discovering the force offered
her to the multitude; and she continued as a widow with her brother
Absalom a long time.
2. When David his father knew this, he was grieved at the actions of
Amnon; but because he had an extraordinary affection for him, for he was
his eldest son, he was compelled not to afflict him; but Absalom watched
for a fit opportunity of revenging this crime upon him, for he thoroughly
hated him. Now the second year after this wicked affair about his sister
was over, and Absalom was about to go to shear his own sheep at Baalhazor,
which is a city in the portion of Ephraim, he besought his father, as well
as his brethren, to come and feast with him: but when David excused
himself, as not being willing to be burdensome to him, Absalom desired he
would however send his brethren; whom he did send accordingly. Then
Absalom charged his own servants, that when they should see Amnon
disordered and drowsy with wine, and he should give them a signal, they
should fear nobody, but kill him.
3. When they had done as they were commanded, the rest of his brethren
were astonished and disturbed, and were afraid for themselves, so they
immediately got on horseback, and rode away to their father; but somebody
there was who prevented them, and told their father they were all slain by
Absalom; whereupon he was overcome with sorrow, as for so many of his sons
that were destroyed at once, and that by their brother also; and by this
consideration, that it was their brother that appeared to have slain them,
he aggravated his sorrow for them. So he neither inquired what was the
cause of this slaughter, nor staid to hear any thing else, which yet it
was but reasonable to have done, when so very great, and by that greatness
so incredible, a misfortune was related to him: he rent his clothes and
threw himself upon the ground, and there lay lamenting the loss of all his
sons, both those who, as he was informed, were slain, and of him who slew
them. But Jonadab, the son of his brother Shemeah, entreated him not to
indulge his sorrow so far, for as to the rest of his sons he did not
believe that they were slain, for he found no cause for such a suspicion;
but he said it might deserve inquiry as to Amnon, for it was not unlikely
that Absalom might venture to kill him on account of the injury he had
offered to Tamar. In the mean time, a great noise of horses, and a tumult
of some people that were coming, turned their attention to them; they were
the king’s sons, who were fled away from the feast. So their father met
them as they were in their grief, and he himself grieved with them; but it
was more than he expected to see those his sons again, whom he had a
little before heard to have perished. However, their were tears on both
sides; they lamenting their brother who was killed, and the king lamenting
his son, who was killed also; but Absalom fled to Geshur, to his
grandfather by his mother’s side, who was king of that country, and he
remained with him three whole years.
4. Now David had a design to send to Absalom, not that he should come to
be punished, but that he might be with him, for the effects of his anger
were abated by length of time. It was Joab, the captain of his host, that
chiefly persuaded him so to do; for he suborned an ordinary woman, that
was stricken in age, to go to the king in mourning apparel, who said thus
to him:—That two of her sons, in a coarse way, had some difference
between them, and that in the progress of that difference they came to an
open quarrel, and that one was smitten by the other, and was dead; and she
desired him to interpose in this case, and to do her the favor to save
this her son from her kindred, who were very zealous to have him that had
slain his brother put to death, that so she might not be further deprived
of the hopes she had of being taken care of in her old age by him; and
that if he would hinder this slaughter of her son by those that wished for
it, he would do her a great favor, because the kindred would not be
restrained from their purpose by any thing else than by the fear of him.
And when the king had given his consent to what the woman had begged of
him, she made this reply to him:—”I owe thee thanks for thy
benignity to me in pitying my old age, and preventing the loss of my only
remaining child; but in order to assure me of this thy kindness, be first
reconciled to thine own son, and cease to be angry with him; for how shall
I persuade myself that thou hast really bestowed this favor upon me, while
thou thyself continuest after the like manner in thy wrath to thine own
son? for it is a foolish thing to add willfully another to thy dead son,
while the death of the other was brought about without thy consent.” And
now the king perceived that this pretended story was a subornation derived
from Joab, and was of his contrivance; and when, upon inquiry of the old
woman, he understood it to be so in reality, he called for Joab, and told
him he had obtained what he requested according to his own mind; and he
bid him bring Absalom back, for he was not now displeased, but had already
ceased to be angry with him. So Joab bowed himself down to the king, and
took his words kindly, and went immediately to Geshur, and took Absalom
with him, and came to Jerusalem.
5. However, the king sent a message to his son beforehand, as he was
coming, and commanded him to retire to his own house, for he was not yet
in such a disposition as to think fit at present to see him. Accordingly,
upon the father’s command, he avoided coming into his presence, and
contented himself with the respects paid him by his own family only. Now
his beauty was not impaired, either by the grief he had been under, or by
the want of such care as was proper to be taken of a king’s son, for he
still surpassed and excelled all men in the tallness of his body, and was
more eminent [in a fine appearance] than those that dieted the most
luxuriously; and indeed such was the thickness of the hair of his head,
that it was with difficulty that he was polled every eighth day; and his
hair weighed two hundred shekels 15 which
are five pounds. However, he dwelt in Jerusalem two years, and became the
father of three sons, and one daughter; which daughter was of very great
beauty, and which Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, took to wife afterward,
and had by her a son named Abijah. But Absalom sent to Joab, and desired
him to pacify his father entirely towards him; and to beseech him to give
him leave to come to him to see him, and speak with him. But when Joab
neglected so to do, he sent some of his own servants, and set fire to the
field adjoining to him; which, when Joab understood, he came to Absalom,
and accused him of what he had done; and asked him the reason why he did
so. To which Absalom replied, that “I have found out this stratagem that
might bring thee to us, while thou hast taken no care to perform the
injunction I laid upon thee, which was this, to reconcile my father to me;
and I really beg it of thee, now thou art here, to pacify my father as to
me, since I esteem my coming hither to be more grievous than my
banishment, while my father’s wrath against me continues.” Hereby Joab was
persuaded, and pitied the distress that Absalom was in, and became an
intercessor with the king for him. And when he had discoursed with his
father, he soon brought him to that amicable disposition towards Absalom,
that he presently sent for him to come to him; and when he had cast
himself down upon the ground, and had begged for the forgiveness of his
offenses, the king raised him up, and promised him to forget what he had
formerly done.
CHAPTER 9. Concerning The Insurrection Of Absalom Against David And
Concerning Ahithophel And Hushai; And Concerning Ziba And Shimei; And How
Ahithophel Hanged Himself.
1. Now Absalom, upon this his success with the king, procured to himself a
great many horses, and many chariots, and that in a little time also. He
had moreover fifty armor-bearers that were about him; and he came early
every day to the king’s palace, and spake what was agreeable to such as
came for justice and lost their causes, as if that happened for want of
good counselors about the king, or perhaps because the judges mistook in
that unjust sentence they gave; whereby he gained the good-will of them
all. He told them, that had he but such authority committed to him, he
would distribute justice to them in a most equitable manner. When he had
made himself so popular among the multitude, he thought he had already the
good-will of the people secured to him; but when four years 16
had passed since his father’s reconciliation to him, he came to him, and
besought him to give him leave to go to Hebron, and pay a sacrifice to
God, because he vowed it to him when he fled out of the country. So when
David had granted his request, he went thither, and great multitudes came
running together to him, for he had sent to a great number so to do.
2. Among them came Ahithophel the Gilonite, a counsellor of David’s, and
two hundred men out of Jerusalem itself, who knew not his intentions, but
were sent for as to a sacrifice. So he was appointed king by all of them,
which he obtained by this stratagem. As soon as this news was brought to
David, and he was informed of what he did not expect from his son, he was
affrighted at this his impious and bold undertaking, and wondered that he
was so far from remembering how his offense had been so lately forgiven
him, that he undertook much worse and more wicked enterprises; first, to
deprive him of that kingdom which was given him of God; and secondly, to
take away his own father’s life. He therefore resolved to fly to the parts
beyond Jordan: so he called his most intimate friends together, and
communicated to them all that he had heard of his son’s madness. He
committed himself to God, to judge between them about all their actions;
and left the care of his royal palace to his ten concubines, and went away
from Jerusalem, being willingly accompanied by the rest of the multitude,
who went hastily away with him, and particularly by those six hundred
armed men, who had been with him from his first flight in the days of
Saul. But he persuaded Abiathar and Zadok, the high priests, who had
determined to go away with him, as also all the Levites, who were with the
ark, to stay behind, as hoping that God would deliver him without its
removal; but he charged them to let him know privately how all things went
on; and he had their sons, Ahimmaz the son of Zadok, and Jonathan the son
of Abiathar, for faithful ministers in all things; but Ittai the Gitrite
went out with him whether David would let him or not, for he would have
persuaded him to stay, and on that account he appeared the more friendly
to him. But as he was ascending the Mount of Olives barefooted, and all
his company were in tears, it was told him that Ahithophel was with
Absalom, and was of his side. This hearing augmented his grief; and he
besought God earnestly to alienate the mind of Absalom from Ahithophel,
for he was afraid that he should persuade him to follow his pernicious
counsel, for he was a prudent man, and very sharp in seeing what was
advantageous. When David was gotten upon the top of the mountain, he took
a view of the city; and prayed to God with abundance of tears, as having
already lost his kingdom; and here it was that a faithful friend of his,
whose name was Hushai, met him. When David saw him with his clothes rent,
and having ashes all over his head, and in lamentation for the great
change of affairs, he comforted him, and exhorted him to leave off
grieving; nay, at length he besought him to go back to Absalom, and appear
as one of his party, and to fish out the secretest counsels of his mind,
and to contradict the counsels of Ahithophel, for that he could not do him
so much good by being with him as he might by being with Absalom. So he
was prevailed on by David, and left him, and came to Jerusalem, whither
Absalom himself came also a little while afterward.
3. When David was gone a little farther, there met him Ziba, the servant
of Mephibosheth, [whom he had sent to take care of the possessions which
had been given him, as the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul,] with a
couple of asses, loaden with provisions, and desired him to take as much
of them as he and his followers stood in need of. And when the king asked
him where he had left Mephibosheth, he said he had left him in Jerusalem,
expecting to be chosen king in the present confusions, in remembrance of
the benefits Saul had conferred upon them. At this the king had great
indignation, and gave to Ziba all that he had formerly bestowed on
Mephibosheth; for he determined that it was much fitter that he should
have them than the other; at which Ziba greatly rejoiced.
4. When David was at Bahurim, a place so called, there came out a kinsman
of Saul’s, whose name was Shimei, and threw stones at him, and gave him
reproachful words; and as his friends stood about the king and protected
him, he persevered still more in his reproaches, and called him a bloody
man, and the author of all sorts of mischief. He bade him also go out of
the land as an impure and accursed wretch; and he thanked God for
depriving him of his kingdom, and causing him to be punished for what
injuries he had done to his master [Saul], and this by the means of his
own son. Now when they were all provoked against him, and angry at him,
and particularly Abishai, who had a mind to kill Shimei, David restrained
his anger. “Let us not,” said he, “bring upon ourselves another fresh
misfortune to those we have already, for truly I have not the least regard
nor concern for this dog that raves at me: I submit myself to God, by
whose permission this man treats me in such a wild manner; nor is it any
wonder that I am obliged to undergo these abuses from him, while I
experience the like from an impious son of my own; but perhaps God will
have some commiseration upon us; if it be his will we shall overcome
them.” So he went on his way without troubling himself with Shimei, who
ran along the other side of the mountain, and threw out his abusive
language plentifully. But when David was come to Jordan, he allowed those
that were with him to refresh themselves; for they were weary.
5. But when Absalom, and Ahithophel his counselor, were come to Jerusalem,
with all the people, David’s friend, Hushai, came to them; and when he had
worshipped Absalom, he withal wished that his kingdom might last a long
time, and continue for all ages. But when Absalom said to him, “How comes
this, that he who was so intimate a friend of my father’s, and appeared
faithful to him in all things, is not with him now, but hath left him, and
is come over to me?” Hushai’s answer was very pertinent and prudent; for
he said, “We ought to follow God and the multitude of the people; while
these, therefore, my lord and master, are with thee, it is fit that I
should follow them, for thou hast received the kingdom from God. I will
therefore, if thou believest me to be thy friend, show the same fidelity
and kindness to thee, which thou knowest I have shown to thy father; nor
is there any reason to be in the least dissatisfied with the present state
of affairs, for the kingdom is not transferred into another, but remains
still in the same family, by the son’s receiving it after his father.”
This speech persuaded Absalom, who before suspected Hushai. And now he
called Ahithophel, and consulted with him what he ought to do: he
persuaded him to go in unto his father’s concubines; for he said that “by
this action the people would believe that thy difference with thy father
is irreconcilable, and will thence fight with great alacrity against thy
father, for hitherto they are afraid of taking up open enmity against him,
out of an expectation that you will be reconciled again.” Accordingly,
Absalom was prevailed on by this advice, and commanded his servants to
pitch him a tent upon the top of the royal palace, in the sight of the
multitude; and he went in and lay with his father’s concubines. Now this
came to pass according to the prediction of Nathan, when he prophesied and
signified to him that his son would rise up in rebellion against him.
6. And when Absalom had done what he was advised to by Ahithophel, he
desired his advice, in the second place, about the war against his father.
Now Ahithophel only asked him to let him have ten thousand chosen men, and
he promised he would slay his father, and bring the soldiers back again in
safety; and he said that then the kingdom would be firm to him when David
was dead [but not otherwise]. Absalom was pleased with this advice, and
called for Hushai, David’s friend [for so did he style him]; and informing
him of the opinion of Ahithophel, he asked, further, what was his opinion
concerning that matter. Now he was sensible that if Ahithophel’s counsel
were followed, David would be in danger of being seized on, and slain; so
he attempted to introduce a contrary opinion, and said, “Thou art not
unacquainted, O king, with the valor of thy father, and of those that are
now with him; that he hath made many wars, and hath always come off with
victory, though probably he now abides in the camp, for he is very
skillful in stratagems, and in foreseeing the deceitful tricks of his
enemies; yet will he leave his own soldiers in the evening, and will
either hide himself in some valley, or will place an ambush at some rock;
so that when our army joins battle with him, his soldiers will retire for
a little while, but will come upon us again, as encouraged by the king’s
being near them; and in the mean time your father will show himself
suddenly in the time of the battle, and will infuse courage into his own
people when they are in danger, but bring consternation to thine.
Consider, therefore, my advice, and reason upon it, and if thou canst not
but acknowledge it to be the best, reject the opinion of Ahithophel. Send
to the entire country of the Hebrews, and order them to come and fight
with thy father; and do thou thyself take the army, and be thine own
general in this war, and do not trust its management to another; then
expect to conquer him with ease, when thou overtakest him openly with his
few partisans, but hast thyself many ten thousands, who will be desirous
to demonstrate to thee their diligence and alacrity. And if thy father
shall shut himself up in some city, and bear a siege, we will overthrow
that city with machines of war, and by undermining it.” When Hushai had
said this, he obtained his point against Ahithophel, for his opinion was
preferred by Absalom before the other’s: however, it was no other than God
17
who made the counsel of Hushai appear best to the mind of Absalom.
7. So Hushai made haste to the high priests, Zadok and Abiathar, and told
them the opinion of Ahithophel, and his own, and that the resolution was
taken to follow this latter advice. He therefore bade them send to David,
and tell him of it, and to inform him of the counsels that had been taken;
and to desire him further to pass quickly over Jordan, lest his son should
change his mind, and make haste to pursue him, and so prevent him, and
seize upon him before he be in safety. Now the high priests had their sons
concealed in a proper place out of the city, that they might carry news to
David of what was transacted. Accordingly, they sent a maid-servant, whom
they could trust, to them, to carry the news of Absalom’s counsels, and
ordered them to signify the same to David with all speed. So they made no
excuse nor delay, but taking along with them their fathers’ injunctions,
because pious and faithful ministers, and judging that quickness and
suddenness was the best mark of faithful service, they made haste to meet
with David. But certain horsemen saw them when they were two furlongs from
the city, and informed Absalom of them, who immediately sent some to take
them; but when the sons of the high priest perceived this, they went out
of the road, and betook themselves to a certain village; that village was
called Bahurim; there they desired a certain woman to hide them, and
afford them security. Accordingly she let the young men down by a rope
into a well, and laid fleeces of wool over them; and when those that
pursued them came to her, and asked her whether she saw them, she did not
deny that she had seen them, for that they staid with her some time, but
she said they then went their ways; and she foretold that, however, if
they would follow them directly, they would catch them; but when after a
long pursuit they could not catch them, they came back again; and when the
woman saw those men were returned, and that there was no longer any fear
of the young men’s being caught by them, she drew them up by the rope, and
bade them go on their journey accordingly, they used great diligence in
the prosecution of that journey, and came to David, and informed him
accurately of all the counsels of Absalom. So he commanded those that were
with him to pass over Jordan while it was night, and not to delay at all
on that account.
8. But Ahithophel, on rejection of his advice, got upon his ass, and rode
away to his own country, Gilon; and, calling his family together, he told
them distinctly what advice he had given Absalom; and since he had not
been persuaded by it, he said he would evidently perish, and this in no
long time, and that David would overcome him, and return to his kingdom
again; so he said it was better that he should take his own life away with
freedom and magnanimity, than expose himself to be punished by David, in
opposition to whom he had acted entirely for Absalom. When he had
discoursed thus to them, he went into the inmost room of his house, and
hanged himself; and thus was the death of Ahithophel, who was
self-condemned; and when his relations had taken him down from the halter,
they took care of his funeral. Now, as for David, he passed over Jordan,
as we have said already, and came to Mahanaim, every fine and very strong
city; and all the chief men of the country received him with great
pleasure, both out of the shame they had that he should be forced to flee
away [from Jerusalem], and out of the respect they bare him while he was
in his former prosperity. These were Barzillai the Gileadite, and Siphar
the ruler among the Ammonites, and Machir the principal man of Gilead; and
these furnished him with plentiful provisions for himself and his
followers, insomuch that they wanted no beds nor blankets for them, nor
loaves of bread, nor wine; nay, they brought them a great many cattle for
slaughter, and afforded them what furniture they wanted for their
refreshment when they were weary, and for food, with plenty of other
necessaries.
CHAPTER 10. How, When Absalom Was Beaten, He Was Caught In A Tree By His
Hair And Was Slain
1. And this was the state of David and his followers: but Absalom got
together a vast army of the Hebrews to oppose his father, and passed
therewith over the river Jordan, and sat down not far off Mahanaim, in the
country of Gilead. He appointed Amasa to be captain of all his host,
instead of Joab his kinsman: his father was Ithra and his mother Abigail:
now she and Zeruiah, the mother of Joab, were David’s sisters. But when
David had numbered his followers, and found them to be about four
thousand, he resolved not to tarry till Absalom attacked him, but set over
his men captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and divided his
army into three parts; the one part he committed to Joab, the next to
Abishai, Joab’s brother, and the third to Ittai, David’s companion and
friend, but one that came from the city Gath; and when he was desirous of
fighting himself among them, his friends would not let him: and this
refusal of theirs was founded upon very wise reasons: “For,” said they,
“if we be conquered when he is with us, we have lost all good hopes of
recovering ourselves; but if we should be beaten in one part of our army,
the other parts may retire to him, and may thereby prepare a greater
force, while the enemy will naturally suppose that he hath another army
with him.” So David was pleased with this their advice, and resolved
himself to tarry at Mahanaim; and as he sent his friends and commanders to
the battle, he desired them to show all possible alacrity and fidelity,
and to bear in mind what advantages they had received from him, which,
though they had not been very great, yet had they not been quite
inconsiderable; and he begged of them to spare the young man Absalom, lest
some mischief should befall himself, if he should be killed; and thus did
he send out his army to the battle, and wished them victory therein.
2. Then did Joab put his army in battle-array over against the enemy in
the Great Plain, where he had a wood behind him. Absalom also brought his
army into the field to oppose him. Upon the joining of the battle, both
sides showed great actions with their hands and their boldness; the one
side exposing themselves to the greatest hazards, and using their utmost
alacrity, that David might recover his kingdom; and the other being no way
deficient, either in doing or suffering, that Absalom might not be
deprived of that kingdom, and be brought to punishment by his father for
his impudent attempt against him. Those also that were the most numerous
were solicitous that they might not be conquered by those few that were
with Joab, and with the other commanders, because that would be the
greater disgrace to them; while David’s soldiers strove greatly to
overcome so many ten thousands as the enemy had with them. Now David’s men
were conquerors, as superior in strength and skill in war; so they
followed the others as they fled away through the forests and valleys;
some they took prisoners, and many they slew, and more in the flight than
in the battle for there fell about twenty thousand that day. But all
David’s men ran violently upon Absalom, for he was easily known by his
beauty and tallness. He was himself also afraid lest his enemies should
seize on him, so he got upon the king’s mule, and fled; but as he was
carried with violence, and noise, and a great motion, as being himself
light, he entangled his hair greatly in the large boughs of a knotty tree
that spread a great way, and there he hung, after a surprising manner; and
as for the beast, it went on farther, and that swiftly, as if his master
had been still upon his back; but he, hanging in the air upon the boughs,
was taken by his enemies. Now when one of David’s soldiers saw this, he
informed Joab of it; and when the general said, that if he had shot at and
killed Absalom, he would have given him fifty shekels,—he replied,
“I would not have killed my master’s son if thou wouldst have given me a
thousand shekels, especially when he desired that the young man might be
spared in the hearing of us all.” But Joab bade him show him where it was
that he saw Absalom hang; whereupon he shot him to the heart, and slew
him, and Joab’s armor-bearers stood round the tree, and pulled down his
dead body, and cast it into a great chasm that was out of sight, and laid
a heap of stones upon him, till the cavity was filled up, and had both the
appearance and the bigness of a grave. Then Joab sounded a retreat, and
recalled his own soldiers from pursuing the enemy’s army, in order to
spare their countrymen.
3. Now Absalom had erected for himself a marble pillar in the king’s dale,
two furlongs distant from Jerusalem, which he named Absalom’s Hand,
saying, that if his children were killed, his name would remain by that
pillar; for he had three sons and one daughter, named Tamar, as we said
before, who when she was married to David’s grandson, Rehoboam, bare a
son, Abijah by name, who succeeded his father in the kingdom; but of these
we shall speak in a part of our history which will be more proper. After
the death of Absalom, they returned every one to their own homes
respectively.
4. But now Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok the high priest, went to Joab, and
desired he would permit him to go and tell David of this victory, and to
bring him the good news that God had afforded his assistance and his
providence to him. However, he did not grant his request, but said to him,
“Wilt thou, who hast always been the messenger of good news, now go and
acquaint the king that his son is dead?” So he desired him to desist. He
then called Cushi, and committed the business to him, that he should tell
the king what he had seen. But when Ahimaaz again desired him to let him
go as a messenger, and assured him that he would only relate what
concerned the victory, but not concerning the death of Absalom, he gave
him leave to go to David. Now he took a nearer road than the former did,
for nobody knew it but himself, and he came before Cushi. Now as David was
sitting between the gates, 18 and waiting to see when
somebody would come to him from the battle, and tell him how it went, one
of the watchmen saw Ahimaaz running, and before he could discern who he
was, he told David that he saw somebody coming to him, who said he was a
good messenger. A little while after, he informed him that another
messenger followed him; whereupon the king said that he also was a good
messenger: but when the watchman saw Ahimaaz, and that he was already very
near, he gave the king notice that it was the son of Zadok the high priest
who came running. So David was very glad, and said he was a messenger of
good tidings, and brought him some such news from the battle as he desired
to hear.
5. While the king was saying thus, Ahimaaz appeared, and worshipped the
king. And when the king inquired of him about the battle, he said he
brought him the good news of victory and dominion. And when he inquired
what he had to say concerning his son, he said that he came away on the
sudden as soon as the enemy was defeated, but that he heard a great noise
of those that pursued Absalom, and that he could learn no more, because of
the haste he made when Joab sent him to inform him of the victory. But
when Cushi was come, and had worshipped him, and informed him of the
victory, he asked him about his son, who replied, “May the like misfortune
befall thine enemies as hath befallen Absalom.” That word did not permit
either himself or his soldiers to rejoice for the victory, though it was a
very great one; but David went up to the highest part of the city, 19
and wept for his son, and beat his breast, tearing [the hair of] his head,
tormenting himself all manner of ways, and crying out, “O my son! I wish
that I had died myself, and ended my days with thee!” for he was of a
tender natural affection, and had extraordinary compassion for this son in
particular. But when the army and Joab heard that the king mourned for his
son, they were ashamed to enter the city in the habit of conquerors, but
they all came in as cast down, and in tears, as if they had been beaten.
Now while the king covered himself, and grievously lamented his son, Joab
went in to him, and comforted him, and said, “O my lord the king, thou art
not aware that thou layest a blot on thyself by what thou now doest; for
thou seemest to hate those that love thee, and undergo dangers for thee
nay, to hate thyself and thy family, and to love those that are thy bitter
enemies, and to desire the company of those that are no more, and who have
been justly slain; for had Absalom gotten the victory, and firmly settled
himself in the kingdom, there had been none of us left alive, but all of
us, beginning with thyself and thy children, had miserably perished, while
our enemies had not wept for his, but rejoiced over us, and punished even
those that pitied us in our misfortunes; and thou art not ashamed to do
this in the case of one that has been thy bitter enemy, who, while he was
thine own son hath proved so wicked to thee. Leave off, therefore, thy
unreasonable grief, and come abroad and be seen of thy soldiers, and
return them thanks for the alacrity they showed in the fight; for I myself
will this day persuade the people to leave thee, and to give the kingdom
to another, if thou continuest to do thus; and then I shall make thee to
grieve bitterly and in earnest.” Upon Joab’s speaking thus to him, he made
the king leave off his sorrow, and brought him to the consideration of his
affairs. So David changed his habit, and exposed himself in a manner fit
to be seen by the multitude, and sat at the gates; whereupon all the
people heard of it, and ran together to him, and saluted him. And this was
the present state of David’s affairs.
CHAPTER 11. How David, When He Had Recovered His Kingdom, Was Reconciled
To Shimei, And To Ziba; And Showed A Great Affection To Barzillai; And
How, Upon The Rise Of A Sedition, He Made Amasa Captain Of His Host, In
Order To Pursue Seba; Which Amasa Was Slain By Joab.
1. Now those Hebrews that had been With Absalom, and had retired out of
the battle, when they were all returned home, sent messengers to every
city to put them in mind of what benefits David had bestowed upon them,
and of that liberty which he had procured them, by delivering them from
many and great wars. But they complained, that whereas they had ejected
him out of his kingdom, and committed it to another governor, which other
governor, whom they had set up, was already dead, they did not now beseech
David to leave off his anger at them, and to become friends with them,
and, as he used to do, to resume the care of their affairs, and take the
kingdom again. This was often told to David. And, this notwithstanding,
David sent to Zadok and Abiathar the high priests, that they should speak
to the rulers of the tribe of Judah after the manner following: That it
would be a reproach upon them to permit the other tribes to choose David
for their king before their tribe, “and this,” said he, “while you are
akin to him, and of the same common blood.” He commanded them also to say
the same to Amasa the captain of their forces, That whereas he was his
sister’s son, he had not persuaded the multitude to restore the kingdom to
David; that he might expect from him not only a reconciliation, for that
was already granted, but that supreme command of the army also which
Absalom had bestowed upon him. Accordingly the high priests, when they had
discoursed with the rulers of the tribe, and said what the king had
ordered them, persuaded Amasa to undertake the care of his affairs. So he
persuaded that tribe to send immediately ambassadors to him, to beseech
him to return to his own kingdom. The same did all the Israelites, at the
like persuasion of Amasa.
2. When the ambassadors came to him, he came to Jerusalem; and the tribe
of Judah was the first that came to meet the king at the river Jordan. And
Shimei, the son of Gera, came with a thousand men, which he brought with
him out of the tribe of Benjamin; and Ziba, the freed-man of Saul, with
his sons, fifteen in number, and with his twenty servants. All these, as
well as the tribe of Judah, laid a bridge [of boats] over the river, that
the king, and those that were with him, might with ease pass over it. Now
as soon as he was come to Jordan, the tribe of Judah saluted him. Shimei
also came upon the bridge, and took hold of his feet, and prayed him to
forgive him what he had offended, and not to be too bitter against him,
nor to think fit to make him the first example of severity under his new
authority; but to consider that he had repented of his failure of duty,
and had taken care to come first of all to him. While he was thus
entreating the king, and moving him to compassion, Abishai, Joab’s
brother, said, “And shall not this man die for this, that he hath cursed
that king whom God hath appointed to reign over us?” But David turned
himself to him, and said, “Will you never leave off, ye sons of Zeruiah?
Do not you, I pray, raise new troubles and seditions among us, now the
former are over; for I would not have you ignorant that I this day begin
my reign, and therefore swear to remit to all offenders their punishments,
and not to animadvert on any one that has sinned. Be thou, therefore,”
said he, “O Shimei, of good courage, and do not at all fear being put to
death.” So he worshipped him, and went on before him.
3. Mephibosheth also, Saul’s grandson, met David, clothed in a sordid
garment, and having his hair thick and neglected; for after David was fled
away, he was in such grief that he had not polled his head, nor had he
washed his clothes, as dooming himself to undergo such hardships upon
occasion of the change-of the king’s affairs. Now he had been unjustly
calumniated to the king by Ziba, his steward. When he had saluted the
king, and worshipped him, the king began to ask him why he did not go out
of Jerusalem with him, and accompany him during his flight. He replied,
that this piece of injustice was owing to Ziba; because, when he was
ordered to get things ready for his going out with him, he took no care of
it, but regarded him no more than if he had been a slave; “and, indeed,
had I had my feet sound and strong, I had not deserted thee, for I could
then have made use of them in my flight: but this is not all the injury
that Ziba has done me, as to my duty to thee, my lord and master, but he
hath calumniated me besides, and told lies about me of his own invention;
but I know thy mind will not admit of such calumnies, but is righteously
disposed, and a lover of truth, which it is also the will of God should
prevail. For when thou wast in the greatest danger of suffering by my
grandfather, and when, on that account, our whole family might justly have
been destroyed, thou wast moderate and merciful, and didst then especially
forget all those injuries, when, if thou hadst remembered them, thou hadst
the power of punishing us for them; but thou hast judged me to be thy
friend, and hast set me every day at thine own table; nor have I wanted
any thing which one of thine own kinsmen, of greatest esteem with thee,
could have expected.” When he had said this, David resolved neither to
punish Mephibosheth, nor to condemn Ziba, as having belied his master; but
said to him, that as he had [before] granted all his estate to Ziba,
because he did not come along with him, so he [now] promised to forgive
him, and ordered that the one half of his estate should be restored to
him. 20
Whereupon Mephibosheth said, “Nay, let Ziba take all; it suffices me that
thou hast recovered thy kingdom.”
4. But David desired Barzillai the Gileadite, that great and good man, and
one that had made a plentiful provision for him at Mahanaim, and had
conducted him as far as Jordan, to accompany him to Jerusalem, for he
promised to treat him in his old age with all manner of respect—to
take care of him, and provide for him. But Barzillai was so desirous to
live at home, that he entreated him to excuse him from attendance on him;
and said that his age was too great to enjoy the pleasures [of a court,]
since he was fourscore years old, and was therefore making provision for
his death and burial: so he desired him to gratify him in this request,
and dismiss him; for he had no relish of his meat, or his drink, by reason
of his age; and that his ears were too much shut up to hear the sound of
pipes, or the melody of other musical instruments, such as all those that
live with kings delight in. When he entreated for this so earnestly, the
king said, “I dismiss thee, but thou shalt grant me thy son Chimham, and
upon him I will bestow all sorts of good things.” So Barzillai left his
son with him, and worshipped the king, and wished him a prosperous
conclusion of all his affairs according to his own mind, and then returned
home; but David came to Gilgal, having about him half the people [of
Israel], and the [whole] tribe of Judah.
5. Now the principal men of the country came to Gilgal to him with a great
multitude, and complained of the tribe of Judah, that they had come to him
in a private manner; whereas they ought all conjointly, and with one and
the same intention, to have given him the meeting. But the rulers of the
tribe of Judah desired them not to be displeased, if they had been
prevented by them; for, said they, “We are David’s kinsmen, and on that
account we the rather took care of him, and loved him, and so came first
to him;” yet had they not, by their early coming, received any gifts from
him, which might give them who came last any uneasiness. When the rulers
of the tribe of Judah had said this, the rulers of the other tribes were
not quiet, but said further, “O brethren, we cannot but wonder at you when
you call the king your kinsman alone, whereas he that hath received from
God the power over all of us in common ought to be esteemed a kinsman to
us all; for which reason the whole people have eleven parts in him, and
you but one part 21 we are also elder than you;
wherefore you have not done justly in coming to the king in this private
and concealed manner.”
6. While these rulers were thus disputing one with another, a certain
wicked man, who took a pleasure in seditious practices, [his name was
Sheba, the son of Bichri, of the tribe of Benjamin,] stood up in the midst
of the multitude, and cried aloud, and spake thus to them: “We have no
part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Jesse.” And when he had used
those words, he blew with a trumpet, and declared war against the king;
and they all left David, and followed him; the tribe of Judah alone staid
with him, and settled him in his royal palace at Jerusalem. But as for his
concubines, with whom Absalom his son had accompanied, truly he removed
them to another house, and ordered those that had the care of them to make
a plentiful provision for them, but he came not near them any more. He
also appointed Amasa for the captain of his forces, and gave him the same
high office which Joab before had; and he commanded him to gather
together, out of the tribe of Judah, as great an army as he could, and
come to him within three days, that he might deliver to him his entire
army, and might send him to fight against [Sheba] the son of Bichri. Now
while Amasa was gone out, and made some delay in gathering the army
together, and so was not yet returned, on the third day the king said to
Joab, “It is not fit we should make any delay in this affair of Sheba,
lest he get a numerous army about him, and be the occasion of greater
mischief, and hurt our affairs more than did Absalom himself; do not thou
therefore wait any longer, but take such forces as thou hast at hand, and
that [old] body of six hundred men, and thy brother Abishai, with thee,
and pursue after our enemy, and endeavor to fight him wheresoever thou
canst overtake him. Make haste to prevent him, lest he seize upon some
fenced cities, and cause us great labor and pains before we take him.”
7. So Joab resolved to make no delay, but taking with him his brother, and
those six hundred men, and giving orders that the rest of the army which
was at Jerusalem should follow him, he marched with great speed against
Sheba; and when he was come to Gibeon, which is a village forty furlongs
distant from Jerusalem, Amasa brought a great army with him, and met Joab.
Now Joab was girded with a sword, and his breastplate on; and when Amasa
came near him to salute him, he took particular care that his sword should
fall out, as it were, of its own accord: so he took it up from the ground,
and while he approached Amasa, who was then near him, as though he would
kiss him, he took hold of Amasa’s beard with his other hand, and he smote
him in his belly when he did not foresee it, and slew him. This impious
and altogether profane action Joab did to a good young man, and his
kinsman, and one that had done him no injury, and this out of jealousy
that he would obtain the chief command of the army, and be in equal
dignity with himself about the king; and for the same cause it was that he
killed Abner. But as to that former wicked action, the death of his
brother Asahel, which he seemed to revenge, afforded him a decent
pretense, and made that crime a pardonable one; but in this murder of
Amasa there was no such covering for it. Now when Joab had killed this
general, he pursued after Sheba, having left a man with the dead body, who
was ordered to proclaim aloud to the army, that Amasa was justly slain,
and deservedly punished. “But,” said he, “if you be for the king, follow
Joab his general, and Abishai, Joab’s brother:” but because the body lay
on the road, and all the multitude came running to it, and, as is usual
with the multitude, stood wondering a great while at it, he that guarded
it removed it thence, and carried it to a certain place that was very
remote from the road, and there laid it, and covered it with his garment.
When this was done, all the people followed Joab. Now as he pursued Sheba
through all the country of Israel, one told him that he was in a strong
city, called Abelbeth-maachah. Hereupon Joab went thither, and set about
it with his army, and cast up a bank round it, and ordered his soldiers to
undermine the walls, and to overthrow them; and since the people in the
city did not admit him, he was greatly displeased at them.
8. Now there was a woman of small account, and yet both wise and
intelligent, who seeing her native city lying at the last extremity,
ascended upon the wall, and, by means of the armed men, called for Joab;
and when he came to her, she began to say, That “God ordained kings and
generals of armies, that they might cut off the enemies of the Hebrews,
and introduce a universal peace among them; but thou art endeavoring to
overthrow and depopulate a metropolis of the Israelites, which hath been
guilty of no offense.” But he replied, “God continue to be merciful unto
me: I am disposed to avoid killing any one of the people, much less would
I destroy such a city as this; and if they will deliver me up Sheba, the
son of Bichri, who hath rebelled against the king, I will leave off the
siege, and withdraw the army from the place.” Now as soon as the woman
heard what Joab said, she desired him to intermit the siege for a little
while, for that he should have the head of his enemy thrown out to him
presently. So she went down to the citizens, and said to them, “Will you
be so wicked as to perish miserably, with your children and wives, for the
sake of a vile fellow, and one whom nobody knows who he is? And will you
have him for your king instead of David, who hath been so great a
benefactor to you, and oppose your city alone to such a mighty and strong
army?” So she prevailed with them, and they cut off the head of Sheba, and
threw it into Joab’s army. When this was done, the king’s general sounded
a retreat, and raised the siege. And when he was come to Jerusalem, he was
again appointed to be general of all the people. The king also constituted
Benaiah captain of the guards, and of the six hundred men. He also set
Adoram over the tribute, and Sabathes and Achilaus over the records. He
made Sheva the scribe, and appointed Zadok and Abiathar the high priests.
CHAPTER 12. How The Hebrews Were Delivered From A Famine When The
Gibeonites Had Caused Punishment To Be Inflicted For Those Of Them That
Had Been Slain: As Also, What Great Actions Were Performed Against The
Philistines By David, And The Men Of Valor About Him.
1. After this, when the country was greatly afflicted with a famine, David
besought God to have mercy on the people, and to discover to him what was
the cause of it, and how a remedy might be found for that distemper. And
when the prophets answered, that God would have the Gibeonites avenged
whom Saul the king was so wicked as to betray to slaughter, and had not
observed the oath which Joshua the general and the senate had sworn to
them: If, therefore, said God, the king would permit such vengeance to be
taken for those that were slain as the Gibeonites should desire, he
promised that he would be reconciled to them, and free the multitude from
their miseries. As soon therefore as the king understood that this it was
which God sought, he sent for the Gibeonites, and asked them what it was
they should have; and when they desired to have seven sons of Saul
delivered to them to be punished, he delivered them up, but spared
Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan. So when the Gibeonites had received the
men, they punished them as they pleased; upon which God began to send
rain, and to recover the earth to bring forth its fruits as usual, and to
free it from the foregoing drought, so that the country of the Hebrews
flourished again. A little afterward the king made war against the
Philistines; and when he had joined battle with them, and put them to
flight, he was left alone, as he was in pursuit of them; and when he was
quite tired down, he was seen by one of the enemy, his name was Achmon,
the son of Araph, he was one of the sons of the giants. He had a spear,
the handle of which weighed three hundred shekels, and a breastplate of
chain-work, and a sword. He turned back, and ran violently to slay [David]
their enemy’s king, for he was quite tired out with labor; but Abishai,
Joab’s brother, appeared on the sudden, and protected the king with his
shield, as he lay down, and slew the enemy. Now the multitude were very
uneasy at these dangers of the king, and that he was very near to be
slain; and the rulers made him swear that he would no more go out with
them to battle, lest he should come to some great misfortune by his
courage and boldness, and thereby deprive the people of the benefits they
now enjoyed by his means, and of those that they might hereafter enjoy by
his living a long time among them.
2. When the king heard that the Philistines were gathered together at the
city Gazara, he sent an army against them, when Sibbechai the Hittite, one
of David’s most courageous men, behaved himself so as to deserve great
commendation, for he slew many of those that bragged they were the
posterity of the giants, and vaunted themselves highly on that account,
and thereby was the occasion of victory to the Hebrews. After which
defeat, the Philistines made war again; and when David had sent an army
against them, Nephan his kinsman fought in a single combat with the
stoutest of all the Philistines, and slew him, and put the rest to flight.
Many of them also were slain in the fight. Now a little while after this,
the Philistines pitched their camp at a city which lay not far off the
bounds of the country of the Hebrews. They had a man who was six cubits
tall, and had on each of his feet and hands one more toe and finger than
men naturally have. Now the person who was sent against them by David out
of his army was Jonathan, the son of Shimea, who fought this man in a
single combat, and slew him; and as he was the person who gave the turn to
the battle, he gained the greatest reputation for courage therein. This
man also vaunted himself to be of the sons of the giants. But after this
fight the Philistines made war no more against the Israelites.
3. And now David being freed from wars and dangers, and enjoying for the
future a profound peace, 22 composed songs and hymns to God
of several sorts of metre; some of those which he made were trimeters, and
some were pentameters. He also made instruments of music, and taught the
Levites to sing hymns to God, both on that called the sabbath day, and on
other festivals. Now the construction of the instruments was thus: The
viol was an instrument of ten strings, it was played upon with a bow; the
psaltery had twelve musical notes, and was played upon by the fingers; the
cymbals were broad and large instruments, and were made of brass. And so
much shall suffice to be spoken by us about these instruments, that the
readers may not be wholly unacquainted with their nature.
4. Now all the men that were about David were men of courage. Those that
were most illustrious and famous of them for their actions were
thirty-eight; of five of whom I will only relate the performances, for
these will suffice to make manifest the virtues of the others also; for
these were powerful enough to subdue countries, and conquer great nations.
First, therefore, was Jessai, the son of Achimaas, who frequently leaped
upon the troops of the enemy, and did not leave off fighting till he
overthrew nine hundred of them. After him was Eleazar, the son of Dodo,
who was with the king at Arasam. This man, when once the Israelites were
under a consternation at the multitude of the Philistines, and were
running away, stood alone, and fell upon the enemy, and slew many of them,
till his sword clung to his hand by the blood he had shed, and till the
Israelites, seeing the Philistines retire by his means, came down from the
mountains and pursued them, and at that time won a surprising and a famous
victory, while Eleazar slew the men, and the multitude followed and
spoiled their dead bodies. The third was Sheba, the son of Ilus. Now this
man, when, in the wars against the Philistines, they pitched their camp at
a place called Lehi, and when the Hebrews were again afraid of their army,
and did not stay, he stood still alone, as an army and a body of men; and
some of them he overthrew, and some who were not able to abide his
strength and force he pursued. These are the works of the hands, and of
fighting, which these three performed. Now at the time when the king was
once at Jerusalem, and the army of the Philistines came upon him to fight
him, David went up to the top of the citadel, as we have already said, to
inquire of God concerning the battle, while the enemy’s camp lay in the
valley that extends to the city Bethlehem, which is twenty furlongs
distant from Jerusalem. Now David said to his companions, “We have
excellent water in my own city, especially that which is in the pit near
the gate,” wondering if any one would bring him some of it to drink; but
he said that he would rather have it than a great deal of money. When
these three men heard what he said, they ran away immediately, and burst
through the midst of their enemy’s camp, and came to Bethlehem; and when
they had drawn the water, they returned again through the enemy’s camp to
the king, insomuch that the Philistines were so surprised at their
boldness and alacrity, that they were quiet, and did nothing against them,
as if they despised their small number. But when the water was brought to
the king, he would not drink it, saying, that it was brought by the danger
and the blood of men, and that it was not proper on that account to drink
it. But he poured it out to God, and gave him thanks for the salvation of
the men. Next to these was Abishai, Joab’s brother; for he in one day slew
six hundred. The fifth of these was Benaiah, by lineage a priest; for
being challenged by [two] eminent men in the country of Moab, he overcame
them by his valor, Moreover, there was a man, by nation an Egyptian, who
was of a vast bulk, and challenged him, yet did he, when he was unarmed,
kill him with his own spear, which he threw at him; for he caught him by
force, and took away his weapons while he was alive and fighting, and slew
him with his own weapons. One may also add this to the forementioned
actions of the same man, either as the principal of them in alacrity, or
as resembling the rest. When God sent a snow, there was a lion who slipped
and fell into a certain pit, and because the pit’s mouth was narrow it was
evident he would perish, being enclosed with the snow; so when he saw no
way to get out and save himself, he roared. When Benaiah heard the wild
beast, he went towards him, and coming at the noise he made, he went down
into the mouth of the pit and smote him, as he struggled, with a stake
that lay there, and immediately slew him. The other thirty-three were like
these in valor also.
CHAPTER 13. That When David Had Numbered the People, They Were Punished;
and How the Divine Compassion Restrained That Punishment.
1. Now king David was desirous to know how many ten thousands there were
of the people, but forgot the commands of Moses, 23 who told
them beforehand, that if the multitude were numbered, they should pay half
a shekel to God for every head. Accordingly the king commanded Joab, the
captain of his host, to go and number the whole multitude; but when he
said there was no necessity for such a numeration, he was not persuaded
[to countermand it], but he enjoined him to make no delay, but to go about
the numbering of the Hebrews immediately. So Joab took with him the heads
of the tribes, and the scribes, and went over the country of the
Israelites, and took notice how numerous the multitude were, and returned
to Jerusalem to the king, after nine months and twenty days; and he gave
in to the king the number of the people, without the tribe of Benjamin,
for he had not yet numbered that tribe, no more than the tribe of Levi,
for the king repented of his having sinned against God. Now the number of
the rest of the Israelites was nine hundred thousand men, who were able to
bear arms and go to war; but the tribe of Judah, by itself, was four
hundred thousand men.
2. Now when the prophets had signified to David that God was angry at him,
he began to entreat him, and to desire he would be merciful to him, and
forgive his sin. But God sent Nathan the prophet to him, to propose to him
the election of three things, that he might choose which he liked best:
Whether he would have famine come upon the country for seven years, or
would have a war, and be subdued three months by his enemies? or, whether
God should send a pestilence and a distemper upon the Hebrews for three
days? But as he was fallen to a fatal choice of great miseries, he was in
trouble, and sorely confounded; and when the prophet had said that he must
of necessity make his choice, and had ordered him to answer quickly, that
he might declare what he had chosen to God, the king reasoned with
himself, that in case he should ask for famine, he would appear to do it
for others, and without danger to himself, since he had a great deal of
corn hoarded up, but to the harm of others; that in case he should choose
to be overcome [by his enemies] for three months, he would appear to have
chosen war, because he had valiant men about him, and strong holds, and
that therefore he feared nothing therefrom: so he chose that affliction
which is common to kings and to their subjects, and in which the fear was
equal on all sides; and said this beforehand, that it was much better to
fall into the hands of God, than into those of his enemies.
3. When the prophet had heard this, he declared it to God; who thereupon
sent a pestilence and a mortality upon the Hebrews; nor did they die after
one and the same manner, nor so that it was easy to know what the
distemper was. Now the miserable disease was one indeed, but it carried
them off by ten thousand causes and occasions, which those that were
afflicted could not understand; for one died upon the neck of another, and
the terrible malady seized them before they were aware, and brought them
to their end suddenly, some giving up the ghost immediately with very
great pains and bitter grief, and some were worn away by their distempers,
and had nothing remaining to be buried, but as soon as ever they fell were
entirely macerated; some were choked, and greatly lamented their case, as
being also stricken with a sudden darkness; some there were who, as they
were burying a relation, fell down dead, without finishing the rites of
the funeral. Now there perished of this disease, which began with the
morning, and lasted till the hour of dinner, seventy thousand. Nay, the
angel stretched out his hand over Jerusalem, as sending this terrible
judgment upon it. But David had put on sackcloth, and lay upon the ground,
entreating God, and begging that the distemper might now cease, and that
he would be satisfied with those that had already perished. And when the
king looked up into the air, and saw the angel carried along thereby into
Jerusalem, with his sword drawn, he said to God, that he might justly be
punished, who was their shepherd, but that the sheep ought to be
preserved, as not having sinned at all; and he implored God that he would
send his wrath upon him, and upon all his family, but spare the people.
4. When God heard his supplication, he caused the pestilence to cease, and
sent Gad the prophet to him, and commanded him to go up immediately to the
thrashing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, and build an altar there to God,
and offer sacrifices. When David heard that, he did not neglect his duty,
but made haste to the place appointed him. Now Araunah was thrashing
wheat; and when he saw the king and all his servants coming to him, he ran
before, and came to him and worshipped him: he was by his lineage a
Jebusite, but a particular friend of David’s; and for that cause it was
that, when he overthrew the city, he did him no harm, as we informed the
reader a little before. Now Araunah inquired, “Wherefore is my lord come
to his servant?” He answered, to buy of him the thrashing-floor, that he
might therein build an altar to God, and offer a sacrifice. He replied,
that he freely gave him both the thrashing-floor and the ploughs and the
oxen for a burnt-offering; and he besought God graciously to accept his
sacrifice. But the king made answer, that he took his generosity and
magnanimity loudly, and accepted his good-will, but he desired him to take
the price of them all, for that it was not just to offer a sacrifice that
cost nothing. And when Araunah said he would do as he pleased, he bought
the thrashing-floor of him for fifty shekels. And when he had built an
altar, he performed Divine service, and brought a burnt-offering, and
offered peace-offerings also. With these God was pacified, and became
gracious to them again. Now it happened that Abraham 24came
and offered his son Isaac for a burnt-offering at that very place; and
when the youth was ready to have his throat cut, a ram appeared on a
sudden, standing by the altar, which Abraham sacrificed in the stead of
his son, as we have before related. Now when king David saw that God had
heard his prayer, and had graciously accepted of his sacrifice, he
resolved to call that entire place The Altar of all the People, and to
build a temple to God there; which words he uttered very appositely to
what was to be done afterward; for God sent the prophet to him, and told
him that there should his son build him an altar, that son who was to take
the kingdom after him.
CHAPTER 14. That David Made Great Preparations For The House Of God; And
That, Upon Adonijah’s Attempt To Gain The Kingdom, He Appointed Solomon To
Reign.
1. After the delivery of this prophecy, the king commanded the strangers
to be numbered; and they were found to be one hundred and eighty thousand;
of these he appointed fourscore thousand to be hewers of stone, and the
rest of the multitude to carry the stones, and of them he set over the
workmen three thousand and five hundred. He also prepared a great quantity
of iron and brass for the work, with many [and those exceeding large]
cedar trees; the Tyrians and Sidonians sending them to him, for he had
sent to them for a supply of those trees. And he told his friends that
these things were now prepared, that he might leave materials ready for
the building of the temple to his son, who was to reign after him, and
that he might not have them to seek then, when he was very young, and by
reason of his age unskillful in such matters, but might have them lying by
him, and so might the more readily complete the work.
2. So David called his son Solomon, and charged him, when he had received
the kingdom, to build a temple to God, and said, “I was willing to build
God a temple myself, but he prohibited me, because I was polluted with
blood and wars; but he hath foretold that Solomon, my youngest son, should
build him a temple, and should be called by that name; over whom he hath
promised to take the like care as a father takes over his son; and that he
would make the country of the Hebrews happy under him, and that, not only
in other respects, but by giving it peace and freedom from wars, and from
internal seditions, which are the greatest of all blessings. Since,
therefore,” says he, “thou wast ordained king by God himself before thou
wast born, endeavor to render thyself worthy of this his providence, as in
other instances, so particularly in being religious, and righteous, and
courageous. Keep thou also his commands and his laws, which he hath given
us by Moses, and do not permit others to break them. Be zealous also to
dedicate to God a temple, which he hath chosen to be built under thy
reign; nor be thou affrighted by the vastness of the work, nor set about
it timorously, for I will make all things ready before I die: and take
notice, that there are already ten thousand talents of gold, and a hundred
thousand talents of silver 25 collected together. I have also
laid together brass and iron without number, and an immense quantity of
timber and of stones. Moreover, thou hast many ten thousand stone-cutters
and carpenters; and if thou shalt want any thing further, do thou add
somewhat of thine own. Wherefore, if thou performest this work, thou wilt
be acceptable to God, and have him for thy patron.” David also further
exhorted the rulers of the people to assist his son in this building, and
to attend to the Divine service, when they should be free from all their
misfortunes, for that they by this means should enjoy, instead of them,
peace and a happy settlement, with which blessings God rewards such men as
are religious and righteous. He also gave orders, that when the temple
should be once built, they should put the ark therein, with the holy
vessels; and he assured them that they ought to have had a temple long
ago, if their fathers had not been negligent of God’s commands, who had
given it in charge, that when they had got the possession of this land,
they should build him a temple. Thus did David discourse to the governors,
and to his son.
3. David was now in years, and his body, by length of time, was become
cold, and benumbed, insomuch that he could get no heat by covering himself
with many clothes; and when the physicians came together, they agreed to
this advice, that a beautiful virgin, chosen out of the whole country,
should sleep by the king’s side, and that this damsel would communicate
heat to him, and be a remedy against his numbness. Now there was found in
the city one woman, of a superior beauty to all other women, [her name was
Abishag,] who, sleeping with the king, did no more than communicate warmth
to him, for he was so old that he could not know her as a husband knows
his wife. But of this woman we shall speak more presently.
4. Now the fourth son of David was a beautiful young man, and tall, born
to him of Haggith his wife. He was named Adonijah, and was in his
disposition like to Absalom; and exalted himself as hoping to be king, and
told his friends that he ought to take the government upon him. He also
prepared many chariots and horses, and fifty men to run before him. When
his father saw this, he did not reprove him, nor restrain him from his
purpose, nor did he go so far as to ask wherefore he did so. Now Adonijah
had for his assistants Joab the captain of the army, and Abiathar the high
priest; and the only persons that opposed him were Zadok the high priest,
and the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah, who was captain of the guards, and
Shimei, David’s friend, with all the other most mighty men. Now Adonijah
had prepared a supper out of the city, near the fountain that was in the
king’s paradise, and had invited all his brethren except Solomon, and had
taken with him Joab the captain of the army, and: Abiathar, and the rulers
of the tribe of Judah, but had not invited to this feast either Zadok the
high priest, or Nathan the prophet, or Benaiah the captain of the guards,
nor any of those of the contrary party. This matter was told by Nathan the
prophet to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, that Adonijah was king, and that
David knew nothing of it; and he advised her to save herself and her son
Solomon, and to go by herself to David, and say to him, that he had indeed
sworn that Solomon should reign after him, but that in the mean time
Adonijah had already taken the kingdom. He said that he, the prophet
himself, would come after her, and when she had spoken thus to the king,
would confirm what she had said. Accordingly Bathsheba agreed with Nathan,
and went in to the king and worshipped him, and when she had desired leave
to speak with him, she told him all things in the manner that Nathan had
suggested to her; and related what a supper Adonijah had made, and who
they were whom he had invited; Abiathar the and Joab the general, and
David’s sons, excepting Solomon and his intimate friends. She also said
that all the people had their eyes upon him, to know whom he would choose
for their king. She desired him also to consider how, after his departure,
Adonijah, if he were king, would slay her and her son Solomon.
5. Now, as Bathsheba was speaking, the keeper of the king’s chambers told
him that Nathan desired to see him. And when the king had commanded that
he should be admitted, he came in, and asked him whether he had ordained
Adonijah to be king, and delivered the government to him, or not; for that
he had made a splendid supper, and invited all his sons, except Solomon;
as also that he had invited Joab, the captain of his host, [and Abiathar
the high priest,] who are feasting with applauses, and many joyful sounds
of instruments, and wish that his kingdom may last for ever; but he hath
not invited me, nor Zadok the high priest, nor Benaiah the captain of the
guards; and it is but fit that all should know whether this be done by thy
approbation or not. When Nathan had said thus, the king commanded that
they should call Bathsheba to him, for she had gone out of the room when
the prophet came. And when Bathsheba was come, David said, “I swear by
Almighty God, that thy son Solomon shall certainly he king, as I formerly
swore; and that he shall sit upon my throne, and that this very day also.”
So Bathsheba worshipped him, and wished him a long life; and the king sent
for Zadok the high priest, and Benaiah the captain of the guards; and when
they were come, he ordered them to take with them Nathan the prophet, and
all the armed men about the palace, and to set his son Solomon upon the
king’s mule, and to carry him out of the city to the fountain called
Gihon, and to anoint him there with the holy oil, and to make him king.
This he charged Zadok the high priest, and Nathan the prophet, to do, and
commanded them to follow Solomon through the midst of the city, and to
sound the trumpets, and wish aloud that Solomon the king may sit upon the
royal throne for ever, that so all the people may know that he is ordained
king by his father. He also gave Solomon a charge concerning his
government, to rule the whole nation of the Hebrews, and particularly the
tribe of Judah, religiously and righteously. And when Benaiah had prayed
to God to be favorable to Solomon, without any delay they set Solomon upon
the mule, and brought him out of the city to the fountain, and anointed
him with oil, and brought him into the city again, with acclamations and
wishes that his kingdom might continue a long time: and when they had
introduced him into the king’s house, they set him upon the throne;
whereupon all the people betook themselves to make merry, and to celebrate
a festival, dancing and delighting themselves with musical pipes, till
both the earth and the air echoed with the multitude of the instruments of
music.
6. Now when Adonijah and his guests perceived this noise, they were in
disorder; and Joab the captain of the host said he was not pleased with
these echoes, and the sound of these trumpets. And when supper was set
before them, nobody tasted of it, but they were all very thoughtful what
would be the matter. Then Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the high priest,
came running to them; and when Adonijah saw the young man gladly, and said
to him that he was a good messenger, he declared to them the whole matter
about Solomon, and the determination of king David: hereupon both Adonijah
and all the guests rose hastily from the feast, and every one fled to
their own homes. Adonijah also, as afraid of the king for what he had
done, became a supplicant to God, and took hold of the horns of the altar,
which were prominent. It was also told Solomon that he had so done; and
that he desired to receive assurances from him that he would not remember
the injury he had done, and not inflict any severe punishment for it.
Solomon answered very mildly and prudently, that he forgave him this his
offense; but said withal, that if he were found out in any attempt for new
innovations, that he would be the author of his own punishment. So he sent
to him, and raised him up from the place of his supplication. And when he
was come to the king, and had worshipped him, the king bid him go away to
his own house, and have no suspicion of any harm; and desired him to show
himself a worthy man, as what would tend to his own advantage.
7. But David, being desirous of ordaining his son king of all the people,
called together their rulers to Jerusalem, with the priests and the
Levites; and having first numbered the Levites, he found them to be
thirty-eight thousand, from thirty years old to fifty; out of which he
appointed twenty-three thousand to take care of the building of the
temple, and out of the same, six thousand to be judges of the people and
scribes, four thousand for porters to the house of God, and as many for
singers, to sing to the instruments which David had prepared, as we have
said already. He divided them also into courses: and when he had separated
the priests from them, he found of these priests twenty-four courses,
sixteen of the house of Eleazar, and eight of that of Ithamar; and he
ordained that one course should minister to God eight days, from sabbath
to sabbath. And thus were the courses distributed by lot, in the presence
of David, and Zadok and Abiathar the high priests, and of all the rulers;
and that course which came up first was written down as the first, and
accordingly the second, and so on to the twenty-fourth; and this partition
hath remained to this day. He also made twenty-four parts of the tribe of
Levi; and when they cast lots, they came up in the same manner for their
courses of eight days. He also honored the posterity of Moses, and made
them the keepers of the treasures of God, and of the donations which the
kings dedicated. He also ordained that all the tribe of Levi, as well as
the priests, should serve God night and day, as Moses had enjoined them.
8. After this he parted the entire army into twelve parts, with their
leaders [and captains of hundreds] and commanders. Now every part had
twenty-four thousand, which were ordered to wait on Solomon, by thirty
days at a time, from the first day till the last, with the captains of
thousands and captains of hundreds. He also set rulers over every part,
such as he knew to be good and righteous men. He set others also to take
charge of the treasures, and of the villages, and of the fields, and of
the beasts, whose names I do not think it necessary to mention. When David
had ordered all these officers after the manner before mentioned, he
called the rulers of the Hebrews, and their heads of tribes, and the
officers over the several divisions, and those that were appointed over
every work, and every possession; and standing upon a high pulpit, he said
to the multitude as follows: “My brethren and my people, I would have you
know that I intended to build a house for God, and prepared a large
quantity of gold, and a hundred thousand talents of silver; but God
prohibited me by the prophet Nathan, because of the wars I had on your
account, and because my right hand was polluted with the slaughter of our
enemies; but he commanded that my son, who was to succeed me in the
kingdom, should build a temple for him. Now therefore, since you know that
of the twelve sons whom Jacob our forefather had Judah was appointed to be
king, and that I was preferred before my six brethren, and received the
government from God, and that none of them were uneasy at it, so do I also
desire that my sons be not seditious one against another, now Solomon has
received the kingdom, but to bear him cheerfully for their lord, as
knowing that God hath chosen him; for it is not a grievous thing to obey
even a foreigner as a ruler, if it be God’s will, but it is fit to rejoice
when a brother hath obtained that dignity, since the rest partake of it
with him. And I pray that the promises of God may be fulfilled; and that
this happiness which he hath promised to bestow upon king Solomon, over
all the country, may continue therein for all time to come. And these
promises O son, will be firm, and come to a happy end, if thou showest
thyself to be a religious and a righteous man, and an observer of the laws
of thy country; but if not, expect adversity upon thy disobedience to
them.”
9. Now when the king had said this, he left off; but gave the description
and pattern of the building of the temple in the sight of them all to
Solomon: of the foundations and of the chambers, inferior and superior;
how many they were to be, and how large in height and in breadth; as also
he determined the weight of the golden and silver vessels: moreover, he
earnestly excited them with his words to use the utmost alacrity about the
work; he exhorted the rulers also, and particularly the tribe of Levi, to
assist him, both because of his youth, and because God had chosen him to
take care of the building of the temple, and of the government of the
kingdom. He also declared to them that the work would be easy, and not
very laborious to them, because he had prepared for it many talents of
gold, and more of silver, with timber, and a great many carpenters and
stone-cutters, and a large quantity of emeralds, and all sorts of precious
stones; and he said, that even now he would give of the proper goods of
his own dominion two hundred talents, and three hundred other talents of
pure gold, for the most holy place, and for the chariot of God, the
cherubim, which are to stand over and cover the ark. Now when David had
done speaking, there appeared great alacrity among the rulers, and the
priests, and the Levites, who now contributed and made great and splendid
promises for a future Contribution; for they undertook to bring of gold
five thousand talents, and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand
talents, and many ten thousand talents of iron; and if any one had a
precious stone he brought it, and bequeathed it to be put among the
treasures; of which Jachiel, one of the posterity of Moses, had the care.
10. Upon this occasion all the people rejoiced, as in particular did
David, when he saw the zeal and forward ambition of the rulers, and the
priests, and of all the rest; and he began to bless God with a loud voice,
calling him the Father and Parent of the universe, and the Author of human
and divine things, with which he had adorned Solomon, the patron and
guardian of the Hebrew nation, and of its happiness, and of that kingdom
which he hath given his son. Besides this, he prayed for happiness to all
the people; and to Solomon his son, a sound and a righteous mind, and
confirmed in all sorts of virtue; and then he commanded the multitude to
bless God; upon which they all fell down upon the ground and worshipped
him. They also gave thanks to David, on account of all the blessings which
they had received ever since he had taken the kingdom. On the next day he
presented sacrifices to God, a thousand bullocks, and as many lambs, which
they offered for burnt-offerings. They also offered peace-offerings, and
slew many ten thousand sacrifices; and the king feasted all day, together
with all the people; and they anointed Solomon a second time with the oil,
and appointed him to be king, and Zadok to be the high priest of the whole
multitude. And when they had brought Solomon to the royal palace, and had
set him upon his father’s throne, they were obedient to him from that day.
CHAPTER 15. What Charge David Gave To his Son Solomon At The Approach Of
His Death, And How Many Things He Left Him For The Building Of The Temple.
1. A Little afterward David also fell into a distemper, by reason of his
age; and perceiving that he was near to death, he called his son Solomon,
and discoursed to him thus: “I am now, O my son, going to my grave, and to
my fathers, which is the common way which all men that now are, or shall
be hereafter, must go; from which way it is no longer possible to return,
and to know any thing that is done in this world. On which account I
exhort thee, while I am still alive, though already very near to death, in
the same manner as I have formerly said in my advice to thee, to be
righteous towards thy subjects, and religious towards God, that hath given
thee thy kingdom; to observe his commands and his laws, which he hath sent
us by Moses; and neither do thou out of favor nor flattery allow any lust
or other passion to weigh with thee to disregard them; for if thou
transgressest his laws, thou wilt lose the favor of God, and thou wilt
turn away his providence from thee in all things; but if thou behave
thyself so as it behooves thee, and as I exhort thee, thou wilt preserve
our kingdom to our family, and no other house will bear rule over the
Hebrews but we ourselves for all ages. Be thou also mindful of the
transgressions of Joab, 26 the captain of the host, who
hath slain two generals out of envy, and those righteous and good men,
Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether; whose death do thou
avenge as shall seem good to thee, since Joab hath been too hard for me,
and more potent than myself, and so hath escaped punishment hitherto. I
also commit to thee the son of Barzillai the Gileadite, whom, in order to
gratify me, thou shalt have in great honor, and take great care of; for we
have not done good to him first, but we only repay that debt which we owe
to his father for what he did to me in my flight. There is also Shimei the
son of Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin, who, after he had cast many
reproaches upon me, when, in my flight, I was going to Mahanaim, met me at
Jordan, and received assurances that he should then suffer nothing. Do
thou now seek out for some just occasion, and punish him.”
2. When David had given these admonitions to his son about public affairs,
and about his friends, and about those whom he knew to deserve punishment,
he died, having lived seventy years, and reigned seven years and six
months in Hebron over the tribe of Judah, and thirty-three years in
Jerusalem over all the country. This man was of an excellent character,
and was endowed with all virtues that were desirable in a king, and in one
that had the preservation of so many tribes committed to him; for he was a
man of valor in a very extraordinary degree, and went readily and first of
all into dangers, when he was to fight for his subjects, as exciting the
soldiers to action by his own labors, and fighting for them, and not by
commanding them in a despotic way. He was also of very great abilities in
understanding, and apprehension of present and future circumstances, when
he was to manage any affairs. He was prudent and moderate, and kind to
such as were under any calamities; he was righteous and humane, which are
good qualities, peculiarly fit for kings; nor was he guilty of any offense
in the exercise of so great an authority, but in the business of the wife
of Uriah. He also left behind him greater wealth than any other king,
either of the Hebrews or, of other nations, ever did.
3. He was buried by his son Solomon, in Jerusalem, with great
magnificence, and with all the other funeral pomp which kings used to be
buried with; moreover, he had great and immense wealth buried with him,
the vastness of which may be easily conjectured at by what I shall now
say; for a thousand and three hundred years afterward Hyrcanus the high
priest, when he was besieged by Antiochus, that was called the Pious, the
son of Demetrius, and was desirous of giving him money to get him to raise
the siege and draw off his army, and having no other method of compassing
the money, opened one room of David’s sepulcher, and took out three
thousand talents, and gave part of that sum to Antiochus; and by this
means caused the siege to be raised, as we have informed the reader
elsewhere. Nay, after him, and that many years, Herod the king opened
another room, and took away a great deal of money, and yet neither of them
came at the coffins of the kings themselves, for their bodies were buried
under the earth so artfully, that they did not appear to even those that
entered into their monuments. But so much shall suffice us to have said
concerning these matters.
FOOTNOTES
1 (return)
[ It ought to be here noted,
that Joab, Abishai, and Asahel were all three David’s nephews, the sons of
his sister Zeraiah, as 1 Chronicles 2:16; and that Amasa was also his
nephew by his other sister Abigail, ver. 17.]
2 (return)
[ This may be a true
observation of Josephus’s, that Samuel by command from God entailed the
crown on David and his posterity; for no further did that entail ever
reach, Solomon himself having never had any promise made him that his
posterity should always have the right to it.]
3 (return)
[ These words of Josephus
concerning the tribe of Issachar, who foreknew what was to come
hereafter,” are best paraphrased by the parallel text. 1 Chronicles 12:32,
“Who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do;” that
is, who had so much knowledge in astronomy as to make calendars for the
Israelites, that they might keep their festivals, and plough and sow, and
gather in their harvests and vintage, in due season.]
4 (return)
[ What our other copies say
of Mount Sion, as alone properly called the city of David, 2 Samuel 5:6-9,
and of this its siege and conquest now by David, Josephus applies to the
whole city Jerusalem, though including the citadel also; by what authority
we do not now know perhaps, after David had united them together, or
joined the citadel to the lower city, as sect. 2, Josephus esteemed them
as one city. However, this notion seems to be confirmed by what the same
Josephus says concerning David’s and many other kings of Judah’s
sepulchers, which as the authors of the books of Kings and Chronicles say
were in the city of David, so does Josephus still say they were in
Jerusalem. The sepulcher of David seems to have been also a known place in
the several days of Hyrcanus, of Herod, and of St. Peter, Antiq. B. XIII.
ch. 8. sect. 4 B. XVI. ch. 8. sect. 1; Acts 2:29. Now no such royal
sepulchers have been found about Mount Sion, but are found close by the
north wall of Jerusalem, which I suspect, therefore, to be these very
sepulchers. See the note on ch. 15. sect. 3. In the meantime, Josephus’s
explication of the lame, and the blind, and the maimed, as set to keep
this city or citadel, seems to be the truth, and gives the best light to
that history in our Bible. Mr. Ottius truly observes, [up. Hayercamp, p.
305,] that Josephus never mentions Mount Sion by that name, as taking it
for an appellative, as I suppose, and not for a proper name; he still
either styles it The Citadel, or The Upper City; nor do I see any reason
for Mr. Ottius’s evil suspicions about this procedure of Josephus.]
5 (return)
[ Some copies of Josephus
have here Solyma, or Salem; and others Hierosolyma, or Jerusalem. The
latter best agree to what Josephus says elsewhere, [Of the War, B. VI. ch.
10.,] that this city was called Solyma, or Salem, before the days of
Melchisedec, but was by him called Hierosolyma, or Jerusalem. I rather
suppose it to have been so called after Abraham had received that oracle
Jehovah Jireh, “The Lord will see, or provide,” Genesis 22;14. The latter
word, Jireh, with a little alteration, prefixed to the old name Salem,
Peace, will be Jerusalem; and since that expression, “God will see,” or
rather, “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering,” ver. 8,
14, is there said to have been proverbial till the days of Moses, this
seems to me the most probable derivation of that name, which will then
denote that God would provide peace by that “Lamb of God which was to take
away the sins of the world.” However, that which is put into brackets can
hardly be supposed the genuine words of Josephus, as Dr. Hudson well
judges.]
6 (return)
[ It deserves here to be
remarked, that Saul very rarely, and David very frequently, consulted God
by Urim; and that David aimed always to depend, not on his own prudence or
abilities but on the Divine direction, contrary to Saul’s practice. See
sect. 2, and the note on Antiq. B. III. ch. 8. sect. 9; and when Saul’s
daughter, [but David’s wife,] Michal, laughed at David’s dancing before
the ark, 2 Samuel 6:16, &c., and here, sect. l, 2, 3, it is probable
she did so, because her father Saul did not use to pay such a regard to
the ark, to the Urim there inquired by, or to God’s worship before it, and
because she thought it beneath the dignity of a king to be so religious.]
7 (return)
[ Josephus seems to be
partly in the right, when he observes here that Uzzah was no priest,
[though perhaps he might be a Levite,] and was therefore struck dead for
touching the ark, contrary to the law, and for which profane rashness
death was the penalty by that law, Numbers 4:15, 20. See the like before,
Antiq. B. VI. ch. 1. sect. 4. It is not improbable that the putting this
ark in a cart, when it ought to have been carried by the priests or
Levites, as it was presently here in Josephus so carried from Obededom’s
house to David’s, might be also an occasion of the anger of God on that
breach of his law. See Numbers 4:15; 1 Chronicles 15:13.]
8 (return)
[ Josephus here informs us,
that, according to his understanding of the sense of his copy of the
Pentateuch, Moses had himself foretold the building of the temple, which
yet is no where, that I know of, in our present copies. And that this is
not a mistake set down by him unwarily, appears by what he observed
before, on Antiq. B. IV. ch. 8. sect. 46, how Moses foretold that, upon
the Jews’ future disobedience, their temple should be burnt and rebuilt,
and that not once only, but several times afterward. See also Josephus’s
mention of God’s former commands to build such a temple presently, ch. 14.
sect. 2, contrary to our other copies, or at least to our translation of
the Hebrew, 2 Samuel 7:6, 7; 1 Chronicles 17:5, 6.]
9 (return)
[ Josephus seems, in this
place, with our modern interpreters to confound the two distinct
predictions which God made to David and to Nathan, concerning the building
him a temple by one of David’s posterity; the one belongeth to Solomon,
the other to the Messiah; the distinction between which is of the greatest
consequence to the Christian religion.]
10 (return)
[ Whether Syria Zobah, 2
Samuel 3:8; 1 Chronicles 18:3-8, be Sophene, as Josephus here supposes;
which yet Ptolemy places beyond Euphrates, as Dr. Hudson observes here,
whereas Zobah was on this side; or whether Josephus was not here guilty of
a mistake in his geography; I cannot certainly determine.]
11 (return)
[ David’s reserving only
one hundred chariots for himself out of one thousand he had taken from
Hadadezer, was most probably in compliance with the law of Moses, which
forbade a king of Israel “to multiply horses to himself,” Deuteronomy
17:16; one of the principal uses of horses in Judea at that time being for
drawing their chariots. See Joshua 12:6; and Antiq. B. V. ch. 1. sect. 18.
It deserves here to be remarked, that this Hadad, being a very great king,
was conquered by David, whose posterity yet for several generations were
called Benhadad, or the son of Hadad, till the days of Hazael, whose son
Adar or Ader is also in our Hebrew copy [2 Kings 13:24: written Benhadad,
but in Josephus Adad or Adar. And strange it is, that the son of Hazael,
said to be such in the same text, and in Josephus, Antiq. B. IX. ch. 8.
sect. 7, should still be called the son of Hadad. I would, therefore, here
correct our Hebrew copy from Josephus’s, which seems to have the true
reading, nor does the testimony of Nicolaus of Damascus, produced in this
place by Josephus, seem to be faultless, when it says that he was the
third of the Hadads, or second of the Benhadads, who besieged Samaria in
the days of Ahab. He must rather have been the seventh or eighth, if there
were ten in all of that name, as we are assured there were. For this
testimony makes all the Hadads or Benhadads of the same line, and to have
immediately succeeded one another; whereas Hazael was not of that line,
nor is he called Hadad or Benhadad in any copy. And note, that from this
Hadad, in the days of David, to the beginning of Hazael, were near two
hundred years, according to the exactest chronology of Josephus.]
12 (return)
[ By this great victory
over the Idameans or Edomites, the posterity of Esau, and by the
consequent tribute paid by that nation to the Jews, were the prophecies
delivered to Rebecca before Jacob and Esau were born, and by old Isaac
before his death, that the elder, Esau, [or the Edomites,] should serve
and the younger, Jacob, [or the Israelites,] and Jacob [or the Israelites]
should be Esau’s [or the Edomites’] lord, remarkably fulfilled. See Antiq.
B. VIII. ch 7. sect. 6; Genesis 25;9,3; and the notes on Antiq. B. I. ch.
18. sect. 5, 6.]
13 (return)
[ That a talent of gold
was about seven pounds weight, see the description of the temple ch. 13.
Nor could Josephus well estimate it higher, since he here says that David
wore it on his head perpetually.]
14 (return)
[ Whether Josephus saw the
words of our copies, 2 Samuel 12:31, and 1 Chronicles 20:3, that David put
the inhabitants, or at least the garrison of Rabbah, and of the other
Ammonite cities, which he besieged and took, under, or cut them with saws,
and under, or with harrows of iron, and under, or with axes of iron, and
made them pass through the brick-kiln, is not here directly expressed. If
he saw them, as is most probable he did, he certainly expounded them of
tormenting these Ammonites to death, who were none of those seven nations
of Canaan whose wickedness had rendered them incapable of mercy; otherwise
I should be inclinable to think that the meaning, at least as the words
are in Samuel, might only be this: That they were made the lowest slaves,
to work in sawing of timber or stone, in harrowing the fields, in hewing
timber, in making and burning bricks, and the like hard services, but
without taking away their lives. We never elsewhere, that I remember, meet
with such methods of cruelty in putting men to death in all the Bible, or
in any other ancient history whatsoever; nor do the words in Samuel seem
naturally to refer to any such thing.]
15 (return)
[ Of this weight of
Absalom’s hair, how in twenty or thirty years it might well amount to two
hundred shekels, or to somewhat above six pounds avoirdupois, see the
Literal Accomplishment of Prophecies, p. 77, 78. But a late very judicious
author thinks that the LXXX. meant not its weight, but its value, Was
twenty shekels.—Dr. Wall’s Critical Notes on the Old Testament, upon
2 Samuel 14:26. It does not appear what was Josephus’s opinion: he sets
the text down honestly as he found it in his copies, only he thought that
“at the end of days,” when Absalom polled or weighed his hair, was once a
week.]
16 (return)
[ This is one of the best
corrections that Josephus’s copy affords us of a text that in our ordinary
copies is grossly corrupted. They say that this rebellion of Absalom was
forty years after what went before, [Footnote of his reconciliation to his
father,] whereas the series of the history shows it could not be more than
four years after it, as here in Josephus; whose number is directly
confirmed by that copy of the Septuagint version whence the Armenian
translation was made, which gives us the small number of four years.]
17 (return)
[ This reflection of
Josephus’s, that God brought to nought the dangerous counsel of
Ahithophel, and directly infatuated wicked Absalom to reject it, [which
infatuation is what the Scripture styles the judicial hardening the hearts
and blinding the eyes of men, who, by their former voluntary wickedness,
have justly deserved to be destroyed, and are thereby brought to
destruction,] is a very just one, and in him not unfrequent. Nor does
Josephus ever puzzle himself, or perplex his readers, with subtle
hypotheses as to the manner of such judicial infatuations by God, while
the justice of them is generally so obvious. That peculiar manner of the
Divine operations, or permissions, or the means God makes use of in such
cases, is often impenetrable by us. “Secret things belong to the Lord our
God; but those things that are revealed belong to us, and to our children
for ever, that we may do all the words of this law,” Deuteronomy 29:29.
Nor have all the subtleties of the moderns, as far as I see, given any
considerable light in this, and many other the like points of difficulty
relating either to Divine or human operations.—See the notes on
Antiq. B. V ch. 1. sect. 2; and Antiq. B. IX. ch. 4. sect. 3.]
18 (return)
[ Those that take a view
of my description of the gates of the temple, will not be surprised at
this account of David’s throne, both here and 2 Samuel 18:21, that it was
between two gates or portals. Gates being in cities, as well as at the
temple, large open places, with a portal at the entrance, and another at
the exit, between which judicial causes were heard, and public
consultations taken, as is well known from several places of Scripture, 2
Chronicles 31:2; Psalm 9:14; 137:5; Proverbs 1:21; 8:3, 31; 31:23, and
often elsewhere.]
19 (return)
[ Since David was now in
Mahanairn, and in the open place of that city gate, which seems still to
have been built the highest of any part of the wall, and since our other
copies say he went up to the chamber over the gate, 2 Samuel 18:33, I
think we ought to correct our present reading in Josephus, and for city,
should read gate, i.e. instead of the highest part of the city, should say
the highest part of the gate. Accordingly we find David presently, in
Josephus, as well as in our other copies, 2 Samuel 19:8, sitting as
before, in the gate of the city.]
20 (return)
[ By David’s disposal of
half Mephibosheth’s estate to Ziba, one would imagine that he was a good
deal dissatisfied, and doubtful whether Mephibosheth’s story were entirely
true or not; nor does David now invite him to diet with him, as he did
before, but only forgives him, if he had been at all guilty. Nor is this
odd way of mourning that Mephibosheth made use of here, and 2 Samuel
19:24, wholly free from suspicion by hypocrisy. If Ziba neglected or
refused to bring Mephibosheh an ass of his own, on which he might ride to
David, it is half to suppose that so great a man as he was should not be
able to procure some other beast for the same purpose.]
21 (return)
[ I clearly prefer
Josephus’s reading here, when it supposes eleven tribes, including
Benjamin, to be on the one side, and the tribe of Judah alone on the
other, since Benjamin, in general, had been still father of the house of
Saul, and less firm to David hitherto, than any of the rest, and so cannot
be supposed to be joined with Judah at this time, to make it double,
especially when the following rebellion was headed by a Benjamite. See
sect. 6, and 2 Samuel 20:2, 4.]
22 (return)
[ This section is a very
remarkable one, and shows that, in the opinion of Josephus, David composed
the Book of Psalms, not at several times before, as their present
inscriptions frequently imply, but generally at the latter end of his
life, or after his wars were over. Nor does Josephus, nor the authors of
the known books of the Old and New Testament, nor the Apostolical
Constitutions, seem to have ascribed any of them to any other author than
to David himself. See Essay on the Old Testament, pages 174, 175. Of these
metres of the Psalms, see the note on Antiq. B. II. ch. 16. sect. 4.]
23 (return)
[ The words of God by
Moses, Exodus 30:12, sufficiently satisfy the reason here given by
Josephus for the great plague mentioned in this chapter:—”When thou
takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall
they give a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them;
that there be no plague amongst them, when numberest them.” Nor indeed
could David’s or the neglect of executing this law at this numeration of
half a shekel apiece with them, when they came numbered. The great reason
why nations are so committed by and with their wicked kings and governors
that they almost constantly comply with them in their of or disobedience
to the Divine laws, and suffer Divine laws to go into disuse or contempt,
in order to kings and governors; and that they sub-political laws and
commands of those governors, instead of the righteous laws of God, which
all mankind ought ever to obey, let their kings and governors say what
they please to the contrary; this preference of human before Divine laws
seeming to me the principal character of idolatrous or antichristian
nations. Accordingly, Josephus well observes, Antiq. B. IV. ch. 8. sect.
17, that it was the duty of the people of Israel to take care that their
kings, when they should have them, did not exceed their proper limits of
power, and prove ungovernable by the laws of God, which would certainly be
a most pernicious thing to their Divine settlement. Nor do I think that
negligence peculiar to the Jews: those nations which are called
Christians, are sometimes indeed very solicitous to restrain their kings
and governors from breaking the human laws of their several kingdoms, but
without the like care for restraining them from breaking the laws of God.
“Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto men more than to
God, judge ye,” Acts 4:19. “We ought to obey God rather than men,” ver.
29.]
24 (return)
[ What Josephus adds here
is very remarkable, that this Mount Moriah was not only the very place
where Abraham offered up Isaac long ago, but that God had foretold to
David by a prophet, that here his son should build him a temple, which is
not directly in any of our other copies, though very agreeable to what is
in them, particularly in 1 Chronicles 21:25, 28; 22:1, to which places I
refer the reader.]
25 (return)
[ Of the quantity of gold
and silver expended in the building of Solomon’s temple, and whence it
arose, see the description of ch. 13.]
26 (return)
[ David is here greatly
blamed by some for recommending Joab and Shimei to be punished by Solomon,
if he could find a proper occasion, after he had borne with the first a
long while, and seemed to have pardoned the other entirely, which Solomon
executed accordingly; yet I cannot discern any fault either in David or
Solomon in these cases. Joab’s murder of Abner and Amasa were very
barbarous, and could not properly be forgiven either by David or Solomon;
for a dispensing power in kings for the crime of willful murder is
warranted by no law of God, nay, is directly against it every where; nor
is it, for certain, in the power of men to grant such a prerogative to any
of their kings; though Joab was so nearly related to David, and so potent
in the army under a warlike administration, that David durst not himself
put him to death, 2 Samuel 3:39; 19:7. Shimei’s cursing the Lord’s
anointed, and this without any just cause, was the highest act of treason
against God and his anointed king, and justly deserved death; and though
David could forgive treason against himself, yet had he done no more in
the case of Shimei than promised him that he would not then, on the day of
his return and reinauguration, or upon that occasion, himself put him to
death, 2 Samuel 19:22; and he swore to him no further, ver. 23, as the
words are in Josephus, than that he would not then put him to death, which
he performed; nor was Solomon under any obligation to spare such a
traitor.]
BOOK VIII. Containing The Interval Of One
Hundred And Sixty-Three Years.—From The Death Of David To The Death
Of Ahab.
CHAPTER 1. How Solomon, When He Had Received The
Kingdom Took Off His Enemies.
CHAPTER 3. Of The Building Of This Temple
BOOK VIII. Containing The Interval Of One Hundred And Sixty-Three
Years.—From The Death Of David To The Death Of Ahab.
CHAPTER 1. How Solomon, When He Had Received The Kingdom Took Off His
Enemies.
1. We have already treated of David, and his virtue, and of the benefits
he was the author of to his countrymen; of his wars also and battles,
which he managed with success, and then died an old man, in the foregoing
book. And when Solomon his son, who was but a youth in age, had taken the
kingdom, and whom David had declared, while he was alive, the lord of that
people, according to God’s will; when he sat upon the throne, the whole
body of the people made joyful acclamations to him, as is usual at the
beginning of a reign; and wished that all his affairs might come to a
blessed conclusion; and that he might arrive at a great age, and at the
most happy state of affairs possible.
2. But Adonijah, who, while his father was living, attempted to gain
possession of the government, came to the king’s mother Bathsheba, and
saluted her with great civility; and when she asked him, whether he came
to her as desiring her assistance in any thing or not, and bade him tell
her if that were the case, for that she would cheerfully afford it him; he
began to say, that she knew herself that the kingdom was his, both on
account of his elder age, and of the disposition of the multitude, and
that yet it was transferred to Solomon her son, according to the will of
God. He also said that he was contented to be a servant under him, and was
pleased with the present settlement; but he desired her to be a means of
obtaining a favor from his brother to him, and to persuade him to bestow
on him in marriage Abishag, who had indeed slept by his father, but,
because his father was too old, he did not lie with her, and she was still
a virgin. So Bathsheba promised him to afford him her assistance very
earnestly, and to bring this marriage about, because the king would be
willing to gratify him in such a thing, and because she would press it to
him very earnestly. Accordingly he went away in hopes of succeeding in
this match. So Solomon’s mother went presently to her son, to speak to him
about what she had promised, upon Adonijah’s supplication to her. And when
her son came forward to meet her, and embraced her, and when he had
brought her into the house where his royal throne was set, he sat thereon,
and bid them set another throne on the right hand for his mother. When
Bathsheba was set down, she said, “O my son, grant me one request that I
desire of thee, and do not any thing to me that is disagreeable or
ungrateful, which thou wilt do if thou deniest me.” And when Solomon bid
her to lay her commands upon him, because it was agreeable to his duty to
grant her every thing she should ask, and complained that she did not at
first begin her discourse with a firm expectation of obtaining what she
desired, but had some suspicion of a denial, she entreated him to grant
that his brother Adonijah might marry Abishag.
3. But the king was greatly offended at these words, and sent away his
mother, and said that Adonijah aimed at great things; and that he wondered
that she did not desire him to yield up the kingdom to him, as to his
elder brother, since she desired that he might marry Abishag; and that he
had potent friends, Joab the captain of the host, and Abiathar the priest.
So he called for Benaiah, the captain of the guards, and ordered him to
slay his brother Adonijah. He also called for Abiathar the priest, and
said to him, “I will not put thee to death because of those other
hardships which thou hast endured with my father, and because of the ark
which thou hast borne along with him; but I inflict this following
punishment upon thee, because thou wast among Adonijah’s followers, and
wast of his party. Do not thou continue here, nor come any more into my
sight, but go to thine own town, and live on thy own fields, and there
abide all thy life; for thou hast offended so greatly, that it is not just
that thou shouldst retain thy dignity any longer.” For the forementioned
cause, therefore, it was that the house of Ithamar was deprived of the
sacerdotal dignity, as God had foretold to Eli, the grandfather of
Abiathar. So it was transferred to the family of Phineas, to Zadok. Now
those that were of the family of Phineas, but lived privately during the
time that the high priesthood was transferred to the house of Ithamar, [of
which family Eli was the first that received it,]were these that follow:
Bukki, the son of Abishua the high priest; his son was Joatham; Joatham’s
son was Meraioth; Meraioth’s son was Arophseus; Aropheus’s son was Ahitub;
and Ahitub’s son was Zadok, who was first made high priest in the reign of
David.
4. Now when Joab the captain of the host heard of the slaughter of
Adonijah, he was greatly afraid, for he was a greater friend to him than
to Solomon; and suspecting, not without reason, that he was in danger, on
account of his favor to Adonijah, he fled to the altar, and supposed he
might procure safety thereby to himself, because of the king’s piety
towards God. But when some told the king what Joab’s supposal was, he sent
Benaiah, and commanded him to raise him up from the altar, and bring him
to the judgment-seat, in order to make his defense. However, Joab said he
would not leave the altar, but would die there rather than in another
place. And when Benaiah had reported his answer to the king, Solomon
commanded him to cut off his head there 1 and let him
take that as a punishment for those two captains of the host whom he had
wickedly slain, and to bury his body, that his sins might never leave his
family, but that himself and his father, by Joab’s death, might be
guiltless. And when Benaiah had done what he was commanded to do, he was
himself appointed to be captain of the whole army. The king also made
Zadok to be alone the high priest, in the room of Abiathar, whom he had
removed.
5. But as to Shimei, Solomon commanded that he should build him a house,
and stay at Jerusalem, and attend upon him, and should not have authority
to go over the brook Cedron; and that if he disobeyed that command, death
should be his punishment. He also threatened him so terribly, that he
compelled him to take all oath that he would obey. Accordingly Shimei said
that he had reason to thank Solomon for giving him such an injunction; and
added an oath, that he would do as he bade him; and leaving his own
country, he made his abode in Jerusalem. But three years afterwards, when
he heard that two of his servants were run away from him, and were in
Gath, he went for his servants in haste; and when he was come back with
them, the king perceived it, and was much displeased that he had contemned
his commands, and, what was more, had no regard to the oaths he had sworn
to God; so he called him, and said to him, “Didst not thou swear never to
leave me, nor to go out of this city to another? Thou shalt not therefore
escape punishment for thy perjury, but I will punish thee, thou wicked
wretch, both for this crime, and for those wherewith thou didst abuse my
father when he was in his flight, that thou mayst know that wicked men
gain nothing at last, although they be not punished immediately upon their
unjust practices; but that in all the time wherein they think themselves
secure, because they have yet suffered nothing, their punishment
increases, and is heavier upon them, and that to a greater degree than if
they had been punished immediately upon the commission of their crimes.”
So Benaiah, on the king’s command, slew Shimei.
CHAPTER 2. Concerning The Wife Of Solomon; Concerning His Wisdom And
Riches; And Concerning What He Obtained Of Hiram For The Building Of The
Temple.
1. Solomon having already settled himself firmly in his kingdom, and
having brought his enemies to punishment, he married the daughter of
Pharaoh king of Egypt, and built the walls of Jerusalem much larger and
stronger than those that had been before, 2 and
thenceforward he managed public affairs very peaceably. Nor was his youth
any hinderance in the exercise of justice, or in the observation of the
laws, or in the remembrance of what charges his father had given him at
his death; but he discharged every duty with great accuracy, that might
have been expected from such as are aged, and of the greatest prudence. He
now resolved to go to Hebron, and sacrifice to God upon the brazen altar
that was built by Moses. Accordingly he offered there burnt-offerings, in
number a thousand; and when he had done this, he thought he had paid great
honor to God; for as he was asleep that very night God appeared to him,
and commanded him to ask of him some gifts which he was ready to give him
as a reward for his piety. So Solomon asked of God what was most
excellent, and of the greatest worth in itself, what God would bestow with
the greatest joy, and what it was most profitable for man to receive; for
he did not desire to have bestowed upon him either gold or silver, or any
other riches, as a man and a youth might naturally have done, for these
are the things that generally are esteemed by most men, as alone of the
greatest worth, and the best gifts of God; but, said he, “Give me, O Lord,
a sound mind, and a good understanding, whereby I may speak and judge the
people according to truth and righteousness.” With these petitions God was
well pleased; and promised to give him all those things that he had not
mentioned in his option, riches, glory, victory over his enemies; and, in
the first place, understanding and wisdom, and this in such a degree as no
other mortal man, neither kings nor ordinary persons, ever had. He also
promised to preserve the kingdom to his posterity for a very long time, if
he continued righteous and obedient to him, and imitated his father in
those things wherein he excelled. When Solomon heard this from God, he
presently leaped out of his bed; and when he had worshipped him, he
returned to Jerusalem; and after he had offered great sacrifices before
the tabernacle, he feasted all his own family.
2. In these days a hard cause came before him in judgment, which it was
very difficult to find any end of; and I think it necessary to explain the
fact about which the contest was, that such as light upon my writings may
know what a difficult cause Solomon was to determine, and those that are
concerned in such matters may take this sagacity of the king for a
pattern, that they may the more easily give sentence about such questions.
There were two women, who were harlots in the course of their lives, that
came to him; of whom she that seemed to be injured began to speak first,
and said, “O king, I and this other woman dwell together in one room. Now
it came to pass that we both bore a son at the same hour of the same day;
and on the third day this woman overlaid her son, and killed it, and then
took my son out of my bosom, and removed him to herself, and as I was
asleep she laid her dead son in my arms. Now, when in the morning I was
desirous to give the breast to the child, I did not find my own, but saw
the woman’s dead child lying by me; for I considered it exactly, and found
it so to be. Hence it was that I demanded my son, and when I could not
obtain him, I have recourse, my lord, to thy assistance; for since we were
alone, and there was nobody there that could convict her, she cares for
nothing, but perseveres in the stout denial of the fact.” When this woman
had told this her story, the king asked the other woman what she had to
say in contradiction to that story. But when she denied that she had done
what was charged upon her, and said that it was her child that was living,
and that it was her antagonist’s child that was dead, and when no one
could devise what judgment could be given, and the whole court were blind
in their understanding, and could not tell how to find out this riddle,
the king alone invented the following way how to discover it. He bade them
bring in both the dead child and the living child; and sent one of his
guards, and commanded him to fetch a sword, and draw it, and to cut both
the children into two pieces, that each of the women might have half the
living and half the dead child. Hereupon all the people privately laughed
at the king, as no more than a youth. But, in the mean time, she that was
the real mother of the living child cried out that he should not do so,
but deliver that child to the other woman as her own, for she would be
satisfied with the life of the child, and with the sight of it, although
it were esteemed the other’s child; but the other woman was ready to see
the child divided, and was desirous, moreover, that the first woman should
be tormented. When the king understood that both their words proceeded
from the truth of their passions, he adjudged the child to her that cried
out to save it, for that she was the real mother of it; and he condemned
the other as a wicked woman, who had not only killed her own child, but
was endeavoring to see her friend’s child destroyed also. Now the
multitude looked on this determination as a great sign and demonstration
of the king’s sagacity and wisdom, and after that day attended to him as
to one that had a divine mind.
3. Now the captains of his armies, and officers appointed over the whole
country, were these: over the lot of Ephraim was Ures; over the toparchy
of Bethlehem was Dioclerus; Abinadab, who married Solomon’s daughter, had
the region of Dora and the sea-coast under him; the Great Plain was under
Benaiah, the son of Achilus; he also governed all the country as far as
Jordan; Gabaris ruled over Gilead and Gaulanitis, and had under him the
sixty great and fenced cities [of Og]; Achinadab managed the affairs of
all Galilee as far as Sidon, and had himself also married a daughter of
Solomon’s, whose name was Basima; Banacates had the seacoast about Arce;
as had Shaphat Mount Tabor, and Carmel, and [the Lower] Galilee, as far as
the river Jordan; one man was appointed over all this country; Shimei was
intrusted with the lot of Benjamin; and Gabares had the country beyond
Jordan, over whom there was again one governor appointed. Now the people
of the Hebrews, and particularly the tribe of Judah, received a wonderful
increase when they betook themselves to husbandry, and the cultivation of
their grounds; for as they enjoyed peace, and were not distracted with
wars and troubles, and having, besides, an abundant fruition of the most
desirable liberty, every one was busy in augmenting the product of their
own lands, and making them worth more than they had formerly been.
4. The king had also other rulers, who were over the land of Syria and of
the Philistines, which reached from the river Euphrates to Egypt, and
these collected his tributes of the nations. Now these contributed to the
king’s table, and to his supper every day 3 thirty cori
of fine flour, and sixty of meal; as also ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen
out of the pastures, and a hundred fat lambs; all these were besides what
were taken by hunting harts and buffaloes, and birds and fishes, which
were brought to the king by foreigners day by day. Solomon had also so
great a number of chariots, that the stalls of his horses for those
chariots were forty thousand; and besides these he had twelve thousand
horsemen, the one half of which waited upon the king in Jerusalem, and the
rest were dispersed abroad, and dwelt in the royal villages; but the same
officer who provided for the king’s expenses supplied also the fodder for
the horses, and still carried it to the place where the king abode at that
time.
5. Now the sagacity and wisdom which God had bestowed on Solomon was so
great, that he exceeded the ancients; insomuch that he was no way inferior
to the Egyptians, who are said to have been beyond all men in
understanding; nay, indeed, it is evident that their sagacity was very
much inferior to that of the king’s. He also excelled and distinguished
himself in wisdom above those who were most eminent among the Hebrews at
that time for shrewdness; those I mean were Ethan, and Heman, and Chalcol,
and Darda, the sons of Mahol. He also composed books of odes and songs a
thousand and five, of parables and similitudes three thousand; for he
spake a parable upon every sort of tree, from the hyssop to the cedar; and
in like manner also about beasts, about all sorts of living creatures,
whether upon the earth, or in the seas, or in the air; for he was not
unacquainted with any of their natures, nor omitted inquiries about them,
but described them all like a philosopher, and demonstrated his exquisite
knowledge of their several properties. God also enabled him to learn that
skill which expels demons, 4 which is a science useful and
sanative to men. He composed such incantations also by which distempers
are alleviated. And he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by
which they drive away demons, so that they never return; and this method
of cure is of great force unto this day; for I have seen a certain man of
my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing people that were
demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons, and his captains,
and the whole multitude of his soldiers. The manner of the cure was this:
He put a ring that had a Foot of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon
to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon through
his nostrils; and when the man fell down immediately, he abjured him to
return into him no more, making still mention of Solomon, and reciting the
incantations which he composed. And when Eleazar would persuade and
demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, he set a little
way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the demon, as he went
out of the man, to overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators know
that he had left the man; and when this was done, the skill and wisdom of
Solomon was shown very manifestly: for which reason it is, that all men
may know the vastness of Solomon’s abilities, and how he was beloved of
God, and that the extraordinary virtues of every kind with which this king
was endowed may not be unknown to any people under the sun for this
reason, I say, it is that we have proceeded to speak so largely of these
matters.
6. Moreover Hiram, king of Tyre, when he had heard that Solomon succeeded
to his father’s kingdom, was very glad of it, for he was a friend of
David’s. So he sent ambassadors to him, and saluted him, and congratulated
him on the present happy state of his affairs. Upon which Solomon sent him
an epistle, the contents of which here follow:
Solomon To King Hiram.
“5
Know thou that my father would have built a temple to God, but was
hindered by wars, and continual expeditions; for he did not leave off to
overthrow his enemies till he made them all subject to tribute. But I give
thanks to God for the peace I at present enjoy, and on that account I am
at leisure, and design to build a house to God, for God foretold to my
father that such a house should be built by me; wherefore I desire thee to
send some of thy subjects with mine to Mount Lebanon to cut down timber,
for the Sidonians are more skillful than our people in cutting of wood. As
for wages to the hewers of wood, I will pay whatsoever price thou shalt
determine.”
7. When Hiram had read this epistle, he was pleased with it; and wrote
back this answer to Solomon.
Hiram To King Solomon.
“It is fit to bless God that he hath committed thy father’s government to
thee, who art a wise man, and endowed with all virtues. As for myself, I
rejoice at the condition thou art in, and will be subservient to thee in
all that thou sendest to me about; for when by my subjects I have cut down
many and large trees of cedar and cypress wood, I will send them to sea,
and will order my subjects to make floats of them, and to sail to what
place soever of thy country thou shalt desire, and leave them there, after
which thy subjects may carry them to Jerusalem. But do thou take care to
procure us corn for this timber, which we stand in need of, because we
inhabit in an island.”
8. The copies of these epistles remain at this day, and are preserved not
only in our books, but among the Tyrians also; insomuch that if any one
would know the certainty about them, he may desire of the keepers of the
public records of Tyre to show him them, and he will find what is there
set down to agree with what we have said. I have said so much out of a
desire that my readers may know that we speak nothing but the truth, and
do not compose a history out of some plausible relations, which deceive
men and please them at the same time, nor attempt to avoid examination,
nor desire men to believe us immediately; nor are we at liberty to depart
from speaking truth, which is the proper commendation of an historian, and
yet be blameless: but we insist upon no admission of what we say, unless
we be able to manifest its truth by demonstration, and the strongest
vouchers.
9. Now king Solomon, as soon as this epistle of the king of Tyre was
brought him, commended the readiness and good-will he declared therein,
and repaid him in what he desired, and sent him yearly twenty thousand
cori of wheat, and as many baths of oil: now the bath is able to contain
seventy-two sextaries. He also sent him the same measure of wine. So the
friendship between Hiram and Solomon hereby increased more and more; and
they swore to continue it for ever. And the king appointed a tribute to be
laid on all the people, of thirty thousand laborers, whose work he
rendered easy to them by prudently dividing it among them; for he made ten
thousand cut timber in Mount Lebanon for one month; and then to come home,
and rest two months, until the time when the other twenty thousand had
finished their task at the appointed time; and so afterward it came to
pass that the first ten thousand returned to their work every fourth
month: and it was Adoram who was over this tribute. There were also of the
strangers who were left by David, who were to carry the stones and other
materials, seventy thousand; and of those that cut the stones, eighty
thousand. Of these three thousand and three hundred were rulers over the
rest. He also enjoined them to cut out large stones for the foundations of
the temple, and that they should fit them and unite them together in the
mountain, and so bring them to the city. This was done not only by our own
country workmen, but by those workmen whom Hiram sent also. 6
CHAPTER 3. Of The Building Of This Temple
1. Solomon began to build the temple in the fourth year of his reign, on
the second month, which the Macedonians call Artemisius, and the Hebrews
Jur, five hundred and ninety-two years after the Exodus out of Egypt; but
one thousand and twenty years from Abraham’s coming out of Mesopotamia
into Canaan, and after the deluge one thousand four hundred and forty
years; and from Adam, the first man who was created, until Solomon built
the temple, there had passed in all three thousand one hundred and two
years. Now that year on which the temple began to be built was already the
eleventh year of the reign of Hiram; but from the building of Tyre to the
building of the temple, there had passed two hundred and forty years.
2. Now, therefore, the king laid the foundations of the temple very deep
in the ground, and the materials were strong stones, and such as would
resist the force of time; these were to unite themselves with the earth,
and become a basis and a sure foundation for that superstructure which was
to be erected over it; they were to be so strong, in order to sustain with
ease those vast superstructures and precious ornaments, whose own weight
was to be not less than the weight of those other high and heavy buildings
which the king designed to be very ornamental and magnificent. They
erected its entire body, quite up to the roof, of white stone; its height
was sixty cubits, and its length was the same, and its breadth twenty.
There was another building erected over it, equal to it in its measures;
so that the entire altitude of the temple was a hundred and twenty cubits.
Its front was to the east. As to the porch, they built it before the
temple; its length was twenty cubits, and it was so ordered that it might
agree with the breadth of the house; and it had twelve cubits in latitude,
and its height was raised as high as a hundred and twenty cubits. He also
built round about the temple thirty small rooms, which might include the
whole temple, by their closeness one to another, and by their number and
outward position round it. He also made passages through them, that they
might come into on through another. Every one of these rooms had five
cubits in breadth, 7 and the same in length, but in
height twenty. Above these there were other rooms, and others above them,
equal, both in their measures and number; so that these reached to a
height equal to the lower part of the house; for the upper part had no
buildings about it. The roof that was over the house was of cedar; and
truly every one of these rooms had a roof of their own, that was not
connected with the other rooms; but for the other parts, there was a
covered roof common to them all, and built with very long beams, that
passed through the rest, and through the whole building, that so the middle
walls, being strengthened by the same beams of timber, might be thereby
made firmer: but as for that part of the roof that was under the beams, it
was made of the same materials, and was all made smooth, and had ornaments
proper for roofs, and plates of gold nailed upon them. And as he enclosed
the walls with boards of cedar, so he fixed on them plates of gold, which
had sculptures upon them; so that the whole temple shined, and dazzled the
eyes of such as entered, by the splendor of the gold that was on every
side of them, Now the whole structure of the temple was made with great
skill of polished stones, and those laid together so very harmoniously and
smoothly, that there appeared to the spectators no sign of any hammer, or
other instrument of architecture; but as if, without any use of them, the
entire materials had naturally united themselves together, that the
agreement of one part with another seemed rather to have been natural,
than to have arisen from the force of tools upon them. The king also had a
fine contrivance for an ascent to the upper room over the temple, and that
was by steps in the thickness of its wall; for it had no large door on the
east end, as the lower house had, but the entrances were by the sides,
through very small doors. He also overlaid the temple, both within and
without, with boards of cedar, that were kept close together by thick
chains, so that this contrivance was in the nature of a support and a
strength to the building.
3. Now when the king had divided the temple into two parts, he made the
inner house of twenty cubits [every way], to be the most secret chamber,
but he appointed that of forty cubits to be the sanctuary; and when he had
cut a door-place out of the wall, he put therein doors of Cedar, and
overlaid them with a great deal of gold, that had sculptures upon it. He
also had veils of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and the brightest and
softest linen, with the most curious flowers wrought upon them, which were
to be drawn before those doors. He also dedicated for the most secret
place, whose breadth was twenty cubits, and length the same, two cherubims
of solid gold; the height of each of them was five cubits 8
they had each of them two wings stretched out as far as five cubits;
wherefore Solomon set them up not far from each other, that with one wing
they might touch the southern wall of the secret place, and with another
the northern: their other wings, which joined to each other, were a
covering to the ark, which was set between them; but nobody can tell, or
even conjecture, what was the shape of these cherubims. He also laid the
floor of the temple with plates of gold; and he added doors to the gate of
the temple, agreeable to the measure of the height of the wall, but in
breadth twenty cubits, and on them he glued gold plates. And, to say all
in one word, he left no part of the temple, neither internal nor external,
but what was covered with gold. He also had curtains drawn over these
doors in like manner as they were drawn over the inner doors of the most
holy place; but the porch of the temple had nothing of that sort.
4. Now Solomon sent for an artificer out of Tyre, whose name was Hiram; he
was by birth of the tribe of Naphtali, on the mother’s side, [for she was
of that tribe,] but his father was Ur, of the stock of the Israelites.
This man was skillful in all sorts of work; but his chief skill lay in
working in gold, and silver, and brass; by whom were made all the
mechanical works about the temple, according to the will of Solomon.
Moreover, this Hiram made two [hollow] pillars, whose outsides were of
brass, and the thickness of the brass was four fingers’ breadth, and the
height of the pillars was eighteen cubits and their circumference twelve
cubits; but there was cast with each of their chapiters lily-work that
stood upon the pillar, and it was elevated five cubits, round about which
there was net-work interwoven with small palms, made of brass, and covered
the lily-work. To this also were hung two hundred pomegranates, in two
rows. The one of these pillars he set at the entrance of the porch on the
right hand, and called it Jachin 9 and the
other at the left hand, and called it Booz.
5. Solomon also cast a brazen sea, whose figure was that of a hemisphere.
This brazen vessel was called a sea for its largeness, for the laver was
ten feet in diameter, and cast of the thickness of a palm. Its middle part
rested on a short pillar that had ten spirals round it, and that pillar
was ten cubits in diameter. There stood round about it twelve oxen, that
looked to the four winds of heaven, three to each wind, having their
hinder parts depressed, that so the hemispherical vessel might rest upon
them, which itself was also depressed round about inwardly. Now this sea
contained three thousand baths.
6. He also made ten brazen bases for so many quadrangular lavers; the
length of every one of these bases was five cubits, and the breadth four
cubits, and the height six cubits. This vessel was partly turned, and was
thus contrived: There were four small quadrangular pillars that stood one
at each corner; these had the sides of the base fitted to them on each
quarter; they were parted into three parts; every interval had a border
fitted to support [the laver]; upon which was engraven, in one place a
lion, and in another place a bull, and an eagle. The small pillars had the
same animals engraven that were engraven on the sides. The whole work was
elevated, and stood upon four wheels, which were also cast, which had also
naves and felloes, and were a foot and a half in diameter. Any one who saw
the spokes of the wheels, how exactly they were turned, and united to the
sides of the bases, and with what harmony they agreed to the felloes,
would wonder at them. However, their structure was this: Certain shoulders
of hands stretched out held the corners above, upon which rested a short
spiral pillar, that lay under the hollow part of the laver, resting upon
the fore part of the eagle and the lion, which were adapted to them,
insomuch that those who viewed them would think they were of one piece:
between these were engravings of palm trees. This was the construction of
the ten bases. He also made ten large round brass vessels, which were the
lavers themselves, each of which contained forty baths; 10
for it had its height four cubits, and its edges were as much distant from
each other. He also placed these lavers upon the ten bases that were
called Mechonoth; and he set five of the lavers on the left side of the
temple 11
which was that side towards the north wind, and as many on the right side,
towards the south, but looking towards the east; the same [eastern] way he
also set the sea. Now he appointed the sea to be for washing the hands and
the feet of the priests, when they entered into the temple and were to
ascend the altar, but the lavers to cleanse the entrails of the beasts
that were to be burnt-offerings, with their feet also.
7. He also made a brazen altar, whose length was twenty cubits, and its
breadth the same, and its height ten, for the burnt-offerings. He also
made all its vessels of brass, the pots, and the shovels, and the basons;
and besides these, the snuffers and the tongs, and all its other vessels,
he made of brass, and such brass as was in splendor and beauty like gold.
The king also dedicated a great number of tables, but one that was large
and made of gold, upon which they set the loaves of God; and he made ten
thousand more that resembled them, but were done after another manner,
upon which lay the vials and the cups; those of gold were twenty thousand,
those of silver were forty thousand. He also made ten thousand
candlesticks, according to the command of Moses, one of which he dedicated
for the temple, that it might burn in the day time, according to the law;
and one table with loaves upon it, on the north side of the temple, over
against the candlestick; for this he set on the south side, but the golden
altar stood between them. All these vessels were contained in that part of
the holy house, which was forty cubits long, and were before the veil of
that most secret place wherein the ark was to be set.
8. The king also made pouring vessels, in number eighty thousand, and a
hundred thousand golden vials, and twice as many silver vials: of golden
dishes, in order therein to offer kneaded fine flour at the altar, there
were eighty thousand, and twice as many of silver. Of large basons also,
wherein they mixed fine flour with oil, sixty thousand of gold, and twice
as many of silver. Of the measures like those which Moses called the Hin
and the Assaron, [a tenth deal,] there were twenty thousand of gold, and
twice as many of silver. The golden censers, in which they carried the
incense to the altar, were twenty thousand; the other censers, in which
they carried fire from the great altar to the little altar, within the
temple, were fifty thousand. The sacerdotal garments which belonged to the
high priest, with the long robes, and the oracle, and the precious stones,
were a thousand. But the crown upon which Moses wrote [the name of
God] was only one, and hath remained to this very day. He also made ten
thousand sacerdotal garments of fine linen, with purple girdles for every
priest; and two hundred thousand trumpets, according to the command of
Moses; also two hundred thousand garments of fine linen for the singers,
that were Levites. And he made musical instruments, and such as were
invented for singing of hymns, called Nablee and Cindree, [psalteries and
harps,] which were made of electrum, [the finest brass,] forty thousand.
9. Solomon made all these things for the honor of God, with great variety
and magnificence, sparing no cost, but using all possible liberality in
adorning the temple; and these things he dedicated to the treasures of
God. He also placed a partition round about the temple, which in our
tongue we call Gison, but it is called Thrigcos by the Greeks, and he
raised it up to the height of three cubits; and it was for the exclusion
of the multitude from coming into the temple, and showing that it was a
place that was free and open only for the priests. He also built beyond
this court a temple, whose figure was that of a quadrangle, and erected
for it great and broad cloisters; this was entered into by very high
gates, each of which had its front exposed to one of the [four] winds, and
were shut by golden doors. Into this temple all the people entered that
were distinguished from the rest by being pure and observant of the laws.
But he made that temple which was beyond this a wonderful one indeed, and
such as exceeds all description in words; nay, if I may so say, is hardly
believed upon sight; for when he had filled up great valleys with earth,
which, on account of their immense depth, could not be looked on, when you
bended down to see them, without pain, and had elevated the ground four
hundred cubits, he made it to be on a level with the top of the mountain,
on which the temple was built, and by this means the outmost temple, which
was exposed to the air, was even with the temple itself. He encompassed
this also with a building of a double row of cloisters, which stood on
high upon pillars of native stone, while the roofs were of cedar, and were
polished in a manner proper for such high roofs; but he made all the doors
of this temple of silver. 12
CHAPTER 4. How Solomon Removed The Ark Into The Temple How He Made
Supplication To God, And Offered Public Sacrifices To Him.
1. When king Solomon had finished these works, these large and beautiful
buildings, and had laid up his donations in the temple, and all this in
the interval of seven years, and had given a demonstration of his riches
and alacrity therein, insomuch that any one who saw it would have thought
it must have been an immense time ere it could have been finished; and
would be surprised that so much should be finished in so short a time;
short, I mean, if compared with the greatness of the work: he also wrote
to the rulers and elders of the Hebrews, and ordered all the people to
gather themselves together to Jerusalem, both to see the temple which he
had built, and to remove the ark of God into it; and when this invitation
of the whole body of the people to come to Jerusalem was every where
carried abroad, it was the seventh month before they came together; which
month is by our countrymen called Thisri, but by the Macedonians
Hyperberetoets. The feast of tabernacles happened to fall at the same
time, which was celebrated by the Hebrews as a most holy and most eminent
feast. So they carried the ark and the tabernacle which Moses had pitched,
and all the vessels that were for ministration, to the sacrifices of God,
and removed them to the temple. 13 The king
himself, and all the people and the Levites, went before, rendering the
ground moist with sacrifices, and drink-offerings, and the blood of a
great number of oblations, and burning an immense quantity of incense, and
this till the very air itself every where round about was so full of these
odors, that it met, in a most agreeable manner, persons at a great
distance, and was an indication of God’s presence; and, as men’s opinion
was, of his habitation with them in this newly built and consecrated
place, for they did not grow weary, either of singing hymns or of dancing,
until they came to the temple; and in this manner did they carry the ark.
But when they should transfer it into the most secret place, the rest of
the multitude went away, and only those priests that carried it set it
between the two cherubims, which embracing it with their wings, [for so
were they framed by the artificer,] they covered it, as under a tent, or a
cupola. Now the ark contained nothing else but those two tables of stone
that preserved the ten commandments, which God spake to Moses in Mount
Sinai, and which were engraved upon them; but they set the candlestick,
and the table, and the golden altar in the temple, before the most secret
place, in the very same places wherein they stood till that time in the
tabernacle. So they offered up the daily sacrifices; but for the brazen
altar, Solomon set it before the temple, over against the door, that when
the door was opened, it might be exposed to sight, and the sacred
solemnities, and the richness of the sacrifices, might be thence seen; and
all the rest of the vessels they gathered together, and put them within
the temple.
2. Now as soon as the priests had put all things in order about the ark,
and were gone out, there came down a thick cloud, and stood there, and
spread itself, after a gentle manner, into the temple; such a cloud it was
as was diffused and temperate, not such a rough one as we see full of rain
in the winter season. This cloud so darkened the place, that one priest
could not discern another, but it afforded to the minds of all a visible
image and glorious appearance of God’s having descended into this temple,
and of his having gladly pitched his tabernacle therein. So these men were
intent upon this thought. But Solomon rose up, [for he was sitting
before,] and used such words to God as he thought agreeable to the Divine
nature to receive, and fit for him to give; for he said, “Thou hast an
eternal house, O Lord, and such a one as thou hast created for thyself out
of thine own works; we know it to be the heaven, and the air, and the
earth, and the sea, which thou pervadest, nor art thou contained within
their limits. I have indeed built this temple to thee, and thy name, that
from thence, when we sacrifice, and perform sacred operations, we may send
our prayers up into the air, and may constantly believe that thou art
present, and art not remote from what is thine own; for neither when thou
seest all things, and hearest all things, nor now, when it pleases thee to
dwell here, dost thou leave the care of all men, but rather thou art very
near to them all, but especially thou art present to those that address
themselves to thee, whether by night or by day.” When he had thus solemnly
addressed himself to God, he converted his discourse to the multitude, and
strongly represented the power and providence of God to them;—how he
had shown all things that were come to pass to David his father, as many
of those things had already come to pass, and the rest would certainly
come to pass hereafter; and how he had given him his name, and told to
David what he should be called before he was born; and foretold, that when
he should be king after his father’s death, he should build him a temple,
which since they saw accomplished, according to his prediction, he
required them to bless God, and by believing him, from the sight of what
they had seen accomplished, never to despair of any thing that he had
promised for the future, in order to their happiness, or suspect that it
would not come to pass.
3. When the king had thus discoursed to the multitude, he looked again
towards the temple, and lifting up his right hand to the multitude, he
said, “It is not possible by what men can do to return sufficient thanks
to God for his benefits bestowed upon them, for the Deity stands in need
of nothing, and is above any such requital; but so far as we have been
made superior, O Lord, to other animals by thee, it becomes us to bless
thy Majesty, and it is necessary for us to return thee thanks for what
thou hast bestowed upon our house, and on the Hebrew people; for with what
other instrument can we better appease thee when thou art angry at us, or
more properly preserve thy favor, than with our voice? which, as we have
it from the air, so do we know that by that air it ascends upwards
[towards thee]. I therefore ought myself to return thee thanks thereby, in
the first place, concerning my father, whom thou hast raised from
obscurity unto so great joy; and, in the next place, concerning myself,
since thou hast performed all that thou hast promised unto this very day.
And I beseech thee for the time to come to afford us whatsoever thou, O
God, hast power to bestow on such as thou dost esteem; and to augment our
house for all ages, as thou hast promised to David my father to do, both
in his lifetime and at his death, that our kingdom shall continue, and
that his posterity should successively receive it to ten thousand
generations. Do not thou therefore fail to give us these blessings, and to
bestow on my children that virtue in which thou delightest. And besides
all this, I humbly beseech thee that thou wilt let some portion of thy
Spirit come down and inhabit in this temple, that thou mayst appear to be
with us upon earth. As to thyself, the entire heavens, and the immensity
of the things that are therein, are but a small habitation for thee, much
more is this poor temple so; but I entreat thee to keep it as thine own
house, from being destroyed by our enemies for ever, and to take care of
it as thine own possession: but if this people be found to have sinned,
and be thereupon afflicted by thee with any plague, because of their sin,
as with dearth or pestilence, or any other affliction which thou usest to
inflict on those that transgress any of thy holy laws, and if they fly all
of them to this temple, beseeching thee, and begging of time to deliver
them, then do thou hear their prayers, as being within thine house, and
have mercy upon them, and deliver them from their afflictions. Nay,
moreover, this help is what I implore of thee, not for the Hebrews only,
when they are in distress, but when any shall come hither from any ends of
the world whatsoever, and shall return from their sins and implore thy
pardon, do thou then pardon them, and hear their prayer. For hereby all
shall learn that thou thyself wast pleased with the building of this house
for thee; and that we are not ourselves of an unsociable nature, nor
behave ourselves like enemies to such as are not of our own people; but
are willing that thy assistance should be communicated by thee to all men
in common, and that they may have the enjoyment of thy benefits bestowed
upon them.”
4. When Solomon had said this, and had cast himself upon the ground, and
worshipped a long time, he rose up, and brought sacrifices to the altar;
and when he had filled it with unblemished victims, he most evidently
discovered that God had with pleasure accepted of all that he had
sacrificed to him, for there came a fire running out of the air, and
rushed with violence upon the altar, in the sight of all, and caught hold
of and consumed the sacrifices. Now when this Divine appearance was seen,
the people supposed it to be a demonstration of God’s abode in the temple,
and were pleased with it, and fell down upon the ground and worshipped.
Upon which the king began to bless God, and exhorted the multitude to do
the same, as now having sufficient indications of God’s favorable
disposition to them; and to pray that they might always have the like
indications from him, and that he would preserve in them a mind pure from
all wickedness, in righteousness and religious worship, and that they
might continue in the observation of those precepts which God had given
them by Moses, because by that means the Hebrew nation would be happy, and
indeed the most blessed of all nations among all mankind. He exhorted them
also to be mindful, that by what methods they had attained their present
good things, by the same they must preserve them sure to themselves, and
make them greater and more than they were at present; for that it was not
sufficient for them to suppose they had received them on account of their
piety and righteousness, but that they had no other way of preserving them
for the time to come; for that it is not so great a thing for men to
acquire somewhat which they want, as to preserve what they have acquired,
and to be guilty of no sin whereby it may be hurt.
5. So when the king had spoken thus to the multitude, he dissolved the
congregation, but not till he had completed his oblations, both for
himself and for the Hebrews, insomuch that he sacrificed twenty and two
thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep; for then it was
that the temple did first of all taste of the victims, and all the
Hebrews, with their wives and children, feasted therein: nay, besides
this, the king then observed splendidly and magnificently the feast which
is called the Feast of Tabernacles, before the temple, for twice seven
days; and he then feasted together with all the people.
6. When all these solemnities were abundantly satisfied, and nothing was
omitted that concerned the Divine worship, the king dismissed them; and
they every one went to their own homes, giving thanks to the king for the
care he had taken of them, and the works he had done for them; and praying
to God to preserve Solomon to be their king for a long time. They also
took their journey home with rejoicing, and making merry, and singing
hymns to God. And indeed the pleasure they enjoyed took away the sense of
the pains they all underwent in their journey home. So when they had
brought the ark into the temple, and had seen its greatness, and how fine
it was, and had been partakers of the many sacrifices that had been
offered, and of the festivals that had been solemnized, they every one
returned to their own cities. But a dream that appeared to the king in his
sleep informed him that God had heard his prayers; and that he would not
only preserve the temple, but would always abide in it; that is, in case
his posterity and the whole multitude would be righteous. And for himself,
it said, that if he continued according to the admonitions of his father,
he would advance him to an immense degree of dignity and happiness, and
that then his posterity should be kings of that country, of the tribe of
Judah, for ever; but that still, if he should be found a betrayer of the
ordinances of the law, and forget them, and turn away to the worship of
strange gods, he would cut him off by the roots, and would neither suffer
any remainder of his family to continue, nor would overlook the people of
Israel, or preserve them any longer from afflictions, but would utterly
destroy them with ten thousand wars and misfortunes; would cast them out
of the land which he had given their fathers, and make them sojourners in
strange lands; and deliver that temple which was now built to be burnt and
spoiled by their enemies, and that city to be utterly overthrown by the
hands of their enemies; and make their miseries deserve to be a proverb,
and such as should very hardly be credited for their stupendous magnitude,
till their neighbors, when they should hear of them, should wonder at
their calamities, and very earnestly inquire for the occasion, why the
Hebrews, who had been so far advanced by God to such glory and wealth,
should be then so hated by him? and that the answer that should be made by
the remainder of the people should be, by confessing their sins, and their
transgression of the laws of their country. Accordingly we have it
transmitted to us in writing, that thus did God speak to Solomon in his
sleep.
CHAPTER 5. How Solomon Built Himself A Royal Palace, Very Costly And
Splendid; And How He Solved The Riddles Which Were Sent Him By Hiram.
1. After the building of the temple, which, as we have before said, was
finished in seven years, the king laid the foundation of his palace, which
he did not finish under thirteen years, for he was not equally zealous in
the building of this palace as he had been about the temple; for as to
that, though it was a great work, and required wonderful and surprising
application, yet God, for whom it was made, so far co-operated therewith,
that it was finished in the forementioned number of years: but the palace,
which was a building much inferior in dignity to the temple, both on
account that its materials had not been so long beforehand gotten ready,
nor had been so zealously prepared, and on account that this was only a
habitation for kings, and not for God, it was longer in finishing.
However, this building was raised so magnificently, as suited the happy
state of the Hebrews, and of the king thereof. But it is necessary that I
describe the entire structure and disposition of the parts, that so those
that light upon this book may thereby make a conjecture, and, as it were,
have a prospect of its magnitude.
2. This house was a large and curious building, and was supported by many
pillars, which Solomon built to contain a multitnde for hearing causes,
and taking cognizance of suits. It was sufficiently capacious to contain a
great body of men, who would come together to have their causes
determined. It was a hundred cubits long, and fifty broad, and thirty
high, supported by quadrangular pillars, which were all of cedar; but its
roof was according to the Corinthian order, 14 with
folding doors, and their adjoining pillars of equal magnitude, each fluted
with three cavities; which building as at once firm, and very ornamental.
There was also another house so ordered, that its entire breadth was
placed in the middle; it was quadrangular, and its breadth was thirty
cubits, having a temple over against it, raised upon massy pillars; in
which temple there was a large and very glorious room, wherein the king
sat in judgment. To this was joined another house that was built for his
queen. There were other smaller edifices for diet, and for sleep, after
public matters were over; and these were all floored with boards of cedar.
Some of these Solomon built with stones of ten cubits, and wainscoted the
walls with other stones that were sawed, and were of great value, such as
are dug out of the earth for the ornaments of temples, and to make fine
prospects in royal palaces, and which make the mines whence they are dug
famous. Now the contexture of the curious workmanship of these stones was
in three rows, but the fourth row would make one admire its sculptures,
whereby were represented trees, and all sorts of plants; with the shades
that arose from their branches, and leaves that hung down from them. Those
trees and plants covered the stone that was beneath them, and their
leaves were wrought so prodigious thin and subtile, that you would think
they were in motion; but the other part up to the roof, was plastered
over, and, as it were, embroidered with colors and pictures. He, moreover,
built other edifices for pleasure; as also very long cloisters, and those
situate in an agreeable place of the palace; and among them a most
glorious dining room, for feastings and compotations, and full of gold,
and such other furniture as so fine a room ought to have for the
conveniency of the guests, and where all the vessels were made of gold.
Now it is very hard to reckon up the magnitude and the variety of the
royal apartments; how many rooms there were of the largest sort, how many
of a bigness inferior to those, and how many that were subterraneous and
invisible; the curiosity of those that enjoyed the fresh air; and the
groves for the most delightful prospect, for the avoiding the heat, and
covering of their bodies. And, to say all in brief, Solomon made the whole
building entirely of white stone, and cedar wood, and gold, and silver. He
also adorned the roofs and walls with stones set in gold, and beautified
them thereby in the same manner as he had beautified the temple of God
with the like stones. He also made himself a throne of prodigious bigness,
of ivory, constructed as a seat of justice, and having six steps to it; on
every one of which stood, on each end of the step two lions, two other
lions standing above also; but at the sitting place of the throne hands
came out and received the king; and when he sat backward, he rested on
half a bullock, that looked towards his back; but still all was fastened
together with gold.
3. When Solomon had completed all this in twenty years’ time, because
Hiram king of Tyre had contributed a great deal of gold, and more silver
to these buildings, as also cedar wood and pine wood, he also rewarded
Hiram with rich presents; corn he sent him also year by year, and wine and
oil, which were the principal things that he stood in need of, because he
inhabited an island, as we have already said. And besides these, he
granted him certain cities of Galilee, twenty in number, that lay not far
from Tyre; which, when Hiram went to, and viewed, and did not like the
gift, he sent word to Solomon that he did not want such cities as they
were; and after that time these cities were called the land of Cabul;
which name, if it be interpreted according to the language of the
Phoenicians, denotes what does not please. Moreover, the king of Tyre sent
sophisms and enigmatical sayings to Solomon, and desired he would solve
them, and free them from the ambiguity that was in them. Now so sagacious
and understanding was Solomon, that none of these problems were too hard
for him; but he conquered them all by his reasonings, and discovered their
hidden meaning, and brought it to light. Menander also, one who translated
the Tyrian archives out of the dialect of the Phoenicians into the Greek
language, makes mention of these two kings, where he says thus: “When
Abibalus was dead, his son Hiram received the kingdom from him, who, when
he had lived fifty-three years, reigned thirty-four. He raised a bank in
the large place, and dedicated the golden pillar which is in Jupiter’s
temple. He also went and cut down materials of timber out of the mountain
called Libanus, for the roof of temples; and when he had pulled down the
ancient temples, he both built the temple of Hercules and that of Astarte;
and he first set up the temple of Hercules in the month Peritius; he also
made an expedition against the Euchii, or Titii, who did not pay their
tribute, and when he had subdued them to himself he returned. Under this
king there was Abdemon, a very youth in age, who always conquered the
difficult problems which Solomon, king of Jerusalem, commanded him to
explain. Dius also makes mention of him, where he says thus: ‘When
Abibalus was dead, his son Hiram reigned. He raised the eastern parts of
the city higher, and made the city itself larger. He also joined the
temple of Jupiter, which before stood by itself, to the city, by raising a
bank in the middle between them; and he adorned it with donations of gold.
Moreover, he went up to Mount Libanus, and cut down materials of wood for
the building of the temples.’ He says also, that Solomon, who was then
king of Jerusalem, sent riddles to Hiram, and desired to receive the like
from him, but that he who could not solve them should pay money to them
that did solve them, and that Hiram accepted the conditions; and when he
was not able to solve the riddles proposed by Solomon, he paid a great
deal of money for his fine; but that he afterward did solve the proposed
riddles by means of Abdemon, a man of Tyre; and that Hiram proposed other
riddles, which, when Solomon could not solve, he paid back a great deal of
money to Hiram.” This it is which Dius wrote.
CHAPTER 6. How Solomon Fortified The City Of Jerusalem, And Built Great
Cities; And How He Brought Some Of The Canaanites Into Subjection, And
Entertained The Queen Of Egypt And Of Ethiopia.
1. Now when the king saw that the walls of Jerusalem stood in need of
being better secured, and made stronger, [for he thought the wails that
encompassed Jerusalem ought to correspond to the dignity of the city,] he
both repaired them, and made them higher, with great towers upon them; he
also built cities which might be counted among the strongest, Hazor and
Megiddo, and the third Gezer, which had indeed belonged to the
Philistines; but Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had made an expedition
against it, and besieged it, and taken it by force; and when he had slain
all its inhabitants, he utterly overthrew it, and gave it as a present to
his daughter, who had been married to Solomon; for which reason the king
rebuilt it, as a city that was naturally strong, and might be useful in
wars, and the mutations of affairs that sometimes happen. Moreover, he
built two other cities not far from it, Beth-horon was the name of one of
them, and Baalath of the other. He also built other cities that lay
conveniently for these, in order to the enjoyment of pleasures and
delicacies in them, such as were naturally of a good temperature of the
air, and agreeable for fruits ripe in their proper seasons, and well
watered with springs. Nay, Solomon went as far as the desert above Syria,
and possessed himself of it, and built there a very great city, which was
distant two days’ journey from Upper Syria, and one day’s journey from
Euphrates, and six long days’ journey from Babylon the Great. Now the
reason why this city lay so remote from the parts of Syria that are
inhabited is this, that below there is no water to be had, and that it is
in that place only that there are springs and pits of water. When he had
therefore built this city, and encompassed it with very strong walls, he
gave it the name of Tadmor, and that is the name it is still called by at
this day among the Syrians, but the Greeks name it Palmyra.
2. Now Solomon the king was at this time engaged in building these cities.
But if any inquire why all the kings of Egypt from Menes, who built
Memphis, and was many years earlier than our forefather Abraham, until
Solomon, where the interval was more than one thousand three hundred
years, were called Pharaohs, and took it from one Pharaoh that lived after
the kings of that interval, I think it necessary to inform them of it, and
this in order to cure their ignorance, and to make the occasion of that
name manifest. Pharaoh, in the Egyptian tongue, signifies a king 15
but I suppose they made use of other names from their childhood; but when
they were made kings, they changed them into the name which in their own
tongue denoted their authority; for thus it was also that the kings of
Alexandria, who were called formerly by other names, when they took the
kingdom, were named Ptolemies, from their first king. The Roman emperors
also were from their nativity called by other names, but are styled
Cæsars, their empire and their dignity imposing that name upon them, and
not suffering them to continue in those names which their fathers gave
them. I suppose also that Herodotus of Halicarnassus, when he said there
were three hundred and thirty kings of Egypt after Menes, who built
Memphis, did therefore not tell us their names, because they were in
common called Pharaohs; for when after their death there was a queen
reigned, he calls her by her name Nicaule, as thereby declaring, that
while the kings were of the male line, and so admitted of the same nature,
while a woman did not admit the same, he did therefore set down that her
name, which she could not naturally have. As for myself, I have discovered
from our own books, that after Pharaoh, the father-in-law of Solomon, no
other king of Egypt did any longer use that name; and that it was after
that time when the forenamed queen of Egypt and Ethiopia came to Solomon,
concerning whom we shall inform the reader presently; but I have now made
mention of these things, that I may prove that our books and those of the
Egyptians agree together in many things.
3. But king Solomon subdued to himself the remnant of the Canaanites that
had not before submitted to him; those I mean that dwelt in Mount Lebanon,
and as far as the city Hamath; and ordered them to pay tribute. He also
chose out of them every year such as were to serve him in the meanest
offices, and to do his domestic works, and to follow husbandry; for none
of the Hebrews were servants [in such low employments]: nor was it
reasonable, that when God had brought so many nations under their power,
they should depress their own people to such mean offices of life, rather
than those nations; while all the Israelites were concerned in warlike
affairs, and were in armor; and were set over the chariots and the horses,
rather than leading the life of slaves. He appointed also five hundred and
fifty rulers over those Canaanites who were reduced to such domestic
slavery, who received the entire care of them from the king, and
instructed them in those labors and operations wherein he wanted their
assistance.
4. Moreover, the king built many ships in the Egyptian Bay of the Red Sea,
in a certain place called Ezion-geber: it is now called Berenice, and is
not far from the city Eloth. This country belonged formerly to the Jews,
and became useful for shipping from the donations of Hiram king of Tyre;
for he sent a sufficient number of men thither for pilots, and such as
were skillful in navigation, to whom Solomon gave this command: That they
should go along with his own stewards to the land that was of old called
Ophir, but now the Aurea Chersonesus, which belongs to India, to fetch him
gold. And when they had gathered four hundred talents together, they
returned to the king again.
5. There was then a woman queen of Egypt and Ethiopia; 16
she was inquisitive into philosophy, and one that on other accounts also
was to be admired. When this queen heard of the virtue and prudence of
Solomon, she had a great mind to see him; and the reports that went every
day abroad induced her to come to him, she being desirous to be satisfied
by her own experience, and not by a bare hearing; [for reports thus heard
are likely enough to comply with a false opinion, while they wholly depend
on the credit of the relators;] so she resolved to come to him, and that
especially in order to have a trial of his wisdom, while she proposed
questions of very great difficulty, and entreated that he would solve
their hidden meaning. Accordingly she came to Jerusalem with great
splendor and rich furniture; for she brought with her camels laden with
gold, with several sorts of sweet spices, and with precious stones. Now,
upon the king’s kind reception of her, he both showed a great desire to
please her, and easily comprehending in his mind the meaning of the
curious questions she propounded to him, he resolved them sooner than any
body could have expected. So she was amazed at the wisdom of Solomon, and
discovered that it was more excellent upon trial than what she had heard
by report beforehand; and especially she was surprised at the fineness and
largeness of his royal palace, and not less so at the good order of the
apartments, for she observed that the king had therein shown great wisdom;
but she was beyond measure astonished at the house which was called the
Forest of Lebanon, as also at the magnificence of his daily table, and the
circumstances of its preparation and ministration, with the apparel of his
servants that waited, and the skillful and decent management of their
attendance: nor was she less affected with those daily sacrifices which
were offered to God, and the careful management which the priests and
Levites used about them. When she saw this done every day, she was in the
greatest admiration imaginable, insomuch that she was not able to contain
the surprise she was in, but openly confessed how wonderfully she was
affected; for she proceeded to discourse with the king, and thereby owned
that she was overcome with admiration at the things before related; and
said, “All things indeed, O king, that came to our knowledge by report,
came with uncertainty as to our belief of them; but as to those good
things that to thee appertain, both such as thou thyself possessest, I
mean wisdom and prudence, and the happiness thou hast from thy kingdom,
certainly the same that came to us was no falsity; it was not only a true
report, but it related thy happiness after a much lower manner than I now
see it to be before my eyes. For as for the report, it only attempted to
persuade our hearing, but did not so make known the dignity of the things
themselves as does the sight of them, and being present among them. I
indeed, who did not believe what was reported, by reason of the multitude
and grandeur of the things I inquired about, do see them to be much more
numerous than they were reported to be. Accordingly I esteem the Hebrew
people, as well as thy servants and friends, to be happy, who enjoy thy
presence and hear thy wisdom every day continually. One would therefore
bless God, who hath so loved this country, and those that inhabit therein,
as to make thee king over them.”
6. Now when the queen had thus demonstrated in words how deeply the king
had affected her, her disposition was known by certain presents, for she
gave him twenty talents of gold, and an immense quantity of spices and
precious stones. (They say also that we possess the root of that balsam
which our country still bears by this woman’s gift.) 17
Solomon also repaid her with many good things, and principally by
bestowing upon her what she chose of her own inclination, for there was
nothing that she desired which he denied her; and as he was very generous
and liberal in his own temper, so did he show the greatness of his soul in
bestowing on her what she herself desired of him. So when this queen of
Ethiopia had obtained what we have already given an account of, and had
again communicated to the king what she brought with her, she returned to
her own kingdom.
CHAPTER 7. How Solomon Grew Rich, And Fell Desperately In Love With Women
And How God, Being Incensed At It, Raised Up Ader And Jeroboam Against
Him. Concerning The Death Of Solomon.
1. About the same time there were brought to the king from the Aurea
Chersonesus, a country so called, precious stones, and pine trees, and
these trees he made use of for supporting the temple and the palace, as
also for the materials of musical instruments, the harps and the
psalteries, that the Levites might make use of them in their hymns to God.
The wood which was brought to him at this time was larger and finer than
any that had ever been brought before; but let no one imagine that these
pine trees were like those which are now so named, and which take that
their denomination from the merchants, who so call them, that they may
procure them to be admired by those that purchase them; for those we speak
of were to the sight like the wood of the fig tree, but were whiter, and
more shining. Now we have said thus much, that nobody may be ignorant of
the difference between these sorts of wood, nor unacquainted with the
nature of the genuine pine tree; and we thought it both a seasonable and
humane thing, when we mentioned it, and the uses the king made of it, to
explain this difference so far as we have done.
2. Now the weight of gold that was brought him was six hundred and
sixty-six talents, not including in that sum what was brought by the
merchants, nor what the toparchs and kings of Arabia gave him in presents.
He also cast two hundred targets of gold, each of them weighing six
hundred shekels. He also made three hundred shields, every one weighing
three pounds of gold, and he had them carried and put into that house
which was called The Forest of Lebanon. He also made cups of gold, and of
[precious] stones, for the entertainment of his guests, and had them
adorned in the most artificial manner; and he contrived that all his other
furniture of vessels should be of gold, for there was nothing then to be
sold or bought for silver; for the king had many ships which lay upon the
sea of Tarsus, these he commanded to carry out all sorts of merchandise
unto the remotest nations, by the sale of which silver and gold were
brought to the king, and a great quantity of ivory, and Ethiopians, and
apes; and they finished their voyage, going and returning, in three years’
time.
3. Accordingly there went a great fame all around the neighboring
countries, which proclaimed the virtue and wisdom of Solomon, insomuch
that all the kings every where were desirous to see him, as not giving
credit to what was reported, on account of its being almost incredible:
they also demonstrated the regard they had for him by the presents they
made him; for they sent him vessels of gold, and silver, and purple
garments, and many sorts of spices, and horses, and chariots, and as many
mules for his carriages as they could find proper to please the king’s
eyes, by their strength and beauty. This addition that he made to those
chariots and horses which he had before from those that were sent him,
augmented the number of his chariots by above four hundred, for he had a
thousand before, and augmented the number of his horses by two thousand,
for he had twenty thousand before. These horses also were so much
exercised, in order to their making a fine appearance, and running
swiftly, that no others could, upon the comparison, appear either finer or
swifter; but they were at once the most beautiful of all others, and their
swiftness was incomparable also. Their riders also were a further ornament
to them, being, in the first place, young men in the most delightful
flower of their age, and being eminent for their largeness, and far taller
than other men. They had also very long heads of hair hanging down, and
were clothed in garments of Tyrian purple. They had also dust of gold
every day sprinkled on their hair, so that their heads sparkled with the
reflection of the sun-beams from the gold. The king himself rode upon a
chariot in the midst of these men, who were still in armor, and had their
bows fitted to them. He had on a white garment, and used to take his
progress out of the city in the morning. There was a certain place about
fifty furlongs distant from Jerusalem, which is called Etham, very
pleasant it is in fine gardens, and abounding in rivulets of water; 18
thither did he use to go out in the morning, sitting on high [in his
chariot.]
4. Now Solomon had a divine sagacity in all things, and was very diligent
and studious to have things done after an elegant manner; so he did not
neglect the care of the ways, but he laid a causeway of black stone along
the roads that led to Jerusalem, which was the royal city, both to render
them easy for travelers, and to manifest the grandeur of his riches and
government. He also parted his chariots, and set them in a regular order,
that a certain number of them should be in every city, still keeping a few
about him; and those cities he called the cities of his chariots. And the
king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones in the street; and so
multiplied cedar trees in the plains of Judea, which did not grow there
before, that they were like the multitude of common sycamore trees. He
also ordained the Egyptian merchants that brought him their merchandise to
sell him a chariot, with a pair of horses, for six hundred drachmae of
silver, and he sent them to the kings of Syria, and to those kings that
were beyond Euphrates.
5. But although Solomon was become the most glorious of kings, and the
best beloved by God, and had exceeded in wisdom and riches those that had
been rulers of the Hebrews before him, yet did not he persevere in this
happy state till he died. Nay, he forsook the observation of the laws of
his fathers, and came to an end no way suitable to our foregoing history
of him. He grew mad in his love of women, and laid no restraint on himself
in his lusts; nor was he satisfied with the women of his country alone,
but he married many wives out of foreign nations; Sidontans, and Tyrians,
and Ammonites, and Edomites; and he transgressed the laws of Moses, which
forbade Jews to marry any but those that were of their own people. He also
began to worship their gods, which he did in order to the gratification of
his wives, and out of his affection for them. This very thing our
legislator suspected, and so admonished us beforehand, that we should not
marry women of other countries, lest we should be entangled with foreign
customs, and apostatize from our own; lest we should leave off to honor
our own God, and should worship their gods. But Solomon was Gllen headlong
into unreasonable pleasures, and regarded not those admonitions; for when
he had married seven hundred wives, 19 the
daughters of princes and of eminent persons, and three hundred concubines,
and those besides the king of Egypt’s daughter, he soon was governed by
them, till he came to imitate their practices. He was forced to give them
this demonstration of his kindness and affection to them, to live
according to the laws of their countries. And as he grew into years, and
his reason became weaker by length of time, it was not sufficient to
recall to his mind the institutions of his own country; so he still more
and more contemned his own God, and continued to regard the gods that his
marriages had introduced nay, before this happened, he sinned, and fell
into an error about the observation of the laws, when he made the images
of brazen oxen that supported the brazen sea, 20 and the
images of lions about his own throne; for these he made, although it was
not agreeable to piety so to do; and this he did, notwithstanding that he
had his father as a most excellent and domestic pattern of virtue, and
knew what a glorious character he had left behind him, because of his
piety towards God. Nor did he imitate David, although God had twice
appeared to him in his sleep, and exhorted him to imitate his father. So
he died ingloriously. There came therefore a prophet to him, who was sent
by God, and told him that his wicked actions were not concealed from God;
and threatened him that he should not long rejoice in what he had done;
that, indeed, the kingdom should not be taken from him while he was alive,
because God had promised to his father David that he would make him his
successor, but that he would take care that this should befall his son
when he was dead; not that he would withdraw all the people from him, but
that he would give ten tribes to a servant of his, and leave only two
tribes to David’s grandson for his sake, because he loved God, and for the
sake of the city of Jerusalem, wherein he should have a temple.
6. When Solomon heard this he was grieved, and greatly confounded, upon
this change of almost all that happiness which had made him to be admired,
into so bad a state; nor had there much time passed after the prophet had
foretold what was coming before God raised up an enemy against him, whose
name was Ader, who took the following occasion of his enmity to him. He
was a child of the stock of the Edomites, and of the blood royal; and when
Joab, the captain of David’s host, laid waste the land of Edom, and
destroyed all that were men grown, and able to bear arms, for six months’
time, this Hadad fled away, and came to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, who
received him kindly, and assigned him a house to dwell in, and a country
to supply him with food; and when he was grown up he loved him
exceedingly, insomuch that he gave him his wife’s sister, whose name was
Tahpenes, to wife, by whom he had a son; who was brought up with the
king’s children. When Hadad heard in Egypt that both David and Joab were
dead, he came to Pharaoh, and desired that he would permit him to go to
his own country; upon which the king asked what it was that he wanted, and
what hardship he had met with, that he was so desirous to leave him. And
when he was often troublesome to him, and entreated him to dismiss him, he
did not then do it; but at the time when Solomon’s affairs began to grow
worse, on account of his forementioned transgressions 21
and God’s anger against him for the same, Hadad, by Pharaoh’s permission,
came to Edom; and when he was not able to make the people forsake Solomon,
for it was kept under by many garrisons, and an innovation was not to be
made with safety, he removed thence, and came into Syria; there he lighted
upon one Rezon, who had run away from Hadadezer, king of Zobah, his
master, and was become a robber in that country, and joined friendship
with him, who had already a band of robbers about him. So he went up, and
seized upon that part of Syria, and was made king thereof. He also made
incursions into the land of Israel, and did it no small mischief, and
spoiled it, and that in the lifetime of Solomon. And this was the calamity
which the Hebrews suffered by Hadad.
7. There was also one of Solomon’s own nation that made an attempt against
him, Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had an expectation of rising, from a
prophecy that had been made to him long before. He was left a child by his
father, and brought up by his mother; and when Solomon saw that he was of
an active and bold disposition, he made him the curator of the walls which
he built round about Jerusalem; and he took such care of those works, that
the king approved of his behavior, and gave him, as a reward for the same,
the charge of the tribe of Joseph. And when about that time Jeroboam was
once going out of Jerusalem, a prophet of the city Shilo, whose name was
Ahijah, met him and saluted him; and when he had taken him a little aside
to a place out of the way, where there was not one other person present,
he rent the garment he had on into twelve pieces, and bid Jeroboam take
ten of them; and told him beforehand, that “this is the will of God; he
will part the dominion of Solomon, and give one tribe, with that which is
next it, to his son, because of the promise made to David for his
succession, and will have ten tribes to thee, because Solomon hath sinned
against him, and delivered up himself to women, and to their gods. Seeing
therefore thou knowest the cause for which God hath changed his mind, and
is alienated from Solomon, be thou….”
8. So Jeroboam was elevated by these words of the prophet; and being a
young man, 22 of a warm temper, and ambitious
of greatness, he could not be quiet; and when he had so great a charge in
the government, and called to mind what had been revealed to him by
Ahijah, he endeavored to persuade the people to forsake Solomon, to make a
disturbance, and to bring the government over to himself. But when Solomon
understood his intention and treachery, he sought to catch him and kill
him; but Jeroboam was informed of it beforehand, and fled to Shishak, the
king of Egypt, and there abode till the death of Solomon; by which means
he gained these two advantages to suffer no harm from Solomon, and to be
preserved for the kingdom. So Solomon died when he was already an old man,
having reigned eighty years, and lived ninety-four. He was buried in
Jerusalem, having been superior to all other kings in happiness, and
riches, and wisdom, excepting that when he was growing into years he was
deluded by women, and transgressed the law; concerning which
transgressions, and the miseries which befell the Hebrews thereby, I think
proper to discourse at another opportunity.
CHAPTER 8. How, Upon The Death Of Solomon The People Forsook His Son
Rehoboam, And Ordained Jeroboam King Over The Ten Tribes.
1. Now when Solomon was dead, and his son Rehoboam [who was born of an
Ammonite wife; whose name was Naamah] had succeeded him in the kingdom,
the rulers of the multitude sent immediately into Egypt, and called back
Jeroboam; and when he was come to them, to the city Shethem, Rehoboam came
to it also, for he had resolved to declare himself king to the Israelites
while they were there gathered together. So the rulers of the people, as
well as Jeroboam, came to him, and besought him, and said that he ought to
relax, and to be gentler than his father, in the servitude he had imposed
on them, because they had borne a heavy yoke, and that then they should be
better affected to him, and be well contented to serve him under his
moderate government, and should do it more out of love than fear. But
Rehoboam told them they should come to him again in three days’ time, when
he would give an answer to their request. This delay gave occasion to a
present suspicion, since he had not given them a favorable answer to their
mind immediately; for they thought that he should have given them a humane
answer off-hand, especially since he was but young. However, they thought
that this consultation about it, and that he did not presently give them a
denial, afforded them some good hope of success.
2. Rehoboam now called his father’s friends, and advised with them what
sort of answer he ought to give to the multitude; upon which they gave him
the advice which became friends, and those that knew the temper of such a
multitude. They advised him to speak in a way more popular than suited the
grandeur of a king, because he would thereby oblige them to submit to him
with goodwill, it being most agreeable to subjects that their kings should
be almost upon the level with them. But Rehoboam rejected this so good,
and in general so profitable, advice, [it was such, at least, at that time
when he was to be made king,] God himself, I suppose, causing what was
most advantageous to be condemned by him. So he called for the young men
who were brought up with him, and told them what advice the elders had
given him, and bade them speak what they thought he ought to do. They
advised him to give the following answer to the people [for neither their
youth nor God himself suffered them to discern what was best]: That his
little finger should be thicker than his father’s loins; and if they had
met with hard usage from his father, they should experience much rougher
treatment from him; and if his father had chastised them with whips, they
must expect that he would do it with scorpions. 23 The king
was pleased with this advice, and thought it agreeable to the dignity of
his government to give them such an answer. Accordingly, when the
multitude was come together to hear his answer on the third day, all the
people were in great expectation, and very intent to hear what the king
would say to them, and supposed they should hear somewhat of a kind
nature; but he passed by his friends, and answered as the young men had
given him counsel. Now this was done according to the will of God, that
what Ahijah had foretold might come to pass.
3. By these words the people were struck as it were by an iron hammer,
and were so grieved at the words, as if they had already felt the effects
of them; and they had great indignation at the king; and all cried out
aloud, and said, “We will have no longer any relation to David or his
posterity after this day.” And they said further, “We only leave to
Rehoboam the temple which his father built;” and they threatened to
forsake him. Nay, they were so bitter, and retained their wrath so long,
that when he sent Adoram, which was over the tribute, that he might pacify
them, and render them milder, and persuade them to forgive him, if he had
said any thing that was rash or grievous to them in his youth, they would
not hear it, but threw stones at him, and killed him. When Rehoboam saw
this, he thought himself aimed at by those stones with which they had
killed his servant, and feared lest he should undergo the last of
punishments in earnest; so he got immediately into his chariot, and fled
to Jerusalem, where the tribe of Judah and that of Benjamin ordained him
king; but the rest of the multitude forsook the sons of David from that
day, and appointed Jeroboam to be the ruler of their public affairs. Upon
this Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, assembled a great congregation of those two
tribes that submitted to him, and was ready to take a hundred and eighty
thousand chosen men out of the army, to make an expedition against
Jeroboam and his people, that he might force them by war to be his
servants; but he was forbidden of God by the prophet [Shemaiah] to go to
war, for that it was not just that brethren of the same country should
fight one against another. He also said that this defection of the
multitude was according to the purpose of God. So he did not proceed in
this expedition. And now I will relate first the actions of Jeroboam the
king of Israel, after which we will relate what are therewith connected,
the actions of Rehoboam, the king of the two tribes; by this means we
shall preserve the good order of the history entire.
4. When therefore Jeroboam had built him a palace in the city Shechem, he
dwelt there. He also built him another at Penuel, a city so called. And
now the feast of tabernacles was approaching in a little time, Jeroboam
considered, that if he should permit the multitude to go to worship God at
Jerusalem, and there to celebrate the festival, they would probably repent
of what they had done, and be enticed by the temple, and by the worship of
God there performed, and would leave him, and return to their first kings;
and if so, he should run the risk of losing his own life; so he invented
this contrivance; He made two golden heifers, and built two little temples
for them, the one in the city Bethel, and the other in Dan, which last was
at the fountains of the Lesser Jordan 24 and he
put the heifers into both the little temples, in the forementioned cities.
And when he had called those ten tribes together over whom he ruled, he
made a speech to the people in these words: “I suppose, my countrymen,
that you know this, that every place hath God in it; nor is there any one
determinate place in which he is, but he every where hears and sees those
that worship him; on which account I do not think it right for you to go
so long a journey to Jerusalem, which is an enemy’s city, to worship him.
It was a man that built the temple: I have also made two golden heifers,
dedicated to the same God; and the one of them I have consecrated in the
city Bethel, and the other in Dan, to the end that those of you that dwell
nearest those cities may go to them, and worship God there; and I will
ordain for you certain priests and Levites from among yourselves, that you
may have no want of the tribe of Levi, or of the sons of Aaron; but let
him that is desirous among you of being a priest, bring to God a bullock
and a ram, which they say Aaron the first priest brought also.” When
Jeroboam had said this, he deluded the people, and made them to revolt
from the worship of their forefathers, and to transgress their laws. This
was the beginning of miseries to the Hebrews, and the cause why they were
overcome in war by foreigners, and so fell into captivity. But we shall
relate those things in their proper places hereafter.
5. When the feast [of tabernacles] was just approaching, Jeroboam was
desirous to celebrate it himself in Bethel, as did the two tribes
celebrate it in Jerusalem. Accordingly he built an altar before the
heifer, and undertook to be high priest himself. So he went up to the
altar, with his own priests about him; but when he was going to offer the
sacrifices and the burnt-offerings, in the sight of all the people, a
prophet, whose name was Jadon, was sent by God, and came to him from
Jerusalem, who stood in the midst of the multitude, and in the ‘hearing
of’ the king, and directing his discourse to the altar, said thus: “God
foretells that there shall be a certain man of the family of David, Josiah
by name, who shall slay upon thee those false priests that shall live at
that time, and upon thee shall burn the bones of those deceivers of the
people, those impostors’ and wicked wretches. However, that this people
may believe that these things shall so come to pass, I foretell a sign to
them that shall also come to pass. This altar shall be broken to pieces
immediately, and all the fat of the sacrifices that is upon it shall be
poured upon the ground.” When the prophet had said this, Jeroboam fell
into a passion, and stretched out his hand, and bid them lay hold of him;
but that hand which he stretched out was enfeebled, and he was not able to
pull it in again to him, for it was become withered, and hung down, as if
it were a dead hand. The altar also was broken to pieces, and all that was
upon it was poured out, as the prophet had foretold should come to pass.
So the king understood that he was a man of veracity, and had a Divine
foreknowledge; and entreated him to pray to God that he would restore his
right hand. Accordingly the prophet did pray to God to grant him that
request. So the king, having his hand recovered to its natural state,
rejoiced at it, and invited the prophet to sup with him; but Jadon said
that he could not endure to come into his house, nor to taste of bread or
water in this city, for that was a thing God had forbidden him to do; as
also to go back by the same way which he came, but he said he was to
return by another way. So the king wondered at the abstinence of the man,
but was himself in fear, as suspecting a change of his affairs for the
worse, from what had been said to him.
CHAPTER 9. How Jadon The Prophet Was Persuaded By Another Lying Prophet
And Returned [To Bethel,] And Was Afterwards Slain By A Lion. As Also What
Words The Wicked Prophet Made Use Of To Persuade The King, And Thereby
Alienated His Mind From God.
1. Now there was a certain wicked man in that city, who was a false
prophet, whom Jeroboam had in great esteem, but was deceived by him and
his flattering words. This man was bedrid, by reason or the infirmities of
old age: however, he was informed by his sons concerning the prophet that
was come from Jerusalem, and concerning the signs done by him; and how,
when Jeroboam’s right hand had been enfeebled, at the prophet’s prayer he
had it revived again. Whereupon he was afraid that this stranger and
prophet should be in better esteem with the king than himself, and obtain
greater honor from him: and he gave orders to his sons to saddle his ass
presently, and make all ready that he might go out. Accordingly they made
haste to do what they were commanded, and he got upon the ass and followed
after the prophet; and when he had overtaken him, as he was resting
himself under a very large oak tree that was thick and shady, he at first
saluted him, but presently he complained of him, because he had not come
into his house, and partaken of his hospitality. And when the other said
that God had forbidden him to taste of any one’s provision in that city,
he replied, that “for certain God had not forbidden that I should set food
before thee, for I am a prophet as thou art, and worship God in the same
manner that thou dost; and I am now come as sent by him, in order to bring
thee into my house, and make thee my guest.” Now Jadon gave credit to this
lying prophet, and returned back with him. But when they were at dinner,
and merry together, God appeared to Jadon, and said that he should suffer
punishment for transgressing his commands,—and he told him what that
punishment should be for he said that he should meet with a lion as he was
going on his way, by which lion he should be torn in pieces, and be
deprived of burial in the sepulchers of his fathers; which things came to
pass, as I suppose, according to the will of God, that so Jeroboam might
not give heed to the words of Jadon as of one that had been convicted of
lying. However, as Jadon was again going to Jerusalem, a lion assaulted
him, and pulled him off the beast he rode on, and slew him; yet did he not
at all hurt the ass, but sat by him, and kept him, as also the prophet’s
body. This continued till some travelers that saw it came and told it in
the city to the false prophet, who sent his sons, and brought the body
unto the city, and made a funeral for him at great expense. He also
charged his sons to bury himself with him and said that all which he had
foretold against that city, and the altar, and priests, and false
prophets, would prove true; and that if he were buried with him, he should
receive no injurious treatment after his death, the bones not being then
to be distinguished asunder. But now, when he had performed those funeral
rites to the prophet, and had given that charge to his sons, as he was a
wicked and an impious man, he goes to Jeroboam, and says to him, “And
wherefore is it now that thou art disturbed at the words of this silly
fellow?” And when the king had related to him what had happened about the
altar, and about his own hand, and gave him the names of divine man, and
an excellent prophet, he endeavored by a wicked trick to weaken that his
opinion; and by using plausible words concerning what had happened, he
aimed to injure the truth that was in them; for he attempted to persuade
him that his hand was enfeebled by the labor it had undergone in
supporting the sacrifices, and that upon its resting awhile it returned to
its former nature again; and that as to the altar, it was but new, and had
borne abundance of sacrifices, and those large ones too, and was
accordingly broken to pieces, and fallen down by the weight of what had
been laid upon it. He also informed him of the death of him that had
foretold those things, and how he perished; [whence he concluded that] he
had not any thing in him of a prophet, nor spake any thing like one. When
he had thus spoken, he persuaded the king, and entirely alienated his mind
from God, and from doing works that were righteous and holy, and
encouraged him to go on in his impious practices 25 and
accordingly he was to that degree injurious to God, and so great a
transgressor, that he sought for nothing else every day but how he might
be guilty of some new instances of wickedness, and such as should be more
detestable than what he had been so insolent as to do before. And so much
shall at present suffice to have said concerning Jeroboam.
CHAPTER 10. Concerning Rehoboam, And How God Inflicted Punishment Upon Him
For His Impiety By Shishak [King Of Egypt].
1. Now Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, who, as we said before, was king of
the two tribes, built strong and large cities, Bethlehem, and Etare, and
Tekoa, and Bethzur, and Shoco, and Adullam, and Ipan, and Maresha, and
Ziph, and Adorlam, and Lachlsh, and Azekah, and Zorah, and Aijalon, and
Hebron; these he built first of all in the tribe of Judah. He also built
other large cities in the tribe of Benjamin, and walled them about, and
put garrisons in them all, and captains, and a great deal of corn, and
wine, and oil, and he furnished every one of them plentifully with other
provisions that were necessary for sustenance; moreover, he put therein
shields and spears for many ten thousand men. The priests also that were
in all Israel, and the Levites, and if there were any of the multitude
that were good and righteous men, they gathered themselves together to
him, having left their own cities, that they might worship God in
Jerusalem; for they were not willing to be forced to worship the heifers
which Jeroboam had made; and they augmented the kingdom of Rehoboam for
three years. And after he had married a woman of his own kindred, and had
by her three children born to him, he married also another of his own
kindred, who was daughter of Absalom by Tamar, whose name was Maachah, and
by her he had a son, whom he named Abijah. He had moreover many other
children by other wives, but he loved Maachah above them all. Now he had
eighteen legitimate wives, and thirty concubines; and he had born to him
twenty-eight sons and threescore daughters; but he appointed Abijah, whom
he had by Maachah, to be his successor in the kingdom, and intrusted him
already with the treasures and the strongest cities.
2. Now I cannot but think that the greatness of a kingdom, and its change
into prosperity, often become the occasion of mischief and of
transgression to men; for when Rehoboam saw that his kingdom was so much
increased, he went out of the right way unto unrighteous and irreligious
practices, and he despised the worship of God, till the people themselves
imitated his wicked actions: for so it usually happens, that the manners
of subjects are corrupted at the same time with those of their governors,
which subjects then lay aside their own sober way of living, as a reproof
of their governors’ intemperate courses, and follow their wickedness as if
it were virtue; for it is not possible to show that men approve of the
actions of their kings, unless they do the same actions with them.
Agreeable whereto it now happened to the subjects of Rehoboam; for when he
was grown impious, and a transgressor himself, they endeavored not to
offend him by resolving still to be righteous. But God sent Shishak, king
of Egypt, to punish them for their unjust behavior towards him, concerning
whom Herodotus was mistaken, and applied his actions to Sesostris; for
this Shishak, 26 in the fifth year of the reign
of Rehoboam, made an expedition [into Judea] with many ten thousand men;
for he had one thousand two hundred chariots in number that followed him,
and threescore thousand horsemen, and four hundred thousand footmen. These
he brought with him, and they were the greatest part of them Libyans and
Ethiopians. Now therefore when he fell upon the country of the Hebrews, he
took the strongest cities of Rehoboam’s kingdom without fighting; and when
he had put garrisons in them, he came last of all to Jerusalem.
3. Now when Rehoboam, and the multitude with him, were shut up in
Jerusalem by the means of the army of Shishak, and when they besought God
to give them victory and deliverance, they could not persuade God to be on
their side. But Shemaiah the prophet told them, that God threatened to
forsake them, as they had themselves forsaken his worship. When they heard
this, they were immediately in a consternation of mind; and seeing no way
of deliverance, they all earnestly set themselves to confess that God
might justly overlook them, since they had been guilty of impiety towards
him, and had let his laws lie in confusion. So when God saw them in that
disposition, and that they acknowledge their sins, he told the prophet
that he would not destroy them, but that he would, however, make them
servants to the Egyptians, that they may learn whether they will suffer
less by serving men or God. So when Shishak had taken the city without
fighting, because Rehoboam was afraid, and received him into it, yet did
not Shishak stand to the covenants he had made, but he spoiled the temple,
and emptied the treasures of God, and those of the king, and carried off
innumerable ten thousands of gold and silver, and left nothing at all
behind him. He also took away the bucklers of gold, and the shields, which
Solomon the king had made; nay, he did not leave the golden quivers which
David had taken from the king of Zobah, and had dedicated to God; and when
he had thus done, he returned to his own kingdom. Now Herodotus of
Halicarnassus mentions this expedition, having only mistaken the king’s
name; and [in saying that] he made war upon many other nations also, and
brought Syria of Palestine into subjection, and took the men that were
therein prisoners without fighting. Now it is manifest that he intended to
declare that our nation was subdued by him; for he saith that he left
behind him pillars in the land of those that delivered themselves up to
him without fighting, and engraved upon them the secret parts of women.
Now our king Rehoboam delivered up our city without fighting. He says
withal 27
that the Ethiopians learned to circumcise their privy parts from the
Egyptians, with this addition, that the Phoenicians and Syrians that live
in Palestine confess that they learned it of the Egyptians. Yet it is
evident that no other of the Syrians that live in Palestine, besides us
alone, are circumcised. But as to such matters, let every one speak what
is agreeable to his own opinion.
4. When Shishak was gone away, king Rehoboam made bucklers and shields of
brass, instead of those of gold, and delivered the same number of them to
the keepers of the king’s palace. So, instead of warlike expeditions, and
that glory which results from those public actions, he reigned in great
quietness, though not without fear, as being always an enemy to Jeroboam,
and he died when he had lived fifty-seven years, and reigned seventeen. He
was in his disposition a proud and a foolish man, and lost [part of his]
dominions by not hearkening to his father’s friends. He was buried in
Jerusalem, in the sepulchers of the kings; and his son Abijah succeeded
him in the kingdom, and this in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam’s reign
over the ten tribes; and this was the conclusion of these affairs. It must
be now our business to relate the affairs of Jeroboam, and how he ended
his life; for he ceased not nor rested to be injurious to God, but every
day raised up altars upon high mountains, and went on making priests out
of the multitude.
CHAPTER 11. Concerning The Death Of A Son Of Jeroboam. How Jeroboam Was
Beaten By Abijah Who Died A Little Afterward And Was Succeeded In His
Kingdom By Asa. And Also How, After The Death Of Jeroboam Baasha Destroyed
His Son Nadab And All The House Of Jeroboam.
1. However, God was in no long time ready to return Jeroboam’s wicked
actions, and the punishment they deserved, upon his own head, and upon the
heads of all his house. And whereas a son of his lay sick at that time,
who was called Abijah, he enjoined his wife to lay aside her robes, and to
take the garments belonging to a private person, and to go to Abijah the
prophet, for that he was a wonderful man in foretelling futurities, it
having been he who told me that I should be king. He also enjoined her,
when she came to him, to inquire concerning the child, as if she were a
stranger, whether he should escape this distemper. So she did as her
husband bade her, and changed her habit, and came to the city Shiloh, for
there did Ahijah live. And as she was going into his house, his eyes being
then dim with age, God appeared to him, and informed him of two things;
that the wife of Jeroboam was come to him, and what answer he should make
to her inquiry. Accordingly, as the woman was coming into the house like a
private person and a stranger, he cried out, “Come in, O thou wife of
Jeroboam! Why concealest thou thyself? Thou art not concealed from God,
who hath appeared to me, and informed me that thou wast coming, and hath
given me in command what I shall say to thee.” So he said that she should
go away to her husband, and speak to him thus: “Since I made thee a great
man when thou wast little, or rather wast nothing, and rent the kingdom
from the house of David, and gave it to thee, and thou hast been unmindful
of these benefits, hast left off my worship, hast made thee molten gods
and honored them, I will in like manner cast thee down again, and will
destroy all thy house, and make them food for the dogs and the fowls; for
a certain king is rising up, by appointment, over all this people, who
shall leave none of the family of Jeroboam remaining. The multitude also
shall themselves partake of the same punishment, and shall be cast out of
this good land, and shall be scattered into the places beyond Euphrates,
because they have followed the wicked practices of their king, and have
worshipped the gods that he made, and forsaken my sacrifices. But do thou,
O woman, make haste back to thy husband, and tell him this message; but
thou shalt then find thy son dead, for as thou enterest the city he shall
depart this life; yet shall he be buried with the lamentation of all the
multitude, and honored with a general mourning, for he was the only person
of goodness of Jeroboam’s family.” When the prophet had foretold these
events, the woman went hastily away with a disordered mind, and greatly
grieved at the death of the forenamed child. So she was in lamentation as
she went along the road, and mourned for the death of her son, that was
just at hand. She was indeed in a miserable condition at the unavoidable
misery of his death, and went apace, but in circumstances very
unfortunate, because of her son: for the greater haste she made, she would
the sooner see her son dead, yet was she forced to make such haste on
account of her husband. Accordingly, when she was come back, she found
that the child had given up the ghost, as the prophet had said; and she
related all the circumstances to the king.
2. Yet did not Jeroboam lay any of these things to heart, but he brought
together a very numerous army, and made a warlike expedition against
Abijah, the son of Rehoboam, who had succeeded his father in the kingdom
of the two tribes; for he despised him because of his age. But when he
heard of the expedition of Jeroboam, he was not affrighted at it, but
proved of a courageous temper of mind, superior both to his youth and to
the hopes of his enemy; so he chose him an army out of the two tribes, and
met Jeroboam at a place called Mount Zemaraim, and pitched his camp near
the other, and prepared everything necessary for the fight. His army
consisted of four hundred thousand, but the army of Jeroboam was double to
it. Now as the armies stood in array, ready for action and dangers, and
were just going to fight, Abijah stood upon an elevated place, and
beckoning with his hand, he desired the multitude and Jeroboam himself to
hear first with silence what he had to say. And when silence was made, he
began to speak, and told them,—”God had consented that David and his
posterity should be their rulers for all time to come, and this you
yourselves are not unacquainted with; but I cannot but wonder how you
should forsake my father, and join yourselves to his servant Jeroboam, and
are now here with him to fight against those who, by God’s own
determination, are to reign, and to deprive them of that dominion which
they have still retained; for as to the greater part of it, Jeroboam is
unjustly in possession of it. However, I do not suppose he will enjoy it
any longer; but when he hath suffered that punishment which God thinks due
to him for what is past, he will leave off the transgressions he hath been
guilty of, and the injuries he hath offered to him, and which he hath
still continued to offer and hath persuaded you to do the same: yet when
you were not any further unjustly treated by my father, than that he did
not speak to you so as to please you, and this only in compliance with the
advice of wicked men, you in anger forsook him, as you pretended, but, in
reality, you withdrew yourselves from God, and from his laws, although it
had been right for you to have forgiven a man that was young in age, and
not used to govern people, not only some disagreeable words, but if his
youth and unskilfulness in affairs had led him into some unfortunate
actions, and that for the sake of his father Solomon, and the benefits you
received from him; for men ought to excuse the sins of posterity on
account of the benefactions of parent; but you considered nothing of all
this then, neither do you consider it now, but come with so great an army
against us. And what is it you depend upon for victory? Is it upon these
golden heifers, and the altars that you have on high places, which are
demonstrations of your impiety, and not of religious worship? Or is it the
exceeding multitude of your army which gives you such good hopes? Yet
certainly there is no strength at all in an army of many ten thousands,
when the war is unjust; for we ought to place our surest hopes of success
against our enemies in righteousness alone, and in piety towards God;
which hope we justly have, since we have kept the laws from the beginning,
and have worshipped our own God, who was not made by hands out of
corruptible matter; nor was he formed by a wicked king, in order to
deceive the multitude; but who is his own workmanship, 28
and the beginning and end of all things. I therefore give you counsel even
now to repent, and to take better advice, and to leave off the prosecution
of the war; to call to mind the laws of your country, and to reflect what
it hath been that hath advanced you to so happy a state as you are now
in.”
3. This was the speech which Abijah made to the multitude. But while he
was still speaking Jeroboam sent some of his soldiers privately to
encompass Abijab round about, on certain parts of the camp that were not
taken notice of; and when he was thus within the compass of the enemy, his
army was affrighted, and their courage failed them; but Abijah encouraged
them, and exhorted them to place their hopes on God, for that he was not
encompassed by the enemy. So they all at once implored the Divine
assistance, while the priests sounded with the trumpet, and they made a
shout, and fell upon their enemies, and God brake the courage and cast
down the force of their enemies, and made Ahijah’s army superior to them;
for God vouchsafed to grant them a wonderful and very famous victory; and
such a slaughter was now made of Jeroboam’s army 29 as is
never recorded to have happened in any other war, whether it were of the
Greeks or of the Barbarians, for they overthrew [and slew] five hundred
thousand of their enemies, and they took their strongest cities by force,
and spoiled them; and besides those, they did the same to Bethel and her
towns, and Jeshanah and her towns. And after this defeat Jeroboam never
recovered himself during the life of Abijah, who yet did not long survive,
for he reigned but three years, and was buried in Jerusalem in the
sepulchers of his forefathers. He left behind him twenty-two sons, and
sixteen daughters; and he had also those children by fourteen wives; and
Asa his son succeeded in the kingdom; and the young man’s mother was
Michaiah. Under his reign the country of the Israelites enjoyed peace for
ten years.
4. And so far concerning Abijah, the son of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon,
as his history hath come down to us. But Jeroboam, the king of the ten
tribes, died when he had governed them two and twenty years; whose son
Nadab succeeded him, in the second year of the reign of Asa. Now
Jeroboam’s son governed two years, and resembled his father in impiety and
wickedness. In these two years he made an expedition against Gibbethon, a
city of the Philistines, and continued the siege in order to take it; but
he was conspired against while he was there by a friend of his, whose name
was Baasha, the son of Ahijah, and was slain; which Baasha took the
kingdom after the other’s death, and destroyed the whole house of
Jeroboam. It also came to pass, according as God had foretold, that some
of Jeroboam’s kindred that died in the city were torn to pieces and
devoured by dogs, and that others of them that died in the fields were
torn and devoured by the fowls. So the house of Jeroboam suffered the just
punishment of his impiety, and of his wicked actions.
CHAPTER 12. How Zerah, King Of The Ethiopians, Was Beaten By Asa; And How
Asa, Upon Baasha’s Making War Against Him, Invited The King Of The
Damascens To Assist Him; And How, On The Destruction Of The House Of
Baasha Zimri Got The Kingdom As Did His Son Ahab After Him.
1. Now Asa, the king of Jerusalem, was of an excellent character, and had
a regard to God, and neither did nor designed any thing but what had
relation to the observation of the laws. He made a reformation of his
kingdom, and cut off whatsoever was wicked therein, and purified it from
every impurity. Now he had an army of chosen men that were armed with
targets and spears; out of the tribe of Judah three hundred thousand; and
out of the tribe of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew bows, two hundred
and fifty thousand. But when he had already reigned ten years, Zerah, king
of Ethiopia, 30 made an expedition against him,
with a great army, of nine hundred thousand footmen, and one hundred
thousand horsemen, and three hundred chariots, and came as far as
Mareshah, a city that belonged to the tribe of Judah. Now when Zerah had
passed so far with his own army, Asa met him, and put his army in array
over against him, in a valley called Zephathah, not far from the city; and
when he saw the multitude of the Ethiopians, he cried out, and besought
God to give him the victory, and that he might kill many ten thousands of
the enemy: “For,” said he, 31 “I depend on nothing else but
that assistance which I expect from thee, which is able to make the fewer
superior to the more numerous, and the weaker to the stronger; and thence
it is alone that I venture to meet Zerah, and fight him.”
2. While Asa was saying this, God gave him a signal of victory, and
joining battle cheerfully on account of what God had foretold about it, he
slew a great many of the Ethiopians; and when he had put them to flight,
he pursued them to the country of Gerar; and when they left off killing
their enemies, they betook themselves to spoiling them, [for the city
Gerar was already taken,] and to spoiling their camp, so that they carried
off much gold, and much silver, and a great deal of [other] prey, and
camels, and great cattle, and flocks of sheep. Accordingly, when Asa and
his army had obtained such a victory, and such wealth from God, they
returned to Jerusalem. Now as they were coming, a prophet, whose name was
Azariah, met them on the road, and bade them stop their journey a little;
and began to say to them thus: That the reason why they had obtained this
victory from God was this, that they had showed themselves righteous and
religious men, and had done every thing according to the will of God; that
therefore, he said, if they persevered therein, God would grant that they
should always overcome their enemies, and live happily; but that if they
left off his worship, all things shall fall out on the contrary; and a
time should come, wherein no true prophet shall be left in your whole
multitude, nor a priest who shall deliver you a true answer from the
oracle; but your cities shall be overthrown, and your nation scattered
over the whole earth, and live the life of strangers and wanderers. So he
advised them, while they had time, to be good, and not to deprive
themselves of the favor of God. When the king and the people heard this,
they rejoiced; and all in common, and every one in particular, took great
care to behave themselves righteously. The king also sent some to take
care that those in the country should observe the laws also.
3. And this was the state of Asa, king of the two tribes. I now return to
Baasha, the king of the multitude of the Israelites, who slew Nadab, the
son of Jeroboam, and retained the government. He dwelt in the city Tirzah,
having made that his habitation, and reigned twenty-four years. He became
more wicked and impious than Jeroboam or his son. He did a great deal of
mischief to the multitude, and was injurious to God, who sent the prophet
Jehu, and told him beforehand that his whole family should be destroyed,
and that he would bring the same miseries on his house which had brought
that of Jeroboam to ruin; because when he had been made king by him, he
had not requited his kindness, by governing the multitude righteously and
religiously; which things, in the first place, tended to their own
happiness, and, in the next place, were pleasing to God: that he had
imitated this very wicked king Jeroboam; and although that man’s soul had
perished, yet did he express to the life his wickedness; and he said that
he should therefore justly experience the like calamity with him, since he
had been guilty of the like wickedness. But Baasha, though he heard
beforehand what miseries would befall him and his whole family for their
insolent behavior, yet did not he leave off his wicked practices for the
time to come, nor did he care to appear other than worse and worse till he
died; nor did he then repent of his past actions, nor endeavor to obtain
pardon of God for them, but did as those do who have rewards proposed to
them, when they have once in earnest set about their work, they do not
leave off their labors; for thus did Baasha, when the prophet foretold to
him what would come to pass, grow worse, as if what were threatened, the
perdition of his family, and the destruction of his house, [which are
really among the greatest of evils,] were good things; and, as if he were
a combatant for wickedness, he every day took more and more pains for it:
and at last he took his army and assaulted a certain considerable city
called Ramah, which was forty furlongs distant from Jerusalem; and when he
had taken it, he fortified it, having determined beforehand to leave a
garrison in it, that they might thence make excursions, and do mischief to
the kingdom of Asa.
4. Whereupon Asa was afraid of the attempts the enemy might make upon him;
and considering with himself how many mischiefs this army that was left in
Ramah might do to the country over which he reigned, he sent ambassadors
to the king of the Damascenes, with gold and silver, desiring his
assistance, and putting him in mind that we have had a friendship together
from the times of our forefathers. So he gladly received that sum of
money, and made a league with him, and broke the friendship he had with
Baasha, and sent the commanders of his own forces unto the cities that
were under Baasha’s dominion, and ordered them to do them mischief. So
they went and burnt some of them, and spoiled others; Ijon, and Dan, and
Abelmain 32 and many others. Now when the
king of Israel heard this, he left off building and fortifying Ramah, and
returned presently to assist his own people under the distresses they were
in; but Asa made use of the materials that were prepared for building that
city, for building in the same place two strong cities, the one of which
was called Geba, and the other Mizpah; so that after this Baasha had no
leisure to make expeditions against Asa, for he was prevented by death,
and was buried in the city Tirzah; and Elah his son took the kingdom, who,
when he had reigned two years, died, being treacherously slain by Zimri,
the captain of half his army; for when he was at Arza, his steward’s
house, he persuaded some of the horsemen that were under him to assault
Elah, and by that means he slew him when he was without his armed men and
his captains, for they were all busied in the siege of Gibbethon, a city
of the Philistines.
5. When Zimri, the captain of the army, had killed Elah, he took the
kingdom himself, and, according to Jehu’s prophecy, slew all the house of
Baasha; for it came to pass that Baasha’s house utterly perished, on
account of his impiety, in the same manner as we have already described
the destruction of the house of Jeroboam. But the army that was besieging
Gibbethon, when they heard what had befallen the king, and that when Zimri
had killed him, he had gained the kingdom, they made Omri their general
king, who drew off his army from Gibbethon, and came to Tirzah, where the
royal palace was, and assaulted the city, and took it by force. But when
Zimri saw that the city had none to defend it, he fled into the inmost
part of the palace, and set it on fire, and burnt himself with it, when he
had reigned only seven days. Upon which the people of Israel were
presently divided, and part of them would have Tibni to be king, and part
Omri; but when those that were for Omri’s ruling had beaten Tibni, Omri
reigned over all the multitude. Now it was in the thirtieth year of the
reign of Asa that Omri reigned for twelve years; six of these years he
reigned in the city Tirzah, and the rest in the city called Semareon, but
named by the Greeks Samaria; but he himself called it Semareon, from
Semer, who sold him the mountain whereon he built it. Now Omri was no way
different from those kings that reigned before him, but that he grew worse
than they, for they all sought how they might turn the people away from
God by their daily wicked practices; and on that account it was that God
made one of them to be slain by another, and that no one person of their
families should remain. This Omri also died in Samaria and Ahab his son
succeeded him.
6. Now by these events we may learn what concern God hath for the affairs
of mankind, and how he loves good men, and hates the wicked, and destroys
them root and branch; for many of these kings of Israel, they and their
families, were miserably destroyed, and taken away one by another, in a
short time, for their transgression and wickedness; but Asa, who was king
of Jerusalem, and of the two tribes, attained, by God’s blessing, a long
and a blessed old age, for his piety and righteousness, and died happily,
when he had reigned forty and one years; and when he was dead, his son
Jehoshaphat succeeded him in the government. He was born of Asa’s wife
Azubah. And all men allowed that he followed the works of David his
forefather, and this both in courage and piety; but we are not obliged now
to speak any more of the affairs of this king.
CHAPTER 13. How Ahab When He Had Taken Jezebel To Wife Became More Wicked
Than All The Kings That Had Been Before Him; Of The Actions Of The Prophet
Elijah, And What Befell Naboth.
1. Now Ahab the king of Israel dwelt in Samaria, and held the government
for twenty-two years; and made no alteration in the conduct of the kings
that were his predecessors, but only in such things as were of his own
invention for the worse, and in his most gross wickedness. He imitated
them in their wicked courses, and in their injurious behavior towards God,
and more especially he imitated the transgression of Jeroboam; for he
worshipped the heifers that he had made; and he contrived other absurd
objects of worship besides those heifers: he also took to wife the
daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Tyrians and Sidonians, whose name was
Jezebel, of whom he learned to worship her own gods. This woman was active
and bold, and fell into so great a degree of impurity and madness, that
she built a temple to the god of the Tyrians, Which they call Belus, and
planted a grove of all sorts of trees; she also appointed priests and
false prophets to this god. The king also himself had many such about him,
and so exceeded in madness and wickedness all [the kings] that went before
him.
2. There was now a prophet of God Almighty, of Thesbon, a country in
Gilead, that came to Ahab, and said to him, that God foretold he would not
send rain nor dew in those years upon the country but when he should
appear. And when he had confirmed this by an oath, he departed into the
southern parts, and made his abode by a brook, out of which he had water
to drink; for as for his food, ravens brought it to him every day: but
when that river was dried up for want of rain, he came to Zarephath, a
city not far from Sidon and Tyre, for it lay between them, and this at the
command of God, for [God told him] that he should there find a woman who
was a widow that should give him sustenance. So when he was not far off
the city, he saw a woman that labored with her own hands, gathering of
sticks: so God informed him that this was the woman who was to give him
sustenance. So he came and saluted her, and desired her to bring him some
water to drink; but as she was going so to do, he called to her, and would
have her to bring him a loaf of bread also; whereupon she affirmed upon
oath that she had at home nothing more than one handful of meal, and a
little oil, and that she was going to gather some sticks, that she might
knead it, and make bread for herself and her son; after which, she said,
they must perish, and be consumed by the famine, for they had nothing for
themselves any longer. Hereupon he said, “Go on with good courage, and
hope for better things; and first of all make me a little cake, and bring
it to me, for I foretell to thee that this vessel of meal and this cruse
of oil shall not fail until God send rain.” When the prophet had said
this, she came to him, and made him the before-named cake; of which she
had part for herself, and gave the rest to her son, and to the prophet
also; nor did any thing of this fall until the drought ceased. Now
Menander mentions this drought in his account of the acts of Ethbaal, king
of the Tyrians; where he says thus: “Under him there was a want of rain
from the month Hyperberetmus till the month Hyperberetmus of the year
following; but when he made supplications, there came great thunders. This
Ethbaal built the city Botrys in Phoenicia, and the city Auza in Libya.”
By these words he designed the want of rain that was in the days of Ahab,
for at that time it was that Ethbaal also reigned over the Tyrians, as
Menander informs us.
3. Now this woman, of whom we spake before, that sustained the prophet,
when her son was fallen into a distemper till he gave up the ghost, and
appeared to be dead, came to the prophet weeping, and beating her breasts
with her hands, and sending out such expressions as her passions dictated
to her, and complained to him that he had come to her to reproach her for
her sins, and that on this account it was that her son was dead. But he
bid her be of good cheer, and deliver her son to him, for that he would
deliver him again to her alive. So when she had delivered her son up to
him, he carried him into an upper room, where he himself lodged, and laid
him down upon the bed, and cried unto God, and said, that God had not done
well, in rewarding the woman who had entertained him and sustained him, by
taking away her son; and he prayed that he would send again the soul of
the child into him, and bring him to life again. Accordingly God took pity
on the mother, and was willing to gratify the prophet, that he might not
seem to have come to her to do her a mischief, and the child, beyond all
expectation, came to life again. So the mother returned the prophet
thanks, and said she was then clearly satisfied that God did converse with
him.
4. After a little while Elijah came to king Ahab, according to God’s will,
to inform him that rain was coming. Now the famine had seized upon the
whole country, and there was a great want of what was necessary for
sustenance, insomuch that it was after the recovery of the widow’s son of
Sarepta, God sent not only men that wanted it, but the earth itself also,
which did not produce enough for the horse and the other beasts of what
was useful for them to feed on, by reason of the drought. So the king
called for Obadiah, who was steward over his cattle, and said to him, that
he would have him go to the fountains of water, and to the brooks, that if
any herbs could be found for them, they might mow it down, and reserve it
for the beasts. And when he had sent persons all over the habitable earth
33
to discover the prophet Elijah, and they could not find him, he bade
Obadiah accompany him. So it was resolved they should make a progress, and
divide the ways between them; and Obadiah took one road, and the king
another. Now it happened that the same time when queen Jezebel slew the
prophets, that this Obadiah had hidden a hundred prophets, and had fed
them with nothing but bread and water. But when Obadiah was alone, and
absent from the king, the prophet Elijah met him; and Obadiah asked him
who he was; and when he had learned it from him, he worshipped him. Elijah
then bid him go to the king, and tell him that I am here ready to wait on
him. But Obadiah replied, “What evil have I done to thee, that thou
sendest me to one who seeketh to kill thee, and hath sought over all the
earth for thee? Or was he so ignorant as not to know that the king had
left no place untouched unto which he had not sent persons to bring him
back, in order, if they could take him, to have him put to death?” For he
told him he was afraid lest God should appear to him again, and he should
go away into another place; and that when the king should send him for
Elijah, and he should miss of him, and not be able to find him any where
upon earth, he should be put to death. He desired him therefore to take
care of his preservation; and told him how diligently he had provided for
those of his own profession, and had saved a hundred prophets, when
Jezebel slew the rest of them, and had kept them concealed, and that they
had been sustained by him. But Elijah bade him fear nothing, but go to the
king; and he assured him upon oath that he would certainly show himself to
Ahab that very day.
5. So when Obadiah had informed the king that Elijah was there, Ahab met
him, and asked him, in anger, if he were the man that afflicted the people
of the Hebrews, and was the occasion of the drought they lay under? But
Elijah, without any flattery, said that he was himself the man, he and his
house, which brought such sad afflictions upon them, and that by
introducing strange gods into their country, and worshipping them, and by
leaving their own, who was the only true God, and having no manner of
regard to him. However, he bade him go his way, and gather together all
the people to him to Mount Carmel, with his own prophets, and those of his
wife, telling him how many there were of them, as also the prophets of the
groves, about four hundred in number. And as all the men whom Ahab sent
for ran away to the forenamed mountain, the prophet Elijah stood in the
midst of them, and said, “How long will you live thus in uncertainty of
mind and opinion?” He also exhorted them, that in case they esteemed their
own country God to be the true and the only God, they would follow him and
his commandments; but in case they esteemed him to be nothing, but had an
opinion of the strange gods, and that they ought to worship them, his
counsel was, that they should follow them. And when the multitude made no
answer to what he said, Elijah desired that, for a trial of the power of
the strange gods, and of their own God, he, who was his only prophet,
while they had four hundred, might take a heifer and kill it as a
sacrifice, and lay it upon pieces of wood, and not kindle any fire, and
that they should do the same things, and call upon their own gods to set
the wood on fire; for if that were done, they would thence learn the
nature of the true God. This proposal pleased the people. So Elijah bade
the prophets to choose out a heifer first, and kill it, and to call on
their gods. But when there appeared no effect of the prayer or invocation
of the prophets upon their sacrifice, Elijah derided them, and bade them
call upon their gods with a loud voice, for they might either be on a
journey, or asleep; and when these prophets had done so from morning till
noon, and cut themselves with swords and lances, 34
according to the customs of their country, and he was about to offer his
sacrifice, he bade [the prophets] go away, but bade [the people] come near
and observe what he did, lest he should privately hide fire among the
pieces of wood. So, upon the approach of the multitude, he took twelve
stones, one for each tribe of the people of the Hebrews, and built an
altar with them, and dug a very deep trench; and when he had laid the
pieces of wood upon the altar, and upon them had laid the pieces of the
sacrifices, he ordered them to fill four barrels with the water of the
fountain, and to pour it upon the altar, till it ran over it, and till the
trench was filled with the water poured into it. When he had done this, he
began to pray to God, and to invocate him to make manifest his power to a
people that had already been in an error a long time; upon which words a
fire came on a sudden from heaven in the sight of the multitude, and fell
upon the altar, and consumed the sacrifice, till the very water was set on
fire, and the place was become dry.
6. Now when the Israelites saw this, they fell down upon the ground, and
worshipped one God, and called him The great and the only true God; but
they called the others mere names, framed by the evil and vile opinions of
men. So they caught their prophets, and, at the command of Elijah, slew
them. Elijah also said to the king, that he should go to dinner without
any further concern, for that in a little time he would see God send them
rain. Accordingly Ahab went his way. But Elijah went up to the highest top
of Mount Carmel, and sat down upon the ground, and leaned his head upon
his knees, and bade his servant go up to a certain elevated place, and
look towards the sea, and when he should see a cloud rising any where, he
should give him notice of it, for till that time the air had been clear.
When the Servant had gone up, and had said many times that he saw nothing,
at the seventh time of his going up, he said that he saw a small black
thing in the sky, not larger than a man’s foot. When Elijah heard that, he
sent to Ahab, and desired him to go away to the city before the rain came
down. So he came to the city Jezreel; and in a little time the air was all
obscured, and covered with clouds, and a vehement storm of wind came upon
the earth, and with it a great deal of rain; and the prophet was under a
Divine fury, and ran along with the king’s chariot unto Jezreel a city of
Izar 35
[Issaachar].
7. When Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, understood what signs Elijah had
wrought, and how he had slain her prophets, she was angry, and sent
messengers to him, and by them threatened to kill him, as he had destroyed
her prophets. At this Elijah was affrighted, and fled to the city called
Beersheba, which is situate at the utmost limits of the country belonging
to the tribe of Judah, towards the land of Edom; and there he left his
servant, and went away into the desert. He prayed also that he might die,
for that he was not better than his fathers, nor need he be very desirous
to live, when they were dead; and he lay and slept under a certain tree;
and when somebody awakened him, and he was risen up, he found food set by
him and water: so when he had eaten, and recovered his strength by that
his food, he came to that mountain which is called Sinai, where it is
related that Moses received his laws from God; and finding there a certain
hollow cave, he entered into it, and continued to make his abode in it.
But when a certain voice came to him, but from whence he knew not, and
asked him, why he was come thither, and had left the city? he said, that
because he had slain the prophets of the foreign gods, and had persuaded
the people that he alone whom they had worshipped from the beginning was
God, he was sought for by the king’s wife to be punished for so doing. And
when he had heard another voice, telling him that he should come out the
next day into the open air, and should thereby know what he was to do, he
came out of the cave the next day accordingly, When he both heard an
earthquake, and saw the bright splendor of a fire; and after a silence
made, a Divine voice exhorted him not to be disturbed with the
circumstances he was in, for that none of his enemies should have power
over him. The voice also commanded him to return home, and to ordain Jehu,
the son of Nimshi, to be king over their own multitude; and Hazael, of
Damascus, to be over the Syrians; and Elisha, of the city Abel, to be a
prophet in his stead; and that of the impious multitude, some should be
slain by Hazael, and others by Jehu. So Elijah, upon hearing this charge,
returned into the land of the Hebrews. And when he found Elisha, the son
of Shaphat, ploughing, and certain others with him, driving twelve yoke of
oxen, he came to him, and cast his own garment upon him; upon which Elisha
began to prophesy presently, and leaving his oxen, he followed Elijah. And
when he desired leave to salute his parents, Elijah gave him leave so to
do; and when he had taken his leave of them, he followed him, and became
the disciple and the servant of Elijah all the days of his life. And thus
have I despatched the affairs in which this prophet was concerned.
8. Now there was one Naboth, of the city Izar, [Jezreel,] who had a field
adjoining to that of the king: the king would have persuaded him to sell
him that his field, which lay so near to his own lands, at what price he
pleased, that he might join them together, and make them one farm; and if
he would not accept of money for it, he gave him leave to choose any of
his other fields in its stead. But Naboth said he would not do so, but
would keep the possession of that land of his own, which he had by
inheritance from his father. Upon this the king was grieved, as if he had
received an injury, when he could not get another man’s possession, and he
would neither wash himself, nor take any food: and when Jezebel asked him
what it was that troubled him, and why he would neither wash himself, nor
eat either dinner or supper, he related to her the perverseness of Naboth,
and how, when he had made use of gentle words to him, and such as were
beneath the royal authority, he had been affronted, and had not obtained
what he desired. However, she persuaded him not to be cast down at this
accident, but to leave off his grief, and return to the usual care of his
body, for that she would take care to have Naboth punished; and she
immediately sent letters to the rulers of the Israelites [Jezreelites] in
Ahab’s name, and commanded them to fast and to assemble a congregation,
and to set Naboth at the head of them, because he was of an illustrious
family, and to have three bold men ready to bear witness that he had
blasphemed God and the king, and then to stone him, and slay him in that
manner. Accordingly, when Naboth had been thus testified against, as the
queen had written to them, that he had blasphemed against God and Ahab the
king, she desired him to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard on free
cost. So Ahab was glad at what had been done, and rose up immediately from
the bed whereon he lay to go to see Naboth’s vineyard; but God had great
indignation at it, and sent Elijah the prophet to the field of Naboth, to
speak to Ahab, and to say to him, that he had slain the true owner of that
field unjustly. And as soon as he came to him, and the king had said that
he might do with him what he pleased, [for he thought it a reproach to him
to be thus caught in his sin,] Elijah said, that in that very place in
which the dead body of Naboth was eaten by dogs both his own blood and
that of his wife’s should be shed, and that all his family should perish,
because he had been so insolently wicked, and had slain a citizen
unjustly, and contrary to the laws of his country. Hereupon Ahab began to
be sorry for the things he had done, and to repent of them; and he put on
sackcloth, and went barefoot 36 and would not touch any food;
he also confessed his sins, and endeavored thus to appease God. But God
said to the prophet, that while Ahab was living he would put off the
punishment of his family, because he repented of those insolent crimes he
had been guilty of, but that still he would fulfill his threatening under
Ahab’s son; which message the prophet delivered to the king.
CHAPTER 14. How Hadad King Of Damascus And Of Syria, Made Two Expeditions
Against Ahab And Was Beaten.
1. When the affairs of Ahab were thus, at that very time the son of Hadad,
[Benhadad,] who was king of the Syrians and of Damascus, got together an
army out of all his country, and procured thirty-two kings beyond
Euphrates to be his auxiliaries: so he made an expedition against Ahab;
but because Ahab’s army was not like that of Benhadad, he did not set it
in array to fight him, but having shut up every thing that was in the
country in the strongest cities he had, he abode in Samaria himself, for
the walls about it were very strong, and it appeared to be not easily to
be taken in other respects also. So the king of Syria took his army with
him, and came to Samaria, and placed his army round about the city, and
besieged it. He also sent a herald to Ahab, and desired he would admit the
ambassadors he would send him, by whom he would let him know his pleasure.
So, upon the king of Israel’s permission for him to send, those
ambassador’s came, and by their king’s command spake thus: That Ahab’s
riches, and his children, and his wives were Benhadad’s, and if he would
make an agreement, and give him leave to take as much of what he had as he
pleased, he would withdraw his army, and leave off the siege. Upon this
Ahab bade the ambassadors to go back, and tell their king, that both he
himself and all that he hath are his possessions. And when these
ambassadors had told this to Benhadad, he sent them to him again, and desired,
since he confessed that all he had was his, that he would admit those
servants of his which he should send the next day; and he commanded him to
deliver to those whom he should send whatsoever, upon their searching his
palace, and the houses of his friends and kindred, they should find to be
excellent in its kind, but that what did not please them they should leave
to him. At this second embassage of the king of Syria, Ahab was surprised,
and gathered together the multitude to a congregation, and told them that,
for himself, he was ready, for their safety and peace, to give up his own
wives and children to the enemy, and to yield to him all his own
possessions, for that was what the Syrian king required at his first
embassage; but that now he desires to send his servants to search all
their houses, and in them to leave nothing that is excellent in its kind,
seeking an occasion of fighting against him, “as knowing that I would not
spare what is mine own for your sakes, but taking a handle from the
disagreeable terms he offers concerning you to bring a war upon us;
however, I will do what you shall resolve is fit to be done.” But the
multitude advised him to hearken to none of his proposals, but to despise
him, and be in readiness to fight him. Accordingly, when he had given the
ambassadors this answer to be reported, that he still continued in the
mind to comply with what terms he at first desired, for the safety of the
citizens; but as for his second desires, he cannot submit to them,—he
dismissed them.
2. Now when Benhadad heard this, he had indignation, and sent ambassadors
to Ahab the third time, and threatened that his army would raise a bank
higher than those walls, in confidence of whose strength he despised him,
and that by only each man of his army taking a handful of earth; hereby
making a show of the great number of his army, and aiming to affright him.
Ahab answered, that he ought not to vaunt himself when he had only put on
his armor, but when he should have conquered his enemies in the battle. So
the ambassadors came back, and found the king at supper with his
thirty-two kings, and informed him of Ahab’s answer; who then immediately
gave order for proceeding thus: To make lines round the city, and raise a
bulwark, and to prosecute the siege all manner of ways. Now, as this was
doing, Ahab was in a great agony, and all his people with him; but he took
courage, and was freed from his fears, upon a certain prophet coming to
him, and saying to him, that God had promised to subdue so many ten
thousands of his enemies under him. And when he inquired by whose means
the victory was to be obtained, he said, “By the sons of the princes; but
under thy conduct as their leader, by reason of their unskilfulness [in
war].” Upon which he called for the sons of the princes, and found them to
be two hundred and thirty-two persons. So when he was informed that the
king of Syria had betaken himself to feasting and repose, he opened the
gates, and sent out the princes’ sons. Now when the sentinels told
Benhadad of it, he sent some to meet them, and commanded them, that if
these men were come out for fighting, they should bind them, and bring
them to him; and that if they came out peaceably, they should do the same.
Now Ahab had another army ready within the walls, but the sons of the
princes fell upon the out-guard, and slew many of them, and pursued the
rest of them to the camp; and when the king of Israel saw that these had
the upper hand, he sent out all the rest of his army, which, falling
suddenly upon the Syrians, beat them, for they did not think they would
have come out; on which account it was that they assaulted them when they
were naked 37 and drunk, insomuch that they
left all their armor behind them when they fled out of the camp, and the
king himself escaped with difficulty, by fleeing away on horseback. But
Ahab went a great way in pursuit of the Syrians; and when he had spoiled
their camp, which contained a great deal of wealth, and moreover a large
quantity of gold and silver, he took Benhadad’s chariots and horses, and
returned to the city; but as the prophet told him he ought to have his
army ready, because the Syrian king would make another expedition against
him the next year, Ahab was busy in making provision for it accordingly.
3. Now Benhadad, when he had saved himself, and as much of his army as he
could, out of the battle, he consulted with his friends how he might make
another expedition against the Israelites. Now those friends advised him
not to fight with them on the hills, because their God was potent in such
places, and thence it had come to pass that they had very lately been
beaten; but they said, that if they joined battle with them in the plain,
they should beat them. They also gave him this further advice, to send
home those kings whom he had brought as his auxiliaries, but to retain
their army, and to set captains over it instead of the kings, and to raise
an army out of their country, and let them be in the place of the former
who perished in the battle, together with horses and chariots. So he
judged their counsel to be good, and acted according to it in the
management of the army.
4. At the beginning of the spring, Benhadad took his army with him, and
led it against the Hebrews; and when he was come to a certain city which
was called Aphek, he pitched his camp in the great plain. Ahab also went
to meet him with his army, and pitched his camp over against him, although
his army was a very small one, if it were compared with the enemy’s; but
the prophet came again to him, and told him, that God would give him the
victory, that he might demonstrate his own power to be, not only on the
mountains, but on the plains also; which it seems was contrary to the
opinion of the Syrians. So they lay quiet in their camp seven days; but on
the last of those days, when the enemies came out of their camp, and put
themselves in array in order to fight, Ahab also brought out his own army;
and when the battle was joined, and they fought valiantly, he put the
enemy to flight, and pursued them, and pressed upon them, and slew them;
nay, they were destroyed by their own chariots, and by one another; nor
could any more than a few of them escape to their own city Aphek, who were
also killed by the walls falling upon them, being in number twenty-seven
thousand. 38 Now there were slain in this
battle a hundred thousand more; but Benhadad, the king of the Syrians,
fled away, with certain others of his most faithful servants, and hid
himself in a cellar under ground; and when these told him that the kings
of Israel were humane and merciful men, and that they might make use of
the usual manner of supplication, and obtain deliverance from Ahab, in
case he would give them leave to go to him, he gave them leave
accordingly. So they came to Ahab, clothed in sackcloth, with ropes about
their heads, (for this was the ancient manner of supplication among the
Syrians,) 39 and said, that Benhadad desired
he would save him, and that he would ever be a servant to him for that
favor. Ahab replied he was glad that he was alive, and not hurt in the
battle; and he further promised him the same honor and kindness that a man
would show to his brother. So they received assurances upon oath from him,
that when he came to him he should receive no harm from him, and then went
and brought him out of the cellar wherein he was hid, and brought him to
Ahab as he sat in his chariot. So Benhadad worshipped him; and Ahab gave
him his hand, and made him come up to him into his chariot, and kissed
him, and bid him be of good cheer, and not to expect that any mischief
should be done to him. So Benhadad returned him thanks, and professed
that he also would remember his kindness to him all the days of his life; and
promised he would restore those cities of the Israelites which the former
kings had taken from them, and grant that he should have leave to come to
Damascus, as his forefathers had to come to Samaria. So they confirmed
their covenant by oaths, and Ahab made him many presents, and sent him
back to his own kingdom. And this was the conclusion of the war that
Benhadad made against Ahab and the Israelites.
5. But a certain prophet, whose name was Micaiah, 40 came to
one of the Israelites, and bid him smite him on the head, for by so doing
he would please God; but when he would not do so, he foretold to him, that
since he disobeyed the commands of God, he should meet with a lion, and be
destroyed by him. When that sad accident had befallen the man, the prophet
came again to another, and gave him the same injunction; so he smote him,
and wounded his skull; upon which he bound up his head, and came to the
king, and told him that he had been a soldier of his, and had the custody
of one of the prisoners committed to him by an officer, and that the
prisoner being run away, he was in danger of losing his own life by the
means of that officer, who had threatened him, that if the prisoner
escaped he would kill him. And when Ahab had said that he would justly
die, he took off the binding about his head, and was known by the king to
be Micaiah the prophet, who made use of this artifice as a prelude to his
following words; for he said that God would punish him who had suffered
Benhadad, a blasphemer against him, to escape punishment; and that he
would so bring it about, that he should die by the other’s means 41
and his people by the other’s army. Upon which Ahab was very angry at the
prophet, and gave commandment that he should be put in prison, and there
kept; but for himself, he was in confusion at the words of Micaiah, and
returned to his own house.
CHAPTER 15. Concerning Jehoshaphat The King Of Jerusalem And How Ahab Made
An Expedition Against The Syrians And Was Assisted Therein By Jehoshaphat,
But Was Himself Overcome In Battle And Perished Therein.
1. And these were the circumstances in which Ahab was. But I now return to
Jehoshaphat, the king of Jerusalem, who, when he had augmented his
kingdom, had set garrisons in the cities of the countries belonging to his
subjects, and had put such garrisons no less into those cities which were
taken out of the tribe of Ephraim by his grandfather Abijah, when Jeroboam
reigned over the ten tribes [than he did into the other]. But then he had
God favorable and assisting to him, as being both righteous and religious,
and seeking to do somewhat every day that should be agreeable and
acceptable to God. The kings also that were round about him honored him
with the presents they made him, till the riches that he had acquired were
immensely great, and the glory he had gained was of a most exalted nature.
2. Now, in the third year of this reign, he called together the rulers of
the country, and the priests, and commanded them to go round the land, and
teach all the people that were under him, city by city, the laws of Moses,
and to keep them, and to be diligent in the worship of God. With this the
whole multitude was so pleased, that they were not so eagerly set upon or
affected with any thing so much as the observation of the laws. The
neighboring nations also continued to love Jehoshaphat, and to be at peace
with him. The Philistines paid their appointed tribute, and the Arabians
supplied him every year with three hundred and sixty lambs, and as many
kids of the goats. He also fortified the great cities, which were many in
number, and of great consequence. He prepared also a mighty army of
soldiers and weapons against their enemies. Now the army of men that wore
their armor, was three hundred thousand of the tribe of Judah, of whom
Adnah was the chief; but John was chief of two hundred thousand. The same
man was chief of the tribe of Benjamin, and had two hundred thousand
archers under him. There was another chief, whose name was Jehozabad, who
had a hundred and fourscore thousand armed men. This multitude was
distributed to be ready for the king’s service, besides those whom he sent
to the best fortified cities.
3. Jehoshaphat took for his son Jehoram to wife the daughter of Ahab, the
king of the ten tribes, whose name was Athaliah. And when, after some
time, he went to Samaria, Ahab received him courteously, and treated the
army that followed him in a splendid manner, with great plenty of corn and
wine, and of slain beasts; and desired that he would join with him in his
war against the king of Syria, that he might recover from him the city
Ramoth, in Gilead; for though it had belonged to his father, yet had the
king of Syria’s father taken it away from him; and upon Jehoshaphat’s
promise to afford him his assistance, [for indeed his army was not
inferior to the other,] and his sending for his army from Jerusalem to
Samaria, the two kings went out of the city, and each of them sat on his
own throne, and each gave their orders to their several armies. Now
Jehoshaphat bid them call some of the prophets, if there were any there,
and inquire of them concerning this expedition against the king of Syria,
whether they would give them counsel to make that expedition at this time,
for there was peace at that time between Ahab and the king of Syria, which
had lasted three years, from the time he had taken him captive till that
day.
4. So Ahab called his own prophets, being in number about four hundred,
and bid them inquire of God whether he would grant him the victory, if he
made an expedition against Benhadad, and enable him to overthrow that
city, for whose sake it was that he was going to war. Now these prophets
gave their counsel for making this expedition, and said that he would beat
the king of Syria, and, as formerly, would reduce him under his power. But
Jehoshaphat, understanding by their words that they were false prophets,
asked Ahab whether there were not some other prophet, and he belonging to
the true God, that we may have surer information concerning futurities.
Hereupon Ahab said there was indeed such a one, but that he hated him, as
having prophesied evil to him, and having foretold that he should be
overcome and slain by the king of Syria, and that for this cause he had
him now in prison, and that his name was Micaiah, the son of Imlah. But
upon Jehoshaphat’s desire that he might be produced, Ahab sent a eunuch,
who brought Micaiah to him. Now the eunuch had informed him by the way,
that all the other prophets had foretold that the king should gain the
victory; but he said, that it was not lawful for him to lie against God,
but that he must speak what he should say to him about the king,
whatsoever it were. When he came to Ahab, and he had adjured him upon oath
to speak the truth to him, he said that God had shown to him the
Israelites running away, and pursued by the Syrians, and dispersed upon
the mountains by them, as flocks of sheep are dispersed when their
shepherd is slain. He said further, that God signified to him, that those
Israelites should return in peace to their own home, and that he only
should fall in the battle. When Micaiah had thus spoken, Ahab said to
Jehoshaphat, “I told thee a little while ago the disposition of the man
with regard to me, and that he uses to prophesy evil to me.” Upon which
Micaiah replied, that he ought to hear all, whatsoever it be, that God
foretells; and that in particular, they were false prophets that
encouraged him to make this war in hope of victory, whereas he must fight
and be killed. Whereupon the king was in suspense with himself: but
Zedekiah, one of those false prophets, came near, and exhorted him not to
hearken to Micaiah, for he did not at all speak truth; as a demonstration
of which he instanced in what Elijah had said, who was a better prophet in
foretelling futurities than Micaiah 42 for he
foretold that the dogs should lick his blood in the city of Jezreel, in
the field of Naboth, as they licked the blood of Naboth, who by his means
was there stoned to death by the multitude; that therefore it was plain
that this Micaiah was a liar, as contradicting a greater prophet than
himself, and saying that he should be slain at three days’ journey
distance: “and [said he] you shall soon know whether he be a true prophet,
and hath the power of the Divine Spirit; for I will smite him, and let him
then hurt my hand, as Jadon caused the hand of Jeroboam the king to wither
when he would have caught him; for I suppose thou hast certainly heard of
that accident.” So when, upon his smiting Micaiah, no harm happened to
him, Ahab took courage, and readily led his army against the king of
Syria; for, as I suppose, fate was too hard for him, and made him believe
that the false prophets spake truer than the true one, that it might take
an occasion of bringing him to his end. However, Zedekiah made horns of
iron, and said to Ahab, that God made those horns signals, that by them he
should overthrow all Syria. But Micaiah replied, that Zedekiah, in a few
days, should go from one secret chamber to another to hide himself, that
he might escape the punishment of his lying. Then did the king give orders
that they should take Micaiah away, and guard him to Amon, the governor of
the city, and to give him nothing but bread and water.
5. Then did Ahab, and Jehoshaphat the king of Jerusalem, take their
forces, and marched to Ramoth a city of Gilead; and when the king of Syria
heard of this expedition, he brought out his army to oppose them, and
pitched his camp not far from Ramoth. Now Ahab and Jehoshaphat had agreed
that Ahab should lay aside his royal robes, but that the king of Jerusalem
should put on his [Ahab’s] proper habit, and stand before the army, in
order to disprove, by this artifice, what Micaiah had foretold. 43
But Ahab’s fate found him out without his robes; for Benhadad, the king of
Assyria, had charged his army, by the means of their commanders, to kill
nobody else but only the king of Israel. So when the Syrians, upon their
joining battle with the Israelites, saw Jehoshaphat stand before the army,
and conjectured that he was Ahab, they fell violently upon him, and
encompassed him round; but when they were near, and knew that it was not
he, they all returned back; and while the fight lasted from the morning
till late in the evening, and the Syrians were conquerors, they killed
nobody, as their king had commanded them. And when they sought to kill
Ahab alone, but could not find him, there was a young nobleman belonging
to king Benhadad, whose name was Naaman; he drew his bow against the
enemy, and wounded the king through his breastplate, in his lungs. Upon
this Ahab resolved not to make his mischance known to his army, lest they
should run away; but he bid the driver of his chariot to turn it back, and
carry him out of the battle, because he was sorely and mortally wounded.
However, he sat in his chariot and endured the pain till sunset, and then
he fainted away and died.
6. And now the Syrian army, upon the coming on of the night, retired to
their camp; and when the herald belonging to the camp gave notice that
Ahab was dead, they returned home; and they took the dead body of Ahab to
Samaria, and buried it there; but when they had washed his chariot in the
fountain of Jezreel, which was bloody with the dead body of the king, they
acknowledged that the prophecy of Elijah was true, for the dogs licked his
blood, and the harlots continued afterwards to wash themselves in that
fountain; but still he died at Ramoth, as Micaiah had foretold. And as
what things were foretold should happen to Ahab by the two prophets came
to pass, we ought thence to have high notions of God, and every where to
honor and worship him, and never to suppose that what is pleasant and
agreeable is worthy of belief before what is true, and to esteem nothing
more advantageous than the gift of prophecy 44 and that
foreknowledge of future events which is derived from it, since God shows
men thereby what we ought to avoid. We may also guess, from what happened
to this king, and have reason to consider the power of fate; that there is
no way of avoiding it, even when we know it. It creeps upon human souls,
and flatters them with pleasing hopes, till it leads them about to the
place where it will be too hard for them. Accordingly Ahab appears to have
been deceived thereby, till he disbelieved those that foretold his defeat;
but, by giving credit to such as foretold what was grateful to him, was
slain; and his son Ahaziah succeeded him.
FOOTNOTES:
1 (return)
[ This execution upon Joab,
as a murderer, by slaying him, even when he had taken sanctuary at God’s
altar, is perfectly agreeable to the law of Moses, which enjoins, that “if
a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, thou
shalt take him from mine altar that he die,” Exodus 21:14.]
2 (return)
[ This building of the walls
of Jerusalem, soon after David’s death, illustrates the conclusion of the
51st Psalm, where David prays, “Build thou the walls of Jerusalem;” they
being, it seems, unfinished or imperfect at that time. See ch. 6. sect. 1;
and ch. 1. sect. 7; also 1 Kings 9:15.]
3 (return)
[ It may not be amiss to
compare the daily furniture of king Solomon’s table, here set down, and 1
Kings 4;22, 23, with the like daily furniture of Nehemiah the governor’s
table, after the Jews were come back from Babylon; and to remember withal,
that Nehemiah was now building the walls of Jerusalem, and maintained,
more than usual, above a hundred and fifty considerable men every day, and
that, because the nation was then very poor, at his own charges also,
without laying any burden upon the people at all. “Now that which was
prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were
prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine; and yet
for all this required not the bread of the governor, because the bondage
was heavy upon this people,” Nehemiah 5:18: see the whole context, ver.
14-19. Nor did the governor’s usual allowance of forty shekels of silver
a-day, ver. 15, amount to 45 a day, nor to 1800 a-year. Nor does it indeed
appear that, under the judges, or under Samuel the prophet, there was any
such public allowance to those governors at all. Those great charges upon
the public for maintaining courts came in with kings, as God foretold they
would, 1 Samuel 8:11-18.
4 (return)
[ Some pretended fragments
of these books of conjuration of Solomon are still extant in Fabricius’s
Cod. Pseudepigr. Vet. Test. page 1054, though I entirely differ from
Josephus in this his supposal, that such books and arts of Solomon were
parts of that wisdom which was imparted to him by God in his younger days;
they must rather have belonged to such profane but curious arts as we find
mentioned Acts 19:13-20, and had been derived from the idolatry and
superstition of his heathen wives and concubines in his old age, when he
had forsaken God, and God had forsaken him, and given him up to demoniacal
delusions. Nor does Josephus’s strange account of the root Baara [Of the
War, B. VIII. ch. 6. sect. 3: seem to be other than that of its magical
use in such conjurations. As for the following history, it confirms what
Christ says, Matthew 12;27 “If I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do
your Sons cast them out?”]
5 (return)
[ These epistles of Solomon
and Hiram are those in 1 Kings 5:3-9, and, as enlarged, in 2 Chronicles
2:3-16, but here given us by Josephus in his own words.]
6 (return)
[ What Josephus here puts
into his copy of Hiram’s epistle to Solomon, and repeats afterwards, ch.
5. sect. 3, that Tyre was now an island, is not in any of the three other
copies, viz. that of the Kings, Chronicles, or Eusebius; nor is it any
other, I suppose, than his own conjectural paraphrase; for when I, many
years ago, inquired into this matter, I found the state of this famous
city, and of the island whereupon it stood, to have been very different at
different times. The result of my inquiries in this matter, with the
addition of some later improvements, stands thus: That the best
testimonies hereto relating, imply, that Paketyrus, or Oldest Tyre, was no
other than that most ancient smaller fort or city Tyre, situated on the
continent, and mentioned in Joshua 19:29, out of which the Canaanite or
Phoenician inhabitants were driven into a large island, that lay not far
off in the sea, by Joshua: that this island was then joined to the
continent at the present remains of Paketyrus, by a neck of land over
against Solomon’s cisterns, still so called; and the city’s fresh water,
probably, was carried along in pipes by that neck of land; and that this
island was therefore, in strictness, no other than a peninsula, having
villages in its fields, Ezekiel 26:6, and a wall about it, Amos 1:10, and
the city was not of so great reputation as Sitlon for some ages: that it
was attacked both by sea and land by Salmanasser, as Josephus informs us,
Antiq. B. IX. ch. 14. sect. 2, and afterwards came to be the metropolis of
Phoenicia; and was afterwards taken and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar,
according to the numerous Scripture prophecies thereto relating, Isaiah
23.; Jeremiah 25:22; 27:3; 47:4; Ezekiel 26., 27., 28.: that seventy years
after that destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, this city was in some measure
revived and rebuilt, Isaiah 23:17, 18, but that, as the prophet Ezekiel
had foretold, chap. 26:3-5, 14; 27: 34, the sea arose higher than before,
till at last it over flowed, not only the neck of land, but the main
island or peninsula itself, and destroyed that old and famous city for
ever: that, however, there still remained an adjoining smaller island,
once connected to Old Tyre itself by Hiram, which was afterwards
inhabited; to which Alexander the Great, with incredible pains, raised a
new bank or causeway: and that it plainly appears from Ifaundreh, a most
authentic eye-witness, that the old large and famous city, on the original
large island, is now laid so generally under water, that scarce more than
forty acres of it, or rather of that adjoining small island remain at this
day; so that, perhaps, not above a hundredth part of the first island and
city is now above water. This was foretold in the same prophecies of
Ezekiel; and according to them, as Mr. Maundrell distinctly observes,
these poor remains of Old Tyre are now “become like the top of a rock, a
place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea.”]
7 (return)
[ Of the temple of Solomon
here described by Josephus, in this and the following sections of this
chapter, see my description of the temples belonging to this work, ch. 13,
These small rooms, or side chambers, seem to have been, by Josephus’s
description, no less than twenty cubits high a piece, otherwise there must
have been a large interval between one and the other that was over it; and
this with double floors, the one of six cubits distance from the floor
beneath it, as 1 Kings 6:5]
8 (return)
[ Josephus says here that
the cherubims were of solid gold, and only five cubits high, while our
Hebrew copies [1 Kings 6;23, 28: say they were of the olive tree, and the
LXXX. of the cypress tree, and only overlaid with gold; and both agree
they were ten cubits high. I suppose the number here is falsely
transcribed, and that Josephus wrote ten cubits also.]
9 (return)
[ As for these two famous
pillars, Jachin and Booz, their height could be no more than eighteen
cubits, as here, and 1 Kings 7:15; 2 Kings 25:17; Jeremiah 3:21; those
thirty-five cubits in 2 Chronicles 3:15, being contrary to all the rules
of architecture in the world.]
10 (return)
[ The round or cylindrical
lavers of four cubits in diameter, and four in height, both in our copies,
1 Kings 7:38, 39, and here in Josephus, must have contained a great deal
more than these forty baths, which are always assigned them. Where the
error lies is hard to say: perhaps Josephus honestly followed his copies
here, though they had been corrupted, and he was not able to restore the
true reading. In the mean time, the forty baths are probably the true
quantity contained in each laver, since they went upon wheels, and were to
be drawn by the Levites about the courts of the priests for the washings
they were designed for; and had they held much more, they would have been
too heavy to have been so drawn.]
11 (return)
[ Here Josephus gives us a
key to his own language, of right and left hand in the tabernacle and
temple; that by the right hand he means what is against our left, when we
suppose ourselves going up from the east gate of the courts towards the
tabernacle or temple themselves, and so vice versa; whence it follows,
that the pillar Jachin, on the right hand of the temple was on the south,
against our left hand; and Booz on the north, against our right hand. Of
the golden plate on the high priest’s forehead that was in being in the
days of Josephus, and a century or two at least later, seethe note on
Antiq. B. III. ch. 7. sect. 6.]
12 (return)
[ When Josephus here says
that the floor of the outmost temple or court of the Gentiles was with
vast labor raised to be even, or of equal height, with the floor of the
inner, or court of the priests, he must mean this in a gross estimation
only; for he and all others agree, that the inner temple, or court of the
priests, was a few cubits more elevated than the middle court, the court
of Israel, and that much more was the court of the priests elevated
several cubits above that outmost court, since the court of Israel was
lower than the one and higher than the other. The Septuagint say that
“they prepared timber and stones to build the temple for three years,” 1
Kings 5:18; and although neither our present Hebrew copy, nor Josephus,
directly name that number of years, yet do they both say the building
itself did not begin till Solomon’s fourth year; and both speak of the
preparation of materials beforehand, 1 Kings v. 18; Antiq. B. VIII. ch. 5.
sect. 1. There is no reason, therefore, to alter the Septuagint’s number;
but we are to suppose three years to have been the just time of the
preparation, as I have done in my computation of the expense in building
that temple.]
13 (return)
[ This solemn removal of
the ark from Mount Sion to Mount Moriah, at the distance of almost three
quarters of a mile, confutes that notion of the modern Jews, and followed
by many Christians also, as if those two were after a sort one and the
same mountain, for which there is, I think, very little foundation.]
14 (return)
[ This mention of the
Corinthian ornaments of architecture in Solomon’s palace by Josephus seems
to be here set down by way of prophecy although it appears to me that the
Grecian and Roman most ancient orders of architecture were taken from
Solomon’s temple, as from their original patterns, yet it is not so clear
that the last and most ornamental order of the Corinthian was so ancient,
although what the same Josephus says, [Of the War, B. V. ch. 5. sect. 3,]
that one of the gates of Herod’s temple was built according to the rules
of this Corinthian order, is no way improbable, that order being, without
dispute, much older than the reign of Herod. However, upon some trial, I
confess I have not hitherto been able fully to understand the structure of
this palace of Solomon, either as described in our Bibles, or even with
the additional help of this description here by Josephus; only the reader
may easily observe with me, that the measures of this first building in
Josephus, a hundred cubits long, and fifty cubits broad, are the very same
with the area of the cart of the tabernacle of Moses, and just hall’ an
Egyptian orout, or acre.]
15 (return)
[ This signification of
the name Pharaoh appears to be true. But what Josephus adds presently,
that no king of Egypt was called Pharaoh after Solomon’s father-in-law,
does hardly agree to our copies, which have long afterwards the names of
Pharaoh Neehob, and Pharaoh Hophrah, 2 Kings 23:29; Jeremiah 44:30,
besides the frequent mention of that name Pharaoh in the prophets.
However, Josephus himself, in his own speech to the Jews, Of the War, B.
V. ch. 9. sect. 4, speaks of Neehao, who was also called Pharaoh, as the
name of that king of Egypt with whom Abraham was concerned; of which name
Neehao yet we have elsewhere no mention till the days of Josiah, but only
of Pharaoh. And, indeed, it must be conceded, that here, and sect. 5, we
have more mistakes made by Josephus, and those relating to the kings of
Egypt, and to that queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, whom he supposes to have
come to see Solomon, than almost any where else in all his Antiquities.]
16 (return)
[ That this queen of Sheba
was a queen of Sabea in South Arabia, and not of Egypt and Ethiopia, as
Josephus here asserts, is, I suppose, now generally agreed. And since
Sabea is well known to be a country near the sea in the south of Arabia
Felix, which lay south from Judea also; and since our Savior calls this
queen, “the queen of the south,” and says, “she came from the utmost parts
of the earth,” Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31, which descriptions agree better
to this Arabia than to Egypt and Ethiopia; there is little occasion for
doubting in this matter.]
17 (return)
[ Some blame Josephus for
supposing that the balsam tree might be first brought out of Arabia, or
Egypt, or Ethiopia, into Judea, by this queen of Sheba, since several have
said that of old no country bore this precious balsam but Judea; yet it is
not only false that this balsam was peculiar to Judea but both Egypt and
Arabia, and particularly Sabea; had it; which last was that very country
whence Josephus, if understood not of Ethiopia, but of Arabia, intimates
this queen might bring it first into Judea. Nor are we to suppose that the
queen of Sabaea could well omit such a present as this balsam tree would
be esteemed by Solomon, in case it were then almost peculiar to her own
country. Nor is the mention of balm or balsam, as carried by merchants,
and sent as a present out of Judea by Jacob, to the governor of Egypt,
Genesis 37:25; 43:11, to be alleged to the contrary, since what we there
render balm or balsam, denotes rather that turpentine which we now call
turpentine of Chio, or Cyprus, the juice of the turpentine tree, than this
precious balm. This last is also the same word that we elsewhere render by
the same mistake balm of Gilead; it should be rendered, the turpentine of
Gilead, Jeremiah 8:22.]
18 (return)
[ Whether these fine
gardens and rivulets of Etham, about six miles from Jerusalem, whither
Solomon rode so often in state, be not those alluded to, Ecclesiastes 2:5,
6, where he says, “He made him gardens and orchards, and planted trees in
them of all kinds of fruits: he made him pools of water, to water the wood
that bringeth forth trees;” and to the finest part whereof he seems to
allude, when, in the Canticles, he compares his spouse to a garden
“enclosed,” to a “spring shut up,” to a “fountain sealed,” ch. 4. 12 [part
of which from rains are still extant, as Mr. Matmdrell informs us, page
87, 88]; cannot now be certainly determined, but may very probably be
conjectured. But whether this Etham has any relation to those rivers of
Etham, which Providence once dried up in a miraculous manner, Psalm 74:15,
in the Septuagint, I cannot say.]
19 (return)
[ These seven hundred
wives, or the daughters of great men, and the three hundred concubines,
the daughters of the ignoble, make one thousand in all; and are, I
suppose, those very one thousand women intimated elsewhere by Solomon
himself, when he speaks of his not having found one [good] woman among
that very number, Ecclesiastes 7:28.]
20 (return)
[ Josephus is here
certainly too severe upon Solomon, who, in making the cherubims, and these
twelve brazen oxen, seems to have done no more than imitate the patterns
left him by David, which were all given David by Divine inspiration. See
my description of the temples, ch. 10. And although God gave no direction
for the lions that adorned his throne, yet does not Solomon seem therein
to have broken any law of Moses; for although the Pharisees and latter
Rabbins have extended the second commandment, to forbid the very making of
any image, though without any intention to have it worshipped, yet do not
I suppose that Solomon so understood it, nor that it ought to be so
understood. The making any other altar for worship but that at the
tabernacle was equally forbidden by Moses, Antiq. B. IV. ch. 8. sect. 5;
yet did not the two tribes and a half offend when they made an altar for a
memorial only, Joshua 22; Antiq. B. V. ch. 1. sect. 26, 27.]
21 (return)
[ Since the beginning of
Solomon’s evil life and adversity was the time when Hadad or Ader, who was
born at least twenty or thirty years before Solomon came to the crown, in
the days of David, began to give him disturbance, this implies that
Solomon’s evil life began early, and continued very long, which the
multitude of his wives and concubines does imply also; I suppose when he
was not fifty years of age.]
22 (return)
[ This youth of Jeroboam,
when Solomon built the walls of righteous and keep the laws, because he
hath proposed to thee the greatest of all rewards for thy piety, and the
honor thou shalt pay to God, namely, to be as greatly exalted as thou
knowest David to have been.” Jerusalem, not very long after he had
finished his twenty years building of the temple and his own palace, or
not very long after the twenty-fourth of his reign, 1 Kings 9:24; 2
Chronicles 8:11, and his youth here still mentioned, when Solomon’s
wickedness was become intolerable, fully confirm my former observation,
that such his wickedness began early, and continued very long. See Ecclus.
47:14.]
23 (return)
[ That by scorpions is not
here meant that small animal so called, which was never used in
corrections, but either a shrub, furze bush, or else some terrible sort of
whip of the like nature see Hudson’s and Spanheim’s notes here.]
24 (return)
[ Whether these “fountains
of the Lesser Jordan” were near a place called Dan, and the fountains of
the Greater near a place called Jor, before their conjunction; or whether
there was only one fountain, arising at the lake Phiala, at first sinking
under ground, and then arising near the mountain Paneum, and thence
running through the lake Scmochonitis to the Sea of Galilee, and so far
called the Lesser Jordan; is hardly certain, even in Josephus himself,
though the latter account be the most probable. However, the northern
idolatrous calf, set up by Jeroboam, was where Little Jordan fell into
Great Jordan, near a place called Daphnae, as Josephus elsewhere informs
us, Of the War, B. IV. ch. 1. sect. 1: see the note there.]
25 (return)
[ How much a larger and
better copy Josephus had in this remarkable history of the true prophet of
Judea, and his concern with Jeroboam, and with the false prophet of
Bethel, than our other copies have, is evident at first sight. The
prophet’s very name, Jadon, or, as the Constitutions call him, Adonias, is
wanting in our other copies; and it is there, with no little absurdity,
said that God revealed Jadon the true prophet’s death, not to himself as
here, but to the false prophet. Whether the particular account of the
arguments made use of, after all, by the false prophet against his own
belief and his own conscience, in order to persuade Jeroboam to persevere
in his idolatry and wickedness, than which more plausible could not be
invented, was intimated in Josephus’s copy, or in some other ancient book,
cannot now be determined; our other copies say not one word of it.]
26 (return)
[ That this Shishak was
not the same person with the famous Sesostris, as some have very lately,
in contradiction to all antiquity, supposed, and that our Josephus did not
take him to be the same, as they pretend, but that Sesostris was many
centuries earlier than Shishak, see Authent. Records, part II. page 1024.]
27 (return)
[ Herodotus, as here
quoted by Josephus, and as this passage still stands in his present
copies, B. II. ch. 14., affirms, that “the Phoenicians and Syrians in
Palestine [which last are generally supposed to denote the Jews] owned
their receiving circumcision from the Egyptians;” whereas it is abundantly
evident that the Jews received their circumcision from the patriarch
Abraham, Genesis 17:9-14; John 7:22, 23, as I conclude the Egyptian
priests themselves did also. It is not therefore very unlikely that
Herodotus, because the Jews had lived long in Egypt, and came out of it
circumcised, did thereupon think they had learned that circumcision in
Egypt, and had it not broke. Manetho, the famous Egyptian chronologer and
historian, who knew the history of his own country much better than
Herodotus, complains frequently of his mistakes about their affairs, as
does Josephus more than once in this chapter. Nor indeed does Herodotus
seem at all acquainted with the affairs of the Jews; for as he never names
them, so little or nothing of what he says about them, their country, or
maritime cities, two of which he alone mentions, Cadytus and Jenysus,
proves true; nor indeed do there appear to have ever been any such cities
on their coast.]
28 (return)
[ This is a strange
expression in Josephus, that God is his own workmanship, or that he made
himself, contrary to common sense and to catholic Christianity; perhaps he
only means that he was not made by one, but was unoriginated.]
29 (return)
[ By this terrible and
perfectly unparalleled slaughter of five hundred thousand men of the newly
idolatrous and rebellious ten tribes, God’s high displeasure and
indignation against that idolatry and rebellion fully appeared; the
remainder were thereby seriously cautioned not to persist in them, and a
kind of balance or equilibrium was made between the ten and the two tribes
for the time to come; while otherwise the perpetually idolatrous and
rebellious ten tribes would naturally have been too powerful for the two
tribes, which were pretty frequently free both from such idolatry and
rebellion; nor is there any reason to doubt of the truth of the prodigious
number upmost: signal an occasion.]
30 (return)
[ The reader is to
remember that Cush is not Ethiopia, but Arabia. See Bochart, B. IV. ch.
2.]
31 (return)
[ Here is a very great
error in our Hebrew copy in this place, 2 Chronicles 15:3-6, as applying
what follows to times past, and not to times future; whence that text is
quite misapplied by Sir Isaac Newton.]
32 (return)
[ This Abelmain, or, in
Josephus’s copy, Abellane, that belonged to the land of Israel, and
bordered on the country of Damascus, is supposed, both by Hudson and
Spanheim, to be the same with Abel, or Ahila, whence came Abilene. This
may be that city so denominated from Abel the righteous, there buried,
concerning the shedding of whose blood within the compass of the land of
Israel, I understand our Savior’s words about the fatal war and overthrow
of Judea by Titus and his Roman army; “That upon you may come all the
righteous blood shed upon the land, from the blood of righteous Abel to
the blood of Zacharias son of Barnchins, whom ye slew between the temple
and the altar. Verily, I say unto you, all these things shall come upon
this generation,” Matthew 23;35, 36; Luke 11:51.]
33 (return)
[ Josephus, in his present
copies, says, that a little while rain upon the earth; whereas, in our
other copies, it is after many days, 1 Kings 18:1. Several years are also
intimated there, and in Josephus, sect. 2, as belonging to this drought
and famine; nay, we have the express mention of the third year, which I
suppose was reckoned from the recovery of the widow’s son, and the ceasing
of this drought in Phmuiela [Footnote which, as Menander informs us here,
lasted one whole year]; and both our Savior and St. James affirm, that
this drought lasted in all three years and six months, as their copies of
the Old Testament then informed them, Luke 4:25; James 5:17. Josephus here
seems to mean, that this drought affected all the habitable earth, and
presently all the earth, as our Savior says it was upon all the earth,
Luke 4:25. They who restrain these expressions to the land of Judea alone,
go without sufficient authority or examples.]
34 (return)
[ Mr. Spanheim takes
notice here, that in the worship of Mithra [the god of the Persians] the
priests cut themselves in the same manner as did these priests in their
invocation of Baal [the god of the Phoenicians].]
35 (return)
[ For Izar we may here
read [with Hudson and Cocceius] Isachar, i.e of the tribe of Isachar, for
to that tribe did Jezreel belong; and presently at the beginning of sect.
8, as also ch. 15. sect. 4, we may read for Iar, with one MS. nearly, and
the Scripture, Jezreel, for that was the city meant in the history of
Naboth.]
36 (return)
[ “The Jews weep to this
day,” [says Jerome, here cited by Reland,] “and roll themselves upon
sackcloth, in ashes, barefoot, upon such occasions.” To which Spanheim
adds, “that after the same manner Bernice, when his life was in danger,
stood at the tribunal of Florus barefoot.” Of the War, B. II. ch. 15.
sect. 1. See the like of David, 2 Samuel 15:30; Antiq. B. VII. ch. 9.
sect. 2.]
37 (return)
[ Mr. Reland notes here
very truly, that the word naked does not always signify entirely naked,
but sometimes without men’s usual armor, without heir usual robes or upper
garments; as when Virgil bids the husbandman plough naked, and sow naked;
when Josephus says [Antiq. B. IV. ch. 3. sect. 2: that God had given the
Jews the security of armor when they were naked; and when he here says
that Ahab fell on the Syrians when they were naked and drunk; when [Antiq.
B. XI. ch. 5. sect. 8: he says that Nehemiah commanded those Jews that
were building the walls of Jerusalem to take care to have their armor on
upon occasion, that the enemy might not fall upon them naked. I may add,
that the case seems to be the same in the Scripture, when it says that
Saul lay down naked among the prophets, 1 Samuel 19:24; when it says that
Isaiah walked naked and barefoot, Isaiah 20:2, 3; and when it says that
Peter, before he girt his fisher’s coat to him, was naked, John 21:7. What
is said of David also gives light to this, who was reproached by Michal
for “dancing before the ark, and uncovering himself in the eyes of his
handmaids, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself,” 2
Samuel 6:14, 20; yet it is there expressly said [ver. 14: that “David was
girded with a linen ephod,” i.e. he had laid aside his robes of state, and
put on the sacerdotal, Levitical, or sacred garments, proper for such a
solemnity.]
38 (return)
[ Josephus’s number, two
myriads and seven thousand, agrees here with that in our other copies, as
those that were slain by the falling down of the walls of Aphek; but I
suspected at first that this number in Josephus’s present copies could not
be his original number, because he calls them “oligoi,” a few, which could
hardly be said of so many as twenty-seven thousand, and because of the
improbability of the fall of a particular wall killing so many; yet when I
consider Josephus’s next words, how the rest which were slain in the
battle were “ten other myriads,” that twenty-seven thousand are but a few
in comparison of a hundred thousand, and that it was not “a wall,” as in
our English version, but “the walls” or “the entire walls” of the city
that fell down, as in all the originals, I lay aside that suspicion, and
firmly believe that Josephus himself hath, with the rest, given us the
just number, twenty-seven thousand.]
39 (return)
[ This manner of
supplication for men’s lives among the Syrians, with ropes or halters
about their heads or necks, is, I suppose, no strange thing in later ages,
even in our own country.]
40 (return)
[ It is here remarkable,
that in Josephus’s copy this prophet, whose severe denunciation of a
disobedient person’s slaughter by a lion had lately come to pass, was no
other than Micaiah, the son of Imlah, who, as he now denounced God’s
judgment on disobedient Ahab, seems directly to have been that very
prophet whom the same Ahab, in 1 Kings 22:8, 18, complains of, “as one
whom he hated, because he did not prophesy good concerning him, but evil,”
and who in that chapter openly repeats his denunciations against him; all
which came to pass accordingly; nor is there any reason to doubt but this
and the former were the very same prophet.]
41 (return)
[ What is most remarkable
in this history, and in many histories on other occasions in the Old
Testament, is this, that during the Jewish theocracy God acted entirely as
the supreme King of Israel, and the supreme General of their armies, and
always expected that the Israelites should be in such absolute subjection
to him, their supreme and heavenly King, and General of their armies, as
subjects and soldiers are to their earthly kings and generals, and that
usually without knowing the particular reasons of their injunctions.]
42 (return)
[ These reasonings of
Zedekiah the false prophet, in order to persuade Ahab not to believe
Micaiah the true prophet, are plausible; but being omitted in our other
copies, we cannot now tell whence Josephus had them, whether from his own
temple copy, from some other original author, or from certain ancient
notes. That some such plausible objection was now raised against Micaiah
is very likely, otherwise Jehoshaphat, who used to disbelieve all such
false prophets, could never have been induced to accompany Ahab in these
desperate circumstances.]
43 (return)
[ This reading of
Josephus, that Jehoshaphat put on not his own, but Ahab’s robes, in order
to appear to be Ahab, while Ahab was without any robes at all, and hoped
thereby to escape his own evil fate, and disprove Micaiah’s prophecy
against him, is exceeding probable. It gives great light also to this
whole history; and shows, that although Ahab hoped Jehoshaphat would be
mistaken for him, and run the only risk of being slain in the battle, yet
he was entirely disappointed, while still the escape of the good man
Jehoshaphat, and the slaughter of the bad man Ahab, demonstrated the great
distinction that Divine providence made betwixt them.]
44 (return)
[ We have here a very wise
reflection of Josephus about Divine Providence, and what is derived from
it, prophecy, and the inevitable certainty of its accomplishment; and that
when wicked men think they take proper methods to elude what is denounced
against them, and to escape the Divine judgments thereby threatened them,
without repentance, they are ever by Providence infatuated to bring about
their own destruction, and thereby withal to demonstrate the perfect
veracity of that God whose predictions they in vain endeavored to elude.]
BOOK IX. Containing The Interval Of One Hundred And Fifty-Seven
Years.—From The Death Of Ahab To The Captivity Of The Ten Tribes.
CHAPTER 1. Concerning Jehoshaphat Again; How He Constituted Judges And, By
God’s Assistance Overcame His Enemies.
1. When Jehoshaphat the king was come to Jerusalem, from the assistance he
had afforded Ahab, the king of Israel, when he fought with Benhadad, king
of Syria, the prophet Jehu met him, and accused him for assisting Ahab, a
man both impious and wicked; and said to him, that God was displeased with
him for so doing, but that he delivered him from the enemy,
notwithstanding he had sinned, because of his own proper disposition,
which was good. Whereupon the king betook himself to thanksgivings and
sacrifices to God; after which he presently went over all that country
which he ruled round about, and taught the people, as well the laws which
God gave them by Moses, as that religious worship that was due to him. He
also constituted judges in every one of the cities of his kingdom; and
charged them to have regard to nothing so much in judging the multitude as
to do justice, and not to be moved by bribes, nor by the dignity of men
eminent for either their riches or their high birth, but to distribute
justice equally to all, as knowing that God is conscious of every secret
action of theirs. When he had himself instructed them thus, and gone over
every city of the two tribes, he returned to Jerusalem. He there also
constituted judges out of the priests and the Levites, and principal
persons of the multitude, and admonished them to pass all their sentences
with care and justice 1 And that if any of the people of
his country had differences of great consequence, they should send them
out of the other cities to these judges, who would be obliged to give
righteous sentences concerning such causes; and this with the greater
care, because it is proper that the sentences which are given in that city
wherein the temple of God is, and wherein the king dwells, be given with
great care and the utmost justice. Now he set over them Amariah the
priest, and Zebadiah, [both] of the tribe of Judah; and after this manner
it was that the king ordered these affairs.
2. About the same time the Moabites and Ammonites made an expedition
against Jehoshaphat, and took with them a great body of Arabians, and
pitched their camp at Engedi, a city that is situate at the lake
Asphaltiris, and distant three hundred furlongs from Jerusalem. In that
place grows the best kind of palm trees, and the opobalsamum. 2
Now Jehoshaphat heard that the enemies had passed over the lake, and had
made an irruption into that country which belonged to his kingdom; at
which news he was affrighted, and called the people of Jerusalem to a
congregation in the temple, and standing over against the temple itself,
he called upon God to afford him power and strength, so as to inflict
punishment on those that made this expedition against them [for that those
who built this his temple had prayed, that he would protect that city, and
take vengeance on those that were so bold as to come against it]; for they
are come to take from us that land which thou hast given us for a
possession. When he had prayed thus, he fell into tears; and the whole
multitude, together with their wives and children, made their
supplications also: upon which a certain prophet, Jahaziel by name, came
into the midst of the assembly, and cried out, and spake both to the
multitude and to the king, that God heard their prayers, and promised to
fight against their enemies. He also gave order that the king should draw
his forces out the next day, for that he should find them between
Jerusalem and the ascent of Engedi, at a place called The Eminence, and
that he should not fight against them, but only stand still, and see how
God would fight against them. When the prophet had said this, both the
king and the multitude fell upon their faces, and gave thanks to God, and
worshipped him; and the Levites continued singing hymns to God with their
instruments of music.
3. As soon as it was day, and the king was come into that wilderness which
is under the city of Tekoa, he said to the multitude, “that they ought to
give credit to what the prophet had said, and not to set themselves in
array for fighting; but to set the priests with their trumpets, and the
Levites with the singers of hymns, to give thanks to God, as having
already delivered our country from our enemies.” This opinion of the king
pleased [the people], and they did what he advised them to do. So God
caused a terror and a commotion to arise among the Ammonites, who thought
one another to be enemies, and slew one another, insomuch that not one man
out of so great an army escaped; and when Jehoshaphat looked upon that
valley wherein their enemies had been encamped, and saw it full of dead
men, he rejoiced at so surprising an event, as was this assistance of God,
while he himself by his own power, and without their labor, had given them
the victory. He also gave his army leave to take the prey of the enemy’s
camp, and to spoil their dead bodies; and indeed so they did for three
days together, till they were weary, so great was the number of the slain;
and on the fourth day, all the people were gathered together unto a
certain hollow place or valley, and blessed God for his power and
assistance, from which the place had this name given it, the Valley of
[Berachah, or] Blessing.
4. And when the king had brought his army back to Jerusalem, he betook
himself to celebrate festivals, and offer sacrifices, and this for many
days. And indeed, after this destruction of their enemies, and when it
came to the ears of the foreign nations, they were all greatly affrighted,
as supposing that God would openly fight for him hereafter. So Jehoshaphat
from that time lived in great glory and splendor, on account of his
righteousness and his piety towards God. He was also in friendship with
Ahab’s son, who was king of Israel; and he joined with him in the building
of ships that were to sail to Pontus, and the traffic cities of Thrace 3
but he failed of his gains, for the ships were destroyed by being so great
[and unwieldy]; on which account he was no longer concerned about
shipping. And this is the history of Jehoshaphat, the king of Jerusalem.
CHAPTER 2. Concerning Ahaziah; The King Of Israel; And Again Concerning
The Prophet Elijah.
1. And now Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, reigned over Israel, and made his
abode in Samaria. He was a wicked man, and in all respects like to both
his parents and to Jeroboam, who first of all transgressed, and began to
deceive the people. In the second year of his reign, the king of Moab fell
off from his obedience, and left off paying those tributes which he before
paid to his father Ahab. Now it happened that Ahaziah, as he was coming
down from the top of his house, fell down from it, and in his sickness
sent to the Fly, which was the god of Ekron, for that was this god’s name,
to inquire about his recovery 4 but the God of the Hebrews
appeared to Elijah the prophet, and commanded him to go and meet the
messengers that were sent, and to ask them, whether the people of Israel
had not a God of their own, that the king sent to a foreign god to inquire
about his recovery? and to bid them return and tell the king that he would
not escape this disease. And when Elijah had performed what God had
commanded him, and the messengers had heard what he said, they returned to
the king immediately; and when the king wondered how they could return so
soon, and asked them the reason of it, they said that a certain man met
them, and forbade them to go on any farther; but to return and tell thee,
from the command of the God of Israel, that this disease will have a bad
end. And when the king bid them describe the man that said this to them,
they replied that he was a hairy man, and was girt about with a girdle of
leather. So the king understood by this that the man who was described by
the messengers was Elijah; whereupon he sent a captain to him, with fifty
soldiers, and commanded them to bring Elijah to him; and when the captain
that was sent found Elijah sitting upon the top of a hill, he commanded
him to come down, and to come to the king, for so had he enjoined; but
that in case he refused, they would carry him by force. Elijah said to
him, “That you may have a trial whether I be a true prophet, I will pray
that fire may fall from heaven, and destroy both the soldiers and
yourself.” 5
So he prayed, and a whirlwind of fire fell [from heaven], and destroyed
the captain, and those that were with him. And when the king was informed
of the destruction of these men, he was very angry, and sent another
captain with the like number of armed men that were sent before. And when
this captain also threatened the prophet, that unless he came down of his
own accord, he would take him and carry him away, upon his prayer against
him, the fire [from heaven] slew this captain as well the other. And when,
upon inquiry, the king was informed of what happened to him, he sent out a
third captain. But when this captain, who was a wise man, and of a mild
disposition, came to the place where Elijah happened to be, and spake
civilly to him; and said that he knew that it was without his own consent,
and only in submission to the king’s command that he came to him; and that
those that came before did not come willingly, but on the same account;—he
therefore desired him to have pity on those armed men that were with him,
and that he would come down and follow him to the king. So Elijah accepted
of his discreet words and courteous behavior, and came down and followed
him. And when he came to the king, he prophesied to him and told him that
God said, “Since thou hast despised him as not being God, and so unable to
foretell the truth about thy distemper, but hast sent to the god of Ekron
to inquire of him what will be the end of this thy distemper, know this,
that thou shalt die.”
2. Accordingly the king in a very little time died, as Elijah had
foretold; but Jehoram his brother succeeded him in the kingdom, for he
died without children: but for this Jehoram, he was like his father Ahab
in wickedness, and reigned twelve years, indulging himself in all sorts of
wickedness and impiety towards God, for, leaving off his worship, he
worshipped foreign gods; but in other respects he was an active man. Now
at this time it was that Elijah disappeared from among men, and no one
knows of his death to this very day; but he left behind him his disciple
Elisha, as we have formerly declared. And indeed, as to Elijah, and as to
Enoch, who was before the deluge, it is written in the sacred books that
they disappeared, but so that nobody knew that they died.
CHAPTER 3. How Joram And Jehoshaphat Made An Expedition Against The
Moabites; As Also Concerning The Wonders Of Elisha; And The Death Of
Jehoshaphat.
1. When Joram had taken upon him the kingdom, he determined to make an
expedition against the king of Moab, whose name was Mesha; for, as we told
you before, he was departed from his obedience to his brother [Ahaziah],
while he paid to his father Ahab two hundred thousand sheep, with their
fleeces of wool. When therefore he had gathered his own army together, he
sent also to Jehoshaphat, and entreated him, that since he had from the
beginning been a friend to his father, he would assist him in the war that
he was entering into against the Moabites, who had departed from their
obedience, who not only himself promised to assist him, but would also
oblige the king of Edom, who was under his authority, to make the same
expedition also. When Joram had received these assurances of assistance
from Jehoshaphat, he took his army with him, and came to Jerusalem; and
when he had been sumptuously entertained by the king of Jerusalem, it was
resolved upon by them to take their march against their enemies through
the wilderness of Edom. And when they had taken a compass of seven days’
journey, they were in distress for want of water for the cattle, and for
the army, from the mistake of their roads by the guides that conducted
them, insomuch that they were all in an agony, especially Joram; and cried
to God, by reason of their sorrow, and [desired to know] what wickedness
had been committed by them that induced him to deliver three kings
together, without fighting, unto the king of Moab. But Jehoshaphat, who
was a righteous man, encouraged him, and bade him send to the camp, and
know whether any prophet of God was come along with them, that we might by
him learn from God what we should do. And when one of the servants of
Joram said that he had seen there Elisha, the son of Shaphat, the disciple
of Elijah, the three kings went to him, at the entreaty of Jehoshaphat;
and when they were come at the prophet’s tent, which tent was pitched out
of the camp, they asked him what would become of the army? and Joram was
particularly very pressing with him about it. And when he replied to him,
that he should not trouble him, but go to his father’s and mother’s
prophets, for they [to be sure] were true prophets, he still desired him
to prophesy, and to save them. So he swore by God that he would not answer
him, unless it were on account of Jehoshaphat, who was a holy and
righteous man; and when, at his desire, they brought him a man that could
play on the psaltery, the Divine Spirit came upon him as the music played,
and he commanded them to dig many trenches in the valley; for, said he,
“though there appear neither cloud, nor wind, nor storm of rain, ye shall
see this river full of water, till the army and the cattle be saved for
you by drinking of it. Nor will this be all the favor that you shall
receive from God, but you shall also overcome your enemies, and take the
best and strongest cities of the Moabites, and you shall cut down their
fruit trees, 6 and lay waste their country, and
stop up their fountains and rivers.”
2. When the prophet had said this, the next day, before the sun-rising, a
great torrent ran strongly; for God had caused it to rain very plentifully
at the distance of three days’ journey into Edom, so that the army and the
cattle found water to drink in abundance. But when the Moabites heard that
the three kings were coming upon them, and made their approach through the
wilderness, the king of Moab gathered his army together presently, and
commanded them to pitch their camp upon the mountains, that when the
enemies should attempt to enter their country, they might not be concealed
from them. But when at the rising of the sun they saw the water in the
torrent, for it was not far from the land of Moab, and that it was of the
color of blood, for at such a time the water especially looks red, by the
shining of the sun upon it, they formed a false notion of the state of
their enemies, as if they had slain one another for thirst; and that the
river ran with their blood. However, supposing that this was the case,
they desired their king would send them out to spoil their enemies;
whereupon they all went in haste, as to an advantage already gained, and
came to the enemy’s camp, as supposing them destroyed already. But their
hope deceived them; for as their enemies stood round about them, some of
them were cut to pieces, and others of them were dispersed, and fled to
their own country. And when the kings fell into the land of Moab, they
overthrew the cities that were in it, and spoiled their fields, and marred
them, filling them with stones out of the brooks, and cut down the best of
their trees, and stopped up their fountains of water, and overthrew their
walls to their foundations. But the king of Moab, when he was pursued,
endured a siege; and seeing his city in danger of being overthrown by
force, made a sally, and went out with seven hundred men, in order to
break through the enemy’s camp with his horsemen, on that side where the
watch seemed to be kept most negligently; and when, upon trial, he could
not get away, for he lighted upon a place that was carefully watched, he
returned into the city, and did a thing that showed despair and the utmost
distress; for he took his eldest son, who was to reign after him, and
lifting him up upon the wall, that he might be visible to all the enemies,
he offered him as a whole burnt-offering to God, whom, when the kings saw,
they commiserated the distress that was the occasion of it, and were so
affected, in way of humanity and pity, that they raised the siege, and
every one returned to his own house. So Jehoshaphat came to Jerusalem, and
continued in peace there, and outlived this expedition but a little time,
and then died, having lived in all sixty years, and of them reigned
twenty-five. He was buried in a magnificent manner in Jerusalem, for he
had imitated the actions of David.
CHAPTER 4. Jehoram Succeeds Jehoshaphat; How Joram, His Namesake, King Of
Israel, Fought With The Syrians; And What Wonders Were Done By The Prophet
Elisha.
1. Jehoshapat had a good number of children; but he appointed his eldest
son Jehoram to be his successor, who had the same name with his mother’s
brother, that was king of Israel, and the son of Ahab. Now when the king
of Israel was come out of the land of Moab to Samaria, he had with him
Elisha the prophet, whose acts I have a mind to go over particularly, for
they were illustrious, and worthy to be related, as we have them set down
in the sacred books.
2. For they say that the widow of Obadiah 7 Ahab’s
steward, came to him, and said, that he was not ignorant how her husband
had preserved the prophets that were to be slain by Jezebel, the wife of
Ahab; for she said that he hid a hundred of them, and had borrowed money
for their maintenance, and that, after her husband’s death, she and her
children were carried away to be made slaves by the creditors; and she
desired of him to have mercy upon her on account of what her husband did,
and afford her some assistance. And when he asked her what she had in the
house, she said, “Nothing but a very small quantity of oil in a cruse.” So
the prophet bid her go away, and borrow a great many empty vessels of her
neighbors, and when she had shut her chamber door, to pour the oil into
them all; for that God would fill them full. And when the woman had done
what she was commanded to do, and bade her children bring every one of the
vessels, and all were filled, and not one left empty, she came to the
prophet, and told him that they were all full; upon which he advised her
to go away, and sell the oil, and pay the creditors what was owing them,
for that there would be some surplus of the price of the oil, which she
might make use of for the maintenance of her children. And thus did Elisha
discharge the woman’s debts, and free her from the vexation of her
creditors.
3. Elisha also sent a hasty message to Joram, 8 and
exhorted him to take care of that place, for that therein were some
Syrians lying in ambush to kill him. So the king did as the prophet
exhorted him, and avoided his going a hunting. And when Benhadad missed of
the success of his lying in ambush, he was wroth with his own servants, as
if they had betrayed his ambushment to Joram; and he sent for them, and
said they were the betrayers of his secret counsels; and he threatened
that he would put them to death, since such their practice was evident,
because he had intrusted this secret to none but them, and yet it was made
known to his enemy. And one that was present said that he should not
mistake himself, nor suspect that they had discovered to his enemy his
sending men to kill him, but that he ought to know that it was Elisha the
prophet who discovered all to him, and laid open all his counsels. So he
gave order that they should send some to learn in what city Elisha dwelt.
Accordingly those that were sent brought word that he was in Dothan;
wherefore Benhadad sent to that city a great army, with horses and
chariots, to take Elisha: so they encompassed the city round about by
night, and kept him therein confined; but when the prophet’s servant in
the morning perceived this, and that his enemies sought to take Elisha, he
came running, and crying out after a disordered manner to him, and told
him of it; but he encouraged him, and bid him not be afraid, and to
despise the enemy, and trust in the assistance of God, and was himself
without fear; and he besought God to make manifest to his servant his
power and presence, so far as was possible, in order to the inspiring him
with hope and courage. Accordingly God heard the prayer of the prophet,
and made the servant see a multitude of chariots and horses encompassing
Elisha, till he laid aside his fear, and his courage revived at the sight
of what he supposed was come to their assistance. After this Elisha did
further entreat God, that he would dim the eyes of their enemies, and cast
a mist before them, whereby they might not discern him. When this was
done, he went into the midst of his enemies, and asked them who it was
that they came to seek; and when they replied, “The prophet Elisha,” he
promised he would deliver him to them, if they would follow him to the
city where he was. So these men were so darkened by God in their sight and
in their mind, that they followed him very diligently; and when Elisha had
brought them to Samaria, he ordered Joram the king to shut the gates, and
to place his own army round about them; and prayed to God to clear the
eyes of these their enemies, and take the mist from before them.
Accordingly, when they were freed from the obscurity they had been in,
they saw themselves in the midst of their enemies; and as the Syrians were
strangely amazed and distressed, as was but reasonable, at an action so
Divine and surprising, and as king Joram asked the prophet if he would
give him leave to shoot at them, Elisha forbade him so to do; and said,
that “it is just to kill those that are taken in battle, but that these
men had done the country no harm, but, without knowing it, were come
thither by the Divine Power:”—so that his counsel was to treat them
in a hospitable manner at his table, and then send them away without
hurting them. 9 Wherefore Joram obeyed the
prophet; and when he had feasted the Syrians in a splendid and magnificent
manner, he let them go to Benhadad their king.
4. Now when these men were come back, and had showed Benhadad how strange
an accident had befallen them, and what an appearance and power they had
experienced of the God of Israel, he wondered at it, as also at that
prophet with whom God was so evidently present; so he determined to make
no more secret attempts upon the king of Israel, out of fear of Elisha,
but resolved to make open war with them, as supposing he could be too hard
for his enemies by the multitude of his army and power. So he made an
expedition with a great army against Joram, who, not thinking himself a
match for him, shut himself up in Samaria, and depended on the strength of
its walls; but Benhadad supposed he should take the city, if not by his
engines of war, yet that he should overcome the Samaritans by famine, and
the want of necessaries, and brought his army upon them, and besieged the
city; and the plenty of necessaries was brought so low with Joram, that
from the extremity of want an ass’s head was sold in Samaria for fourscore
pieces of silver, and the Hebrews bought a sextary of dore’s dung, instead
of salt, for five pieces of silver. Now Joram was in fear lest somebody
should betray the city to the enemy, by reason of the famine, and went
every day round the walls and the guards to see whether any such were
concealed among them; and by being thus seen, and taking such care, he
deprived them of the opportunity of contriving any such thing; and if they
had a mind to do it, he, by this means, prevented them: but upon a certain
woman’s crying out, “Have pity on me, my lord,” while he thought that she
was about to ask for somewhat to eat, he imprecated God’s curse upon her,
and said he had neither thrashing-floor nor wine-press, whence he might
give her any thing at her petition. Upon which she said she did not desire
his aid in any such thing, nor trouble him about food, but desired that he
would do her justice as to another woman. And when he bade her say on, and
let him know what she desired, she said she had made an agreement with the
other woman who was her neighbor and her friend, that because the famine
and want was intolerable, they should kill their children, each of them
having a son of their own, “and we will live upon them ourselves for two
days, the one day upon one son, and the other day upon the other; and,”
said she, “I have killed my son the first day, and we lived upon my son
yesterday; but this other woman will not do the same thing, but hath
broken her agreement, and hath hid her son.” This story mightily grieved
Joram when he heard it; so he rent his garment, and cried out with a loud
voice, and conceived great wrath against Elisha the prophet, and set
himself eagerly to have him slain, because he did not pray to God to
provide them some exit and way of escape out of the miseries with which
they were surrounded; and sent one away immediately to cut off his head,
who made haste to kill the prophet. But Elisha was not unacquainted with
the wrath of the king against him; for as he sat in his house by himself,
with none but his disciples about him, he told them that Joram, 10
who was the son of a murderer, had sent one to take away his head; “but,”
said he, “when he that is commanded to do this comes, take care that you
do not let him come in, but press the door against him, and hold him fast
there, for the king himself will follow him, and come to me, having
altered his mind.” Accordingly, they did as they were bidden, when he that
was sent by the king to kill Elisha came. But Joram repented of his wrath
against the prophet; and for fear he that was commanded to kill him should
have done it before he came, he made haste to hinder his slaughter, and to
save the prophet: and when he came to him, he accused him that he did not
pray to God for their deliverance from the miseries they now lay under,
but saw them so sadly destroyed by them. Hereupon Elisha promised, that
the very next day, at the very same hour in which the king came to him,
they should have great plenty of food, and that two seahs of barley should
be sold in the market for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour should be
sold for a shekel. This prediction made Joram, and those that were
present, very joyful, for they did not scruple believing what the prophet
said, on account of the experience they had of the truth of his former
predictions; and the expectation of plenty made the want they were in that
day, with the uneasiness that accompanied it, appear a light thing to
them: but the captain of the third band, who was a friend of the king, and
on whose hand the king leaned, said, “Thou talkest of incredible things, O
prophet! for as it is impossible for God to pour down torrents of barley,
or fine flour, out of heaven, so is it impossible that what thou sayest
should come to pass.” To which the prophet made this reply,” Thou shalt
see these things come to pass, but thou shalt not be in the least a
partaker of them.”
5. Now what Elisha had thus foretold came to pass in the manner following:
There was a law at Samaria 11 that those that had the
leprosy, and whose bodies were not cleansed from it, should abide without
the city: and there were four men that on this account abode before the
gates, while nobody gave them any food, by reason of the extremity of the
famine; and as they were prohibited from entering into the city by the
law, and they considered that if they were permitted to enter, they should
miserably perish by the famine; as also, that if they staid where they
were, they should suffer in the same manner,—they resolved to
deliver themselves up to the enemy, that in case they should spare them,
they should live; but if they should be killed, that would be an easy
death. So when they had confirmed this their resolution, they came by
night to the enemy’s camp. Now God had begun to affright and disturb the
Syrians, and to bring the noise of chariots and armor to their ears, as
though an army were coming upon them, and had made them suspect that it
was coming nearer and nearer to them In short, they were in such a dread
of this army, that they left their tents, and ran together to Benhadad,
and said that Joram the king of Israel had hired for auxiliaries both the
king of Egypt and the king of the Islands, and led them against them for
they heard the noise of them as they were coming. And Benhadad believed
what they said [for there came the same noise to his ears as well as it
did to theirs]; so they fell into a mighty disorder and tumult, and left
their horses and beasts in their camp, with immense riches also, and
betook themselves to flight. And those lepers who had departed from
Samaria, and were gone to the camp of the Syrians, of whom we made mention
a little before, when they were in the camp, saw nothing but great
quietness and silence: accordingly they entered into it, and went hastily
into one of their tents; and when they saw nobody there, they eat and
drank, and carried garments, and a great quantity of gold, and hid it out
of the camp; after which they went into another tent, and carried off what
was in it, as they did at the former, and this did they for several times,
without the least interruption from any body. So they gathered thereby
that the enemies were departed; whereupon they reproached themselves that
they did not inform Joram and the citizens of it. So they came to the
walls of Samaria, and called aloud to the watchmen, and told them in what
state the enemies were, as did these tell the king’s guards, by whose
means Joram came to know of it; who then sent for his friends, and the
captains of his host, and said to them, that he suspected that this
departure of the king of Syria was by way of ambush and treachery, and
that, “out of despair of ruining you by famine, when you imagine them to
be fled away, you may come out of the city to spoil their camp, and he may
then fall upon you on a sudden, and may both kill you, and take the city
without fighting; whence it is that I exhort you to guard the city
carefully, and by no means to go out of it, or proudly to despise your
enemies, as though they were really gone away.” And when a certain person
said that he did very well and wisely to admit such a suspicion, but that
he still advised him to send a couple of horsemen to search all the
country as far as Jordan, that “if they were seized by an ambush of the
enemy, they might be a security to your army, that they may not go out as
if they suspected nothing, nor undergo the like misfortune; and,” said he,
“those horsemen may be numbered among those that have died by the famine,
supposing they be caught and destroyed by the enemy.” So the king was
pleased with this opinion, and sent such as might search out the truth,
who performed their journey over a road that was without any enemies, but
found it full of provisions, and of weapons, that they had therefore
thrown away, and left behind them, in order to their being light and
expeditious in their flight. When the king heard this, he sent out the
multitude to take the spoils of the camp; which gains of theirs were not
of things of small value, but they took a great quantity of gold, and a
great quantity of silver, and flocks of all kinds of cattle. They also
possessed themselves of [so many] ten thousand measures of wheat and
barley, as they never in the least dreamed of; and were not only freed
from their former miseries, but had such plenty, that two seahs of barley
were bought for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, according
to the prophecy of Elisha. Now a seah is equal to an Italian modius and a
half. The captain of the third band was the only man that received no
benefit by this plenty; for as he was appointed by the king to oversee the
gate, that he might prevent the too great crowd of the multitude, and they
might not endanger one another to perish, by treading on one another in
the press, he suffered himself in that very way, and died in that very
manner, as Elisha had foretold such his death, when he alone of them all
disbelieved what he said concerning that plenty of provisions which they
should soon have.
6. Hereupon, when Benhadad, the king of Syria, had escaped to Damascus,
and understood that it was God himself that cast all his army into this
fear and disorder, and that it did not arise from the invasion of enemies,
he was mightily cast down at his having God so greatly for his enemy, and
fell into a distemper. Now it happened that Elisha the prophet, at that
time, was gone out of his own country to Damascus, of which Benhadad was
informed: he sent Hazael, the most faithful of all his servants, to meet
him, and to carry him presents, and bade him inquire of him about his
distemper, and whether he should escape the danger that it threatened. So
Hazael came to Elisha with forty camels, that carried the best and most
precious fruits that the country of Damascus afforded, as well as those
which the king’s palace supplied. He saluted him kindly, and said that he
was sent to him by king Benhadad, and brought presents with him, in order
to inquire concerning his distemper, whether he should recover from it or
not. Whereupon the prophet bid him tell the king no melancholy news; but
still he said he would die. So the king’s servant was troubled to hear it;
and Elisha wept also, and his tears ran down plenteously at his foresight
of what miseries his people would undergo after the death of Benhadad.
And when Hazael asked him what was the occasion of this confusion he was
in, he said that he wept out of his commiseration for the multitude of the
Israelites, and what terrible miseries they will suffer by thee; “for thou
wilt slay the strongest of them, and wilt burn their strongest cities, and
wilt destroy their children, and dash them against the stones, and wilt
rip up their women with child.” And when Hazael said, “How can it be that
I should have power enough to do such things?” the prophet replied, that
God had informed him that he should be king of Syria. So when Hazael was
come to Benhadad, he told him good news concerning his distemper 12
but on the next day he spread a wet cloth, in the nature of a net, over
him, and strangled him, and took his dominion. He was an active man, and
had the good-will of the Syrians, and of the people of Damascus, to a
great degree; by whom both Benhadad himself, and Hazael, who ruled after
him, are honored to this day as gods, by reason of their benefactions, and
their building them temples by which they adorned the city of the
Damascenes. They also every day do with great pomp pay their worship to
these kings, 13 and value themselves upon their
antiquity; nor do they know that these kings are much later than they
imagine, and that they are not yet eleven hundred years old. Now when
Joram, the king of Israel, heard that Benhadad was dead, he recovered out
of the terror and dread he had been in on his account, and was very glad
to live in peace.
CHAPTER 5. Concerning The Wickedness Of Jehoram King Of Jerusalem; His
Defeat And Death.
1. Now Jehoram the king of Jerusalem, for we have said before that he had
the same name with the king of Israel, as soon as he had taken the
government upon him, betook himself to the slaughter of his brethren, and
his father’s friends, who were governors under him, and thence made a
beginning and a demonstration of his wickedness; nor was he at all better
than those kings of Israel who at first transgressed against the laws of
their country, and of the Hebrews, and against God’s worship. And it was
Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, whom he had married, who taught him to be
a bad man in other respects, and also to worship foreign gods. Now God
would not quite root out this family, because of the promise he had made
to David. However, Jehoram did not leave off the introduction of new sorts
of customs to the propagation of impiety, and to the ruin of the customs
of his own country. And when the Edomites about that time had revolted
from him, and slain their former king, who was in subjection to his
father, and had set up one of their own choosing, Jehoram fell upon the
land of Edom, with the horsemen that were about him, and the chariots, by
night, and destroyed those that lay near to his own kingdom, but did not
proceed further. However, this expedition did him no service, for they all
revolted from him, with those that dwelt in the country of Libnah. He was
indeed so mad as to compel the people to go up to the high places of the
mountains, and worship foreign gods.
2. As he was doing this, and had entirely cast his own country laws out of
his mind, there was brought him an epistle from Elijah the prophet 14
which declared that God would execute great judgments upon him, because he
had not imitated his own fathers, but had followed the wicked courses of
the kings of Israel; and had compelled the tribe of Judah, and the
citizens of Jerusalem, to leave the holy worship of their own God, and to
worship idols, as Ahab had compelled the Israelites to do, and because he
had slain his brethren, and the men that were good and righteous. And the
prophet gave him notice in this epistle what punishment he should undergo
for these crimes, namely, the destruction of his people, with the
corruption of the king’s own wives and children; and that he should
himself die of a distemper in his bowels, with long torments, those his
bowels falling out by the violence of the inward rottenness of the parts,
insomuch that, though he see his own misery, he shall not be able at all
to help himself, but shall die in that manner. This it was which Elijah
denounced to him in that epistle.
3. It was not long after this that an army of those Arabians that lived
near to Ethiopia, and of the Philistines, fell upon the kingdom of
Jehoram, and spoiled the country and the king’s house. Moreover, they slew
his sons and his wives: one only of his sons was left him, who escaped the
enemy; his name was Ahaziah; after which calamity, he himself fell into
that disease which was foretold by the prophet, and lasted a great while,
[for God inflicted this punishment upon him in his belly, out of his wrath
against him,] and so he died miserably, and saw his own bowels fall out.
The people also abused his dead body; I suppose it was because they
thought that such his death came upon him by the wrath of God, and that
therefore he was not worthy to partake of such a funeral as became kings.
Accordingly, they neither buried him in the sepulchers of his fathers, nor
vouchsafed him any honors, but buried him like a private man, and this
when he had lived forty years, and reigned eight. And the people of
Jerusalem delivered the government to his son Ahaziah.
CHAPTER 6. How Jehu Was Anointed King, And Slew Both Joram And Ahaziah; As
Also What He Did For The Punishment Of The Wicked.
1. Now Joram, the king of Israel, after the death of Benhadad, hoped that
he might now take Ramoth, a city of Gilead, from the Syrians. Accordingly
he made an expedition against it, with a great army; but as he was
besieging it, an arrow was shot at him by one of the Syrians, but the
wound was not mortal. So he returned to have his wound healed in Jezreel,
but left his whole army in Ramoth, and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, for their
general; for he had already taken the city by force; and he proposed,
after he was healed, to make war with the Syrians; but Elisha the prophet
sent one of his disciples to Ramoth, and gave him holy oil to anoint Jehu,
and to tell him that God had chosen him to be their king. He also sent him
to say other things to him, and bid him to take his journey as if he fled,
that when he came away he might escape the knowledge of all men. So when
he was come to the city, he found Jehu sitting in the midst of the
captains of the army, as Elisha had foretold he should find him. So he
came up to him, and said that he desired to speak with him about certain
matters; and when he was arisen, and had followed him into an inward
chamber, the young man took the oil, and poured it on his head, and said
that God ordained him to be king, in order to his destroying the house of
Ahab, and that he might revenge the blood of the prophets that were
unjustly slain by Jezebel, that so their house might utterly perish, as
those of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and of Baasha, had perished for their
wickedness, and no seed might remain of Ahab’s family. So when he had said
this, he went away hastily out of the chamber, and endeavored not to be
seen by any of the army.
2. But Jehu came out, and went to the place where he before sat with the
captains; and when they asked him, and desired him to tell them, wherefore
it was that this young man came to him, and added withal that he was mad,
he replied,—”You guess right, for the words he spake were the words
of a madman;” and when they were eager about the matter, and desired he
would tell them, he answered, that God had said he had chosen him to be
king over the multitude. When he had said this, every one of them put off
his garment, 15 and strewed it under him, and
blew with trumpets, and gave notice that Jehu was king. So when he had
gotten the army together, he was preparing to set out immediately against
Joram, at the city Jezreel, in which city, as we said before, he was
healing of the wound which he had received in the siege of Ramoth. It
happened also that Ahaziah, king of Jerusalem, was now come to Joram, for
he was his sister’s son, as we have said already, to see how he did after
his wound, and this upon account of their kindred; but as Jehu was
desirous to fall upon Joram, and those with him, on the sudden, he desired
that none of the soldiers might run away and tell to Joram what had
happened, for that this would be an evident demonstration of their
kindness to him, and would show that their real inclinations were to make
him king.
3. So they were pleased with what he did, and guarded the roads, lest
somebody should privately tell the thing to those that were at Jezreel.
Now Jehu took his choice horsemen, and sat upon his chariot, and went on
for Jezreel; and when he was come near, the watchman whom Joram had set
there to spy out such as came to the city, saw Jehu marching on, and told
Joram that he saw a troop of horsemen marching on. Upon which he
immediately gave orders, that one of his horsemen should be sent out to
meet them, and to know who it was that was coming. So when the horseman
came up to Jehu, he asked him in what condition the army was, for that the
king wanted to know it; but Jehu bid him not at all to meddle with such
matters, but to follow him. When the watchman saw this, he told Joram that
the horseman had mingled himself among the company, and came along with
them. And when the king had sent a second messenger, Jehu commanded him to
do as the former did; and as soon as the watchman told this also to Joram,
he at last got upon his chariot himself, together with Ahaziah, the king
of Jerusalem; for, as we said before, he was there to see how Joram did,
after he had been wounded, as being his relation. So he went out to meet
Jehu, who marched slowly, 16 and in good order; and when
Joram met him in the field of Naboth, he asked him if all things were well
in the camp; but Jehu reproached him bitterly, and ventured to call his
mother a witch and a harlot. Upon this the king, fearing what he intended,
and suspecting he had no good meaning, turned his chariot about as soon as
he could, and said to Ahaziah, “We are fought against by deceit and
treachery.” But Jehu drew his bow, and smote him, the arrow going through
his heart: so Joram fell down immediately on his knee, and gave up the
ghost. Jehu also gave orders to Bidkar, the captain of the third part of
his army, to cast the dead body of Joram into the field of Naboth, putting
him in mind of the prophecy which Elijah prophesied to Ahab his father,
when he had slain Naboth, that both he and his family should perish in
that place; for that as they sat behind Ahab’s chariot, they heard the
prophet say so, and that it was now come to pass according to his
prophecy. Upon the fall of Joram, Ahaziah was afraid of his own life, and
turned his chariot into another road, supposing he should not be seen by
Jehu; but he followed after him, and overtook him at a certain acclivity,
and drew his bow, and wounded him; so he left his chariot, and got upon
his horse, and fled from Jehu to Megiddo; and though he was under cure, in
a little time he died of that wound, and was carried to Jerusalem, and
buried there, after he had reigned one year, and had proved a wicked man,
and worse than his father.
4. Now when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel adorned herself and stood
upon a tower, and said, he was a fine servant that had killed his master!
And when he looked up to her, he asked who she was, and commanded her to
come down to him. At last he ordered the eunuchs to throw her down from
the tower; and being thrown down, she be-sprinkled the wall with her
blood, and was trodden upon by the horses, and so died. When this was
done, Jehu came to the palace with his friends, and took some refreshment
after his journey, both with other things, and by eating a meal. He also
bid his servants to take up Jezebel and bury her, because of the nobility
of her blood, for she was descended from kings; but those that were
appointed to bury her found nothing else remaining but the extreme parts
of her body, for all the rest were eaten by dogs. When Jehu heard this, he
admired the prophecy of Elijah, for he foretold that she should perish in
this manner at Jezreel.
5. Now Ahab had seventy sons brought up in Samaria. So Jehu sent two
epistles, the one to them that brought up the children, the other to the
rulers of Samaria, which said, that they should set up the most valiant of
Ahab’s sons for king, for that they had abundance of chariots, and horses,
and armor, and a great army, and fenced cities, and that by so doing they
might avenge the murder of Ahab. This he wrote to try the intentions of
those of Samaria. Now when the rulers, and those that had brought up the
children, had read the letter, they were afraid; and considering that they
were not at all able to oppose him, who had already subdued two very great
kings, they returned him this answer: That they owned him for their lord,
and would do whatsoever he bade them. So he wrote back to them such a
reply as enjoined them to obey what he gave order for, and to cut off the
heads of Ahab’s sons, and send them to him. Accordingly the rulers sent
for those that brought up the sons of Ahab, and commanded them to slay
them, to cut off their heads, and send them to Jehu. So they did
whatsoever they were commanded, without omitting any thing at all, and put
them up in wicker baskets, and sent them to Jezreel. And when Jehu, as he
was at supper with his friends, was informed that the heads of Ahab’s’
sons were brought, he ordered them to make two heaps of them, one before
each of the gates; and in the morning he went out to take a view of them,
and when he saw them, he began to say to the people that were present,
that he did himself make an expedition against his master [Joram], and
slew him, but that it was not he that slew all these; and he desired them
to take notice, that as to Ahab’s family, all things had come to pass
according to God’s prophecy, and his house was perished, according as
Elijah had foretold. And when he had further destroyed all the kindred of
Ahab that were found in Jezreel, he went to Samaria; and as he was upon
the road, he met the relations of Ahaziah king of Jerusalem, and asked
them whither they were going? they replied, that they came to salute
Joram, and their own king Ahaziah, for they knew not that he had slain
them both. So Jehu gave orders that they should catch these, and kill
them, being in number forty-two persons.
6. After these, there met him a good and a righteous man, whose name was
Jehonadab, and who had been his friend of old. He saluted Jehu, and began
to commend him, because he had done every thing according to the will of
God, in extirpating the house of Ahab. So Jehu desired him to come up into
his chariot, and make his entry with him into Samaria; and told him that
he would not spare one wicked man, but would punish the false prophets,
and false priests, and those that deceived the multitude, and persuaded
them to leave the worship of God Almighty, and to worship foreign gods;
and that it was a most excellent and most pleasing sight to a good and a
righteous man to see the wicked punished. So Jehonadab was persuaded by
these arguments, and came up into Jehu’s chariot, and came to Samaria. And
Jehu sought out for all Ahab’s kindred, and slew them. And being desirous
that none of the false prophets, nor the priests of Ahab’s god, might
escape punishment, he caught them deceitfully by this wile; for he
gathered all the people together, and said that he would worship twice as
many gods as Ahab worshipped, and desired that his priests, and prophets,
and servants might be present, because he would offer costly and great
sacrifices to Ahab’s god; and that if any of his priests were wanting,
they should be punished with death. Now Ahab’s god was called Baal; and
when he had appointed a day on which he would offer those sacrifices, he
sent messengers through all the country of the Israelites, that they might
bring the priests of Baal to him. So Jehu commanded to give all the
priests vestments; and when they had received them, he went into the house
[of Baal], with his friend Jehonadab, and gave orders to make search
whether there were not any foreigner or stranger among them, for he would
have no one of a different religion to mix among their sacred offices. And
when they said that there was no stranger there, and they were beginning
their sacrifices, he set fourscore men without, they being such of his
soldiers as he knew to be most faithful to him, and bid them slay the
prophets, and now vindicate the laws of their country, which had been a
long time in disesteem. He also threatened, that if any one of them
escaped, their own lives should go for them. So they slew them all with
the sword, and burnt the house of Baal, and by that means purged Samaria
of foreign customs [idolatrous worship]. Now this Baal was the god of the
Tyrians; and Ahab, in order to gratify his father-in-law, Ethbaal, who was
the king of Tyre and Sidon, built a temple for him in Samaria, and
appointed him prophets, and worshipped him with all sorts of worship,
although, when this god was demolished, Jehu permitted the Israelites to
worship the golden heifers. However, because he had done thus, and taken
care to punish the wicked, God foretold by his prophet that his sons
should reign over Israel for four generations. And in this condition was
Jehu at this time.
CHAPTER 7. How Athaliah Reigned Over Jerusalem For Five [Six] Years When
Jehoiada The High Priest Slew Her And Made Jehoash, The Son Of Ahaziah,
King.
1. Now when Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, heard of the death of her
brother Joram, and of her son Ahaziah, and of the royal family, she
endeavored that none of the house of David might be left alive, but that
the whole family might be exterminated, that no king might arise out of it
afterward; and, as she thought, she had actually done it; but one of
Ahaziah’s sons was preserved, who escaped death after the manner
following: Ahaziah had a sister by the same father, whose name was
Jehosheba, and she was married to the high priest Jehoiada. She went into
the king’s palace, and found Jehoash, for that was the little child’s
name, who was not above a year old, among those that were slain, but
concealed with his nurse; so she took him with her into a secret
bed-chamber, and shut him up there, and she and her husband Jehoiada
brought him up privately in the temple six years, during which time
Athaliah reigned over Jerusalem and the two tribes.
2. Now, on the Seventh year, Jehoiada communicated the matter to certain
of the captains of hundreds, five in number, and persuaded them to be
assisting to what attempts he was making against Athaliah, and to join
with him in asserting the kingdom to the child. He also received such
oaths from them as are proper to secure those that assist one another from
the fear of discovery; and he was then of good hope that they should
depose Athaliah. Now those men whom Jehoiada the priest had taken to be
his partners went into all the country, and gathered together the priests
and the Levites, and the heads of the tribes out of it, and came and
brought them to Jerusalem to the high priest. So he demanded the security
of an oath of them, to keep private whatsoever he should discover to them,
which required both their silence and their assistance. So when they had
taken the oath, and had thereby made it safe for him to speak, he produced
the child that he had brought up of the family of David, and said to them,
“This is your king, of that house which you know God hath foretold should
reign over you for all time to come. I exhort you therefore that one-third
part of you guard him in the temple, and that a fourth part keep watch at
all the gates of the temple, and that the next part of you keep guard at
the gate which opens and leads to the king’s palace, and let the rest of
the multitude be unarmed in the temple, and let no armed person go into
the temple, but the priest only.” He also gave them this order besides,
“That a part of the priests and the Levites should be about the king
himself, and be a guard to him, with their drawn swords, and to kill that
man immediately, whoever he be, that should be so bold as to enter armed
into the temple; and bid them be afraid of nobody, but persevere in
guarding the king.” So these men obeyed what the high priest advised them
to, and declared the reality of their resolution by their actions.
Jehoiada also opened that armory which David had made in the temple, and
distributed to the captains of hundreds, as also to the priests and
Levites, all the spears and quivers, and what kind of weapons soever it
contained, and set them armed in a circle round about the temple, so as to
touch one another’s hands, and by that means excluding those from entering
that ought not to enter. So they brought the child into the midst of them,
and put on him the royal crown, and Jehoiada anointed him with the oil,
and made him king; and the multitude rejoiced, and made a noise, and
cried, “God save the king!”
3. When Athaliah unexpectedly heard the tumult and the acclamations, she
was greatly disturbed in her mind, and suddenly issued out of the royal
palace with her own army; and when she was come to the temple, the priests
received her; but as for those that stood round about the temple, as they
were ordered by the high priest to do, they hindered the armed inert that
followed her from going in. But when Athaliah saw the child standing upon
a pillar, with the royal crown upon his head, she rent her clothes, and
cried out vehemently, and commanded [her guards] to kill him that had laid
snares for her, and endeavored to deprive her of the government. But
Jehoiada called for the captains of hundreds, and commanded them to bring
Athaliah to the valley of Cedron, and slay her there, for he would not
have the temple defiled with the punishments of this pernicious woman; and
he gave order, that if any one came near to help her, he should be slain
also; wherefore those that had the charge of her slaughter took hold of
her, and led her to the gate of the king’s mules, and slew her there.
4. Now as soon as what concerned Athaliah was by this stratagem, after
this manner, despatched, Jehoiada called together the people and the armed
men into the temple, and made them take an oath that they would be
obedient to the king, and take care of his safety, and of the safety of
his government; after which he obliged the king to give security [upon
oath] that he would worship God, and not transgress the laws of Moses.
They then ran to the house of Baal, which Athaliah and her husband Jehoram
had built, to the dishonor of the God of their fathers, and to the honor
of Ahab, and demolished it, and slew Mattan, that had his priesthood. But
Jehoiada intrusted the care and custody of the temple to the priests and
Levites, according to the appointment of king David, and enjoined them to
bring their regular burnt-offerings twice a day, and to offer incense
according to the law. He also ordained some of the Levites, with the
porters, to be a guard to the temple, that no one that was defiled might
come there.
5. And when Jehoiada had set these things in order, he, with the captains
of hundreds, and the rulers, and all the people, took Jehoash out of the
temple into the king’s palace; and when he had set him upon the king’s
throne, the people shouted for joy, and betook themselves to feasting, and
kept a festival for many days; but the city was quiet upon the death of
Athaliah. Now Jehoash was seven years old when he took the kingdom. His
mother’s name was Zibiah, of the city Beersheba. And all the time that
Jehoiada lived Jehoash was careful that the laws should be kept, and very
zealous in the worship of God; and when he was of age, he married two
wives, who were given to him by the high priest, by whom were born to him
both sons and daughters. And thus much shall suffice to have related
concerning king Jehoash, how he escaped the treachery of Athaliah, and how
he received the kingdom.
CHAPTER 8. Hazael Makes An Expedition Against The People Of Israel And The
Inhabitants Of Jerusalem. Jehu Dies, And Jehoahaz Succeeds In The
Government. Jehoash The King Of Jerusalem At First Is Careful About The
Worship Of God But Afterwards Becomes Impious And Commands Zechariah To Be
Stoned. When Jehoash [King Of Judah] Was Dead, Amaziah Succeeds Him In The
Kingdom.
1. Now Hazael, king of Syria, fought against the Israelites and their king
Jehu, and spoiled the eastern parts of the country beyond Jordan, which
belonged to the Reubenites and Gadites, and to [the half tribe of]
Manassites; as also Gilead and Bashan, burning, and spoiling, and offering
violence to all that he laid his hands on, and this without impeachment
from Jehu, who made no haste to defend the country when it was under this
distress; nay, he was become a contemner of religion, and a despiser of
holiness, and of the laws, and died when he had reigned over the
Israelites twenty-seven years. He was buried in Samaria, and left Jehoahaz
his son his successor in the government.
2. Now Jehoash, king of Jerusalem, had an inclination to repair the temple
of God; so he called Jehoiada, and bid him send the Levites and priests
through all the country, to require half a shekel of silver for every
head, towards the rebuilding and repairing of the temple, which was
brought to decay by Jehoram, and Athaliah and her sons. But the high
priest did not do this, as concluding that no one would willingly pay that
money; but in the twenty-third year of Jehoash’s reign, when the king sent
for him and the Levites, and complained that they had not obeyed what he
enjoined them, and still commanded them to take care of the rebuilding the
temple, he used this stratagem for collecting the money, with which the
multitude was pleased. He made a wooden chest, and closed it up fast on
all sides, but opened one hole in it; he then set it in the temple beside
the altar, and desired every one to cast into it, through the hole, what
he pleased, for the repair of the temple. This contrivance was acceptable
to the people, and they strove one with another, and brought in jointly
large quantities of silver and gold; and when the scribe and the priest
that were over the treasuries had emptied the chest, and counted the money
in the king’s presence, they then set it in its former place, and thus did
they every day. But when the multitude appeared to have cast in as much as
was wanted, the high priest Jehoiada, and king Joash, sent to hire masons
and carpenters, and to buy large pieces of timber, and of the most curious
sort; and when they had repaired the temple, they made use of the
remaining gold and silver, which was not a little, for bowls, and basons,
and cups, and other vessels, and they went on to make the altar every day
fat with sacrifices of great value. And these things were taken suitable
care of as long as Jehoiada lived.
3. But as soon as he was dead [which was when he had lived one hundred and
thirty years, having been a righteous, and in every respect a very good
man, and was buried in the king’s sepulchers at Jerusalem, because he had
recovered the kingdom to the family of David] king Jehoash betrayed his
[want of] care about God. The principal men of the people were corrupted
also together with him, and offended against their duty, and what their
constitution determined to be most for their good. Hereupon God was
displeased with the change that was made on the king, and on the rest of
the people, and sent prophets to testify to them what their actions were,
and to bring them to leave off their wickedness; but they had gotten such
a strong affection and so violent an inclination to it, that neither could
the examples of those that had offered affronts to the laws, and had been
so severely punished, they and their entire families, nor could the fear
of what the prophets now foretold, bring them to repentance, and turn them
back from their course of transgression to their former duty. But the king
commanded that Zechariah, the son of the high priest Jehoiada, should be
stoned to death in the temple, and forgot the kindnesses he had received
from his father; for when God had appointed him to prophesy, he stood in
the midst of the multitude, and gave this counsel to them and to the king:
That they should act righteously; and foretold to them, that if they would
not hearken to his admonitions, they should suffer a heavy punishment. But
as Zechariah was ready to die, he appealed to God as a witness of what he
suffered for the good counsel he had given them, and how he perished after
a most severe and violent manner for the good deeds his father had done to
Jehoash.
4. However, it was not long before the king suffered punishment for his
transgression; for when Hazael, king of Syria, made an irruption into his
country, and when he had overthrown Gath, and spoiled it, he made an
expedition against Jerusalem; upon which Jehoash was afraid, and emptied
all the treasures of God and of the kings [before him], and took down the
gifts that had been dedicated [in the temple], and sent them to the king
of Syria, and procured so much by them, that he was not besieged, nor his
kingdom quite endangered; but Hazael was induced by the greatness of the
sum of money not to bring his army against Jerusalem; yet Jehoash fell
into a severe distemper, and was set upon by his friends, in order to
revenge the death of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada. These laid snares for
the king, and slew him. He was indeed buried in Jerusalem, but not in the
royal sepulchers of his forefathers, because of his impiety. He lived
forty-seven years, and Amaziah his son succeeded him in the kingdom.
5. In the one and twentieth year of the reign of Jehoash, Jehoahaz, the
son of Jehu, took the government of the Israelites in Samaria, and held it
seventeen years. He did not [properly] imitate his father, but was guilty
of as wicked practices as those that first had God in contempt: but the
king of Syria brought him low, and by an expedition against him did so
greatly reduce his forces, that there remained no more of so great an army
than ten thousand armed men, and fifty horsemen. He also took away from
him his great cities, and many of them also, and destroyed his army. And
these were the things that the people of Israel suffered, according to the
prophecy of Elisha, when he foretold that Hazael should kill his master,
and reign over the Syrians and Damscenes. But when Jehoahaz was under such
unavoidable miseries, he had recourse to prayer and supplication to God,
and besought him to deliver him out of the hands of Hazael, and not
overlook him, and give him up into his hands. Accordingly God accepted of
his repentance instead of virtue; and being desirous rather to admonish
those that might repent, and not to determine that they should be utterly
destroyed, he granted him deliverance from war and dangers. So the country
having obtained peace, returned again to its former condition, and
flourished as before.
6. Now after the death of Jehoahaz, his son Joash took the kingdom, in the
thirty-seventh year of Jehoash, the king of the tribe of Judah. This Joash
then took the kingdom of Israel in Samaria, for he had the same name with
the king of Jerusalem, and he retained the kingdom sixteen years. He was a
good man, 17 and in his disposition was not
at all like his father. Now at this time it was that when Elisha the
prophet, who was already very old, and was now fallen into a disease, the
king of Israel came to visit him; and when he found him very near death,
he began to weep in his sight, and lament, to call him his father, and his
weapons, because it was by his means that he never made use of his weapons
against his enemies, but that he overcame his own adversaries by his
prophecies, without fighting; and that he was now departing this life, and
leaving him to the Syrians, that were already armed, and to other enemies
of his that were under their power; so he said it was not safe for him to
live any longer, but that it would be well for him to hasten to his end,
and depart out of this life with him. As the king was thus bemoaning
himself, Elisha comforted him, and bid the king bend a bow that was
brought him; and when the king had fitted the bow for shooting, Elisha
took hold of his hands and bid him shoot; and when he had shot three
arrows, and then left off, Elisha said, “If thou hadst shot more arrows,
thou hadst cut the kingdom of Syria up by the roots; but since thou hast
been satisfied with shooting three times only, thou shalt fight and beat
the Syrians no more times than three, that thou mayst recover that country
which they cut off from thy kingdom in the reign of thy father.” So when
the king had heard that, he departed; and a little while after the prophet
died. He was a man celebrated for righteousness, and in eminent favor with
God. He also performed wonderful and surprising works by prophecy, and
such as were gloriously preserved in memory by the Hebrews. He also
obtained a magnificent funeral, such a one indeed as it was fit a person
so beloved of God should have. It also happened, that at that time certain
robbers cast a man whom they had slain into Elisha’s grave, and upon his
dead body coming close to Elisha’s body, it revived again. And thus far
have we enlarged about the actions of Elisha the prophet, both such as he
did while he was alive, and how he had a Divine power after his death
also.
7. Now, upon the death of Hazael, the king of Syria, that kingdom came to
Adad his son, with whom Joash, king of Israel, made war; and when he had
beaten him in three battles, he took from him all that country, and all
those cities and villages, which his father Hazael had taken from the
kingdom of Israel, which came to pass, however, according to the prophecy
of Elisha. But when Joash happened to die, he was buried in Samaria, and
the government devolved on his son Jeroboam.
CHAPTER 9. How Amaziah Made An Expedition Against The Edomites And
Amalekites And Conquered Them; But When He Afterwards Made War Against
Joash, He Was Beaten And Not Long After Was Slain, And Uzziah Succeeded In
The Government.
1. Now, in the second year of the reign of Joash over Israel, Amaziah
reigned over the tribe of Judah in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was
Jehoaddan, who was born at Jerusalem. He was exceeding careful of doing
what was right, and this when he was very young; but when he came to the
management of affairs, and to the government, he resolved that he ought
first of all to avenge his father Je-hoash, and to punish those his
friends that had laid violent hands upon him: so he seized upon them all,
and put them to death; yet did he execute no severity on their children,
but acted therein according to the laws of Moses, who did not think it
just to punish children for the sins of their fathers. After this he chose
him an army out of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, of such as were in the
flower of their age, and about twenty years old; and when he had collected
about three hundred thousand of them together, he set captains of hundreds
over them. He also sent to the king of Israel, and hired a hundred
thousand of his soldiers for a hundred talents of silver, for he had
resolved to make an expedition against the nations of the Amalekites, and
Edomites, and Gebalites: but as he was preparing for his expedition, and
ready to go out to the war, a prophet gave him counsel to dismiss the army
of the Israelites, because they were bad men, and because God foretold
that he should be beaten, if he made use of them as auxiliaries; but that
he should overcome his enemies, though he had but a few soldiers, when it
so pleased God. And when the king grudged at his having already paid the
hire of the Israelites, the prophet exhorted him to do what God would have
him, because he should thereby obtain much wealth from God. So he
dismissed them, and said that he still freely gave them their pay, and
went himself with his own army, and made war with the nations before
mentioned; and when he had beaten them in battle, he slew of them ten
thousand, and took as many prisoners alive, whom he brought to the great
rock which is in Arabia, and threw them down from it headlong. He also
brought away a great deal of prey and vast riches from those nations. But
while Amaziah was engaged in this expedition, those Israelites whom he had
hired, and then dismissed, were very uneasy at it, and taking their
dismission for an affront, [as supposing that this would not have been
done to them but out of contempt,] they fell upon his kingdom, and
proceeded to spoil the country as far as Beth- horon, and took much
cattle, and slew three thousand men.
2. Now upon the victory which Amaziah had gotten, and the great acts he
had done, he was puffed up, and began to overlook God, who had given him
the victory, and proceeded to worship the gods he had brought out of the
country of the Amalekites. So a prophet came to him, and said, that he
wondered how he could esteem these to be gods, who had been of no
advantage to their own people who paid them honors, nor had delivered them
from his hands, but had overlooked the destruction of many of them, and
had suffered themselves to be carried captive, for that they had been
carried to Jerusalem in the same manner as any one might have taken some
of the enemy alive, and led them thither. This reproof provoked the king
to anger, and he commanded the prophet to hold his peace, and threatened
to punish him if he meddled with his conduct. So he replied, that he
should indeed hold his peace; but foretold withal, that God would not
overlook his attempts for innovation. But Amaziah was not able to contain
himself under that prosperity which God had given him, although he had
affronted God thereupon; but in a vein of insolence he wrote to Joash, the
king of Israel, and commanded that he and all his people should be
obedient to him, as they had formerly been obedient to his progenitors,
David and Solomon; and he let him know, that if he would not be so wise as
to do what he commanded him, he must fight for his dominion. To which
message Joash returned this answer in writing: “King Joash to king
Amaziah. There was a vastly tall cypress tree in Mount Lebanon, as also a
thistle; this thistle sent to the cypress tree to give the cypress tree’s
daughter in marriage to the thistle’s son; but as the thistle was saying
this, there came a wild beast, and trod down the thistle: and this may be
a lesson to thee, not to be so ambitious, and to have a care, lest upon
thy good success in the fight against the Amalekites thou growest so
proud, as to bring dangers upon thyself and upon thy kingdom.”
3. When Amaziah had read this letter, he was more eager upon this
expedition, which, I suppose, was by the impulse of God, that he might be
punished for his offense against him. But as soon as he led out his army
against Joash, and they were going to join battle with him, there came
such a fear and consternation upon the army of Amaziah, as God, when he is
displeased, sends upon men, and discomfited them, even before they came to
a close fight. Now it happened, that as they were scattered about by the
terror that was upon them, Amaziah was left alone, and was taken prisoner
by the enemy; whereupon Joash threatened to kill him, unless he would
persuade the people of Jerusalem to open their gates to him, and receive
him and his army into the city. Accordingly Amaziah was so distressed, and
in such fear of his life, that he made his enemy to be received into the
city. So Joash over threw a part of the wall, of the length of four
hundred cubits, and drove his chariot through the breach into Jerusalem,
and led Amaziah captive along with him; by which means he became master of
Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of God, and carried off all the
gold and silver that was in the king’s palace, and then freed the king
from captivity, and returned to Samaria. Now these things happened to the
people of Jerusalem in the fourteenth year of the reign of Amaziah, who
after this had a conspiracy made against him by his friends, and fled to
the city Lachish, and was there slain by the conspirators, who sent men
thither to kill him. So they took up his dead body, and carried it to
Jerusalem, and made a royal funeral for him. This was the end of the life
of Amaziah, because of his innovations in religion, and his contempt of
God, when he had lived fifty-four years, and had reigned twenty-nine. He
was succeeded by his son, whose name was Uzziah.
CHAPTER 10. Concerning Jeroboam King Of Israel And Jonah The Prophet; And
How After The Death Of Jeroboam His Son Zachariah Took The Government. How
Uzziah, King Of Jerusalem, Subdued The Nations That Were Round About Him;
And What Befell Him When He Attempted To Offer Incense To God.
1. In the fifteenth year of the reign of Amaziah, Jeroboam the son of
Joash reigned over Israel in Samaria forty years. This king was guilty of
contumely against God, 18 and became very wicked in
worshipping of idols, and in many undertakings that were absurd and
foreign. He was also the cause of ten thousand misfortunes to the people
of Israel. Now one Jonah, a prophet, foretold to him that he should make
war with the Syrians, and conquer their army, and enlarge the bounds of
his kingdom on the northern parts to the city Hamath, and on the southern
to the lake Asphaltitis; for the bounds of the Canaanites originally were
these, as Joshua their general had determined them. So Jeroboam made an
expedition against the Syrians, and overran all their country, as Jonah
had foretold.
2. Now I cannot but think it necessary for me, who have promised to give
an accurate account of our affairs, to describe the actions of this
prophet, so far as I have found them written down in the Hebrew books.
Jonah had been commanded by God to go to the kingdom of Nineveh; and when
he was there, to publish it in that city, how it should lose the dominion
it had over the nations. But he went not, out of fear; nay, he ran away
from God to the city of Joppa, and finding a ship there, he went into it,
and sailed to Tarsus, in Cilicia 19 and upon
the rise of a most terrible storm, which was so great that the ship was in
danger of sinking, the mariners, the master, and the pilot himself, made
prayers and vows, in case they escaped the sea: but Jonah lay still and
covered [in the ship,] without imitating any thing that the others did;
but as the waves grew greater, and the sea became more violent by the
winds, they suspected, as is usual in such cases, that some one of the
persons that sailed with them was the occasion of this storm, and agreed
to discover by lot 20 which of them it was. When they
had cast lots, 21 the lot fell upon the prophet;
and when they asked him whence he came, and what he had done? he replied,
that he was a Hebrew by nation, and a prophet of Almighty God; and he
persuaded them to cast him into the sea, if they would escape the danger
they were in, for that he was the occasion of the storm which was upon
them. Now at the first they durst not do so, as esteeming it a wicked
thing to cast a man who was a stranger, and who had committed his life to
them, into such manifest perdition; but at last, when their misfortune
overbore them, and the ship was just going to be drowned, and when they
were animated to do it by the prophet himself, and by the fear concerning
their own safety, they cast him into the sea; upon which the sea became
calm. It is also reported that Jonah was swallowed down by a whale, and
that when he had been there three days, and as many nights, he was vomited
out upon the Euxine Sea, and this alive, and without any hurt upon his
body; and there, on his prayer to God, he obtained pardon for his sins,
and went to the city Nineveh, where he stood so as to be heard, and
preached, that in a very little time they should lose the dominion of
Asia. And when he had published this, he returned. Now I have given this
account about him as I found it written [in our books.]
3. When Jeroboam the king had passed his life in great happiness, and had
ruled forty years, he died, and was buried in Samaria, and his son
Zachariah took the kingdom. After the same manner did Uzziah, the son of
Amaziah, begin to reign over the two tribes in Jerusalem, in the
fourteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam. He was born of Jecoliah, his
mother, who was a citizen of Jerusalem. He was a good man, and by nature
righteous and magnanimous, and very laborious in taking care of the
affairs of his kingdom. He made an expedition also against the
Philistines, and overcame them in battle, and took the cities of Gath and
Jabneh, and brake down their walls; after which expedition he assaulted
those Arabs that adjoined to Egypt. He also built a city upon the Red Sea,
and put a garrison into it. He, after this, overthrew the Ammonites, and
appointed that they should pay tribute. He also overcame all the countries
as far as the bounds of Egypt, and then began to take care of Jerusalem
itself for the rest of his life; for he rebuilt and repaired all those
parts of the wall which had either fallen down by length of time, or by
the carelessness of the kings, his predecessors, as well as all that part
which had been thrown down by the king of Israel, when he took his father
Amaziah prisoner, and entered with him into the city. Moreover, he built a
great many towers, of one hundred and fifty cubits high, and built walled
towns in desert places, and put garrisons into them, and dug many channels
for conveyance of water. He had also many beasts for labor, and an immense
number of cattle; for his country was fit for pasturage. He was also given
to husbandry, and took care to cultivate the ground, and planted it with
all sorts of plants, and sowed it with all sorts of seeds. He had also
about him an army composed of chosen men, in number three hundred and
seventy thousand, who were governed by general officers and captains of
thousands, who were men of valor, and of unconquerable strength, in number
two thousand. He also divided his whole army into bands, and armed them,
giving every one a sword, with brazen bucklers and breastplates, with bows
and slings; and besides these, he made for them many engines of war for
besieging of cities, such as cast stones and darts, with grapplers, and
other instruments of that sort.
4. While Uzziah was in this state, and making preparation [for futurity],
he was corrupted in his mind by pride, and became insolent, and this on
account of that abundance which he had of things that will soon perish,
and despised that power which is of eternal duration [which consisted in
piety towards God, and in the observation of the laws]; so he fell by
occasion of the good success of his affairs, and was carried headlong into
those sins of his father, which the splendor of that prosperity he
enjoyed, and the glorious actions he had done, led him into, while he was
not able to govern himself well about them. Accordingly, when a remarkable
day was come, and a general festival was to be celebrated, he put on the
holy garment, and went into the temple to offer incense to God upon the
golden altar, which he was prohibited to do by Azariah the high priest,
who had fourscore priests with him, and who told him that it was not
lawful for him to offer sacrifice, and that “none besides the posterity of
Aaron were permitted so to do.” And when they cried out that he must go
out of the temple, and not transgress against God, he was wroth at them,
and threatened to kill them, unless they would hold their peace. In the
mean time a great earthquake shook the ground and a rent was made in the
temple, and the bright rays of the sun shone through it, and fell upon the
king’s face, insomuch that the leprosy seized upon him immediately. And
before the city, at a place called Eroge, half the mountain broke off from
the rest on the west, and rolled itself four furlongs, and stood still at
the east mountain, till the roads, as well as the king’s gardens, were
spoiled by the obstruction. Now, as soon as the priests saw that the
king’s face was infected with the leprosy, they told him of the calamity
he was under, and commanded that he should go out of the city as a
polluted person. Hereupon he was so confounded at the sad distemper, and
sensible that he was not at liberty to contradict, that he did as he was
commanded, and underwent this miserable and terrible punishment for an
intention beyond what befitted a man to have, and for that impiety against
God which was implied therein. So he abode out of the city for some time,
and lived a private life, while his son Jotham took the government; after
which he died with grief and anxiety at what had happened to him, when he
had lived sixty-eight years, and reigned of them fifty-two; and was buried
by himself in his own gardens.
CHAPTER 11. How Zachariah Shallum, Menahem Pekahiah And Pekah Took The
Government Over The Israelites; And How Pul And Tiglath-Pileser Made An
Expedition Against The Israelites. How Jotham, The Son Of Uzziah Reigned
Over The Tribe Of Judah; And What Things Nahum Prophesied Against The
Assyrians.
1. Now when Zachariah, the son of Jeroboam, had reigned six months over
Israel, he was slain by the treachery of a certain friend of his, whose
name was Shallum, the son of Jabesh, who took the kingdom afterward, but
kept it no longer than thirty days; for Menahem, the general of his army,
who was at that time in the city Tirzah, and heard of what had befallen
Zachariah, removed thereupon with all his forces to Samaria, and joining
battle with Shallum, slew him; and when he had made himself king, he went
thence, and came to the city Tiphsah; but the citizens that were in it
shut their gates, and barred them against the king, and would not admit
him: but in order to be avenged on them, he burnt the country round about
it, and took the city by force, upon a siege; and being very much
displeased at what the inhabitants of Tiphsah had done, he slew them all,
and spared not so much as the infants, without omitting the utmost
instances of cruelty and barbarity; for he used such severity upon his own
countrymen, as would not be pardonable with regard to strangers who had
been conquered by him. And after this manner it was that this Menahem 22
continued to reign with cruelty and barbarity for ten years. But when Pul,
king of Assyria, had made an expedition against him, he did not think meet
to fight or engage in battle with the Assyrians, but he persuaded him to
accept of a thousand talents of silver, and to go away, and so put an end
to the war. This sum the multitude collected for Menahem, by exacting
fifty drachmae as poll-money for every head; 23 after
which he died, and was buried in Samaria, and left his son Pekahiah his
successor in the kingdom, who followed the barbarity of his father, and so
ruled but two years only, after which he was slain with his friends at a
feast, by the treachery of one Pekah, the general of his horse, and the
son of Remaliah, who laid snares for him. Now this Pekah held the
government twenty years, and proved a wicked man and a transgressor. But
the king of Assyria, whose name was Tiglath-Pileser, when he had made an
expedition against the Israelites, and had overrun all the land of Gilead,
and the region beyond Jordan, and the adjoining country, which is called
Galilee, and Kadesh, and Hazor, he made the inhabitants prisoners, and
transplanted them into his own kingdom. And so much shall suffice to have
related here concerning the king of Assyria.
2. Now Jotham the son of Uzziah reigned over the tribe of Judah in
Jerusalem, being a citizen thereof by his mother, whose name was Jerusha.
This king was not defective in any virtue, but was religious towards God,
and righteous towards men, and careful of the good of the city [for what
part soever wanted to be repaired or adorned he magnificently repaired and
adorned them]. He also took care of the foundations of the cloisters in
the temple, and repaired the walls that were fallen down, and built very
great towers, and such as were almost impregnable; and if any thing else
in his kingdom had been neglected, he took great care of it. He also made
an expedition against the Ammonites, and overcame them in battle, and
ordered them to pay tribute, a hundred talents, and ten thousand cori of
wheat, and as many of barley, every year, and so augmented his kingdom,
that his enemies could not despise it, and his own people lived happily.
3. Now there was at that time a prophet, whose name was Nahum, who spake
after this manner concerning the overthrow of the Assyrians and of
Nineveh: “Nineveh shall be a pool of water in motion so shall all her
people be troubled, and tossed, and go away by flight, while they say one
to another, Stand, stand still, seize their gold and silver, for there
shall be no one to wish them well, for they will rather save their lives
than their money; for a terrible contention shall possess them one with
another, and lamentation, and loosing of the members, and their
countenances shall be perfectly black with fear. And there will be the den
of the lions, and the mother of the young lions! God says to thee,
Nineveh, that they shall deface thee, and the lion shall no longer go out
from thee to give laws to the world.” And indeed this prophet prophesied
many other things besides these concerning Nineveh, which I do not think
necessary to repeat, and I here omit them, that I may not appear
troublesome to my readers; all which thing happened about Nineveh a
hundred and fifteen years afterward: so this may suffice to have spoken of
these matters.
CHAPTER 12. How Upon The Death Of Jotham, Ahaz Reigned In His Stead;
Against Whom Rezin, King Of Syria And Pekah King Of Israel, Made War; And
How Tiglath-Pileser, King Of Assyria Came To The Assistance Of Ahaz, And
Laid Syria Waste And Removing The Damascenes Into Media Placed Other
Nations In Their Room.
1. Now Jotham died when he had lived forty-one years, and of them reigned
sixteen, and was buried in the sepulchers of the kings; and the kingdom
came to his son Ahaz, who proved most impious towards God, and a
transgressor of the laws of his country. He imitated the kings of Israel,
and reared altars in Jerusalem, and offered sacrifices upon them to idols;
to which also he offered his own son as a burnt-offering, according to the
practices of the Canaanites. His other actions were also of the same sort.
Now as he was going on in this mad course, Rezin, the king of Syria and
Damascus, and Pekah, the king of Israel, who were now at amity one with
another, made war with him; and when they had driven him into Jerusalem,
they besieged that city a long while, making but a small progress, on
account of the strength of its walls; and when the king of Syria had taken
the city Elath, upon the Red Sea, and had slain the inhabitants, he
peopled it with Syrians; and when he had slain those in the [other]
garrisons, and the Jews in their neighborhood, and had driven away much
prey, he returned with his army back to Damascus. Now when the king of
Jerusalem knew that the Syrians were returned home, he, supposing himself
a match for the king of Israel, drew out his army against him, and joining
battle with him was beaten; and this happened because God was angry with
him, on account of his many and great enormities. Accordingly there were
slain by the Israelites one hundred and twenty thousand of his men that
day, whose general, Amaziah by name, slew Zechariah the king’s son, in his
conflict with Ahaz, as well as the governor of the kingdom, whose name was
Azricam. He also carried Elkanah, the general of the troops of the tribe
of Judah, into captivity. They also carried the women and children of the
tribe of Benjamin captives; and when they had gotten a great deal of prey,
they returned to Samaria.
2. Now there was one Obed, who was a prophet at that time in Samaria; he
met the army before the city walls, and with a loud voice told them that
they had gotten the victory not by their own strength, but by reason of
the anger God had against king Ahaz. And he complained that they were not
satisfied with the good success they had had against him, but were so bold
as to make captives out of their kinsmen the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
He also gave them counsel to let them go home without doing them any harm,
for that if they did not obey God herein, they should be punished. So the
people of Israel came together to their assembly, and considered of these
matters, when a man whose name was Berechiah, and who was one of chief
reputation in the government, stood up, and the others with him, and said,
“We will not suffer the citizens to bring these prisoners into the city,
lest we be all destroyed by God; we have sins enough of our own that we
have committed against him, as the prophets assure us; nor ought we
therefore to introduce the practice of new crimes.” When the soldiers
heard that, they permitted them to do what they thought best. So the
forenamed men took the captives, and let them go, and took care of them,
and gave them provisions, and sent them to their own country, without
doing them any harm. However, these four went along with them, and
conducted them as far as Jericho, which is not far from Jerusalem, and
returned to Samaria.
3. Hereupon king Ahaz, having been so thoroughly beaten by the Israelites,
sent to Tiglath-Pileser, king of the Assyrians, and sued for assistance
from him in his war against the Israelites, and Syrians, and Damascenes,
with a promise to send him much money; he sent him also great presents at
the same time. Now this king, upon the reception of those ambassadors,
came to assist Ahaz, and made war upon the Syrians, and laid their country
waste, and took Damascus by force, and slew Rezin their king, and
transplanted the people of Damascus into the Upper Media, and brought a
colony of Assyrians, and planted them in Damascus. He also afflicted the
land of Israel, and took many captives out of it. While he was doing thus
with the Syrians, king Ahaz took all the gold that was in the king’s
treasures, and the silver, and what was in the temple of God, and what
precious gifts were there, and he carried them with him, and came to
Damascus, and gave it to the king of Assyria, according to his agreement.
So he confessed that he owed him thanks for all he had done for him, and
returned to Jerusalem. Now this king was so sottish and thoughtless of
what was for his own good, that he would not leave off worshipping the
Syrian gods when he was beaten by them, but he went on in worshipping
them, as though they would procure him the victory; and when he was beaten
again, he began to honor the gods of the Assyrians; and he seemed more
desirous to honor any other gods than his own paternal and true God, whose
anger was the cause of his defeat; nay, he proceeded to such a degree of
despite and contempt [of God’s worship], that he shut up the temple
entirely, and forbade them to bring in the appointed sacrifices, and took
away the gifts that had been given to it. And when he had offered these
indignities to God, he died, having lived thirty-six years, and of them
reigned sixteen; and he left his son Hezekiah for his successor.
CHAPTER 13. How Pekah Died By The Treachery Of Hoshea Who Was A Little
After Subdued By Shalmaneser; And How Hezekiah Reigned Instead Of Ahaz;
And What Actions Of Piety And Justice He Did.
1. About the same time Pekah, the king of Israel, died by the treachery of
a friend of his, whose name was Hoshea, who retained the kingdom nine
years’ time, but was a wicked man, and a despiser of the Divine worship;
and Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, made an expedition against him, and
overcame him, [which must have been because he had not God favorable nor
assistant to him,] and brought him to submission, and ordered him to pay
an appointed tribute. Now, in the fourth year of the reign of Hoshea,
Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, began to reign in Jerusalem; and his mother’s
name was Abijah, a citizen of Jerusalem. His nature was good, and
righteous, and religious; for when he came to the kingdom, he thought that
nothing was prior, or more necessary, or more advantageous to himself, and
to his subjects, than to worship God. Accordingly, he called the people
together, and the priests, and the Levites, and made a speech to them, and
said, “You are not ignorant how, by the sins of my father, who
transgressed that sacred honor which was due to God, you have had
experience of many and great miseries, while you were corrupted in your
mind by him, and were induced to worship those which he supposed to be
gods; I exhort you, therefore, who have learned by sad experience how
dangerous a thing impiety is, to put that immediately out of your memory,
and to purify yourselves from your former pollutions, and to open the
temple to these priests and Levites who are here convened, and to cleanse
it with the accustomed sacrifices, and to recover all to the ancient honor
which our fathers paid to it; for by this means we may render God
favorable, and he will remit the anger he hath had to us.”
2. When the king had said this, the priests opened the temple; and when
they had set in order the vessels of God, and east out what was impure,
they laid the accustomed sacrifices upon the altar. The king also sent to
the country that was under him, and called the people to Jerusalem to
celebrate the feast of unleavened bread, for it had been intermitted a
long time, on account of the wickedness of the forementioned kings. He
also sent to the Israelites, and exhorted them to leave off their present
way of living, and return to their ancient practices, and to worship God,
for that he gave them leave to come to Jerusalem, and to celebrate, all in
one body, the feast of unleavened bread; and this he said was by way of
invitation only, and to be done of their own good-will, and for their own
advantage, and not out of obedience to him, because it would make them
happy. But the Israelites, upon the coming of the ambassadors, and upon
their laying before them what they had in charge from their own king, were
so far from complying therewith, that they laughed the ambassadors to
scorn, and mocked them as fools: as also they affronted the prophets,
which gave them the same exhortations, and foretold what they would suffer
if they did not return to the worship of God, insomuch that at length they
caught them, and slew them; nor did this degree of transgressing suffice
them, but they had more wicked contrivances than what have been described:
nor did they leave off, before God, as a punishment for their impiety,
brought them under their enemies: but of that more hereafter. However,
many there were of the tribe of Manasseh, and of Zebulon, and of Issachar,
who were obedient to what the prophets exhorted them to do, and returned
to the worship of God. Now all these came running to Jerusalem, to
Hezekiah, that they might worship God [there].
3. When these men were come, king Hezekiah went up into the temple, with
the rulers and all the people, and offered for himself seven bulls, and as
many rams, with seven lambs, and as many kids of the goats. The king also
himself, and the rulers, laid their hands on the heads of the sacrifices,
and permitted the priests to complete the sacred offices about them. So
they both slew the sacrifices, and burnt the burnt-offerings, while the
Levites stood round about them, with their musical instruments, and sang
hymns to God, and played on their psalteries, as they were instructed by
David to do, and this while the rest of the priests returned the music,
and sounded the trumpets which they had in their hands; and when this was
done, the king and the multitude threw themselves down upon their face,
and worshipped God. He also sacrificed seventy bulls, one hundred rams,
and two hundred lambs. He also granted the multitude sacrifices to feast
upon, six hundred oxen, and three thousand other cattle; and the priests
performed all things according to the law. Now the king was so pleased
herewith, that he feasted with the people, and returned thanks to God; but
as the feast of unleavened bread was now come, when they had offered that
sacrifice which is called the passover, they after that offered other
sacrifices for seven days. When the king had bestowed on the multitude,
besides what they sanctified of themselves, two thousand bulls, and seven
thousand other cattle, the same thing was done by the rulers; for they
gave them a thousand bulls, and a thousand and forty other cattle. Nor had
this festival been so well observed from the days of king Solomon, as it
was now first observed with great splendor and magnificence; and when the
festival was ended, they went out into the country and purged it, and
cleansed the city of all the pollution of the idols. The king also gave
order that the daily sacrifices should be offered, at his own charges, and
according to the law; and appointed that the tithes and the first-fruits
should be given by the multitude to the priests and Levites, that they
might constantly attend upon Divine service, and never be taken off from
the worship of God. Accordingly, the multitude brought together all sorts
of their fruits to the priests and the Levites. The king also made garners
and receptacles for these fruits, and distributed them to every one of the
priests and Levites, and to their children and wives; and thus did they
return to their old form of Divine worship. Now when the king had settled
these matters after the manner already described, he made war upon the
Philistines, and beat them, and possessed himself of all the enemy’s
cities, from Gaza to Gath; but the king of Assyria sent to him, and
threatened to overturn all his dominions, unless he would pay him the
tribute which his father paid him formerly; but king Hezekiah was not
concerned at his threatenings, but depended on his piety towards God, and
upon Isaiah the prophet, by whom he inquired and accurately knew all
future events. And thus much shall suffice for the present concerning this
king Hezekiah.
CHAPTER 14. How Shalmaneser Took Samaria By Force And How He Transplanted
The Ten Tribes Into Media, And Brought The Nation Of The Cutheans Into
Their Country [In Their Room].
1. When Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, had it told him, that [Hoshea]
the king of Israel had sent privately to So, the king of Egypt, desiring
his assistance against him, he was very angry, and made an expedition
against Samaria, in the seventh year of the reign of Hoshea; but when he
was not admitted [into the city] by the king, 24 he
besieged Samaria three years, and took it by force in the ninth year of
the reign of Hoshea, and in the seventh year of Hezekiah, king of
Jerusalem, and quite demolished the government of the Israelites, and
transplanted all the people into Media and Persia among whom he took king
Hoshea alive; and when he had removed these people out of this their land
he transplanted other nations out of Cuthah, a place so called, [for there
is [still] a river of that name in Persia,] into Samaria, and into the
country of the Israelites. So the ten tribes of the Israelites were
removed out of Judea nine hundred and forty-seven years after their
forefathers were come out of the land of Egypt, and possessed themselves
of the country, but eight hundred years after Joshua had been their
leader, and, as I have already observed, two hundred and forty years,
seven months, and seven days after they had revolted from Rehoboam, the
grandson of David, and had given the kingdom to Jeroboam. And such a
conclusion overtook the Israelites, when they had transgressed the laws,
and would not hearken to the prophets, who foretold that this calamity
would come upon them, if they would not leave off their evil doings. What
gave birth to these evil doings, was that sedition which they raised
against Rehoboam, the grandson of David, when they set up Jeroboam his
servant to be their king, when, by sinning against God, and bringing them
to imitate his bad example, made God to be their enemy, while Jeroboam
underwent that punishment which he justly deserved.
2. And now the king of Assyria invaded all Syria and Phoenicia in a
hostile manner. The name of this king is also set down in the archives of
Tyre, for he made an expedition against Tyre in the reign of Eluleus; and
Menander attests to it, who, when he wrote his Chronology, and translated
the archives of Tyre into the Greek language, gives us the following
history: “One whose name was Eluleus reigned thirty-six years; this king,
upon the revolt of the Citteans, sailed to them, and reduced them again to
a submission. Against these did the king of Assyria send an army, and in a
hostile manner overrun all Phoenicia, but soon made peace with them all,
and returned back; but Sidon, and Ace, and Palsetyrus revolted; and many
other cities there were which delivered themselves up to the king of
Assyria. Accordingly, when the Tyrians would not submit to him, the king
returned, and fell upon them again, while the Phoenicians had furnished
him with threescore ships, and eight hundred men to row them; and when the
Tyrians had come upon them in twelve ships, and the enemy’s ships were
dispersed, they took five hundred men prisoners, and the reputation of all
the citizens of Tyre was thereby increased; but the king of Assyria
returned, and placed guards at their rivers and aqueducts, who should
hinder the Tyrians from drawing water. This continued for five years; and
still the Tyrians bore the siege, and drank of the water they had out of
the wells they dug.” And this is what is written in the Tyrian archives
concerning Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria.
3. But now the Cutheans, who removed into Samaria, [for that is the name
they have been called by to this time, because they were brought out of
the country called Cuthah, which is a country of Persia, and there is a
river of the same name in it,] each of them, according to their nations,
which were in number five, brought their own gods into Samaria, and by
worshipping them, as was the custom of their own countries, they provoked
Almighty God to be angry and displeased at them, for a plague seized upon
them, by which they were destroyed; and when they found no cure for their
miseries, they learned by the oracle that they ought to worship Almighty
God, as the method for their deliverance. So they sent ambassadors to the
king of Assyria, and desired him to send them some of those priests of the
Israelites whom he had taken captive. And when he thereupon sent them, and
the people were by them taught the laws, and the holy worship of God, they
worshipped him in a respectful manner, and the plague ceased immediately;
and indeed they continue to make use of the very same customs to this very
time, and are called in the Hebrew tongue Cutlans, but in the Greek tongue
Samaritans. And when they see the Jews in prosperity, they pretend that
they are changed, and allied to them, and call them kinsmen, as though
they were derived from Joseph, and had by that means an original alliance
with them; but when they see them falling into a low condition, they say
they are no way related to them, and that the Jews have no right to expect
any kindness or marks of kindred from them, but they declare that they are
sojourners, that come from other countries. But of these we shall have a
more seasonable opportunity to discourse hereafter.
FOOTNOTES
1 (return)
[ These judges constituted
by Jehoshaphat were a kind of Jerusalem Sanhedrim, out of the priests, the
Levites, and the principal of the people, both here and 2 Chronicles 19:8;
much like the old Christian judicatures of the bishop, the presbyters, the
deacons, and the people.]
2 (return)
[ Concerning this precious
balsam, see the note on Atiq. B. VIII. ch. 6. sect. 6.]
3 (return)
[ What are here Pontus and
Thrace, as the places whither Jehoshaphat’s fleet sailed, are in our other
copies Ophir and Tarshish, and the place whence it sailed is in them
Eziongeber, which lay on the Red Sea, whence it was impossible for any
ships to sail to Pontus or Thrace; so that Josephus’s copy differed from
our other copies, as is further plain from his own words, which render
what we read, that “the ships were broken at Eziongeber, from their
unwieldy greatness.” But so far we may conclude, that Josephus thought one
Ophir to be some where in the Mediterranean, and not in the South Sea,
though perhaps there might be another Ophir in that South Sea also, and
that fleets might then sail both from Phoenicia and from the Red Sea to
fetch the gold of Ophir.]
4 (return)
[ This god of flies seems to
have been so called, as was the like god among the Greeks, from his
supposed power over flies, in driving them away from the flesh of their
sacrifices, which otherwise would have been very troublesome to them.]
5 (return)
[ It is commonly esteemed a
very cruel action of Elijah, when he called for fire from heaven, and
consumed no fewer than two captains and a hundred soldiers, and this for
no other crime than obeying the orders of their king, in attempting to
seize him; and it is owned by our Savior, that it was an instance of
greater severity than the spirit of the New Testament allows, Luke 9:54.
But then we must consider that it is not unlikely that these captains and
soldiers believed that they were sent to fetch the prophet, that he might
be put to death for foretelling the death of the king, and this while they
knew him to be the prophet of the true God, the supreme King of Israel,
[for they were still under the theocracy,] which was no less than impiety,
rebellion, and treason, in the highest degree: nor would the command of a
subaltern, or inferior captain, contradicting the commands of the general,
when the captain and the soldiers both knew it to be so, as I suppose,
justify or excuse such gross rebellion and disobedience in soldiers at
this day. Accordingly, when Saul commanded his guards to slay Ahimelech
and the priests at Nob, they knew it to be an unlawful command, and would
not obey it, 1 Samuel 22:17. From which cases both officers and soldiers
may learn, that the commands of their leaders or kings cannot justify or
excuse them in doing what is wicked in the sight of God, or in fighting in
an unjust cause, when they know it so to be.]
6 (return)
[ This practice of cutting
down, or plucking up by the roots, the fruit trees was forbidden, even in
ordinary wars, by the law of Moses, Deuteronomy 20:19, 20, and only
allowed by God in this particular case, when the Moabites were to be
punished and cut off in an extraordinary manner for their wickedness See
Jeremiah 48:11-13, and many the like prophecies against them. Nothing
could therefore justify this practice but a particular commission from God
by his prophet, as in the present case, which was ever a sufficient
warrant for breaking any such ritual or ceremonial law whatsoever.]
7 (return)
[ That this woman who cried
to Elisha, and who in our Bible is styled “the wife of one of the sons of
the prophets,” 2 Kings 4:1, was no other than the widow of Obadiah, the
good steward of Ahab, is confirmed by the Chaldee paraphrast, and by the
Rabbins and others. Nor is that unlikely which Josephus here adds, that
these debts were contracted by her husband for the support of those
“hundred of the Lord’s prophets, whom he maintained by fifty in a cave,”
in the days of Ahab and Jezebel, 1 Kings 18:4; which circumstance rendered
it highly fit that the prophet Elisha should provide her a remedy, and
enable her to redeem herself and her sons from the fear of that slavery
which insolvent debtors were liable to by the law of Moses, Leviticus
25:39; Matthew 18:25; which he did accordingly, with God’s help, at the
expense of a miracle.]
8 (return)
[ Dr. Hudson, with very good
reason, suspects that there is no small defect in our present copies of
Josephus, just before the beginning of this section, and that chiefly as
to that distinct account which he had given us reason to expect in the
first section, and to which he seems to refer, ch. 8. sect. 6. concerning
the glorious miracles which Elisha wrought, which indeed in our Bibles are
not a few, 2 Kings 6-9., but of which we have several omitted in
Josephus’s present copies. One of those histories, omitted at present, was
evidently in his Bible, I mean that of the curing of Nanman’s leprosy, 2
Kings 5.; for he plainly alludes to it, B. III. ch. 11. sect. 4, where he
observes, that “there were lepers in many nations who yet have been in
honor, and not only free from reproach and avoidance, but who have been
great captains of armies, and been intrusted with high offices in the
commonwealth, and have had the privilege of entering into holy places and
temples.” But what makes me most regret the want of that history in our
present copies of Josephus is this, that we have here, as it is commonly
understood, one of the greatest difficulties in all the Bible, that in 2
Kings 5:18, 19, where Naaman, after he had been miraculously cured by a
prophet of the true God, and had thereupon promised [ver. 17: that “he
would henceforth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice unto other
gods, but unto the Lord,” adds, “In this thing the Lord pardon thy
servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimnu to worship
there, and he leaneth on my hands, and I bow myself in the house of
Rimmort; when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmort, the Lord pardon
thy servant in this thing. And Elisha said, Go in peace.” This looks like
a prophet’s permission for being partaker in idolatry itself, out of
compliance with an idolatrous court.]
9 (return)
[ Upon occasion of this
stratagem of Elisha, in Josephus, we may take notice, that although
Josephus was one of the greatest lovers of truth in the world, yet in a
just war he seems to have had no manner of scruple upon him by all such
stratagems possible to deceive public enemies. See this Josephus’s account
of Jeremiah’s imposition on the great men of the Jews in somewhat like
case, Antiq. B. X. ch. 7. sect. 6; 2 Samuel 16:16, &c.]
10 (return)
[ This son of a murderer
was Joram, the son of Ahab, which Ahab slew, or permitted his wife Jezebel
to slay, the Lord’s prophets, and Naboth, 1 Kings 18:4; 21:19; and he is
here called by this name, I suppose, because he had now also himself sent
an officer to murder him; yet is Josephus’s account of Joram’s coming
himself at last as repenting of his intended cruelty, much more probable
than that in our copies, 2 Kings 6:33, which rather implies the contrary.]
11 (return)
[ This law of the Jews,
for the exclusion of lepers out of the camp in the wilderness, and out of
the cities in Judea, is a known one, Leviticus 13:46; Numbers 5:14.]
12 (return)
[ Since Elijah did not
live to anoint Hazael king of Syria himself, as he was empowered to do, 1
Kings 19:15, it was most probably now done, in his name, by his servant
and successor Elisha. Nor does it seem to me otherwise but that Benhadad
immediately recovered of his disease, as the prophet foretold; and that
Hazael, upon his being anointed to succeed him though he ought to have
staid till he died by the course of nature, or some other way of Divine
punishment, as did David for many years in the like case, was too
impatient, and the very next day smothered or strangled him, in order to
come directly to the succession.]
13 (return)
[ What Mr. Le Clerc
pretends here, that it is more probable that Hazael and his son were
worshipped by the Syrians and people of Damascus till the days of
Josephus, than Benhadad and Hazael, because under Benhadad they had
greatly suffered, and because it is almost incredible that both a king and
that king’s murderer should be worshipped by the same Syrians, is of
little force against those records, out of which Josephus drew this
history, especially when it is likely that they thought Benhadad died of
the distemper he labored under, and not by Hazael’s treachery. Besides,
the reason that Josephus gives for this adoration, that these two kings
had been great benefactors to the inhabitants of Damascus, and had built
them temples, is too remote from the political suspicions of Le Clerc; nor
ought such weak suspicions to be deemed of any force against authentic
testimonies of antiquity.]
14 (return)
[ This epistle, in some
copies of Josephus, is said to come to Jotare from Elijah, with this
addition,” for he was yet upon earth,” which could not be true of Elijah,
who, as all agree, was gone from the earth about four years before, and
could only be true of Elisha; nor perhaps is there any more mystery here,
than that the name of Elijah has very anciently crept into the text
instead of Elisha, by the copiers, there being nothing in any copy of that
epistle peculiar to Elijah.]
15 (return)
[ Spanheim here notes,
that this putting off men’s garments, and strewing them under a king, was
an Eastern custom, which he had elsewhere explained.]
16 (return)
[ Our copies say that this
“driving of the chariots was like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi;
for he driveth furiously,” 2 Kings 9:20; whereas Josephus’s copy, as he
understood it, was this, that, on the contrary, Jehu marched slowly, and
in good order. Nor can it be denied, that since there was interval enough
for king Joram to send out two horsemen, one after another, to Jehu, and
at length to go out with king Ahaziah to meet him, and all this after he
was come within sight of the watchman, and before he was come to Jezreel,
the probability is greatly on the side of Josephus’s copy or
interpretation.]
17 (return)
[ This character of Joash,
the son of Jehoahaz, that “he was a good man, and in his disposition not
at all like to his father,” seems a direct contradiction to our ordinary
copies, which say [2 Kings 13:11] that “he did evil in the sight of the
Lord; and that he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of
Nebat, who made Israel to sin: he walked therein.” Which copies are here
the truest it is hard positively to determine. If Josephus’s be true, this
Joash is the single instance of a good king over the ten tribes; if the
other be true, we have not one such example. The account that follows, in
all copies, of Elisha the prophet’s concern for him, and his concern for
Elisha, greatly favors Josephus’s copies, and supposes this king to have
been then a good man, and no idolater, with whom God’s prophets used not
to be so familiar. Upon the whole, since it appears, even by Josephus’s
own account, that Amaziah, the good king of Judah, while he was a good
king, was forbidden to make use of the hundred thousand auxiliaries he had
hired of this Joash, the king of Israel, as if he and they were then
idolaters, 2 Chronicles 25:6-9, it is most likely that these different
characters of Joash suited the different parts of his reign, and that,
according to our common copies, he was at first a wicked king, and
afterwards was reclaimed, and became a good one, according to Josephus.]
18 (return)
[ What I have above noted
concerning Jehoash, seems to me to have been true also concerning his son
Jeroboam II., viz. that although he began wickedly, as Josephus agrees
with our other copies, and, as he adds, “was the cause of a vast number of
misfortunes to the Israelites” in those his first years, [the particulars
of which are unhappily wanting both in Josephus and in all our copies,] so
does it seem to me that he was afterwards reclaimed, and became a good
king, and so was encouraged by the prophet Jonah, and had great successes
afterward, when “God had saved the Israelites by the hand of Jeroboam, the
son of Joash,” 2 Kings 14:27; which encouragement by Jonah, and great
successes, are equally observable in Josephus, and in the other copies.]
19 (return)
[ When Jonah is said in
our Bibles to have gone to Tarshish, Jonah 1:3, Josephus understood it
that he went to Tarsus in Cilicia, or to the Mediterranean Sea, upon which
Tarsus lay; so that he does not appear to have read the text, 1 Kings
22:48, as our copies do, that ships of Tarshish could lie at Ezion-geber,
upon the Red Sea. But as to Josephus’s assertion, that Jonah’s fish was
carried by the strength of the current, upon a nean, it is by no means an
improbable determination in Josephus.]
20 (return)
[ This ancient piece of
religion, of supposing there was great sin where there was great misery,
and of casting lots to discover great sinners, not only among the
Israelites, but among these heathen mariners, seems a remarkable remains
of the ancient tradition which prevailed of old over all mankind, that
Providence used to interpose visibly in all human affairs, and storm, as
far as the Euxine Sea, it is no way impossible; and since the storm might
have driven the ship, while Jonah was in it never to bring, or at least
not long to continue, notorious judge, near to that Euxine Sea, and since
in three more days, while but for notorious sins, which the most ancient
Book of he was in the fish’s belly, that current might bring him to the
Job shows to have been the state of mankind for about the Assyrian coast,
and since withal that coast could bring him former three thousand years of
the world, till the days of Job nearer to Nineveh than could any coast of
the Mediterranian and Moses.]
21 (return)
[ This account of an
earthquake at Jerusalem at the very same time when Uzziah usurped the
priest’s office, and went into the sanctuary to burn incense, and of the
consequences of the earthquake, is entirely wanting in our other copies,
though it be exceeding like to a prophecy of Jeremiah, now in Zechariah
14:4, 5; in which prophecy mention is made of “fleeing from that
earthquake, as they fled from this earthquake in the days of Uzziah king
of Judah;” so that there seems to have been some considerable resemblance
between these historical and prophetical earthquakes.]
22 (return)
[ Dr. Wall, in his
critical notes on 2 Kings 15:20, observes, “that when this Menahem is said
to have exacted the money of Israel of all the mighty men of wealth, of
each man fifty shekels of silver, to give Pul, the king of Assyria, a
thousand talents, this is the first public money raised by any [Israelite]
king by tax on the people; that they used before to raise it out of the
treasures of the house of the Lord, or of their own house; that it was a
poll-money on the rich men, [and them only,] to raise oe353,000, or, as
others count a talent, oe400,000, at the rate of oe6 or oe7 per head; and
that God commanded, by Ezekiel, ch. 45:8; 46:18, that no such thing should
be done [at the Jews’ restoration], but the king should have land of his
own.”]
23 (return)
[ This passage is taken
out of the prophet Nahum, ch. 2:8-13, and is the principal, or rather the
only, one that is given us almost verbatim, but a little abridged, in all
Josephus’s known writings: by which quotation we learn what he himself
always asserts, viz. that he made use of the Hebrew original and not of
the Greek version]; as also we learn, that his Hebrew copy considerably
differed from ours. See all three texts particularly set down and compared
together in the Essay on the Old Testament, page 187.]
24 (return)
[ This siege of Samaria,
though not given a particular account of, either in our Hebrew or Greek
Bibles, or in Josephus, was so very long, no less than three years, that
it was no way improbable but that parents, and particularly mothers, might
therein be reduced to eat their own children, as the law of Moses had
threatened upon their disobedience, Leviticus 26;29; Deuteronomy 28:53-57;
and as was accomplished in the other shorter sieges of both the capital
cities, Jerusalem and Samaria; the former mentioned Jeremiah 19:9; Antiq.
B. IX. ch. 4. sect. 4, and the latter, 2 Kings 6:26-29.]
BOOK X. Containing The Interval Of One Hundred And Eighty-Two Years
And A Half.—From The Captivity Of The Ten Tribes To The First Year
Of Cyrus.
CHAPTER 1. How Sennacherib Made An Expedition Against Hezekiah; What
Threatenings Rabshakeh Made To Hezekiah When Sennacherib Was Gone Against
The Egyptians; How Isaiah The Prophet Encouraged Him; How Sennacherib
Having Failed Of Success In Egypt, Returned Thence To Jerusalem; And How
Upon His Finding His Army Destroyed, He Returned Home; And What Befell Him
A Little Afterward.
1. It was now the fourteenth year of the government of Hezekiah, king of
the two tribes, when the king of Assyria, whose name was Sennacherib, made
an expedition against him with a great army, and took all the cities of
the tribes of Judah and Benjamin by force; and when he was ready to bring
his army against Jerusalem, Hezekiah sent ambassadors to him beforehand,
and promised to submit, and pay what tribute he should appoint. Hereupon
Sennacherib, when he heard of what offers the ambassadors made, resolved
not to proceed in the war, but to accept of the proposals that were made
him; and if he might receive three hundred talents of silver, and thirty
talents of gold, he promised that he would depart in a friendly manner;
and he gave security upon oath to the ambassadors that he would then do
him no harm, but go away as he came. So Hezekiah submitted, and emptied
his treasures, and sent the money, as supposing he should be freed from
his enemy, and from any further distress about his kingdom. Accordingly,
the Assyrian king took it, and yet had no regard to what he had promised;
but while he himself went to the war against the Egyptians and Ethiopians,
he left his general Rabshakeh, and two other of his principal commanders,
with great forces, to destroy Jerusalem. The names of the two other
commanders were Tartan and Rabsaris.
2. Now as soon as they were come before the walls, they pitched their
camp, and sent messengers to Hezekiah, and desired that they might speak
with him; but he did not himself come out to them for fear, but he sent
three of his most intimate friends; the name of one was Eliakim, who was
over the kingdom, and Shebna, and Joah the recorder. So these men came
out, and stood over against the commanders of the Assyrian army; and when
Rabshakeh saw them, he bid them go and speak to Hezekiah in the manner
following: That Sennacherib, the great king, 1 desires
to know of him, on whom it is that he relies and depends, in flying from
his lord, and will not hear him, nor admit his army into the city? Is it
on account of the Egyptians, and in hopes that his army would be beaten by
them? Whereupon he lets him know, that if this be what he expects, he is a
foolish man, and like one who leans on a broken reed; while such a one
will not only fall down, but will have his hand pierced and hurt by it.
That he ought to know he makes this expedition against him by the will of
God, who hath granted this favor to him, that he shall overthrow the
kingdom of Israel, and that in the very same manner he shall destroy those
that are his subjects also. When Rabshakeh had made this speech in the
Hebrew tongue, for he was skillful in that language, Eliakim was afraid
lest the multitude that heard him should be disturbed; so he desired him
to speak in the Syrian tongue. But the general, understanding what he
meant, and perceiving the fear that he was in, he made his answer with a
greater and a louder voice, but in the Hebrew tongue; and said, that
“since they all heard what were the king’s commands, they would consult
their own advantage in delivering up themselves to us; for it is plain the
both you and your king dissuade the people from submitting by vain hopes,
and so induce them to resist; but if you be courageous, and think to drive
our forces away, I am ready to deliver to you two thousand of these horses
that are with me for your use, if you can set as many horsemen on their
backs, and show your strength; but what you have not you cannot produce.
Why therefore do you delay to deliver up yourselves to a superior force,
who can take you without your consent? although it will be safer for you
to deliver yourselves up voluntarily, while a forcible capture, when you
are beaten, must appear more dangerous, and will bring further calamities
upon you.”
3. When the people, as well as the ambassadors, heard what the Assyrian
commander said, they related it to Hezekiah, who thereupon put off his
royal apparel, and clothed himself with sackcloth, and took the habit of a
mourner, and, after the manner of his country, he fell upon his face, and
besought God, and entreated him to assist them, now they had no other hope
of relief. He also sent some of his friends, and some of the priests, to
the prophet Isaiah, and desired that he would pray to God, and offer
sacrifices for their common deliverance, and so put up supplications to
him, that he would have indignation at the expectations of their enemies,
and have mercy upon his people. And when the prophet had done accordingly,
an oracle came from God to him, and encouraged the king and his friends
that were about him; and foretold that their enemies should be beaten
without fighting, and should go away in an ignominious manner, and not
with that insolence which they now show, for that God would take care that
they should be destroyed. He also foretold that Sennacherib, the king of
Assyria, should fail of his purpose against Egypt, and that when he came
home he should perish by the sword.
4. About the same time also the king of Assyria wrote an epistle to
Hezekiah, in which he said he was a foolish man, in supposing that he
should escape from being his servant, since he had already brought under
many and great nations; and he threatened, that when he took him, he would
utterly destroy him, unless he now opened the gates, and willingly
received his army into Jerusalem. When he read this epistle, he despised
it, on account of the trust that he had in God; but he rolled up the
epistle, and laid it up within the temple. And as he made his further
prayers to God for the city, and for the preservation of all the people,
the prophet Isaiah said that God had heard his prayer, and that he should
not be besieged at this time by the king of Assyria 2 that for
the future he might be secure of not being at all disturbed by him; and
that the people might go on peaceably, and without fear, with their
husbandry and other affairs. But after a little while the king of Assyria,
when he had failed of his treacherous designs against the Egyptians,
returned home without success, on the following occasion: He spent a long
time in the siege of Pelusium; and when the banks that he had raised over
against the walls were of a great height, and when he was ready to make an
immediate assault upon them, but heard that Tirhaka, king of the
Ethiopians, was coming and bringing great forces to aid the Egyptians, and
was resolved to march through the desert, and so to fall directly upon the
Assyrians, this king Sennacherib was disturbed at the news, and, as I said
before, left Pelusium, and returned back without success. Now concerning
this Sennacherib, Herodotus also says, in the second book of his
histories, how “this king came against the Egyptian king, who was the
priest of Vulcan; and that as he was besieging Pelusium, he broke up the
siege on the following occasion: This Egyptian priest prayed to God, and
God heard his prayer, and sent a judgment upon the Arabian king.” But in
this Herodotus was mistaken, when he called this king not king of the
Assyrians, but of the Arabians; for he saith that “a multitude of mice
gnawed to pieces in one night both the bows and the rest of the armor of
the Assyrians, and that it was on that account that the king, when he had
no bows left, drew off his army from Pelusium.” And Herodotus does indeed
give us this history; nay, and Berosus, who wrote of the affairs of
Chaldea, makes mention of this king Sennacherib, and that he ruled over
the Assyrians, and that he made an expedition against all Asia and Egypt;
and says thus:
5. “Now when Sennacherib was returning from his Egyptian war to Jerusalem,
he found his army under Rabshakeh his general in danger [by a plague], for
God had sent a pestilential distemper upon his army; and on the very first
night of the siege, a hundred fourscore and five thousand, with their
captains and generals, were destroyed. So the king was in a great dread
and in a terrible agony at this calamity; and being in great fear for his
whole army, he fled with the rest of his forces to his own kingdom, and to
his city Nineveh; and when he had abode there a little while, he was
treacherously assaulted, and died by the hands of his elder sons, 3
Adrammelech and Seraser, and was slain in his own temple, which was called
Araske. Now these sons of his were driven away on account of the murder of
their father by the citizens, and went into Armenia, while Assarachoddas
took the kingdom of Sennacherib.” And this proved to be the conclusion of
this Assyrian expedition against the people of Jerusalem.
CHAPTER 2. How Hezekiah Was Sick, And Ready To Die; And How God Bestowed
Upon Him Fifteen Years Longer Life, [And Secured That Promise] By The
Going Back Of The Shadow Ten Degrees.
1. Now king Hezekiah being thus delivered, after a surprising manner, from
the dread he was in, offered thank-offerings to God, with all his people,
because nothing else had destroyed some of their enemies, and made the
rest so fearful of undergoing the same fate that they departed from
Jerusalem, but that Divine assistance. Yet, while he was very zealous and
diligent about the worship of God, did he soon afterwards fall into a
severe distemper, insomuch that the physicians despaired of him, and
expected no good issue of his sickness, as neither did his friends: and
besides the distemper 4 itself, there was a very
melancholy circumstance that disordered the king, which was the
consideration that he was childless, and was going to die, and leave his
house and his government without a successor of his own body; so he was
troubled at the thoughts of this his condition, and lamented himself, and
entreated of God that he would prolong his life for a little while till he
had some children, and not suffer him to depart this life before he was
become a father. Hereupon God had mercy upon him, and accepted of his
supplication, because the trouble he was under at his supposed death was
not because he was soon to leave the advantages he enjoyed in the kingdom,
nor did he on that account pray that he might have a longer life afforded
him, but in order to have sons, that might receive the government after
him. And God sent Isaiah the prophet, and commanded him to inform
Hezekiah, that within three days’ time he should get clear of his
distemper, and should survive it fifteen years, and that he should have
children also. Now, upon the prophet’s saying this, as God had commanded
him, he could hardly believe it, both on account of the distemper he was
under, which was very sore, and by reason of the surprising nature of what
was told him; so he desired that Isaiah would give him some sign or
wonder, that he might believe him in what he had said, and be sensible
that he came from God; for things that are beyond expectation, and greater
than our hopes, are made credible by actions of the like nature. And when
Isaiah had asked him what sign he desired to be exhibited, he desired that
he would make the shadow of the sun, which he had already made to go down
ten steps [or degrees] in his house, to return again to the same place, 5
and to make it as it was before. And when the prophet prayed to God to
exhibit this sign to the king, he saw what he desired to see, and was
freed from his distemper, and went up to the temple, where he worshipped
God, and made vows to him.
2. At this time it was that the dominion of the Assyrians was overthrown
by the Medes; 6 but of these things I shall
treat elsewhere. But the king of Babylon, whose name was Baladan, sent
ambassadors to Hezekiah, with presents, and desired he would be his ally
and his friend. So he received the ambassadors gladly, and made them a
feast, and showed them his treasures, and his armory, and the other wealth
he was possessed of, in precious stones and in gold, and gave them
presents to be carried to Baladan, and sent them back to him. Upon which
the prophet Isaiah came to him, and inquired of him whence those
ambassadors came; to which he replied, that they came from Babylon, from
the king; and that he had showed them all he had, that by the sight of his
riches and forces he might thereby guess at [the plenty he was in], and be
able to inform the king of it. But the prophet rejoined, and said, “Know
thou, that, after a little while, these riches of thine shall be carried
away to Babylon, and thy posterity shall be made eunuchs there, and lose
their manhood, and be servants to the king of Babylon; for that God
foretold such things would come to pass.” Upon which words Hezekiah was
troubled, and said that he was himself unwilling that his nation should
fall into such calamities; yet since it is not possible to alter what God
had determined, he prayed that there might be peace while he lived.
Berosus also makes mention of this Baladan, king of Babylon. Now as to
this prophet [Isaiah], he was by the confession of all, a divine and
wonderful man in speaking truth; and out of the assurance that he had
never written what was false, he wrote down all his prophecies, and left
them behind him in books, that their accomplishment might be judged of
from the events by posterity: nor did this prophet do so alone, but the
others, which were twelve in number, did the same. And whatsoever is done
among us, Whether it be good, or whether it be bad, comes to pass
according to their prophecies; but of every one of these we shall speak
hereafter.
CHAPTER 3. How Manasseh Reigned After Hezekiah; And How When He Was In
Captivity He Returned To God And Was Restored To His Kingdom And Left It
To [His Son] Amon.
1. When king Hezekiah had survived the interval of time already mentioned,
and had dwelt all that time in peace, he died, having completed fifty-four
years of his life, and reigned twenty-nine. But when his son Manasseh,
whose mother’s name was Hephzibah, of Jerusalem, had taken the kingdom, he
departed from the conduct of his father, and fell into a course of life
quite contrary thereto, and showed himself in his manners most wicked in
all respects, and omitted no sort of impiety, but imitated those
transgressions of the Israelites, by the commission of which against God
they had been destroyed; for he was so hardy as to defile the temple of
God, and the city, and the whole country; for, by setting out from a
contempt of God, he barbarously slew all the righteous men that were among
the Hebrews; nor would he spare the prophets, for he every day slew some
of them, till Jerusalem was overflown with blood. So God was angry at
these proceedings, and sent prophets to the king, and to the multitude, by
whom he threatened the very same calamities to them which their brethren
the Israelites, upon the like affronts offered to God, were now under. But
these men would not believe their words, by which belief they might have
reaped the advantage of escaping all those miseries; yet did they in
earnest learn that what the prophets had told them was true.
2. And when they persevered in the same course of life, God raised up war
against them from the king of Babylon and Chaldea, who sent an army
against Judea, and laid waste the country; and caught king Manasseh by
treachery, and ordered him to be brought to him, and had him under his
power to inflict what punishment he pleased upon him. But then it was that
Manasseh perceived what a miserable condition he was in, and esteeming
himself the cause of all, he besought God to render his enemy humane and
merciful to him. Accordingly, God heard his prayer, and granted him what
he prayed for. So Manasseh was released by the king of Babylon, and
escaped the danger he was in; and when he was come to Jerusalem, he
endeavored, if it were possible, to cast out of his memory those his
former sins against God, of which he now repented, and to apply himself to
a very religious life. He sanctified the temple, and purged the city, and
for the remainder of his days he was intent on nothing but to return his
thanks to God for his deliverance, and to preserve him propitious to him
all his life long. He also instructed the multitude to do the same, as
having very nearly experienced what a calamity he was fallen into by a
contrary conduct. He also rebuilt the altar, and offered the legal
sacrifices, as Moses commanded. And when he had re-established what
concerned the Divine worship, as it ought to be, he took care of the
security of Jerusalem: he did not only repair the old walls with great
diligence, but added another wall to the former. He also built very lofty
towers, and the garrisoned places before the city he strengthened, not
only in other respects, but with provisions of all sorts that they wanted.
And indeed, when he had changed his former course, he so led his life for
the time to come, that from the time of his return to piety towards God he
was deemed a happy man, and a pattern for imitation. When therefore he had
lived sixty-seven years, he departed this life, having reigned fifty-five
years, and was buried in his own garden; and the kingdom came to his son
Amon, whose mother’s name was Meshulemeth, of the city of Jotbath.
CHAPTER 4. How Amon Reigned Instead Of Manasseh; And After Amon Reigned
Josiah; He Was Both Righteous And Religious. As Also Concerning Huldah The
Prophetess.
1. This Amon imitated those works of his father which he insolently did
when he was young: so he had a conspiracy made against him by his own
servants, and was slain in his own house, when he had lived twenty-four
years, and of them had reigned two. But the multitude punished those that
slew Amon, and buried him with his father, and gave the kingdom to his son
Josiah, who was eight years old. His mother was of the city of Boscath,
and her name was Jedidah. He was of a most excellent disposition, and
naturally virtuous, and followed the actions of king David, as a pattern
and a rule to him in the whole conduct of his life. And when he was twelve
years old, he gave demonstrations of his religious and righteous behavior;
for he brought the people to a sober way of living, and exhorted them to
leave off the opinion they had of their idols, because they were not gods,
but to worship their own God. And by repeating on the actions of his
progenitors, he prudently corrected what they did wrong, like a very
elderly man, and like one abundantly able to understand what was fit to be
done; and what he found they had well done, he observed all the country
over, and imitated the same. And thus he acted in following the wisdom and
sagacity of his own nature, and in compliance with the advice and
instruction of the elders; for by following the laws it was that he
succeeded so well in the order of his government, and in piety with regard
to the Divine worship. And this happened because the transgressions of the
former kings were seen no more, but quite vanished away; for the king went
about the city, and the whole country, and cut down the groves which were
devoted to strange gods, and overthrew their altars; and if there were any
gifts dedicated to them by his forefathers, he made them ignominious, and
plucked them down; and by this means he brought the people back from their
opinion about them to the worship of God. He also offered his accustomed
sacrifices and burnt- offerings upon the altar. Moreover, he ordained
certain judges and overseers, that they might order the matters to them
severally belonging, and have regard to justice above all things, and
distribute it with the same concern they would have about their own soul.
He also sent over all the country, and desired such as pleased to bring
gold and silver for the repairs of the temple, according to every one’s
inclinations and abilities. And when the money was brought in, he made one
Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Shaphan the scribe, and Joab the
recorder, and Eliakim the high priest, curators of the temple, and of the
charges contributed thereto; who made no delay, nor put the work off at
all, but prepared architects, and whatsoever was proper for those repairs,
and set closely about the work. So the temple was repaired by this means,
and became a public demonstration of the king’s piety.
2. But when he was now in the eighteenth year of his reign, he sent to
Eliakim the high priest, and gave order, that out of what money was
overplus, he should cast cups, and dishes, and vials, for ministration [in
the temple]; and besides, that they should bring all the gold or silver
which was among the treasures, and expend that also in making cups and the
like vessels. But as the high priest was bringing out the gold, he lighted
upon the holy books of Moses that were laid up in the temple; and when he
had brought them out, he gave them to Shaphan the scribe, who, when he had
read them, came to the king, and informed him that all was finished which
he had ordered to be done. He also read over the books to him, who, when
he had heard them read, rent his garment, and called for Eliakim the high
priest, and for [Shaphan] the scribe, and for certain [other] of his most
particular friends, and sent them to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of
Shallum, [which Shallum was a man of dignity, and of an eminent family,]
and bid them go to her, and say that [he desired] she would appease God,
and endeavor to render him propitious to them, for that there was cause to
fear, lest, upon the transgression of the laws of Moses by their
forefathers, they should be in peril of going into captivity, and of being
cast out of their own country; lest they should be in want of all things,
and so end their days miserably. When the prophetess had heard this from
the messengers that were sent to her by the king, she bid them go back to
the king, and say that “God had already given sentence against them, to
destroy the people, and cast them out of their country, and deprive them
of all the happiness they enjoyed;” which sentence none could set aside by
any prayers of theirs, since it was passed on account of their
transgressions of the laws, and of their not having repented in so long a
time, while the prophets had exhorted them to amend, and had foretold the
punishment that would ensue on their impious practices; which threatening
God would certainly execute upon them, that they might be persuaded that
he is God, and had not deceived them in any respect as to what he had
denounced by his prophets; that yet, because Josiah was a righteous man,
he would at present delay those calamities, but that after his death he
would send on the multitude what miseries he had determined for them.
3. So these messengers, upon this prophecy of the woman, came and told it
to the king; whereupon he sent to the people every where, and ordered that
the priests and the Levites should come together to Jerusalem; and
commanded that those of every age should be present also. And when they
had gathered together, he first read to them the holy books; after which
he stood upon a pulpit, in the midst of the multitude, and obliged them to
make a covenant, with an oath, that they would worship God, and keep the
laws of Moses. Accordingly, they gave their assent willingly, and
undertook to do what the king had recommended to them. So they immediately
offered sacrifices, and that after an acceptable manner, and besought God
to be gracious and merciful to them. He also enjoined the high priest,
that if there remained in the temple any vessel that was dedicated to
idols, or to foreign gods, they should cast it out. So when a great number
of such vessels were got together, he burnt them, and scattered their
ashes abroad, and slew the priests of the idols that were not of the
family of Aaron.
4. And when he had done thus in Jerusalem, he came into the country, and
utterly destroyed what buildings had been made therein by king Jeroboam,
in honor of strange gods; and he burnt the bones of the false prophets
upon that altar which Jeroboam first built; and, as the prophet [Jadon],
who came to Jeroboam when he was offering sacrifice, and when all the
people heard him, foretold what would come to pass, viz. that a certain
man of the house of David, Josiah by name, should do what is here
mentioned. And it happened that those predictions took effect after three
hundred and sixty-one years.
5. After these things, Josiah went also to such other Israelites as had
escaped captivity and slavery under the Assyrians, and persuaded them to
desist from their impious practices, and to leave off the honors they paid
to strange gods, but to worship rightly their own Almighty God, and adhere
to him. He also searched the houses, and the villages, and the cities, out
of a suspicion that somebody might have one idol or other in private; nay,
indeed, he took away the chariots [of the sun] that were set up in his
royal palace, 7 which his predecessors had
framed, and what thing soever there was besides which they worshipped as a
god. And when he had thus purged all the country, he called the people to
Jerusalem, and there celebrated the feast of unleavened bread, and that
called the passover. He also gave the people for paschal sacrifices, young
kids of the goats, and lambs, thirty thousand, and three thousand oxen for
burnt-offerings. The principal of the priests also gave to the priests
against the passover two thousand and six hundred lambs; the principal of
the Levites also gave to the Levites five thousand lambs, and five hundred
oxen, by which means there was great plenty of sacrifices; and they
offered those sacrifices according to the laws of Moses, while every
priest explained the matter, and ministered to the multitude. And indeed
there had been no other festival thus celebrated by the Hebrews from the
times of Samuel the prophet; and the plenty of sacrifices now was the
occasion that all things were performed according to the laws, and
according to the custom of their forefathers. So when Josiah had after
this lived in peace, nay, in riches and reputation also, among all men, he
ended his life in the manner following.
CHAPTER 5. How Josiah Fought With Neco [King Of Egypt.] And Was Wounded
And Died In A Little Time Afterward; As Also How Neco Carried Jehoahaz,
Who Had Been Made King Into Egypt And Delivered The Kingdom To Jehoiakim;
And [Lastly] Concerning Jeremiah And Ezekiel.
1. Now Neco, king of Egypt, raised an army, and marched to the river
Euphrates, in order to fight with the Medes and Babylonians, who had
overthrown the dominion of the Assyrians, 8 for he
had a desire to reign over Asia. Now when he was come to the city Mendes,
which belonged to the kingdom of Josiah, he brought an army to hinder him
from passing through his own country, in his expedition against the Medes.
Now Neco sent a herald to Josiah, and told him that he did not make this
expedition against him, but was making haste to Euphrates; and desired
that he would not provoke him to fight against him, because he obstructed
his march to the place whither he had resolved to go. But Josiah did not
admit of this advice of Neco, but put himself into a posture to hinder him
from his intended march. I suppose it was fate that pushed him on this
conduct, that it might take an occasion against him; for as he was setting
his army in array, 9 and rode about in his chariot,
from one wing of his army to another, one of the Egyptians shot an arrow
at him, and put an end to his eagerness of fighting; for being sorely
wounded, he command a retreat to be sounded for his army, and returned to
Jerusalem, and died of that wound; and was magnificently buried in the
sepulcher of his fathers, when he had lived thirty-nine years, and of them
had reigned thirty-one. But all the people mourned greatly for him,
lamenting and grieving on his account many days; and Jeremiah the prophet
composed an elegy to lament him, 10 which
is extant till this time also. Moreover, this prophet denounced
beforehand the sad calamities that were coming upon the city. He also left
behind him in writing a description of that destruction of our nation
which has lately happened in our days, and the taking of Babylon; nor was
he the only prophet who delivered such predictions beforehand to the
multitude, but so did Ezekiel also, who was the first person that wrote,
and left behind him in writing two books concerning these events. Now
these two prophets were priests by birth, but of them Jeremiah dwelt in
Jerusalem, from the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, until the city
and temple were utterly destroyed. However, as to what befell this
prophet, we will relate it in its proper place.
2. Upon the death of Josiah, which we have already mentioned, his son,
Jehoahaz by name, took the kingdom, being about twenty-three years old. He
reigned in Jerusalem; and his mother was Hamutal, of the city Libhah. He
was an impious man, and impure in his course of life; but as the king of
Egypt returned from the battle, he sent for Jehoahaz to come to him, to
the city called Hamath 11 which belongs to Syria; and
when he was come, he put him in bands, and delivered the kingdom to a
brother of his, by the father’s side, whose name was Eliakim, and changed
his name to Jehoiakim and laid a tribute upon the land of a hundred
talents of silver, and a talent of gold; and this sum of money Jehoiakim
paid by way of tribute; but Neco carried away Jehoahaz into Egypt, where
he died when he had reigned three months and ten days. Now Jehoiakim’s
mother was called Zebudah, of the city Rumah. He was of a wicked
disposition, and ready to do mischief; nor was he either religious towards
God, or good-natured towards men.
CHAPTER 6. How Nebuchadnezzar, When He Had Conquered The King Of Egypt
Made An Expedition Against The Jews, And Slew Jehoiakim, And Made
Jehoiachin His Son King.
1. Now in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim, one whose name was
Nebuchadnezzar took the government over the Babylonians, who at the same
time went up with a great army to the city Carchemish, which was at
Euphrates, upon a resolution he had taken to fight with Neco king of
Egypt, under whom all Syria then was. And when Neco understood the
intention of the king of Babylon, and that this expedition was made
against him, he did not despise his attempt, but made haste with a great
band of men to Euphrates to defend himself from Nebuchadnezzar; and when
they had joined battle, he was beaten, and lost many ten thousands [of his
soldiers] in the battle. So the king of Babylon passed over Euphrates, and
took all Syria, as far as Pelusium, excepting Judea. But when
Nebuchadnezzar had already reigned four years, which was the eighth of
Jehoiakim’s government over the Hebrews, the king of Babylon made an
expedition with mighty forces against the Jews, and required tribute of
Jehoiakim, and threatened upon his refusal to make war against him. He was
affrighted at his threatening, and bought his peace with money, and
brought the tribute he was ordered to bring for three years.
2. But on the third year, upon hearing that the king of the Babylonians
made an expedition against the Egyptians, he did not pay his tribute; yet
was he disappointed of his hope, for the Egyptians durst not fight at this
time. And indeed the prophet Jeremiah foretold every day, how vainly they
relied on their hopes from Egypt, and how the city would be overthrown by
the king of Babylon, and Jehoiakim the king would be subdued by him. But
what he thus spake proved to be of no advantage to them, because there
were none that should escape; for both the multitude and the rulers, when
they heard him, had no concern about what they heard; but being displeased
at what was said, as if the prophet were a diviner against the king, they
accused Jeremiah, and bringing him before the court, they required that a
sentence and a punishment might be given against him. Now all the rest
gave their votes for his condemnation, but the elders refused, who
prudently sent away the prophet from the court of [the prison], and
persuaded the rest to do Jeremiah no harm; for they said that he was not
the only person who foretold what would come to the city, but that Micah
signified the same before him, as well as many others, none of which
suffered any thing of the kings that then reigned, but were honored as the
prophets of God. So they mollified the multitude with these words, and
delivered Jeremiah from the punishment to which he was condemned. Now when
this prophet had written all his prophecies, and the people were fasting,
and assembled at the temple, on the ninth month of the fifth year of
Jehoiakim, he read the book he had composed of his predictions of what was
to befall the city, and the temple, and the multitude. And when the rulers
heard of it, they took the book from him, and bid him and Baruch the
scribe to go their ways, lest they should be discovered by one or other;
but they carried the book, and gave it to the king; so he gave order, in
the presence of his friends, that his scribe should take it, and read it.
When the king heard what it contained, he was angry, and tore it, and cast
it into the fire, where it was consumed. He also commanded that they
should seek for Jeremiah, and Baruch the scribe, and bring them to him,
that they might be punished. However, they escaped his anger.
3. Now, a little time afterwards, the king of Babylon made an expedition
against Jehoiakim, whom he received [into the city], and this out of fear
of the foregoing predictions of this prophet, as supposing he should
suffer nothing that was terrible, because he neither shut the gates, nor
fought against him; yet when he was come into the city, he did not observe
the covenants he had made, but he slew such as were in the flower of their
age, and such as were of the greatest dignity, together with their king
Jehoiakim, whom he commanded to be thrown before the walls, without any
burial; and made his son Jehoiachin king of the country, and of the city:
he also took the principal persons in dignity for captives, three thousand
in number, and led them away to Babylon; among which was the prophet
Ezekiel, who was then but young. And this was the end of king Jehoiakim,
when he had lived thirty-six years, and of them reigned eleven. But
Jehoiachin succeeded him in the kingdom, whose mother’s name was Nehushta;
she was a citizen of Jerusalem. He reigned three months and ten days.
CHAPTER 7. That The King Of Babylon Repented Of Making Jehoiachin King,
And Took Him Away To Babylon And Delivered The Kingdom To Zedekiah. This
King Would Not Believe What Was Predicted By Jeremiah And Ezekiel But
Joined Himself To The Egyptians; Who When They Came Into Judea, Were
Vanquished By The King Of Babylon; As Also What Befell Jeremiah.
1. But a terror seized on the king of Babylon, who had given the kingdom
to Jehoiachin, and that immediately; he was afraid that he should bear him
a grudge, because of his killing his father, and thereupon should make the
country revolt from him; wherefore he sent an army, and besieged
Jehoiachin in Jerusalem; but because he was of a gentle and just
disposition, he did not desire to see the city endangered on his account,
but he took his mother and kindred, and delivered them to the commanders
sent by the king of Babylon, and accepted of their oaths, that neither
should they suffer any harm, nor the city; which agreement they did not
observe for a single year, for the king of Babylon did not keep it, but
gave orders to his generals to take all that were in the city captives,
both the youth and the handicraftsmen, and bring them bound to him; their
number was ten thousand eight hundred and thirty-two; as also Jehoiachin,
and his mother and friends. And when these were brought to him, he kept
them in custody, and appointed Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, to be king;
and made him take an oath, that he would certainly keep the kingdom for
him, and make no innovation, nor have any league of friendship with the
Egyptians.
2. Now Zedekiah was twenty and one year’s old when he took the government;
and had the same mother with his brother Jehoiakim, but was a despiser of
justice and of his duty, for truly those of the same age with him were
wicked about him, and the whole multitude did what unjust and insolent
things they pleased; for which reason the prophet Jeremiah came often to
him, and protested to him, and insisted, that he must leave off his
impieties and transgressions, and take care of what was right, and neither
give ear to the rulers, [among whom were wicked men,] nor give credit to
their false prophets, who deluded them, as if the king of Babylon would
make no more war against them, and as if the Egyptians would make war
against him, and conquer him, since what they said was not true, and the
events would not prove such [as they expected]. Now as to Zedekiah
himself, while he heard the prophet speak, he believed him, and agreed to
every thing as true, and supposed it was for his advantage; but then his
friends perverted him, and dissuaded him from what the prophet advised,
and obliged him to do what they pleased. Ezekiel also foretold in Babylon
what calamities were coming upon the people, which when he heard, he sent
accounts of them unto Jerusalem. But Zedekiah did not believe their
prophecies, for the reason following: It happened that the two prophets
agreed with one another in what they said as in all other things, that the
city should be taken, and Zedekiah himself should be taken captive; but
Ezekiel disagreed with him, and said that Zedekiah should not see Babylon,
while Jeremiah said to him, that the king of Babylon should carry him away
thither in bonds….
3. Now when Zedekiah had preserved the league of mutual assistance he had
made with the Babylonians for eight years, he brake it, and revolted to
the Egyptians, in hopes, by their assistance, of overcoming the
Babylonians. When the king of Babylon knew this, he made war against him:
he laid his country waste, and took his fortified towns, and came to the
city Jerusalem itself to besiege it. But when the king of Egypt heard what
circumstances Zedekiah his ally was in, he took a great army with him, and
came into Judea, as if he would raise the siege; upon which the king of
Babylon departed from Jerusalem, and met the Egyptians, and joined battle
with them, and beat them; and when he had put them to flight, he pursued
them, and drove them out of all Syria. Now as soon as the king of Babylon
was departed from Jerusalem, the false prophets deceived Zedekiah, and
said that the king of Babylon would not any more make war against him or
his people, nor remove them out of their own country into Babylon; and
that those then in captivity would return, with all those vessels of the
temple of which the king of Babylon had despoiled that temple. But
Jeremiah came among them, and prophesied what contradicted those
predictions, and what proved to be true, that they did ill, and deluded
the king; that the Egyptians would be of no advantage to them, but that
the king of Babylon would renew the war against Jerusalem, and besiege it
again, and would destroy the people by famine, and carry away those that
remained into captivity, and would take away what they had as spoils, and
would carry off those riches that were in the temple; nay, that, besides
this, he would burn it, and utterly overthrow the city, and that they
should serve him and his posterity seventy years; that then the Persians
and the Medes should put an end to their servitude, and overthrow the
Babylonians; “and that we shall be dismissed, and return to this land, and
rebuild the temple, and restore Jerusalem.” When Jeremiah said this, the
greater part believed him; but the rulers, and those that were wicked,
despised him, as one disordered in his senses. Now he had resolved to go
elsewhere, to his own country, which was called Anathoth, and was twenty
furlongs distant from Jerusalem; 12 and as
he was going, one of the rulers met him, and seized upon him, and accused
him falsely, as though he were going as a deserter to the Babylonians; but
Jeremiah said that he accused him falsely, and added, that he was only
going to his own country; but the other would not believe him, but seized
upon him, and led him away to the rulers, and laid an accusation against
him, under whom he endured all sorts of torments and tortures, and was
reserved to be punished; and this was the condition he was in for some
time, while he suffered what I have already described unjustly.
4. Now in the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, on the tenth day of the
tenth month, the king of Babylon made a second expedition against
Jerusalem, and lay before it eighteen months, and besieged it with the
utmost application. There came upon them also two of the greatest
calamities at the same time that Jerusalem was besieged, a famine and a
pestilential distemper, and made great havoc of them. And though the
prophet Jeremiah was in prison, he did not rest, but cried out, and
proclaimed aloud, and exhorted the multitude to open their gates, and
admit the king of Babylon, for that if they did so, they should be
preserved, and their whole families; but if they did not so, they should
be destroyed; and he foretold, that if any one staid in the city, he
should certainly perish by one of these ways,—either be consumed by
the famine, or slain by the enemy’s sword; but that if he would flee to
the enemy, he should escape death. Yet did not these rulers who heard
believe him, even when they were in the midst of their sore calamities;
but they came to the king, and in their anger informed him what Jeremiah
had said, and accused him, and complained of the prophet as of a madman,
and one that disheartened their minds, and by the denunciation of miseries
weakened the alacrity of the multitude, who were otherwise ready to expose
themselves to dangers for him, and for their country, while he, in a way
of threatening, warned them to flee to the enemy, and told them that the
city should certainly be taken, and be utterly destroyed.
5. But for the king himself, he was not at all irritated against Jeremiah,
such was his gentle and righteous disposition; yet, that he might not be
engaged in a quarrel with those rulers at such a time, by opposing what
they intended, he let them do with the prophet whatsoever they would;
whereupon, when the king had granted them such a permission, they
presently came into the prison, and took him, and let him down with a cord
into a pit full of mire, that he might be suffocated, and die of himself.
So he stood up to the neck in the mire which was all about him, and so
continued; but there was one of the king’s servants, who was in esteem
with him, an Ethiopian by descent, who told the king what a state the
prophet was in, and said that his friends and his rulers had done evil in
putting the prophet into the mire, and by that means contriving against
him that he should suffer a death more bitter than that by his bonds only.
When the king heard this, he repented of his having delivered up the
prophet to the rulers, and bid the Ethiopian take thirty men of the king’s
guards, and cords with them, and whatsoever else they understood to be
necessary for the prophet’s preservation, and to draw him up immediately.
So the Ethiopian took the men he was ordered to take, and drew up the
prophet out of the mire, and left him at liberty [in the prison].
6. But when the king had sent to call him privately, and inquired what he
could say to him from God, which might be suitable to his present
circumstances, and desired him to inform him of it, Jeremiah replied, that
he had somewhat to say; but he said withal, he should not be believed,
nor, if he admonished them, should be hearkened to; “for,” said he, “thy
friends have determined to destroy me, as though I had been guilty of some
wickedness; and where are now those men who deceived us, and said that the
king of Babylon would not come and fight against us any more? but I am
afraid now to speak the truth, lest thou shouldst condemn me to die.” And
when the king had assured him upon oath, that he would neither himself put
him to death, nor deliver him up to the rulers, he became bold upon that
assurance that was given him, and gave him this advice: That he should
deliver the city up to the Babylonians; and he said that it was God who
prophesied this by him, that [he must do so] if he would be preserved, and
escape out of the danger he was in, and that then neither should the city
fall to the ground, nor should the temple be burned; but that [if he
disobeyed] he would be the cause of these miseries coming upon the
citizens, and of the calamity that would befall his whole house. When the
king heard this, he said that he would willingly do what he persuaded him
to, and what he declared would be to his advantage, but that he was afraid
of those of his own country that had fallen away to the Babylonians, lest
he should be accused by them to the king of Babylon, and be punished. But
the prophet encouraged him, and said he had no cause to fear such
punishment, for that he should not have the experience of any misfortune,
if he would deliver all up to the Babylonians, neither himself, nor his
children, nor his wives, and that the temple should then continue unhurt.
So when Jeremiah had said this, the king let him go, and charged him to
betray what they had resolved on to none of the citizens, nor to tell any
of these matters to any of the rulers, if they should have learned that he
had been sent for, and should inquire of him what it was that he was sent
for, and what he had said to him; but to pretend to them that he besought
him that he might not be kept in bonds and in prison. And indeed he said
so to them; for they came to the prophet, and asked him what advice it was
that he came to give the king relating to them. And thus I have finished
what concerns this matter.
CHAPTER 8. How The King Of Babylon Took Jerusalem And Burnt The Temple And
Removed The People Of Jerusalem And Zedekiah To Babylon. As Also, Who They
Were That Had Succeeded In The High Priesthood Under The Kings.
1. Now the king of Babylon was very intent and earnest upon the siege of
Jerusalem; and he erected towers upon great banks of earth, and from them
repelled those that stood upon the walls; he also made a great number of
such banks round about the whole city, whose height was equal to those
walls. However, those that were within bore the siege with courage and
alacrity, for they were not discouraged, either by the famine, or by the
pestilential distemper, but were of cheerful minds in the prosecution of
the war, although those miseries within oppressed them also, and they did
not suffer themselves to be terrified, either by the contrivances of the
enemy, or by their engines of war, but contrived still different engines
to oppose all the other withal, till indeed there seemed to be an entire
struggle between the Babylonians and the people of Jerusalem, which had
the greater sagacity and skill; the former party supposing they should be
thereby too hard for the other, for the destruction of the city; the
latter placing their hopes of deliverance in nothing else but in
persevering in such inventions in opposition to the other, as might
demonstrate the enemy’s engines were useless to them. And this siege they
endured for eighteen months, until they were destroyed by the famine, and
by the darts which the enemy threw at them from the towers.
2. Now the city was taken on the ninth day of the fourth month, in the
eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah. They were indeed only generals of
the king of Babylon, to whom Nebuchadnezzar committed the care of the
siege, for he abode himself in the city of Riblah. The names of these
generals who ravaged and subdued Jerusalem, if any one desire to know
them, were these: Nergal Sharezer, Samgar Nebo, Rabsaris, Sorsechim, and
Rabmag. And when the city was taken about midnight, and the enemy’s
generals were entered into the temple, and when Zedekiah was sensible of
it, he took his wives, and his children, and his captains, and his
friends, and with them fled out of the city, through the fortified ditch,
and through the desert; and when certain of the deserters had informed the
Babylonians of this, at break of day, they made haste to pursue after
Zedekiah, and overtook him not far from Jericho, and encompassed him
about. But for those friends and captains of Zedekiah who had fled out of
the city with him, when they saw their enemies near them, they left him,
and dispersed themselves, some one way, and some another, and every one
resolved to save himself; so the enemy took Zedekiah alive, when he was
deserted by all but a few, with his children and his wives, and brought
him to the king. When he was come, Nebuchadnezzar began to call him a
wicked wretch, and a covenant-breaker, and one that had forgotten his
former words, when he promised to keep the country for him. He also
reproached him for his ingratitude, that when he had received the kingdom
from him, who had taken it from Jehoiachin, and given it to him, he had
made use of the power he gave him against him that gave it; “but,” said
he, “God is great, who hated that conduct of thine, and hath brought thee
under us.” And when he had used these words to Zedekiah, he commanded his
sons and his friends to be slain, while Zedekiah and the rest of the
captains looked on; after which he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound
him, and carried him to Babylon. And these things happened to him, 13
as Jeremiah and Ezekiel had foretold to him, that he should be caught, and
brought before the king of Babylon, and should speak to him face to face,
and should see his eyes with his own eyes; and thus far did Jeremiah
prophesy. But he was also made blind, and brought to Babylon, but did not
see it, according to the prediction of Ezekiel.
3. We have said thus much, because it was sufficient to show the nature of
God to such as are ignorant of it, that it is various, and acts many
different ways, and that all events happen after a regular manner, in
their proper season, and that it foretells what must come to pass. It is
also sufficient to show the ignorance and incredulity of men, whereby they
are not permitted to foresee any thing that is future, and are, without
any guard, exposed to calamities, so that it is impossible for them to
avoid the experience of those calamities.
4. And after this manner have the kings of David’s race ended their lives,
being in number twenty-one, until the last king, who all together reigned
five hundred and fourteen years, and six months, and ten days; of whom
Saul, who was their first king, retained the government twenty years,
though he was not of the same tribe with the rest.
5. And now it was that the king of Babylon sent Nebuzaradan, the general
of his army, to Jerusalem, to pillage the temple, who had it also in
command to burn it and the royal palace, and to lay the city even with the
ground, and to transplant the people into Babylon. Accordingly, he came to
Jerusalem in the eleventh year of king Zedekiah, and pillaged the temple,
and carried out the vessels of God, both gold and silver, and particularly
that large laver which Solomon dedicated, as also the pillars of brass,
and their chapiters, with the golden tables and the candlesticks; and when
he had carried these off, he set fire to the temple in the fifth month,
the first day of the month, in the eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah,
and in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar: he also burnt the palace,
and overthrew the city. Now the temple was burnt four hundred and seventy
years, six months, and ten days after it was built. It was then one
thousand and sixty-two years, six months, and ten days from the departure
out of Egypt; and from the deluge to the destruction of the temple, the
whole interval was one thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven years, six
months, and ten days; but from the generation of Adam, until this befell
the temple, there were three thousand five hundred and thirteen years, six
months, and ten days; so great was the number of years hereto belonging.
And what actions were done during these years we have particularly
related. But the general of the Babylonian king now overthrew the city to
the very foundations, and removed all the people, and took for prisoners
the high priest Seraiah, and Zephaniah the priest that was next to him,
and the rulers that guarded the temple, who were three in number, and the
eunuch who was over the armed men, and seven friends of Zedekiah, and his
scribe, and sixty other rulers; all which, together with the vessels which
they had pillaged, he carried to the king of Babylon to Riblah, a city of
Syria. So the king commanded the heads of the high priest and of the
rulers to be cut off there; but he himself led all the captives and
Zedekiah to Babylon. He also led Josedek the high priest away bound. He
was the son of Seraiah the high priest, whom the king of Babylon had slain
in Riblah, a city of Syria, as we just now related.
6. And now, because we have enumerated the succession of the kings, and
who they were, and how long they reigned, I think it necessary to set down
the names of the high priests, and who they were that succeeded one
another in the high priesthood under the Kings. The first high priest then
at the temple which Solomon built was Zadok; after him his son Achimas
received that dignity; after Achimas was Azarias; his son was Joram, and
Joram’s son was Isus; after him was Axioramus; his son was Phidens, and
Phideas’s son was Sudeas, and Sudeas’s son was Juelus, and Juelus’s son
was Jotham, and Jotham’s son was Urias, and Urias’s son was Nerias, and
Nerias’s son was Odeas, and his son was Sallumus, and Sallumus’s son was
Elcias, and his son [was Azarias, and his son] was Sareas, 14
and his son was Josedec, who was carried captive to Babylon. All these
received the high priesthood by succession, the sons from their father.
7. When the king was come to Babylon, he kept Zedekiah in prison until he
died, and buried him magnificently, and dedicated the vessels he had
pillaged out of the temple of Jerusalem to his own gods, and planted the
people in the country of Babylon, but freed the high priest from his
bonds.
CHAPTER 9. How Nebuzaradan Set Gedaliah Over The Jews That Were Left In
Judea Which Gedaliah Was A Little Afterward Slain By Ishmael; And How
Johanan After Ishmael Was Driven Away Went Down Into Egypt With The People
Which People Nebuchadnezzar When He Made An Expedition Against The
Egyptians Took Captive And Brought Them Away To Babylon.
1. Now the general of the army, Nebuzaradan, when he had carried the
people of the Jews into captivity, left the poor, and those that had
deserted, in the country, and made one, whose name was Gedaliah, the son
of Ahikam, a person of a noble family, their governor; which Gedaliah was
of a gentle and righteous disposition. He also commanded them that they
should cultivate the ground, and pay an appointed tribute to the king. He
also took Jeremiah the prophet out of prison, and would have persuaded him
to go along with him to Babylon, for that he had been enjoined by the king
to supply him with whatsoever he wanted; and if he did not like to do so,
he desired him to inform him where he resolved to dwell, that he might
signify the same to the king. But the prophet had no mind to follow him,
nor to dwell any where else, but would gladly live in the ruins of his
country, and in the miserable remains of it. When the general understood
what his purpose was, he enjoined Gedaliah, whom he left behind, to take
all possible care of him, and to supply him with whatsoever he wanted. So
when he had given him rich presents, he dismissed him. Accordingly,
Jeremiah abode in a city of that country, which was called Mispah; and
desired of Nebuzaradan that he would set at liberty his disciple Baruch,
the son of Neriah, one of a very eminent family, and exceeding skillful in
the language of his country.
2. When Nebuzaradan had done thus, he made haste to Babylon. But as to
those that fled away during the siege of Jerusalem, and had been scattered
over the country, when they heard that the Babylonians were gone away, and
had left a remnant in the land of Jerusalem, and those such as were to
cultivate the same, they came together from all parts to Gedaliah to
Mispah. Now the rulers that were over them were Johanan, the son of
Kareah, and Jezaniah, and Seraiah, and others beside them. Now there was
of the royal family one Ishmael, a wicked man, and very crafty, who,
during the siege of Jerusalem, fled to Baalis, the king of the Ammonites,
and abode with him during that time; and Gedaliah persuaded them, now they
were there, to stay with him, and to have no fear of the Babylonians, for
that if they would cultivate the country, they should suffer no harm. This
he assured them of by oath; and said that they should have him for their
patron, and that if any disturbance should arise, they should find him
ready to defend them. He also advised them to dwell in any city, as every
one of them pleased; and that they would send men along with his own
servants, and rebuild their houses upon the old foundations, and dwell
there; and he admonished them beforehand, that they should make
preparation, while the season lasted, of corn, and wine, and oil, that
they might have whereon to feed during the winter. When he had thus
discoursed to them, he dismissed them, that every one might dwell in what
place of the country he pleased.
3. Now when this report was spread abroad as far as the nations that
bordered on Judea, that Gedaliah kindly entertained those that came to
him, after they had fled away, upon this [only] condition, that they
should pay tribute to the king of Babylon, they also came readily to
Gedaliah, and inhabited the country. And when Johanan, and the rulers that
were with him, observed the country, and the humanity of Gedaliah, they
were exceedingly in love with him, and told him that Baalis, the king of
the Ammonites, had sent Ishmael to kill him by treachery, and secretly,
that he might have the dominion over the Israelites, as being of the royal
family; and they said that he might deliver himself from this treacherous
design, if he would give them leave to slay Ishmael, and nobody should
know it, for they told him they were afraid that, when he was killed by
the other, the entire ruin of the remaining strength of the Israelites
would ensue. But he professed that he did not believe what they said, when
they told him of such a treacherous design, in a man that had been well
treated by him; because it was not probable that one who, under such a
want of all things, had failed of nothing that was necessary for him,
should be found so wicked and ungrateful towards his benefactor, that when
it would be an instance of wickedness in him not to save him, had he been
treacherously assaulted by others, to endeavor, and that earnestly, to
kill him with his own hands: that, however, if he ought to suppose this
information to be true, it was better for himself to be slain by the
other, than to destroy a man who fled to him for refuge, and intrusted his
own safety to him, and committed himself to his disposal.
4. So Johanan, and the rulers that were with him, not being able to
persuade Gedaliah, went away. But after the interval of thirty days was
over, Ishmael came again to Gedaliah, to the city Mispah, and ten men with
him; and when he had feasted Ishmael, and those that were with him, in a
splendid manner at his table, and had given them presents, he became
disordered in drink, while he endeavored to be very merry with them; and
when Ishmael saw him in that case, and that he was drowned in his cups to
the degree of insensibility, and fallen asleep, he rose up on a sudden,
with his ten friends, and slew Gedaliah, and those that were with him at
the feast; and when he had slain them, he went out by night, and slew all
the Jews that were in the city, and those soldiers also which were left
therein by the Babylonians. But the next day fourscore men came out of the
country with presents to Gedaliah, none of them knowing what had befallen
him; when Ishmael saw them, he invited them in to Gedaliah, and when they
were come in, he shut up the court, and slew them, and cast their dead
bodies down into a certain deep pit, that they might not be seen; but of
these fourscore men Ishmael spared those that entreated him not to kill
them, till they had delivered up to him what riches they had concealed in
the fields, consisting of their furniture, and garments, and corn: but he
took captive the people that were in Mispah, with their wives and
children; among whom were the daughters of king Zedekiah, whom
Nebuzaradan, the general of the army of Babylon, had left with Gedaliah.
And when he had done this, he came to the king of the Ammonites.
5. But when Johanan and the rulers with him heard of what was done at
Mispah by Ishmael, and of the death of Gedaliah, they had indignation at
it, and every one of them took his own armed men, and came suddenly to
fight with Ishmael, and overtook him at the fountain in Hebron. And when
those that were carried away captives by Ishmael saw Johanan and the
rulers, they were very glad, and looked upon them as coming to their
assistance; so they left him that had carried them captives, and came over
to Johanan: then Ishmael, with eight men, fled to the king of the
Ammonites; but Johanan took those whom he had rescued out of the hands of
Ishmael, and the eunuchs, and their wives and children, and came to a
certain place called Mandra, and there they abode that day, for they had
determined to remove from thence and go into Egypt, out of fear, lest the
Babylonians should slay them, in case they continued in the country, and
that out of anger at the slaughter of Gedaliah, who had been by them set
over it for governor.
6. Now while they were under this deliberation, Johanan, the son of
Kareah, and the rulers that were with him, came to Jeremiah the prophet,
and desired that he would pray to God, that because they were at an utter
loss about what they ought to do, he would discover it to them, and they
sware that they would do whatsoever Jeremiah should say to them. And when
the prophet said he would be their intercessor with God, it came to pass,
that after ten days God appeared to him, and said that he should inform
Johanan, and the other rulers, and all the people, that he would be with
them while they continued in that country, and take care of them, and keep
them from being hurt by the Babylonians, of whom they were afraid; but
that he would desert them if they went into Egypt, and, out of this wrath
against them, would inflict the same punishments upon them which they knew
their brethren had already endured. So when the prophet had informed
Johanan and the people that God had foretold these things, he was not
believed, when he said that God commanded them to continue in the country;
but they imagined that he said so to gratify Baruch, his own disciple, and
belied God, and that he persuaded them to stay there, that they might be
destroyed by the Babylonians. Accordingly, both the people and Johanan
disobeyed the counsel of God, which he gave them by the prophet, and
removed into Egypt, and carried Jeremiah and Barnch along with him.
7. And when they were there, God signified to the prophet that the king of
Babylon was about making an expedition against the Egyptians, and
commanded him to foretell to the people that Egypt should be taken, and
the king of Babylon should slay some of them and, should take others
captive, and bring them to Babylon; which things came to pass accordingly;
for on the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the
twenty-third of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, he made an expedition against
Celesyria; and when he had possessed himself of it, he made war against
the Ammonites and Moabites; and when he had brought all these nations
under subjection, he fell upon Egypt, in order to overthrow it; and he
slew the king that then reigned 15 and
set up another; and he took those Jews that were there captives, and led
them away to Babylon. And such was the end of the nation of the Hebrews,
as it hath been delivered down to us, it having twice gone beyond
Euphrates; for the people of the ten tribes were carried out of Samaria by
the Assyrians, in the days of king Hoshea; after which the people of the
two tribes that remained after Jerusalem was taken [were carried away] by
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon and Chaldea. Now as to Shalmanezer, he
removed the Israelites out of their country, and placed therein the nation
of the Cutheans, who had formerly belonged to the inner parts of Persia
and Media, but were then called Samaritans, by taking the name of the
country to which they were removed; but the king of Babylon, who brought
out the two tribes, 16 placed no other nation in
their country, by which means all Judea and Jerusalem, and the temple,
continued to be a desert for seventy years; but the entire interval of
time which passed from the captivity of the Israelites, to the carrying
away of the two tribes, proved to be a hundred and thirty years, six
months, and ten days.
CHAPTER 10. Concerning Daniel And What Befell Him At Babylon.
1. But now Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took some of the most noble of
the Jews that were children, and the kinsmen of Zedekiah their king, such
as were remarkable for the beauty of their bodies, and the comeliness of
their countenances, and delivered them into the hands of tutors, and to
the improvement to be made by them. He also made some of them to be
eunuchs; which course he took also with those of other nations whom he had
taken in the flower of their age, and afforded them their diet from his
own table, and had them instructed in the institutes of the country, and
taught the learning of the Chaldeans; and they had now exercised
themselves sufficiently in that wisdom which he had ordered they should
apply themselves to. Now among these there were four of the family of
Zedekiah, of most excellent dispositions, one of whom was called Daniel,
another was called Ananias, another Misael, and the fourth Azarias; and
the king of Babylon changed their names, and commanded that they should
make use of other names. Daniel he called Baltasar; Ananias, Shadrach;
Misael, Meshach; and Azarias, Abednego. These the king had in esteem, and
continued to love, because of the very excellent temper they were of, and
because of their application to learning, and the profess they had made in
wisdom.
2. Now Daniel and his kinsmen had resolved to use a severe diet, and to
abstain from those kinds of food which came from the king’s table, and
entirely to forbear to eat of all living creatures. So he came to
Ashpenaz, who was that eunuch to whom the care of them was committed, 17
and desired him to take and spend what was brought for them from the king,
but to give them pulse and dates for their food, and any thing else,
besides the flesh of living creatures, that he pleased, for that their
inclinations were to that sort of food, and that they despised the other.
He replied, that he was ready to serve them in what they desired, but he
suspected that they would be discovered by the king, from their meagre
bodies, and the alteration of their countenances, because it could not be
avoided but their bodies and colors must be changed with their diet,
especially while they would be clearly discovered by the finer appearance
of the other children, who would fare better, and thus they should bring
him into danger, and occasion him to be punished; yet did they persuade
Arioch, who was thus fearful, to give them what food they desired for ten
days, by way of trial; and in case the habit of their bodies were not
altered, to go on in the same way, as expecting that they should not be
hurt thereby afterwards; but if he saw them look meagre, and worse than
the rest, he should reduce them to their former diet. Now when it appeared
that they were so far from becoming worse by the use of this food, that
they grew plumper and fuller in body than the rest, insomuch that he
thought those who fed on what came from the king’s table seemed less plump
and full, while those that were with Daniel looked as if they had lived in
plenty, and in all sorts of luxury. Arioch, from that time, securely took
himself what the king sent every day from his supper, according to custom,
to the children, but gave them the forementioned diet, while they had
their souls in some measure more pure, and less burdened, and so fitter
for learning, and had their bodies in better tune for hard labor; for they
neither had the former oppressed and heavy with variety of meats, nor were
the other effeminate on the same account; so they readily understood all
the learning that was among the Hebrews, and among the Chaldeans, as
especially did Daniel, who being already sufficiently skillful in wisdom,
was very busy about the interpretation of dreams; and God manifested
himself to him.
3. Now two years after the destruction of Egypt, king Nebuchadnezzar saw a
wonderful dream, the accomplishment of which God showed him in his sleep;
but when he arose out of his bed, he forgot the accomplishment. So he sent
for the Chaldeans and magicians, and the prophets, and told them that he
had seen a dream, and informed them that he had forgotten the
accomplishment of what he had seen, and he enjoined them to tell him both
what the dream was, and what was its signification; and they said that
this was a thing impossible to be discovered by men; but they promised
him, that if he would explain to them what dream he had seen, they would
tell him its signification. Hereupon he threatened to put them to death,
unless they told him his dream; and he gave command to have them all put
to death, since they confessed they could not do what they were commanded
to do. Now when Daniel heard that the king had given a command, that all
the wise men should be put to death, and that among them himself and his
three kinsmen were in danger, he went to Arioch, who was captain of the
king’s guards, and desired to know of him what was the reason why the king
had given command that all the wise men, and Chaldeans, and magicians
should be slain. So when he had learned that the king had had a dream, and
had forgotten it, and that when they were enjoined to inform the king of
it, they had said they could not do it, and had thereby provoked him to
anger, he desired of Arioch that he would go in to the king, and desire
respite for the magicians for one night, and to put off their slaughter so
long, for that he hoped within that time to obtain, by prayer to God, the
knowledge of the dream. Accordingly, Arioch informed the king of what
Daniel desired. So the king bid them delay the slaughter of the magicians
till he knew what Daniel’s promise would come to; but the young man
retired to his own house, with his kinsmen, and besought God that whole
night to discover the dream, and thereby deliver the magicians and
Chaldeans, with whom they were themselves to perish, from the king’s
anger, by enabling him to declare his vision, and to make manifest what
the king had seen the night before in his sleep, but had forgotten it.
Accordingly, God, out of pity to those that were in danger, and out of
regard to the wisdom of Daniel, made known to him the dream and its
interpretation, that so the king might understand by him its signification
also. When Daniel had obtained this knowledge from God, he arose very
joyful, and told it his brethren, and made them glad, and to hope well
that they should now preserve their lives, of which they despaired before,
and had their minds full of nothing but the thoughts of dying. So when he
had with them returned thanks to God, who had commiserated their youth,
when it was day he came to Arioch, and desired him to bring him to the
king, because he would discover to him that dream which he had seen the
night before.
4. When Daniel was come in to the king, he excused himself first, that he
did not pretend to be wiser than the other Chaldeans and magicians, when,
upon their entire inability to discover his dream, he was undertaking to
inform him of it; for this was not by his own skill, or on account of his
having better cultivated his understanding than the rest; but he said,
“God hath had pity upon us, when we were in danger of death, and when I
prayed for the life of myself, and of those of my own nation, hath made
manifest to me both the dream, and the interpretation thereof; for I was
not less concerned for thy glory than for the sorrow that we were by thee
condemned to die, while thou didst so unjustly command men, both good and
excellent in themselves, to be put to death, when thou enjoinedst them to
do what was entirely above the reach of human wisdom, and requiredst of
them what was only the work of God. Wherefore, as thou in thy sleep wast
solicitous concerning those that should succeed thee in the government of
the whole world, God was desirous to show thee all those that should reign
after thee, and to that end exhibited to thee the following dream: Thou
seemedst to see a great image standing before thee, the head of which
proved to be of gold, the shoulders and arms of silver, and the belly and
the thighs of brass, but the legs and the feet of iron; after which thou
sawest a stone broken off from a mountain, which fell upon the image, and
threw it down, and brake it to pieces, and did not permit any part of it
to remain whole; but the gold, the silver, the brass, and the iron, became
smaller than meal, which, upon the blast of a violent wind, was by force
carried away, and scattered abroad, but the stone did increase to such a
degree, that the whole earth beneath it seemed to be filled therewith.
This is the dream which thou sawest, and its interpretation is as follows:
The head of gold denotes thee, and the kings of Babylon that have been
before thee; but the two hands and arms signify this, that your government
shall be dissolved by two kings; but another king that shall come from the
west, armed with brass, shall destroy that government; and another
government, that shall be like unto iron, shall put an end to the power of
the former, and shall have dominion over all the earth, on account of the
nature of iron, which is stronger than that of gold, of silver, and of
brass.” Daniel did also declare the meaning of the stone to the king 18
but I do not think proper to relate it, since I have only undertaken to
describe things past or things present, but not things that are future;
yet if any one be so very desirous of knowing truth, as not to wave such
points of curiosity, and cannot curb his inclination for understanding the
uncertainties of futurity, and whether they will happen or not, let him be
diligent in reading the book of Daniel, which he will find among the
sacred writings.
5. When Nebuchadnezzar heard this, and recollected his dream, he was
astonished at the nature of Daniel, and fell upon his knee; and saluted
Daniel in the manner that men worship God, and gave command that he should
be sacrificed to as a god. And this was not all, for he also imposed the
name, of his own god upon him, [Baltasar,] and made him and his kinsmen
rulers of his whole kingdom; which kinsmen of his happened to fall into
great danger by the envy and malice [of their enemies]; for they offended
the king upon the occasion following: he made an image of gold, whose
height was sixty cubits, and its breadth six cubits, and set it in the
great plain of Babylon; and when he was going to dedicate the image, he
invited the principal men out of all the earth that was under his
dominions, and commanded them, in the first place, that when they should
hear the sound of the trumpet, they should then fall down and worship the
image; and he threatened, that those who did not so, should be cast into a
fiery furnace. When therefore all the rest, upon the hearing of the sound
of the trumpet, worshipped the image, they relate that Daniel’s kinsmen
did not do it, because they would not transgress the laws of their
country. So these men were convicted, and cast immediately into the fire,
but were saved by Divine Providence, and after a surprising manner escaped
death, for the fire did not touch them; and I suppose that it touched them
not, as if it reasoned with itself, that they were cast into it without
any fault of theirs, and that therefore it was too weak to burn the young
men when they were in it. This was done by the power of God, who made
their bodies so far superior to the fire, that it could not consume them.
This it was which recommended them to the king as righteous men, and men
beloved of God, on which account they continued in great esteem with him.
6. A little after this the king saw in his sleep again another vision; how
he should fall from his dominion, and feed among the wild beasts, and that
when he halt lived in this manner in the desert for seven years, 19
he should recover his dominion again. When he had seen this dream, he
called the magicians together again, and inquired of them about it, and
desired them to tell him what it signified; but when none of them could
find out the meaning of the dream, nor discover it to the king, Daniel was
the only person that explained it; and as he foretold, so it came to pass;
for after he had continued in the wilderness the forementioned interval of
time, while no one durst attempt to seize his kingdom during those seven
years, he prayed to God that he might recover his kingdom, and he returned
to it. But let no one blame me for writing down every thing of this
nature, as I find it in our ancient books; for as to that matter, I have
plainly assured those that think me defective in any such point, or
complain of my management, and have told them in the beginning of this
history, that I intended to do no more than translate the Hebrew books
into the Greek language, and promised them to explain those facts, without
adding any thing to them of my own, or taking any thing away from there.
CHAPTER 11. Concerning Nebuchadnezzar And His Successors And How Their
Government Was Dissolved By The Persians; And What Things Befell Daniel In
Media; And What Prophecies He Delivered There.
1. Now when king Nebuchadnezzar had reigned forty-three years, 20
he ended his life. He was an active man, and more fortunate than the kings
that were before him. Now Berosus makes mention of his actions in the
third book of his Chaldaic History, where he says thus: “When his father
Nebuchodonosor [Nabopollassar] heard that the governor whom he had set
over Egypt, and the places about Coelesyria and Phoenicia, had revolted
from him, while he was not himself able any longer to undergo the
hardships [of war], he committed to his son Nebuchadnezzar, who was still
but a youth, some parts of his army, and sent them against him. So when
Nebuchadnezzar had given battle, and fought with the rebel, he beat him,
and reduced the country from under his subjection, and made it a branch of
his own kingdom; but about that time it happened that his father
Nebuchodonosor [Nabopollassar] fell ill, and ended his life in the city
Babylon, when he had reigned twenty-one years; 21 and
when he was made sensible, as he was in a little time, that his father
Nebuchodonosor [Nabopollassar] was dead, and having settled the affairs of
Egypt, and the other countries, as also those that concerned the captive
Jews, and Phoenicians, and Syrians, and those of the Egyptian nations; and
having committed the conveyance of them to Babylon to certain of his
friends, together with the gross of his army, and the rest of their
ammunition and provisions, he went himself hastily, accompanied with a few
others, over the desert, and came to Babylon. So he took upon him the
management of public affairs, and of the kingdom which had been kept for
him by one that was the principal of the Chaldeans, and he received the
entire dominions of his father, and appointed, that when the captives
came, they should be placed as colonies, in the most proper places of
Babylonia; but then he adorned the temple of Belus, and the rest of the
temples, in a magnificent manner, with the spoils he had taken in the war.
He also added another city to that which was there of old, and rebuilt it,
that such as would besiege it hereafter might no more turn the course of
the river, and thereby attack the city itself. He therefore built three
walls round about the inner city, and three others about that which was
the outer, and this he did with burnt brick. And after he had, after a
becoming manner, walled the city, and adorned its gates gloriously, he
built another palace before his father’s palace, but so that they joined
to it; to describe whose vast height and immense riches it would perhaps
be too much for me to attempt; yet as large and lofty as they were, they
were completed in fifteen days. 22 He
also erected elevated places for walking, of stone, and made it resemble
mountains, and built it so that it might be planted with all sorts of
trees. He also erected what was called a pensile paradise, because his
wife was desirous to have things like her own country, she having been
bred up in the palaces of Media.” Megasthenes also, in his fourth book of
his Accounts of India, makes mention of these things, and thereby
endeavors to show that this king [Nebuchadnezzar] exceeded Hercules in
fortitude, and in the greatness of his actions; for he saith that he
conquered a great part of Libya and Iberia. Diocles also, in the second
book of his Accounts of Persia, mentions this king; as does Philostrates
in his Accounts both of India and of Phoenicia, say, that this king
besieged Tyre thirteen years, while at the same time Ethbaal reigned at
Tyre. These are all the histories that I have met with concerning this
king.
2. But now, after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach his son
succeeded in the kingdom, who immediately set Jeconiah at liberty, and
esteemed him among his most intimate friends. He also gave him many
presents, and made him honorable above the rest of the kings that were in
Babylon; for his father had not kept his faith with Jeconiah, when he
voluntarily delivered up himself to him, with his wives and children, and
his whole kindred, for the sake of his country, that it might not be taken
by siege, and utterly destroyed, as we said before. When Evil-Merodach was
dead, after a reign of eighteen years, Niglissar his son took the
government, and retained it forty years, and then ended his life; and
after him the succession in the kingdom came to his son Labosordacus, who
continued in it in all but nine months; and when he was dead, it came to
Baltasar, 23 who by the Babylonians was
called Naboandelus; against him did Cyrus, the king of Persia, and Darius,
the king of Media, make war; and when he was besieged in Babylon, there
happened a wonderful and prodigious vision. He was sat down at supper in a
large room, and there were a great many vessels of silver, such as were
made for royal entertainments, and he had with him his concubines and his
friends; whereupon he came to a resolution, and commanded that those
vessels of God which Nebuchadnezzar had plundered out of Jerusalem, and
had not made use of, but had put them into his own temple, should be
brought out of that temple. He also grew so haughty as to proceed to use
them in the midst of his cups, drinking out of them, and blaspheming
against God. In the mean time, he saw a hand proceed out of the wall, and
writing upon the wall certain syllables; at which sight, being disturbed,
he called the magicians and Chaldeans together, and all that sort of men
that are among these barbarians, and were able to interpret signs and
dreams, that they might explain the writing to him. But when the magicians
said they could discover nothing, nor did understand it, the king was in
great disorder of mind, and under great trouble at this surprising
accident; so he caused it to be proclaimed through all the country, and
promised, that to him who could explain the writing, and give the
signification couched therein, he would give him a golden chain for his
neck, and leave to wear a purple garment, as did the kings of Chaldea, and
would bestow on him the third part of his own dominions. When this
proclamation was made, the magicians ran together more earnestly, and were
very ambitious to find out the importance of the writing, but still
hesitated about it as much as before. Now when the king’s grandmother saw
him cast down at this accident, 24 she
began to encourage him, and to say, that there was a certain captive who
came from Judea, a Jew by birth, but brought away thence by Nebuchadnezzar
when he had destroyed Jerusalem, whose name was Daniel, a wise man, and
one of great sagacity in finding out what was impossible for others to
discover, and what was known to God alone, who brought to light and
answered such questions to Nebuchadnezzar as no one else was able to
answer when they were consulted. She therefore desired that he would send
for him, and inquire of him concerning the writing, and to condemn the
unskilfulness of those that could not find their meaning, and this,
although what God signified thereby should be of a melancholy nature.
3. When Baltasar heard this, he called for Daniel; and when he had
discoursed to him what he had learned concerning him and his wisdom, and
how a Divine Spirit was with him, and that he alone was fully capable of
finding out what others would never have thought of, he desired him to
declare to him what this writing meant; that if he did so, he would give
him leave to wear purple, and to put a chain of gold about his neck, and
would bestow on him the third part of his dominion, as an honorary reward
for his wisdom, that thereby he might become illustrious to those who saw
him, and who inquired upon what occasion he obtained such honors. But
Daniel desired that he would keep his gifts to himself; for what is the
effect of wisdom and of Divine revelation admits of no gifts, and bestows
its advantages on petitioners freely; but that still he would explain the
writing to him; which denoted that he should soon die, and this because he
had not learnt to honor God, and not to admit things above human nature,
by what punishments his progenitor had undergone for the injuries he had
offered to God; and because he had quite forgotten how Nebuchadnezzar was
removed to feed among wild beasts for his impieties, and did not recover
his former life among men and his kingdom, but upon God’s mercy to him,
after many supplications and prayers; who did thereupon praise God all the
days of his life, as one of almighty power, and who takes care of mankind.
[He also put him in mind] how he had greatly blasphemed against God, and
had made use of his vessels amongst his concubines; that therefore God saw
this, and was angry with him, and declared by this writing beforehand what
a sad conclusion of his life he should come to. And he explained the
writing thus: “MANEH. This, if it be expounded in the Greek language, may
signify a Number, because God hath numbered so long a time for thy life,
and for thy government, and that there remains but a small portion. THEKEL
This signifies a weight, and means that God hath weighed thy kingdom in a
balance, and finds it going down already.—PHARES. This also, in the
Greek tongue, denotes a fragment. God will therefore break thy kingdom in
pieces, and divide it among the Medes and Persians.”
4. When Daniel had told the king that the writing upon the wall signified
these events, Baltasar was in great sorrow and affliction, as was to be
expected, when the interpretation was so heavy upon him. However, he did
not refuse what he had promised Daniel, although he were become a
foreteller of misfortunes to him, but bestowed it all upon him; as
reasoning thus, that what he was to reward was peculiar to himself, and to
fate, and did not belong to the prophet, but that it was the part of a
good and a just man to give what he had promised, although the events were
of a melancholy nature. Accordingly, the king determined so to do. Now,
after a little while, both himself and the city were taken by Cyrus, the
king of Persia, who fought against him; for it was Baltasar, under whom
Babylon was taken, when he had reigned seventeen years. And this is the
end of the posterity of king Nebuchadnezzar, as history informs us; but
when Babylon was taken by Darius, and when he, with his kinsman Cyrus, had
put an end to the dominion of the Babylonians, he was sixty-two years old.
He was the son of Astyages, and had another name among the Greeks.
Moreover, he took Daniel the prophet, and carried him with him into Media,
and honored him very greatly, and kept him with him; for he was one of the
three presidents whom he set over his three hundred and sixty provinces,
for into so many did Darius part them.
5. However, while Daniel was in so great dignity, and in so great favor
with Darius, and was alone intrusted with every thing by him, a having
somewhat divine in him, he was envied by the rest; for those that see
others in greater honor than themselves with kings envy them; and when
those that were grieved at the great favor Daniel was in with Darius
sought for an occasion against him, he afforded them no occasion at all,
for he was above all the temptations of money, and despised bribery, and
esteemed it a very base thing to take any thing by way of reward, even
when it might be justly given him; he afforded those that envied him not
the least handle for an accusation. So when they could find nothing for
which they might calumniate him to the king, nothing that was shameful or
reproachful, and thereby deprive him of the honor he was in with him, they
sought for some other method whereby they might destroy him. When
therefore they saw that Daniel prayed to God three times a day, they
thought they had gotten an occasion by which they might ruin him; so they
came to Darius and told him that the princes and governors had thought
proper to allow the multitude a relaxation for thirty days, that no one
might offer a petition or prayer either to himself or to the gods, but
that, “he who shall transgress this decree shall be east into the den of
lions, and there perish.”
6. Whereupon the king, not being acquainted with their wicked design, nor
suspecting that it was a contrivance of theirs against Daniel, said he was
pleased with this decree of theirs, and he promised to confirm what they
desired; he also published an edict to promulgate to the people that
decree which the princes had made. Accordingly, all the rest took care not
to transgress those injunctions, and rested in quiet; but Daniel had no
regard to them, but, as he was wont, he stood and prayed to God in the
sight of them all; but the princes having met with the occasion they so
earnestly sought to find against Daniel, came presently to the king, and
accused him, that Daniel was the only person that transgressed the decree,
while not one of the rest durst pray to their gods. This discovery they
made, not because of his impiety, but because they had watched him, and
observed him out of envy; for supposing that Darius did thus out of a
greater kindness to him than they expected, and that he was ready to grant
him pardon for this contempt of his injunctions, and envying this very
pardon to Daniel, they did not become more honorable to him, but desired
he might be cast into the den of lions according to the law. So Darius,
hoping that God would deliver him, and that he would undergo nothing that
was terrible by the wild beasts, bid him bear this accident cheerfully.
And when he was cast into the den, he put his seal to the stone that lay
upon the mouth of the den, and went his way, but he passed all the night
without food and without sleep, being in great distress for Daniel; but
when it was day, he got up, and came to the den, and found the seal
entire, which he had left the stone sealed withal; he also opened the
seal, and cried out, and called to Daniel, and asked him if he were alive.
And as soon as he heard the king’s voice, and said that he had suffered no
harm, the king gave order that he should be drawn up out of the den. Now
when his enemies saw that Daniel had suffered nothing which was terrible,
they would not own that he was preserved by God, and by his providence;
but they said that the lions had been filled full with food, and on that
account it was, as they supposed, that the lions would not touch Daniel,
nor come to him; and this they alleged to the king. But the king, out of
an abhorrence of their wickedness, gave order that they should throw in a
great deal of flesh to the lions; and when they had filled themselves, he
gave further order that Daniel’s enemies should be cast into the den, that
he might learn whether the lions, now they were full, would touch them or
not. And it appeared plain to Darius, after the princes had been cast to
the wild beasts, that it was God who preserved Daniel 25
for the lions spared none of them, but tore them all to pieces, as if they
had been very hungry, and wanted food. I suppose therefore it was not
their hunger, which had been a little before satisfied with abundance of
flesh, but the wickedness of these men, that provoked them [to destroy the
princes]; for if it so please God, that wickedness might, by even those
irrational creatures, be esteemed a plain foundation for their punishment.
7. When therefore those that had intended thus to destroy Daniel by
treachery were themselves destroyed, king Darius sent [letters] over all
the country, and praised that God whom Daniel worshipped, and said that he
was the only true God, and had all power. He had also Daniel in very great
esteem, and made him the principal of his friends. Now when Daniel was
become so illustrious and famous, on account of the opinion men had that
he was beloved of God, he built a tower at Ecbatana, in Media: it was a
most elegant building, and wonderfully made, and it is still remaining,
and preserved to this day; and to such as see it, it appears to have been
lately built, and to have been no older than that very day when any one
looks upon it, it is so fresh 26
flourishing, and beautiful, and no way grown old in so long time; for
buildings suffer the same as men do, they grow old as well as they, and by
numbers of years their strength is dissolved, and their beauty withered.
Now they bury the kings of Media, of Persia, and Parthia in this tower to
this day, and he who was entrusted with the care of it was a Jewish
priest; which thing is also observed to this day. But it is fit to give an
account of what this man did, which is most admirable to hear, for he was
so happy as to have strange revelations made to him, and those as to one
of the greatest of the prophets, insomuch, that while he was alive he had
the esteem and applause both of the kings and of the multitude; and now he
is dead, he retains a remembrance that will never fail, for the several
books that he wrote and left behind him are still read by us till this
time; and from them we believe that Daniel conversed with God; for he did
not only prophesy of future events, as did the other prophets, but he also
determined the time of their accomplishment. And while prophets used to
foretell misfortunes, and on that account were disagreeable both to the
kings and to the multitude, Daniel was to them a prophet of good things,
and this to such a degree, that by the agreeable nature of his
predictions, he procured the goodwill of all men; and by the
accomplishment of them, he procured the belief of their truth, and the
opinion of [a sort of] divinity for himself, among the multitude. He also
wrote and left behind him what made manifest the accuracy and undeniable
veracity of his predictions; for he saith, that when he was in Susa, the
metropolis of Persia, and went out into the field with his companions,
there was, on the sudden, a motion and concussion of the earth, and that
he was left alone by himself, his friends fleeing away from him, and that
he was disturbed, and fell on his face, and on his two hands, and that a
certain person touched him, and, at the same time, bid him rise, and see
what would befall his countrymen after many generations. He also related,
that when he stood up, he was shown a great ram, with many horns growing
out of his head, and that the last was higher than the rest: that after
this he looked to the west, and saw a he-goat carried through the air from
that quarter; that he rushed upon the ram with violence, and smote him
twice with his horns, and overthrew him to the ground, and trampled upon
him: that afterward he saw a very great horn growing out of the head of
the he-goat, and that when it was broken off, four horns grew up that were
exposed to each of the four winds, and he wrote that out of them arose
another lesser horn, which, as he said, waxed great; and that God showed
to him that it should fight against his nation, and take their city by
force, and bring the temple worship to confusion, and forbid the
sacrifices to be offered for one thousand two hundred and ninety-six days.
Daniel wrote that he saw these visions in the Plain of Susa; and he hath
informed us that God interpreted the appearance of this vision after the
following manner: He said that the ram signified the kingdoms of the Medes
and Persians, and the horns those kings that were to reign in them; and
that the last horn signified the last king, and that he should exceed all
the kings in riches and glory: that the he-goat signified that one should
come and reign from the Greeks, who should twice fight with the Persian,
and overcome him in battle, and should receive his entire dominion: that
by the great horn which sprang out of the forehead of the he-goat was
meant the first king; and that the springing up of four horns upon its
falling off, and the conversion of every one of them to the four quarters
of the earth, signified the successors that should arise after the death
of the first king, and the partition of the kingdom among them, and that
they should be neither his children, nor of his kindred, that should reign
over the habitable earth for many years; and that from among them there
should arise a certain king that should overcome our nation and their
laws, and should take away their political government, and should spoil
the temple, and forbid the sacrifices to be offered for three years’ time.
And indeed it so came to pass, that our nation suffered these things under
Antiochus Epiphanes, according to Daniel’s vision, and what he wrote many
years before they came to pass. In the very same manner Daniel also wrote
concerning the Roman government, and that our country should be made
desolate by them. All these things did this man leave in writing, as God
had showed them to him, insomuch that such as read his prophecies, and see
how they have been fulfilled, would wonder at the honor wherewith God
honored Daniel; and may thence discover how the Epicureans are in an
error, who cast Providence out of human life, and do not believe that God
takes care of the affairs of the world, nor that the universe is governed
and continued in being by that blessed and immortal nature, but say that
the world is carried along of its own accord, without a ruler and a
curator; which, were it destitute of a guide to conduct it, as they
imagine, it would be like ships without pilots, which we see drowned by
the winds, or like chariots without drivers, which are overturned; so
would the world be dashed to pieces by its being carried without a
Providence, and so perish, and come to nought. So that, by the
forementioned predictions of Daniel, those men seem to me very much to err
from the truth, who determine that God exercises no providence over human
affairs; for if that were the case, that the world went on by mechanical
necessity, we should not see that all things would come to pass according
to his prophecy. Now as to myself, I have so described these matters as I
have found them and read them; but if any one is inclined to another
opinion about them, let him enjoy his different sentiments without any
blame from me.
FOOTNOTES
1 (return)
[ This title of great king,
both in our Bibles, 2 Kings 18:19; Isaiah 36:4, and here in Josephus, is
the very same that Herodotus gives this Sennacherib, as Spanheim takes
notice on this place.]
2 (return)
[ What Josephus says here,
how Isaiah the prophet assured Hezekiah that “at this time he should not
be besieged by the king of Assyria; that for the future he might be secure
of being not at all disturbed by him; and that [afterward] the people
might go on peaceably, and without fear, with their husbandry and other
affairs,” is more distinct in our other copies, both of the Kings and of
Isaiah, and deserves very great consideration. The words are these: “This
shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of
itself, and the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the
third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit
thereof,” 2 Kings 19:29; Isaiah 37:30; which seem to me plainly to design
a Sabbatic year, a year of jubilee next after it, and the succeeding usual
labors and fruits of them on the third and following years.]
3 (return)
[ That this terrible
calamity of the slaughter of the 185,000 Assyrians is here delivered in
the words of Berosus the Chaldean, and that it was certainly and
frequently foretold by the Jewish prophets, and that it was certainly and
undeniably accomplished, see Authent. Rec. part II. p. 858. We are here to
take notice, that these two sons of Sennacherib, that ran away into
Armenia, became the heads of two famous families there, the Arzerunii and
the Genunii; of which see the particular histories in Moses Chorenensis,
p. 60.]
4 (return)
[ Josephus, and all our
copies, place the sickness of Hezekiah after the destruction of
Sennacherib’s army, because it appears to have been after his first
assault, as he was going into Arabia and Egypt, where he pushed his
conquests as far as they would go, and in order to despatch his story
altogether; yet does no copy but this of Josephus say it was after that
destruction, but only that it happened in those days, or about that time
of Hezekiah’s life. Nor will the fifteen years’ prolongation of his life
after his sickness, allow that sickness to have been later than the former
part of the fifteenth year of his reign, since chronology does not allow
him in all above twenty-nine years and a few months; whereas the first
assault of Sennacherib was on the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, but the
destruction of Sennacherib’s army was not till his eighteenth year.]
5 (return)
[ As to this regress of the
shadow, either upon a sun-dial, or the steps of the royal palace built by
Ahaz, whether it were physically done by the real miraculous revolution of
the earth in its diurnal motion backward from east to west for a while,
and its return again to its old natural revolution from west to east; or
whether it were not apparent only, and performed by an aerial phosphorus,
which imitated the sun’s motion backward, while a cloud hid the real sun;
cannot now be determined. Philosophers and astronomers will naturally
incline to the latter hypothesis. However, it must be noted, that Josephus
seems to have understood it otherwise than we generally do, that the
shadow was accelerated as much at first forward as it was made to go
backward afterward, and so the day was neither longer nor shorter than
usual; which, it must be confessed agrees best of all to astronomy, whose
eclipses, older than the time were observed at the same times of the day
as if this miracle had never happened. After all, this wonderful signal
was not, it seems, peculiar to Judea, but either seen, or at least heard
of, at Babylon also, as appears by 2 Chronicles 32:31, where we learn that
the Babylonian ambassadors were sent to Hezekiah, among other things, to
inquire of the wonder that was done in the land.]
6 (return)
[ This expression of
Josephus, that the Medes, upon this destruction of the Assyrian army,
“overthrew” the Assyrian empire, seems to be too strong; for although they
immediately cast off the Assrian yoke, and set up Deioces, a king of their
own, yet it was some time before the Medes and Babylonians overthrew
Nineveh, and some generations ere the Medes and Persians under Cyaxares
and Cyrus overthrew the Assyrian or Babylonian empire, and took Babylon.]
7 (return)
[ It is hard to reconcile
the account in the Second Book of Kings [Footnote ch. 23:11: with this
account in Josephus, and to translate this passage truly in Josephus,
whose copies are supposed to be here imperfect. However, the general sense
of both seems to be this: That there were certain chariots, with their
horses, dedicated to the idol of the sun, or to Moloch; which idol might
be carried about in procession, and worshipped by the people; which
chariots were now “taken away,” as Josephus says, or, as the Book of Kings
says, “burnt with fire, by Josiah.”]
8 (return)
[ This is a remarkable
passage of chronology in Josephus, that about the latter end of the reign
of Josiah, the Medes and Babylonians overthrew the empire of the
Assyrians; or, in the words of Tobit’s continuator, that “before Tobias
died, he heard of the destruction of Nineveh, which was taken by
Nebuchodonosor the Babylonian, and Assuerus the Mede,” Tob. 14:15. See
Dean Prideaux’s Connexion, at the year 612.]
9 (return)
[ This battle is justly
esteemed the very same that Herodotus [B. II. sect. 156: mentions, when he
says, that “Necao joined battle with the Syrians [or Jews] at Magdolum,
[Megiddo,] and beat them,” as Dr. Hudson here observes.]
10 (return)
[ Whether Josephus, from
2 Chronicles 35:25, here means the book of the Lamentations of Jeremiah,
still extant, which chiefly belongs to the destruction of Jerusalem under
Nebuchadnezzar, or to any other like melancholy poem now lost, but extant
in the days of Josephus, belonging peculiarly to Josiah, cannot now be
determined.]
11 (return)
[ This ancient city
Hamath, which is joined with Arpad, or Aradus, and with Damascus, 2 Kings
18:34; Isaiah 36:19; Jeremiah 49:23, cities of Syria and Phoenicia, near
the borders of Judea, was also itself evidently near the same borders,
though long ago utterly destroyed.]
12 (return)
[ Josephus says here that
Jeremiah prophesied not only of the return of the Jews from the Babylonian
captivity, and this under the Persians and Medes, as in our other copies;
but of cause they did not both say the same thing as to this circumstance,
he disbelieved what they both appeared to agree in, and condemned them as
not speaking truth therein, although all the things foretold him did come
to pass according to their prophecies, as we shall show upon a fitter
opportunity their rebuilding the temple, and even the city Jerusalem,
which do not appear in our copies under his name. See the note on Antiq.
B. XI. ch. 1. sect. 3.]
13 (return)
[ This observation of
Josephus about the seeming disagreement of Jeremiah, ch. 32:4, and 34:3,
and Ezekiel 12:13, but real agreement at last, concerning the fate of
Zedekiah, is very true and very remarkable. See ch. 7. sect. 2. Nor is it
at all unlikely that the courtiers and false prophets might make use of
this seeming contradiction to dissuade Zedekiah from believing either of
those prophets, as Josephus here intimates he was dissuaded thereby.]
14 (return)
[ I have here inserted in
brackets this high priest Azarias, though he be omitted in all Josephus’s
copies, out of the Jewish chronicle, Seder Olam, of how little authority
soever I generally esteem such late Rabbinical historians, because we know
from Josephus himself, that the number of the high priests belonging to
this interval was eighteen, Antiq. B. XX. ch. 10., whereas his copies have
here but seventeen. Of this character of Baruch, the son of Neriah, and
the genuineness of his book, that stands now in our Apocrypha, and that it
is really a canonical book, and an appendix to Jeremiah, see Authent. Rec.
Part I. p. 1—11.]
15 (return)
[ Herodotus says, this
king of Egypt [Pharaoh Hophra, or Apries] was slain by the Egyptians, as
Jeremiah foretold his slaughter by his enemies, Jeremiah 44:29, 30, and
that as a sign of the destruction of Egypt [by Nebuchadnezzar]. Josephus
says, this king was slain by Nebuchadnezzar himself.]
16 (return)
[ We see here that Judea
was left in a manner desolate after the captivity of the two tribes and
was not I with foreign colonies, perhaps as an indication of Providence
that the Jews were to repeople it without opposition themselves. I also
esteem the latter and present desolate condition of the same country,
without being repeopled by foreign colonies, to be a like indication, that
the same Jews are hereafter to repeople it again themselves, at their so
long expected future restoration.]
17 (return)
[ That Daniel was made
one of these eunuchs of which Isaiah prophesied, Isaiah 39:7, and the
three children his companions also, seems to me plain, both here in
Josephus, and in our copies of Daniel, Daniel 1:3, 6-11, 18, although it
must be granted that some married persons, that had children, were
sometimes called eunuchs, in a general acceptation for courtiers, on
account that so many of the ancient courtiers were real eunuchs. See
Genesis 39:1.]
18 (return)
[ Of this most remarkable
passage in Josephus concerning the “stone cut out of the mountain, and
destroying the image,” which he would not explain, but intimated to be a
prophecy of futurity, and probably not safe for him to explain, as
belonging to the destruction of the Roman empire by Jesus Christ, the true
Messiah of the Jews, take the words of Hayercamp, ch. 10. sect. 4: “Nor is
this to be wondered at, that he would not now meddle with things future,
for he had no mind to provoke the Romans, by speaking of the destruction
of that city which they called the Eternal City.”]
19 (return)
[ Since Josephus here
explains the seven prophetic times which were to pass over Nebuchadnezzar
[Daniel 4:16: to be seven years, we thence learn how he most probably must
have understood those other parallel phrases, of “a time, times, and a
half,” Antiq. B. VII. ch. 25., of so many prophetic years also, though he
withal lets us know, by his hint at the interpretation of the seventy
weeks, as belonging to the fourth monarchy, and the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Romans in the days of Josephus, ch. 2. sect. 7, that he
did not think those years to be bare years, but rather days for years; by
which reckoning, and by which alone, could seventy weeks, or four hundred
and ninety days, reach to the age of Josephus. But as to the truth of
those seven years’ banishment of Nebuchadnezzar from men, and his living
so long among the beasts, the very small remains we have any where else of
this Nebuchadnezzar prevent our expectation of any other full account of
it. So far we knew by Ptolemy’s canon, a contemporary record, as well as
by Josephus presently, that he reigned in all forty-three years, that is,
eight years after we meet with any account of his actions; one of the last
of which was the thirteen years’ siege of Tyre, Antiq. B. XI. ch. 11.,
where yet the Old Latin has but three years and ten months: yet were his
actions before so remarkable, both in sacred and profane authors, that a
vacuity of eight years at the least, at the latter end of his reign, must
be allowed to agree very well with Daniel’s accounts; that after a seven
years’ brutal life, he might return to his reason, and to the exercise of
his royal authority, for one whole year at least before his death.]
20 (return)
[ These forty-three years
for the duration of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar are, as I have just now
observed, the very same number in Ptolemy’s canon. Moses Chorenensis does
also confirm this captivity of the Jews under Nebuchadnezzar, and adds,
what is very remarkable, that sale of those Jews that were carried by him
into captivity got away into Armenia, and raised the great family of the
Bagratide there.]
21 (return)
[ These twenty-one years
here ascribed to one named Naboulassar, in the first book against Apion,
or to Nabopollassar, the father of the great Nebuchadnezzar, are also the
very same with those given him in Ptolemy’s canon. And note here, that
what Dr. Prideaux says, at the year, that Nebuchadnezzar must have been a
common name of other kings of Babylon, besides the great Nebuchadnezzar
himself is a groundless mistake of some modern chronologers rely, and
destitute of all proper original authority.]
22 (return)
[ These fifteen days for
finishing such vast buildings at Babylon, in Josephus’s copy of Berosus,
would seem too absurd to be supposed to be the true number, were it not
for the same testimony extant also in the first book against Apion, sect.
19, with the same number. It thence indeed appears that Josephus’s copy of
Berosus had this small number, but that it is the true number I still
doubt. Josephus assures us, that the walls of so much a smaller city as
Jerusalem were two years and four months in building by Nehemiah, who yet
hastened the work all he could, Antiq. B. XI. ch. 5. sect. 8. I should
think one hundred and fifteen days, or a year and fifteen days, much more
proportionable to so great a work.]
23 (return)
[ It is here remarkable
that Josephus, without the knowledge of Ptolemy’s canon, should call the
same king whom he himself here [Bar. i. 11, and Daniel 5:1, 2, 9, 12, 22,
29, 39: styles Beltazar, or Belshazzar, from the Babylonian god Bel,
Naboandelus also; and in the first book against Apion, sect. 19, vol.
iii., from the same citation out of Berosus, Nabonnedon, from the
Babylonian god Nabo or Nebo. This last is not remote from the original
pronunciation itself in Ptolemy’s canon, Nabonadius; for both the place of
this king in that canon, as the last of the Assyrian or Babylonian kings,
and the number of years of his reign, seventeen, the same in both
demonstrate that it is one and the same king that is meant by them all. It
is also worth noting, that Josephus knew that Darius, the partner of
Cyrus, was the son of Astyages, and was called by another name among the
Greeks, though it does not appear he knew what that name was, as having
never seen the best history of this period, which is Xenophon’s. But then
what Josephus’s present copies say presently, sect. 4, that it was only
within no long time after the hand-writing on the wall that Baltasar was
slain, does not so well agree with our copies of Daniel, which say it was
the same night, Daniel 5:30.]
24 (return)
[ This grandmother, or
mother of Baltasar, the queen dowager of Babylon, [for she is
distinguished from his queen, Daniel 5:10, 13,] seems to have been the
famous Nitocris, who fortified Babylon against the Medes and Persians,
and, in all probability governed under Baltasar, who seems to be a weak
and effeminate prince.]
25 (return)
[ It is no way improbable
that Daniel’s enemies might suggest this reason to the king why the lions
did not meddle with him and that they might suspect the king’s kindness to
Daniel had procured these lions to be so filled beforehand, and that
thence it was that he encouraged Daniel to submit to this experiment, in
hopes of coming off safe; and that this was the true reason of making so
terrible an experiment upon those his enemies, and all their families,
Daniel 6:21, though our other copies do not directly take notice of it.]
26 (return)
[ What Josephus here
says, that the stones of the sepulchers of the kings of Persia at this
tower, or those perhaps of the same sort that are now commonly called the
ruins of Persepolis, continued so entire and unaltered in his days, as if
they were lately put there, “I [says Reland] here can show to be true, as
to those stones of the Persian mansoleum, which Com. Brunius brake off and
gave me.” He ascribed this to the hardness of the stones, which scarcely
yields to iron tools, and proves frequently too hard for cutting by the
chisel, but oftentimes breaks it to pieces.]
BOOK XI. Containing The Interval Of Two Hundred And Fifty-Three Years
And Five Months.—From The First Of Cyrus To The Death Of Alexander
The Great.
CHAPTER 1. How Cyrus, King Of The Persians, Delivered The Jews Out Of
Babylon And Suffered Them To Return To Their Own Country And To Build
Their Temple, For Which Work He Gave Them Money.
1. In the first year of the reign of Cyrus 1 which was
the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own
land into Babylon, God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these
poor people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet,
before the destruction of the city, that after they had served
Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, and after they had undergone that
servitude seventy years, he would restore them again to the land of their
fathers, and they should build their temple, and enjoy their ancient
prosperity. And these things God did afford them; for he stirred up the
mind of Cyrus, and made him write this throughout all Asia: “Thus saith
Cyrus the king: Since God Almighty hath appointed me to be king of the
habitable earth, I believe that he is that God which the nation of the
Israelites worship; for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets, and
that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea.”
2. This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left
behind him of his prophecies; for this prophet said that God had spoken
thus to him in a secret vision: “My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have
appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back my people to
their own land, and build my temple.” This was foretold by Isaiah one
hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly,
when Cyrus read this, and admired the Divine power, an earnest desire and
ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written; so he called for
the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said to them, that he gave
them leave to go back to their own country, and to rebuild their city
Jerusalem, 2 and the temple of God, for that
he would be their assistant, and that he would write to the rulers and
governors that were in the neighborhood of their country of Judea, that
they should contribute to them gold and silver for the building of the
temple, and besides that, beasts for their sacrifices.
3. When Cyrus had said this to the Israelites, the rulers of the two
tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites and priests, went in haste
to Jerusalem; yet did many of them stay at Babylon, as not willing to
leave their possessions; and when they were come thither, all the king’s
friends assisted them, and brought in, for the building of the temple,
some gold, and some silver, and some a great many cattle and horses. So
they performed their vows to God, and offered the sacrifices that had been
accustomed of old time; I mean this upon the rebuilding of their city, and
the revival of the ancient practices relating to their worship. Cyrus also
sent back to them the vessels of God which king Nebuchadnezzar had
pillaged out of the temple, and had carried to Babylon. So he committed
these things to Mithridates, the treasurer, to be sent away, with an order
to give them to Sanabassar, that he might keep them till the temple was
built; and when it was finished, he might deliver them to the priests and
rulers of the multitude, in order to their being restored to the temple.
Cyrus also sent an epistle to the governors that were in Syria, the
contents whereof here follow:
“King Cyrus To Sisinnes And Sathrabuzanes Sendeth Greeting.
“I have given leave to as many of the Jews that dwell in my country as
please to return to their own country, and to rebuild their city, and to
build the temple of God at Jerusalem on the same place where it was
before. I have also sent my treasurer Mithridates, and Zorobabel, the
governor of the Jews, that they may lay the foundations of the temple, and
may build it sixty cubits high, and of the same latitude, making three
edifices of polished stones, and one of the wood of the country, and the
same order extends to the altar whereon they offer sacrifices to God. I
require also that the expenses for these things may be given out of my
revenues. Moreover, I have also sent the vessels which king Nebuchadnezzar
pillaged out of the temple, and have given them to Mithridates the
treasurer, and to Zorobabel the governor of the Jews, that they may have
them carried to Jerusalem, and may restore them to the temple of God. Now
their number is as follows: Fifty chargers of gold, and five hundred of
silver; forty Thericlean cups of gold, and five hundred of silver; fifty
basons of gold, and five hundred of silver; thirty vessels for pouring
[the drink-offerings], and three hundred of silver; thirty vials of gold,
and two thousand four hundred of silver; with a thousand other large
vessels. 3 I permit them to have the same
honor which they were used to have from their forefathers, as also for
their small cattle, and for wine and oil, two hundred and five thousand
and five hundred drachmae; and for wheat flour, twenty thousand and five
hundred artabae; and I give order that these expenses shall be given them
out of the tributes due from Samaria. The priests shall also offer these
sacrifices according to the laws of Moses in Jerusalem; and when they
offer them, they shall pray to God for the preservation of the king and of
his family, that the kingdom of Persia may continue. But my will is, that
those who disobey these injunctions, and make them void, shall be hung
upon a cross, and their substance brought into the king’s treasury.” And
such was the import of this epistle. Now the number of those that came out
of captivity to Jerusalem, were forty-two thousand four hundred and
sixty-two.
CHAPTER 2. How Upon The Death Of Cyrus The Jews Were Hindered In Building
Of The Temple By The Cutheans, And The Neighboring Governors; And How
Cambyses Entirely Forbade The Jews To Do Any Such Thing.
1. When the foundations of the temple were laying, and when the Jews were
very zealous about building it, the neighboring nations, and especially
the Cutheans, whom Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, had brought out of Persia
and Media, and had planted in Samaria, when he carried the people of
Israel captives, besought the governors, and those that had the care of
such affairs, that they would interrupt the Jews, both in the rebuilding
of their city, and in the building of their temple. Now as these men were
corrupted by them with money, they sold the Cutheans their interest for
rendering this building a slow and a careless work, for Cyrus, who was
busy about other wars, knew nothing of all this; and it so happened, that
when he had led his army against the Massagetae, he ended his life. 4
But when Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, had taken the kingdom, the governors
in Syria, and Phoenicia, and in the countries of Ammon, and Moab, and
Samaria, wrote an epistle to Cambyses; whose contents were as follow: “To
our lord Cambyses. We thy servants, Rathumus the historiographer, and
Semellius the scribe, and the rest that are thy judges in Syria and
Phoenicia, send greeting. It is fit, O king, that thou shouldst know that
those Jews which were carried to Babylon are come into our country, and
are building that rebellious and wicked city, and its market-places, and
setting up its walls, and raising up the temple; know therefore, that when
these things are finished, they will not be willing to pay tribute, nor
will they submit to thy commands, but will resist kings, and will choose
rather to rule over others than be ruled over themselves. We therefore
thought it proper to write to thee, O king, while the works about the
temple are going on so fast, and not to overlook this matter, that thou
mayst search into the books of thy fathers, for thou wilt find in them
that the Jews have been rebels, and enemies to kings, as hath their city
been also, which, for that reason, hath been till now laid waste. We
thought proper also to inform thee of this matter, because thou mayst
otherwise perhaps be ignorant of it, that if this city be once inhabited
and be entirely encompassed with walls, thou wilt be excluded from thy
passage to Celesyria and Phoenicia.”
2. When Cambyses had read the epistle, being naturally wicked, he was
irritated at what they told him, and wrote back to them as follows:
“Cambyses the king, to Rathumus the historiographer, to Beeltethmus, to
Semellius the scribe, and the rest that are in commission, and dwelling in
Samaria and Phoenicia, after this manner: I have read the epistle that was
sent from you; and I gave order that the books of my forefathers should be
searched into, and it is there found that this city hath always been an
enemy to kings, and its inhabitants have raised seditions and wars. We
also are sensible that their kings have been powerful and tyrannical, and
have exacted tribute of Celesyria and Phoenicia. Wherefore I gave order,
that the Jews shall not be permitted to build that city, lest such
mischief as they used to bring upon kings be greatly augmented.” When this
epistle was read, Rathumus, and Semellius the scribe, and their
associates, got suddenly on horseback, and made haste to Jerusalem; they
also brought a great company with them, and forbade the Jews to build the
city and the temple. Accordingly, these works were hindered from going on
till the second year of the reign of Darius, for nine years more; for
Cambyses reigned six years, and within that time overthrew Egypt, and when
he was come back, he died at Damascus.
CHAPTER 3. How After The Death Of Cambyses And The Slaughter Of The Magi
But Under The Reign Of Darius, Zorobabel Was Superior To The Rest In The
Solution Of Problems And Thereby Obtained This Favor Of The King, That The
Temple Should Be Built.
1. After the slaughter of the Magi, who, upon the death of Cambyses,
attained the government of the Persians for a year, those families which
were called the seven families of the Persians appointed Darius, the son
of Hystaspes, to be their king. Now he, while he was a private man, had
made a vow to God, that if he came to be king, he would send all the
vessels of God that were in Babylon to the temple at Jerusalem. Now it so
fell out, that about this time Zorobabel, who had been made governor of
the Jews that had been in captivity, came to Darius, from Jerusalem; for
there had been an old friendship between him and the king. He was also,
with two others, thought worthy to be guard of the king’s body; and
obtained that honor which he hoped for.
2. Now, in the first year of the king’s reign, Darius feasted those that
were about him, and those born in his house, with the rulers of the Medes,
and princes of the Persians, and the toparchs of India and Ethiopia, and
the generals of the armies of his hundred and twenty-seven provinces. But
when they had eaten and drunk to satiety, and abundantly, they every one
departed to go to bed at their own houses, and Darius the king went to
bed; but after he had rested a little part of the night, he awaked, and
not being able to sleep any more, he fell into conversation with the three
guards of his body, and promised, that to him who should make an oration
about points that he should inquire of, such as should be most agreeable
to truth, and to the dictates of wisdom, he would grant it as a reward of
his victory, to put on a purple garment, and to drink in cups of gold, and
to sleep upon gold, and to have a chariot with bridles of gold, and a head
tire of fine linen, and a chain of gold about his neck, and to sit next to
himself, on account of his wisdom; “and,” says he, “he shall be called my
cousin.” Now when he had promised to give them these gifts, he asked the
first of them, “Whether wine was not the strongest?”—the second,
“Whether kings were not such?”—and the third, “Whether women were
not such? or whether truth was not the strongest of all?” When he had
proposed that they should make their inquiries about these problems, he
went to rest; but in the morning he sent for his great men, his princes,
and toparchs of Persia and Media, and set himself down in the place where
he used to give audience, and bid each of the guards of his body to
declare what they thought proper concerning the proposed questions, in the
hearing of them all.
3. Accordingly, the first of them began to speak of the strength of wine,
and demonstrated it thus: “When,” said he, “I am to give my opinion of
wine, O you men, I find that it exceeds every thing, by the following
indications: It deceives the mind of those that drink it, and reduces that
of the king to the same state with that of the orphan, and he who stands
in need of a tutor; and erects that of the slave to the boldness of him
that is free; and that of the needy becomes like that of the rich man, for
it changes and renews the souls of men when it gets into them; and it
quenches the sorrow of those that are under calamities, and makes men
forget the debts they owe to others, and makes them think themselves to be
of all men the richest; it makes them talk of no small things, but of
talents, and such other names as become wealthy men only; nay more, it
makes them insensible of their commanders, and of their kings, and takes
away the remembrance of their friends and companions, for it arms men even
against those that are dearest to them, and makes them appear the greatest
strangers to them; and when they are become sober, and they have slept out
their wine in the night, they arise without knowing any thing they have
done in their cups. I take these for signs of power, and by them discover
that wine is the strongest and most insuperable of all things.”
4. As soon as the first had given the forementioned demonstrations of the
strength of wine, he left off; and the next to him began to speak about
the strength of a king, and demonstrated that it was the strongest of all,
and more powerful than any thing else that appears to have any force or
wisdom. He began his demonstration after the following manner; and said,
“They are men who govern all things; they force the earth and the sea to
become profitable to them in what they desire, and over these men do kings
rule, and over them they have authority. Now those who rule over that
animal which is of all the strongest and most powerful, must needs deserve
to be esteemed insuperable in power and force. For example, when these
kings command their subjects to make wars, and undergo dangers, they are
hearkened to; and when they send them against their enemies, their power
is so great that they are obeyed. They command men to level mountains, and
to pull down walls and towers; nay, when they are commanded to be killed
and to kill, they submit to it, that they may not appear to transgress the
king’s commands; and when they have conquered, they bring what they have
gained in the war to the king. Those also who are not soldiers, but
cultivate the ground, and plough it, and when, after they have endured the
labor and all the inconveniences of such works of husbandry, they have
reaped and gathered in their fruits, they bring tributes to the king; and
whatsoever it is which the king says or commands, it is done of necessity,
and that without any delay, while he in the mean time is satiated with all
sorts of food and pleasures, and sleeps in quiet. He is guarded by such as
watch, and such as are, as it were, fixed down to the place through fear;
for no one dares leave him, even when he is asleep, nor does any one go
away and take care of his own affairs; but he esteems this one thing the
only work of necessity, to guard the king, and accordingly to this he
wholly addicts himself. How then can it be otherwise, but that it must
appear that the king exceeds all in strength, while so great a multitude
obeys his injunctions?”
5. Now when this man had held his peace, the third of them, who was
Zorobabel, began to instruct them about women, and about truth, who said
thus: “Wine is strong, as is the king also, whom all men obey, but women
are superior to them in power; for it was a woman that brought the king
into the world; and for those that plant the vines and make the wine, they
are women who bear them, and bring them up: nor indeed is there any thing
which we do not receive from them; for these women weave garments for us,
and our household affairs are by their means taken care of, and preserved
in safety; nor can we live separate from women. And when we have gotten a
great deal of gold and silver, and any other thing that is of great value,
and deserving regard, and see a beautiful woman, we leave all these
things, and with open mouth fix our eyes upon her countenance, and are
willing to forsake what we have, that we may enjoy her beauty, and procure
it to ourselves. We also leave father, and mother, and the earth that
nourishes us, and frequently forget our dearest friends, for the sake of
women; nay, we are so hardy as to lay down our lives for them. But what
will chiefly make you take notice of the strength of women is this that
follows: Do not we take pains, and endure a great deal of trouble, and
that both by land and sea, and when we have procured somewhat as the fruit
of our labors, do not we bring them to the women, as to our mistresses,
and bestow them upon them? Nay, I once saw the king, who is lord of so
many people, smitten on the face by Apame, the daughter of Rabsases
Themasius, his concubine, and his diadem taken away from him, and put upon
her own head, while he bore it patiently; and when she smiled he smiled,
and when she was angry he was sad; and according to the change of her
passions, he flattered his wife, and drew her to reconciliation by the
great humiliation of himself to her, if at any time he saw her displeased
at him.”
6. And when the princes and rulers looked one upon another, he began to
speak about truth; and he said, “I have already demonstrated how powerful
women are; but both these women themselves, and the king himself, are
weaker than truth; for although the earth be large, and the heaven high,
and the course of the sun swift, yet are all these moved according to the
will of God, who is true and righteous, for which cause we also ought to
esteem truth to be the strongest of all things, and that what is
unrighteous is of no force against it. Moreover, all things else that have
any strength are mortal and short-lived, but truth is a thing that is
immortal and eternal. It affords us not indeed such a beauty as will
wither away by time, nor such riches as may be taken away by fortune, but
righteous rules and laws. It distinguishes them from injustice, and puts
what is unrighteous to rebuke.” 5
7. So when Zorobabel had left off his discourse about truth, and the
multitude had cried out aloud that he had spoken the most wisely, and that
it was truth alone that had immutable strength, and such as never would
wax old, the king commanded that he should ask for somewhat over and above
what he had promised, for that he would give it him because of his wisdom,
and that prudence wherein he exceeded the rest; “and thou shalt sit with
me,” said the king, “and shalt be called my cousin.” When he had said
this, Zorobabel put him in mind of the vow he had made in case he should
ever have the kingdom. Now this vow was, “to rebuild Jerusalem, and to
build therein the temple of God; as also to restore the vessels which
Nebuchadnezzar had pillaged, and carried to Babylon. And this,” said he,
“is that request which thou now permittest me to make, on account that I
have been judged to be wise and understanding.”
8. So the king was pleased with what he had said, and arose and kissed
him; and wrote to the toparchs and governors, and enjoined them to conduct
Zorobabel and those that were going with him to build the temple. He also
sent letters to those rulers that were in Syria and Phoenicia to cut down
and carry cedar trees from Lebanon to Jerusalem, and to assist him in
building the city. He also wrote to them, that all the captives who should
go to Judea should be free; and he prohibited his deputies and governors
to lay any king’s taxes upon the Jews; he also permitted that they should
have all that land which they could possess themselves of without
tributes. He also enjoined the Idumeans and Samaritans, and the
inhabitants of Celesyria, to restore those villages which they had taken
from the Jews; and that, besides all this, fifty talents should be given
them for the building of the temple. He also permitted them to offer their
appointed sacrifices, and that whatsoever the high priest and the priests
wanted, and those sacred garments wherein they used to worship God, should
be made at his own charges; and that the musical instruments which the
Levites used in singing hymns to God should be given them. Moreover, he
charged them, that portions of land should be given to those that guarded
the city and the temple, as also a determinate sum of money every year for
their maintenance; and withal he sent the vessels. And all that Cyrus
intended to do before him relating to the restoration of Jerusalem, Darius
also ordained should be done accordingly.
9. Now when Zorobabel had obtained these grants from the king, he went out
of the palace, and looking up to heaven, he began to return thanks to God
for the wisdom he had given him, and the victory he had gained thereby,
even in the presence of Darius himself; for, said he, “I had not been
thought worthy of these advantages, O Lord, unless thou hadst been
favorable to me.” When therefore he had returned these thanks to God for
the present circumstances he was in, and had prayed to him to afford him
the like favor for the time to come, he came to Babylon, and brought the
good news to his countrymen of what grants he had procured for them from
the king; who, when they heard the same, gave thanks also to God that he
restored the land of their forefathers to them again. So they betook
themselves to drinking and eating, and for seven days they continued
feasting, and kept a festival, for the rebuilding and restoration of their
country: after this they chose themselves rulers, who should go up to
Jerusalem, out of the tribes of their forefathers, with their wives, and
children, and cattle, who traveled to Jerusalem with joy and pleasure,
under the conduct of those whom Darius sent along with them, and making a
noise with songs, and pipes, and cymbals. The rest of the Jewish multitude
also besides accompanied them with rejoicing.
10. And thus did these men go, a certain and determinate number out of
every family, though I do not think it proper to recite particularly the
names of those families, that I may not take off the mind of my readers
from the connexion of the historical facts, and make it hard for them to
follow the coherence of my narrations; but the sum of those that went up,
above the age of twelve years, of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, was
four hundred and sixty-two myriads and eight thousand 6
the Levites were seventy-four; the number of the women and children mixed
together was forty thousand seven hundred and forty-two; and besides
these, there were singers of the Levites one hundred and twenty-eight, and
porters one hundred and ten, and of the sacred ministers three hundred and
ninety-two; there were also others besides these, who said they were of
the Israelites, but were not able to show their genealogies, six hundred
and sixty-two: some there were also who were expelled out of the number
and honor of the priests, as having married wives whose genealogies they
could not produce, nor were they found in the genealogies of the Levites
and priests; they were about five hundred and twenty-five: the multitude
also of servants that followed those that went up to Jerusalem were seven
thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; the singing men and singing women
were two hundred and forty-five; the camels were four hundred and
thirty-five; the beasts used to the yoke were five thousand five hundred
and twenty-five; and the governors of all this multitude thus numbered
were Zorobabel, the son of Salathiel, of the posterity of David, and of
the tribe of Judah; and Jeshua, the son of Josedek the high priest; and
besides these there were Mordecai and Serebeus, who were distinguished
from the multitude, and were rulers, who also contributed a hundred pounds
of gold, and five thousand of silver. By this means therefore the priests
and the Levites, and a certain part of the entire people of the Jews that
were in Babylon, came and dwelt in Jerusalem; but the rest of the
multitude returned every one to their own countries.
CHAPTER 4. How The Temple Was Built While The Cutheans Endeavored In Vain
To Obstruct The Work.
1. Now in the seventh month after they were departed out of Babylon, both
Jeshua the high priest, and Zorobabel the governor, sent messengers every
way round about, and gathered those that were in the country together to
Jerusalem universally, who came very gladly thither. He then built the
altar on the same place it had formerly been built, that they might offer
the appointed sacrifices upon it to God, according to the laws of Moses.
But while they did this, they did not please the neighboring nations, who
all of them bare an ill-will to them. They also celebrated the feast of
tabernacles at that time, as the legislator had ordained concerning it;
and after they offered sacrifices, and what were called the daily
sacrifices, and the oblations proper for the Sabbaths, and for all the
holy festivals. Those also that had made vows performed them, and offered
their sacrifices from the first day of the seventh month. They also began
to build the temple, and gave a great deal of money to the masons and to
the carpenters, and what was necessary for the maintenance of the workmen.
The Sidonians also were very willing and ready to bring the cedar trees
from Libanus, to bind them together, and to make a united float of them,
and to bring them to the port of Joppa, for that was what Cyrus had
commanded at first, and what was now done at the command of Darius.
2. In the second year of their coming to Jerusalem, as the Jews were there
in the second month, the building of the temple went on apace; and when
they had laid its foundations on the first day of the second month of that
second year, they set, as overseers of the work, such Levites as were full
twenty years old; and Jeshua and his sons and brethren, and Codmiel the
brother of Judas, the son of Aminadab, with his sons; and the temple, by
the great diligence of those that had the care of it, was finished sooner
than any one would have expected. And when the temple was finished, the
priests, adorned with their accustomed garments, stood with their
trumpets, while the Levites, and the sons of Asaph, stood and sung hymns
to God, according as David first of all appointed them to bless God. Now
the priests and Levites, and the elder part of the families, recollecting
with themselves how much greater and more sumptuous the old temple had
been, seeing that now made how much inferior it was, on account of their
poverty, to that which had been built of old, considered with themselves
how much their happy state was sunk below what it had been of old, as well
as their temple. Hereupon they were disconsolate, and not able to contain
their grief, and proceeded so far as to lament and shed tears on those
accounts; but the people in general were contented with their present
condition; and because they were allowed to build them a temple, they
desired no more, and neither regarded nor remembered, nor indeed at all
tormented themselves with the comparison of that and the former temple, as
if this were below their expectations; but the wailing of the old men and
of the priests, on account of the deficiency of this temple, in their
opinion, if compared with that which had been demolished, overcame the
sounds of the trumpets and the rejoicing of the people.
3. But when the Samaritans, who were still enemies to the tribes of Judah
and Benjamin, heard the sound of the trumpets, they came running together,
and desired to know what was the occasion of this tumult; and when they
perceived that it was from the Jews, who had been carried captive to
Babylon, and were rebuilding their temple, they came to Zorobabel and to
Jeshua, and to the heads of the families, and desired that they would give
them leave to build the temple with them, and to be partners with them in
building it; for they said, “We worship their God, and especially pray to
him, and are desirous of their religious settlement, and this ever since
Shalmanezer, the king of Assyria, transplanted us out of Cuthah and Media
to this place.” When they said thus, Zorobabel and Jeshua the high priest,
and the heads of the families of the Israelites, replied to them, that it
was impossible for them to permit them to be their partners, whilst they
[only] had been appointed to build that temple at first by Cyrus, and now
by Darius, although it was indeed lawful for them to come and worship
there if they pleased, and that they could allow them nothing but that in
common with them, which was common to them with all other men, to come to
their temple and worship God there.
4. When the Cuthearts heard this, for the Samaritans have that
appellation, they had indignation at it, and persuaded the nations of
Syria to desire of the governors, in the same manner as they had done
formerly in the days of Cyrus, and again in the days of Cambyses
afterwards, to put a stop to the building of the temple, and to endeavor
to delay and protract the Jews in their zeal about it. Now at this time
Sisinnes, the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, with
certain others, came up to Jerusalem, and asked the rulers of the Jews, by
whose grant it was that they built the temple in this manner, since it was
more like to a citadel than a temple? and for what reason it was that they
built cloisters and walls, and those strong ones too, about the city? To
which Zorobabel and Jeshua the high priest replied, that they were the
servants of God Almighty; that this temple was built for him by a king of
theirs, that lived in great prosperity, and one that exceeded all men in
virtue; and that it continued a long time, but that because of their
fathers’ impiety towards God, Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians and
of the Chaldeans, took their city by force, and destroyed it, and pillaged
the temple, and burnt it down, and transplanted the people whom he had
made captives, and removed them to Babylon; that Cyrus, who, after him,
was king of Babylonia and Persia, wrote to them to build the temple, and
committed the gifts and vessels, and whatsoever Nebuchadnezzar had carried
out of it, to Zorobabel, and Mithridates the treasurer; and gave order to
have them carried to Jerusalem, and to have them restored to their own
temple, when it was built; for he had sent to them to have that done
speedily, and commanded Sanabassar to go up to Jerusalem, and to take care
of the building of the temple; who, upon receiving that epistle from
Cyrus, came, and immediately laid its foundations; “and although it hath
been in building from that time to this, it hath not yet been finished, by
reason of the malignity of our enemies. If therefore you have a mind, and
think it proper, write this account to Darius, that when he hath consulted
the records of the kings, he may find that we have told you nothing that
is false about this matter.”
5. When Zorobabel and the high priest had made this answer, Sisinnes, and
those that were with him, did not resolve to hinder the building, until
they had informed king Darius of all this. So they immediately wrote to
him about these affairs; but as the Jews were now under terror, and afraid
lest the king should change his resolutions as to the building of
Jerusalem and of the temple, there were two prophets at that time among
them, Haggai and Zechariah, who encouraged them, and bid them be of good
cheer, and to suspect no discouragement from the Persians, for that God
foretold this to them. So, in dependence on those prophets, they applied
themselves earnestly to building, and did not intermit one day.
6. Now Darius, when the Samaritans had written to him, and in their
epistle had accused the Jews, how they fortified the city, and built the
temple more like to a citadel than to a temple; and said, that their
doings were not expedient for the king’s affairs; and besides, they showed
the epistle of Cambyses, wherein he forbade them to build the temple: and
when Darius thereby understood that the restoration of Jerusalem was not
expedient for his affairs, and when he had read the epistle that was
brought him from Sisinnes, and those that were with him, he gave order
that what concerned these matters should be sought for among the royal
records. Whereupon a book was found at Ecbatana, in the tower that was in
Media, wherein was written as follows: “Cyrus the king, in the first year
of his reign, commanded that the temple should be built in Jerusalem; and
the altar in height threescore cubits, and its breadth of the same, with
three edifices of polished stone, and one edifice of stone of their own
country; and he ordained that the expenses of it should be paid out of the
king’s revenue. He also commanded that the vessels which Nebuchadnezzar
had pillaged [out of the temple], and had carried to Babylon, should be
restored to the people of Jerusalem; and that the care of these things
should belong to Sanabassar, the governor and president of Syria and
Phoenicia, and his associates, that they may not meddle with that place,
but may permit the servants of God, the Jews and their rulers, to build
the temple. He also ordained that they should assist them in the work; and
that they should pay to the Jews, out of the tribute of the country where
they were governors, on account of the sacrifices, bulls, and rams, and
lambs, and kids of the goats, and fine flour, and oil, and wine, and all
other things that the priests should suggest to them; and that they should
pray for the preservation of the king, and of the Persians; and that for
such as transgressed any of these orders thus sent to them, he commanded
that they should be caught, and hung upon a cross, and their substance
confiscated to the king’s use. He also prayed to God against them, that if
any one attempted to hinder the building of the temple, God would strike
him dead, and thereby restrain his wickedness.”
7. When Darius had found this book among the records of Cyrus, he wrote an
answer to Sisinnes and his associates, whose contents were these: “King
Darius to Sisinnes the governor, and to Sathrabuzanes, sendeth greeting.
Having found a copy of this epistle among the records of Cyrus, I have
sent it you; and I will that all things be done as is therein written.
Fare ye well.” So when Sisinnes, and those that were with him, understood
the intention of the king, they resolved to follow his directions entirely
for the time to come. So they forwarded the sacred works, and assisted the
elders of the Jews, and the princes of the Sanhedrim; and the structure of
the temple was with great diligence brought to a conclusion, by the
prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah, according to God’s commands, and by
the injunctions of Cyrus and Darius the kings. Now the temple was built in
seven years’ time. And in the ninth year of the reign of Darius, on the
twenty-third day of the twelfth month, which is by us called Adar, but by
the Macedonians Dystrus, the priests, and Levites, and the other multitude
of the Israelites, offered sacrifices, as the renovation of their former
prosperity after their captivity, and because they had now the temple
rebuilt, a hundred bulls, two hundred rains, four hundred lambs, and
twelve kids of the goats, according to the number of their tribes, [for so
many are the tribes of the Israelites,] and this last for the sins of
every tribe. The priests also and the Levites set the porters at every
gate, according to the laws of Moses. The Jews also built the cloisters of
the inner temple that were round about the temple itself.
8. And as the feast of unleavened bread was at hand, in the first month,
which, according to the Macedonians, is called Xanthicus, but according to
us Nisan, all the people ran together out of the villages to the city, and
celebrated the festival, having purified themselves, with their wives and
children, according to the law of their country; and they offered the
sacrifice which was called the Passover, on the fourteenth day of the same
month, and feasted seven days, and spared for no cost, but offered whole
burnt-offerings to God, and performed sacrifices of thanksgiving, because
God had led them again to the land of their fathers, and to the laws
thereto belonging, and had rendered the mind of the king of Persia
favorable to them. So these men offered the largest sacrifices on these
accounts, and used great magnificence in the worship of God, and dwelt in
Jerusalem, and made use of a form of government that was aristocratical,
but mixed with an oligarchy, for the high priests were at the head of
their affairs, until the posterity of the Asamoneans set up kingly
government; for before their captivity, and the dissolution of their
polity, they at first had kingly government from Saul and David for five
hundred and thirty- two years, six months, and ten days; but before those
kings, such rulers governed them as were called judges and monarchs. Under
this form of government they continued for more than five hundred years
after the death of Moses, and of Joshua their commander. And this is the
account I had to give of the Jews who had been carried into captivity, but
were delivered from it in the times of Cyrus and Darius.
9. 7
But the Samaritans, being evil and enviously disposed to the Jews, wrought
them many mischiefs, by reliance on their riches, and by their pretense
that they were allied to the Persians, on account that thence they came;
and whatsoever it was that they were enjoined to pay the Jews by the
king’s order out of their tributes for the sacrifices, they would not pay
it. They had also the governors favorable to them, and assisting them for
that purpose; nor did they spare to hurt them, either by themselves or by
others, as far as they were able. So the Jews determined to send an
embassage to king Darius, in favor of the people of Jerusalem, and in
order to accuse the Samaritans. The ambassadors were Zorobabel, and four
others of the rulers; and as soon as the king knew from the ambassadors
the accusations and complaints they brought against the Samaritans, he
gave them an epistle to be carried to the governors and council of
Samaria; the contents of which epistle were these: “King Darius to
Tanganas and Sambabas, the governors of the Sainaritans, to Sadraces and
Bobelo, and the rest of their fellow servants that are in Samaria:
Zorobabel, Ananias, and Mordecai, the ambassadors of the Jews, complain of
you, that you obstruct them in the building of the temple, and do not
supply them with the expenses which I commanded you to do for the offering
their sacrifices. My will therefore is this, That upon the reading of this
epistle, you supply them with whatsoever they want for their sacrifices,
and that out of the royal treasury, of the tributes of Samaria, as the
priest shall desire, that they may not leave off offering their daily
sacrifices, nor praying to God for me and the Persians.” And these were
the contents of that epistle.
CHAPTER 5. How Xerxes The Son Of Darius Was Well Disposed To The Jews; As
Also Concerning Esdras And Nehemiah.
1. Upon the death of Darius, Xerxes his son took the kingdom, who, as he
inherited his father’s kingdom, so did he inherit his piety towards God,
and honor of him; for he did all things suitably to his father relating to
Divine worship, and he was exceeding friendly to the Jews. Now about this
time a son of Jeshua, whose name was Joacim, was the high priest.
Moreover, there was now in Babylon a righteous man, and one that enjoyed a
great reputation among the multitude. He was the principal priest of the
people, and his name was Esdras. He was very skillful in the laws of
Moses, and was well acquainted with king Xerxes. He had determined to go
up to Jerusalem, and to take with him some of those Jews that were in
Babylon; and he desired that the king would give him an epistle to the
governors of Syria, by which they might know who he was. Accordingly, the
king wrote the following epistle to those governors: “Xerxes, king of
kings, to Esdras the priest, and reader of the Divine law, greeting. I
think it agreeable to that love which I bear to mankind, to permit those
of the Jewish nation that are so disposed, as well as those of the priests
and Levites that are in our kingdom, to go together to Jerusalem.
Accordingly, I have given command for that purpose; and let every one that
hath a mind go, according as it hath seemed good to me, and to my seven
counselors, and this in order to their review of the affairs of Judea, to
see whether they be agreeable to the law of God. Let them also take with
them those presents which I and my friends have vowed, with all that
silver and gold that is found in the country of the Babylonians, as
dedicated to God, and let all this be carried to Jerusalem to God for
sacrifices. Let it also be lawful for thee and thy brethren to make as
many vessels of silver and gold as thou pleasest. Thou shalt also dedicate
those holy vessels which have been given thee, and as many more as thou
hast a mind to make, and shall take the expenses out of the king’s
treasury. I have, moreover, written to the treasurers of Syria and
Phoenicia, that they take care of those affairs that Esdras the priest,
and reader of the laws of God, is sent about. And that God may not be at
all angry with me, or with my children, I grant all that is necessary for
sacrifices to God, according to the law, as far as a hundred cori of
wheat. And I enjoin you not to lay any treacherous imposition, or any
tributes, upon their priests or Levites, or sacred singers, or porters, or
sacred servants, or scribes of the temple. And do thou, O Esdras, appoint
judges according to the wisdom [given thee] of God, and those such as
understand the law, that they may judge in all Syria and Phoenicia; and do
thou instruct those also which are ignorant of it, that if any one of thy
countrymen transgress the law of God, or that of the king, he may be
punished, as not transgressing it out of ignorance, but as one that knows
it indeed, but boldly despises and contemns it; and such may be punished
by death, or by paying fines. Farewell.”
2. When Esdras had received this epistle, he was very joyful, and began to
worship God, and confessed that he had been the cause of the king’s great
favor to him, and that for the same reason he gave all the thanks to God.
So he read the epistle at Babylon to those Jews that were there; but he
kept the epistle itself, and sent a copy of it to all those of his own
nation that were in Media. And when these Jews had understood what piety
the king had towards God, and what kindness he had for Esdras, they were
all greatly pleased; nay, many of them took their effects with them, and
came to Babylon, as very desirous of going down to Jerusalem; but then the
entire body of the people of Israel remained in that country; wherefore
there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Iomans, while
the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense
multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers. Now there came a great
number of priests, and Levites, and porters, and sacred singers, and
sacred servants to Esdras. So he gathered those that were in the captivity
together beyond Euphrates, and staid there three days, and ordained a fast
for them, that they might make their prayers to God for their
preservation, that they might suffer no misfortunes by the way, either
from their enemies, or from any other ill accident; for Esdras had said
beforehand that he had told the king how God would preserve them, and so
he had not thought fit to request that he would send horsemen to conduct
them. So when they had finished their prayers, they removed from Euphrates
on the twelfth day of the first month of the seventh year of the reign of
Xerxes, and they came to Jerusalem on the fifth month of the same year.
Now Esdras presented the sacred money to the treasurers, who were of the
family of the priests, of silver six hundred and fifty talents, vessels of
silver one hundred talents, vessels of gold twenty talents, vessels of
brass, that was more precious than gold, 8 twelve
talents by weight; for these Presents had been made by the king and his
counselors, and by all the Israelites that staid at Babylon. So when
Esdras had delivered these things to the priests, he gave to God, as the
appointed sacrifices of whole burnt-offerings, twelve bulls on account of
the common preservation of the people, ninety rams, seventy-two lambs, and
twelve kids of the goats, for the remission of sins. He also delivered the
king’s epistle to the king’s officers, and to the governors of Celesyria
and Phoenicia; and as they were under a necessity of doing what was
enjoined by him, they honored our nation, and were assistant to them in
all their necessities.
3. Now these things were truly done under the conduct of Esdras; and he
succeeded in them, because God esteemed him worthy of the success of his
conduct, on account of his goodness and righteousness. But some time
afterward there came some persons to him, and brought an accusation
against certain of the multitude, and of the priests and Levites, who had
transgressed their settlement, and dissolved the laws of their country, by
marrying strange wives, and had brought the family of the priests into
confusion. These persons desired him to support the laws, lest God should
take up a general anger against them all, and reduce them to a calamitous
condition again. Hereupon he rent his garment immediately, out of grief,
and pulled off the hair of his head and beard, and cast himself upon the
ground, because this crime had reached the principal men among the people;
and considering that if he should enjoin them to cast out their wives, and
the children they had by them, he should not be hearkened to, he continued
lying upon the ground. However, all the better sort came running to him,
who also themselves wept, and partook of the grief he was under for what
had been done. So Esdras rose up from the ground, and stretched out his
hands towards heaven, and said that he was ashamed to look towards it,
because of the sins which the people had committed, while they had cast
out of their memories what their fathers had undergone on account of their
wickedness; and he besought God, who had saved a seed and a remnant out of
the calamity and captivity they had been in, and had restored them again
to Jerusalem, and to their own land, and had obliged the kings of Persia
to have compassion on them, that he would also forgive them their sins
they had now committed, which, though they deserved death, yet, was it
agreeable to the mercy of God, to remit even to these the punishment due
to them.
4. After Esdras had said this, he left off praying; and when all those
that came to him with their wives and children were under lamentation, one
whose name was Jechonias, a principal man in Jerusalem, came to him, and
said that they had sinned in marrying strange wives; and he persuaded him
to adjure them all to cast those wives out, and the children born of them,
and that those should be punished who would not obey the law. So Esdras
hearkened to this advice, and made the heads of the priests, and of the
Levites, and of the Israelites, swear that they would put away those wives
and children, according to the advice of Jechonias. And when he had
received their oaths, he went in haste out of the temple into the chamber
of Johanan, the son of Eliasib, and as he had hitherto tasted nothing at
all for grief, so he abode there that day. And when proclamation was made,
that all those of the captivity should gather themselves together to
Jerusalem, and those that did not meet there in two or three days should
be banished from the multitude, and that their substance should b
appropriated to the uses of the temple, according to the sentence of the
elders, those that were of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin came together
in three days, viz. on the twentieth day of the ninth month, which,
according to the Hebrews, is called Tebeth, and according to the
Macedonians, Apelleius. Now as they were sitting in the upper room of the
temple, where the elders also were present, but were uneasy because of the
cold, Esdras stood up and accused them, and told them that they had sinned
in marrying wives that were not of their own nation; but that now they
would do a thing both pleasing to God, and advantageous to themselves, if
they would put those wives away. Accordingly, they all cried out that they
would do so. That, however, the multitude was great, and that the season
of the year was winter, and that this work would require more than one or
two days. “Let their rulers, therefore, [said they,] and those that have
married strange wives, come hither at a proper time, while the elders of
every place, that are in common to estimate the number of those that have
thus married, are to be there also.” Accordingly, this was resolved on by
them, and they began the inquiry after those that had married strange
wives on the first day of the tenth month, and continued the inquiry to
the first day of the next month, and found a great many of the posterity
of Jeshua the high priest, and of the priests and Levites, and Israelites,
who had a greater regard to the observation of the law than to their
natural affection, 9 and immediately cast out their
wives, and the children which were born of them. And in order to appease
God, they offered sacrifices, and slew rams, as oblations to him; but it
does not seem to me to be necessary to set down the names of these men. So
when Esdras had reformed this sin about the marriages of the forementioned
persons, he reduced that practice to purity, so that it continued in that
state for the time to come.
5. Now when they kept the feast of tabernacles in the seventh month 10
and almost all the people were come together to it, they went up to the
open part of the temple, to the gate which looked eastward, and desired of
Esdras that the laws of Moses might be read to them. Accordingly, he stood
in the midst of the multitude and read them; and this he did from morning
to noon. Now, by hearing the laws read to them, they were instructed to be
righteous men for the present and for the future; but as for their past
offenses, they were displeased at themselves, and proceeded to shed tears
on their account, as considering with themselves that if they had kept the
law, they had endured none of these miseries which they had experienced.
But when Esdras saw them in that disposition, he bade them go home, and
not weep, for that it was a festival, and that they ought not to weep
thereon, for that it was not lawful so to do. 11 He
exhorted them rather to proceed immediately to feasting, and to do what
was suitable to a feast, and what was agreeable to a day of joy; but to
let their repentance and sorrow for their former sins be a security and a
guard to them, that they fell no more into the like offenses. So upon
Esdras’s exhortation they began to feast; and when they had so done for
eight days, in their tabernacles, they departed to their own homes,
singing hymns to God, and returning thanks to Esdras for his reformation
of what corruptions had been introduced into their settlement. So it came
to pass, that after he had obtained this reputation among the people, he
died an old man, and was buried in a magnificent manner at Jerusalem.
About the same time it happened also that Joacim, the high priest, died;
and his son Eliasib succeeded in the high priesthood. 6. Now there was one
of those Jews that had been carried captive who was cup-bearer to king
Xerxes; his name was Nehemiah. As this man was walking before Susa, the
metropolis of the Persians, he heard some strangers that were entering the
city, after a long journey, speaking to one another in the Hebrew tongue;
so he went to them, and asked them whence they came. And when their answer
was, that they came from Judea, he began to inquire of them again in what
state the multitude was, and in what condition Jerusalem was; and when
they replied that they were in a bad state 12 for
that their walls were thrown down to the ground, and that the neighboring
nations did a great deal of mischief to the Jews, while in the day time
they overran the country, and pillaged it, and in the night did them
mischief, insomuch that not a few were led away captive out of the
country, and out of Jerusalem itself, and that the roads were in the day
time found full of dead men. Hereupon Nehemiah shed tears, out of
commiseration of the calamities of his countrymen; and, looking up to
heaven, he said, “How long, O Lord, wilt thou overlook our nation, while
it suffers so great miseries, and while we are made the prey and spoil of
all men?” And while he staid at the gate, and lamented thus, one told him
that the king was going to sit down to supper; so he made haste, and went
as he was, without wishing himself, to minister to the king in his office
of cup-bearer. But as the king was very pleasant after supper, and more
cheerful than usual, he cast his eyes on Nehemiah, and seeing him look
sad, he asked him why he was sad. Whereupon he prayed to God to give him
favor, and afford him the power of persuading by his words, and said, “How
can I, O king, appear otherwise than thus, and not be in trouble, while I
hear that the walls of Jerusalem, the city where are the sepulchers of my
fathers, are thrown down to the ground, and that its gates are consumed by
fire? But do thou grant me the favor to go and build its wall, and to
finish the building of the temple.” Accordingly, the king gave him a
signal that he freely granted him what he asked; and told him that he
should carry an epistle to the governors, that they might pay him due
honor, and afford him whatsoever assistance he wanted, and as he pleased.
“Leave off thy sorrow then,” said the king, “and be cheerful in the
performance of thy office hereafter.” So Nehemiah worshipped God, and gave
the king thanks for his promise, and cleared up his sad and cloudy
countenance, by the pleasure he had from the king’s promises. Accordingly,
the king called for him the next day, and gave him an epistle to be
carried to Adeus, the governor of Syria, and Phoenicia, and Samaria;
wherein he sent to him to pay due honor to Nehemiah, and to supply him
with what he wanted for his building.
7. Now when he was come to Babylon, and had taken with him many of his
countrymen, who voluntarily followed him, he came to Jerusalem in the
twenty and fifth year of the reign of Xerxes. And when he had shown the
epistles to God 13 he gave them to Adeus, and to
the other governors. He also called together all the people to Jerusalem,
and stood in the midst of the temple, and made the following speech to
them: “You know, O Jews, that God hath kept our fathers, Abraham, and
Isaac, and Jacob, in mind continually, and for the sake of their
righteousness hath not left off the care of you. Indeed he hath assisted
me in gaining this authority of the king to raise up our wall, and finish
what is wanting of the temple. I desire you, therefore who well know the
ill-will our neighboring nations bear to us, and that when once they are
made sensible that we are in earnest about building, they will come upon
us, and contrive many ways of obstructing our works, that you will, in the
first place, put your trust in God, as in him that will assist us against
their hatred, and to intermit building neither night nor day, but to use
all diligence, and to hasten on the work, now we have this especial
opportunity for it.” When he had said this, he gave order that the rulers
should measure the wall, and part the work of it among the people,
according to their villages and cities, as every one’s ability should
require. And when he had added this promise, that he himself, with his
servants, would assist them, he dissolved the assembly. So the Jews
prepared for the work: that is the name they are called by from the day
that they came up from Babylon, which is taken from the tribe of Judah,
which came first to these places, and thence both they and the country
gained that appellation.
8. But now when the Ammonites, and Moabites, and Samaritans, and all that
inhabited Celesyria, heard that the building went on apace, they took it
heinously, and proceeded to lay snares for them, and to hinder their
intentions. They also slew many of the Jews, and sought how they might
destroy Nehemiah himself, by hiring some of the foreigners to kill him.
They also put the Jews in fear, and disturbed them, and spread abroad
rumors, as if many nations were ready to make an expedition against them,
by which means they were harassed, and had almost left off the building.
But none of these things could deter Nehemiah from being diligent about
the work; he only set a number of men about him as a guard to his body,
and so unweariedly persevered therein, and was insensible of any trouble,
out of his desire to perfect this work. And thus did he attentively, and
with great forecast, take care of his own safety; not that he feared
death, but of this persuasion, that if he were dead, the walls for his
citizens would never be raised. He also gave orders that the builders
should keep their ranks, and have their armor on while they were building.
Accordingly, the mason had his sword on, as well as he that brought the
materials for building. He also appointed that their shields should lie
very near them; and he placed trumpeters at every five hundred feet, and
charged them, that if their enemies appeared, they should give notice of
it to the people, that they might fight in their armor, and their enemies
might not fall upon them naked. He also went about the compass of the city
by night, being never discouraged, neither about the work itself, nor
about his own diet and sleep, for he made no use of those things for his
pleasure, but out of necessity. And this trouble he underwent for two
years and four months; 14 for in so long a time was the
wall built, in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Xerxes, in the ninth
month. Now when the walls were finished, Nehemiah and the multitude
offered sacrifices to God for the building of them, and they continued in
feasting eight days. However, when the nations which dwelt in Syria heard
that the building of the wall was finished, they had indignation at it.
But when Nehemiah saw that the city was thin of people, he exhorted the
priests and the Levites that they would leave the country, and remove
themselves to the city, and there continue; and he built them houses at
his own expenses; and he commanded that part of the people which were
employed in cultivating the land to bring the tithes of their fruits to
Jerusalem, that the priests and Levites having whereof they might live
perpetually, might not leave the Divine worship; who willingly hearkened
to the constitutions of Nehemiah, by which means the city Jerusalem came
to be fuller of people than it was before. So when Nehemiah had done many
other excellent things, and things worthy of commendation, in a glorious
manner, he came to a great age, and then died. He was a man of a good and
righteous disposition, and very ambitious to make his own nation happy;
and he hath left the walls of Jerusalem as an eternal monument for
himself. Now this was done in the days of Xerxes.
CHAPTER 6. Concerning Esther And Mordecai And Haman; And How In The Reign
Of Artaxerxes The Whole Nation Of The Jews Was In Danger Of Perishing.
1. After the death of Xerxes, the kingdom came to be transferred to his
son Cyrus, whom the Greeks called Artaxerxes. When this man had obtained
the government over the Persians, the whole nation of the Jews, 15
with their wives and children, were in danger of perishing; the occasion
whereof we shall declare in a little time; for it is proper, in the first
place, to explain somewhat relating to this king, and how he came to marry
a Jewish wife, who was herself of the royal family also, and who is
related to have saved our nation; for when Artaxerxes had taken the
kingdom, and had set governors over the hundred twenty and seven
provinces, from India even unto Ethiopia, in the third year of his reign,
he made a costly feast for his friends, and for the nations of Persia, and
for their governors, such a one as was proper for a king to make, when he
had a mind to make a public demonstration of his riches, and this for a
hundred and fourscore days; after which he made a feast for other nations,
and for their ambassadors, at Shushan, for seven days. Now this feast was
ordered after the manner following: He caused a tent to be pitched, which
was supported by pillars of gold and silver, with curtains of linen and
purple spread over them, that it might afford room for many ten thousands
to sit down. The cups with which the waiters ministered were of gold, and
adorned with precious stones, for pleasure and for sight. He also gave
order to the servants that they should not force them to drink, by
bringing them wine continually, as is the practice of the Persians, but to
permit every one of the guests to enjoy himself according to his own
inclination. Moreover, he sent messengers through the country, and gave
order that they should have a remission of their labors, and should keep a
festival many days, on account of his kingdom. In like manner did Vashti
the queen gather her guests together, and made them a feast in the palace.
Now the king was desirous to show her, who exceeded all other women in
beauty, to those that feasted with him, and he sent some to command her to
come to his feast. But she, out of regard to the laws of the Persians,
which forbid the wives to be seen by strangers, did not go to the king 16
and though he oftentimes sent the eunuchs to her, she did nevertheless
stay away, and refused to come, till the king was so much irritated, that
he brake up the entertainment, and rose up, and called for those seven who
had the interpretation of the laws committed to them, and accused his
wife, and said that he had been affronted by her, because that when she
was frequently called by him to his feast, she did not obey him once. He
therefore gave order that they should inform him what could be done by the
law against her. So one of them, whose name was Memucan, said that this
affront was offered not to him alone, but to all the Persians, who were in
danger of leading their lives very ill with their wives, if they must be
thus despised by them; for that none of their wives would have any
reverence for their husbands, if they, “had such an example of arrogance
in the queen towards thee, who rulest over all.” Accordingly, he exhorted
him to punish her, who had been guilty of so great an affront to him,
after a severe manner; and when he had so done, to publish to the nations
what had been decreed about the queen. So the resolution was to put Vashti
away, and to give her dignity to another woman.
2. But the king having been fond of her, did not well bear a separation,
and yet by the law he could not admit of a reconciliation; so he was under
trouble, as not having it in his power to do what he desired to do. But
when his friends saw him so uneasy, they advised him to cast the memory of
his wife, and his love for her, out of his mind, but to send abroad over
all the habitable earth, and to search out for comely virgins, and to take
her whom he should best like for his wife, because his passion for his
former wife would be quenched by the introduction of another, and the
kindness he had for Vashti would be withdrawn from her, and be placed on
her that was with him. Accordingly, he was persuaded to follow this
advice, and gave order to certain persons to choose out of the virgins
that were in his kingdom those that were esteemed the most comely. So when
a great number of these virgins were gathered together, there was found a
damsel in Babylon, whose parents were both dead, and she was brought up
with her uncle Mordecai, for that was her uncle’s name. This uncle was of
the tribe of Benjamin, and was one of the principal persons among the
Jews. Now it proved that this damsel, whose name was Esther, was the most
beautiful of all the rest, and that the grace of her countenance drew the
eyes of the spectators principally upon her. So she was committed to one
of the eunuchs to take the care of her; and she was very exactly provided
with sweet odors, in great plenty, and with costly ointments, such as her
body required to be anointed withal; and this was used for six months by
the virgins, who were in number four hundred. And when the eunuch thought
the virgins had been sufficiently purified, in the fore-mentioned time,
and were now fit to go to the king’s bed, he sent one to be with the king
every day. So when he had accompanied with her, he sent her back to the
eunuch; and when Esther had come to him, he was pleased with her, and fell
in love with the damsel, and married her, and made her his lawful wife,
and kept a wedding feast for her on the twelfth month of the seventh year
of his reign, which was called Adar. He also sent angari, as they are
called, or messengers, unto every nation, and gave orders that they should
keep a feast for his marriage, while he himself treated the Persians and
the Medes, and the principal men of the nations, for a whole month, on
account of this his marriage. Accordingly, Esther came to his royal
palace, and he set a diadem on her head. And thus was Esther married,
without making known to the king what nation she was derived from. Her
uncle also removed from Babylon to Shushan, and dwelt there, being every
day about the palace, and inquiring how the damsel did, for he loved her
as though she had been his own daughter.
3. Now the king had made a law, 17 that
none of his own people should approach him unless he were called, when he
sat upon his throne and men, with axes in their hands, stood round about
his throne, in order to punish such as approached to him without being
called. However, the king sat with a golden scepter in his hand, which he
held out when he had a mind to save any one of those that approached to
him without being called, and he who touched it was free from danger. But
of this matter we have discoursed sufficiently.
4. Some time after this [two eunuchs], Bigthan and Teresh, plotted against
the king; and Barnabazus, the servant of one of the eunuchs, being by
birth a Jew, was acquainted with their conspiracy, and discovered it to
the queen’s uncle; and Mordecai, by the means of Esther, made the
conspirators known to the king. This troubled the king; but he discovered
the truth, and hanged the eunuchs upon a cross, while at that time he gave
no reward to Mordecai, who had been the occasion of his preservation. He
only bid the scribes to set down his name in the records, and bid him stay
in the palace, as an intimate friend of the king.
5. Now there was one Haman, the son of Amedatha, by birth an Amalekite,
that used to go in to the king; and the foreigners and Persians worshipped
him, as Artaxerxes had commanded that such honor should be paid to him;
but Mordecai was so wise, and so observant of his own country’s laws, that
he would not worship the man 18 When
Haman observed this, he inquired whence he came; and when he understood
that he was a Jew, he had indignation at him, and said within himself,
that whereas the Persians, who were free men, worshipped him, this man,
who was no better than a slave, does not vouchsafe to do so. And when he
desired to punish Mordecai, he thought it too small a thing to request of
the king that he alone might be punished; he rather determined to abolish
the whole nation, for he was naturally an enemy to the Jews, because the
nation of the Amalekites, of which he was; had been destroyed by them.
Accordingly he came to the king, and accused them, saying, “There is a
certain wicked nation, and it is dispersed over all the habitable earth
that was under his dominion; a nation separate from others, unsociable,
neither admitting the same sort of Divine worship that others do, nor
using laws like to the laws of others, at enmity with thy people, and with
all men, both in their manners and practices. Now, if thou wilt be a
benefactor to thy subjects, thou wilt give order to destroy them utterly,
and not leave the least remains of them, nor preserve any of them, either
for slaves or for captives.” But that the king might not be damnified by
the loss of the tributes which the Jews paid him, Haman promised to give
him out of his own estate forty thousand talents whensoever he pleased;
and he said he would pay this money very willingly, that the kingdom might
be freed from such a misfortune.
6. When Haman had made this petition, the king both forgave him the money,
and granted him the men, to do what he would with them. So Haman, having
gained what he desired, sent out immediately a decree, as from the king,
to all nations, the contents whereof were these: “Artaxerxes, the great
king, to the rulers of the hundred twenty and seven provinces, from India
to Ethiopia, sends this writing. Whereas I have governed many nations, and
obtained the dominions of all the habitable earth, according to my desire,
and have not been obliged to do any thing that is insolent or cruel to my
subjects by such my power, but have showed myself mild and gentle, by
taking care of their peace and good order, and have sought how they might
enjoy those blessings for all time to come. And whereas I have been kindly
informed by Haman, who, on account of his prudence and justice, is the
first in my esteem, and in dignity, and only second to myself, for his
fidelity and constant good-will to me, that there is an ill-natured nation
intermixed with all mankind, that is averse to our laws, and not subject
to kings, and of a different conduct of life from others, that hateth
monarchy, and of a disposition that is pernicious to our affairs, I give
order that all these men, of whom Haman our second father hath informed
us, be destroyed, with their wives and children, and that none of them be
spared, and that none prefer pity to them before obedience to this decree.
And this I will to be executed on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month
of this present year, that so when all that have enmity to us are
destroyed, and this in one day, we may be allowed to lead the rest of our
lives in peace hereafter.” Now when this decree was brought to the cities,
and to the country, all were ready for the destruction and entire
abolishment of the Jews, against the day before mentioned; and they were
very hasty about it at Shushan, in particular. Accordingly, the king and
Haman spent their time in feasting together with good cheer and wine, but
the city was in disorder.
7. Now when Mordecai was informed of what was done, he rent his clothes,
and put on sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes upon his head, and went about
the city, crying out, that “a nation that had been injurious to no man was
to be destroyed.” And he went on saying thus as far as to the king’s
palace, and there he stood, for it was not lawful for him to go into it in
that habit. The same thing was done by all the Jews that were in the
several cities wherein this decree was published, with lamentation and
mourning, on account of the calamities denounced against them. But as soon
as certain persons had told the queen that Mordecai stood before the court
in a mourning habit, she was disturbed at this report, and sent out such
as should change his garments; but when he could not be induced to put off
his sackcloth, because the sad occasion that forced him to put it on was
not yet ceased, she called the eunuch Acratheus, for he was then present,
and sent him to Mordecai, in order to know of him what sad accident had
befallen him, for which he was in mourning, and would not put off the
habit he had put on at her desire. Then did Mordecai inform the eunuch of
the occasion of his mourning, and of the decree which was sent by the king
into all the country, and of the promise of money whereby Haman brought
the destruction of their nation. He also gave him a copy of what was
proclaimed at Shushan, to be carried to Esther; and he charged her to
petition the king about this matter, and not to think it a dishonorable
thing in her to put on a humble habit, for the safety of her nation,
wherein she might deprecate the ruin of the Jews, who were in danger of
it; for that Haman, whose dignity was only inferior to that of the king,
had accused the Jews, and had irritated the king against them. When she
was informed of this, she sent to Mordecai again, and told him that she
was not called by the king, and that he who goes in to him without being
called, is to be slain, unless when he is willing to save any one, he
holds out his golden scepter to him; but that to whomsoever he does so,
although he go in without being called, that person is so far from being
slain, that he obtains pardon, and is entirely preserved. Now when the
eunuch carried this message from Esther to Mordecai, he bade him also tell
her that she must not only provide for her own preservation, but for the
common preservation of her nation, for that if she now neglected this
opportunity, there would certainly arise help to them from God some other
way, but she and her father’s house would be destroyed by those whom she
now despised. But Esther sent the very same eunuch back to Mordecai [to
desire him] to go to Shushan, and to gather the Jews that were there
together to a congregation, and to fast and abstain from all sorts of
food, on her account, and [to let him know that] she with her maidens
would do the same: and then she promised that she would go to the king,
though it were against the law, and that if she must die for it, she would
not refuse it.
8. Accordingly, Mordecai did as Esther had enjoined him, and made the
people fast; and he besought God, together with them, not to overlook his
nation, particularly at this time, when it was going to be destroyed; but
that, as he had often before provided for them, and forgiven, when they
had sinned, so he would now deliver them from that destruction which was
denounced against them; for although it was not all the nation that had
offended, yet must they so ingloriously be slain, and that he was himself
the occasion of the wrath of Haman, “Because,” said he, “I did not worship
him, nor could I endure to pay that honor to him which I used to pay to
thee, O Lord; for upon that his anger hath he contrived this present
mischief against those that have not transgressed thy laws.” The same
supplications did the multitude put up, and entreated that God would
provide for their deliverance, and free the Israelites that were in all
the earth from this calamity which was now coming upon them, for they had
it before their eyes, and expected its coming. Accordingly, Esther made
supplication to God after the manner of her country, by casting herself
down upon the earth, and putting on her mourning garments, and bidding
farewell to meat and drink, and all delicacies, for three days’ time; and
she entreated God to have mercy upon her, and make her words appear
persuasive to the king, and render her countenance more beautiful than it
was before, that both by her words and beauty she might succeed, for the
averting of the king’s anger, in case he were at all irritated against
her, and for the consolation of those of her own country, now they were in
the utmost danger of perishing; as also that he would excite a hatred in
the king against the enemies of the Jews, and those that had contrived
their future destruction, if they proved to be contemned by him.
9. When Esther had used this supplication for three days, she put off
those garments, and changed her habit, and adorned herself as became a
queen, and took two of her handmaids with her, the one of which supported
her, as she gently leaned upon her, and the other followed after, and
lifted up her large train [which swept along the ground] with the
extremities of her fingers. And thus she came to the king, having a
blushing redness in her countenance, with a pleasant agreeableness in her
behavior; yet did she go in to him with fear; and as soon as she was come
over against him, as he was sitting on his throne, in his royal apparel,
which was a garment interwoven with gold and precious stones, which made
him seem to her more terrible, especially when he looked at her somewhat
severely, and with a countenance on fire with anger, her joints failed her
immediately, out of the dread she was in, and she fell down sideways in a
swoon: but the king changed his mind, which happened, as I suppose, by the
will of God, and was concerned for his wife, lest her fear should bring
some very ill thing upon her, and he leaped from his throne, and took her
in his arms, and recovered her, by embracing her, and speaking comfortably
to her, and exhorting her to be of good cheer, and not to suspect any
thing that was sad on account of her coming to him without being called,
because that law was made for subjects, but that she, who was a queen, as
well as he a king, might be entirely secure; and as he said this, he put
the scepter into her hand, and laid his rod upon her neck, on account of
the law; and so freed her from her fear. And after she had recovered
herself by these encouragements, she said, “My lord, it is not easy for
me, on the sudden, to say what hath happened, for as soon as I saw thee to
be great, and comely, and terrible, my spirit departed from me, and I had
no soul left in me.” And while it was with difficulty, and in a low voice,
that she could say thus much, the king was in a great agony and disorder,
and encouraged Esther to be of good cheer, and to expect better fortune,
since he was ready, if occasion should require it, to grant her the half
of his kingdom. Accordingly, Esther desired that he and his friend Haman
would come to her to a banquet, for she said she had prepared a supper for
him. He consented to it; and when they were there, as they were drinking,
he bid Esther to let him know what she desired; for that she should not be
disappointed though she should desire the half of his kingdom. But she put
off the discovery of her petition till the next day, if he would come
again, together with Haman, to her banquet.
10. Now when the king had promised so to do, Haman went away very glad,
because he alone had the honor of supping with the king at Esther’s
banquet, and because no one else partook of the same honor with kings but
himself; yet when he saw Mordecai in the court, he was very much
displeased, for he paid him no manner of respect when he saw him. So he
went home and called for his wife Zeresh, and his friends, and when they
were come, he showed them what honor he enjoyed not only from the king,
but from the queen also, for as he alone had that day supped with her,
together with the king, so was he also invited again for the next day;
“yet,” said he, “am I not pleased to see Mordecai the Jew in the court.”
Hereupon his wife Zeresh advised him to give order that a gallows should
be made fifty cubits high, and that in the morning he should ask it of the
king that Mordecai might be hanged thereon. So he commended her advice,
and gave order to his servants to prepare the gallows, and to place it in
the court, for the punishment of Mordecai thereon, which was accordingly
prepared. But God laughed to scorn the wicked expectations of Haman; and
as he knew what the event would be, he was delighted at it, for that night
he took away the king’s sleep; and as the king was not willing to lose the
time of his lying awake, but to spend it in something that might be of
advantage to his kingdom, he commanded the scribe to bring him the
chronicles of the former kings, and the records of his own actions; and
when he had brought them, and was reading them, one was found to have
received a country on account of his excellent management on a certain
occasion, and the name of the country was set down; another was found to
have had a present made him on account of his fidelity: then the scribe
came to Bigthan and Teresh, the eunuchs that had made a conspiracy against
the king, which Mordecai had discovered; and when the scribe said no more
but that, and was going on to another history, the king stopped him, and
inquired “whether it was not added that Mordecai had a reward given him?”
and when he said there was no such addition, he bade him leave off; and he
inquired of those that were appointed for that purpose, what hour of the
night it was; and when he was informed that it was already day, he gave
order, that if they found any one of his friends already come, and
standing before the court, they should tell him. Now it happened that
Haman was found there, for he was come sooner than ordinary to petition
the king to have Mordecai put to death; and when the servants said that
Haman was before the court, he bid them call him in; and when he was come
in, he said, “Because I know that thou art my only fast friend, I desire
thee to give me advice how I may honor one that I greatly love, and that
after a manner suitable to my magnificence.” Now Haman reasoned with
himself, that what opinion he should give it would be for himself, since
it was he alone who was beloved by the king: so he gave that advice which
he thought of all other the best; for he said, “If thou wouldst truly
honor a man whom thou sayest thou dost love, give order that he may ride
on horseback, with the same garment on which thou wearest, and with a gold
chain about his neck, and let one of thy intimate friends go before him,
and proclaim through the whole city, that whosoever the king honoreth
obtaineth this mark of his honor.” This was the advice which Haman gave,
out of a supposal that such a reward would come to himself. Hereupon the
king was pleased with the advice, and said, “Go thou therefore, for thou
hast the horse, the garment, and the chain, ask for Mordecai the Jew, and
give him those things, and go before his horse and proclaim accordingly;
for thou art,” said he, “my intimate friend, and hast given me good
advice; be thou then the minister of what thou hast advised me to. This
shall be his reward from us, for preserving my life.” When he heard this
order, which was entirely unexpected, he was confounded in his mind, and
knew not what to do. However, he went out and led the horse, and took the
purple garment, and the golden chain for the neck, and finding Mordecai
before the court, clothed in sackcloth, he bid him put that garment off,
and put the purple garment on. But Mordecai, not knowing the truth of the
matter, but thinking that it was done in mockery, said, “O thou wretch,
the vilest of all mankind, dost thou thus laugh at our calamities?” But
when he was satisfied that the king bestowed this honor upon him, for the
deliverance he had procured him when he convicted the eunuchs who had
conspired against him, he put on that purple garment which the king always
wore, and put the chain about his neck, and got on horseback, and went
round the city, while Haman went before and proclaimed, “This shall be the
reward which the king will bestow on every one whom he loves, and esteems
worthy of honor.” And when they had gone round the city, Mordecai went in
to the king; but Haman went home, out of shame, and informed his wife and
friends of what had happened, and this with tears; who said, that he would
never be able to be revenged of Mordecai, for that God was with him.
11. Now while these men were thus talking one to another, Esther’s eunuchs
hastened Haman away to come to supper; but one of the eunuchs, named
Sabuchadas, saw the gallows that was fixed in Haman’s house, and inquired
of one of his servants for what purpose they had prepared it. So he knew
that it was for the queen’s uncle, because Haman was about to petition the
king that he might be punished; but at present he held his peace. Now when
the king, with Haman, were at the banquet, he desired the queen to tell
him what gifts she desired to obtain, and assured her that she should have
whatsoever she had a mind to. She then lamented the danger her people were
in; and said that “she and her nation were given up to be destroyed, and
that she, on that account, made this her petition; that she would not have
troubled him if he had only given order that they should be sold into
bitter servitude, for such a misfortune would not have been intolerable;
but she desired that they might be delivered from such destruction.” And
when the king inquired of her whom was the author of this misery to them,
she then openly accused Haman, and convicted him, that he had been the
wicked instrument of this, and had formed this plot against them. When the
king was hereupon in disorder, and was gone hastily out of the banquet
into the gardens, Haman began to intercede with Esther, and to beseech her
to forgive him, as to what he had offended, for he perceived that he was
in a very bad case. And as he had fallen upon the queen’s bed, and was
making supplication to her, the king came in, and being still more
provoked at what he saw, “O thou wretch,” said he, “thou vilest of
mankind, dost thou aim to force in wife?” And when Haman was astonished at
this, and not able to speak one word more, Sabuchadas the eunuch came in
and accused Haman, and said, He found a gallows at his house, prepared for
Mordecai; for that the servant told him so much upon his inquiry, when he
was sent to him to call him to supper. He said further, that the gallows
was fifty cubits high: which, when the king heard, he determined that
Haman should be punished after no other manner than that which had been
devised by him against Mordecai; so he gave order immediately that he
should be hung upon those gallows, and be put to death after that manner.
And from hence I cannot forbear to admire God, and to learn hence his
wisdom and his justice, not only in punishing the wickedness of Haman, but
in so disposing it, that he should undergo the very same punishment which
he had contrived for another; as also because thereby he teaches others
this lesson, that what mischiefs any one prepares against another, he,
without knowing of it, first contrives it against himself.
12. Wherefore Haman, who had immoderately abused the honor he had from the
king, was destroyed after this manner, and the king granted his estate to
the queen. He also called for Mordecai, [for Esther had informed him that
she was akin to him,] and gave that ring to Mordecai which he had before
given to Haman. The queen also gave Haman’s estate to Mordecai; and prayed
the king to deliver the nation of the Jews from the fear of death, and
showed him what had been written over all the country by Haman the son of
Ammedatha; for that if her country were destroyed, and her countrymen were
to perish, she could not bear to live herself any longer. So the king
promised her that he would not do any thing that should be disagreeable to
her, nor contradict what she desired; but he bid her write what she
pleased about the Jews, in the king’s name, and seal it with his seal, and
send it to all his kingdom, for that those who read epistles whose
authority is secured by having the king’s seal to them, would no way
contradict what was written therein. So he commanded the king’s scribes to
be sent for, and to write to the nations, on the Jews’ behalf, and to his
lieutenants and governors, that were over his hundred twenty and seven
provinces, from India to Ethiopia. Now the contents of this epistle were
these: “The great king Artaxerxes to our rulers, and those that are our
faithful subjects, sendeth greeting. 19 Many
men there are who, on account of the greatness of the benefits bestowed on
them, and because of the honor which they have obtained from the wonderful
kind treatment of those that bestowed it, are not only injurious to their
inferiors, but do not scruple to do evil to those that have been their
benefactors, as if they would take away gratitude from among men, and by
their insolent abuse of such benefits as they never expected, they turn
the abundance they have against those that are the authors of it, and
suppose they shall lie concealed from God in that case, and avoid that
vengeance which comes from him. Some of these men, when they have had the
management of affairs committed to them by their friends, and bearing
private malice of their own against some others, by deceiving those that
have the power, persuade them to be angry at such as have done them no
harm, till they are in danger of perishing, and this by laying accusations
and calumnies: nor is this state of things to be discovered by ancient
examples, or such as we have learned by report only, but by some examples
of such impudent attempts under our own eyes; so that it is not fit to
attend any longer to calumnies and accusations, nor to the persuasions of
others, but to determine what any one knows of himself to have been really
done, and to punish what justly deserves it, and to grant favors to such
as are innocent. This hath been the case of Haman, the son of Ammedatha,
by birth an Amalekite, and alien from the blood of the Persians, who, when
he was hospitably entertained by us, and partook of that kindness which we
bear to all men to so great a degree, as to be called my father, and to be
all along worshipped, and to have honor paid him by all in the second rank
after the royal honor due to ourselves, he could not bear his good
fortune, nor govern the magnitude of his prosperity with sound reason;
nay, he made a conspiracy against me and my life, who gave him his
authority, by endeavoring to take away Mordecai, my benefactor, and my
savior, and by basely and treacherously requiring to have Esther, the
partner of my life, and of my dominion, brought to destruction; for he
contrived by this means to deprive me of my faithful friends, and transfer
the government to others: 20 but since I perceived that
these Jews, that were by this pernicious fellow devoted to destruction,
were not wicked men, but conducted their lives after the best manner, and
were men dedicated to the worship of that God who hath preserved the
kingdom to me and to my ancestors, I do not only free them from the
punishment which the former epistle, which was sent by Haman, ordered to
be inflicted on them, to which if you refuse obedience, you shall do well;
but I will that they have all honor paid to them. Accordingly, I have
hanged up the man that contrived such things against them, with his
family, before the gates of Shushan; that punishment being sent upon him
by God, who seeth all things. And I give you in charge, that you publicly
propose a copy of this epistle through all my kingdom, that the Jews may
be permitted peaceably to use their own laws, and that you assist them,
that at the same season whereto their miserable estate did belong, they
may defend themselves the very same day from unjust violence, the
thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is Adar; for God hath made that
day a day of salvation instead of a day of destruction to them; and may it
be a good day to those that wish us well, and a memorial of the punishment
of the conspirators against us: and I will that you take notice, that
every city, and every nation, that shall disobey any thing that is
contained in this epistle, shall be destroyed by fire and sword. However,
let this epistle be published through all the country that is under our
obedience, and let all the Jews, by all means, be ready against the day
before mentioned, that they may avenge themselves upon their enemies.”
13. Accordingly, the horsemen who carried the epistles proceeded on the
ways which they were to go with speed: but as for Mordecai, as soon as he
had assumed the royal garment, and the crown of gold, and had put the
chain about his neck, he went forth in a public procession; and when the
Jews who were at Shushan saw him in so great honor with the king, they
thought his good fortune was common to themselves also, and joy and a beam
of salvation encompassed the Jews, both those that were in the cities, and
those that were in the countries, upon the publication of the king’s
letters, insomuch that many even of other nations circumcised their
foreskin for fear of the Jews, that they might procure safety to
themselves thereby; for on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which
according to the Hebrews is called Adar, but according to the Macedonians,
Dystrus, those that carried the king’s epistle gave them notice, that the
same day wherein their danger was to have been, on that very day should
they destroy their enemies. But now the rulers of the provinces, and the
tyrants, and the kings, and the scribes, had the Jews in esteem; for the
fear they were in of Mordecai forced them to act with discretion. Now when
the royal decree was come to all the country that was subject to the king,
it fell out that the Jews at Shushan slew five hundred of their enemies;
and when the king had told Esther the number of those that were slain in
that city, but did not well know what had been done in the provinces, he
asked her whether she would have any thing further done against them, for
that it should be done accordingly: upon which she desired that the Jews
might be permitted to treat their remaining enemies in the same manner the
next day; as also that they might hang the ten sons of Haman upon the
gallows. So the king permitted the Jews so to do, as desirous not to
contradict Esther. So they gathered themselves together again on the
fourteenth day of the month Dystrus, and slew about three hundred of their
enemies, but touched nothing of what riches they had. Now there were slain
by the Jews that were in the country, and in the other cities,
seventy-five thousand of their enemies, and these were slain on the
thirteenth day of the month, and the next day they kept as a festival. In
like manner the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together,
and feasted on the fourteenth day, and that which followed it; whence it
is that even now all the Jews that are in the habitable earth keep these
days festival, and send portions to one another. Mordecai also wrote to
the Jews that lived in the kingdom of Artaxerxes to observe these days,
and celebrate them as festivals, and to deliver them down to posterity,
that this festival might continue for all time to come, and that it might
never be buried in oblivion; for since they were about to be destroyed on
these days by Haman, they would do a right thing, upon escaping the danger
in them, and on them inflicting punishment on their enemies, to observe
those days, and give thanks to God on them; for which cause the Jews still
keep the forementioned days, and call them days of Phurim (or Purim.) 21
And Mordecai became a great and illustrious person with the king, and
assisted him in the government of the people. He also lived with the
queen; so that the affairs of the Jews were, by their means, better than
they could ever have hoped for. And this was the state of the Jews under
the reign of Artaxerxes.
CHAPTER 7. How John Slew His Brother Jesus In The Temple; And How Bagoses
Offered Many Injuries To The Jews; And What Sanballat Did.
1. When Eliashib the high priest was dead, his son Judas succeeded in the
high priesthood; and when he was dead, his son John took that dignity; on
whose account it was also that Bagoses, the general of another
Artaxerxes’s army, 22 polluted the temple, and
imposed tributes on the Jews, that out of the public stock, before they
offered the daily sacrifices, they should pay for every lamb fifty
shekels. Now Jesus was the brother of John, and was a friend of Bagoses,
who had promised to procure him the high priesthood. In confidence of
whose support, Jesus quarreled with John in the temple, and so provoked
his brother, that in his anger his brother slew him. Now it was a horrible
thing for John, when he was high priest, to perpetrate so great a crime,
and so much the more horrible, that there never was so cruel and impious a
thing done, neither by the Greeks nor Barbarians. However, God did not
neglect its punishment, but the people were on that very account enslaved,
and the temple was polluted by the Persians. Now when Bagoses, the general
of Artaxerxes’s army, knew that John, the high priest of the Jews, had
slain his own brother Jesus in the temple, he came upon the Jews
immediately, and began in anger to say to them, “Have you had the
impudence to perpetrate a murder in your temple?” And as he was aiming to
go into the temple, they forbade him so to do; but he said to them, “Am
not I purer than he that was slain in the temple?” And when he had said
these words, he went into the temple. Accordingly, Bagoses made use of
this pretense, and punished the Jews seven years for the murder of Jesus.
2. Now when John had departed this life, his son Jaddua succeeded in the
high priesthood. He had a brother, whose name was Manasseh. Now there was
one Sanballat, who was sent by Darius, the last king [of Persia], into
Samaria. He was a Cutheam by birth; of which stock were the Samaritans
also. This man knew that the city Jerusalem was a famous city, and that
their kings had given a great deal of trouble to the Assyrians, and the
people of Celesyria; so that he willingly gave his daughter, whose name
was Nicaso, in marriage to Manasseh, as thinking this alliance by marriage
would be a pledge and security that the nation of the Jews should continue
their good-will to him.
CHAPTER 8. Concerning Sanballat And Manasseh, And The Temple Which They
Built On Mount Gerizzim; As Also How Alexander Made His Entry Into The
City Jerusalem, And What Benefits He Bestowed On The Jews.
1. About this time it was that Philip, king of Macedon, was treacherously
assaulted and slain at Egae by Pausanias, the son of Cerastes, who was
derived from the family of Oreste, and his son Alexander succeeded him in
the kingdom; who, passing over the Hellespont, overcame the generals of
Darius’s army in a battle fought at Granicum. So he marched over Lydia,
and subdued Ionia, and overran Caria, and fell upon the places of
Pamphylia, as has been related elsewhere.
2. But the elders of Jerusalem being very uneasy that the brother of
Jaddua the high priest, though married to a foreigner, should be a partner
with him in the high priesthood, quarreled with him; for they esteemed
this man’s marriage a step to such as should be desirous of transgressing
about the marriage of [strange] wives, and that this would be the
beginning of a mutual society with foreigners, although the offense of
some about marriages, and their having married wives that were not of
their own country, had been an occasion of their former captivity, and of
the miseries they then underwent; so they commanded Manasseh to divorce
his wife, or not to approach the altar, the high priest himself joining
with the people in their indignation against his brother, and driving him
away from the altar. Whereupon Manasseh came to his father-in-law,
Sanballat, and told him, that although he loved his daughter Nicaso, yet
was he not willing to be deprived of his sacerdotal dignity on her
account, which was the principal dignity in their nation, and always
continued in the same family. And then Sanballat promised him not only to
preserve to him the honor of his priesthood, but to procure for him the
power and dignity of a high priest, and would make him governor of all the
places he himself now ruled, if he would keep his daughter for his wife.
He also told him further, that he would build him a temple like that at
Jerusalem, upon Mount Gerizzini, which is the highest of all the mountains
that are in Samaria; and he promised that he would do this with the
approbation of Darius the king. Manasseh was elevated with these promises,
and staid with Sanballat, upon a supposal that he should gain a high
priesthood, as bestowed on him by Darius, for it happened that Sanballat
was then in years. But there was now a great disturbance among the people
of Jerusalem, because many of those priests and Levites were entangled in
such matches; for they all revolted to Manasseh, and Sanballat afforded
them money, and divided among them land for tillage, and habitations also,
and all this in order every way to gratify his son-in-law.
3. About this time it was that Darius heard how Alexander had passed over
the Hellespont, and had beaten his lieutenants in the battle at Granicum,
and was proceeding further; whereupon he gathered together an army of
horse and foot, and determined that he would meet the Macedonians before
they should assault and conquer all Asia. So he passed over the river
Euphrates, and came over Taurus, the Cilician mountain, and at Issus of
Cilicia he waited for the enemy, as ready there to give him battle. Upon
which Sanballat was glad that Darius was come down; and told Manasseh that
he would suddenly perform his promises to him, and this as soon as ever
Darius should come back, after he had beaten his enemies; for not he only,
but all those that were in Asia also, were persuaded that the Macedonians
would not so much as come to a battle with the Persians, on account of
their multitude. But the event proved otherwise than they expected; for
the king joined battle with the Macedonians, and was beaten, and lost a
great part of his army. His mother also, and his wife and children, were
taken captives, and he fled into Persia. So Alexander came into Syria, and
took Damascus; and when he had obtained Sidon, he besieged Tyre, when he
sent an epistle to the Jewish high priest, to send him some auxiliaries,
and to supply his army with provisions; and that what presents he formerly
sent to Darius, he would now send to him, and choose the friendship of the
Macedonians, and that he should never repent of so doing. But the high
priest answered the messengers, that he had given his oath to Darius not
to bear arms against him; and he said that he would not transgress this
while Darius was in the land of the living. Upon hearing this answer,
Alexander was very angry; and though he determined not to leave Tyre,
which was just ready to be taken, yet as soon as he had taken it, he
threatened that he would make an expedition against the Jewish high
priest, and through him teach all men to whom they must keep their oaths.
So when he had, with a good deal of pains during the siege, taken Tyre,
and had settled its affairs, he came to the city of Gaza, and besieged
both the city and him that was governor of the garrison, whose name was
Babemeses.
4. But Sanballat thought he had now gotten a proper opportunity to make
his attempt, so he renounced Darius, and taking with him seven thousand of
his own subjects, he came to Alexander; and finding him beginning the
siege of Tyre, he said to him, that he delivered up to him these men, who
came out of places under his dominion, and did gladly accept of him for
his lord instead of Darius. So when Alexander had received him kindly,
Sanballat thereupon took courage, and spake to him about his present
affair. He told him that he had a son-in-law, Manasseh, who was brother to
the high priest Jaddua; and that there were many others of his own nation,
now with him, that were desirous to have a temple in the places subject to
him; that it would be for the king’s advantage to have the strength of the
Jews divided into two parts, lest when the nation is of one mind, and
united, upon any attempt for innovation, it prove troublesome to kings, as
it had formerly proved to the kings of Assyria. Whereupon Alexander gave
Sanballat leave so to do, who used the utmost diligence, and built the
temple, and made Manasseh the priest, and deemed it a great reward that
his daughter’s children should have that dignity; but when the seven
months of the siege of Tyre were over, and the two months of the siege of
Gaza, Sanballat died. Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, made haste to
go up to Jerusalem; and Jaddua the high priest, when he heard that, was in
an agony, and under terror, as not knowing how he should meet the
Macedonians, since the king was displeased at his foregoing disobedience.
He therefore ordained that the people should make supplications, and
should join with him in offering sacrifice to God, whom he besought to
protect that nation, and to deliver them from the perils that were coming
upon them; whereupon God warned him in a dream, which came upon him after
he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, and adorn the city,
and open the gates; that the rest should appear in white garments, but
that he and the priests should meet the king in the habits proper to their
order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of
God would prevent. Upon which, when he rose from his sleep, he greatly
rejoiced, and declared to all the warning he had received from God.
According to which dream he acted entirely, and so waited for the coming
of the king.
5. And when he understood that he was not far from the city, he went out
in procession, with the priests and the multitude of the citizens. The
procession was venerable, and the manner of it different from that of
other nations. It reached to a place called Sapha, which name, translated
into Greek, signifies a prospect, for you have thence a prospect both of
Jerusalem and of the temple. And when the Phoenicians and the Chaldeans
that followed him thought they should have liberty to plunder the city,
and torment the high priest to death, which the king’s displeasure fairly
promised them, the very reverse of it happened; for Alexander, when he saw
the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood
clothed with fine linen, and the high priest in purple and scarlet
clothing, with his mitre on his head, having the golden plate whereon the
name of God was engraved, he approached by himself, and adored that name,
and first saluted the high priest. The Jews also did all together, with
one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about; whereupon the kings
of Syria and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and
supposed him disordered in his mind. However, Parmenio alone went up to
him, and asked him how it came to pass that, when all others adored him,
he should adore the high priest of the Jews? To whom he replied, “I did
not adore him, but that God who hath honored him with his high priesthood;
for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at
Dios in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I might
obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to
pass over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would
give me the dominion over the Persians; whence it is that, having seen no
other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering
that vision, and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I
bring this army under the Divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer
Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will
succeed according to what is in my own mind.” And when he had said this to
Parmenio, and had given the high priest his right hand, the priests ran
along by him, and he came into the city. And when he went up into the
temple, he offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest’s
direction, and magnificently treated both the high priest and the priests.
And when the Book of Daniel was showed him 23
wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire
of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended. And as
he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present; but the next
day he called them to him, and bid them ask what favors they pleased of
him; whereupon the high priest desired that they might enjoy the laws of
their forefathers, and might pay no tribute on the seventh year. He
granted all they desired. And when they entreated him that he would permit
the Jews in Babylon and Media to enjoy their own laws also, he willingly
promised to do hereafter what they desired. And when he said to the
multitude, that if any of them would enlist themselves in his army, on
this condition, that they should continue under the laws of their
forefathers, and live according to them, he was willing to take them with
him, many were ready to accompany him in his wars.
6. So when Alexander had thus settled matters at Jerusalem, he led his
army into the neighboring cities; and when all the inhabitants to whom he
came received him with great kindness, the Samaritans, who had then
Shechem for their metropolis, [a city situate at Mount Gerizzim, and
inhabited by apostates of the Jewish nation,] seeing that Alexander had so
greatly honored the Jews, determined to profess themselves Jews; for such
is the disposition of the Samaritans, as we have already elsewhere
declared, that when the Jews are in adversity, they deny that they are of
kin to them, and then they confess the truth; but when they perceive that
some good fortune hath befallen them, they immediately pretend to have
communion with them, saying that they belong to them, and derive their
genealogy from the posterity of Joseph, Ephraim, and Manasseh.
Accordingly, they made their address to the king with splendor, and showed
great alacrity in meeting him at a little distance from Jerusalem. And
when Alexander had commended them, the Shechemites approached to him,
taking with them the troops that Sanballat had sent him, and they desired
that he would come to their city, and do honor to their temple also; to
whom he promised, that when he returned he would come to them. And when
they petitioned that he would remit the tribute of the seventh year to
them, because they did but sow thereon, he asked who they were that made
such a petition; and when they said that they were Hebrews, but had the
name of Sidonians, living at Shechem, he asked them again whether they
were Jews; and when they said they were not Jews, “It was to the Jews,”
said he, “that I granted that privilege; however, when I return, and am
thoroughly informed by you of this matter, I will do what I shall think
proper.” And in this manner he took leave of the Shechemites; but ordered
that the troops of Sanballat should follow him into Egypt, because there
he designed to give them lands, which he did a little after in Thebais,
when he ordered them to guard that country.
7. Now when Alexander was dead, the government was parted among his
successors, but the temple upon Mount Gerizzim remained. And if any one
were accused by those of Jerusalem of having eaten things common or of
having broken the sabbath, or of any other crime of the like nature, he
fled away to the Shechemites, and said that he was accused unjustly. About
this time it was that Jaddua the high priest died, and Onias his son took
the high priesthood. This was the state of the affairs of the people of
Jerusalem at this time.
FOOTNOTES:
1 (return)
[ This Cyrus is called
God’s shepherd by Xenophon, as well as by Isaiah, Isaiah 44:28; as also it
is said of him by the same prophet, that “I will make a man more precious
than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir,” Isaiah 13:12,
which character makes Xenophon’s most excellent history of him very
credible.]
2 (return)
[ This leave to build
Jerusalem, sect. 3, and this epistle of Cyrus to Sisinnes and
Sathrabuzanes, to the same purpose, are most unfortunately omitted in all
our copies but this best and completest copy of Josephus; and by such
omission the famous prophecy of Isaiah, Isaiah 44:28, where we are
informed that God said of or to Cyrus, “He is my shepherd, and shall
perform all my pleasure; even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built,
and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid,” could not hitherto be
demonstrated from the sacred history to have been completely fulfilled, I
mean as to that part of it which concerned his giving leave or commission
for rebuilding the city Jerusalem as distinct from the temple, whose
rebuilding is alone permitted or directed in the decree of Cyrus in all
our copies.]
3 (return)
[ Of the true number of
golden and silver vessels here and elsewhere belonging to the temple of
Solomon, see the description of the temples, chap. 13.]
4 (return)
[ Josephus here follows
Herodotus, and those that related how Cyrus made war with the Scythians
and Massagets, near the Caspian Sea, and perished in it; while Xenophon’s
account, which appears never to have been seen by Josephus, that Cyrus
died in peace in his own country of Persia, is attested to by the writers
of the affairs of Alexander the Great, when they agree that he found
Cyrus’s sepulcher at Pasargadae, near Persepolis. This account of Xenophon
is also confirmed by the circumstances of Cambyses, upon his succession to
Cyrus, who, instead of a war to avenge his father’s death upon the
Scythians and Massagets, and to prevent those nations from overrunning his
northern provinces, which would have been the natural consequence of his
father’s ill success and death there, went immediately to an Egyptian war,
long ago begun by Cyrus, according to Xenophon, p. 644, and conquered that
kingdom; nor is there, that I ever heard of, the least mention in the
reign of Cambyses of any war against the Scythians and Massagets that he
was ever engaged in all his life.]
5 (return)
[ The reader is to note,
that although the speeches or papers of these three of the king’s guard
are much the same, in our Third Book of Esdras, ch. 3. and 4., as they are
here in Josephus, yet that the introduction of them is entirely different,
while in our Esdras the whole is related as the contrivance of the three
of the king’s guards themselves; and even the mighty rewards are spoken of
as proposed by themselves, and the speeches are related to have been
delivered by themselves to the king in writing, while all is contrary in
Josephus. I need not say whose account is the most probable, the matters
speak for themselves; and there can be no doubt but Josephus’s history is
here to be very much preferred before the other. Nor indeed does it seem
to me at all unlikely that the whole was a contrivance of king Darius’s
own, in order to be decently and inoffensively put in mind by Zorobabel of
fulfilling his old vow for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, and
the restoration of the worship of the “one true God” there. Nor does the
full meaning of Zorobabel, when he cries out, 3 Esd. 4. 41], “Blessed be
the God of truth;” and here, “God is true and righteous;” or even of all
the people, 3 Esd. 4. 41, “Great is truth, and mighty above all things;”
seem to me much different from this, “There is but one true God, the God
of Israel.” To which doctrine, such as Cyrus and Darius; etc., the Jews’
great patrons, seem not to have been very averse, though the entire
idolatry of their kingdoms made them generally conceal it.]
6 (return)
[ This strange reading in
Josephus’s present copies of four millions instead of forty thousand, is
one of the grossest errors that is in them, and ought to be corrected from
Ezra 2:61; 1 Esd. 5:40; and Nehemiah 7:66, who all agree the general sum
was but about forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty. It is also very
plain that Josephus thought, that when Esdras afterwards brought up
another company out of Babylon and Persia, in the days of Xerxes, they
were also, as well as these, out of the two tribes, and out of them only,
and were in all no more than “a seed” and “a remnant,” while an “immense
number” of the ten tribes never returned, but, as he believed, continued
then beyond Euphrates, ch. 5. sect. 2, 3; of which multitude, the Jews
beyond Euphrates, he speaks frequently elsewhere, though, by the way, he
never takes them to be idolaters, but looks on them still as observers of
the laws of Moses. The “certain part” of the people that now came up from
Babylon, at the end of this chapter, imply the same smaller number of Jews
that now came up, and will no way agree with the four millions.]
7 (return)
[ The history contained in
this section is entirely wanting in all our other copies, both of Ezra and
Esdras.]
8 (return)
[ Dr. Hudson takes notice
here, that this kind of brass or copper, or rather mixture of gold and
brass or copper, was called aurichalcum, and that this was of old esteemed
the most precious of all metals.]
9 (return)
[ This procedure of Esdras,
and of the best part of the Jewish nation, after their return from the
Babylonish captivity, of reducing the Jewish marriages, once for all, to
the strictness of the law of Moses, without any regard to the greatness of
those who had broken it, and without regard to that natural affection or
compassion for their heathen wives, and their children by them, which made
it so hard for Esdras to correct it, deserves greatly to be observed and
imitated in all attempts for reformation among Christians, the contrary
conduct having ever been the bane of true religion, both among Jews and
Christians, while political views, or human passions, or prudential
motives, are suffered to take place instead of the Divine laws, and so the
blessing of God is forfeited, and the church still suffered to continue
corrupt from one generation to another. See ch. 8. sect. 2.]
10 (return)
[ This Jewish feast of
tabernacles was imitated in several heathen solemnities, as Spanheim here
observes and proves. He also further observes presently, what great regard
many heathens had to the monuments of their forefathers, as Nehemiah had
here, sect. 6.]
11 (return)
[ This rule of Esdras,
not to fast on a festival day, is quoted in the Apostolical Constitutions,
B. V., as obtaining among Christians also.]
12 (return)
[ This miserable
condition of the Jews, and their capital, must have been after the death
of Esdras, their former governor, and before Nehemiah came with his
commission to build the walls of Jerusalem. Nor is that at all
disagreeable to these histories in Josephus, since Esdras came on the
seventh, and Nehemiah not till the twenty-fifth of Xerxes, at the interval
of eighteen years.]
13 (return)
[ This showing king
Xerxes’s epistles to God, or laying them open before God in the temple, is
very like the laying open the epistles of Sennacherib before him also by
Hezekiah, 2 Kings 19:14; Isaiah 37:14, although this last was for a
memorial, to put him in mind of the enemies, in order to move the Divine
compassion, and the present as a token of gratitude for mercies already
received, as Hayercamp well observes on this place.]
14 (return)
[ It may not be very
improper to remark here, with what an unusual accuracy Josephus determines
these years of Xerxes, in which the walls of Jerusalem were built, viz.
that Nehemiah came with his commission in the twenty-fifth of Xerxes, that
the walls were two years and four months in building, and that they were
finished on the twenty-eighth of Xerxes, sect. 7, 8. It may also be
remarked further, that Josephus hardly ever mentions more than one
infallible astronomical character, I mean an eclipse of the moon, and this
a little before the death of Herod the Great, Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 6. sect.
4. Now on these two chronological characters in great measure depend some
of the most important points belonging to Christianity, viz. the
explication of Daniel’s seventy weeks, and the duration of our Savior’s
ministry, and the time of his death, in correspondence to those seventy
weeks. See the Supplement to the Lit. Accorap. of Proph. p. 72.]
15 (return)
[ Since some skeptical
persons are willing to discard this Book of Esther as no true history; and
even our learned and judicious Dr. Wall, in his late posthumous Critical
Notes upon all the other Hebrew books of the Old Testament, gives none
upon the Canticles, or upon Esther, and seems thereby to give up this
book, as well as he gives up the Canticles, as indefensible; I shall
venture to say, that almost all the objections against this Book of Esther
are gone at once, if, as we certainly ought to do, and as Dean Prideaux
has justly done, we place this history under Artsxerxes Longimanus, as do
both the Septuagint interpretation and Josephus. The learned Dr. Lee, in
his posthumous Dissertation on the Second Book of Esdras, p. 25, also
says, that “the truth of this history is demonstrated by the feast of
Purlin, kept up from that time to this very day. And this surprising
providential revolution in favor of a captive people, thereby constantly
commemorated, standeth even upon a firmer basis than that there ever was
such a man as king Alexander [the Great] in the world, of whose reign
there is no such abiding monument at this day to be found any where. Nor
will they, I dare say, who quarrel at this or any other of the sacred
histories, find it a very easy matter to reconcile the different accounts
which were given by historians of the affairs of this king, or to confirm
any one fact of his whatever with the same evidence which is here given
for the principal fact in this sacred book, or even so much as to prove
the existence of such a person, of whom so great things are related, but
upon granting this Book of Esther, or sixth of Esdras, [as it is placed in
some of the most ancient copies of the Vulgate,] to be a most true and
certain history,” etc.]
16 (return)
[ If the Chaldee
paraphrast be in the right, that Artaxerxes intended to show Vashti to his
guests naked, it is no wonder at all that she would not submit to such an
indignity; but still if it were not so gross as that, yet it might, in the
king’s cups, be done in a way so indecent, as the Persian laws would not
then bear, no more than the common laws of modesty. And that the king had
some such design seems not improbable, for otherwise the principal of
these royal guests could be no strangers to the queen, nor unapprized of
her beauty, so far as decency admitted. However, since Providence was now
paving the way for the introduction of a Jewess into the king’s
affections, in order to bring about one of the most wonderful deliverances
which the Jewish or any other nation ever had, we need not be further
solicitous about the motives by which the king was induced to divorce
Vashti, and marry Esther.]
17 (return)
[ Herodotus says that
this law [against any one’s coming uncalled to the kings of Persia when
they were sitting on their thrones] was first enacted by Deioces [i.e. by
him who first withdrew the Medes from the dominion of the Assyrians, and
himself first reigned over them]. Thus also, lays Spanheim, stood guards,
with their axes, about the throne of Tenus, or Tenudus, that the offender
might by them be punished immediately.]
18 (return)
[ Whether this adoration
required of Mordecai to Haman were by him deemed too like the adoration
due only to God, as Josephus seems here to think, as well as the
Septuagint interpreters also, by their translation of Esther 13:12-14, or
whether he thought he ought to pay no sort of adoration to an Amalekite,
which nation had been such great sinners as to have been universally
devoted to destruction by God himself, Exodus 17:14-16; 1 Samuel 15:18, or
whether both causes concurred, cannot now, I doubt, be certainly
determined.]
19 (return)
[ The true reason why
king Artaxerxes did not here properly revoke his former barbarous decree
for the universal slaughter of the Jews, but only empowered and encouraged
the Jews to fight for their lives, and to kill their enemies, if they
attempted their destruction, seems to have been that old law of the Medes
and Persians, not yet laid aside, that whatever decree was signed both by
the king and his lords could not be changed, but remained unalterable,
Daniel 6:7-9, 12, 15, 17; Esther 1:19; 8:8. And Haman having engrossed the
royal favor might perhaps have himself signed this decree for the Jews’
slaughter instead of the ancient lords, and so might have rendered it by
their rules irrevocable.]
20 (return)
[ These words give an
intimation as if Artaxerxes suspected a deeper design in Haman than openly
appeared, viz. that knowing the Jews would be faithful to him, and that he
could never transfer the crown to his own family, who was an Agagite,
Esther 3:1, 10, or of the posterity of Agag, the old king of the
Amalekites, 1 Samuel 15:8, 32, 33, while they were alive, and spread over
all his dominions, he therefore endeavored to destroy them. Nor is it to
me improbable that those seventy-five thousand eight hundred of the Jews’
enemies which were soon destroyed by the Jews, on the permission of the
king, which must be on some great occasion, were Amalekites, their old and
hereditary enemies, Exodus 17:14, 15; and that thereby was fulfilled
Balaam’s prophecy, “Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter
end shall be, that he perish for ever” Numbers 24:20.]
21 (return)
[ Take here part of
Reland’s note on this disputed passage: “In Josephus’s copies these Hebrew
words, ‘days of Purim,’ or ‘lots,’ as in the Greek copies of Esther, ch.
9:26, 28-32, is read ‘days of Phurim,’ or ‘days of protection,’ but ought
to be read’ days of Parira,’ as in the Hebrew; than which creation,” says
he, “nothing is more certain.” And had we any assurance that Josephus’s
copy mentioned the “casting of lots,” as our other copies do, Esther 3:7,
I should fully agree with Reland; but, as it now stands, it seems to me by
no means certain. As to this whole Book of Esther in the present Hebrew
copy, it is so very imperfect, in a case where the providence of God was
so very remarkable, and the Septuagint and Josephus have so much of
religion, that it has not so much as the name of God once in it; and it is
hard to say who made that epitome which the Masorites have given us for
the genuine book itself; no religious Jews could well be the authors of
it, whose education obliged them to have a constant regard to God, and
whatsoever related to his worship; nor do we know that there ever was so
imperfect a copy of it in the world till after the days of Barchochab, in
the second century.]
22 (return)
[ Concerning this other
Artaxerxes, called Muemon, and the Persian affliction and captivity of the
Jews under him, occasioned by the murder of the high priest’s brother in
the holy house itself, see Authent. Rec. at large, p. 49. And if any
wonder why Josephus wholly omits the rest of the kings of Persia after
Artaxerxes Mnemon, till he came to their last king Darius, who was
conquered by Alexander the Great, I shall give them Vossius’s and Dr.
Hudson’s answer, though in my own words, viz. that Josephus did not do ill
in admitting those kings of Persia with whom the Jews had no concern,
because he was giving the history of the Jews, and not of the Persians
[which is a sufficient reason also why he entirely omits the history and
the Book of Job, as not particularly relating to that nation]. He justly
therefore returns to the Jewish affairs after the death of Longimanus,
without any intention of Darius II. before Artaxerxes Mnemon, or of Ochus
or Arogus, as the Canon of Ptolemy names them, after him. Nor had he
probably mentioned this other Artaxerxes, unless Bagoses, one of the
governors and commanders under him, had occasioned the pollution of the
Jewish temple, and had greatly distressed the Jews upon that pollution.]
23 (return)
[ The place showed
Alexander might be Daniel 7:6; 8:3-8, 20—22; 11:3; some or all of
them very plain predictions of Alexander’s conquests and successors.]
BOOK XII. Containing The Interval Of A Hundred And Seventy Years.—From
The Death Of Alexander The Great To The Death Of Judas Maccabeus.
CHAPTER 1. How Ptolemy The Son Of Lagus Took Jerusalem And Judea By Deceit
And Treachery, And Carried Many Thence, And Planted Them In Egypt.
1. Now when Alexander, king of Macedon, had put an end to the dominion of
the Persians, and had settled the affairs in Judea after the forementioned
manner, he ended his life. And as his government fell among many,
Antigonus obtained Asia, Seleucus Babylon; and of the other nations which
were there, Lysimachus governed the Hellespont, and Cassander possessed
Macedonia; as did Ptolemy the son of Lagus seize upon Egypt. And while
these princes ambitiously strove one against another, every one for his
own principality, it came to pass that there were continual wars, and
those lasting wars too; and the cities were sufferers, and lost a great
many of their inhabitants in these times of distress, insomuch that all
Syria, by the means of Ptolemy the son of Lagus, underwent the reverse of
that denomination of Savior, which he then had. He also seized upon
Jerusalem, and for that end made use of deceit and treachery; for as he
came into the city on a sabbath day, as if he would offer sacrifices 1
he, without any trouble, gained the city, while the Jews did not oppose
him, for they did not suspect him to be their enemy; and he gained it
thus, because they were free from suspicion of him, and because on that
day they were at rest and quietness; and when he had gained it, he ruled
over it in a cruel manner. Nay, Agatharchides of Cnidus, who wrote the
acts of Alexander’s successors, reproaches us with superstition, as if we,
by it, had lost our liberty; where he says thus: “There is a nation called
the nation of the Jews, who inhabit a city strong and great, named
Jerusalem. These men took no care, but let it come into the hands of
Ptolemy, as not willing to take arms, and thereby they submitted to be
under a hard master, by reason of their unseasonable superstition.” This
is what Agatharchides relates of our nation. But when Ptolemy had taken a
great many captives, both from the mountainous parts of Judea, and from
the places about Jerusalem and Samaria, and the places near Mount
Gerizzim, he led them all into Egypt, 2 and
settled them there. And as he knew that the people of Jerusalem were most
faithful in the observation of oaths and covenants; and this from the
answer they made to Alexander, when he sent an embassage to them, after he
had beaten Darius in battle; so he distributed many of them into
garrisons, and at Alexandria gave them equal privileges of citizens with
the Macedonians themselves; and required of them to take their oaths, that
they would keep their fidelity to the posterity of those who committed
these places to their care. Nay, there were not a few other Jews who, of
their own accord, went into Egypt, as invited by the goodness of the soil,
and by the liberality of Ptolemy. However, there were disorders among
their posterity, with relation to the Samaritans, on account of their
resolution to preserve that conduct of life which was delivered to them by
their forefathers, and they thereupon contended one with another, while
those of Jerusalem said that their temple was holy, and resolved to send
their sacrifices thither; but the Samaritans were resolved that they
should be sent to Mount Gerizzim.
CHAPTER 2. How Ptolemy Philadelphus Procured The Laws Of The Jews To Be
Translated Into The Greek Tongue And Set Many Captives Free, And Dedicated
Many Gifts To God.
1. When Alexander had reigned twelve years, and after him Ptolemy Soter
forty years, Philadelphus then took the kingdom of Egypt, and held it
forty years within one. He procured the law to be interpreted, and set
free those that were come from Jerusalem into Egypt, and were in slavery
there, who were a hundred and twenty thousand. The occasion was this:
Demetrius Phalerius, who was library keeper to the king, was now
endeavoring, if it were possible, to gather together all the books that
were in the habitable earth, and buying whatsoever was any where valuable,
or agreeable to the king’s inclination, [who was very earnestly set upon
collecting of books,] to which inclination of his Demetrius was zealously
subservient. And when once Ptolemy asked him how many ten thousands of
books he had collected, he replied, that he had already about twenty times
ten thousand; but that, in a little time, he should have fifty times ten
thousand. But he said he had been informed that there were many books of
laws among the Jews worthy of inquiring after, and worthy of the king’s
library, but which, being written in characters and in a dialect of their
own, will cause no small pains in getting them translated into the Greek
tongue; 3
that the character in which they are written seems to be like to that
which is the proper character of the Syrians, and that its sound, when
pronounced, is like theirs also; and that this sound appears to be
peculiar to themselves. Wherefore he said that nothing hindered why they
might not get those books to be translated also; for while nothing is
wanting that is necessary for that purpose, we may have their books also
in this library. So the king thought that Demetrius was very zealous to
procure him abundance of books, and that he suggested what was exceeding
proper for him to do; and therefore he wrote to the Jewish high priest,
that he should act accordingly.
2. Now there was one Aristeus, who was among the king’s most intimate
friends, and on account of his modesty very acceptable to him. This
Aristeus resolved frequently, and that before now, to petition the king
that he would set all the captive Jews in his kingdom free; and he thought
this to be a convenient opportunity for the making that petition. So he
discoursed, in the first place, with the captains of the king’s guards,
Sosibius of Tarentum, and Andreas, and persuaded them to assist him in
what he was going to intercede with the king for. Accordingly Aristeus
embraced the same opinion with those that have been before mentioned, and
went to the king, and made the following speech to him: “It is not fit for
us, O king, to overlook things hastily, or to deceive ourselves, but to
lay the truth open. For since we have determined not only to get the laws
of the Jews transcribed, but interpreted also, for thy satisfaction, by
what means can we do this, while so many of the Jews are now slaves in thy
kingdom? Do thou then what will be agreeable to thy magnanimity, and to
thy good nature: free them from the miserable condition they are in,
because that God, who supporteth thy kingdom, was the author of their laws
as I have learned by particular inquiry; for both these people, and we
also, worship the same God the framer of all things. We call him, and that
truly, by the name of GREEK, [or life, or Jupiter,] because he breathes
life into all men. Wherefore do thou restore these men to their own
country, and this do to the honor of God, because these men pay a
peculiarly excellent worship to him. And know this further, that though I
be not of kin to them by birth, nor one of the same country with them, yet
do I desire these favors to be done them, since all men are the
workmanship of God; and I am sensible that he is well-pleased with those
that do good. I do therefore put up this petition to thee, to do good to
them.”
3. When Aristeus was saying thus, the king looked upon him with a cheerful
and joyful countenance, and said, “How many ten thousands dost thou
suppose there are of such as want to be made free?” To which Andreas
replied, as he stood by, and said, “A few more than ten times ten
thousand.” The king made answer, “And is this a small gift that thou
askest, Aristeus?” But Sosibius, and the rest that stood by, said that he
ought to offer such a thank-offering as was worthy of his greatness of
soul, to that God who had given him his kingdom. With this answer he was
much pleased; and gave order, that when they paid the soldiers their
wages, they should lay down [a hundred and] twenty drachmas 4
for every one of the slaves? And he promised to publish a magnificent
decree, about what they requested, which should confirm what Aristeus had
proposed, and especially what God willed should be done; whereby he said
he would not only set those free who had been led away captive by his
father and his army, but those who were in this kingdom before, and those
also, if any such there were, who had been brought away since. And when
they said that their redemption money would amount to above four hundred
talents, he granted it. A copy of which decree I have determined to
preserve, that the magnanimity of this king may be made known. Its
contents were as follows: “Let all those who were soldiers under our
father, and who, when they overran Syria and Phoenicia, and laid waste
Judea, took the Jews captives, and made them slaves, and brought them into
our cities, and into this country, and then sold them; as also all those
that were in my kingdom before them, and if there be any that have been
lately brought thither,—be made free by those that possess them; and
let them accept of [a hundred and] twenty drachmas for every slave. And
let the soldiers receive this redemption money with their pay, but the
rest out of the king’s treasury: for I suppose that they were made
captives without our father’s consent, and against equity; and that their
country was harassed by the insolence of the soldiers, and that, by
removing them into Egypt, the soldiers have made a great profit by them.
Out of regard therefore to justice, and out of pity to those that have
been tyrannized over, contrary to equity, I enjoin those that have such
Jews in their service to set them at liberty, upon the receipt of the
before-mentioned sum; and that no one use any deceit about them, but obey
what is here commanded. And I will that they give in their names within
three days after the publication of this edict, to such as are appointed
to execute the same, and to produce the slaves before them also, for I
think it will be for the advantage of my affairs. And let every one that
will inform against those that do not obey this decree, and I will that
their estates be confiscated into the king’s treasury.” When this decree
was read to the king, it at first contained the rest that is here
inserted, and omitted only those Jews that had formerly been brought, and
those brought afterwards, which had not been distinctly mentioned; so he
added these clauses out of his humanity, and with great generosity. He
also gave order that the payment, which was likely to be done in a hurry,
should be divided among the king’s ministers, and among the officers of
his treasury. When this was over, what the king had decreed was quickly
brought to a conclusion; and this in no more than seven days’ time, the
number of the talents paid for the captives being above four hundred and
sixty, and this, because their masters required the [hundred and] twenty
drachmas for the children also, the king having, in effect, commanded that
these should be paid for, when he said in his decree, that they should
receive the forementioned sum for every slave.
4. Now when this had been done after so magnificent a manner, according to
the king’s inclinations, he gave order to Demetrius to give him in writing
his sentiments concerning the transcribing of the Jewish books; for no
part of the administration is done rashly by these kings, but all things
are managed with great circumspection. On which account I have subjoined a
copy of these epistles, and set down the multitude of the vessels sent as
gifts [to Jerusalem], and the construction of every one, that the
exactness of the artificers’ workmanship, as it appeared to those that saw
them, and which workman made every vessel, may be made manifest, and this
on account of the excellency of the vessels themselves. Now the copy of
the epistle was to this purpose: “Demetrius to the great king. When thou,
O king, gavest me a charge concerning the collection of books that were
wanting to fill your library, and concerning the care that ought to be
taken about such as are imperfect, I have used the utmost diligence about
those matters. And I let you know, that we want the books of the Jewish
legislation, with some others; for they are written in the Hebrew
characters, and being in the language of that nation, are to us unknown.
It hath also happened to them, that they have been transcribed more
carelessly than they ought to have been, because they have not had
hitherto royal care taken about them. Now it is necessary that thou
shouldst have accurate copies of them. And indeed this legislation is full
of hidden wisdom, and entirely blameless, as being the legislation of God;
for which cause it is, as Hecateus of Abdera says, that the poets and
historians make no mention of it, nor of those men who lead their lives
according to it, since it is a holy law, and ought not to be published by
profane mouths. If then it please thee, O king, thou mayst write to the
high priest of the Jews, to send six of the elders out of every tribe, and
those such as are most skillful of the laws, that by their means we may
learn the clear and agreeing sense of these books, and may obtain an
accurate interpretation of their contents, and so may have such a
collection of these as may be suitable to thy desire.”
5. When this epistle was sent to the king, he commanded that an epistle
should be drawn up for Eleazar, the Jewish high priest, concerning these
matters; and that they should inform him of the release of the Jews that
had been in slavery among them. He also sent fifty talents of gold for the
making of large basons, and vials, and cups, and an immense quantity of
precious stones. He also gave order to those who had the custody of the
chest that contained those stones, to give the artificers leave to choose
out what sorts of them they pleased. He withal appointed, that a hundred
talents in money should be sent to the temple for sacrifices, and for
other uses. Now I will give a description of these vessels, and the manner
of their construction, but not till after I have set down a copy of the
epistle which was written to Eleazar the high priest, who had obtained
that dignity on the occasion following: When Onias the high priest was
dead, his son Simon became his successor. He was called Simon the Just 5
because of both his piety towards God, and his kind disposition to those
of his own nation. When he was dead, and had left a young son, who was
called Onias, Simon’s brother Eleazar, of whom we are speaking, took the
high priesthood; and he it was to whom Ptolemy wrote, and that in the
manner following: “King Ptolemy to Eleazar the high priest, sendeth
greeting. There are many Jews who now dwell in my kingdom, whom the
Persians, when they were in power, carried captives. These were honored by
my father; some of them he placed in the army, and gave them greater pay
than ordinary; to others of them, when they came with him into Egypt, he
committed his garrisons, and the guarding of them, that they might be a
terror to the Egyptians. And when I had taken the government, I treated
all men with humanity, and especially those that are thy fellow citizens,
of whom I have set free above a hundred thousand that were slaves, and
paid the price of their redemption to their masters out of my own
revenues; and those that are of a fit age, I have admitted into them
number of my soldiers. And for such as are capable of being faithful to
me, and proper for my court, I have put them in such a post, as thinking
this [kindness done to them] to be a very great and an acceptable gift,
which I devote to God for his providence over me. And as I am desirous to
do what will be grateful to these, and to all the other Jews in the
habitable earth, I have determined to procure an interpretation of your
law, and to have it translated out of Hebrew into Greek, and to be
deposited in my library. Thou wilt therefore do well to choose out and
send to me men of a good character, who are now elders in age, and six in
number out of every tribe. These, by their age, must be skillful in the
laws, and of abilities to make an accurate interpretation of them; and
when this shall be finished, I shall think that I have done a work
glorious to myself. And I have sent to thee Andreas, the captain of my
guard, and Aristeus, men whom I have in very great esteem; by whom I have
sent those first-fruits which I have dedicated to the temple, and to the
sacrifices, and to other uses, to the value of a hundred talents. And if
thou wilt send to us, to let us know what thou wouldst have further, thou
wilt do a thing acceptable to me.”
6. When this epistle of the king was brought to Eleazar, he wrote an
answer to it with all the respect possible: “Eleazar the high priest to
king Ptolemy, sendeth greeting. If thou and thy queen Arsinoe, 6
and thy children, be well, we are entirely satisfied. When we received thy
epistle, we greatly rejoiced at thy intentions; and when the multitude
were gathered together, we read it to them, and thereby made them sensible
of the piety thou hast towards God. We also showed them the twenty vials
of gold, and thirty of silver, and the five large basons, and the table
for the shew-bread; as also the hundred talents for the sacrifices, and
for the making what shall be needful at the temple; which things Andreas
and Aristeus, those most honored friends of thine, have brought us; and
truly they are persons of an excellent character, and of great learning,
and worthy of thy virtue. Know then that we will gratify thee in what is
for thy advantage, though we do what we used not to do before; for we
ought to make a return for the numerous acts of kindness which thou hast
done to our countrymen. We immediately, therefore, offered sacrifices for
thee and thy sister, with thy children and friends; and the multitude made
prayers, that thy affairs may be to thy mind, and that thy kingdom may be
preserved in peace, and that the translation of our law may come to the
conclusion thou desirest, and be for thy advantage. We have also chosen
six elders out of every tribe, whom we have sent, and the law with them.
It will be thy part, out of thy piety and justice, to send back the law,
when it hath been translated, and to return those to us that bring it in
safety. Farewell.”
7. This was the reply which the high priest made. But it does not seem to
me to be necessary to set down the names of the seventy [two] elders who
were sent by Eleazar, and carried the law, which yet were subjoined at the
end of the epistle. However, I thought it not improper to give an account
of those very valuable and artificially contrived vessels which the king
sent to God, that all may see how great a regard the king had for God; for
the king allowed a vast deal of expenses for these vessels, and came often
to the workmen, and viewed their works, and suffered nothing of
carelessness or negligence to be any damage to their operations. And I
will relate how rich they were as well as I am able, although perhaps the
nature of this history may not require such a description; but I imagine I
shall thereby recommend the elegant taste and magnanimity of this king to
those that read this history.
8. And first I will describe what belongs to the table. It was indeed in
the king’s mind to make this table vastly large in its dimensions; but
then he gave orders that they should learn what was the magnitude of the
table which was already at Jerusalem, and how large it was, and whether
there was a possibility of making one larger than it. And when he was
informed how large that was which was already there, and that nothing
hindered but a larger might be made, he said that he was willing to have
one made that should be five times as large as the present table; but his
fear was, that it might be then useless in their sacred ministrations by
its too great largeness; for he desired that the gifts he presented them
should not only be there for show, but should be useful also in their
sacred ministrations. According to which reasoning, that the former table
was made of so moderate a size for use, and not for want of gold, he
resolved that he would not exceed the former table in largeness; but would
make it exceed it in the variety and elegancy of its materials. And as he
was sagacious in observing the nature of all things, and in having a just
notion of what was new and surprising, and where there was no sculptures,
he would invent such as were proper by his own skill, and would show them
to the workmen, he commanded that such sculptures should now be made, and
that those which were delineated should be most accurately formed by a
constant regard to their delineation.
9. When therefore the workmen had undertaken to make the table, they
framed it in length two cubits [and a half], in breadth one cubit, and in
height one cubit and a half; and the entire structure of the work was of
gold. They withal made a crown of a hand-breadth round it, with wave-work
wreathed about it, and with an engraving which imitated a cord, and was
admirably turned on its three parts; for as they were of a triangular
figure, every angle had the same disposition of its sculptures, that when
you turned them about, the very same form of them was turned about without
any variation. Now that part of the crown-work that was enclosed under the
table had its sculptures very beautiful; but that part which went round on
the outside was more elaborately adorned with most beautiful ornaments,
because it was exposed to sight, and to the view of the spectators; for
which reason it was that both those sides which were extant above the rest
were acute, and none of the angles, which we before told you were three,
appeared less than another, when the table was turned about. Now into the
cordwork thus turned were precious stones inserted, in rows parallel one
to the other, enclosed in golden buttons, which had ouches in them; but
the parts which were on the side of the crown, and were exposed to the
sight, were adorned with a row of oval figures obliquely placed, of the
most excellent sort of precious stones, which imitated rods laid close,
and encompassed the table round about. But under these oval figures, thus
engraven, the workmen had put a crown all round it, where the nature of
all sorts of fruit was represented, insomuch that the bunches of grapes
hung up. And when they had made the stones to represent all the kinds of
fruit before mentioned, and that each in its proper color, they made them
fast with gold round the whole table. The like disposition of the oval
figures, and of the engraved rods, was framed under the crown, that the
table might on each side show the same appearance of variety and elegancy
of its ornaments; so that neither the position of the wave-work nor of the
crown might be different, although the table were turned on the other
side, but that the prospect of the same artificial contrivances might be
extended as far as the feet; for there was made a plate of gold four
fingers broad, through the entire breadth of the table, into which they
inserted the feet, and then fastened them to the table by buttons and
button-holes, at the place where the crown was situate, that so on what
side soever of the table one should stand, it might exhibit the very same
view of the exquisite workmanship, and of the vast expenses bestowed upon
it: but upon the table itself they engraved a meander, inserting into it
very valuable stones in the middle like stars, of various colors; the
carbuncle and the emerald, each of which sent out agreeable rays of light
to the spectators; with such stones of other sorts also as were most
curious and best esteemed, as being most precious in their kind. Hard by
this meander a texture of net-work ran round it, the middle of which
appeared like a rhombus, into which were inserted rock-crystal and amber,
which, by the great resemblance of the appearance they made, gave
wonderful delight to those that saw them. The chapiters of the feet
imitated the first buddings of lilies, while their leaves were bent and
laid under the table, but so that the chives were seen standing upright
within them. Their bases were made of a carbuncle; and the place at the
bottom, which rested on that carbuncle, was one palm deep, and eight
fingers in breadth. Now they had engraven upon it with a very fine tool,
and with a great deal of pains, a branch of ivy and tendrils of the vine,
sending forth clusters of grapes, that you would guess they were nowise
different from real tendrils; for they were so very thin, and so very far
extended at their extremities, that they were moved with the wind, and
made one believe that they were the product of nature, and not the
representation of art. They also made the entire workmanship of the table
appear to be threefold, while the joints of the several parts were so
united together as to be invisible, and the places where they joined could
not be distinguished. Now the thickness of the table was not less than
half a cubit. So that this gift, by the king’s great generosity, by the
great value of the materials, and the variety of its exquisite structure,
and the artificer’s skill in imitating nature with graying tools, was at
length brought to perfection, while the king was very desirous, that
though in largeness it were not to be different from that which was
already dedicated to God, yet that in exquisite workmanship, and the
novelty of the contrivances, and in the splendor of its construction, it
should far exceed it, and be more illustrious than that was.
10. Now of the cisterns of gold there were two, whose sculpture was of
scale-work, from its basis to its belt-like circle, with various sorts of
stones enchased in the spiral circles. Next to which there was upon it a
meander of a cubit in height; it was composed of stones of all sorts of
colors. And next to this was the rod-work engraven; and next to that was a
rhombus in a texture of net-work, drawn out to the brim of the basin,
while small shields, made of stones, beautiful in their kind, and of four
fingers’ depth, filled up the middle parts. About the top of the basin
were wreathed the leaves of lilies, and of the convolvulus, and the
tendrils of vines in a circular manner. And this was the construction of
the two cisterns of gold, each containing two firkins. But those which
were of silver were much more bright and splendid than looking-glasses,
and you might in them see the images that fell upon them more plainly than
in the other. The king also ordered thirty vials; those of which the parts
that were of gold, and filled up with precious stones, were shadowed over
with the leaves of ivy and of vines, artificially engraven. And these were
the vessels that were after an extraordinary manner brought to this
perfection, partly by the skill of the workmen, who were admirable in such
fine work, but much more by the diligence and generosity of the king, who
not only supplied the artificers abundantly, and with great generosity,
with what they wanted, but he forbade public audiences for the time, and
came and stood by the workmen, and saw the whole operation. And this was
the cause why the workmen were so accurate in their performance, because
they had regard to the king, and to his great concern about the vessels,
and so the more indefatigably kept close to the work.
11. And these were what gifts were sent by Ptolemy to Jerusalem, and
dedicated to God there. But when Eleazar the high priest had devoted them
to God, and had paid due respect to those that brought them, and had given
them presents to be carried to the king, he dismissed them. And when they
were come to Alexandria, and Ptolemy heard that they were come, and that
the seventy elders were come also, he presently sent for Andreas and
Aristens, his ambassadors, who came to him, and delivered him the epistle
which they brought him from the high priest, and made answer to all the
questions he put to them by word of mouth. He then made haste to meet the
elders that came from Jerusalem for the interpretation of the laws; and he
gave command, that every body who came on other occasions should be sent
away, which was a thing surprising, and what he did not use to do; for
those that were drawn thither upon such occasions used to come to him on
the fifth day, but ambassadors at the month’s end. But when he had sent
those away, he waited for these that were sent by Eleazar; but as the old
men came in with the presents, which the high priest had given them to
bring to the king, and with the membranes, upon which they had their laws
written in golden letters 7 he put questions to them
concerning those books; and when they had taken off the covers wherein
they were wrapt up, they showed him the membranes. So the king stood
admiring the thinness of those membranes, and the exactness of the
junctures, which could not be perceived; [so exactly were they connected
one with another;] and this he did for a considerable time. He then said
that he returned them thanks for coming to him, and still greater thanks
to him that sent them; and, above all, to that God whose laws they
appeared to be. Then did the elders, and those that were present with
them, cry out with one voice, and wished all happiness to the king. Upon
which he fell into tears by the violence of the pleasure he had, it being
natural to men to afford the same indications in great joy that they do
under sorrows. And when he had bid them deliver the books to those that
were appointed to receive them, he saluted the men, and said that it was
but just to discourse, in the first place, of the errand they were sent
about, and then to address himself to themselves. He promised, however,
that he would make this day on which they came to him remarkable and
eminent every year through the whole course of his life; for their coming
to him, and the victory which he gained over Antigonus by sea, proved to
be on the very same day. He also gave orders that they should sup with
him; and gave it in charge that they should have excellent lodgings
provided for them in the upper part of the city.
12. Now he that was appointed to take care of the reception of strangers,
Nicanor by name, called for Dorotheus, whose duty it was to make provision
for them, and bid him prepare for every one of them what should be
requisite for their diet and way of living; which thing was ordered by the
king after this manner: he took care that those that belonged to every
city, which did not use the same way of living, that all things should be
prepared for them according to the custom of those that came to him, that,
being feasted according to the usual method of their own way of living,
they might be the better pleased, and might not be uneasy at any thing
done to them from which they were naturally averse. And this was now done
in the case of these men by Dorotheus, who was put into this office
because of his great skill in such matters belonging to common life; for
he took care of all such matters as concerned the reception of strangers,
and appointed them double seats for them to sit on, according as the king
had commanded him to do; for he had commanded that half of their seats
should be set at his right hand, and the other half behind his table, and
took care that no respect should be omitted that could be shown them. And
when they were thus set down, he bid Dorotheus to minister to all those
that were come to him from Judea, after the manner they used to be
ministered to; for which cause he sent away their sacred heralds, and
those that slew the sacrifices, and the rest that used to say grace; but
called to one of those that were come to him, whose name was Eleazar, who
was a priest, and desired him to say grace; 8 who then
stood in the midst of them, and prayed, that all prosperity might attend
the king, and those that were his subjects. Upon which an acclamation was
made by the whole company, with joy and a great noise; and when that was
over, they fell to eating their supper, and to the enjoyment of what was
set before them. And at a little interval afterward, when the king thought
a sufficient time had been interposed, he began to talk philosophically to
them, and he asked every one of them a philosophical question 9
and such a one as might give light in those inquiries; and when they had
explained all the problems that had been proposed by the king about every
point, he was well-pleased with their answers. This took up the twelve
days in which they were treated; and he that pleases may learn the
particular questions in that book of Aristeus, which he wrote on this very
occasion.
13. And while not the king only, but the philosopher Menedemus also,
admired them, and said that all things were governed by Providence, and
that it was probable that thence it was that such force or beauty was
discovered in these men’s words, they then left off asking any more such
questions. But the king said that he had gained very great advantages by
their coming, for that he had received this profit from them, that he had
learned how he ought to rule his subjects. And he gave order that they
should have every one three talents given them, and that those that were
to conduct them to their lodging should do it. Accordingly, when three
days were over, Demetrius took them, and went over the causeway seven
furlongs long: it was a bank in the sea to an island. And when they had
gone over the bridge, he proceeded to the northern parts, and showed them
where they should meet, which was in a house that was built near the
shore, and was a quiet place, and fit for their discoursing together about
their work. When he had brought them thither, he entreated them [now they
had all things about them which they wanted for the interpretation of
their law] that they would suffer nothing to interrupt them in their work.
Accordingly, they made an accurate interpretation, with great zeal and
great pains, and this they continued to do till the ninth hour of the day;
after which time they relaxed, and took care of their body, while their
food was provided for them in great plenty: besides, Dorotheus, at the
king’s command, brought them a great deal of what was provided for the
king himself. But in the morning they came to the court and saluted
Ptolemy, and then went away to their former place, where, when they had
washed their hands, 10 and purified themselves, they
betook themselves to the interpretation of the laws. Now when the law was
transcribed, and the labor of interpretation was over, which came to its
conclusion in seventy-two days, Demetrius gathered all the Jews together
to the place where the laws were translated, and where the interpreters
were, and read them over. The multitude did also approve of those elders
that were the interpreters of the law. They withal commended Demetrius for
his proposal, as the inventor of what was greatly for their happiness; and
they desired that he would give leave to their rulers also to read the
law. Moreover, they all, both the priest and the ancientest of the elders,
and the principal men of their commonwealth, made it their request, that
since the interpretation was happily finished, it might continue in the
state it now was, and might not be altered. And when they all commended
that determination of theirs, they enjoined, that if any one observed
either any thing superfluous, or any thing omitted, that he would take a
view of it again, and have it laid before them, and corrected; which was a
wise action of theirs, that when the thing was judged to have been well
done, it might continue for ever.
14. So the king rejoiced when he saw that his design of this nature was
brought to perfection, to so great advantage; and he was chiefly delighted
with hearing the Laws read to him; and was astonished at the deep meaning
and wisdom of the legislator. And he began to discourse with Demetrius,
“How it came to pass, that when this legislation was so wonderful, no one,
either of the poets or of the historians, had made mention of it.”
Demetrius made answer, “that no one durst be so bold as to touch upon the
description of these laws, because they were Divine and venerable, and
because some that had attempted it were afflicted by God.” He also told
him, that “Theopompus was desirous of writing somewhat about them, but was
thereupon disturbed in his mind for above thirty days’ time; and upon some
intermission of his distemper, he appeased God [by prayer], as suspecting
that his madness proceeded from that cause.” Nay, indeed, he further saw
in a dream, that his distemper befell him while he indulged too great a
curiosity about Divine matters, and was desirous of publishing them among
common men; but when he left off that attempt, he recovered his
understanding again. Moreover, he informed him of Theodectes, the tragic
poet, concerning whom it was reported, that when in a certain dramatic
representation he was desirous to make mention of things that were
contained in the sacred books, he was afflicted with a darkness in his
eyes; and that upon his being conscious of the occasion of his distemper,
and appeasing God [by prayer], he was freed from that affliction.
15. And when the king had received these books from Demetrius, as we have
said already, he adored them, and gave order that great care should be
taken of them, that they might remain uncorrupted. He also desired that
the interpreters would come often to him out of Judea, and that both on
account of the respects that he would pay them, and on account of the
presents he would make them; for he said it was now but just to send them
away, although if, of their own accord, they would come to him hereafter,
they should obtain all that their own wisdom might justly require, and
what his generosity was able to give them. So he then sent them away, and
gave to every one of them three garments of the best sort, and two talents
of gold, and a cup of the value of one talent, and the furniture of the
room wherein they were feasted. And these were the things he presented to
them. But by them he sent to Eleazar the high priest ten beds, with feet
of silver, and the furniture to them belonging, and a cup of the value of
thirty talents; and besides these, ten garments, and purple, and a very
beautiful crown, and a hundred pieces of the finest woven linen; as also
vials and dishes, and vessels for pouring, and two golden cisterns to be
dedicated to God. He also desired him, by an epistle, that he would give
these interpreters leave, if any of them were desirous of coming to him,
because he highly valued a conversation with men of such learning, and
should be very willing to lay out his wealth upon such men. And this was
what came to the Jews, and was much to their glory and honor, from Ptolemy
Philadelphus.
CHAPTER 3. How The Kings Of Asia Honored The Nation Of The Jews And Made
Them Citizens Of Those Cities Which They Built.
1. The Jews also obtained honors from the kings of Asia when they became
their auxiliaries; for Seleucus Nicator made them citizens in those cities
which he built in Asia, and in the lower Syria, and in the metropolis
itself, Antioch; and gave them privileges equal to those of the
Macedonians and Greeks, who were the inhabitants, insomuch that these
privileges continue to this very day: an argument for which you have in
this, that whereas the Jews do not make use of oil prepared by foreigners,
11
they receive a certain sum of money from the proper officers belonging to
their exercises as the value of that oil; which money, when the people of
Antioch would have deprived them of, in the last war, Mucianus, who was
then president of Syria, preserved it to them. And when the people of
Alexandria and of Antioch did after that, at the time that Vespasian and
Titus his son governed the habitable earth, pray that these privileges of
citizens might be taken away, they did not obtain their request in which
behavior any one may discern the equity and generosity of the Romans, 12
especially of Vespasian and Titus, who, although they had been at a great
deal of pains in the war against the Jews, and were exasperated against
them, because they did not deliver up their weapons to them, but continued
the war to the very last, yet did not they take away any of their
forementioned privileges belonging to them as citizens, but restrained
their anger, and overcame the prayers of the Alexandrians and Antiochians,
who were a very powerful people, insomuch that they did not yield to them,
neither out of their favor to these people, nor out of their old grudge at
those whose wicked opposition they had subdued in the war; nor would they
alter any of the ancient favors granted to the Jews, but said, that those
who had borne arms against them, and fought them, had suffered punishment
already, and that it was not just to deprive those that had not offended
of the privileges they enjoyed.
2. We also know that Marcus Agrippa was of the like disposition towards
the Jews: for when the people of Ionia were very angry at them, and
besought Agrippa that they, and they only, might have those privileges of
citizens which Antiochus, the grandson of Seleucus, [who by the Greeks was
called The God,] had bestowed on them, and desired that, if the Jews were
to be joint-partakers with them, they might be obliged to worship the gods
they themselves worshipped: but when these matters were brought to the
trial, the Jews prevailed, and obtained leave to make use of their own
customs, and this under the patronage of Nicolaus of Damascus; for Agrippa
gave sentence that he could not innovate. And if any one hath a mind to
know this matter accurately, let him peruse the hundred and twenty-third
and hundred and twenty-fourth books of the history of this Nicolaus. Now
as to this determination of Agrippa, it is not so much to be admired, for
at that time our nation had not made war against the Romans. But one may
well be astonished at the generosity of Vespasian and Titus, that after so
great wars and contests which they had from us, they should use such
moderation. But I will now return to that part of my history whence I made
the present digression.
3. Now it happened that in the reign of Antiochus the Great, who ruled
over all Asia, that the Jews, as well as the inhabitants of Celesyria,
suffered greatly, and their land was sorely harassed; for while he was at
war with Ptolemy Philopater, and with his son, who was called Epiphanes,
it fell out that these nations were equally sufferers, both when he was
beaten, and when he beat the others: so that they were very like to a ship
in a storm, which is tossed by the waves on both sides; and just thus were
they in their situation in the middle between Antiochus’s prosperity and
its change to adversity. But at length, when Antiochus had beaten Ptolemy,
he seized upon Judea; and when Philopater was dead, his son sent out a
great army under Scopas, the general of his forces, against the
inhabitants of Celesyria, who took many of their cities, and in particular
our nation; which when he fell upon them, went over to him. Yet was it not
long afterward when Antiochus overcame Scopas, in a battle fought at the
fountains of Jordan, and destroyed a great part of his army. But
afterward, when Antiochus subdued those cities of Celesyria which Scopas
had gotten into his possession, and Samaria with them, the Jews, of their
own accord, went over to him, and received him into the city [Jerusalem],
and gave plentiful provision to all his army, and to his elephants, and
readily assisted him when he besieged the garrison which was in the
citadel of Jerusalem. Wherefore Antiochus thought it but just to requite
the Jews’ diligence and zeal in his service. So he wrote to the generals
of his armies, and to his friends, and gave testimony to the good behavior
of the Jews towards him, and informed them what rewards he had resolved to
bestow on them for that their behavior. I will set down presently the
epistles themselves which he wrote to the generals concerning them, but
will first produce the testimony of Polybius of Megalopolis; for thus does
he speak, in the sixteenth book of his history: “Now Scopas, the general
of Ptolemy’s army, went in haste to the superior parts of the country, and
in the winter time overthrew the nation of the Jews?” He also saith, in
the same book, that “when Seopas was conquered by Antiochus, Antiochus
received Batanea, and Samaria, and Abila, and Gadara; and that, a while
afterwards, there came in to him those Jews that inhabited near that
temple which was called Jerusalem; concerning which, although I have more
to say, and particularly concerning the presence of God about that temple,
yet do I put off that history till another opportunity.” This it is which
Polybius relates. But we will return to the series of the history, when we
have first produced the epistles of king Antiochus.
King Antiochus To Ptolemy, Sendeth Greeting.
“Since the Jews, upon our first entrance on their country, demonstrated
their friendship towards us, and when we came to their city [Jerusalem],
received us in a splendid manner, and came to meet us with their senate,
and gave abundance of provisions to our soldiers, and to the elephants,
and joined with us in ejecting the garrison of the Egyptians that were in
the citadel, we have thought fit to reward them, and to retrieve the
condition of their city, which hath been greatly depopulated by such
accidents as have befallen its inhabitants, and to bring those that have
been scattered abroad back to the city. And, in the first place, we have
determined, on account of their piety towards God, to bestow on them, as a
pension, for their sacrifices of animals that are fit for sacrifice, for
wine, and oil, and frankincense, the value of twenty thousand pieces of
silver, and [six] sacred artabrae of fine flour, with one thousand four
hundred and sixty medimni of wheat, and three hundred and seventy-five
medimni of salt. And these payments I would have fully paid them, as I
have sent orders to you. I would also have the work about the temple
finished, and the cloisters, and if there be any thing else that ought to
be rebuilt. And for the materials of wood, let it be brought them out of
Judea itself and out of the other countries, and out of Libanus tax free;
and the same I would have observed as to those other materials which will
be necessary, in order to render the temple more glorious; and let all of
that nation live according to the laws of their own country; and let the
senate, and the priests, and the scribes of the temple, and the sacred
singers, be discharged from poll-money and the crown tax and other taxes
also. And that the city may the sooner recover its inhabitants, I grant a
discharge from taxes for three years to its present inhabitants, and to
such as shall come to it, until the month Hyperheretus. We also discharge
them for the future from a third part of their taxes, that the losses they
have sustained may be repaired. And all those citizens that have been
carried away, and are become slaves, we grant them and their children
their freedom, and give order that their substance be restored to them.”
4. And these were the contents of this epistle. He also published a decree
through all his kingdom in honor of the temple, which contained what
follows: “It shall be lawful for no foreigner to come within the limits of
the temple round about; which thing is forbidden also to the Jews, unless
to those who, according to their own custom, have purified themselves. Nor
let any flesh of horses, or of mules, or of asses, he brought into the
city, whether they be wild or tame; nor that of leopards, or foxes, or
hares; and, in general, that of any animal which is forbidden for the Jews
to eat. Nor let their skins be brought into it; nor let any such animal be
bred up in the city. Let them only be permitted to use the sacrifices
derived from their forefathers, with which they have been obliged to make
acceptable atonements to God. And he that transgresseth any of these
orders, let him pay to the priests three thousand drachmae of silver.”
Moreover, this Antiochus bare testimony to our piety and fidelity, in an
epistle of his, written when he was informed of a sedition in Phrygia and
Lydia, at which time he was in the superior provinces, wherein he
commanded Zenxis, the general of his forces, and his most intimate friend,
to send some of our nation out of Babylon into Phrygia. The epistle was
this:
King Antiochus To Zeuxis His Father, Sendeth Greeting.
“If you are in health, it is well. I also am in health. Having been
informed that a sedition is arisen in Lydia and Phrygia, I thought that
matter required great care; and upon advising with my friends what was fit
to be done, it hath been thought proper to remove two thousand families of
Jews, with their effects, out of Mesopotamia and Babylon, unto the castles
and places that lie most convenient; for I am persuaded that they will be
well-disposed guardians of our possessions, because of their piety towards
God, and because I know that my predecessors have borne witness to them,
that they are faithful, and with alacrity do what they are desired to do.
I will, therefore, though it be a laborious work, that thou remove these
Jews, under a promise, that they shall be permitted to use their own laws.
And when thou shalt have brought them to the places forementioned, thou
shalt give everyone of their families a place for building their houses,
and a portion of the land for their husbandry, and for the plantation of
their vines; and thou shalt discharge them from paying taxes of the fruits
of the earth for ten years; and let them have a proper quantity of wheat
for the maintenance of their servants, until they receive bread corn out
of the earth; also let a sufficient share be given to such as minister to
them in the necessaries of life, that by enjoying the effects of our
humanity, they may show themselves the more willing and ready about our
affairs. Take care likewise of that nation, as far as thou art able, that
they may not have any disturbance given them by any one.” Now these
testimonials which I have produced are sufficient to declare the
friendship that Antiochus the Great bare to the Jews.
CHAPTER 4. How Antiochus Made A League With Ptolemy And How Onias Provoked
Ptolemy Euergetes To Anger; And How Joseph Brought All Things Right Again,
And Entered Into Friendship With Him; And What Other Things Were Done By
Joseph, And His Son Hyrcanus.
1. After this Antiochus made a friendship and league with Ptolemy, and
gave him his daughter Cleopatra to wife, and yielded up to him Celesyria,
and Samaria, and Judea, and Phoenicia, by way of dowry. And upon the
division of the taxes between the two kings, all the principal men framed
the taxes of their several countries, and collecting the sum that was
settled for them, paid the same to the [two] kings. Now at this time the
Samaritans were in a flourishing condition, and much distressed the Jews,
cutting off parts of their land, and carrying off slaves. This happened
when Onias was high priest; for after Eleazar’s death, his uncle Manasseh
took the priesthood, and after he had ended his life, Onias received that
dignity. He was the son of Simon, who was called The Just: which Simon was
the brother of Eleazar, as I said before. This Onias was one of a little
soul, and a great lover of money; and for that reason, because he did not
pay that tax of twenty talents of silver, which his forefathers paid to
these things out of their own estates, he provoked king Ptolemy Euergetes
to anger, who was the father of Philopater. Euergetes sent an ambassador
to Jerusalem, and complained that Onias did not pay his taxes, and
threatened, that if he did not receive them, he would seize upon their
land, and send soldiers to live upon it. When the Jews heard this message
of the king, they were confounded; but so sordidly covetous was Onias,
that nothing of things nature made him ashamed.
2. There was now one Joseph, young in age, but of great reputation among
the people of Jerusalem, for gravity, prudence, and justice. His father’s
name was Tobias; and his mother was the sister of Onias the high priest,
who informed him of the coming of the ambassador; for he was then
sojourning at a village named Phicol, 13 where
he was born. Hereupon he came to the city [Jerusalem], and reproved Onias
for not taking care of the preservation of his countrymen, but bringing
the nation into dangers, by not paying this money. For which preservation
of them, he told him he had received the authority over them, and had been
made high priest; but that, in case he was so great a lover of money, as
to endure to see his country in danger on that account, and his countrymen
suffer the greatest damages, he advised him to go to the king, and
petition him to remit either the whole or a part of the sum demanded.
Onias’s answer was this: That he did not care for his authority, and that
he was ready, if the thing were practicable, to lay down his high
priesthood; and that he would not go to the king, because he troubled not
himself at all about such matters. Joseph then asked him if he would not
give him leave to go ambassador on behalf of the nation. He replied, that
he would give him leave. Upon which Joseph went up into the temple, and
called the multitude together to a congregation, and exhorted them not to
be disturbed nor affrighted, because of his uncle Onias’s carelessness,
but desired them to be at rest, and not terrify themselves with fear about
it; for he promised them that he would be their ambassador to the king,
and persuade him that they had done him no wrong. And when the multitude
heard this, they returned thanks to Joseph. So he went down from the
temple, and treated Ptolemy’s ambassador in a hospitable manner. He also
presented him with rich gifts, and feasted him magnificently for many
days, and then sent him to the king before him, and told him that he would
soon follow him; for he was now more willing to go to the king, by the
encouragement of the ambassador, who earnestly persuaded him to come into
Egypt, and promised him that he would take care that he should obtain
every thing that he desired of Ptolemy; for he was highly pleased with his
frank and liberal temper, and with the gravity of his deportment.
3. When Ptolemy’s ambassador was come into Egypt, he told the king of the
thoughtless temper of Onias; and informed him of the goodness of the
disposition of Joseph; and that he was coming to him to excuse the
multitude, as not having done him any harm, for that he was their patron.
In short, he was so very large in his encomiums upon the young man, that
he disposed both the king and his wife Cleopatra to have a kindness for
him before he came. So Joseph sent to his friends at Samaria, and borrowed
money of them, and got ready what was necessary for his journey, garments
and cups, and beasts for burden, which amounted to about twenty thousand
drachmae, and went to Alexandria. Now it happened that at this time all
the principal men and rulers went up out of the cities of Syria and
Phoenicia, to bid for their taxes; for every year the king sold them to
the men of the greatest power in every city. So these men saw Joseph
journeying on the way, and laughed at him for his poverty and meanness.
But when he came to Alexandria, and heard that king Ptolemy was at
Memphis, he went up thither to meet with him; which happened as the king
was sitting in his chariot, with his wife, and with his friend Athenion,
who was the very person who had been ambassador at Jerusalem, and had been
entertained by Joseph. As soon therefore as Athenion saw him, he presently
made him known to the king, how good and generous a young man he was. So
Ptolemy saluted him first, and desired him to come up into his chariot;
and as Joseph sat there, he began to complain of the management of Onias:
to which he answered, “Forgive him, on account of his age; for thou canst
not certainly be unacquainted with this, that old men and infants have
their minds exactly alike; but thou shalt have from us, who are young men,
every thing thou desirest, and shalt have no cause to complain.” With this
good humor and pleasantry of the young man, the king was so delighted,
that he began already, as though he had had long experience of him, to
have a still greater affection for him, insomuch that he bade him take his
diet in the king’s palace, and be a guest at his own table every day. But
when the king was come to Alexandria, the principal men of Syria saw him
sitting with the king, and were much offended at it.
4. And when the day came on which the king was to let the taxes of the
cities to farm, and those that were the principal men of dignity in their
several countries were to bid for them, the sum of the taxes together, of
Celesyria, and Phoenicia, and Judea, with Samaria, [as they were bidden
for,] came to eight thousand talents. Hereupon Joseph accused the bidders,
as having agreed together to estimate the value of the taxes at too low a
rate; and he promised that he would himself give twice as much for them:
but for those who did not pay, he would send the king home their whole
substance; for this privilege was sold together with the taxes themselves.
The king was pleased to hear that offer; and because it augmented his
revenues, he said he would confirm the sale of the taxes to him. But when
he asked him this question, Whether he had any sureties that would be
bound for the payment of the money? he answered very pleasantly, “I will
give such security, and those of persons good and responsible, and which
you shall have no reason to distrust.” And when he bid him name them who
they were, he replied, “I give thee no other persons, O king, for my
sureties, than thyself, and this thy wife; and you shall be security for
both parties.” So Ptolemy laughed at the proposal, and granted him the
farming of the taxes without any sureties. This procedure was a sore grief
to those that came from the cities into Egypt, who were utterly
disappointed; and they returned every one to their own country with shame.
5. But Joseph took with him two thousand foot soldiers from the king, for
he desired he might have some assistance, in order to force such as were
refractory in the cities to pay. And borrowing of the king’s friends at
Alexandria five hundred talents, he made haste back into Syria. And when
he was at Askelon, and demanded the taxes of the people of Askelon, they
refused to pay any thing, and affronted him also; upon which he seized
upon about twenty of the principal men, and slew them, and gathered what
they had together, and sent it all to the king, and informed him what he
had done. Ptolemy admired the prudent conduct of the man, and commended
him for what he had done, and gave him leave to do as he pleased. When the
Syrians heard of this, they were astonished; and having before them a sad
example in the men of Askelon that were slain, they opened their gates,
and willingly admitted Joseph, and paid their taxes. And when the
inhabitants of Scythopolis attempted to affront him, and would not pay him
those taxes which they formerly used to pay, without disputing about them,
he slew also the principal men of that city, and sent their effects to the
king. By this means he gathered great wealth together, and made vast gains
by this farming of the taxes; and he made use of what estate he had thus
gotten, in order to support his authority, as thinking it a piece of
prudence to keep what had been the occasion and foundation of his present
good fortune; and this he did by the assistance of what he was already
possessed of, for he privately sent many presents to the king, and to
Cleopatra, and to their friends, and to all that were powerful about the
court, and thereby purchased their good-will to himself.
6. This good fortune he enjoyed for twenty-two years, and was become the
father of seven sons by one wife; he had also another son, whose name was
Hyrcanus, by his brother Solymius’s daughter, whom he married on the
following occasion. He once came to Alexandria with his brother, who had
along with him a daughter already marriageable, in order to give her in
wedlock to some of the Jews of chief dignity there. He then supped with
the king, and falling in love with an actress that was of great beauty,
and came into the room where they feasted, he told his brother of it, and
entreated him, because a Jew is forbidden by their law to come near to a
foreigner, to conceal his offense; and to be kind and subservient to him,
and to give him an opportunity of fulfilling his desires. Upon which his
brother willingly entertained the proposal of serving him, and adorned his
own daughter, and brought her to him by night, and put her into his bed.
And Joseph, being disordered with drink, knew not who she was, and so lay
with his brother’s daughter; and this did he many times, and loved her
exceedingly; and said to his brother, that he loved this actress so well,
that he should run the hazard of his life [if he must part with her], and
yet probably the king would not give him leave [to take her with him]. But
his brother bid him be in no concern about that matter, and told him he
might enjoy her whom he loved without any danger, and might have her for
his wife; and opened the truth of the matter to him, and assured him that
he chose rather to have his own daughter abused, than to overlook him, and
see him come to [public] disgrace. So Joseph commended him for this his
brotherly love, and married his daughter; and by her begat a son, whose
name was Hyrcanus, as we said before. And when this his youngest son
showed, at thirteen years old, a mind that was both courageous and wise,
and was greatly envied by his brethren, as being of a genius much above
them, and such a one as they might well envy, Joseph had once a mind to
know which of his sons had the best disposition to virtue; and when he
sent them severally to those that had then the best reputation for
instructing youth, the rest of his children, by reason of their sloth and
unwillingness to take pains, returned to him foolish and unlearned. After
them he sent out the youngest, Hyrcanus, and gave him three hundred yoke
of oxen, and bid him go two days’ journey into the wilderness, and sow the
land there, and yet kept back privately the yokes of the oxen that coupled
them together. When Hyrcanus came to the place, and found he had no yokes
with him, he condemned the drivers of the oxen, who advised him to send
some to his father, to bring them some yokes; but he thinking that he
ought not to lose his time while they should be sent to bring him the
yokes, he invented a kind of stratagem, and what suited an age older than
his own; for he slew ten yoke of the oxen, and distributed their flesh
among the laborers, and cut their hides into several pieces, and made him
yokes, and yoked the oxen together with them; by which means he sowed as
much land as his father had appointed him to sow, and returned to him. And
when he was come back, his father was mightily pleased with his sagacity,
and commended the sharpness of his understanding, and his boldness in what
he did. And he still loved him the more, as if he were his only genuine
son, while his brethren were much troubled at it.
7. But when one told him that Ptolemy had a son just born, and that all
the principal men of Syria, and the other countries subject to him, were
to keep a festival, on account of the child’s birthday, and went away in
haste with great retinues to Alexandria, he was himself indeed hindered
from going by old age; but he made trial of his sons, whether any of them
would be willing to go to the king. And when the elder sons excused
themselves from going, and said they were not courtiers good enough for
such conversation, and advised him to send their brother Hyrcanus, he
gladly hearkened to that advice, and called Hyrcanus, and asked him
whether he would go to the king, and whether it was agreeable to him to go
or not. And upon his promise that he would go, and his saying that he
should not want much money for his journey, because he would live
moderately, and that ten thousand drachmas would be sufficient, he was
pleased with his son’s prudence. After a little while, the son advised his
father not to send his presents to the king from thence, but to give him a
letter to his steward at Alexandria, that he might furnish him with money,
for purchasing what should be most excellent and most precious. So he
thinking that the expense of ten talents would be enough for presents to
be made the king, and commending his son, as giving him good advice, wrote
to Arion his steward, that managed all his money matters at Alexandria;
which money was not less than three thousand talents on his account, for
Joseph sent the money he received in Syria to Alexandria. And when the day
appointed for the payment of the taxes to the king came, he wrote to Arion
to pay them. So when the son had asked his father for a letter to the
steward, and had received it, he made haste to Alexandria. And when he was
gone, his brethren wrote to all the king’s friends, that they should
destroy him.
8. But when he was come to Alexandria, he delivered his letter to Arion,
who asked him how many talents he would have [hoping he would ask for no
more than ten, or a little more]; he said he wanted a thousand talents. At
which the steward was angry, and rebuked him, as one that intended to live
extravagantly; and he let him know how his father had gathered together
his estate by painstaking, and resisting his inclinations, and wished him
to imitate the example of his father: he assured him withal, that he would
give him but ten talents, and that for a present to the king also. The son
was irritated at this, and threw Arion into prison. But when Arion’s wife
had informed Cleopatra of this, with her entreaty, that she would rebuke
the child for what he had done, [for Arion was in great esteem with her,]
Cleopatra informed the king of it. And Ptolemy sent for Hyrcanus, and told
him that he wondered, when he was sent to him by his father, that he had
not yet come into his presence, but had laid the steward in prison. And he
gave order, therefore, that he should come to him, and give an account of
the reason of what he had done. And they report that the answer he made to
the king’s messenger was this: That “there was a law of his that forbade a
child that was born to taste of the sacrifice, before he had been at the
temple and sacrificed to God. According to which way of reasoning he did
not himself come to him in expectation of the present he was to make to
him, as to one who had been his father’s benefactor; and that he had
punished the slave for disobeying his commands, for that it mattered not
Whether a master was little or great: so that unless we punish such as
these, thou thyself mayst also expect to be despised by thy subjects.”
Upon hearing this his answer he fell a laughing, and wondered at the great
soul of the child.
9. When Arion was apprized that this was the king’s disposition, and that
he had no way to help himself, he gave the child a thousand talents, and
was let out of prison. So after three days were over, Hyrcanus came and
saluted the king and queen. They saw him with pleasure, and feasted him in
an obliging manner, out of the respect they bare to his father. So he came
to the merchants privately, and bought a hundred boys, that had learning,
and were in the flower of their ages, each at a talent apiece; as also he
bought a hundred maidens, each at the same price as the other. And when he
was invited to feast with the king among the principal men in the country,
he sat down the lowest of them all, because he was little regarded, as a
child in age still; and this by those who placed every one according to
their dignity. Now when all those that sat with him had laid the bones Of
the several parts on a heap before Hyrcanus, [for they had themselves
taken away the flesh belonging to them,] till the table where he sat was
filled full with them, Trypho, who was the king’s jester, and was
appointed for jokes and laughter at festivals, was now asked by the guests
that sat at the table [to expose him to laughter]. So he stood by the
king, and said, “Dost thou not see, my lord, the bones that lie by
Hyrcanus? by this similitude thou mayst conjecture that his father made
all Syria as bare as he hath made these bones.” And the king laughing at
what Trypho said, and asking of Hyrcanus, How he came to have so many
bones before him? he replied, “Very rightfully, my lord; for they are dogs
that eat the flesh and the bones together, as these thy guests have done,
[looking in the mean time at those guests,] for there is nothing before
them; but they are men that eat the flesh, and cast away the hones, as I,
who am also a man, have now done.” Upon which the king admired at his
answer, which was so wisely made; and bid them all make an acclamation, as
a mark of their approbation of his jest, which was truly a facetious one.
On the next day Hyrcanus went to every one of the king’s friends, and of
the men powerful at court, and saluted them; but still inquired of the
servants what present they would make the king on his son’s birthday; and
when some said that they would give twelve talents, and that others of
greater dignity would every one give according to the quantity of their
riches, he pretended to every one of them to be grieved that he was not
able to bring so large a present; for that he had no more than five
talents. And when the servants heard what he said, they told their
masters; and they rejoiced in the prospect that Joseph would be
disapproved, and would make the king angry, by the smallness of his
present. When the day came, the others, even those that brought the most,
offered the king not above twenty talents; but Hyrcanus gave to every one
of the hundred boys and hundred maidens that he had bought a talent
apiece, for them to carry, and introduced them, the boys to the king, and
the maidens to Cleopatra; every body wondering at the unexpected richness
of the presents, even the king and queen themselves. He also presented
those that attended about the king with gifts to the value of a great
number of talents, that he might escape the danger he was in from them;
for to these it was that Hyrcanus’s brethren had written to destroy him.
Now Ptolemy admired at the young man’s magnanimity, and commanded him to
ask what gift he pleased. But he desired nothing else to be done for him
by the king than to write to his father and brethren about him. So when
the king had paid him very great respects, and had given him very large
gifts, and had written to his father and his brethren, and all his
commanders and officers, about him, he sent him away. But when his
brethren heard that Hyrcanus had received such favors from the king, and
was returning home with great honor, they went out to meet him, and to
destroy him, and that with the privity of their father; for he was angry
at him for the [large] sum of money that he bestowed for presents, and so
had no concern for his preservation. However, Joseph concealed the anger
he had at his son, out of fear of the king. And when Hyrcanus’s brethren
came to fight him, he slew many others of those that were with them, as
also two of his brethren themselves; but the rest of them escaped to
Jerusalem to their father. But when Hyrcanus came to the city, where
nobody would receive him, he was afraid for himself, and retired beyond
the river Jordan, and there abode, but obliging the barbarians to pay
their taxes.
10. At this time Seleucus, who was called Soter, reigned over Asia, being
the son of Antiochus the Great. And [now] Hyrcanus’s father, Joseph, died.
He was a good man, and of great magnanimity; and brought the Jews out of a
state of poverty and meanness, to one that was more splendid. He retained
the farm of the taxes of Syria, and Phoenicia, and Samaria twenty-two
years. His uncle also, Onias, died [about this time], and left the high
priesthood to his son Simeon. And when he was dead, Onias his son
succeeded him in that dignity. To him it was that Areus, king of the
Lacedemonians, sent an embassage, with an epistle; the copy whereof here
follows:
“Areus, King Of The Lacedemonians, To Onias, Sendeth Greeting.
“We have met with a certain writing, whereby we have discovered that both
the Jews and the Lacedemonians are of one stock, and are derived from the
kindred of Abraham 14 It is but just therefore that
you, who are our brethren, should send to us about any of your concerns as
you please. We will also do the same thing, and esteem your concerns as
our own, and will look upon our concerns as in common with yours.
Demoteles, who brings you this letter, will bring your answer back to us.
This letter is four-square; and the seal is an eagle, with a dragon in his
claws.”
11. And these were the contents of the epistle which was sent from the
king of the Lacedemonians. But, upon the death of Joseph, the people grew
seditious, on account of his sons. For whereas the elders made war against
Hyrcanus, who was the youngest of Joseph’s sons, the multitude was
divided, but the greater part joined with the elders in this war; as did
Simon the high priest, by reason he was of kin to them. However, Hyrcanus
determined not to return to Jerusalem any more, but seated himself beyond
Jordan, and was at perpetual war with the Arabians, and slew many of them,
and took many of them captives. He also erected a strong castle, and built
it entirely of white stone to the very roof, and had animals of a
prodigious magnitude engraven upon it. He also drew round it a great and
deep canal of water. He also made caves of many furlongs in length, by
hollowing a rock that was over against him; and then he made large rooms
in it, some for feasting, and some for sleeping and living in. He
introduced also a vast quantity of waters which ran along it, and which
were very delightful and ornamental in the court. But still he made the
entrances at the mouth of the caves so narrow, that no more than one
person could enter by them at once. And the reason why he built them after
that manner was a good one; it was for his own preservation, lest he
should be besieged by his brethren, and run the hazard of being caught by
them. Moreover, he built courts of greater magnitude than ordinary, which
he adorned with vastly large gardens. And when he had brought the place to
this state, he named it Tyre. This place is between Arabia and Judea,
beyond Jordan, not far from the country of Heshbon. And he ruled over
those parts for seven years, even all the time that Seleucus was king of
Syria. But when he was dead, his brother Antiochus, who was called
Epiphanes, took the kingdom. Ptolemy also, the king of Egypt, died, who
was besides called Epiphanes. He left two sons, and both young in age; the
elder of which was called Philometer, and the youngest Physcon. As for
Hyrcanus, when he saw that Antiochus had a great army, and feared lest he
should be caught by him, and brought to punishment for what he had done to
the Arabians, he ended his life, and slew himself with his own hand; while
Antiochus seized upon all his substance.
CHAPTER 5. How, Upon The Quarrels One Against Another About The High
Priesthood Antiochus Made An Expedition Against Jerusalem, Took The City
And Pillaged The Temples. And Distressed The Jews’ As Also How Many Of The
Jews Forsook The Laws Of Their Country; And How The Samaritans Followed
The Customs Of The Greeks And Named Their Temple At Mount Gerizzim The
Temple Of Jupiter Hellenius.
1. About this time, upon the death of Onias the high priest, they gave the
high priesthood to Jesus his brother; for that son which Onias left [or
Onias IV.] was yet but an infant; and, in its proper place, we will inform
the reader of all the circumstances that befell this child. But this
Jesus, who was the brother of Onias, was deprived of the high priesthood
by the king, who was angry with him, and gave it to his younger brother,
whose name also was Onias; for Simon had these three sons, to each of
which the priesthood came, as we have already informed the reader. This
Jesus changed his name to Jason, but Onias was called Menelaus. Now as the
former high priest, Jesus, raised a sedition against Menelaus, who was
ordained after him, the multitude were divided between them both. And the
sons of Tobias took the part of Menelaus, but the greater part of the
people assisted Jason; and by that means Menelaus and the sons of Tobias
were distressed, and retired to Antiochus, and informed him that they were
desirous to leave the laws of their country, and the Jewish way of living
according to them, and to follow the king’s laws, and the Grecian way of
living. Wherefore they desired his permission to build them a Gymnasium at
Jerusalem. 15 And when he had given them
leave, they also hid the circumcision of their genitals, that even when
they were naked they might appear to be Greeks. Accordingly, they left off
all the customs that belonged to their own country, and imitated the
practices of the other nations.
2. Now Antiochus, upon the agreeable situation of the affairs of his
kingdom, resolved to make an expedition against Egypt, both because he had
a desire to gain it, and because he contemned the son of Ptolemy, as now
weak, and not yet of abilities to manage affairs of such consequence; so
he came with great forces to Pelusium, and circumvented Ptolemy Philometor
by treachery, and seized upon Egypt. He then came to the places about
Memphis; and when he had taken them, he made haste to Alexandria, in hopes
of taking it by siege, and of subduing Ptolemy, who reigned there. But he
was driven not only from Alexandria, but out of all Egypt, by the
declaration of the Romans, who charged him to let that country alone;
according as I have elsewhere formerly declared. I will now give a
particular account of what concerns this king, how he subdued Judea and
the temple; for in my former work I mentioned those things very briefly,
and have therefore now thought it necessary to go over that history again,
and that with great accuracy.
3. King Antiochus returning out of Egypt 16 for
fear of the Romans, made an expedition against the city Jerusalem; and
when he was there, in the hundred and forty-third year of the kingdom of
the Seleucidse, he took the city without fighting, those of his own party
opening the gates to him. And when he had gotten possession of Jerusalem,
he slew many of the opposite party; and when he had plundered it of a
great deal of money, he returned to Antioch.
4. Now it came to pass, after two years, in the hundred forty and fifth
year, on the twenty-fifth day of that month which is by us called Chasleu,
and by the Macedonians Apelleus, in the hundred and fifty-third olympiad,
that the king came up to Jerusalem, and, pretending peace, he got
possession of the city by treachery; at which time he spared not so much
as those that admitted him into it, on account of the riches that lay in
the temple; but, led by his covetous inclination, [for he saw there was in
it a great deal of gold, and many ornaments that had been dedicated to it
of very great value,] and in order to plunder its wealth, he ventured to
break the league he had made. So he left the temple bare, and took away
the golden candlesticks, and the golden altar [of incense], and table [of
shew-bread], and the altar [of burnt-offering]; and did not abstain from
even the veils, which were made of fine linen and scarlet. He also emptied
it of its secret treasures, and left nothing at all remaining; and by this
means cast the Jews into great lamentation, for he forbade them to offer
those daily sacrifices which they used to offer to God, according to the
law. And when he had pillaged the whole city, some of the inhabitants he
slew, and some he carried captive, together with their wives and children,
so that the multitude of those captives that were taken alive amounted to
about ten thousand. He also burnt down the finest buildings; and when he
had overthrown the city walls, he built a citadel in the lower part of the
city, 17 for the place was high, and
overlooked the temple; on which account he fortified it with high walls
and towers, and put into it a garrison of Macedonians. However, in that
citadel dwelt the impious and wicked part of the [Jewish] multitude, from
whom it proved that the citizens suffered many and sore calamities. And
when the king had built an idol altar upon God’s altar, he slew swine upon
it, and so offered a sacrifice neither according to the law, nor the
Jewish religious worship in that country. He also compelled them to
forsake the worship which they paid their own God, and to adore those whom
he took to be gods; and made them build temples, and raise idol altars in
every city and village, and offer swine upon them every day. He also
commanded them not to circumcise their sons, and threatened to punish any
that should be found to have transgressed his injunction. He also
appointed overseers, who should compel them to do what he commanded. And
indeed many Jews there were who complied with the king’s commands, either
voluntarily, or out of fear of the penalty that was denounced. But the
best men, and those of the noblest souls, did not regard him, but did pay
a greater respect to the customs of their country than concern as to the
punishment which he threatened to the disobedient; on which account they
every day underwent great miseries and bitter torments; for they were
whipped with rods, and their bodies were torn to pieces, and were
crucified, while they were still alive, and breathed. They also strangled
those women and their sons whom they had circumcised, as the king had
appointed, hanging their sons about their necks as they were upon the
crosses. And if there were any sacred book of the law found, it was
destroyed, and those with whom they were found miserably perished also.
5. When the Samaritans saw the Jews under these sufferings, they no longer
confessed that they were of their kindred, nor that the temple on Mount
Gerizzim belonged to Almighty God. This was according to their nature, as
we have already shown. And they now said that they were a colony of Medes
and Persians; and indeed they were a colony of theirs. So they sent
ambassadors to Antiochus, and an epistle, whose contents are these: “To
king Antiochus the god, Epiphanes, a memorial from the Sidonians, who live
at Shechem. Our forefathers, upon certain frequent plagues, and as
following a certain ancient superstition, had a custom of observing that
day which by the Jews is called the Sabbath. 18 And
when they had erected a temple at the mountain called Gerrizzim, though
without a name, they offered upon it the proper sacrifices. Now, upon the
just treatment of these wicked Jews, those that manage their affairs,
supposing that we were of kin to them, and practiced as they do, make us
liable to the same accusations, although we be originally Sidonians, as is
evident from the public records. We therefore beseech thee, our benefactor
and Savior, to give order to Apollonius, the governor of this part of the
country, and to Nicanor, the procurator of thy affairs, to give us no
disturbance, nor to lay to our charge what the Jews are accused for, since
we are aliens from their nation, and from their customs; but let our
temple, which at present hath no name at all be named the Temple of
Jupiter Hellenius. If this were once done, we should be no longer
disturbed, but should be more intent on our own occupation with quietness,
and so bring in a greater revenue to thee.” When the Samaritans had
petitioned for this, the king sent them back the following answer, in an
epistle: “King Antiochus to Nicanor. The Sidonians, who live at Shechem,
have sent me the memorial enclosed. When therefore we were advising with
our friends about it, the messengers sent by them represented to us that
they are no way concerned with accusations which belong to the Jews, but
choose to live after the customs of the Greeks. Accordingly, we declare
them free from such accusations, and order that, agreeable to their
petition, their temple be named the Temple of Jupiter Hellenius.” He also
sent the like epistle to Apollonius, the governor of that part of the
country, in the forty-sixth year, and the eighteenth day of the month
Hecatorabeom.
CHAPTER 6. How, Upon Antiochus’s Prohibition To The Jews To Make Use Of
The Laws Of Their Country Mattathias, The Son Of Asamoneus, Alone Despised
The King, And Overcame The Generals Of Antiochus’s Army; As Also
Concerning The Death Of Mattathias, And The Succession Of Judas.
1. Now at this time there was one whose name was Mattathias, who dwelt at
Modin, the son of John, the son of Simeon, the son of Asamoneus, a priest
of the order of Joarib, and a citizen of Jerusalem. He had five sons;
John, who was called Gaddis, and Simon, who was called Matthes, and Judas,
who was called Maccabeus, 19 and Eleazar, who was called
Auran, and Jonathan, who was called Apphus. Now this Mattathias lamented
to his children the sad state of their affairs, and the ravage made in the
city, and the plundering of the temple, and the calamities the multitude
were under; and he told them that it was better for them to die for the
laws of their country, than to live so ingloriously as they then did.
2. But when those that were appointed by the king were come to Modin, that
they might compel the Jews to do what they were commanded, and to enjoin
those that were there to offer sacrifice, as the king had commanded, they
desired that Mattathias, a person of the greatest character among them,
both on other accounts, and particularly on account of such a numerous and
so deserving a family of children, would begin the sacrifice, because his
fellow citizens would follow his example, and because such a procedure
would make him honored by the king. But Mattathias said he would not do
it; and that if all the other nations would obey the commands of
Antiochus, either out of fear, or to please him, yet would not he nor his
sons leave the religious worship of their country. But as soon as he had
ended his speech, there came one of the Jews into the midst of them, and
sacrificed, as Antiochus had commanded. At which Mattathias had great
indignation, and ran upon him violently, with his sons, who had swords
with them, and slew both the man himself that sacrificed, and Apelles the
king’s general, who compelled them to sacrifice, with a few of his
soldiers. He also overthrew the idol altar, and cried out, “If,” said he,
“any one be zealous for the laws of his country, and for the worship of
God, let him follow me.” And when he had said this, he made haste into the
desert with his sons, and left all his substance in the village. Many
others did the same also, and fled with their children and wives into the
desert, and dwelt in caves. But when the king’s generals heard this, they
took all the forces they then had in the citadel at Jerusalem, and pursued
the Jews into the desert; and when they had overtaken them, they in the
first place endeavored to persuade them to repent, and to choose what was
most for their advantage, and not put them to the necessity of using them
according to the law of war. But when they would not comply with their
persuasions, but continued to be of a different mind, they fought against
them on the sabbath day, and they burnt them as they were in the caves,
without resistance, and without so much as stopping up the entrances of
the caves. And they avoided to defend themselves on that day, because they
were not willing to break in upon the honor they owed the sabbath, even in
such distresses; for our law requires that we rest upon that day. There
were about a thousand, with their wives and children, who were smothered
and died in these caves; but many of those that escaped joined themselves
to Mattathias, and appointed him to be their ruler, who taught them to
fight, even on the sabbath day; and told them that unless they would do
so, they would become their own enemies, by observing the law [so
rigorously], while their adversaries would still assault them on this day,
and they would not then defend themselves, and that nothing could then
hinder but they must all perish without fighting. This speech persuaded
them. And this rule continues among us to this day, that if there be a
necessity, we may fight on sabbath days. So Mattathias got a great army
about him, and overthrew their idol altars, and slew those that broke the
laws, even all that he could get under his power; for many of them were
dispersed among the nations round about them for fear of him. He also
commanded that those boys which were not yet circumcised should be
circumcised now; and he drove those away that were appointed to hinder
such their circumcision.
3. But when he had ruled one year, and was fallen into a distemper, he
called for his sons, and set them round about him, and said, “O my sons, I
am going the way of all the earth; and I recommend to you my resolution,
and beseech you not to be negligent in keeping it, but to be mindful of
the desires of him who begat you, and brought you up, and to preserve the
customs of your country, and to recover your ancient form of government,
which is in danger of being overturned, and not to be carried away with
those that, either by their own inclination, or out of necessity, betray
it, but to become such sons as are worthy of me; to be above all force and
necessity, and so to dispose your souls, as to be ready, when it shall be
necessary, to die for your laws; as sensible of this, by just reasoning,
that if God see that you are so disposed he will not overlook you, but
will have a great value for your virtue, and will restore to you again
what you have lost, and will return to you that freedom in which you shall
live quietly, and enjoy your own customs. Your bodies are mortal, and
subject to fate; but they receive a sort of immortality, by the
remembrance of what actions they have done. And I would have you so in
love with this immortality, that you may pursue after glory, and that,
when you have undergone the greatest difficulties, you may not scruple,
for such things, to lose your lives. I exhort you, especially, to agree
one with another; and in what excellency any one of you exceeds another,
to yield to him so far, and by that means to reap the advantage of every
one’s own virtues. Do you then esteem Simon as your father, because he is
a man of extraordinary prudence, and be governed by him in what counsels
be gives you. Take Maccabeus for the general of your army, because of his
courage and strength, for he will avenge your nation, and will bring
vengeance on your enemies. Admit among you the righteous and religious,
and augment their power.”
4. When Mattathias had thus discoursed to his sons, and had prayed to God
to be their assistant, and to recover to the people their former
constitution, he died a little afterward, and was buried at Modin; all the
people making great lamentation for him. Whereupon his son Judas took upon
him the administration of public affairs, in the hundred forty and sixth
year; and thus, by the ready assistance of his brethren, and of others,
Judas cast their enemies out of the country, and put those of their own
country to death who had transgressed its laws, and purified the land of
all the pollutions that were in it.
CHAPTER 7. How Judas Overthrew The Forces Of Apollonius And Seron And
Killed The Generals Of Their Armies Themselves; And How When, A Little
While Afterwards Lysias And Gorgias Were Beaten He Went Up To Jerusalem
And Purified The Temple.
1. When Apollonius, the general of the Samaritan forces, heard this, he
took his army, and made haste to go against Judas, who met him, and joined
battle with him, and beat him, and slew many of his men, and among them
Apollonius himself, their general, whose sword being that which he
happened then to wear, he seized upon, and kept for himself; but he
wounded more than he slew, and took a great deal of prey from the enemy’s
camp, and went his way. But when Seron, who was general of the army of
Celesyria, heard that many had joined themselves to Judas, and that he had
about him an army sufficient for fighting, and for making war, he
determined to make an expedition against him, as thinking it became him to
endeavor to punish those that transgressed the king’s injunctions. He then
got together an army, as large as he was able, and joined to it the
runagate and wicked Jews, and came against Judas. He came as far as
Bethhoron, a village of Judea, and there pitched his camp; upon which
Judas met him; and when he intended to give him battle, he saw that his
soldiers were backward to fight, because their number was small, and
because they wanted food, for they were fasting, he encouraged them, and
said to them, that victory and conquest of enemies are not derived from
the multitude in armies, but in the exercise of piety towards God; and
that they had the plainest instances in their forefathers, who, by their
righteousness, exerting themselves on behalf of their own laws, and their
own children, had frequently conquered many ten thousands,—for
innocence is the strongest army. By this speech he induced his men to
condemn the multitude of the enemy, and to fall upon Seron. And upon
joining battle with him, he beat the Syrians; and when their general fell
among the rest, they all ran away with speed, as thinking that to be their
best way of escaping. So he pursued them unto the plain, and slew about
eight hundred of the enemy; but the rest escaped to the region which lay
near to the sea.
2. When king Antiochus heard of these things, he was very angry at what
had happened; so he got together all his own army, with many mercenaries,
whom he had hired from the islands, and took them with him, and prepared
to break into Judea about the beginning of the spring. But when, upon his
mustering his soldiers, he perceived that his treasures were deficient,
and there was a want of money in them, for all the taxes were not paid, by
reason of the seditions there had been among the nations he having been so
magnanimous and so liberal, that what he had was not sufficient for him,
he therefore resolved first to go into Persia, and collect the taxes of
that country. Hereupon he left one whose name was Lysias, who was in great
repute with him governor of the kingdom, as far as the bounds of Egypt,
and of the Lower Asia, and reaching from the river Euphrates, and
committed to him a certain part of his forces, and of his elephants, and
charged him to bring up his son Antiochus with all possible care, until he
came back; and that he should conquer Judea, and take its inhabitants for
slaves, and utterly destroy Jerusalem, and abolish the whole nation. And
when king Antiochus had given these things in charge to Lysias, he went
into Persia; and in the hundred and forty-seventh year he passed over
Euphrates, and went to the superior provinces.
3. Upon this Lysias chose Ptolemy, the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor, and
Gorgias, very potent men among the king’s friends, and delivered to them
forty thousand foot soldiers, and seven thousand horsemen, and sent them
against Judea, who came as far as the city Emmaus, and pitched their camp
in the plain country. There came also to them auxiliaries out of Syria,
and the country round about; as also many of the runagate Jews. And
besides these came some merchants to buy those that should be carried
captives, [having bonds with them to bind those that should be made
prisoners,] with that silver and gold which they were to pay for their
price. And when Judas saw their camp, and how numerous their enemies were,
he persuaded his own soldiers to be of good courage, and exhorted them to
place their hopes of victory in God, and to make supplication to him,
according to the custom of their country, clothed in sackcloth; and to
show what was their usual habit of supplication in the greatest dangers,
and thereby to prevail with God to grant you the victory over your
enemies. So he set them in their ancient order of battle used by their
forefathers, under their captains of thousands, and other officers, and
dismissed such as were newly married, as well as those that had newly
gained possessions, that they might not fight in a cowardly manner, out of
an inordinate love of life, in order to enjoy those blessings. When he had
thus disposed his soldiers, he encouraged them to fight by the following
speech, which he made to them: “O my fellow soldiers, no other time
remains more opportune than the present for courage and contempt of
dangers; for if you now fight manfully, you may recover your liberty,
which, as it is a thing of itself agreeable to all men, so it proves to be
to us much more desirable, by its affording us the liberty of worshipping
God. Since therefore you are in such circumstances at present, you must
either recover that liberty, and so regain a happy and blessed way of
living, which is that according to our laws, and the customs of our
country, or to submit to the most opprobrious sufferings; nor will any
seed of your nation remain if you be beat in this battle. Fight therefore
manfully; and suppose that you must die, though you do not fight; but
believe, that besides such glorious rewards as those of the liberty of
your country, of your laws, of your religion, you shall then obtain
everlasting glory. Prepare yourselves, therefore, and put yourselves into
such an agreeable posture, that you may be ready to fight with the enemy
as soon as it is day tomorrow morning.”
4. And this was the speech which Judas made to encourage them. But when
the enemy sent Gorgias, with five thousand foot and one thousand horse,
that he might fall upon Judas by night, and had for that purpose certain
of the runagate Jews as guides, the son of Mattathias perceived it, and
resolved to fall upon those enemies that were in their camp, now their
forces were divided. When they had therefore supped in good time, and had
left many fires in their camp, he marched all night to those enemies that
were at Emmaus. So that when Gorgias found no enemy in their camp, but
suspected that they were retired, and had hidden themselves among the
mountains, he resolved to go and seek them wheresoever they were. But
about break of day Judas appeared to those enemies that were at Emmaus,
with only three thousand men, and those ill armed, by reason of their
poverty; and when he saw the enemy very well and skillfully fortified in
their camp, he encouraged the Jews, and told them that they ought to
fight, though it were with their naked bodies, for that God had sometimes
of old given such men strength, and that against such as were more in
number, and were armed also, out of regard to their great courage. So he
commanded the trumpeters to sound for the battle; and by thus falling upon
the enemies when they did not expect it, and thereby astonishing and
disturbing their minds, he slew many of those that resisted him, and went
on pursuing the rest as far as Gadara, and the plains of Idumea, and
Ashdod, and Jamnia; and of these there fell about three thousand. Yet did
Judas exhort his soldiers not to be too desirous of the spoils, for that
still they must have a contest and battle with Gorgias, and the forces
that were with him; but that when they had once overcome them, then they
might securely plunder the camp, because they were the only enemies
remaining, and they expected no others. And just as he was speaking to his
soldiers, Gorgias’s men looked down into that army which they left in
their camp, and saw that it was overthrown, and the camp burnt; for the
smoke that arose from it showed them, even when they were a great way off,
what had happened. When therefore those that were with Gorgias understood
that things were in this posture, and perceived that those that were with
Judas were ready to fight them, they also were affrighted, and put to
flight; but then Judas, as though he had already beaten Gorgias’s soldiers
without fighting, returned and seized on the spoils. He took a great
quantity of gold, and silver, and purple, and blue, and then returned home
with joy, and singing hymns to God for their good success; for this
victory greatly contributed to the recovery of their liberty.
5. Hereupon Lysias was confounded at the defeat of the army which he had
sent, and the next year he got together sixty thousand chosen men. He also
took five thousand horsemen, and fell upon Judea; and he went up to the
hill country of Bethsur, a village of Judea, and pitched his camp there,
where Judas met him with ten thousand men; and when he saw the great
number of his enemies, he prayed to God that he would assist him, and
joined battle with the first of the enemy that appeared, and beat them,
and slew about five thousand of them, and thereby became terrible to the
rest of them. Nay, indeed, Lysias observing the great spirit of the Jews,
how they were prepared to die rather than lose their liberty, and being
afraid of their desperate way of fighting, as if it were real strength, he
took the rest of the army back with him, and returned to Antioch, where he
listed foreigners into the service, and prepared to fall upon Judea with a
greater army.
6. When therefore the generals of Antiochus’s armies had been beaten so
often, Judas assembled the people together, and told them, that after
these many victories which God had given them, they ought to go up to
Jerusalem, and purify the temple, and offer the appointed sacrifices. But
as soon as he, with the whole multitude, was come to Jerusalem, and found
the temple deserted, and its gates burnt down, and plants growing in the
temple of their own accord, on account of its desertion, he and those that
were with him began to lament, and were quite confounded at the sight of
the temple; so he chose out some of his soldiers, and gave them order to
fight against those guards that were in the citadel, until he should have
purified the temple. When therefore he had carefully purged it, and had
brought in new vessels, the candlestick, the table [of shew-bread], and
the altar [of incense], which were made of gold, he hung up the veils at
the gates, and added doors to them. He also took down the altar [of
burnt-offering], and built a new one of stones that he gathered together,
and not of such as were hewn with iron tools. So on the five and twentieth
day of the month Casleu, which the Macedonians call Apeliens, they lighted
the lamps that were on the candlestick, and offered incense upon the altar
[of incense], and laid the loaves upon the table [of shew-bread], and
offered burnt-offerings upon the new altar [of burnt-offering]. Now it so
fell out, that these things were done on the very same day on which their
Divine worship had fallen off, and was reduced to a profane and common
use, after three years’ time; for so it was, that the temple was made
desolate by Antiochus, and so continued for three years. This desolation
happened to the temple in the hundred forty and fifth year, on the
twenty-fifth day of the month Apeliens, and on the hundred fifty and third
olympiad: but it was dedicated anew, on the same day, the twenty-fifth of
the month Apeliens, on the hundred and forty-eighth year, and on the
hundred and fifty-fourth olympiad. And this desolation came to pass
according to the prophecy of Daniel, which was given four hundred and
eight years before; for he declared that the Macedonians would dissolve
that worship [for some time].
7. Now Judas celebrated the festival of the restoration of the sacrifices
of the temple for eight days, and omitted no sort of pleasures thereon;
but he feasted them upon very rich and splendid sacrifices; and he honored
God, and delighted them by hymns and psalms. Nay, they were so very glad
at the revival of their customs, when, after a long time of intermission,
they unexpectedly had regained the freedom of their worship, that they
made it a law for their posterity, that they should keep a festival, on
account of the restoration of their temple worship, for eight days. And
from that time to this we celebrate this festival, and call it Lights. I
suppose the reason was, because this liberty beyond our hopes appeared to
us; and that thence was the name given to that festival. Judas also
rebuilt the walls round about the city, and reared towers of great height
against the incursions of enemies, and set guards therein. He also
fortified the city Bethsura, that it might serve as a citadel against any
distresses that might come from our enemies.
CHAPTER 8. How Judas Subdued The Nations Round About; And How Simon Beat
The People Of Tyre And Ptolemais; And How Judas Overcame Timotheus, And
Forced Him To Fly Away, And Did Many Other Things After Joseph And Azarias
Had Been Beaten.
1. When these things were over, the nations round about the Jews were very
uneasy at the revival of their power, and rose up together, and destroyed
many of them, as gaining advantage over them by laying snares for them,
and making secret conspiracies against them. Judas made perpetual
expeditions against these men, and endeavored to restrain them from those
incursions, and to prevent the mischiefs they did to the Jews. So he fell
upon the Idumeans, the posterity of Esau, at Acrabattene, and slew a great
many of them, and took their spoils. He also shut up the sons of Bean,
that laid wait for the Jews; and he sat down about them, and besieged
them, and burnt their towers, and destroyed the men [that were in them].
After this he went thence in haste against the Ammonites, who had a great
and a numerous army, of which Timotheus was the commander. And when he had
subdued them, he seized on the city Jazer, and took their wives and their
children captives, and burnt the city, and then returned into Judea. But
when the neighboring nations understood that he was returned, they got
together in great numbers in the land of Gilead, and came against those
Jews that were at their borders, who then fled to the garrison of Dathema;
and sent to Judas, to inform him that Timotheus was endeavoring to take
the place whither they were fled. And as these epistles were reading,
there came other messengers out of Galilee, who informed him that the
inhabitants of Ptolemais, and of Tyre and Sidon, and strangers of Galilee,
were gotten together.
2. Accordingly Judas, upon considering what was fit to be done, with
relation to the necessity both these cases required, gave order that Simon
his brother should take three thousand chosen men, and go to the
assistance of the Jews in Galilee, while he and another of his brothers,
Jonathan, made haste into the land of Gilead, with eight thousand
soldiers. And he left Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, to be
over the rest of the forces; and charged them to keep Judea very
carefully, and to fight no battles with any persons whomsoever until his
return. Accordingly, Simon went into Galilee, and fought the enemy, and
put them to flight, and pursued them to the very gates of Ptolemais, and
slew about three thousand of them, and took the spoils of those that were
slain, and those Jews whom they had made captives, with their baggage, and
then returned home.
3. Now as for Judas Maccabeus, and his brother Jonathan, they passed over
the river Jordan; and when they had gone three days journey, they lighted
upon the Nabateans, who came to meet them peaceably, and who told them how
the affairs of those in the land of Gilead stood; and how many of them
were in distress, and driven into garrisons, and into the cities of
Galilee; and exhorted him to make haste to go against the foreigners, and
to endeavor to save his own countrymen out of their hands. To this
exhortation Judas hearkened, and returned to the wilderness; and in the
first place fell upon the inhabitants of Bosor, and took the city, and
beat the inhabitants, and destroyed all the males, and all that were able
to fight, and burnt the city. Nor did he stop even when night came on, but
he journeyed in it to the garrison where the Jews happened to be then shut
up, and where Timotheus lay round the place with his army. And Judas came
upon the city in the morning; and when he found that the enemy were making
an assault upon the walls, and that some of them brought ladders, on which
they might get upon those walls, and that others brought engines [to
batter them], he bid the trumpeter to sound his trumpet, and he encouraged
his soldiers cheerfully to undergo dangers for the sake of their brethren
and kindred; he also parted his army into three bodies, and fell upon the
backs of their enemies. But when Timotheus’s men perceived that it was
Maccabeus that was upon them, of both whose courage and good success in
war they had formerly had sufficient experience, they were put to flight;
but Judas followed them with his army, and slew about eight thousand of
them. He then turned aside to a city of the foreigners called Malle, and
took it, and slew all the males, and burnt the city itself. He then
removed from thence, and overthrew Casphom and Bosor, and many other
cities of the land of Gilead.
4. But not long after this, Timotheus prepared a great army, and took many
others as auxiliaries; and induced some of the Arabians, by the promise of
rewards, to go with him in this expedition, and came with his army beyond
the brook, over against the city Raphon; and he encouraged his soldiers,
if it came to a battle with the Jews, to fight courageously, and to hinder
their passing over the brook; for he said to them beforehand, that “if
they come over it, we shall be beaten.” And when Judas heard that
Timotheus prepared himself to fight, he took all his own army, and went in
haste against Timotheus his enemy; and when he had passed over the brook,
he fell upon his enemies, and some of them met him, whom he slew, and
others of them he so terrified, that he compelled them to throw down their
arms and fly; and some of them escaped, but some of them fled to what was
called the Temple of Camaim, and hoped thereby to preserve themselves; but
Judas took the city, and slew them, and burnt the temple, and so used
several ways of destroying his enemies.
5. When he had done this, he gathered the Jews together, with their
children and wives, and the substance that belonged to them, and was going
to bring them back into Judea; but as soon as he was come to a certain
city, whose name was Ephron, that lay upon the road, [and it was not
possible for him to go any other way, so he was not willing to go back
again,] he then sent to the inhabitants, and desired that they would open
their gates, and permit them to go on their way through the city; for they
had stopped up the gates with stones, and cut off their passage through
it. And when the inhabitants of Ephron would not agree to this proposal,
he encouraged those that were with him, and encompassed the city round,
and besieged it, and, lying round it by day and night, took the city, and
slew every male in it, and burnt it all down, and so obtained a way
through it; and the multitude of those that were slain was so great, that
they went over the dead bodies. So they came over Jordan, and arrived at
the great plain, over against which is situate the city Bethshah, which is
called by the Greeks Scythopolis. 20 And
going away hastily from thence, they came into Judea, singing psalms and
hymns as they went, and indulging such tokens of mirth as are usual in
triumphs upon victory. They also offered thank-offerings, both for their
good success, and for the preservation of their army, for not one of the
Jews was slain in these battles.21
6. But as to Joseph, the son of Zacharias, and Azarias, whom Judas left
generals [of the rest of his forces] at the same time when Simon was in
Galilee, fighting against the people of Ptolemais, and Judas himself, and
his brother Jonathan, were in the land of Gilead, did these men also
affect the glory of being courageous generals in war, in order whereto
they took the army that was under their command, and came to Jamnia. There
Gorgias, the general of the forces of Jamnia, met them; and upon joining
battle with him, they lost two thousand of their army, 22
and fled away, and were pursued to the very borders of Judea. And this
misfortune befell them by their disobedience to what injunctions Judas had
given them, not to fight with any one before his return. For besides the
rest of Judas’s sagacious counsels, one may well wonder at this concerning
the misfortune that befell the forces commanded by Joseph and Azarias,
which he understood would happen, if they broke any of the injunctions he
had given them. But Judas and his brethren did not leave off fighting with
the Idumeans, but pressed upon them on all sides, and took from them the
city of Hebron, and demolished all its fortifications, and set all its
towers on fire, and burnt the country of the foreigners, and the city
Marissa. They came also to Ashdod, and took it, and laid it waste, and
took away a great deal of the spoils and prey that were in it, and
returned to Judea.
CHAPTER 9. Concerning The Death Of Antiochus Epiphane. How Antiochus
Eupator Fought Against Juda And Besieged Him In The Temple And Afterwards
Made Peace With Him And Departed; Of Alcimus And Onias.
1. About this time it was that king Antiochus, as he was going over the
upper countries, heard that there was a very rich city in Persia, called
Elymais; and therein a very rich temple of Diana, and that it was full of
all sorts of donations dedicated to it; as also weapons and breastplates,
which, upon inquiry, he found had been left there by Alexander, the son of
Philip, king of Macedonia. And being incited by these motives, he went in
haste to Elymais, and assaulted it, and besieged it. But as those that
were in it were not terrified at his assault, nor at his siege, but
opposed him very courageously, he was beaten off his hopes; for they drove
him away from the city, and went out and pursued after him, insomuch that
he fled away as far as Babylon, and lost a great many of his army. And
when he was grieving for this disappointment, some persons told him of the
defeat of his commanders whom he had left behind him to fight against
Judea, and what strength the Jews had already gotten. When this concern
about these affairs was added to the former, he was confounded, and by the
anxiety he was in fell into a distemper, which, as it lasted a great
while, and as his pains increased upon him, so he at length perceived he
should die in a little time; so he called his friends to him, and told
them that his distemper was severe upon him; and confessed withal, that
this calamity was sent upon him for the miseries he had brought upon the
Jewish nation, while he plundered their temple, and contemned their God;
and when he had said this, he gave up the ghost. Whence one may wonder at
Polybius of Megalopolis, who, though otherwise a good man, yet saith that
“Antiochus died because he had a purpose to plunder the temple of Diana in
Persia;” for the purposing to do a thing, 23 but
not actually doing it, is not worthy of punishment. But if Polybius could
think that Antiochus thus lost his life on that account, it is much more
probable that this king died on account of his sacrilegious plundering of
the temple at Jerusalem. But we will not contend about this matter with
those who may think that the cause assigned by this Polybius of
Megalopolis is nearer the truth than that assigned by us.
2. However, Antiochus, before he died, called for Philip, who was one of
his companions, and made him the guardian of his kingdom; and gave him his
diadem, and his garment, and his ring, and charged him to carry them, and
deliver them to his son Antiochus; and desired him to take care of his
education, and to preserve the kingdom for him. 24 This
Antiochus died in the hundred forty and ninth year; but it was Lysias that
declared his death to the multitude, and appointed his son Antiochus to be
king, [of whom at present he had the care,] and called him Eupator.
3. At this time it was that the garrison in the citadel of Jerusalem, with
the Jewish runagates, did a great deal of harm to the Jews; for the
soldiers that were in that garrison rushed out upon the sudden, and
destroyed such as were going up to the temple in order to offer their
sacrifices, for this citadel adjoined to and overlooked the temple. When
these misfortunes had often happened to them, Judas resolved to destroy
that garrison; whereupon he got all the people together, and vigorously
besieged those that were in the citadel. This was in the hundred and
fiftieth year of the dominion of the Seleucidse. So he made engines of
war, and erected bulwarks, and very zealously pressed on to take the
citadel. But there were not a few of the runagates who were in the place
that went out by night into the country, and got together some other
wicked men like themselves, and went to Antiochus the king, and desired of
him that he would not suffer them to be neglected, under the great
hardships that lay upon them from those of their own nation; and this
because their sufferings were occasioned on his father’s account, while
they left the religious worship of their fathers, and preferred that which
he had commanded them to follow: that there was danger lest the citadel,
and those appointed to garrison it by the king, should be taken by Judas,
and those that were with him, unless he would send them succors. When
Antiochus, who was but a child, heard this, he was angry, and sent for his
captains and his friends, and gave order that they should get an army of
mercenaries together, with such men also of his own kingdom as were of an
age fit for war. Accordingly, an army was collected of about a hundred
thousand footmen, and twenty thousand horsemen, and thirty-two elephants.
4. So the king took this army, and marched hastily out of Antioch, with
Lysias, who had the command of the whole, and came to Idumea, and thence
went up to the city Bethsura, a city that was strong, and not to be taken
without great difficulty. He set about this city, and besieged it. And
while the inhabitants of Bethsura courageously opposed him, and sallied
out upon him, and burnt his engines of war, a great deal of time was spent
in the siege. But when Judas heard of the king’s coming, he raised the
siege of the citadel, and met the king, and pitched his camp in certain
straits, at a place called Bethzachriah, at the distance of seventy
furlongs from the enemy; but the king soon drew his forces from Bethsura,
and brought them to those straits. And as soon as it was day, he put his
men in battle-array, and made his elephants follow one another through the
narrow passes, because they could not be set sideways by one another. Now
round about every elephant there were a thousand footmen, and five hundred
horsemen. The elephants also had high towers [upon their backs], and
archers [in them]. And he also made the rest of his army to go up the
mountains, and put his friends before the rest; and gave orders for the
army to shout aloud, and so he attacked the enemy. He also exposed to
sight their golden and brazen shields, so that a glorious splendor was
sent from them; and when they shouted the mountains echoed again. When
Judas saw this, he was not terrified, but received the enemy with great
courage, and slew about six hundred of the first ranks. But when his
brother Eleazar, whom they called Auran, saw the tallest of all the
elephants armed with royal breastplates, and supposed that the king was
upon him, he attacked him with great quickness and bravery. He also slew
many of those that were about the elephant, and scattered the rest, and
then went under the belly of the elephant, and smote him, and slew him; so
the elephant fell upon Eleazar, and by his weight crushed him to death.
And thus did this man come to his end, when he had first courageously
destroyed many of his enemies.
5. But Judas, seeing the strength of the enemy, retired to Jerusalem, and
prepared to endure a siege. As for Antiochus, he sent part of his army to
Bethsura, to besiege it, and with the rest of his army he came against
Jerusalem; but the inhabitants of Bethsura were terrified at his strength;
and seeing that their provisions grew scarce, they delivered themselves up
on the security of oaths that they should suffer no hard treatment from
the king. And when Antiochus had thus taken the city, he did them no other
harm than sending them out naked. He also placed a garrison of his own in
the city. But as for the temple of Jerusalem, he lay at its siege a long
time, while they within bravely defended it; for what engines soever the
king set against them, they set other engines again to oppose them. But
then their provisions failed them; what fruits of the ground they had laid
up were spent and the land being not ploughed that year, continued
unsowed, because it was the seventh year, on which, by our laws, we are
obliged to let it lay uncultivated. And withal, so many of the besieged
ran away for want of necessaries, that but a few only were left in the
temple.
6. And these happened to be the circumstances of such as were besieged in
the temple. But then, because Lysias, the general of the army, and
Antiochus the king, were informed that Philip was coming upon them out of
Persia, and was endeavoring to get the management of public affairs to
himself, they came into these sentiments, to leave the siege, and to make
haste to go against Philip; yet did they resolve not to let this be known
to the soldiers or to the officers: but the king commanded Lysias to speak
openly to the soldiers and the officers, without saying a word about the
business of Philip; and to intimate to them that the siege would be very
long; that the place was very strong; that they were already in want of
provisions; that many affairs of the kingdom wanted regulation; and that
it was much better to make a league with the besieged, and to become
friends to their whole nation, by permitting them to observe the laws of
their fathers, while they broke out into this war only because they were
deprived of them, and so to depart home. When Lysias had discoursed thus
to them, both the army and the officers were pleased with this resolution.
7. Accordingly the king sent to Judas, and to those that were besieged
with them, and promised to give them peace, and to permit them to make use
of, and live according to, the laws of their fathers; and they gladly
received his proposals; and when they had gained security upon oath for
their performance, they went out of the temple. But when Antiochus came
into it, and saw how strong the place was, he broke his oaths, and ordered
his army that was there to pluck down the walls to the ground; and when he
had so done, he returned to Antioch. He also carried with him Onias the
high priest, who was also called Menelaus; for Lysias advised the king to
slay Menelaus, if he would have the Jews be quiet, and cause him no
further disturbance, for that this man was the origin of all the mischief
the Jews had done them, by persuading his father to compel the Jews to
leave the religion of their fathers. So the king sent Menelaus to Berea, a
city of Syria, and there had him put to death, when he had been high
priest ten years. He had been a wicked and an impious man; and, in order
to get the government to himself, had compelled his nation to transgress
their own laws. After the death of Menelaus, Alcimus, who was also called
Jacimus, was made high priest. But when king Antiochus found that Philip
had already possessed himself of the government, he made war against him,
and subdued him, and took him, and slew him. Now as to Onias, the son of
the high priest, who, as we before informed you, was left a child when his
father died, when he saw that the king had slain his uncle Menelaus, and
given the high priesthood to Alcimus, who was not of the high priest
stock, but was induced by Lysias to translate that dignity from his family
to another house, he fled to Ptolemy, king of Egypt; and when he found he
was in great esteem with him, and with his wife Cleopatra, he desired and
obtained a place in the Nomus of Heliopolis, wherein he built a temple
like to that at Jerusalem; of which therefore we shall hereafter give an
account, in a place more proper for it.
CHAPTER 10. How Bacchides, The General Of Demetrius’s Army, Made An
Expedition Against Judea, And Returned Without Success; And How Nicanor
Was Sent A Little Afterward Against Judas And Perished, Together With His
Army; As Also Concerning The Death Of Alcimus And The Succession Of Judas.
1. About the same time Demetrius, the son of Seleucus, fled away from
Rome, and took Tripoli, a city of Syria, and set the diadem on his own
head. He also gathered certain mercenary soldiers together, and entered
into his kingdom, and was joyfully received by all, who delivered
themselves up to him. And when they had taken Autiochus the king, and
Lysias, they brought them to him alive; both which were immediately put to
death by the command of Demetrius, when Antiochus had reigned two years,
as we have already elsewhere related. But there were now many of the
wicked Jewish runagates that came together to him, and with them Alcimus
the high priest, who accused the whole nation, and particularly Judas and
his brethren; and said that they had slain all his friends, and that those
in his kingdom that were of his party, and waited for his return, were by
them put to death; that these men had ejected them out of their own
country, and caused them to be sojourners in a foreign land; and they
desired that he would send some one of his own friends, and know from him
what mischief Judas’s party had done.
2. At this Demetrius was very angry, and sent Bacchides, a friend of
Antiochus Epiphanes, 25 a good man, and one that had
been intrusted with all Mesopotamia, and gave him an army, and committed
Alcimus the high priest to his care; and gave him charge to slay Judas,
and those that were with him. So Bacchides made haste, and went out of
Antioch with his army; and when he was come into Judea, he sent to Judas
and his brethren, to discourse with them about a league of friendship and
peace, for he had a mind to take him by treachery. But Judas did not give
credit to him, for he saw that he came with so great an army as men do not
bring when they come to make peace, but to make war. However, some of the
people acquiesced in what Bacchides caused to be proclaimed; and supposing
they should undergo no considerable harm from Alcimus, who was their
countryman, they went over to them; and when they had received oaths from
both of them, that neither they themselves, nor those of the same
sentiments, should come to any harm, they intrusted themselves with them.
But Bacchides troubled not himself about the oaths he had taken, but slew
threescore of them, although, by not keeping his faith with those that
first went over, he deterred all the rest, who had intentions to go over
to him, from doing it. But as he was gone out of Jerusalem, and was at the
village called Bethzetho, he sent out, and caught many of the deserters,
and some of the people also, and slew them all; and enjoined all that
lived in the country to submit to Alcimus. So he left him there, with some
part of the army, that he might have wherewith to keep the country in
obedience and returned to Antioch to king Demetrius.
3. But Alcimus was desirous to have the dominion more firmly assured to
him; and understanding that, if he could bring it about that the multitude
should be his friends, he should govern with greater security, he spake
kind words to them all, and discoursed to each of them after an agreeable
and pleasant manner; by which means he quickly had a great body of men and
an army about him, although the greater part of them were of the wicked,
and the deserters. With these, whom he used as his servants and soldiers,
he went all over the country, and slew all that he could find of Judas’s
party. But when Judas saw that Alcimus was already become great, and had
destroyed many of the good and holy men of the country, he also went all
over the country, and destroyed those that were of the other party. But
when Alcimus saw that he was not able to oppose Judas, nor was equal to
him in strength, he resolved to apply himself to king Demetrius for his
assistance; so he came to Antioch, and irritated him against Judas, and
accused him, alleging that he had undergone a great many miseries by his
means, and that he would do more mischief unless he were prevented, and
brought to punishment, which must be done by sending a powerful force
against him.
4. So Demetrius, being already of opinion that it would be a thing
pernicious to his own affairs to overlook Judas, now he was becoming so
great, sent against him Nicanor, the most kind and most faithful of all
his friends; for he it was who fled away with him from the city of Rome.
He also gave him as many forces as he thought sufficient for him to
conquer Judas withal, and bid him not to spare the nation at all. When
Nicanor was come to Jerusalem, he did not resolve to fight Judas
immediately, but judged it better to get him into his power by treachery;
so he sent him a message of peace, and said there was no manner of
necessity for them to fight and hazard themselves; and that he would give
him his oath that he would do him no harm, for that he only came with some
friends, in order to let him know what king Demetrius’s intentions were,
and what opinion he had of their nation. When Nicanor had delivered this
message, Judas and his brethren complied with him, and suspecting no
deceit, they gave him assurances of friendship, and received Nicanor and
his army; but while he was saluting Judas, and they were talking together,
he gave a certain signal to his own soldiers, upon which they were to
seize upon Judas; but he perceived the treachery, and ran back to his own
soldiers, and fled away with them. So upon this discovery of his purpose,
and of the snares laid for Judas, Nicanor determined to make open war with
him, and gathered his army together, and prepared for fighting him; and
upon joining battle with him at a certain village called Capharsalama, he
beat Judas, 26 and forced him to fly to that
citadel which was at Jerusalem.
5. And when Nicanor came down from the citadel unto the temple, some of
the priests and elders met him, and saluted him; and showed him the
sacrifices which they offered to God for the king: upon which he
blasphemed, and threatened them, that unless the people would deliver up
Judas to him, upon his return he would pull down their temple. And when he
had thus threatened them, he departed from Jerusalem. But the priests fell
into tears out of grief at what he had said, and besought God to deliver
them from their enemies But now for Nicanor, when he was gone out of
Jerusalem, and was at a certain village called Bethoron, he there pitched
his camp, another army out of Syria having joined him. And Judas pitched
his camp at Adasa, another village, which was thirty furlongs distant from
Bethoron, having no more than one thousand soldiers. And when he had
encouraged them not to be dismayed at the multitude of their enemies, nor
to regard how many they were against whom they were going to fight, but to
consider who they themselves were, and for what great rewards they
hazarded themselves, and to attack the enemy courageously, he led them out
to fight, and joining battle with Nicanor, which proved to be a severe
one, he overcame the enemy, and slew many of them; and at last Nicanor
himself, as he was fighting gloriously, fell:—upon whose fall the
army did not stay; but when they had lost their general, they were put to
flight, and threw down their arms. Judas also pursued them and slew them,
and gave notice by the sound of the trumpets to the neighboring villages
that he had conquered the enemy; which, when the inhabitants heard, they
put on their armor hastily, and met their enemies in the face as they were
running away, and slew them, insomuch that not one of them escaped out of
this battle, who were in number nine thousand This victory happened to
fall on the thirteenth day of that month which by the Jews is called Adar
and by the Macedonians Dystrus; and the Jews thereon celebrate this
victory every year, and esteem it as a festival day. After which the
Jewish nation were, for a while, free from wars, and enjoyed peace; but
afterward they returned into their former state of wars and hazards.
6. But now as the high priest Alcimus, was resolving to pull down the wall
of the sanctuary, which had been there of old time, and had been built by
the holy prophets, he was smitten suddenly by God, and fell down. 27
This stroke made him fall down speechless upon the ground; and undergoing
torments for many days, he at length died, when he had been high priest
four years. And when he was dead, the people bestowed the high priesthood
on Judas; who hearing of the power of the Romans, and that they had
conquered in war Galatia, and Iberia, and Carthage, and Libya; and that,
besides these, they had subdued Greece, and their kings, Perseus, and
Philip, and Antiochus the Great also; he resolved to enter into a league
of friendship with them. He therefore sent to Rome some of his friends,
Eupolemus the son of John, and Jason the son of Eleazar, and by them
desired the Romans that they would assist them, and be their friends, and
would write to Demetrius that he would not fight against the Jews. So the
senate received the ambassadors that came from Judas to Rome, and
discoursed with them about the errand on which they came, and then granted
them a league of assistance. They also made a decree concerning it, and
sent a copy of it into Judea. It was also laid up in the capitol, and
engraven in brass. The decree itself was this: “The decree of the senate
concerning a league of assistance and friendship with the nation of the
Jews. It shall not be lawful for any that are subject to the Romans to
make war with the nation of the Jews, nor to assist those that do so,
either by sending them corn, or ships, or money; and if any attack be made
upon the Jews, the Romans shall assist them, as far as they are able; and
again, if any attack be made upon the Romans, the Jews shall assist them.
And if the Jews have a mind to add to, or to take away any thing from,
this league of assistance, that shall be done with the common consent of
the Romans. And whatsoever addition shall thus be made, it shall be of
force.” This decree was written by Eupolemus the son of John, and by Jason
the son of Eleazar, 28 when Judas was high priest of
the nation, and Simon his brother was general of the army. And this was
the first league that the Romans made with the Jews, and was managed after
this manner.
CHAPTER 11. That Bacchides Was Again Sent Out Against Judas; And How Judas
Fell As He Was Courageously Fighting.
1. But when Demetrius was informed of the death of Nicanor, and of the
destruction of the army that was with him, he sent Bacchides again with an
army into Judea, who marched out of Antioch, and came into Judea, and
pitched his camp at Arbela, a city of Galilee; and having besieged and
taken those that were there in caves, [for many of the people fled into
such places,] he removed, and made all the haste he could to Jerusalem.
And when he had learned that Judas had pitched his camp at a certain
village whose name was Bethzetho, he led his army against him: they were
twenty thousand foot-men, and two thousand horsemen. Now Judas had no more
soldiers than one thousand. 29 When
these saw the multitude of Bacchides’s men, they were afraid, and left
their camp, and fled all away, excepting eight hundred. Now when Judas was
deserted by his own soldiers, and the enemy pressed upon him, and gave him
no time to gather his army together, he was disposed to fight with
Bacchides’s army, though he had but eight hundred men with him; so he
exhorted these men to undergo the danger courageously, and encouraged them
to attack the enemy. And when they said they were not a body sufficient to
fight so great an army, and advised that they should retire now, and save
themselves and that when he had gathered his own men together, then he
should fall upon the enemy afterwards, his answer was this: “Let not the
sun ever see such a thing, that I should show my back to the enemy and
although this be the time that will bring me to my end, and I must die in
this battle, I will rather stand to it courageously, and bear whatsoever
comes upon me, than by now running away bring reproach upon my former
great actions, or tarnish their glory.” This was the speech he made to
those that remained with him, whereby he encouraged them to attack the
enemy.
2. But Bacchldes drew his army out of their camp, and put them in array
for the battle. He set the horsemen on both the wings, and the light
soldiers and the archers he placed before the whole army, but he was
himself on the right wing. And when he had thus put his army in order of
battle, and was going to join battle with the enemy, he commanded the
trumpeter to give a signal of battle, and the army to make a shout, and to
fall on the enemy. And when Judas had done the same, he joined battle with
them; and as both sides fought valiantly, and the battle continued till
sun-set, Judas saw that Bacehides and the strongest part of the army was
in the right wing, and thereupon took the most courageous men with him,
and ran upon that part of the army, and fell upon those that were there,
and broke their ranks, and drove them into the middle, and forced them to
run away, and pursued them as far as to a mountain called Aza: but when
those of the left wing saw that the right wing was put to flight, they
encompassed Judas, and pursued him, and came behind him, and took him into
the middle of their army; so being not able to fly, but encompassed round
about with enemies, he stood still, and he and those that were with him
fought; and when he had slain a great many of those that came against him,
he at last was himself wounded, and fell and gave up the ghost, and died
in a way like to his former famous actions. When Judas was dead, those
that were with him had no one whom they could regard [as their commander];
but when they saw themselves deprived of such a general, they fled. But
Simon and Jonathan, Judas’s brethren, received his dead body by a treaty
from the enemy, and carried it to the village of Modin, where their father
had been buried, and there buried him; while the multitude lamented him
many days, and performed the usual solemn rites of a funeral to him. And
this was the end that Judas came to. He had been a man of valor and a
great warrior, and mindful of the commands of their father Matrathins; and
had undergone all difficulties, both in doing and suffering, for the
liberty of his countrymen. And when his character was so excellent [while
he was alive], he left behind him a glorious reputation and memorial, by
gaining freedom for his nation, and delivering them from slavery under the
Macedonians. And when he had retained the high priesthood three years, he
died.
FOOTNOTES
1 (return)
[ Here Josephus uses the
very word koinopltagia, “eating things common,” for “eating things
unclean;” as does our New Testament, Acts 10:14, 15, 28; 11:8, 9; Romans
14:14.]
2 (return)
[ The great number of these
Jews and Samaritans that were formerly carried into Egypt by Alexander,
and now by Ptolemy the son of Lagus, appear afterwards in the vast
multitude who as we shall see presently, were soon ransomed by
Philadelphus, and by him made free, before he sent for the seventy-two
interpreters; in the many garrisons and other soldiers of that nation in
Egypt; in the famous settlement of Jews, and the number of their
synagogues at Alexandria, long afterward; and in the vehement contention
between the Jews and Samatitans under Philometer, about the place
appointed for public worship in the law of Moses, whether at the Jewish
temple of Jerusalem, or at the Samaritan temple of Gerizzim; of all which
our author treats hereafter. And as to the Samaritans carried into Egypt
under the same princes, Scaliger supposes that those who have a great
synagogue at Cairo, as also those whom the Arabic geographer speaks of as
having seized on an island in the Red Sea, are remains of them at this
very day, as the notes here inform us.]
3 (return)
[ Of the translation of the
other parts of the Old Testament by seventy Egyptian Jews, in the reigns
of Ptolemy the son of Lagus, and Philadelphus; as also of the translation
of the Pentateuch by seventy-two Jerusalem Jews, in the seventh year of
Philadelphus at Alexandria, as given us an account of by Aristeus, and
thence by Philo and Josephus, with a vindication of Aristeus’s history;
see the Appendix to Lit. Accorap. of Proph. at large, p. 117—152.]
4 (return)
[ Although this number one
hundred and twenty drachmeae [of Alexandria, or sixty Jewish shekels] be
here three times repeated, and that in all Josephus’s copies, Greek and
Latin; yet since all the copies of Aristeus, whence Josephus took his
relation, have this sum several times, and still as no more than twenty
drachmae, or ten Jewish shekels; and since the sum of the talents, to be
set down presently, which is little above four hundred and sixty, for
somewhat more than one hundred thousand slaves, and is nearly the same in
Josephus and Aristeus, does better agree to twenty than to one hundred and
twenty drachmae; and since the value of a slave of old was at the utmost
but thirty shekels, or sixty drachmae; see Exodus 21:32; while in the
present circumstances of these Jewish slaves, and those so very numerous,
Philadelphus would rather redeem them at a cheaper than at a dearer rate;—there
is great reason to prefer here Aristeus’s copies before Josephus’s.]
5 (return)
[ We have a very great
encomium of this Simon the Just, the son of Onias, in the fiftieth chapter
of the Ecclesiasticus, through the whole chapter. Nor is it improper to
consult that chapter itself upon this occasion.]
6 (return)
[ When we have here and
presently mention made of Philadelphus’s queen and sister Arsinoe, we are
to remember, with Spanheim, that Arsinoe was both his sister and his wife,
according to the old custom of Persia, and of Egypt at this very time;
nay, of the Assyrians long afterwards. See Antiq. B. XX. ch. 2. sect. 1.
Whence we have, upon the coins of Philadelphus, this known inscription,
“The divine brother and sister.”]
7 (return)
[ The Talmudists say, that
it is not lawful to write the law in letters of gold, contrary to this
certain and very ancient example. See Hudson’s and Reland’s notes here.]
8 (return)
[ This is the most ancient
example I have met with of a grace, or short prayer, or thanksgiving
before meat; which, as it is used to be said by a heathen priest, was now
said by Eleazar, a Jewish priest, who was one of these seventy-two
interpreters. The next example I have met with, is that of the Essenes,
[Of the War, B. II. ch. 8. sect. 5,] both before and after it; those of
our Savior before it, Mark 8:6; John 6:11, 23; and St. Paul, Acts 27:35;
and a form of such a grace or prayer for Christians, at the end of the
fifth book of the Apostolical Constitutions, which seems to have been
intended for both times, both before and after meat.]
9 (return)
[ They were rather
political questions and answers, tending to the good and religious
government of mankind.]
10 (return)
[ This purification of
the interpreters, by washing in the sea, before they prayed to God every
morning, and before they set about translating, may be compared with the
like practice of Peter the apostle, in the Recognitions of Clement, B. IV.
ch. 3., and B. V. ch. 36., and with the places of the Proseuchre, or of
prayer, which were sometimes built near the sea or rivers also; of which
matter see Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 10. sect. 9,3; Acts 16:13. 16.]
11 (return)
[ The use of oil was much
greater, and the donatives of it much more valuable, in Judea, and the
neighboring countries, than it is amongst us. It was also, in the days of
Josephus, thought unlawful for Jews to make use of any oil that was
prepared by heathens, perhaps on account of some superstitions intermixed
with its preparation by those heathens. When therefore the heathens were
to make them a donative of oil,: they paid them money instead of it. See
Of the War, B. II. ch. 21. sect. 2; the Life of Josephus, sect. 13; and
Hudson’s note on the place before us.]
12 (return)
[ This, and the like
great and just characters, of the justice, and equity, and generosity of
the old Romans, both to the Jews and other conquered nations, affords us a
very good reason why Almighty God, upon the rejection of the Jews for
their wickedness, chose them for his people, and first established
Christianity in that empire; of which matter see Josephus here, sect. 2;
as also Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 10. sect. 22, 23; B. XVI. ch. 2. sect. 4.]
13 (return)
[ The name of this place,
Phicol, is the very same with that of the chief captain of Abimelech’s
host, in the days of Abraham, Genesis 21:22, and might possibly be the
place of that Phicol’s nativity or abode, for it seems to have been in the
south part of Palestine, as that was.]
14 (return)
[ Whence it comes that
these Lacedemonians declare themselves here to be of kin to the Jews, as
derived from the same ancestor, Abraham, I cannot tell, unless, as Grotius
supposes, they were derived from Dores, that came of the Pelasgi. These
are by Herodotus called Barbarians, and perhaps were derived from the
Syrians and Arabians, the posterity of Abraham by Keturah. See Antiq. B.
XIV. ch. 10. sect. 22; and Of the War, B. I. ch. 26. sect. l; and Grot. on
1 Macc. 12:7. We may further observe from the Recognitions of Clement,
that Eliezer, of Damascus, the servant of Abraham, Genesis 15:2; 24., was
of old by some taken for his son. So that if the Lacedemonians were sprung
from him, they might think themselves to be of the posterity of Abraham,
as well as the Jews, who were sprung from Isaac. And perhaps this Eliezer
of Damascus is that very Damascus whom Trogus Pompeius, as abridged by
Justin, makes the founder of the Jewish nation itself, though he
afterwards blunders, and makes Azelus, Adores, Abraham, and Israel kings
of Judea, and successors to this Damascus. It may not be improper to
observe further, that Moses Chorenensis, in his history of the Armenians,
informs us, that the nation of the Parthians was also derived from Abraham
by Keturah and her children.]
15 (return)
[ This word” Gymnasium”
properly denotes a place where the exercises were performed naked, which
because it would naturally distinguish circumcised Jews from uncircumcised
Gentiles, these Jewish apostates endeavored to appear uncircumcised, by
means of a surgical operation, hinted at by St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 7:18,
and described by Celsus, B. VII. ch. 25., as Dr. Hudson here informs us.]
16 (return)
[ Hereabout Josephus
begins to follow the First Book of the Maccabees, a most excellent and
most authentic history; and accordingly it is here, with great fidelity
and exactness, abridged by him; between whose present copies there seem to
be fewer variations than in any other sacred Hebrew book of the Old
Testament whatsoever, [for this book also was originally written in
Hebrew,] which is very natural, because it was written so much nearer to
the times of Josephus than the rest were.]
17 (return)
[ This citadel, of which
we have such frequent mention in the following history, both in the
Maccabees and Josephus, seems to have been a castle built on a hill, lower
than Mount Zion, though upon its skirts, and higher than Mount Moriah, but
between them both; which hill the enemies of the Jews now got possession
of, and built on it this citadel, and fortified it, till a good while
afterwards the Jews regained it, demolished it, and leveled the hill
itself with the common ground, that their enemies might no more recover
it, and might thence overlook the temple itself, and do them such mischief
as they had long undergone from it, Antiq. B. XIII. ch. 6. sect. 6.]
18 (return)
[ This allegation of the
Samaritans is remarkable, that though they were not Jews, yet did they,
from ancient times, observe the Sabbath day, and, as they elsewhere
pretend, the Sabbatic year also, Antiq. B. XI. ch. 8. sect. 6.]
19 (return)
[ That this appellation
of Maccabee was not first of all given to Judas Maccabeus, nor was derived
from any initial letters of the Hebrew words on his banner, “Mi Kamoka Be
Elire, Jehovah?” [“Who is like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah?”]
Exodus 15:11 as the modern Rabbins vainly pretend, see Authent. Rec. Part
I. p. 205, 206. Only we may note, by the way, that the original name of
these Maccabees, and their posterity, was Asamoneans; which was derived
from Asamoneus, the great-grandfather of Mattathias, as Josephus here
informs us.]
20 (return)
[ The reason why Bethshah
was called Scythopolis is well known from Herodotus, B. I. p. 105, and
Syncellus, p. 214, that the Scythians, when they overran Asia, in the days
of Josiah, seized on this city, and kept it as long as they continued in
Asia, from which time it retained the name of Scythopolis, or the City of
the Scythians.]
21 (return)
[ This most providential
preservation of all the religious Jews in this expedition, which was
according to the will of God, is observable often among God’s people, the
Jews; and somewhat very like it in the changes of the four monarchies,
which were also providential. See Prideaux at the years 331, 333, and
334.]
22 (return)
[ Here is another great
instance of Providence, that when, even at the very time that Simon, and
Judas, and Jonathan were so miraculously preserved and blessed, in the
just defense of their laws and religion, these other generals of the Jews,
who went to fight for honor in a vain-glorious way, and without any
commission from God, or the family he had raised up to deliver them, were
miserably disappointed and defeated. See 1 Macc. 5:61, 62.]
23 (return)
[ Since St. Paul, a
Pharisee, confesses that he had not known concupiscence, or desires, to be
sinful, had not the tenth commandment said, “Thou shalt not covet,” Romans
7:7, the case seems to have been much the same with our Josephus, who was
of the same sect, that he had not a deep sense of the greatness of any
sins that proceeded no further than the intention. However, since Josephus
speaks here properly of the punishment of death, which is not intended by
any law, either of God or man, for the bare intention, his words need not
to be strained to mean, that sins intended, but not executed, were no sins
at all.]
24 (return)
[ No wonder that Josephus
here describes Antiochus Eupator as young, and wanting tuition, when he
came to the crown, since Appian informs us [Footnote Syriac. p. 177: that
he was then but nine years old.]
25 (return)
[ It is no way probable
that Josephus would call Bacchidoa, that bitter and bloody enemy of the
Jews, as our present copies have it, a man good, or kind, and gentle, What
the author of the First Book of Maccabees, whom Josephus here follows,
instead of that character, says of him, is, that he was a great man in the
kingdom, and faithful to his king; which was very probably Josephus’s
meaning also.]
26 (return)
[ Josephus’s copies must
have been corrupted when they here give victory to Nicanor, contrary to
the words following, which imply that he who was beaten fled into the
citadel, which for certain belonged to the city of David, or to Mount
Zion, and was in the possession of Nicanor’s garrison, and not of Judas’s.
As also it is contrary to the express words of Josephus’s original author,
1 Macc. 7:32, who says that Nicanor lost about five thousand men, and fled
to the city of David.]
27 (return)
[ This account of the
miserable death of Alcimus, or Jac-mus, the wicked high priest, [the first
that was not of the family of the high priests, and made by a vile
heathen, Lysias,] before the death of Judas, and of Judas’s succession to
him as high priest, both here, and at the conclusion of this book,
directly contradicts 1 Macc. 9:54-57, which places his death after the
death of Judas, and says not a syllable of the high priesthood of Judas.
How well the Roman histories agree to this account of the conquests and
powerful condition of the Romans at this time, see the notes in
Havercamp’s edition; only that the number of the senators of Rome was then
just three hundred and twenty, is, I think, only known from 1 Macc. 8:15.]
28 (return)
[ This subscription is
wanting 1 Macc. 8:17, 29, and must be the words of Josephus, who by
mistake thought, as we have just now seen, that Judas was at this time
high priest, and accordingly then reckoned his brother Jonathan to be the
general of the army, which yet he seems not to have been till after the
death of Judas.]
29 (return)
[ That this copy of
Josephus, as he wrote it, had here not one thousand, but three thousand,
with 1 Macc 9:5, is very plain, because though the main part ran away at
first, even in Josephus, as well as in 1 Macc. 9:6, yet, as there, so
here, eight hundred are said to have remained with Judas, which would be
absurd, if the whole number had been no more than one thousand.]
BOOK XIII. Containing The Interval Of Eighty-Two Years.—From
The Death Of Judas Maccabeus To The Death Of Queen Alexandra.
CHAPTER 1. How Jonathan Took The Government After His Brother Judas; And
How He, Together With His Brother Simon, Waged War Against Bacchides.
1. By what means the nation of the Jews recovered their freedom when they
had been brought into slavery by the Macedonians, and what struggles, and
how great battles, Judas, the general of their army, ran through, till he
was slain as he was fighting for them, hath been related in the foregoing
book; but after he was dead, all the wicked, and those that transgressed
the laws of their forefathers, sprang up again in Judea, and grew upon
them, and distressed them on every side. A famine also assisted their
wickedness, and afflicted the country, till not a few, who by reason of
their want of necessaries, and because they were not able to bear up
against the miseries that both the famine and their enemies brought upon
them, deserted their country, and went to the Macedonians. And now
Bacchides gathered those Jews together who had apostatized from the
accustomed way of living of their forefathers, and chose to live like
their neighbors, and committed the care of the country to them, who also
caught the friends of Judas, and those of his party, and delivered them up
to Bacchides, who when he had, in the first place, tortured and tormented
them at his pleasure, he, by that means, at length killed them. And when
this calamity of the Jews was become so great, as they had never had
experience of the like since their return out of Babylon, those that
remained of the companions of Judas, seeing that the nation was ready to
be destroyed after a miserable manner, came to his brother Jonathan, and
desired him that he would imitate his brother, and that care which he took
of his countrymen, for whose liberty in general he died also; and that he
would not permit the nation to be without a governor, especially in those
destructive circumstances wherein it now was. And where Jonathan said that
he was ready to die for them, and esteemed no inferior to his brother, he
was appointed to be the general of the Jewish army.
2. When Bacchides heard this, and was afraid that Jonathan might be very
troublesome to the king and the Macedonians, as Judas had been before him,
he sought how he might slay him by treachery. But this intention of his
was not unknown to Jonathan, nor to his brother Simon; but when these two
were apprized of it, they took all their companions, and presently fled
into that wilderness which was nearest to the city; and when they were
come to a lake called Asphar, they abode there. But when Bacchides was
sensible that they were in a low state, and were in that place, he hasted
to fall upon them with all his forces, and pitching his camp beyond
Jordan, he recruited his army. But when Jonathan knew that Bacchides Was
coming upon him, he sent his brother John, who was also called Gaddis, to
the Nabatean Arabs, that he might lodge his baggage with them until the
battle with Bacchides should be over, for they were the Jews’ friends. And
the sons of Ambri laid an ambush for John from the city Medaba, and seized
upon him, and upon those that were with him, and plundered all that they
had with them. They also slew John, and all his companions. However, they
were sufficiently punished for what they now did by John’s brethren, as we
shall relate presently.
3. But when Bacchides knew that Jonathan had pitched his camp among the
lakes of Jordan, he observed when their sabbath day came, and then
assaulted him, [as supposing that he would not fight because of the law
for resting on that day]: but he exhorted his companions [to fight]; and
told them that their lives were at stake, since they were encompassed by
the river, and by their enemies, and had no way to escape, for that their
enemies pressed upon them from before, and the river was behind them. So
after he had prayed to God to give them the victory, he joined battle with
the enemy, of whom he overthrew many; and as he saw Bacchides coming up
boldly to him, he stretched out his right hand to smite him; but the other
foreseeing and avoiding the stroke, Jonathan with his companions leaped
into the river, and swam over it, and by that means escaped beyond Jordan
while the enemies did not pass over that river; but Bacchides returned
presently to the citadel at Jerusalem, having lost about two thousand of
his army. He also fortified many cities of Judea, whose walls had been
demolished; Jericho, and Emmaus, and Betboron, and Bethel, and Tinma, and
Pharatho, and Tecoa, and Gazara, and built towers in every one of these
cities, and encompassed them with strong walls, that were very large also,
and put garrisons into them, that they might issue out of them, and do
mischief to the Jews. He also fortified the citadel at Jerusalem more than
all the rest. Moreover, he took the sons of the principal Jews as pledges,
and shut them up in the citadel, and in that manner guarded it.
4. About the same time one came to Jonathan, and to his brother Simon, and
told them that the sons of Ambri were celebrating a marriage, and bringing
the bride from the city Gabatha, who was the daughter of one of the
illustrious men among the Arabians, and that the damsel was to be
conducted with pomp, and splendor, and much riches: so Jonathan and Simon
thinking this appeared to be the fittest time for them to avenge the death
of their brother, and that they had forces sufficient for receiving
satisfaction from them for his death, they made haste to Medaba, and lay
in wait among the mountains for the coming of their enemies; and as soon
as they saw them conducting the virgin, and her bridegroom, and such a
great company of their friends with them as was to be expected at this
wedding, they sallied out of their ambush, and slew them all, and took
their ornaments, and all the prey that then followed them, and so
returned, and received this satisfaction for their brother John from the
sons of Ambri; for as well those sons themselves, as their friends, and
wives, and children that followed them, perished, being in number about
four hundred.
5. However, Simon and Jonathan returned to the lakes of the river, and
abode there. But Bacchides, when he had secured all Judea with his
garrisons, returned to the king; and then it was that the affairs of Judea
were quiet for two years. But when the deserters and the wicked saw that
Jonathan and those that were with him lived in the country very quietly,
by reason of the peace, they sent to king Demetrius, and excited him to
send Bacchides to seize upon Jonathan, which they said was to be done
without any trouble, and in one night’s time; and that if they fell upon
them before they were aware, they might slay them all. So the king sent
Bacchides, who, when he was come into Judea, wrote to all his friends,
both Jews and auxiliaries, that they should seize upon Jonathan, and bring
him to him; and when, upon all their endeavors, they were not able to
seize upon Jonathan, for he was sensible of the snares they laid for him,
and very carefully guarded against them, Bacchides was angry at these
deserters, as having imposed upon him, and upon the king, and slew fifty
of their leaders: whereupon Jonathan, with his brother, and those that
were with him, retired to Bethagla, a village that lay in the wilderness,
out of his fear of Bacchides. He also built towers in it, and encompassed
it with walls, and took care that it should be safely guarded. Upon the
hearing of which Bacchides led his own army along with him, and besides
took his Jewish auxiliaries, and came against Jonathan, and made an
assault upon his fortifications, and besieged him many days; but Jonathan
did not abate of his courage at the zeal Bacchides used in the siege, but
courageously opposed him. And while he left his brother Simon in the city
to fight with Bacchides, he went privately out himself into the country,
and got a great body of men together of his own party, and fell upon
Bacchides’s camp in the night time, and destroyed a great many of them.
His brother Simon knew also of this his falling upon them, because he
perceived that the enemies were slain by him; so he sallied out upon them,
and burnt the engines which the Macedonians used, and made a great
slaughter of them. And when Bacchides saw himself encompassed with
enemies, and some of them before and some behind him, he fell into despair
and trouble of mind, as confounded at the unexpected ill success of this
siege. However, he vented his displeasure at these misfortunes upon those
deserters who sent for him from the king, as having deluded him. So he had
a mind to finish this siege after a decent manner, if it were possible for
him so to do, and then to return home.
6. When Jonathan understood these his intentions, he sent ambassadors to
him about a league of friendship and mutual assistance, and that they
might restore those they had taken captive on both sides. So Bacchides
thought this a pretty decent way of retiring home, and made a league of
friendship with Jonathan, when they sware that they would not any more
make war one against another. Accordingly, he restored the captives, and
took his own men with him, and returned to the king at Antioch; and after
this his departure, he never came into Judea again. Then did Jonathan take
the opportunity of this quiet state of things, and went and lived in the
city Michmash; and there governed the multitude, and punished the wicked
and ungodly, and by that means purged the nation of them.
CHAPTER 2. How Alexander [Bala] In His War With Demetrius, Granted
Jonathan Many Advantages And Appointed Him To Be High Priest And Persuaded
Him To Assist Him Although Demetrius Promised Him Greater Advantages On
The Other Side. Concerning The Death
Of Demetrius.
1. Now in the hundred and sixtieth year, it fell out that Alexander, the
son of Antiochus Epiphanes, 1 came up into Syria, and took
Ptolemais the soldiers within having betrayed it to him; for they were at
enmity with Demetrius, on account of his insolence and difficulty of
access; for he shut himself up in a palace of his that had four towers
which he had built himself, not far from Antioch and admitted nobody. He
was withal slothful and negligent about the public affairs, whereby the
hatred of his subjects was the more kindled against him, as we have
elsewhere already related. When therefore Demetrius heard that Alexander
was in Ptolemais, he took his whole army, and led it against him; he also
sent ambassadors to Jonathan about a league of mutual assistance and
friendship, for he resolved to be beforehand with Alexander, lest the
other should treat with him first, and gain assistance from him; and this
he did out of the fear he had lest Jonathan should remember how ill
Demetrius had formerly treated him, and should join with him in this war
against him. He therefore gave orders that Jonathan should be allowed to
raise an army, and should get armor made, and should receive back those
hostages of the Jewish nation whom Baechides had shut up in the citadel of
Jerusalem. When this good fortune had befallen Jonathan, by the concession
of Demetrius, he came to Jerusalem, and read the king’s letter in the
audience of the people, and of those that kept the citadel. When these
were read, these wicked men and deserters, who were in the citadel, were
greatly afraid, upon the king’s permission to Jonathan to raise an army,
and to receive back the hostages. So he delivered every one of them to his
own parents. And thus did Jonathan make his abode at Jerusalem, renewing
the city to a better state, and reforming the buildings as he pleased; for
he gave orders that the walls of the city should be rebuilt with square
stones, that it might be more secure from their enemies. And when those
that kept the garrisons that were in Judea saw this, they all left them,
and fled to Antioch, excepting those that were in the city Bethsura, and
those that were in the citadel of Jerusalem, for the greater part of these
was of the wicked Jews and deserters, and on that account these did not
deliver up their garrisons.
2. When Alexander knew what promises Demetrius had made Jonathan, and
withal knew his courage, and what great things he had done when he fought
the Macedonians, and besides what hardships he had undergone by the means
of Demetrius, and of Bacchides, the general of Demetrius’s army, he told
his friends that he could not at present find any one else that might
afford him better assistance than Jonathan, who was both courageous
against his enemies, and had a particular hatred against Demetrius, as
having both suffered many hard things from him, and acted many hard things
against him. If therefore they were of opinion that they should make him
their friend against Demetrius, it was more for their advantage to invite
him to assist them now than at another time. It being therefore determined
by him and his friends to send to Jonathan, he wrote to him this epistle:
“King Alexander to his brother Jonathan, sendeth greeting. We have long
ago heard of thy courage and thy fidelity, and for that reason have sent
to thee, to make with thee a league of friendship and mutual assistance.
We therefore do ordain thee this day the high priest of the Jews, and that
thou beest called my friend. I have also sent thee, as presents, a purple
robe and a golden crown, and desire that, now thou art by us honored, thou
wilt in like manner respect us also.”
3. When Jonathan had received this letter, he put on the pontifical robe
at the time of the feast of tabernacles, 2 four
years after the death of his brother Judas, for at that time no high
priest had been made. So he raised great forces, and had abundance of
armor got ready. This greatly grieved Demetrius when he heard of it, and
made him blame himself for his slowness, that he had not prevented
Alexander, and got the good-will of Jonathan, but had given him time so to
do. However, he also himself wrote a letter to Jonathan, and to the
people, the contents whereof are these: “King Demetrius to Jonathan, and
to the nation of the Jews, sendeth greeting. Since you have preserved your
friendship for us, and when you have been tempted by our enemies, you have
not joined yourselves to them, I both commend you for this your fidelity,
and exhort you to continue in the same disposition, for which you shall be
repaid, and receive rewards from us; for I will free you from the greatest
part of the tributes and taxes which you formerly paid to the kings my
predecessors, and to myself; and I do now set you free from those tributes
which you have ever paid; and besides, I forgive you the tax upon salt,
and the value of the crowns which you used to offer to me 3
and instead of the third part of the fruits [of the field], and the half
of the fruits of the trees, I relinquish my part of them from this day:
and as to the poll-money, which ought to be given me for every head of the
inhabitants of Judea, and of the three toparchies that adjoin to Judea,
Samaria, and Galilee, and Peres, that I relinquish to you for this time,
and for all time to come. I will also that the city of Jerusalem be holy
and inviolable, and free from the tithe, and from the taxes, unto its
utmost bounds. And I so far recede from my title to the citadel, as to
permit Jonathan your high priest to possess it, that he may place such a
garrison in it as he approves of for fidelity and good-will to himself,
that they may keep it for us. I also make free all those Jews who have
been made captives and slaves in my kingdom. I also give order that the
beasts of the Jews be not pressed for our service; and let their sabbaths,
and all their festivals, and three days before each of them, be free from
any imposition. In the same manner, I set free the Jews that are
inhabitants of my kingdom, and order that no injury be done them. I also
give leave to such of them as are willing to list themselves in my army,
that they may do it, and those as far as thirty thousand; which Jewish
soldiers, wheresoever they go, shall have the same pay that my own army
hath; and some of them I will place in my garrisons, and some as guards
about mine own body, and as rulers over those that are in my court. I give
them leave also to use the laws of their forefathers, and to observe them;
and I will that they have power over the three toparchies that are added
to Judea; and it shall be in the power of the high priest to take care
that no one Jew shall have any other temple for worship but only that at
Jerusalem. I bequeath also, out of my own revenues, yearly, for the
expenses about the sacrifices, one hundred and fifty thousand [drachmae];
and what money is to spare, I will that it shall be your own. I also
release to you those ten thousand drachmae which the kings received from
the temple, because they appertain to the priests that minister in that
temple. And whosoever shall fly to the temple at Jerusalem, or to the
places thereto belonging, or who owe the king money, or are there on any
other account, let them be set free, and let their goods be in safety. I
also give you leave to repair and rebuild your temple, and that all be
done at my expenses. I also allow you to build the walls of your city, and
to erect high towers, and that they be erected at my charge. And if there
be any fortified town that would be convenient for the Jewish country to
have very strong, let it be so built at my expenses.”
4. This was what Demetrius promised and granted to the Jews by this
letter. But king Alexander raised a great army of mercenary soldiers, and
of those that deserted to him out of Syria, and made an expedition against
Demetrius. And when it was come to a battle, the left wing of Demetrius
put those who opposed them to flight, and pursued them a great way, and
slew many of them, and spoiled their camp; but the right wing, where
Demetrius happened to be, was beaten; and as for all the rest, they ran
away. But Demetrius fought courageously, and slew a great many of the
enemy; but as he was in the pursuit of the rest, his horse carried him
into a deep bog, where it was hard to get out, and there it happened, that
upon his horse’s falling down, he could not escape being killed; for when
his enemies saw what had befallen him, they returned back, and encompassed
Demetrius round, and they all threw their darts at him; but he, being now
on foot, fought bravely. But at length he received so many wounds, that he
was not able to bear up any longer, but fell. And this is the end that
Demetrius came to, when he had reigned eleven years, 4
as we have elsewhere related.
CHAPTER 3. The Friendship That Was Between Onias And Ptolemy Philometor;
And How Onias Built A Temple In Egypt Like To That At Jerusalem.
1. But then the son of Onias the high priest, who was of the same name
with his father, and who fled to king Ptolemy, who was called Philometor,
lived now at Alexandria, as we have said already. When this Onias saw that
Judea was oppressed by the Macedonians and their kings, out of a desire to
purchase to himself a memorial and eternal fame he resolved to send to
king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, to ask leave of them that he might build
a temple in Egypt like to that at Jerusalem, and might ordain Levites and
priests out of their own stock. The chief reason why he was desirous so to
do, was, that he relied upon the prophet Isaiah, who lived above six
hundred years before, and foretold that there certainly was to be a temple
built to Almighty God in Egypt by a man that was a Jew. Onias was elevated
with this prediction, and wrote the following epistle to Ptolemy and
Cleopatra: “Having done many and great things for you in the affairs of
the war, by the assistance of God, and that in Celesyria and Phoenicia, I
came at length with the Jews to Leontopolis, and to other places of your
nation, where I found that the greatest part of your people had temples in
an improper manner, and that on this account they bare ill-will one
against another, which happens to the Egyptians by reason of the multitude
of their temples, and the difference of opinions about Divine worship. Now
I found a very fit place in a castle that hath its name from the country
Diana; this place is full of materials of several sorts, and replenished
with sacred animals; I desire therefore that you will grant me leave to
purge this holy place, which belongs to no master, and is fallen down, and
to build there a temple to Almighty God, after the pattern of that in
Jerusalem, and of the same dimensions, that may be for the benefit of
thyself, and thy wife and children, that those Jews which dwell in Egypt
may have a place whither they may come and meet together in mutual harmony
one with another, and he subservient to thy advantages; for the prophet
Isaiah foretold that, ‘there should be an altar in Egypt to the Lord
God;'” 5
and many other such things did he prophesy relating to that place.
2. And this was what Onias wrote to king Ptolemy. Now any one may observe
his piety, and that of his sister and wife Cleopatra, by that epistle
which they wrote in answer to it; for they laid the blame and the
transgression of the law upon the head of Onias. And this was their reply:
“King Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra to Onias, send greeting. We have read
thy petition, wherein thou desirest leave to be given thee to purge that
temple which is fallen down at Leontopolis, in the Nomus of Heliopolis,
and which is named from the country Bubastis; on which account we cannot
but wonder that it should be pleasing to God to have a temple erected in a
place so unclean, and so full of sacred animals. But since thou sayest
that Isaiah the prophet foretold this long ago, we give thee leave to do
it, if it may be done according to your law, and so that we may not appear
to have at all offended God herein.”
3. So Onias took the place, and built a temple, and an altar to God, like
indeed to that in Jerusalem, but smaller and poorer. I do not think it
proper for me now to describe its dimensions or its vessels, which have
been already described in my seventh book of the Wars of the Jews.
However, Onias found other Jews like to himself, together with priests and
Levites, that there performed Divine service. But we have said enough
about this temple.
4. Now it came to pass that the Alexandrian Jews, and those Samaritans who
paid their worship to the temple that was built in the days of Alexander
at Mount Gerizzim, did now make a sedition one against another, and
disputed about their temples before Ptolemy himself; the Jews saying that,
according to the laws of Moses, the temple was to be built at Jerusalem;
and the Samaritans saying that it was to be built at Gerizzim. They
desired therefore the king to sit with his friends, and hear the debates
about these matters, and punish those with death who were baffled. Now
Sabbeus and Theodosius managed the argument for the Samaritans, and
Andronicus, the son of Messalamus, for the people of Jerusalem; and they
took an oath by God and the king to make their demonstrations according to
the law; and they desired of Ptolemy, that whomsoever he should find that
transgressed what they had sworn to, he would put him to death.
Accordingly, the king took several of his friends into the council, and
sat down, in order to hear what the pleaders said. Now the Jews that were
at Alexandria were in great concern for those men, whose lot it was to
contend for the temple at Jerusalem; for they took it very ill that any
should take away the reputation of that temple, which was so ancient and
so celebrated all over the habitable earth. Now when Sabbeus and
Theodosius had given leave to Andronicus to speak first, he began to
demonstrate out of the law, and out of the successions of the high
priests, how they every one in succession from his father had received
that dignity, and ruled over the temple; and how all the kings of Asia had
honored that temple with their donations, and with the most splendid gifts
dedicated thereto. But as for that at Gerizzm, he made no account of it,
and regarded it as if it had never had a being. By this speech, and other
arguments, Andronicus persuaded the king to determine that the temple at
Jerusalem was built according to the laws of Moses, 6 and to
put Sabbeus and Theodosius to death. And these were the events that befell
the Jews at Alexandria in the days of Ptolemy Philometor.
CHAPTER 4. How Alexander Honored Jonathan After An Extraordinary Manner;
And How Demetrius, The Son Of Demetrius, Overcame Alexander And Made A
League Of Friendship With Jonathan.
1. Demetrius being thus slain in battle, as we have above related,
Alexander took the kingdom of Syria; and wrote to Ptolemy Philometor, and
desired his daughter in marriage; and said it was but just that he should
be joined an affinity to one that had now received the principality of his
forefathers, and had been promoted to it by God’s providence, and had
conquered Demetrius, and that was on other accounts not unworthy of being
related to him. Ptolemy received this proposal of marriage gladly; and
wrote him an answer, saluting him on account of his having received the
principality of his forefathers; and promising him that he would give him
his daughter in marriage; and assured him that he was coming to meet him
at Ptolemais, and desired that he would there meet him, for that he would
accompany her from Egypt so far, and would there marry his child to him.
When Ptolemy had written thus, he came suddenly to Ptolemais, and brought
his daughter Cleopatra along with him; and as he found Alexander there
before him, as he desired him to come, he gave him his child in marriage,
and for her portion gave her as much silver and gold as became such a king
to give.
2. When the wedding was over, Alexander wrote to Jonathan the high priest,
and desired him to come to Ptolemais. So when he came to these kings, and
had made them magnificent presents, he was honored by them both. Alexander
compelled him also to put off his own garment, and to take a purple
garment, and made him sit with him in his throne; and commanded his
captains that they should go with him into the middle of the city, and
proclaim, that it was not permitted to any one to speak against him, or to
give him any disturbance. And when the captains had thus done, those that
were prepared to accuse Jonathan, and who bore him ill-will, when they saw
the honor that was done him by proclamation, and that by the king’s order,
ran away, and were afraid lest some mischief should befall them. Nay, king
Alexander was so very kind to Jonathan, that he set him down as the
principal of his friends.
3. But then, upon the hundred and sixty-fifth year, Demetrius, the son of
Demetrius, came from Crete with a great number of mercenary soldiers,
which Lasthenes, the Cretian, brought him, and sailed to Cilicia. This
thing cast Alexander into great concern and disorder when he heard it; so
he made haste immediately out of Phoenicia, and came to Antioch, that he
might put matters in a safe posture there before Demetrius should come. He
also left Apollonius Daus 7 governor of Celesyria, who
coming to Jamnia with a great army, sent to Jonathan the high priest, and
told him that it was not right that he alone should live at rest, and with
authority, and not be subject to the king; that this thing had made him a
reproach among all men, that he had not yet made him subject to the king.
“Do not thou therefore deceive thyself, and sit still among the mountains,
and pretend to have forces with thee; but if thou hast any dependence on
thy strength, come down into the plain, and let our armies be compared
together, and the event of the battle will demonstrate which of us is the
most courageous. However, take notice, that the most valiant men of every
city are in my army, and that these are the very men who have always
beaten thy progenitors; but let us have the battle in such a place of the
country where we may fight with weapons, and not with stones, and where
there may be no place whither those that are beaten may fly.”
4. With this Jonathan was irritated; and choosing himself out ten thousand
of his soldiers, he went out of Jerusalem in haste, with his brother
Simon, and came to Joppa, and pitched his camp on the outside of the city,
because the people of Joppa had shut their gates against him, for they had
a garrison in the city put there by Apollonius. But when Jonathan was
preparing to besiege them, they were afraid he would take them by force,
and so they opened the gates to him. But Apollonius, when he heard that
Joppa was taken by Jonathan, took three thousand horsemen, and eight
thousand footmen and came to Ashdod; and removing thence, he made his
journey silently and slowly, and going up to Joppa, he made as if he was
retiring from the place, and so drew Jonathan into the plain, as valuing
himself highly upon his horsemen, and having his hopes of victory
principally in them. However, Jonathan sallied out, and pursued Apollonius
to Ashdod; but as soon as Apollonius perceived that his enemy was in the
plain, he came back and gave him battle. But Apollonius had laid a
thousand horsemen in ambush in a valley, that they might be seen by their
enemies as behind them; which when Jonathan perceived, he was under no
consternation, but ordering his army to stand in a square battle-array, he
gave them a charge to fall on the enemy on both sides, and set them to
face those that attacked them both before and behind; and while the fight
lasted till the evening, he gave part of his forces to his brother Simon,
and ordered him to attack the enemies; but for himself, he charged those
that were with him to cover themselves with their armor, and receive the
darts of the horsemen, who did as they were commanded; so that the enemy’s
horsemen, while they threw their darts till they had no more left, did
them no harm, for the darts that were thrown did not enter into their
bodies, being thrown upon the shields that were united and conjoined
together, the closeness of which easily overcame the force of the darts,
and they flew about without any effect. But when the enemy grew remiss in
throwing their darts from morning till late at night, Simon perceived
their weariness, and fell upon the body of men before him; and because his
soldiers showed great alacrity, he put the enemy to flight. And when the
horsemen saw that the footmen ran away, neither did they stay themselves,
but they being very weary, by the duration of the fight till the evening,
and their hope from the footmen being quite gone, they basely ran away,
and in great confusion also, till they were separated one from another,
and scattered over all the plain. Upon which Jonathan pursued them as far
as Ashdod, and slew a great many of them, and compelled the rest, in
despair of escaping, to fly to the temple of Dagon, which was at Ashdod;
but Jonathan took the city on the first onset, and burnt it, and the
villages about it; nor did he abstain from the temple of Dagon itself, but
burnt it also, and destroyed those that had fled to it. Now the entire
multitude of the enemies that fell in the battle, and were consumed in the
temple, were eight thousand. When Jonathan therefore had overcome so great
an army, he removed from Ashdod, and came to Askelon; and when he had
pitched his camp without the city, the people of Askelon came out and met
him, bringing him hospitable presents, and honoring him; so he accepted of
their kind intentions, and returned thence to Jerusalem with a great deal
of prey, which he brought thence when he conquered his enemies. But when
Alexander heard that Apollonius, the general of his army, was beaten, he
pretended to be glad of it, because he had fought with Jonathan his friend
and ally against his directions. Accordingly, he sent to Jonathan, and
gave testimony to his worth; and gave him honorary rewards, as a golden
button, 8
which it is the custom to give the king’s kinsmen, and allowed him Ekron
and its toparchy for his own inheritance.
5. About this time it was that king Ptolemy, who was called Philometor,
led an army, part by the sea, and part by land, and came to Syria, to the
assistance of Alexander, who was his son-in-law; and accordingly all the
cities received him willingly, as Alexander had commanded them to do, and
conducted him as far as Ashdod; where they all made loud complaints about
the temple of Dagon, which was burnt, and accused Jonathan of having laid
it waste, and destroyed the country adjoining with fire, and slain a great
number of them. Ptolemy heard these accusations, but said nothing.
Jonathan also went to meet Ptolemy as far as Joppa, and obtained from him
hospitable presents, and those glorious in their kinds, with all the marks
of honor; and when he had conducted him as far as the river called
Eleutherus, he returned again to Jerusalem.
6. But as Ptolemy was at Ptolemais, he was very near to a most unexpected
destruction; for a treacherous design was laid for his life by Alexander,
by the means of Ammonius, who was his friend; and as the treachery was
very plain, Ptolemy wrote to Alexander, and required of him that he should
bring Ammonius to condign punishment, informing him what snares had been
laid for him by Ammonius, and desiring that he might be accordingly
punished for it. But when Alexander did not comply with his demands, he
perceived that it was he himself who laid the design, and was very angry
at him. Alexander had also formerly been on very ill terms with the people
of Antioch, for they had suffered very much by his means; yet did Ammonius
at length undergo the punishment his insolent crimes had deserved, for he
was killed in an opprobrious manner, like a woman, while he endeavored to
conceal himself in a feminine habit, as we have elsewhere related.
7. Hereupon Ptolemy blamed himself for having given his daughter in
marriage to Alexander, and for the league he had made with him to assist
him against Demetrius; so he dissolved his relation to him, and took his
daughter away from him, and immediately sent to Demetrius, and offered to
make a league of mutual assistance and friendship with him, and agreed
with him to give him his daughter in marriage, and to restore him to the
principality of his fathers. Demetrius was well pleased with this
embassage, and accepted of his assistance, and of the marriage of his
daughter. But Ptolemy had still one more hard task to do, and that was to
persuade the people of Antioch to receive Demetrius, because they were
greatly displeased at him, on account of the injuries his father Demetrius
had done them; yet did he bring this about; for as the people of Antioch
hated Alexander on Ammonius’s account, as we have shown already, they were
easily prevailed with to cast him out of Antioch; who, thus expelled out
of Antioch, came into Cilicia. Ptolemy came then to Antioch, and was made
king by its inhabitants, and by the army; so that he was forced to put on
two diadems, the one of Asia, the other of Egypt: but being naturally a
good and a righteous man, and not desirous of what belonged to others, and
besides these dispositions, being also a wise man in reasoning about
futurities, he determined to avoid the envy of the Romans; so he called
the people of Antioch together to an assembly, and persuaded them to
receive Demetrius; and assured them that he would not be mindful of what
they did to his father in case he should be now obliged by them; and he
undertook that he would himself be a good monitor and governor to him, and
promised that he would not permit him to attempt any bad actions; but
that, for his own part, he was contented with the kingdom of Egypt. By
which discourse he persuaded the people of Antioch to receive Demetrius.
8. But now Alexander made haste with a numerous and great army, and came
out of Cilicia into Syria, and burnt the country belonging to Antioch, and
pillaged it; whereupon Ptolemy, and his son-in-law Demetrius, brought
their army against him, [for he had already given him his daughter in
marriage,] and beat Alexander, and put him to flight; and accordingly he
fled into Arabia. Now it happened in the time of the battle that Ptolemy’
horse, upon hearing the noise of an elephant, cast him off his back, and
threw him on the ground; upon the sight of which accident, his enemies
fell upon him, and gave him many wounds upon his head, and brought him
into danger of death; for when his guards caught him up, he was so very
ill, that for four days’ time he was not able either to understand or to
speak. However, Zabdiel, a prince among the Arabians, cut off Alexander’s
head, and sent it to Ptolemy, who recovering of his wounds, and returning
to his understanding, on the fifth day, heard at once a most agreeable
hearing, and saw a most agreeable sight, which were the death and the head
of Alexander; yet a little after this his joy for the death of Alexander,
with which he was so greatly satisfied, he also departed this life. Now
Alexander, who was called Balas, reigned over Asia five years, as we have
elsewhere related.
9. But when Demetrius, who was styled Nicator, 9 had taken
the kingdom, he was so wicked as to treat Ptolemy’s soldiers very hardly,
neither remembering the league of mutual assistance that was between them,
nor that he was his son-in-law and kinsman, by Cleopatra’s marriage to
him; so the soldiers fled from his wicked treatment to Alexandria; but
Demetrius kept his elephants. But Jonathan the high priest levied an army
out of all Judea, and attacked the citadel at Jerusalem, and besieged it.
It was held by a garrison of Macedonians, and by some of those wicked men
who had deserted the customs of their forefathers. These men at first
despised the attempts of Jonathan for taking the place, as depending on
its strength; but some of those wicked men went out by night, and came to
Demetrius, and informed him that the citadel was besieged; who was
irritated with what he heard, and took his army, and came from Antioch,
against Jonathan. And when he was at Antioch, he wrote to him, and
commanded him to come to him quickly to Ptolemais: upon which Jonathan did
not intermit the siege of the citadel, but took with him the elders of the
people, and the priests, and carried with him gold, and silver, and
garments, and a great number of presents of friendship, and came to
Demetrius, and presented him with them, and thereby pacified the king’s
anger. So he was honored by him, and received from him the confirmation of
his high priesthood, as he had possessed it by the grants of the kings his
predecessors. And when the Jewish deserters accused him, Demetrius was so
far from giving credit to them, that when he petitioned him that he would
demand no more than three hundred talents for the tribute of all Judea,
and the three toparchies of Samaria, and Perea, and Galilee, he complied
with the proposal, and gave him a letter confirming all those grants;
whose contents were as follows: “King Demetrius to Jonathan his brother,
and to the nation of the Jews, sendeth greeting. We have sent you a copy
of that epistle which we have written to Lasthones our kinsman, that you
may know its contents. ‘King Demetrus to Lasthenes our father, sendeth
greeting. I have determined to return thanks, and to show favor to the
nation of the Jews, which hath observed the rules of justice in our
concerns. Accordingly, I remit to them the three prefectures, Apherims,
and Lydda, and Ramatha, which have been added to Judea out of Samaria,
with their appurtenances; as also what the kings my predecessors received
from those that offered sacrifices in Jerusalem, and what are due from the
fruits of the earth, and of the trees, and what else belongs to us; with
the salt-pits, and the crowns that used to be presented to us. Nor shall
they be compelled to pay any of those taxes from this time to all
futurity. Take care therefore that a copy of this epistle be taken, and
given to Jonathan, and be set up in an eminent place of their holy
temple.'” And these were the contents of this writing. And now when
Demetrius saw that there was peace every where, and that there was no
danger, nor fear of war, he disbanded the greatest part of his army, and
diminished their pay, and even retained in pay no others than such
foreigners as came up with him from Crete, and from the other islands.
However, this procured him ill-will and hatred from the soldiers; on whom
he bestowed nothing from this time, while the kings before him used to pay
them in time of peace as they did before, that they might have their
good-will, and that they might be very ready to undergo the difficulties
of war, if any occasion should require it.
CHAPTER 5. How Trypho After He Had Beaten Demetrius Delivered The Kingdom
To Antiochus The Son Of Alexander, And Gained Jonathan For His Assistant;
And Concerning The Actions And Embassies Of Jonathan.
1. Now there was a certain commander of Alexander’s forces, an Apanemian
by birth, whose name was Diodotus, and was also called Trypho, took notice
the ill-will of the soldiers bare to Demetrius, and went to Malchus the
Arabian, who brought up Antiochus, the son of Alexander, and told him what
ill-will the army bare Demetrius, and persuaded him to give him Antiochus,
because he would make him king, and recover to him the kingdom of his
father. Malchus at the first opposed him in this attempt, because he could
not believe him; but when Trypho lay hard at him for a long time, he
over-persuaded him to comply with Trypho’s intentions and entreaties. And
this was the state Trypho was now in.
2. But Jonathan the high priest, being desirous to get clear of those that
were in the citadel of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish deserters, and wicked
men, as well as of those in all the garrisons in the country, sent
presents and ambassadors to Demetrius, and entreated him to take away his
soldiers out of the strong holds of Judea. Demetrius made answer, that
after the war, which he was now deeply engaged in, was over, he would not
only grant him that, but greater things than that also; and he desired he
would send him some assistance, and informed him that his army had
deserted him. So Jonathan chose out three thousand of his soldiers, and
sent them to Demetrius.
3. Now the people of Antioch hated Demetrius, both on account of what
mischief he had himself done them, and because they were his enemies also
on account of his father Demetrius, who had greatly abused them; so they
watched some opportunity which they might lay hold on to fall upon him.
And when they were informed of the assistance that was coming to Demetrius
from Jonathan, and considered at the same time that he would raise a
numerous army, unless they prevented him, and seized upon him, they took
their weapons immediately, and encompassed his palace in the way of a
siege, and seizing upon all the ways of getting out, they sought to subdue
their king. And when he saw that the people of Antioch were become his
bitter enemies and that they were thus in arms, he took the mercenary
soldiers which he had with them, and those Jews who were sent by Jonathan,
and assaulted the Antiochians; but he was overpowered by them, for they
were many ten thousands, and was beaten. But when the Jews saw that the
Antiochians were superior, they went up to the top of the palace, and shot
at them from thence; and because they were so remote from them by their
height, that they suffered nothing on their side, but did great execution
on the others, as fighting from such an elevation, they drove them out of
the adjoining houses, and immediately set them on fire, whereupon the
flame spread itself over the whole city, and burnt it all down. This
happened by reason of the closeness of the houses, and because they were
generally built of wood. So the Antiochians, when they were not able to
help themselves, nor to stop the fire, were put to flight. And as the Jews
leaped from the top of one house to the top of another, and pursued them
after that manner, it thence happened that the pursuit was so very
surprising. But when the king saw that the Antiochians were were busy in
saving their children and their wives, and so did not fight any longer, he
fell upon them in the narrow passages, and fought them, and slew a great
many of them, till at last they were forced to throw down their arms, and
to deliver themselves up to Demetrius. So he forgave them this their
insolent behavior, and put an end to the sedition; and when he had given
rewards to the Jews out of the rich spoils he had gotten, and had returned
them thanks, as the cause of his victory, he sent them away to Jerusalem
to Jonathan, with an ample testimony of the assistance they had afforded
him. Yet did he prove an ill man to Jonathan afterward, and broke the
promises he had made; and he threatened that he would make war upon him,
unless he would pay all that tribute which the Jewish nation owed to the
first kings [of Syria]. And this he had done, if Trypho had not hindered
him, and diverted his preparations against Jonathan to a concern for his
own preservation; for he now returned out of Arabia into Syria, with the
child Antiochus, for he was yet in age but a youth, and put the diadem on
his head; and as the whole forces that had left Demetrius, because they
had no pay, came to his assistance, he made war upon Demetrius, and
joining battle with him, overcame him in the fight, and took from him both
his elephants and the city Antioch.
4. Demetrius, upon this defeat, retired into Cilicia; but the child
Antiochus sent ambassadors and an epistle to Jonathan, and made him his
friend and confederate, and confirmed to him the high priesthood, and
yielded up to him the four prefectures which had been added to Judea.
Moreover, he sent him vessels and cups of gold, and a purple garment, and
gave him leave to use them. He also presented him with a golden button,
and styled him one of his principal friends, and appointed his brother
Simon to be the general over the forces, from the Ladder of Tyre unto
Egypt. So Jonathan was so pleased with these grants made him by Antiochus,
that he sent ambassadors to him and to Trypho, and professed himself to be
their friend and confederate, and said he would join with him in a war
against Demetrius, informing him that he had made no proper returns for
the kindness he had done him; for that when he had received many marks of
kindness from him, when he stood in great need of them, he, for such good
turns, had requited him with further injuries.
5. So Antiochus gave Jonathan leave to raise himself a numerous army out
of Syria and Phoenicia and to make war against Demetrius’s generals;
whereupon he went in haste to the several cities which received him
splendidly indeed, but put no forces into his hands. And when he was come
from thence to Askelon, the inhabitants of Askelon came and brought him
presents, and met him in a splendid manner. He exhorted them, and every
one of the cities of Celesyria, to forsake Demetrius, and to join with
Antiochus; and, in assisting him, to endeavor to punish Demetrius for what
offenses he had been guilty of against themselves; and told them there
were many reasons for that their procedure, if they had a mind so to do.
And when he had persuaded those cities to promise their assistance to
Antiochus, he came to Gaza, in order to induce them also to be friends to
Antiochus; but he found the inhabitants of Gaza much more alienated from
him than he expected, for they had shut their gates against him; and
although they had deserted Demetrius, they had not resolved to join
themselves to Antiochus. This provoked Jonathan to besiege them, and to
harass their country; for as he set a part of his army round about Gaza
itself, so with the rest he overran their land, and spoiled it, and burnt
what was in it. When the people of Gaza saw themselves in this state of
affliction, and that no assistance came to them from Demetrius, that what
distressed them was at hand, but what should profit them was still at a
great distance, and it was uncertain whether it would come at all or not,
they thought it would be prudent conduct to leave off any longer
continuance with them, and to cultivate friendship with the other; so they
sent to Jonathan, and professed they would be his friends, and afford him
assistance: for such is the temper of men, that before they have had the
trial of great afflictions, they do not understand what is for their
advantage; but when they find themselves under such afflictions, they then
change their minds, and what it had been better for them to have done
before they had been at all damaged, they choose to do, but not till after
they have suffered such damages. However, he made a league of friendship
with them, and took from them hostages for their performance of it, and
sent these hostages to Jerusalem, while he went himself over all the
country, as far as Damascus.
6. But when he heard that the generals of Demetrius’s forces were come to
the city Cadesh with a numerous army, [the place lies between the land of
the Tyrians and Galilee,]for they supposed they should hereby draw him out
of Syria, in order to preserve Galilee, and that he would not overlook the
Galileans, who were his own people, when war was made upon them, he went
to meet them, having left Simon in Judea, who raised as great an army as
he was able out of the country, and then sat down before Bethsura, and
besieged it, that being the strongest place in all Judea; and a garrison
of Demetrius’s kept it, as we have already related. But as Simon was
raising banks, and bringing his engines of war against Bethsura, and was
very earnest about the siege of it, the garrison was afraid lest the place
should be taken of Simon by force, and they put to the sword; so they sent
to Simon, and desired the security of his oath, that they should come to
no harm from him, and that they would leave the place, and go away to
Demetrius. Accordingly he gave them his oath, and ejected them out of the
city, and he put therein a garrison of his own.
7. But Jonathan removed out of Galilee, and from the waters which are
called Gennesar, for there he was before encamped, and came into the plain
that is called Asor, without knowing that the enemy was there. When
therefore Demetrius’s men knew a day beforehand that Jonathan was coming
against them, they laid an ambush in the mountain, who were to assault him
on the sudden, while they themselves met him with an army in the plain;
which army, when Jonathan saw ready to engage him, he also got ready his
own soldiers for the battle as well as he was able; but those that were
laid in ambush by Demetrius’s generals being behind them, the Jews were
afraid lest they should be caught in the midst between two bodies, and
perish; so they ran away in haste, and indeed all the rest left Jonathan;
but a few there were, in number about fifty, who staid with him, and with
them Mattathias, the son of Absalom, and Judas, the son of Chapseus, who
were commanders of the whole army. These marched boldly, and like men
desperate, against the enemy, and so pushed them, that by their courage
they daunted them, and with their weapons in their hands they put them to
flight. And when those soldiers of Jonathan that had retired saw the enemy
giving way, they got together after their flight, and pursued them with
great violence; and this did they as far as Cadesh, where the camp of the
enemy lay.
8. Jonathan having thus gotten a glorious victory, and slain two thousand
of the enemy, returned to Jerusalem. So when he saw that all his affairs
prospered according to his mind, by the providence of God, he sent
ambassadors to the Romans, being desirous of renewing that friendship
which their nation had with them formerly. He enjoined the same
ambassadors, that, as they came back, they should go to the Spartans, and
put them in mind of their friendship and kindred. So when the ambassadors
came to Rome, they went into their senate, and said what they were
commanded by Jonathan the high priest to say, how he had sent them to
confirm their friendship. The senate then confirmed what had been formerly
decreed concerning their friendship with the Jews, and gave them letters
to carry to all the kings of Asia and Europe, and to the governors of the
cities, that they might safely conduct them to their own country.
Accordingly, as they returned, they came to Sparta, and delivered the
epistle which they had received of Jonathan to them; a copy of which here
follows: “Jonathan the high priest of the Jewish nation, and the senate,
and body of the people of the Jews, to the ephori, and senate, and people
of the Lacedemonians, send greeting. If you be well, and both your public
and private affairs be agreeable to your mind, it is according to our
wishes. We are well also. When in former times an epistle was brought to
Onias, who was then our high priest, from Areus, who at that time was your
king, by Demoteles, concerning the kindred that was between us and you, a
copy of which is here subjoined, we both joyfully received the epistle,
and were well pleased with Demoteles and Areus, although we did not need
such a demonstration, because we were satisfied about it from the sacred
writings 10 yet did not we think fit first
to begin the claim of this relation to you, lest we should seem too early
in taking to ourselves the glory which is now given us by you. It is a
long time since this relation of ours to you hath been renewed; and when
we, upon holy and festival days, offer sacrifices to God, we pray to him
for your preservation and victory. As to ourselves, although we have had
many wars that have compassed us around, by reason of the covetousness of
our neighbors, yet did not we determine to be troublesome either to you,
or to others that were related to us; but since we have now overcome our
enemies, and have occasion to send Numenius the son of Antiochus, and
Antipater the son of Jason, who are both honorable men belonging to our
senate, to the Romans, we gave them this epistle to you also, that they
might renew that friendship which is between us. You will therefore do
well yourselves to write to us, and send us an account of what you stand
in need of from us, since we are in all things disposed to act according
to your desires.” So the Lacedemonians received the ambassadors kindly,
and made a decree for friendship and mutual assistance, and sent it to
them.
9. At this time there were three sects among the Jews, who had different
opinions concerning human actions; the one was called the sect of the
Pharisees, another the sect of the Sadducees, and the other the sect of
the Essens. Now for the Pharisees, 11 they
say that some actions, but not all, are the work of fate, and some of them
are in our own power, and that they are liable to fate, but are not caused
by fate. But the sect of the Essens affirm, that fate governs all things,
and that nothing befalls men but what is according to its determination.
And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and say there is no such
thing, and that the events of human affairs are not at its disposal; but
they suppose that all our actions are in our own power, so that we are
ourselves the causes of what is good, and receive what is evil from our
own folly. However, I have given a more exact account of these opinions in
the second book of the Jewish War.
10. But now the generals of Demetrius being willing to recover the defeat
they had had, gathered a greater army together than they had before, and
came against Jonathan; but as soon as he was informed of their coming, he
went suddenly to meet them, to the country of Hamoth, for he resolved to
give them no opportunity of coming into Judea; so he pitched his camp at
fifty furlongs’ distance from the enemy, and sent out spies to take a view
of their camp, and after what manner they were encamped. When his spies
had given him full information, and had seized upon some of them by night,
who told him the enemy would soon attack him, he, thus apprized
beforehand, provided for his security, and placed watchmen beyond his
camp, and kept all his forces armed all night; and he gave them a charge
to be of good courage, and to have their minds prepared to fight in the
night time, if they should be obliged so to do, lest their enemy’s designs
should seem concealed from them. But when Demetrius’s commanders were
informed that Jonathan knew what they intended, their counsels were
disordered, and it alarmed them to find that the enemy had discovered
those their intentions; nor did they expect to overcome them any other
way, now they had failed in the snares they had laid for them; for should
they hazard an open battle, they did not think they should be a match for
Jonathan’s army, so they resolved to fly; and having lighted many fires,
that when the enemy saw them they might suppose they were there still,
they retired. When Jonathan came to give them battle in the morning in
their camp, and found it deserted, and understood they were fled, he
pursued them; yet he could not overtake them, for they had already passed
over the river Eleutherus, and were out of danger. So when Jonathan was
returned thence, he went into Arabia, and fought against the Nabateans,
and drove away a great deal of their prey, and took [many] captives, and
came to Damascus, and there sold off what he had taken. About the same
time it was that Simon his brother went over all Judea and Palestine, as
far as Askelon, and fortified the strong holds; and when he had made them
very strong, both in the edifices erected, and in the garrisons placed in
them, he came to Joppa; and when he had taken it, he brought a great
garrison into it, for he heard that the people of Joppa were disposed to
deliver up the city to Demetrius’s generals.
11. When Simon and Jonathan had finished these affairs, they returned to
Jerusalem, where Jonathan gathered all the people together, and took
counsel to restore the walls of Jerusalem, and to rebuild the wall that
encompassed the temple, which had been thrown down, and to make the places
adjoining stronger by very high towers; and besides that, to build another
wall in the midst of the city, in order to exclude the market-place from
the garrison, which was in the citadel, and by that means to hinder them
from any plenty of provisions; and moreover, to make the fortresses that
were in the country much stronger and more defensible than they were
before. And when these things were approved of by the multitude, as
rightly proposed, Jonathan himself took care of the building that belonged
to the city, and sent Simon away to make the fortresses in the country
more secure than formerly. But Demetrius passed over [Euphrates], and came
into Mesopotamia, as desirous to retain that country still, as well as
Babylon; and when he should have obtained the dominion of the upper
provinces, to lay a foundation for recovering his entire kingdom; for
those Greeks and Macedonians who dwelt there frequently sent ambassadors
to him, and promised, that if he would come to them, they would deliver
themselves up to him, and assist him in fighting against Arsaces, 12
the king of the Parthians. So he was elevated with these hopes, and came
hastily to them, as having resolved, that if he had once overthrown the
Parthians, and gotten an army of his own, he would make war against
Trypho, and eject him out of Syria; and the people of that country
received him with great alacrity. So he raised forces, with which he
fought against Arsaces, and lost all his army, and was himself taken
alive, as we have elsewhere related.
CHAPTER 6. How Jonathan Was Slain By Treachery; And How Thereupon The Jews
Made Simon Their General And High Priest: What Courageous Actions He Also
Performed Especially Against Trypho.
1. Now when Trypho knew what had befallen Demetrius, he was no longer firm
to Antiochus, but contrived by subtlety to kill him, and then take
possession of his kingdom; but the fear that he was in of Jonathan was an
obstacle to this his design, for Jonathan was a friend to Antiochus, for
which cause he resolved first to take Jonathan out of the way, and then to
set about his design relating to Antiochus; but he judging it best to take
him off by deceit and treachery, came from Antioch to Bethshan, which by
the Greeks is called Scythopolis, at which place Jonathan met him with
forty thousand chosen men, for he thought that he came to fight him; but
when he perceived that Jonathan was ready to fight, he attempted to gain
him by presents and kind treatment, and gave order to his captains to obey
him, and by these means was desirous to give assurance of his good-will,
and to take away all suspicions out of his mind, that so he might make him
careless and inconsiderate, and might take him when he was unguarded. He
also advised him to dismiss his army, because there was no occasion for
bringing it with him when there was no war, but all was in peace. However,
he desired him to retain a few about him, and go with him to Ptolemais,
for that he would deliver the city up to him, and would bring all the
fortresses that were in the country under his dominion; and he told him
that he came with those very designs.
2. Yet did not Jonathan suspect any thing at all by this his management,
but believed that Trypho gave him this advice out of kindness, and with a
sincere design. Accordingly, he dismissed his army, and retained no more
than three thousand of them with him, and left two thousand in Galilee;
and he himself, with one thousand, came with Trypho to Ptolemais. But when
the people of Ptolemais had shut their gates, as it had been commanded by
Trypho to do, he took Jonathan alive, and slew all that were with him. He
also sent soldiers against those two thousand that were left in Galilee,
in order to destroy them; but those men having heard the report of what
had happened to Jonathan, they prevented the execution; and before those
that were sent by Trypho came, they covered themselves with their armor,
and went away out of the country. Now when those that were sent against
them saw that they were ready to fight for their lives, they gave them no
disturbance, but returned back to Trypho.
3. But when the people of Jerusalem heard that Jonathan was taken, and
that the soldiers who were with him were destroyed, they deplored his sad
fate; and there was earnest inquiry made about him by every body, and a
great and just fear fell upon them, and made them sad, lest, now they were
deprived of the courage and conduct of Jonathan, the nations about them
should bear them ill-will; and as they were before quiet on account of
Jonathan they should now rise up against them, and by making war with
them, should force them into the utmost dangers. And indeed what they
suspected really befell them; for when those nations heard of the death of
Jonathan, they began to make war with the Jews as now destitute of a
governor and Trypho himself got an army together, and had intention to go
up to Judea, and make war against its inhabitants. But when Simon saw that
the people of Jerusalem were terrified at the circumstances they were in,
he desired to make a speech to them, and thereby to render them more
resolute in opposing Trypho when he should come against them. He then
called the people together into the temple, and thence began thus to
encourage them: “O my countrymen, you are not ignorant that our father,
myself, and my brethren, have ventured to hazard our lives, and that
willingly, for the recovery of your liberty; since I have therefore such
plenty of examples before me, and we of our family have determined with
ourselves to die for our laws, and our Divine worship, there shall no
terror be so great as to banish this resolution from our souls, nor to
introduce in its place a love of life, and a contempt of glory. Do you
therefore follow me with alacrity whithersoever I shall lead you, as not
destitute of such a captain as is willing to suffer, and to do the
greatest things for you; for neither am I better than my brethren that I
should be sparing of my own life, nor so far worse than they as to avoid
and refuse what they thought the most honorable of all things,—I
mean, to undergo death for your laws, and for that worship of God which is
peculiar to you; I will therefore give such proper demonstrations as will
show that I am their own brother; and I am so bold as to expect that I
shall avenge their blood upon our enemies, and deliver you all with your
wives and children from the injuries they intend against you, and, with
God’s assistance, to preserve your temple from destruction by them; for I
see that these nations have you in contempt, as being without a governor,
and that they thence are encouraged to make war against you.”
4. By this speech of Simon he inspired the multitude with courage; and as
they had been before dispirited through fear, they were now raised to a
good hope of better things, insomuch that the whole multitude of the
people cried out all at once that Simon should be their leader; and that
instead of Judas and Jonathan his brethren, he should have the government
over them; and they promised that they would readily obey him in
whatsoever he should command them. So he got together immediately all his
own soldiers that were fit for war, and made haste in rebuilding the walls
of the city, and strengthening them by very high and strong towers, and
sent a friend of his, one Jonathan, the son of Absalom, to Joppa, and gave
him order to eject the inhabitants out of the city, for he was afraid lest
they should deliver up the city to Trypho; but he himself staid to secure
Jerusalem.
5. But Trypho removed from Ptolemais with a great army, and came into
Judea, and brought Jonathan with him in bonds. Simon also met him with his
army at the city Adida, which is upon a hill, and beneath it lie the
plains of Judea. And when Trypho knew that Simon was by the Jews made
their governor, he sent to him, and would have imposed upon him by deceit
and trenchery, and desired, if he would have his brother Jonathan released,
that he would send him a hundred talents of silver, and two of Jonathan’s
sons as hostages, that when he shall be released, he may not make Judea
revolt from the king; for that at present he was kept in bonds on account
of the money he had borrowed of the king, and now owed it to him. But
Simon was aware of the craft of Trypho; and although he knew that if he
gave him the money he should lose it, and that Trypho would not set his
brother free and withal should deliver the sons of Jonathan to the enemy,
yet because he was afraid that he should have a calumny raised against him
among the multitude as the cause of his brother’s death, if he neither
gave the money, nor sent Jonathan’s sons, he gathered his army together,
and told them what offers Trypho had made; and added this, that the offers
were ensnaring and treacherous, and yet that it was more eligible to send
the money and Jonathan’s sons, than to be liable to the imputation of not
complying with Trypho’s offers, and thereby refusing to save his brother.
Accordingly, Simon sent the sons of Jonathan and the money; but when
Trypho had received them, he did not keep his promise, nor set Jonathan
free, but took his army, and went about all the country, and resolved to
go afterward to Jerusalem by the way of Idumea, while Simon went over
against him with his army, and all along pitched his own camp over against
his.
6. But when those that were in the citadel had sent to Trypho, and
besought him to make haste and come to them, and to send them provisions,
he prepared his cavalry as though he would be at Jerusalem that very
night; but so great a quantity of snow fell in the night, that it covered
the roads, and made them so deep, that there was no passing, especially
for the cavalry. This hindered him from coming to Jerusalem; whereupon
Trypho removed thence, and came into Celesyria, and falling vehemently
upon the land of Gilead, he slew Jonathan there; and when he had given
order for his burial, he returned himself to Antioch. However, Simon sent
some to the city Basca to bring away his brother’s bones, and buried them
in their own city Modin; and all the people made great lamentation over
him. Simon also erected a very large monument for his father and his
brethren, of white and polished stone, and raised it a great height, and
so as to be seen a long way off, and made cloisters about it, and set up
pillars, which were of one stone apiece; a work it was wonderful to see.
Moreover, he built seven pyramids also for his parents and his brethren,
one for each of them, which were made very surprising, both for their
largeness and beauty, and which have been preserved to this day; and we
know that it was Simon who bestowed so much zeal about the burial of
Jonathan, and the building of these monuments for his relations. Now
Jonathan died when he had been high priest four years 13
and had been also the governor of his nation. And these were the
circumstances that concerned his death.
7. But Simon, who was made high priest by the multitude, on the very first
year of his high priesthood set his people free from their slavery under
the Macedonians, and permitted them to pay tribute to them no longer;
which liberty and freedom from tribute they obtained after a hundred and
seventy years 14 of the kingdom of the
Assyrians, which was after Seleucus, who was called Nicator, got the
dominion over Syria. Now the affection of the multitude towards Simon was
so great, that in their contracts one with another, and in their public
records, they wrote, “in the first year of Simon the benefactor and
ethnarch of the Jews;” for under him they were very happy, and overcame
the enemies that were round about them; for Simon overthrew the city
Gazara, and Joppa, and Jamhis. He also took the citadel of Jerusalem by
siege, and cast it down to the ground, that it might not be any more a
place of refuge to their enemies when they took it, to do them a mischief,
as it had been till now. And when he had done this, he thought it their
best way, and most for their advantage, to level the very mountain itself
upon which the citadel happened to stand, that so the temple might be
higher than it. And indeed, when he had called the multitude to an
assembly, he persuaded them to have it so demolished, and this by putting
them in mind what miseries they had suffered by its garrison and the
Jewish deserters, and what miseries they might hereafter suffer in case
any foreigner should obtain the kingdom, and put a garrison into that
citadel. This speech induced the multitude to a compliance, because he
exhorted them to do nothing but what was for their own good: so they all
set themselves to the work, and leveled the mountain, and in that work
spent both day and night without any intermission, which cost them three
whole years before it was removed, and brought to an entire level with the
plain of the rest of the city. After which the temple was the highest of
all the buildings, now the citadel, as well as the mountain whereon it
stood, were demolished. And these actions were thus performed under Simon.
CHAPTER 7. How Simon Confederated Himself With Antiochus Pius, And Made
War Against Trypho, And A Little Afterward, Against Cendebeus, The General
Of Antiochus’s Army; As Also How Simon Was Murdered By His Son-In-Law
Ptolemy, And That By Treachery.
1. 15
Now a little while after Demetrius had been carried into captivity, Trypho
his governor destroyed Antiochus, 16 the
son of Alexander, who was also called The God, 17 and
this when he had reigned four years, though he gave it out that he died
under the hands of the surgeons. He then sent his friends, and those that
were most intimate with him, to the soldiers, and promised that he would
give them a great deal of money if they would make him king. He intimated
to them that Demetrius was made a captive by the Parthians; and that
Demetrius’s brother Atitiochus, if he came to be king, would do them a
great deal of mischief, in way of revenge for their revolting from his
brother. So the soldiers, in expectation of the wealth they should get by
bestowing the kingdom on Trypho, made him their ruler. However, when
Trypho had gained the management of affairs, he demonstrated his
disposition to be wicked; for while he was a private person, he cultivated
familiarity with the multitude, and pretended to great moderation, and so
drew them on artfully to whatsoever he pleased; but when he had once taken
the kingdom, he laid aside any further dissimulation, and was the true
Trypho; which behavior made his enemies superior to him; for the soldiery
hated him, and revolted from him to Cleopatra, the wife of Demetrius, who
was then shut up in Seleucia with her children. But as Antiochus, the
brother of Demetrius who was called Soter, was not admitted by any of the
cities on account of Trypho, Cleopatra sent to him, and invited him to
marry her, and to take the kingdom. The reasons why she made this
invitation were these: That her friends persuaded her to it, and that she
was afraid for herself, in case some of the people of Seleucia should
deliver up the city to Trypho.
2. As Antiochus was now come to Seleucia, and his forces increased every
day, he marched to fight Trypho; and having beaten him in the battle, he
ejected him out of the Upper Syria into Phoenicia, and pursued him
thither, and besieged him in Dora which was a fortress hard to be taken,
whither he had fled. He also sent ambassadors to Simon the Jewish high
priest, about a league of friendship and mutual assistance; who readily
accepted of the invitation, and sent to Antiochus great sums of money and
provisions for those that besieged Dora, and thereby supplied them very
plentifully, so that for a little while he was looked upon as one of his
most intimate friends; but still Trypho fled from Dora to Apamia, where he
was taken during the siege, and put to death, when he had reigned three
years.
3. However, Antiochus forgot the kind assistance that Simon had afforded
him in his necessity, by reason of his covetous and wicked disposition,
and committed an army of soldiers to his friend Cendebeus, and sent him at
once to ravage Judea, and to seize Simon. When Simon heard of Antiochus’s
breaking his league with him, although he were now in years, yet, provoked
with the unjust treatment he had met with from Antiochus, and taking a
resolution brisker than his age could well bear, he went like a young man
to act as general of his army. He also sent his sons before among the most
hardy of his soldiers, and he himself marched on with his army another
way, and laid many of his men in ambushes in the narrow valleys between
the mountains; nor did he fail of success in any one of his attempts, but
was too hard for his enemies in every one of them. So he led the rest of
his life in peace, and did also himself make a league with the Romans.
4. Now he was the ruler of the Jews in all eight years; but at a feast
came to his end. It was caused by the treachery of his son-in-law Ptolemy,
who caught also his wife, and two of his sons, and kept them in bonds. He
also sent some to kill John the third son, whose name was Hyrcanus; but
the young man perceiving them coming, he avoided the danger he was in from
them, 18 and made haste into the city
[Jerusalem], as relying on the good-will of the multitude, because of the
benefits they had received from his father, and because of the hatred the
same multitude bare to Ptolemy; so that when Ptolemy was endeavoring to
enter the city by another gate, they drove him away, as having already
admitted Hyrcanus.
CHAPTER 8. Hyrcanus Receives The High Priesthood, And Ejects Ptolemy Out
Of The Country. Antiochus Makes War Against Hyrcanus And Afterwards Makes
A League With Him.
1. So Ptolemy retired to one of the fortresses that was above Jericho,
which was called Dagon. But Hyrcanus having taken the high priesthood that
had been his father’s before, and in the first place propitiated God by
sacrifices, he then made an expedition against Ptolemy; and when he made
his attacks upon the place, in other points he was too hard for him, but
was rendered weaker than he, by the commiseration he had for his mother
and brethren, and by that only; for Ptolemy brought them upon the wall,
and tormented them in the sight of all, and threatened that he would throw
them down headlong, unless Hyrcanus would leave off the siege. And as he
thought that so far as he relaxed as to the siege and taking of the place,
so much favor did he show to those that were dearest to him by preventing
their misery, his zeal about it was cooled. However, his mother spread out
her hands, and begged of him that he would not grow remiss on her account,
but indulge his indignation so much the more, and that he would do his
utmost to take the place quickly, in order to get their enemy under his
power, and then to avenge upon him what he had done to those that were
dearest to himself; for that death would be to her sweet, though with
torment, if that enemy of theirs might but be brought to punishment for
his wicked dealings to them. Now when his mother said so, he resolved to
take the fortress immediately; but when he saw her beaten, and torn to
pieces, his courage failed him, and he could not but sympathize with what
his mother suffered, and was thereby overcome. And as the siege was drawn
out into length by this means, that year on which the Jews used to rest
came on; for the Jews observe this rest every seventh year, as they do
every seventh day; so that Ptolemy being for this cause released from the
war, 19
he slew the brethren of Hyrcanus, and his mother; and when he had so done,
he fled to Zeno, who was called Cotylas, who was then the tyrant of the
city Philadelphia.
2. But Antiochus, being very uneasy at the miseries that Simon had brought
upon him, he invaded Judea in the fourth years’ of his reign, and the
first year of the principality of Hyrcanus, in the hundred and
sixty-second olympiad. 20 And when he had burnt the
country, he shut up Hyrcanus in the city, which he encompassed round with
seven encampments; but did just nothing at the first, because of the
strength of the walls, and because of the valor of the besieged, although
they were once in want of water, which yet they were delivered from by a
large shower of rain, which fell at the setting of the Pleiades 21
However, about the north part of the wall, where it happened the city was
upon a level with the outward ground, the king raised a hundred towers of
three stories high, and placed bodies of soldiers upon them; and as he
made his attacks every day, he cut a double ditch, deep and broad, and
confined the inhabitants within it as within a wall; but the besieged
contrived to make frequent sallies out; and if the enemy were not any
where upon their guard, they fell upon them, and did them a great deal of
mischief; and if they perceived them, they then retired into the city with
ease. But because Hyrcanus discerned the inconvenience of so great a
number of men in the city, while the provisions were the sooner spent by
them, and yet, as is natural to suppose, those great numbers did nothing,
he separated the useless part, and excluded them out of the city, and
retained that part only which were in the flower of their age, and fit for
war. However, Antiochus would not let those that were excluded go away,
who therefore wandering about between the wails, and consuming away by
famine, died miserably; but when the feast of tabernacles was at hand,
those that were within commiserated their condition, and received them in
again. And when Hyrcanus sent to Antiochus, and desired there might be a
truce for seven days, because of the festival, he gave way to this piety
towards God, and made that truce accordingly. And besides that, he sent in
a magnificent sacrifice, bulls with their horns gilded, with all sorts of
sweet spices, and with cups of gold and silver. 22 So
those that were at the gates received the sacrifices from those that
brought them, and led them to the temple, Antiochus the mean while
feasting his army, which was a quite different conduct from Antiochus
Epiphanes, who, when he had taken the city, offered swine upon the altar,
and sprinkled the temple with the broth of their flesh, in order to
violate the laws of the Jews, and the religion they derived from their
forefathers; for which reason our nation made war with him, and would
never be reconciled to him; but for this Antiochus, all men called him
Antiochus the Pious, for the great zeal he had about religion.
3. Accordingly, Hyrcanus took this moderation of his kindly; and when he
understood how religious he was towards the Deity, he sent an embassage to
him, and desired that he would restore the settlements they received from
their forefathers. So he rejected the counsel of those that would have him
utterly destroy the nation, 23 by
reason of their way of living, which was to others unsociable, and did not
regard what they said. But being persuaded that all they did was out of a
religious mind, he answered the ambassadors, that if the besieged would
deliver up their arms, and pay tribute for Joppa, and the other cities
which bordered upon Judea, and admit a garrison of his, on these terms he
would make war against them no longer. But the Jews, although they were
content with the other conditions, did not agree to admit the garrison,
because they could not associate with other people, nor converse with
them; yet were they willing, instead of the admission of the garrison, to
give him hostages, and five hundred talents of silver; of which they paid
down three hundred, and sent the hostages immediately, which king
Antiochus accepted. One of those hostages was Hyrcanus’s brother. But
still he broke down the fortifications that encompassed the city. And upon
these conditions Antiochus broke up the siege, and departed.
4. But Hyrcanus opened the sepulcher of David, who excelled all other
kings in riches, and took out of it three thousand talents. He was also
the first of the Jews that, relying on this wealth, maintained foreign
troops. There was also a league of friendship and mutual assistance made
between them; upon which Hyrcanus admitted him into the city, and
furnished him with whatsoever his army wanted in great plenty, and with
great generosity, and marched along with him when he made an expedition
against the Parthians; of which Nicolaus of Damascus is a witness for us;
who in his history writes thus: “When Antiochus had erected a trophy at
the river Lycus, upon his conquest of Indates, the general of the
Parthians, he staid there two days. It was at the desire of Lyrcanus the
Jew, because it was such a festival derived to them from their
forefathers, whereon the law of the Jews did not allow them to travel.”
And truly he did not speak falsely in saying so; for that festival, which
we call Pentecost, did then fall out to be the next day to the Sabbath.
Nor is it lawful for us to journey, either on the Sabbath day, or on a
festival day 24 But when Antiochus joined
battle with Arsaces, the king of Parthia, he lost a great part of his
army, and was himself slain; and his brother Demetrius succeeded in the
kingdom of Syria, by the permission of Arsaces, who freed him from his
captivity at the same time that Antiochus attacked Parthia, as we have
formerly related elsewhere.
CHAPTER 9. How, After The Death Of Antiochus, Hyrcanus Made An Expedition
Against Syria, And Made A League With The Romans. Concerning The Death Of
King Demetrius And Alexander.
1. But when Hyrcanus heard of the death of Antiochus, he presently made an
expedition against the cities of Syria, hoping to find them destitute of
fighting men, and of such as were able to defend them. However, it was not
till the sixth month that he took Medaba, and that not without the
greatest distress of his army. After this he took Samega, and the
neighboring places; and besides these, Shechem and Gerizzim, and the
nation of the Cutheans, who dwelt at the temple which resembled that
temple which was at Jerusalem, and which Alexander permitted Sanballat,
the general of his army, to build for the sake of Manasseh, who was
son-in-law to Jaddua the high priest, as we have formerly related; which
temple was now deserted two hundred years after it was built. Hyrcanus
took also Dora and Marissa, cities of Idumea, and subdued all the
Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would
circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they
were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they
submitted to the use of circumcision, 25 and of
the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this befell
them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews.
2. But Hyrcanus the high priest was desirous to renew that league of
friendship they had with the Romans. Accordingly, he sent an embassage to
them; and when the senate had received their epistle, they made a league
of friendship with them, after the manner following: “Fanius, the son of
Marcus, the praetor, gathered the senate together on the eighth day before
the Ides of February, in the senate-house, when Lucius Manlius, the son of
Lucius, of the Mentine tribe, and Caius Sempronius, the son of Caius, of
the Falernian tribe, were present. The occasion was, that the ambassadors
sent by the people of the Jews 26 Simon,
the son of Dositheus, and Apollonius, the son of Alexander, and Diodorus,
the son of Jason, who were good and virtuous men, had somewhat to propose
about that league of friendship and mutual assistance which subsisted
between them and the Romans, and about other public affairs, who desired
that Joppa, and the havens, and Gazara, and the springs [of Jordan], and
the several other cities and countries of theirs, which Antiochus had
taken from them in the war, contrary to the decree of the senate, might be
restored to them; and that it might not be lawful for the king’s troops to
pass through their country, and the countries of those that are subject to
them; and that what attempts Antiochus had made during that war, without
the decree of the senate, might be made void; and that they would send
ambassadors, who should take care that restitution be made them of what
Antiochus had taken from them, and that they should make an estimate of
the country that had been laid waste in the war; and that they would grant
them letters of protection to the kings and free people, in order to their
quiet return home. It was therefore decreed, as to these points, to renew
their league of friendship and mutual assistance with these good men, and
who were sent by a good and a friendly people.” But as to the letters
desired, their answer was, that the senate would consult about that matter
when their own affairs would give them leave; and that they would
endeavor, for the time to come, that no like injury should be done to
them; and that their praetor Fanius should give them money out of the
public treasury to bear their expenses home. And thus did Fanius dismiss
the Jewish ambassadors, and gave them money out of the public treasury;
and gave the decree of the senate to those that were to conduct them, and
to take care that they should return home in safety.
3. And thus stood the affairs of Hyrcanus the high priest. But as for king
Demetrius, who had a mind to make war against Hyrcanus, there was no
opportunity nor room for it, while both the Syrians and the soldiers bare
ill-will to him, because he was an ill man. But when they had sent
ambassadors to Ptolemy, who was called Physcon, that he would send them
one of the family at Seleueus, in order to take the kingdom, and he had
sent them Alexander, who was called Zebina, with an army, and there had
been a battle between them, Demetrius was beaten in the fight, and fled to
Cleopatra his wife, to Ptolemais; but his wife would not receive him. He
went thence to Tyre, and was there caught; and when he had suffered much
from his enemies before his death, he was slain by them. So Alexander took
the kingdom, and made a league with Hyrcanus, who yet, when he afterward
fought with Antiochus the son of Demetrius, who was called Grypus, was
also beaten in the fight, and slain.
CHAPTER 10. How Upon The Quarrel Between Antiochus Grypus And Antiochus
Cyzicenus About The Kingdom Hyrcanus Tooksamaria, And Utterly Demolished
It; And How Hyrcanus Joined Himself To The Sect Of The Sadducees, And Left
That Of The Pharisees.
1. When Antiochus had taken the kingdom, he was afraid to make war against
Judea, because he heard that his brother by the same mother, who was also
called Antiochus, was raising an army against him out of Cyzicum; so he
staid in his own land, and resolved to prepare himself for the attack he
expected from his brother, who was called Cyzicenus, because he had been
brought up in that city. He was the son of Antiochus that was called
Soter, who died in Parthia. He was the brother of Demetrius, the father of
Grypus; for it had so happened, that one and the same Cleopatra was
married to two who were brethren, as we have related elsewhere. But
Antiochus Cyzicenus coming into Syria, continued many years at war with
his brother. Now Hyrcanus lived all this while in peace; for after the
death of Antiochus, he revolted from the Macedonians, 27
nor did he any longer pay them the least regard, either as their subject
or their friend; but his affairs were in a very improving and flourishing
condition in the times of Alexander Zebina, and especially under these
brethren, for the war which they had with one another gave Hyrcanus the
opportunity of enjoying himself in Judea quietly, insomuch that he got an
immense quantity of money. How ever, when Antiochus Cyzicenus distressed
his land, he then openly showed what he meant. And when he saw that
Antiochus was destitute of Egyptian auxiliaries, and that both he and his
brother were in an ill condition in the struggles they had one with
another, he despised them both.
2. So he made an expedition against Samaria which was a very strong city;
of whose present name Sebaste, and its rebuilding by Herod, we shall speak
at a proper time; but he made his attack against it, and besieged it with
a great deal of pains; for he was greatly displeased with the Samaritans
for the injuries they had done to the people of Merissa, a colony of the
Jews, and confederate with them, and this in compliance to the kings of
Syria. When he had therefore drawn a ditch, and built a double wall round
the city, which was fourscore furlongs long, he set his sons Antigonus and
Arisrobulna over the siege; which brought the Samaritans to that great
distress by famine, that they were forced to eat what used not to be
eaten, and to call for Antiochus Cyzicenus to help them, who came readily
to their assistance, but was beaten by Aristobulus; and when he was
pursued as far as Scythopolis by the two brethren, he got away. So they
returned to Samaria, and shut them again within the wall, till they were
forced to send for the same Antiochus a second time to help them, who
procured about six thousand men from Ptolemy Lathyrus, which were sent
them without his mother’s consent, who had then in a manner turned him out
of his government. With these Egyptians Antiochus did at first overrun and
ravage the country of Hyrcanus after the manner of a robber, for he durst
not meet him in the face to fight with him, as not having an army
sufficient for that purpose, but only from this supposal, that by thus
harassing his land he should force Hyrcanus to raise the siege of Samaria;
but because he fell into snares, and lost many of his soldiers therein, he
went away to Tripoli, and committed the prosecution of the war against the
Jews to Callimander and Epicrates.
3. But as to Callimander, he attacked the enemy too rashly, and was put to
flight, and destroyed immediately; and as to Epicrates, he was such a
lover of money, that he openly betrayed Scythopolis, and other places near
it, to the Jews, but was not able to make them raise the siege of Samaria.
And when Hyrcanus had taken that city, which was not done till after a
year’s siege, he was not contented with doing that only, but he demolished
it entirely, and brought rivulets to it to drown it, for he dug such
hollows as might let the water run under it; nay, he took away the very
marks that there had ever been such a city there. Now a very surprising
thing is related of this high priest Hyrcanus, how God came to discourse
with him; for they say that on the very same day on which his sons fought
with Antiochus Cyzicenus, he was alone in the temple, as high priest,
offering incense, and heard a voice, that his sons had just then overcome
Antiochus. And this he openly declared before all the multitude upon his
coming out of the temple; and it accordingly proved true; and in this
posture were the affairs of Hyrcanus.
4. Now it happened at this time, that not only those Jews who were at
Jerusalem and in Judea were in prosperity, but also those of them that
were at Alexandria, and in Egypt and Cyprus; for Cleopatra the queen was
at variance with her son Ptolemy, who was called Lathyrus, and appointed
for her generals Chelcias and Ananias, the sons of that Onias who built
the temple in the prefecture of Heliopolis, like to that at Jerusalem, as
we have elsewhere related. Cleopatra intrusted these men with her army,
and did nothing without their advice, as Strabo of Cappadocia attests,
when he saith thus, “Now the greater part, both those that came to Cyprus
with us, and those that were sent afterward thither, revolted to Ptolemy
immediately; only those that were called Onias’s party, being Jews,
continued faithful, because their countrymen Chelcias and Ananias were in
chief favor with the queen.” These are the words of Strabo.
5. However, this prosperous state of affairs moved the Jews to envy
Hyrcanus; but they that were the worst disposed to him were the Pharisees,
28
who were one of the sects of the Jews, as we have informed you already.
These have so great a power over the multitude, that when they say any
thing against the king, or against the high priest, they are presently
believed. Now Hyrcanus was a disciple of theirs, and greatly beloved by
them. And when he once invited them to a feast, and entertained them very
kindly, when he saw them in a good humor, he began to say to them, that
they knew he was desirous to be a righteous man, and to do all things
whereby he might please God, which was the profession of the Pharisees
also. However, he desired, that if they observed him offending in any
point, and going out of the right way, they would call him back and
correct him. On which occasion they attested to his being entirely
virtuous; with which commendation he was well pleased. But still there was
one of his guests there, whose name was Eleazar, a man of an ill temper,
and delighting in seditious practices. This man said, “Since thou desirest
to know the truth, if thou wilt be righteous in earnest, lay down the high
priesthood, and content thyself with the civil government of the people,”
And when he desired to know for what cause he ought to lay down the high
priesthood, the other replied, “We have heard it from old men, that thy
mother had been a captive under the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. 29”
This story was false, and Hyrcanus was provoked against him; and all the
Pharisees had a very great indignation against him.
6. Now there was one Jonathan, a very great friend of Hyrcanus’s, but of
the sect of the Sadducees, whose notions are quite contrary to those of
the Pharisees. He told Hyrcanus that Eleazar had cast such a reproach upon
him, according to the common sentiments of all the Pharisees, and that
this would be made manifest if he would but ask them the question, What
punishment they thought this man deserved? for that he might depend upon
it, that the reproach was not laid on him with their approbation, if they
were for punishing him as his crime deserved. So the Pharisees made
answer, that he deserved stripes and bonds, but that it did not seem right
to punish reproaches with death. And indeed the Pharisees, even upon other
occasions, are not apt to be severe in punishments. At this gentle
sentence, Hyrcanus was very angry, and thought that this man reproached
him by their approbation. It was this Jonathan who chiefly irritated him,
and influenced him so far, that he made him leave the party of the
Pharisees, and abolish the decrees they had imposed on the people, and to
punish those that observed them. From this source arose that hatred which
he and his sons met with from the multitude: but of these matters we shall
speak hereafter. What I would now explain is this, that the Pharisees have
delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their
fathers, which are not written in the laws of Moses; and for that reason
it is that the Sadducees reject them, and say that we are to esteem those
observances to be obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to
observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers. And
concerning these things it is that great disputes and differences have
arisen among them, while the Sadducees are able to persuade none but the
rich, and have not the populace obsequious to them, but the Pharisees have
the multitude on their side. But about these two sects, and that of the
Essens, I have treated accurately in the second book of Jewish affairs.
7. But when Hyrcanus had put an end to this sedition, he after that lived
happily, and administered the government in the best manner for thirty-one
years, and then died, 30 leaving behind him five sons.
He was esteemed by God worthy of three of the greatest privileges,—the
government of his nation, the dignity of the high priesthood, and
prophecy; for God was with him, and enabled him to know futurities; and to
foretell this in particular, that, as to his two eldest sons, he foretold
that they would not long continue in the government of public affairs;
whose unhappy catastrophe will be worth our description, that we may
thence learn how very much they were inferior to their father’s happiness.
CHAPTER 11. How Aristobulus, When He Had Taken The Government First Of All
Put A Diadem On His Head, And Was Most Barbarously Cruel To His Mother And
His Brethren; And How, After He Had Slain Antigonus, He Himself Died.
1. Now when their father Hyrcanus was dead, the eldest son Aristobulus,
intending to change the government into a kingdom, for so he resolved to
do, first of all put a diadem on his head, four hundred eighty and one
years and three months after the people had been delivered from the
Babylonish slavery, and were returned to their own country again. This
Aristobulus loved his next brother Antigonus, and treated him as his
equal; but the others he held in bonds. He also cast his mother into
prison, because she disputed the government with him; for Hyrcanus had
left her to be mistress of all. He also proceeded to that degree of
barbarity, as to kill her in prison with hunger; nay, he was alienated
from his brother Antigonus by calumnies, and added him to the rest whom he
slew; yet he seemed to have an affection for him, and made him above the
rest a partner with him in the kingdom. Those calumnies he at first did
not give credit to, partly because he loved him, and so did not give heed
to what was said against him, and partly because he thought the reproaches
were derived from the envy of the relaters. But when Antigonus was once
returned from the army, and that feast was then at hand when they make
tabernacles to [the honor of God,] it happened that Arlstobulus was fallen
sick, and that Antigonus went up most splendidly adorned, and with his
soldiers about him in their armor, to the temple to celebrate the feast,
and to put up many prayers for the recovery of his brother, when some
wicked persons, who had a great mind to raise a difference between the
brethren, made use of this opportunity of the pompous appearance of
Antigonus, and of the great actions which he had done, and went to the
king, and spitefully aggravated the pompous show of his at the feast, and
pretended that all these circumstances were not like those of a private
person; that these actions were indications of an affectation of royal
authority; and that his coming with a strong body of men must be with an
intention to kill him; and that his way of reasoning was this: That it was
a silly thing in him, while it was in his power to reign himself, to look
upon it as a great favor that he was honored with a lower dignity by his
brother.
2. Aristobulus yielded to these imputations, but took care both that his
brother should not suspect him, and that he himself might not run the
hazard of his own safety; so he ordered his guards to lie in a certain
place that was under ground, and dark; [he himself then lying sick in the
tower which was called Antonia;] and he commanded them, that in case
Antigonus came in to him unarmed, they should not touch any body, but if
armed, they should kill him; yet did he send to Antigonus, and desired
that he would come unarmed; but the queen, and those that joined with her
in the plot against Antigonus, persuaded the messenger to tell him the
direct contrary: how his brother had heard that he had made himself a fine
suit of armor for war, and desired him to come to him in that armor, that
he might see how fine it was. So Antigonus suspecting no treachery, but
depending on the good-will of his brother, came to Aristobulus armed, as
he used to be, with his entire armor, in order to show it to him; but when
he was come to a place which was called Strato’s Tower, where the passage
happened to be exceeding dark, the guards slew him; which death of his
demonstrates that nothing is stronger than envy and calumny, and that
nothing does more certainly divide the good-will and natural affections of
men than those passions. But here one may take occasion to wonder at one
Judas, who was of the sect of the Essens, 31 and
who never missed the truth in his predictions; for this man, when he saw
Antigonus passing by the temple, cried out to his companions and friends,
who abode with him as his scholars, in order to learn the art of
foretelling things to come? “That it was good for him to die now, since he
had spoken falsely about Antigonus, who is still alive, and I see him
passing by, although he had foretold he should die at the place called
Strato’s Tower that very day, while yet the place is six hundred furlongs
off, where he had foretold he should be slain; and still this day is a
great part of it already past, so that he was in danger of proving a false
prophet.” As he was saying this, and that in a melancholy mood, the news
came that Antigonus was slain in a place under ground, which itself was
called also Strato’s Tower, or of the same name with that Cæsarea which is
seated at the sea. This event put the prophet into a great disorder.
3. But Aristobulus repented immediately of this slaughter of his brother;
on which account his disease increased upon him, and he was disturbed in
his mind, upon the guilt of such wickedness, insomuch that his entrails
were corrupted by his intolerable pain, and he vomited blood: at which
time one of the servants that attended upon him, and was carrying his
blood away, did, by Divine Providence, as I cannot but suppose, slip down,
and shed part of his blood at the very place where there were spots of
Antigonus’s blood, there slain, still remaining; and when there was a cry
made by the spectators, as if the servant had on purpose shed the blood on
that place, Aristobulus heard it, and inquired what the matter was; and as
they did not answer him, he was the more earnest to know what it was, it
being natural to men to suspect that what is thus concealed is very bad:
so upon his threatening, and forcing them by terrors to speak, they at
length told him the truth; whereupon he shed many tears, in that disorder
of mind which arose from his consciousness of what he had done, and gave a
deep groan, and said, “I am not therefore, I perceive, to be concealed
from God, in the impious and horrid crimes I have been guilty of; but a
sudden punishment is coming upon me for the shedding the blood of my
relations. And now, O thou most impudent body of mine, how long wilt thou
retain a soul that ought to die, in order to appease the ghosts of my
brother and my mother? Why dost thou not give it all up at once? And why
do I deliver up my blood drop by drop to those whom I have so wickedly
murdered?” In saying which last words he died, having reigned a year. He
was called a lover of the Grecians; and had conferred many benefits on his
own country, and made war against Iturea, and added a great part of it to
Judea, and compelled the inhabitants, if they would continue in that
country, to be circumcised, and to live according to the Jewish laws. He
was naturally a man of candor, and of great modesty, as Strabo bears
witness, in the name of Timagenes; who says thus: “This man was a person
of candor, and very serviceable to the Jews; for he added a country to
them, and obtained a part of the nation of the Itureans for them, and
bound them to them by the bond of the circumcision of their genitals.”
CHAPTER 12. How Alexander When He Had Taken The Government Made An
Expedition Against Ptolemais, And Then Raised The Siege Out Of Fear Of
Ptolemy Lathyrus; And How Ptolemy Made War Against Him, Because He Had
Sent To Cleopatra To Persuade Her To Make War Against Ptolemy, And Yet
Pretended To Be In Friendship With Him, When He Beat The Jews In The
Battle.
1. When Aristobulus was dead, his wife Salome, who, by the Greeks, was
called Alexandra, let his brethren out of prison, [for Aristobulus had
kept them in bonds, as we have said already,] and made Alexander Janneus
king, who was the superior in age and in moderation. This child happened
to be hated by his father as soon as he was born, and could never be
permitted to come into his father’s sight till he died. 32
The occasion of which hatred is thus reported: when Hyrcanus chiefly loved
the two eldest of his sons, Antigonus and Aristobulus, God appeared to him
in his sleep, of whom he inquired which of his sons should be his
successor. Upon God’s representing to him the countenance of Alexander, he
was grieved that he was to be the heir of all his goods, and suffered him
to be brought up in Galilee, However, God did not deceive Hyrcanus; for
after the death of Aristobulus, he certainly took the kingdom; and one of
his brethren, who affected the kingdom, he slew; and the other, who chose
to live a private and quiet life, he had in esteem.
2. When Alexander Janneus had settled the government in the manner that he
judged best, he made an expedition against Ptolemais; and having overcome
the men in battle, he shut them up in the city, and sat round about it,
and besieged it; for of the maritime cities there remained only Ptolemais
and Gaza to be conquered, besides Strato’s Tower and Dora, which were held
by the tyrant Zoilus. Now while Antiochus Philometor, and Antiochus who
was called Cyzicenus, were making war one against another, and destroying
one another’s armies, the people of Ptolemais could have no assistance
from them; but when they were distressed with this siege, Zoilus, who
possessed Strato’s Tower and Dora, and maintained a legion of soldiers,
and, on occasion of the contest between the kings, affected tyranny
himself, came and brought some small assistance to the people of
Ptolemais; nor indeed had the kings such a friendship for them, as that
they should hope for any advantage from them. Both those kings were in the
case of wrestlers, who finding themselves deficient in strength, and yet
being ashamed to yield, put off the fight by laziness, and by lying still
as long as they can. The only hope they had remaining was from the kings
of Egypt, and from Ptolemy Lathyrus, who now held Cyprus, and who came to
Cyprus when he was driven from the government of Egypt by Cleopatra his
mother. So the people of Ptolemais sent to this Ptolemy Lathyrus, and
desired him to come as a confederate, to deliver them, now they were in
such danger, out of the hands of Alexander. And as the ambassadors gave
him hopes, that if he would pass over into Syria, he would have the people
of Gaza on the side of those of Ptolemais; as also they said, that Zoilus,
and besides these the Sidonians, and many others, would assist them; so he
was elevated at this, and got his fleet ready as soon as possible.
3. But in this interval Demenetus, one that was of abilities to persuade
men to do as he would have them, and a leader of the populace, made those
of Ptolemais change their opinions; and said to them, that it was better
to run the hazard of being subject to the Jews, than to admit of evident
slavery by delivering themselves up to a master; and besides that, to have
not only a war at present, but to expect a much greater war from Egypt;
for that Cleopatra would not overlook an army raised by Ptolemy for
himself out of the neighborhood, but would come against them with a great
army of her own, and this because she was laboring to eject her son out of
Cyprus also; that as for Ptolemy, if he fail of his hopes, he can still
retire to Cyprus, but that they will be left in the greatest danger
possible. Now Ptolemy, although he had heard of the change that was made
in the people of Ptolemais, yet did he still go on with his voyage, and
came to the country called Sycamine, and there set his army on shore. This
army of his, in the whole horse and foot together, were about thirty
thousand, with which he marched near to Ptolemais, and there pitched his
camp. But when the people of Ptolemais neither received his ambassadors,
nor would hear what they had to say, he was under a very great concern.
4. But when Zoilus and the people of Gaza came to him, and desired his
assistance, because their country was laid waste by the Jews, and by
Alexander, Alexander raised the siege, for fear of Ptolemy: and when he
had drawn off his army into his own country, he used a stratagem
afterwards, by privately inviting Cleopatra to come against Ptolemy, but
publicly pretending to desire a league of friendship and mutual assistance
with him; and promising to give him four hundred talents of silver, he
desired that, by way of requital, he would take off Zoilus the tyrant, and
give his country to the Jews. And then indeed Ptolemy, with pleasure, made
such a league of friendship with Alexander, and subdued Zoilus; but when
he afterwards heard that he had privily sent to Cleopatra his mother, he
broke the league with him, which yet he had confirmed with an oath, and
fell upon him, and besieged Ptolemais, because it would not receive him.
However, leaving his generals, with some part of his forces, to go on with
the siege, he went himself immediately with the rest to lay Judea waste;
and when Alexander understood this to be Ptolemy’s intention, he also got
together about fifty thousand soldiers out of his own country; nay, as
some writers have said, eighty thousand 33 He
then took his army, and went to meet Ptolemy; but Ptolemy fell upon
Asochis, a city of Galilee, and took it by force on the sabbath day, and
there he took about ten thousand slaves, and a great deal of other prey.
5. He then tried to take Sepphoris, which was a city not far from that
which was destroyed, but lost many of his men; yet did he then go to fight
with Alexander; which Alexander met him at the river Jordan, near a
certain place called Saphoth, [not far from the river Jordan,] and pitched
his camp near to the enemy. He had however eight thousand in the first
rank, which he styled Hecatontomachi, having shields of brass. Those in
the first rank of Ptolemy’s soldiers also had shields covered with brass.
But Ptolemy’s soldiers in other respects were inferior to those of
Alexander, and therefore were more fearful of running hazards; but
Philostephanus, the camp-master, put great courage into them, and ordered
them to pass the river, which was between their camps. Nor did Alexander
think fit to hinder their passage over it; for he thought, that if the
enemy had once gotten the river on their back, that he should the easier
take them prisoners, when they could not flee out of the battle: in the
beginning of which, the acts on both sides, with their hands, and with
their alacrity, were alike, and a great slaughter was made by both the
armies; but Alexander was superior, till Philostephanus opportunely
brought up the auxiliaries, to help those that were giving way; but as
there were no auxiliaries to afford help to that part of the Jews that
gave way, it fell out that they fled, and those near them did not assist
them, but fled along with them. However, Ptolemy’s soldiers acted quite
otherwise; for they followed the Jews, and killed them, till at length
those that slew them pursued after them when they had made them all run
away, and slew them so long, that their weapons of iron were blunted, and
their hands quite tired with the slaughter; for the report was, that
thirty thousand men were then slain. Timagenes says they were fifty
thousand. As for the rest, they were part of them taken captives, and the
other part ran away to their own country.
6. After this victory, Ptolemy overran all the country; and when night
came on, he abode in certain villages of Judea, which when he found full
of women and children, he commanded his soldiers to strangle them, and to
cut them in pieces, and then to cast them into boiling caldrons, and then
to devour their limbs as sacrifices. This commandment was given, that such
as fled from the battle, and came to them, might suppose their enemies
were cannibals, and eat men’s flesh, and might on that account be still
more terrified at them upon such a sight. And both Strabo and Nicholaus
[of Damascus] affirm, that they used these people after this manner, as I
have already related. Ptolemy also took Ptolemais by force, as we have
declared elsewhere.
CHAPTER 13. How Alexander, upon the League of Mutual Defense Which
Cleopatra Had Agreed with Him, Made an Expedition Against Coelesyria, and
Utterly Overthrew the City of Gaza; and How He Slew Many Ten Thousands of
Jews That Rebelled Against Him.
Also Concerning Antiochus Grypus, Seleucus Antiochus Cyzicenus, and
Antiochus Pius, and Others.
1. When Cleopatra saw that her son was grown great, and laid Judea waste,
without disturbance, and had gotten the city of Gaza under his power, she
resolved no longer to overlook what he did, when he was almost at her
gates; and she concluded, that now he was so much stronger than before, he
would be very desirous of the dominion over the Egyptians; but she
immediately marched against him, with a fleet at sea and an army of foot
on land, and made Chelcias and Ananias the Jews generals of her whole
army, while she sent the greatest part of her riches, her grandchildren,
and her testament, to the people of Cos 34
Cleopatra also ordered her son Alexander to sail with a great fleet to
Phoenicia; and when that country had revolted, she came to Ptolemais; and
because the people of Ptolemais did not receive her, she besieged the
city; but Ptolemy went out of Syria, and made haste unto Egypt, supposing
that he should find it destitute of an army, and soon take it, though he
failed of his hopes. At this time Chelcias, one of Cleopatra’s generals,
happened to die in Celesyria, as he was in pursuit of Ptolemy.
2. When Cleopatra heard of her son’s attempt, and that his Egyptian
expedition did not succeed according to his expectations, she sent thither
part of her army, and drove him out of that country; so when he was
returned out of Egypt again, he abode during the winter at Gaza, in which
time Cleopatra took the garrison that was in Ptolemais by siege, as well
as the city; and when Alexander came to her, he gave her presents, and
such marks of respect as were but proper, since under the miseries he
endured by Ptolemy he had no other refuge but her. Now there were some of
her friends who persuaded her to seize Alexander, and to overrun and take
possession of the country, and not to sit still and see such a multitude
of brave Jews subject to one man. But Ananias’s counsel was contrary to
theirs, who said that she would do an unjust action if she deprived a man
that was her ally of that authority which belonged to him, and this a man
who is related to us; “for [said he] I would not have thee ignorant of
this, that what in justice thou dost to him will make all us that are Jews
to be thy enemies.” This desire of Ananias Cleopatra complied with, and
did no injury to Alexander, but made a league of mutual assistance with
him at Scythopolis, a city of Celesyria.
3. So when Alexander was delivered from the fear he was in of Ptolemy, he
presently made an expedition against Coelesyria. He also took Gadara,
after a siege of ten months. He took also Areathus, a very strong fortress
belonging to the inhabitants above Jordan, where Theodorus, the son of
Zeno, had his chief treasure, and what he esteemed most precious. This
Zeno fell unexpectedly upon the Jews, and slew ten thousand of them, and
seized upon Alexander’s baggage. Yet did not this misfortune terrify
Alexander; but he made an expedition upon the maritime parts of the
country, Raphia and Anthedon, [the name of which king Herod afterwards
changed to Agrippias,] and took even that by force. But when Alexander saw
that Ptolemy was retired from Gaza to Cyprus, and his mother Cleopatra was
returned to Egypt, he grew angry at the people of Gaza, because they had
invited Ptolemy to assist them, and besieged their city, and ravaged their
country. But as Apollodotus, the general of the army of Gaza, fell upon
the camp of the Jews by night, with two thousand foreign and ten thousand
of his own forces, while the night lasted, those of Gaza prevailed,
because the enemy was made to believe that it was Ptolemy who attacked
them; but when day was come on, and that mistake was corrected, and the
Jews knew the truth of the matter, they came back again, and fell upon
those of Gaza, and slew of them about a thousand. But as those of Gaza
stoutly resisted them, and would not yield for either their want of any
thing, nor for the great multitude that were slain, [for they would rather
suffer any hardship whatever than come under the power of their enemies,]
Aretas, king of the Arabians, a person then very illustrious, encouraged
them to go on with alacrity, and promised them that he would come to their
assistance; but it happened that before he came Apollodotus was slain; for
his brother Lysimachus envying him for the great reputation he had gained
among the citizens, slew him, and got the army together, and delivered up
the city to Alexander, who, when he came in at first, lay quiet, but
afterward set his army upon the inhabitants of Gaza, and gave them leave
to punish them; so some went one way, and some went another, and slew the
inhabitants of Gaza; yet were not they of cowardly hearts, but opposed
those that came to slay them, and slew as many of the Jews; and some of
them, when they saw themselves deserted, burnt their own houses, that the
enemy might get none of their spoils; nay, some of them, with their own
hands, slew their children and their wives, having no other way but this
of avoiding slavery for them; but the senators, who were in all five
hundred, fled to Apollo’s temple, [for this attack happened to be made as
they were sitting,] whom Alexander slew; and when he had utterly
overthrown their city, he returned to Jerusalem, having spent a year in
that siege.
4. About this very time Antiochus, who was called Grypus, died 35
His death was caused by Heracleon’s treachery, when he had lived
forty-five years, and had reigned twenty-nine. 36 His
son Seleucus succeeded him in the kingdom, and made war with Antiochus,
his father’s brother, who was called Antiochus Cyzicenus, and beat him,
and took him prisoner, and slew him. But after a while Antiochus, the son
of Cyzicenus, who was called Pius, came to Aradus, and put the diadem on
his own head, and made war with Seleucus, and beat him, and drove him out
of all Syria. But when he fled out of Syria, he came to Mopsuestia again,
and levied money upon them; but the people of Mopsuestia had indignation
at what he did, and burnt down his palace, and slew him, together with his
friends. But when Antiochus, the son of Cyzicenus, was king of Syria,
Antiochus, 37 the brother of Seleucus, made
war upon him, and was overcome, and destroyed, he and his army. After him,
his brother Philip put on the diadem, and reigned over some part of Syria;
but Ptolemy Lathyrus sent for his fourth brother Demetrius, who was called
Eucerus, from Cnidus, and made him king of Damascus. Both these brothers
did Antiochus vehemently oppose, but presently died; for when he was come
as an auxiliary to Laodice, queen of the Gileadites, 38
when she was making war against the Parthians, and he was fighting
courageously, he fell, while Demetrius and Philip governed Syria, as hath
been elsewhere related.
5. As to Alexander, his own people were seditious against him; for at a
festival which was then celebrated, when he stood upon the altar, and was
going to sacrifice, the nation rose upon him, and pelted him with citrons
[which they then had in their hands, because] the law of the Jews required
that at the feast of tabernacles every one should have branches of the
palm tree and citron tree; which thing we have elsewhere related. They
also reviled him, as derived from a captive, and so unworthy of his
dignity and of sacrificing. At this he was in a rage, and slew of them
about six thousand. He also built a partition-wall of wood round the altar
and the temple, as far as that partition within which it was only lawful
for the priests to enter; and by this means he obstructed the multitude
from coming at him. He also maintained foreigners of Pisidie and Cilicia;
for as to the Syrians, he was at war with them, and so made no use of
them. He also overcame the Arabians, such as the Moabites and Gileadites,
and made them bring tribute. Moreover, he demolished Amathus, while
Theodorus 39 durst not fight with him; but
as he had joined battle with Obedas, king of the Arabians, and fell into
an ambush in the places that were rugged and difficult to be traveled
over, he was thrown down into a deep valley, by the multitude of the
camels at Gadurn, a village of Gilead, and hardly escaped with his life.
From thence he fled to Jerusalem, where, besides his other ill success,
the nation insulted him, and he fought against them for six years, and
slew no fewer than fifty thousand of them. And when he desired that they
would desist from their ill-will to him, they hated him so much the more,
on account of what had already happened; and when he had asked them what
he ought to do, they all cried out, that he ought to kill himself. They
also sent to Demetrius Eucerus, and desired him to make a league of mutual
defense with them.
CHAPTER 14. How Demetrius Eucerus Overcame Alexander And Yet In A Little
Time Retired Out Of The Country For Fear; As Also How Alexander Slew Many
Of The Jews And Thereby Got Clear Of His Troubles. Concerning The Death Of
Demetrius.
1. So Demetrius came with an army, and took those that invited him, and
pitched his camp near the city Shechem; upon which Alexander, with his six
thousand two hundred mercenaries, and about twenty thousand Jews, who were
of his party, went against Demetrius, who had three thousand horsemen, and
forty thousand footmen. Now there were great endeavors used on both sides,—Demetrius
trying to bring off the mercenaries that were with Alexander, because they
were Greeks, and Alexander trying to bring off the Jews that were with
Demetrius. However, when neither of them could persuade them so to do,
they came to a battle, and Demetrius was the conqueror; in which all
Alexander’s mercenaries were killed, when they had given demonstration of
their fidelity and courage. A great number of Demetrius’s soldiers were
slain also.
2. Now as Alexander fled to the mountains, six thousand of the Jews
hereupon came together [from Demetrius] to him out of pity at the change
of his fortune; upon which Demetrius was afraid, and retired out of the
country; after which the Jews fought against Alexander, and being beaten,
were slain in great numbers in the several battles which they had; and
when he had shut up the most powerful of them in the city Bethome, he
besieged them therein; and when he had taken the city, and gotten the men
into his power, he brought them to Jerusalem, and did one of the most
barbarous actions in the world to them; for as he was feasting with his
concubines, in the sight of all the city, he ordered about eight hundred
of them to be crucified; and while they were living, he ordered the
throats of their children and wives to be cut before their eyes. This was
indeed by way of revenge for the injuries they had done him; which
punishment yet was of an inhuman nature, though we suppose that he had
been never so much distressed, as indeed he had been, by his wars with
them, for he had by their means come to the last degree of hazard, both of
his life and of his kingdom, while they were not satisfied by themselves
only to fight against him, but introduced foreigners also for the same
purpose; nay, at length they reduced him to that degree of necessity, that
he was forced to deliver back to the king of Arabia the land of Moab and
Gilead, which he had subdued, and the places that were in them, that they
might not join with them in the war against him, as they had done ten
thousand other things that tended to affront and reproach him. However,
this barbarity seems to have been without any necessity, on which account
he bare the name of a Thracian among the Jews 40
whereupon the soldiers that had fought against him, being about eight
thousand in number, ran away by night, and continued fugitives all the
time that Alexander lived; who being now freed from any further
disturbance from them, reigned the rest of his time in the utmost
tranquillity.
3. But when Demetrius was departed out of Judea, he went to Berea, and
besieged his brother Philip, having with him ten thousand footmen, and a
thousand horsemen. However Strato, the tyrant of Berea, the confederate of
Philip, called in Zizon, the ruler of the Arabian tribes, and Mithridates
Sinax, the ruler of the Parthians, who coming with a great number of
forces, and besieging Demetrius in his encampment, into which they had
driven them with their arrows, they compelled those that were with him by
thirst to deliver up themselves. So they took a great many spoils out of
that country, and Demetrius himself, whom they sent to Mithridates, who
was then king of Parthia; but as to those whom they took captives of the
people of Antioch, they restored them to the Antiochinus without any
reward. Now Mithridates, the king of Parthia, had Demetrius in great
honor, till Demetrius ended his life by sickness. So Philip, presently
after the fight was over, came to Antioch, and took it, and reigned over
Syria.
CHAPTER 15. How Antiochus, Who Was Called Dionysus, And After Him Aretas
Made Expeditions Into Judea; As Also How Alexander Took Many Cities And
Then Returned To Jerusalem, And After A Sickness Of Three Years Died; And
What Counsel He Gave To Alexandra.
1. After this, Antiochus, who was called Dionysus, 41 and
was Philip’s brother, aspired to the dominion, and came to Damascus, and
got the power into his hands, and there he reigned; but as he was making
war against the Arabians, his brother Philip heard of it, and came to
Damascus, where Milesius, who had been left governor of the citadel, and
the Damascens themselves, delivered up the city to him; yet because Philip
was become ungrateful to him, and had bestowed upon him nothing of that in
hopes whereof he had received him into the city, but had a mind to have it
believed that it was rather delivered up out of fear than by the kindness
of Milesius, and because he had not rewarded him as he ought to have done,
he became suspected by him, and so he was obliged to leave Damascus again;
for Milesius caught him marching out into the Hippodrome, and shut him up
in it, and kept Damascus for Antiochus [Eucerus], who hearing how Philip’s
affairs stood, came back out of Arabia. He also came immediately, and made
an expedition against Judea, with eight thousand armed footmen, and eight
hundred horsemen. So Alexander, out of fear of his coming, dug a deep
ditch, beginning at Chabarzaba, which is now called Antipatris, to the sea
of Joppa, on which part only his army could be brought against him. He
also raised a wall, and erected wooden towers, and intermediate redoubts,
for one hundred and fifty furlongs in length, and there expected the
coming of Antiochus; but he soon burnt them all, and made his army pass by
that way into Arabia. The Arabian king [Aretas] at first retreated, but
afterward appeared on the sudden with ten thousand horsemen. Antiochus
gave them the meeting, and fought desperately; and indeed when he had
gotten the victory, and was bringing some auxiliaries to that part of his
army that was in distress, he was slain. When Antiochus was fallen, his
army fled to the village Cana, where the greatest part of them perished by
famine.
2. After him 42 Arems reigned over Celesyria,
being called to the government by those that held Damascus, by reason of
the hatred they bare to Ptolemy Menneus. He also made thence an expedition
against Judea, and beat Alexander in battle, near a place called Adida;
yet did he, upon certain conditions agreed on between them, retire out of
Judea.
3. But Alexander marched again to the city Dios, and took it; and then
made an expedition against Essa, where was the best part of Zeno’s
treasures, and there he encompassed the place with three walls; and when
he had taken the city by fighting, he marched to Golan and Seleucia; and
when he had taken these cities, he, besides them, took that valley which
is called The Valley of Antiochus, as also the fortress of Gamala. He also
accused Demetrius, who was governor of those places, of many crimes, and
turned him out; and after he had spent three years in this war, he
returned to his own country, when the Jews joyfully received him upon this
his good success.
4. Now at this time the Jews were in possession of the following cities
that had belonged to the Syrians, and Idumeans, and Phoenicians: At the
sea-side, Strato’s Tower, Apollonia, Joppa, Jamhis, Ashdod, Gaza,
Anthedon, Raphia, and Rhinocolura; in the middle of the country, near to
Idumea, Adorn, and Marissa; near the country of Samaria, Mount Carmel, and
Mount Tabor, Scythopolis, and Gadara; of the country of Gaulonitis,
Seleucia and Gabala; in the country of Moab, Heshbon, and Medaba, Lemba,
and Oronas, Gelithon, Zorn, the valley of the Cilices, and Pollo; which
last they utterly destroyed, because its inhabitants would not bear to
change their religious rites for those peculiar to the Jews. 43
The Jews also possessed others of the principal cities of Syria, which had
been destroyed.
5. After this, king Alexander, although he fell into a distemper by hard
drinking, and had a quartan ague, which held him three years, yet would
not leave off going out with his army, till he was quite spent with the
labors he had undergone, and died in the bounds of Ragaba, a fortress
beyond Jordan. But when his queen saw that he was ready to die, and had no
longer any hopes of surviving, she came to him weeping and lamenting, and
bewailed herself and her sons on the desolate condition they should be
left in; and said to him, “To whom dost thou thus leave me and my
children, who are destitute of all other supports, and this when thou
knowest how much ill-will thy nation bears thee?” But he gave her the
following advice: That she need but follow what he would suggest to her,
in order to retain the kingdom securely, with her children: that she
should conceal his death from the soldiers till she should have taken that
place; after this she should go in triumph, as upon a victory, to
Jerusalem, and put some of her authority into the hands of the Pharisees;
for that they would commend her for the honor she had done them, and would
reconcile the nation to her for he told her they had great authority among
the Jews, both to do hurt to such as they hated, and to bring advantages
to those to whom they were friendly disposed; for that they are then
believed best of all by the multitude when they speak any severe thing
against others, though it be only out of envy at them. And he said that it
was by their means that he had incurred the displeasure of the nation,
whom indeed he had injured. “Do thou, therefore,” said he, “when thou art
come to Jerusalem, send for the leading men among them, and show them my
body, and with great appearance of sincerity, give them leave to use it as
they themselves please, whether they will dishonor the dead body by
refusing it burial, as having severely suffered by my means, or whether in
their anger they will offer any other injury to that body. Promise them
also that thou wilt do nothing without them in the affairs of the kingdom.
If thou dost but say this to them, I shall have the honor of a more
glorious Funeral from them than thou couldst have made for me; and when it
is in their power to abuse my dead body, they will do it no injury at all,
and thou wilt rule in safety.” 44 So
when he had given his wife this advice, he died, after he had reigned
twenty-seven years, and lived fifty years within one.
CHAPTER 16. How Alexandra By Gaining The Good-Will Of The Pharisees,
Retained The Kingdom Nine Years, And Then, Having Done Many Glorious
Actions Died.
1. So Alexandra, when she had taken the fortress, acted as her husband had
suggested to her, and spake to the Pharisees, and put all things into
their power, both as to the dead body, and as to the affairs of the
kingdom, and thereby pacified their anger against Alexander, and made them
bear goodwill and friendship to him; who then came among the multitude,
and made speeches to them, and laid before them the actions of Alexander,
and told them that they had lost a righteous king; and by the commendation
they gave him, they brought them to grieve, and to be in heaviness for
him, so that he had a funeral more splendid than had any of the kings
before him. Alexander left behind him two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus,
but committed the kingdom to Alexandra. Now, as to these two sons,
Hyrcanus was indeed unable to manage public affairs, and delighted rather
in a quiet life; but the younger, Aristobulus, was an active and a bold
man; and for this woman herself, Alexandra, she was loved by the
multitude, because she seemed displeased at the offenses her husband had
been guilty of.
2. So she made Hyrcanus high priest, because he was the elder, but much
more because he cared not to meddle with politics, and permitted the
Pharisees to do every thing; to whom also she ordered the multitude to be
obedient. She also restored again those practices which the Pharisees had
introduced, according to the traditions of their forefathers, and which
her father-in-law, Hyrcanus, had abrogated. So she had indeed the name of
the regent, but the Pharisees had the authority; for it was they who
restored such as had been banished, and set such as were prisoners at
liberty, and, to say all at once, they differed in nothing from lords.
However, the queen also took care of the affairs of the kingdom, and got
together a great body of mercenary soldiers, and increased her own army to
such a degree, that she became terrible to the neighboring tyrants, and
took hostages of them: and the country was entirely at peace, excepting
the Pharisees; for they disturbed the queen, and desired that she would
kill those who persuaded Alexander to slay the eight hundred men; after
which they cut the throat of one of them, Diogenes; and after him they did
the same to several, one after another, till the men that were the most
potent came into the palace, and Aristobulus with them, for he seemed to
be displeased at what was done; and it appeared openly, that if he had an
opportunity, he would not permit his mother to go on so. These put the
queen in mind what great dangers they had gone through, and great things
they had done, whereby they had demonstrated the firmness of their
fidelity to their master, insomuch that they had received the greatest
marks of favor from him; and they begged of her, that she would not
utterly blast their hopes, as it now happened, that when they had escaped
the hazards that arose from their [open] enemies, they were to be cut off
at home by their [private] enemies, like brute beasts, without any help
whatsoever. They said also, that if their adversaries would be satisfied
with those that had been slain already, they would take what had been done
patiently, on account of their natural love to their governors; but if
they must expect the same for the future also, they implored of her a
dismission from her service; for they could not bear to think of
attempting any method for their deliverance without her, but would rather
die willingly before the palace gate, in case she would not forgive them.
And that it was a great shame, both for themselves and for the queen, that
when they were neglected by her, they should come under the lash of her
husband’s enemies; for that Aretas, the Arabian king, and the monarchs,
would give any reward, if they could get such men as foreign auxiliaries,
to whom their very names, before their voices be heard, may perhaps be
terrible; but if they could not obtain this their second request, and if
she had determined to prefer the Pharisees before them, they still
insisted that she would place them every one in her fortresses; for if
some fatal demon hath a constant spite against Alexander’s house, they
would be willing to bear their part, and to live in a private station
there.
3. As these men said thus, and called upon Alexander’s ghost for
commiseration of those already slain, and those in danger of it, all the
bystanders brake out into tears. But Aristobulus chiefly made manifest
what were his sentiments, and used many reproachful expressions to his
mother, [saying,] “Nay, indeed, the case is this, that they have been
themselves the authors of their own calamities, who have permitted a woman
who, against reason, was mad with ambition, to reign over them, when there
were sons in the flower of their age fitter for it.” So Alexandra, not
knowing what to do with any decency, committed the fortresses to them, all
but Hyrcania, and Alexandrium, and Macherus, where her principal treasures
were. After a little while also, she sent her son Aristobulus with an army
to Damascus against Ptolemy, who was called Menneus, who was such a bad
neighbor to the city; but he did nothing considerable there, and so
returned home.
4. About this time news was brought that Tigranes, the king of Armenia,
had made an irruption into Syria with five hundred thousand soldiers, 45
and was coming against Judea. This news, as may well be supposed,
terrified the queen and the nation. Accordingly, they sent him many and
very valuable presents, as also ambassadors, and that as he was besieging
Ptolemais; for Selene the queen, the same that was also called Cleopatra,
ruled then over Syria, who had persuaded the inhabitants to exclude
Tigranes. So the Jewish ambassadors interceded with him, and entreated him
that he would determine nothing that was severe about their queen or
nation. He commended them for the respects they paid him at so great a
distance, and gave them good hopes of his favor. But as soon as Ptolemais
was taken, news came to Tigranes, that Lucullus, in his pursuit of
Mithridates, could not light upon him, who was fled into Iberia, but was
laying waste Armenia, and besieging its cities. Now when Tigranes knew
this, he returned home.
5. After this, when the queen was fallen into a dangerous distemper,
Aristobulus resolved to attempt the seizing of the government; so he stole
away secretly by night, with only one of his servants, and went to the
fortresses, wherein his friends, that were such from the days of his
father, were settled; for as he had been a great while displeased at his
mother’s conduct, so he was now much more afraid, lest, upon her death,
their whole family should be under the power of the Pharisees; for he saw
the inability of his brother, who was to succeed in the government; nor
was any one conscious of what he was doing but only his wife, whom he left
at Jerusalem with their children. He first of all came to Agaba, where was
Galestes, one of the potent men before mentioned, and was received by him.
When it was day, the queen perceived that Aristobulus was fled; and for
some time she supposed that his departure was not in order to make any
innovation; but when messengers came one after another with the news that
he had secured the first place, the second place, and all the places, for
as soon as one had begun they all submitted to his disposal, then it was
that the queen and the nation were in the greatest disorder, for they were
aware that it would not be long ere Aristobulus would be able to settle
himself firmly in the government. What they were principally afraid of was
this, that he would inflict punishment upon them for the mad treatment his
house had had from them. So they resolved to take his wife and children
into custody, and keep them in the fortress that was over the temple. 46
Now there was a mighty conflux of people that came to Aristobulus from all
parts, insomuch that he had a kind of royal attendants about him; for in a
little more than fifteen days he got twenty-two strong places, which gave
him the opportunity of raising an army from Libanus and Trachonitis, and
the monarchs; for men are easily led by the greater number, and easily
submit to them. And besides this, that by affording him their assistance,
when he could not expect it, they, as well as he, should have the
advantages that would come by his being king, because they had been the
occasion of his gaining the kingdom. Now the elders of the Jews, and
Hyrcanus with them, went in unto the queen, and desired that she would
give them her sentiments about the present posture of affairs, for that
Aristobulus was in effect lord of almost all the kingdom, by possessing of
so many strong holds, and that it was absurd for them to take any counsel
by themselves, how ill soever she were, whilst she was alive, and that the
danger would be upon them in no long time. But she bid them do what they
thought proper to be done; that they had many circumstances in their favor
still remaining, a nation in good heart, an army, and money in their
several treasuries; for that she had small concern about public affairs
now, when the strength of her body already failed her.
6. Now a little while after she had said this to them, she died, when she
had reigned nine years, and had in all lived seventy-three. A woman she
was who showed no signs of the weakness of her sex, for she was sagacious
to the greatest degree in her ambition of governing; and demonstrated by
her doings at once, that her mind was fit for action, and that sometimes
men themselves show the little understanding they have by the frequent
mistakes they make in point of government; for she always preferred the
present to futurity, and preferred the power of an imperious dominion
above all things, and in comparison of that had no regard to what was
good, or what was right. However, she brought the affairs of her house to
such an unfortunate condition, that she was the occasion of the taking
away that authority from it, and that in no long time afterward, which she
had obtained by a vast number of hazards and misfortunes, and this out of
a desire of what does not belong to a woman, and all by a compliance in
her sentiments with those that bare ill-will to their family, and by
leaving the administration destitute of a proper support of great men;
and, indeed, her management during her administration while she was alive,
was such as filled the palace after her death with calamities and
disturbance. However, although this had been her way of governing, she
preserved the nation in peace. And this is the conclusion of the affairs
of, Alexandra.
FOOTNOTES
1 (return)
[ This Alexander Bala, who
certainly pretended to be the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and was owned
for such by the Jews and Romans, and many others, and yet is by several
historians deemed to be a counterfeit, and of no family at all, is,
however, by Josephus believed to have been the real son of that Antiochus,
and by him always spoken of accordingly. And truly, since the original
contemporary and authentic author of the First Book of Maccabees [10:1:
calls him by his father’s name, Epiphanes, and says he was the son of
Antiochus, I suppose the other writers, who are all much later, are not to
be followed against such evidence, though perhaps Epiphanes might have him
by a woman of no family. The king of Egypt also, Philometor, soon gave him
his daughter in marriage, which he would hardly have done, had he believed
him to be a counterfeit, and of so very mean a birth as the later
historians pretend.]
2 (return)
[ Since Jonathan plainly
did not put on the pontifical robes till seven or eight years after the
death of his brother Judas, or not till the feast of tabernacles, in the
160th of the Seleucidm, 1 Macc. 10;21, Petitus’s emendation seems here to
deserve consideration, who, instead of “after four years since the death
of his brother Judas,” would have us read, “and therefore after eight
years since the death of his brother Judas.” This would tolerably well
agree with the date of the Maccabees, and with Josephus’s own exact
chronology at the end of the twentieth book of these Antiquities, which
the present text cannot be made to do.]
3 (return)
[ Take Grotius’s note here:
“The Jews,” says he, “were wont to present crowns to the kings [of Syria];
afterwards that gold which was paid instead of those crowns, or which was
expended in making them, was called the crown gold and crown tax.” On 1
Macc. 10:29.]
4 (return)
[ Since the rest of the
historians now extant give this Demetrius thirteen years, and Josephus
only eleven years, Dean Prideaux does not amiss in ascribing to him the
mean number twelve.]
5 (return)
[ It seems to me contrary
to the opinion of Josephus, and of the moderns, both Jews and Christians,
that this prophecy of Isaiah, 19:19, etc., “In that day there shall be an
altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt,” etc., directly
foretold the building of this temple of Onias in Egypt, and was a
sufficient warrant to the Jews for building it, and for worshipping the
true God, the God of Israel, therein. See Authent. Rec. 11. p. 755. That
God seems to have soon better accepted of the sacrifices and prayers here
offered him than those at Jerusalem, see the note on ch. 10. sect. 7. And
truly the marks of Jewish corruption or interpolation in this text, in
order to discourage their people from approving of the Worship of God
here, are very strong, and highly deserve our consideration and
correction. The foregoing verse in Isaiah runs thus in our common copies,
“In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of
Canaan,” [the Hebrew language; shall be full of Jews, whose sacred books
were in Hebrew,] “and swear to the Lord of hosts; one” [or the first]
“shall be called, The City of Destruction,” Isaiah 19:18. A strange-name,
“City of Destruction,” upon so joyful occasion, and a name never heard of
in the land of Egypt, or perhaps in any other nation. The old reading was
evidently the City of the Sun, or Heliopolis; and Unkelos, in effect, and
Symmachus, with the Arabic version, entirely confess that to be the true
reading. The Septuagint also, though they have the text disguised in the
common copies, and call it Asedek, the City of Righteousness; yet in two
or three other copies the Hebrew word itself for the Sun, Achares, or
Thares, is preserved. And since Onias insists with the king and queen,
that Isaiah’s prophecy contained many other predictions relating to this
place besides the words by him recited, it is highly probable that these
were especially meant by him; and that one main reason why he applied this
prediction to himself, and to his prefecture of Heliopolis, which Dean
Prideaux well proves was in that part of Egypt, and why he chose to build
in that prefecture of Heliopolis, though otherwise an improper place, was
this, that the same authority that he had for building this temple in
Egypt, the very same he had for building it in his own prefecture of
Heliopolis also, which he desired to do, and which he did accordingly.
Dean Prideaux has much ado to avoid seeing this corruption of the Hebrew;
but it being in support of his own opinion about this temple, he durst not
see it; and indeed he reasons here in the most injudicious manner
possible. See him at the year 149.]
6 (return)
[ A very unfair disputation
this! while the Jewish disputant, knowing that he could not properly prove
out of the Pentateuch, that “the place which the Lord their God shall
choose to place his name there,” so often referred to in the Book of
Deuteronomy, was Jerusalem any more than Gerizzim, that being not
determined till the days of David, Antiq. B. VII. ch. 13. sect. 4, proves
only, what the Samaritans did not deny, that the temple at Jerusalem was
much more ancient, and much more celebrated and honored, than that at
Gerizzim, which was nothing to the present purpose. The whole evidence, by
the very oaths of both parties, being, we see, obliged to be confined to
the law of Moses, or to the Pentateuch alone. However, worldly policy and
interest and the multitude prevailing, the court gave sentence, as usual,
on the stronger side, and poor Sabbeus and Theodosius, the Samaritan
disputants, were martyred, and this, so far as appears, without any direct
hearing at all, which is like the usual practice of such political courts
about matters of religion. Our copies say that the body of the Jews were
in a great concern about those men [in the plural] who were to dispute for
their temple at Jerusalem, whereas it seems here they had but one
disputant, Andronicus by name. Perhaps more were prepared to speak on the
Jews’ side; but the firstraying answered to his name, and overcome the
Samaritans, there was necessity for any other defender of the Jerusalem
temple.]
7 (return)
[ Of the several Apollonius
about these ages, see Dean Prideaux at the year 148. This Apollonius Daus
was, by his account, the son of that Apollonius who had been made governor
of Celesyria and Phoenicia by Seleueus Philopater, and was himself a
confidant of his son Demetrius the father, and restored to his father’s
government by him, but afterwards revolted from him to Alexander; but not
to Demetrius the son, as he supposes.]
8 (return)
[ Dr. Hudson here observes,
that the Phoenicians and Romans used to reward such as had deserved well
of them, by presenting to them a golden button. See ch. 5. sect. 4.]
9 (return)
[ This name, Demetrius
Nicator, or Demetrius the conqueror, is so written on his coins still
extant, as Hudson and Spanheim inform us; the latter of whom gives us here
the entire inscription, “King Demetrius the God, Philadelphus, Nicator.”]
10 (return)
[ This clause is
otherwise rendered in the First Book of Maccabees, 12:9, “For that we have
the holy books of Scripture in our hands to comfort us.” The Hebrew
original being lost, we cannot certainly judge which was the truest
version only the coherence favors Josephus. But if this were the Jews’
meaning, that they were satisfied out of their Bible that the Jews and
Lacedemonians were of kin, that part of their Bible is now lost, for we
find no such assertion in our present copies.]
11 (return)
[ Those that suppose
Josephus to contradict himself in his three several accounts of the
notions of the Pharisees, this here, and that earlier one, which is the
largest, Of the War B. II. ch. 8. sect. 14, and that later, Antiq. B.
XVIII. ch. 1. sect. 3, as if he sometimes said they introduced an absolute
fatality, and denied all freedom of human actions, is almost wholly
groundless if he ever, as the very learned Casaubon here truly observes,
asserting, that the Pharisees were between the Essens and Sadducees, and
did so far ascribe all to fate or Divine Providence as was consistent with
the freedom of human actions. However, their perplexed way of talking
about fate, or Providence, as overruling all things, made it commonly
thought they were willing to excuse their sins by ascribing them to fate,
as in the Apostolical Constitutions, B. VI. ch. 6. Perhaps under the same
general name some difference of opinions in this point might be
propagated, as is very common in all parties, especially in points of
metaphysical subtilty. However, our Josephus, who in his heart was a great
admirer of the piety of the Essens, was yet in practice a Pharisee, as he
himself informs us, in his own Life, sect. 2. And his account of this
doctrine of the Pharisees is for certain agreeable to his own opinion, who
ever both fully allowed the freedom of human actions, and yet strongly
believed the powerful interposition of Divine Providence. See concerning
this matter a remarkable clause, Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 11. sect. 7.]
12 (return)
[ This king, who was of
the famous race of Arsaces, is bethused to call them; but by the elder
author of the First Maccahere, and 1 Macc. 14:2, called by the family name
Arsaces; was, the king of the Persians and Medes, according to the land
but Appion says his proper name was Phraates. He is language of the
Eastern nations. See Authent. Rec. Part II. also called by Josephus the
king of the Parthians, as the Greeks p. 1108.]
13 (return)
[ There is some error in
the copies here, when no more than four years are ascribed to the high
priesthood of Jonathan. We know by Josephus’s last Jewish chronology,
Antiq. B. XX. ch. 10., that there was an interval of seven years between
the death of Alcimus, or Jacimus, the last high priest, and the real high
priesthood of Jonathan, to whom yet those seven years seem here to be
ascribed, as a part of them were to Judas before, Antiq. B. XII. ch. 10.
sect. 6. Now since, besides these seven years interregnum in the
pontificate, we are told, Antiq. B. XX. ch. 10., that Jonathan’s real high
priesthood lasted seven years more, these two seven years will make up
fourteen years, which I suppose was Josephus’s own number in this place,
instead of the four in our present copies.]
14 (return)
[ These one hundred and
seventy years of the Assyrians mean no more, as Josephus explains himself
here, than from the sara of Seleucus, which as it is known to have began
on the 312th year before the Christian sara, from its spring in the First
Book of Maccabees, and from its autumn in the Second Book of Maccabees, so
did it not begin at Babylon till the next spring, on the 311th year. See
Prid. at the year 312. And it is truly observed by Dr. Hudson on this
place, that the Syrians and Assyrians are sometimes confounded in ancient
authors, according to the words of Justin, the epitomiser of
Trogus-pompeius, who says that “the Assyrians were afterward called
Syrian.” B. I. ch. 11. See Of the War, B. V. ch. 9. sect. 4, where the
Philistines themselves, at the very south limit of Syria, in its utmost
extent, are called Assyrians by Josephus as Spanheim observes.]
15 (return)
[ It must here be
diligently noted, that Josephus’s copy of the First Book of Maccabees,
which he had so carefully followed, and faithfully abridged, as far as the
fiftieth verse of the thirteenth chapter, seems there to have ended. What
few things there are afterward common to both, might probably be learned
by him from some other more imperfect records. However, we must exactly
observe here, what the remaining part of that book of the Maccabees
informs us of, and what Josephus would never have omitted, had his copy
contained so much, that this Simon the Great, the Maccabee, made a league
with Antiochus Soter, the son of Demetrius Soter, and brother of the other
Demetrius, who was now a captive in Parthia: that upon his coming to the
crown, about the 140th year before the Christian sets, he granted great
privileges to the Jewish nation, and to Simon their high priest and
ethnarch; which privileges Simon seems to have taken of his own accord
about three years before. In particular, he gave him leave to coin money
for his country with his own stamp; and as concerning Jerusalem and the
sanctuary, that they should be free, or, as the vulgar Latin hath it,
“holy and free,” 1 Macc. 15:6, 7, which I take to be the truer reading, as
being the very words of his father’s concession offered to Jonathan
several years before, ch. 10:31; and Antiq. B, XIII. ch. 2. sect. 3. Now
what makes this date and these grants greatly remarkable, is the state of
the remaining genuine shekels of the Jews with Samaritan characters, which
seem to have been [most of them at least] coined in the first four years
of this Simon the Asamonean, and having upon them these words on one side,
“Jerusalem the Holy;” and on the reverse, “In the Year of Freedom,” 1, or
2, or 3, or 4; which shekels therefore are original monuments of these
times, and undeniable marks of the truth of the history in these chapters,
though it be in great measure omitted by Josephus. See Essay on the Old
Test. p. 157, 158. The reason why I rather suppose that his copy of the
Maccabees wanted these chapters, than that his own copies are here
imperfect, is this, that all their contents are not here omitted, though
much the greatest part be.]
16 (return)
[ How Trypho killed this
Antiochus the epitome of Livy informs us, ch. 53, viz. that he corrupted
his physicians or surgeons, who falsely pretending to the people that he
was perishing with the stone, as they cut him for it, killed him, which
exactly agrees with Josephus.]
17 (return)
[ That this Antiochus,
the son of Alexander Balas, was called “The God,” is evident from his
coins, which Spanheim assures us bear this inscription, “King Antiochus
the God, Epiphanes the Victorious.”]
18 (return)
[ Here Josephus begins to
follow and to abridge the next sacred Hebrew book, styled in the end of
the First Book of Maccabees, “The Chronicle of John [Hyrcanus’s] high
priesthood;” but in some of the Greek copies,” The Fourth Book of
Maccabees.” A Greek version of this chronicle was extant not very long ago
in the days of Sautes Pagninus, and Sixtus Senensis, at Lyons, though it
seems to have been there burnt, and to be utterly lost. See Sixtus
Senensis’s account of it, of its many Hebraisms, and its great agreement
with Josephus’s abridgement, in the Authent. Rec. Part I. p. 206, 207,
208.]
19 (return)
[ Hence we learn, that in
the days of this excellent high priest, John Hyrcanus, the observation of
the Sabbatic year, as Josephus supposed, required a rest from war, as did
that of the weekly sabbath from work; I mean this, unless in the case of
necessity, when the Jews were attacked by their enemies, in which case
indeed, and in which alone, they then allowed defensive fighting to be
lawful, even on the sabbath day, as we see in several places of Josephus,
Antlq. B. XII. ch. 6. sect. 2; B. XIII. ch. 1. sect. 2; Of the War, B. I.
ch. 7. sect. 3. But then it must be noted, that this rest from war no way
appears in the First Book of Maccabees, ch. 16., but the direct contrary;
though indeed the Jews, in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, did not
venture upon fighting on the Sabbath day, even in the defense of their own
lives, till the Asamoneans or Maccabees decreed so to do, 1 Macc. 2:32-41;
Antiq. B. XII. ch. 6. sect. 2.]
20 (return)
[ Josephus’s copies, both
Greek and Latin, have here a gross mistake, when they say that this first
year of John Hyrcanus, which we have just now seen to have been a Sabbatic
year, was in the 162nd olympiad, whereas it was for certain the second
year of the 161st. See the like before, B. XII. ch. 7. sect. 6.]
21 (return)
[ This heliacal setting
of the Pleiades, or seven stars, was, in the days of Hyrcanus and
Josephus, early in the spring, about February, the time of the latter rain
in Judea; and this, so far as I remember, is the only astronomical
character of time, besides one eclipse of the moon in the reign of Herod,
that we meet with in all Josephus; the Jews being little accustomed to
astronomical observations, any further than for the uses of their
calendar, and utterly forbidden those astrological uses which the heathens
commonly made of them.]
22 (return)
[ Dr. Hudson tells us
here, that this custom of gilding the horns of those oxen that were to be
sacrificed is a known thing both in the poets and orators.]
23 (return)
[ This account in
Josephus, that the present Antiochus was persuaded, though in vain, not to
make peace with the Jews, but to cut them off utterly, is fully confirmed
by Diodorus Siculus, in Photiua’s extracts out of his 34th Book.]
24 (return)
[ The Jews were not to
march or journey on the sabbath, or on such a great festival as was
equivalent to the sabbath, any farther than a sabbath day’s journey, or
two thousand cubits, see the note on Antiq. B. XX. ch. 8. sect. 6.]
25 (return)
[ This account of the
Idumeans admitting circumcision, and the entire Jewish law, from this
time, or from the days of Hyrcanus, is confirmed by their entire history
afterward. See Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 8. sect. 1; B. XV. ch. 7. sect. 9. Of
the War, B. II. ch. 3. sect. 1; B. IV. ch. 4. sect. 5. This, in the
opinion of Josephus, made them proselytes of justice, or entire Jews, as
here and elsewhere, Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 8. sect. 1. However, Antigonus, the
enemy of Herod, though Herod were derived from such a proselyte of justice
for several generations, will allow him to be no more than a half Jew, B.
XV. ch. 15. sect. 2. But still, take out of Dean Prideaux, at the year
129, the words of Ammouius, a grammarian, which fully confirm this account
of the Idumeans in Josephus: “The Jews,” says he, are such by nature, and
from the beginning, whilst the Idumeans were not Jews from the beginning,
but Phoenicians and Syrians; but being afterward subdued by the Jews, and
compelled to be circumcised, and to unite into one nation, and be subject
to the same laws, they were called Jews.” Dio also says, as the Dean there
quotes him, from Book XXXVI. p. 37, “That country is called Judea, and the
people Jews; and this name is given also to as many others as embrace
their religion, though of other nations.” But then upon what foundation so
good a governor as Hyrcanus took upon him to compel those Idumeans either
to become Jews, or to leave the country, deserves great consideration. I
suppose it was because they had long ago been driven out of the land of
Edom, and had seized on and possessed the tribe of Simeon, and all the
southern parts of the tribe of Judah, which was the peculiar inheritance
of the worshippers of the true God without idolatry, as the reader may
learn from Reland, Palestine, Part I. p. 154, 305; and from Prideaux, at
the years 140 and 165.]
26 (return)
[ In this decree of the
Roman senate, it seems that these ambassadors were sent from the “people
of the Jews,” as well as from their prince or high priest, John Hyrcanus.]
27 (return)
[ Dean Prideaux takes
notice at the year 130, that Justin, in agreement with Josephus, says,
“The power of the Jews was now grown so great, that after this Antiochus
they would not bear any Macedonian king over them; and that they set up a
government of their own, and infested Syria with great wars.”]
28 (return)
[ The original of the
Sadducees, as a considerable party among the Jews, being contained in this
and the two following sections, take Dean Prideaux’s note upon this their
first public appearance, which I suppose to be true: “Hyrcanus,” says be,
“went over to the party of the Sadducees; that is, by embracing their
doctrine against the traditions of the eiders, added to the written law,
and made of equal authority with it, but not their doctrine against the
resurrection and a future state; for this cannot be supposed of so good
and righteous a man as John Hyrcanus is said to be. It is most probable,
that at this time the Sadducees had gone no further in the doctrines of
that sect than to deny all their unwritten traditions, which the Pharisees
were so fond of; for Josephus mentions no other difference at this time
between them; neither doth he say that Hyrcanna went over to the Sadducees
in any other particular than in the abolishing of all the traditionary
constitutions of the Pharisees, which our Savior condemned as well as
they.” [At the year.]]
29 (return)
[ This slander, that
arose from a Pharisee, has been preserved by their successors the Rabbins
to these later ages; for Dr. Hudson assures us that David Gantz, in his
Chronology, S. Pr. p. 77, in Vorstius’s version, relates that Hyrcanus’s
mother was taken captive in Mount Modinth. See ch. 13. sect. 5.]
30 (return)
[ Here ends the high
priesthood, and the life of this excellent person John Hyrcanus, and
together with him the holy theocracy, or Divine government of the Jewish
nation, and its concomitant oracle by Urim. Now follows the profane and
tyrannical Jewish monarchy, first of the Asamoneans or Maccabees, and then
of Herod the Great, the Idumean, till the coming of the Messiah. See the
note on Antiq. B. III. ch. 8. sect. 9. Hear Strabo’s testimony on this
occasion, B. XVI. p. 761, 762: “Those,” says he, “that succeeded Moses
continued for some time in earnest, both in righteous actions and in
piety; but after a while there were others that took upon them the high
priesthood, at first superstitious and afterward tyrannical persons. Such
a prophet was Moses and those that succeeded him, beginning in a way not
to be blamed, but changing for the worse. And when it openly appeared that
the government was become tyrannical, Alexander was the first that set up
himself for a king instead of a priest; and his sons were Hyrcanus and
Aristobulus.” All in agreement with Josephus, excepting this, that Strabo
omits the first king, Aristobulus, who reigning but a single year, seems
hardly to have come to his knowledge. Nor indeed does Aristobulus, the son
of Alexander, pretend that the name of king was taken before his father
Alexander took it himself, Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 3. sect. 2. See also ch. 12.
sect. l, which favor Strabo also. And indeed, if we may judge from the
very different characters of the Egyptian Jews under high priests, and of
the Palestine Jews under kings, in the two next centuries, we may well
suppose that the Divine Shechinah was removed into Egypt, and that the
worshippers at the temple of Onias were better men than those at the
temple of Jerusalem.]
31 (return)
[ Hence we learn that the
Essens pretended to have ruled whereby men might foretell things to come,
and that this Judas the Essen taught those rules to his scholars; but
whether their pretense were of an astrological or magical nature, which
yet in such religious Jews, who were utterly forbidden such arts, is no
way probable, or to any Bath Col, spoken of by the later Rabbins, or
otherwise, I cannot tell. See Of the War, B. II. ch. 8. sect. 12.]
32 (return)
[ The reason why Hyrcanus
suffered not this son of his whom he did not love to come into Judea, but
ordered him to be brought up in Galilee, is suggested by Dr. Hudson, that
Galilee was not esteemed so happy and well cultivated a country as Judea,
Matthew 26:73; John 7:52; Acts 2:7, although another obvious reason occurs
also, that he was out of his sight in Galilee than he would have been in
Judea.]
33 (return)
[ From these, and other
occasional expressions, dropped by Josephus, we may learn, that where the
sacred hooks of the Jews were deficient, he had several other histories
then extant, [but now most of them lost,] which he faithfully followed in
his own history; nor indeed have we any other records of those times,
relating to Judea, that can be compared to these accounts of Josephus,
though when we do meet with authentic fragments of such original records,
they almost always confirm his history.]
34 (return)
[ This city, or island,
Cos, is not that remote island in the Aegean Sea, famous for the birth of
the great Hippocrates, but a city or island of the same name adjoining to
Egypt, mentioned both by Stephanus and Ptolemy, as Dr. Mizon informs us.
Of which Cos, and the treasures there laid up by Cleopatra and the Jews,
see Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 7, sect. 2.]
35 (return)
[ This account of the
death of Antiochus Grypus is confirmed by Appion, Syriac. p. 132, here
cited by Spanheim.]
36 (return)
[ Porphyry says that this
Antiochus Grypus reigned but twenty-six years, as Dr. Hudson observes. The
copies of Josephus, both Greek and Latin, have here so grossly false a
reading, Antiochus and Antoninus, or Antonius Plus, for Antiochus Pius,
that the editors are forced to correct the text from the other historians,
who all agree that this king’s name was nothing more than Antiochus Plus.]
37 (return)
[ These two brothers,
Antiochus and Philippus are called twins by Porphyry; the fourth brother
was king of Damascus: both which are the observations of Spanheim.]
38 (return)
[ This Laodicea was a
city of Gilead beyond Jordan. However, Porphyry says that this Antiochus
Pius did not die in this battle; but, running away, was drowned in the
river Orontes. Appian says that he, was deprived of the kingdom of Syria
by Tigranes; but Porphyry makes this Laodice queen of the Calamans;-all
which is noted by Spanheim. In such confusion of the later historians, we
have no reason to prefer any of them before Josephus, who had more
original ones before him. This reproach upon Alexander, that he was sprung
from a captive, seems only the repetition of the old Pharisaical calumny
upon his father, ch. 10. sect. 5.]
39 (return)
[ This Theodorus was the
son of Zeno, and was in possession of Areathus, as we learn from sect. 3
foregoing.]
40 (return)
[ This name Thracida,
which the Jews gave Alexander, must, by the coherence, denote as barbarous
as a Thracian, or somewhat like it; but what it properly signifies is not
known.]
41 (return)
[ Spanheim takes notice
that this Antiochus Dionysus [the brother of Philip, and of Demetrius
Eucerus, and of two others] was the fifth son of Antiochus Grypus; and
that he is styled on the coins, “Antiochus, Epiphanes, Dionysus.”]
42 (return)
[ This Aretas was the
first king of the Arabians who took Damascus, and reigned there; which
name became afterwards common to such Arabian kings, both at Petra and at
Damascus, as we learn from Josephus in many places; and from St. Paul, 2
Corinthians 11:32. See the note on Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 9. sect. 4.]
43 (return)
[ We may here and
elsewhere take notice, that whatever countries or cities the Asamoneans
conquered from any of the neighboring nations, or whatever countries or
cities they gained from them that had not belonged to them before, they,
after the days of Hyrcanus, compelled the inhabitants to leave their
idolatry, and entirely to receive the law of Moses, as proselytes of
justice, or else banished them into other lands. That excellent prince,
John Hyrcanus, did it to the Idumeans, as I have noted on ch. 9. sect. 1,
already, who lived then in the Promised Land, and this I suppose justly;
but by what right the rest did it, even to the countries or cities that
were no part of that land, I do not at all know. This looks too like
unjust persecution for religion.]
44 (return)
[ It seems, by this dying
advice of Alexander Janneus to his wife, that he had himself pursued the
measures of his father Hyrcanus and taken part with the Sadducees, who
kept close to the written law, against the Pharisees, who had introduced
their own traditions, ch. 16. sect. 2; and that he now saw a political
necessity of submitting to the Pharisees and their traditions hereafter,
if his widow and family minded to retain their monarchical government or
tyranny over the Jewish nation; which sect yet, thus supported, were at
last in a great measure the ruin of the religion, government, and nation
of the Jews, and brought them into so wicked a state, that the vengeance
of God came upon them to their utter excision. Just thus did Caiaphas
politically advise the Jewish sanhedrim, John 11:50, “That it was
expedient for them that one man should die for the people, and that the
whole nation perish not;” and this in consequence of their own political
supposal, ver. 48, that, “If they let Jesus alone,” with his miracles,
“all men would believe on him, and the Romans would come and take away
both their place and nation.” Which political crucifixion of Jesus of
Nazareth brought down the vengeance of God upon them, and occasioned those
very Romans, of whom they seemed so much afraid, that to prevent it they
put him to death, actually to “come and take away both their place and
nation” within thirty-eight years afterwards. I heartily wish the
politicians of Christendom would consider these and the like examples, and
no longer sacrifice all virtue and religion to their pernicious schemes of
government, to the bringing down the judgments of God upon themselves, and
the several nations intrusted to their care. But this is a digression. I
wish it were an unseasonable one also. Josephus himself several times
makes such digressions, and I here venture to follow him. See one of them
at the conclusion of the very next chapter.]
45 (return)
[ The number of five
hundred thousand or even three hundred thousand, as one Greek copy, with
the Latin copies, have it, for Tigranes’s army, that came out of Armenia
into Syria and Judea, seems much too large. We have had already several
such extravagant numbers in Josephus’s present copies, which are not to be
at all ascribed to him. Accordingly, I incline to Dr. Hudson’s emendation
here, which supposes them but forty thousand.]
46 (return)
[ This fortress, castle,
citadel, or tower, whither the wife and children of Aristobulus were new
sent, and which overlooked the temple, could be no other than what
Hyrcanus I. built, [Antiq. B. XVIII ch. 4. sect. 3,] and Herod the Great
rebuilt, and called the “Tower of Antonia,” Aatiq. B. XV. ch. 11. sect.
5.]
BOOK XIV. Containing The Interval Of Thirty-Two Years.—From The
Death Of Queen Alexandra To The Death Of Antigonus.
CHAPTER 1. The War Between Aristobulus And Hyrcanus About The Kingdom; And
How They Made Anagreement That Aristobulus Should Be King, And Hyrcanus
Live A Private Life; As Also How Hyrcanus A Little Afterward Was Persuaded
By Antipater To Fly To Aretas.
1. We have related the affairs of queen Alexandra, and her death, in the
foregoing book and will now speak of what followed, and was connected with
those histories; declaring, before we proceed, that we have nothing so
much at heart as this, that we may omit no facts, either through ignorance
or laziness; 1 for we are upon the history and
explication of such things as the greatest part are unacquainted withal,
because of their distance from our times; and we aim to do it with a
proper beauty of style, so far as that is derived from proper words
harmonically disposed, and from such ornaments of speech also as may
contribute to the pleasure of our readers, that they may entertain the
knowledge of what we write with some agreeable satisfaction and pleasure.
But the principal scope that authors ought to aim at above all the rest,
is to speak accurately, and to speak truly, for the satisfaction of those
that are otherwise unacquainted with such transactions, and obliged to
believe what these writers inform them of.
2. Hyrcanus then began his high priesthood on the third year of the
hundred and seventy-seventh olympiad, when Quintus Hortensius and Quintus
Metellus, who was called Metellus of Crete, were consuls at Rome; when
presently Aristobulus began to make war against him; and as it came to a
battle with Hyrcanus at Jericho, many of his soldiers deserted him, and
went over to his brother; upon which Hyrcanus fled into the citadel, where
Aristobulus’s wife and children were imprisoned by their mother, as we
have said already, and attacked and overcame those his adversaries that
had fled thither, and lay within the walls of the temple. So when he had
sent a message to his brother about agreeing the matters between them, he
laid aside his enmity to him on these conditions, that Aristobulus should
be king, that he should live without intermeddling with public affairs,
and quietly enjoy the estate he had acquired. When they had agreed upon
these terms in the temple, and had confirmed the agreement with oaths, and
the giving one another their right hands, and embracing one another in the
sight of the whole multitude, they departed; the one, Aristobulus, to the
palace; and Hyrcanus, as a private man, to the former house of
Aristobulus.
3. But there was a certain friend of Hyrcanus, an Idumean, called
Antipater, who was very rich, and in his nature an active and a seditious
man; who was at enmity with Aristobulus, and had differences with him on
account of his good-will to Hyrcanus. It is true that Nicolaus of
Damascus says, that Antipater was of the stock of the principal Jews who
came out of Babylon into Judea; but that assertion of his was to gratify
Herod, who was his son, and who, by certain revolutions of fortune, came
afterward to be king of the Jews, whose history we shall give you in its
proper place hereafter. However, this Antipater was at first called
Antipas, 2 and that was his father’s name
also; of whom they relate this: That king Alexander and his wife made him
general of all Idumea, and that he made a league of friendship with those
Arabians, and Gazites, and Ascalonites, that were of his own party, and
had, by many and large presents, made them his fast friends. But now this
younger Antipater was suspicious of the power of Aristobulus, and was
afraid of some mischief he might do him, because of his hatred to him; so
he stirred up the most powerful of the Jews, and talked against him to
them privately; and said that it was unjust to overlook the conduct of
Aristobulus, who had gotten the government unrighteously, and ejected his
brother out of it, who was the elder, and ought to retain what belonged to
him by prerogative of his birth. And the same speeches he perpetually made
to Hyrcanus; and told him that his own life would be in danger, unless he
guarded himself, and got shut of Aristobulus; for he said that the friends
of Aristobulus omitted no opportunity of advising him to kill him, as
being then, and not before, sure to retain his principality. Hyrcanus gave
no credit to these words of his, as being of a gentle disposition, and one
that did not easily admit of calumnies against other men. This temper of
his not disposing him to meddle with public affairs, and want of spirit,
occasioned him to appear to spectators to be degenerous and unmanly;
while. Aristobulus was of a contrary temper, an active man, and one of a
great and generous soul.
4. Since therefore Antipater saw that Hyrcanus did not attend to what he
said, he never ceased, day by day, to charge reigned crimes upon
Aristobulus, and to calumniate him before him, as if he had a mind to kill
him; and so, by urging him perpetually, he advised him, and persuaded him
to fly to Aretas, the king of Arabia; and promised, that if he would
comply with his advice, he would also himself assist him and go with him.
When Hyrcanus heard this, he said that it was for his advantage to fly
away to Aretas. Now Arabia is a country that borders upon Judea. However,
Hyrcanus sent Antipater first to the king of Arabia, in order to receive
assurances from him, that when he should come in the manner of a
supplicant to him, he would not deliver him up to his enemies. So
Antipater having received such assurances, returned to Hyrcanus to
Jerusalem. A while afterward he took Hyrcanus, and stole out of the city
by night, and went a great journey, and came and brought him to the city
called Petra, where the palace of Aretas was; and as he was a very
familiar friend of that king, he persuaded him to bring back Hyrcanus into
Judea, and this persuasion he continued every day without any
intermission. He also proposed to make him presents on that account. At
length he prevailed with Aretas in his suit. Moreover, Hyrcanus promised
him, that when he had been brought thither, and had received his kingdom,
he would restore that country, and those twelve cities which his father
Alexander had taken from the Arabians, which were these, Medaba, Naballo,
Libias, Tharabasa, Agala, Athone, Zoar, Orone, Marissa, Rudda, Lussa, and
Oruba.
CHAPTER 2. How Aretas And Hyrcanus Made An Expedition Against Aristobulus
And Besieged Jerusalem; And How Scaurus The Roman General Raised The
Siege. Concerning The Death Of Onias.
1. After these promises had been given to Aretas, he made an expedition
against Aristobulus with an army of fifty thousand horse and foot, and
beat him in the battle. And when after that victory many went over to
Hyrcanus as deserters, Aristobulus was left desolate, and fled to
Jerusalem; upon which the king of Arabia took all his army, and made an
assault upon the temple, and besieged Aristobulus therein, the people
still supporting Hyrcanus, and assisting him in the siege, while none but
the priests continued with Aristobulus. So Aretas united the forces of the
Arabians and of the Jews together, and pressed on the siege vigorously. As
this happened at the time when the feast of unleavened bread was
celebrated, which we call the passover, the principal men among the Jews
left the country, and fled into Egypt. Now there was one, whose name was
Onias, a righteous man he was, and beloved of God, who, in a certain
drought, had prayed to God to put an end to the intense heat, and whose
prayers God had heard, and had sent them rain. This man had hid himself,
because he saw that this sedition would last a great while. However, they
brought him to the Jewish camp, and desired, that as by his prayers he had
once put an end to the drought, so he would in like manner make
imprecations on Aristobulus and those of his faction. And when, upon his
refusal, and the excuses that he made, he was still by the multitude
compelled to speak, he stood up in the midst of them, and said, “O God,
the King of the whole world! since those that stand now with me are thy
people, and those that are besieged are also thy priests, I beseech thee,
that thou wilt neither hearken to the prayers of those against these, nor
bring to effect what these pray against those.” Whereupon such wicked Jews
as stood about him, as soon as he had made this prayer, stoned him to
death.
2. But God punished them immediately for this their barbarity, and took
vengeance of them for the murder of Onias, in the manner following: While
the priests and Aristobulus were besieged, it happened that the feast
called the passover was come, at which it is our custom to offer a great
number of sacrifices to God; but those that were with Aristobulus wanted
sacrifices, and desired that their countrymen without would furnish them
with such sacrifices, and assured them they should have as much money for
them as they should desire; and when they required them to pay a thousand
drachmae for each head of cattle, Aristobulus and the priests willingly
undertook to pay for them accordingly, and those within let down the money
over the walls, and gave it them. But when the others had received it,
they did not deliver the sacrifices, but arrived at that height of
wickedness as to break the assurances they had given, and to be guilty of
impiety towards God, by not furnishing those that wanted them with
sacrifices. And when the priests found they had been cheated, and that the
agreements they had made were violated, they prayed to God that he would
avenge them on their countrymen. Nor did he delay that their punishment,
but sent a strong and vehement storm of wind, that destroyed the fruits of
the whole country, till a modius of wheat was then bought for eleven
drachmae.
3. In the mean time Pompey sent Scaurus into Syria, while he was himself
in Armenia, and making war with Tigranes; but when Scaurus was come to
Damascus, and found that Lollins and Metellus had newly taken the city, he
came himself hastily into Judea. And when he was come thither, ambassadors
came to him, both from Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, and both desired he would
assist them. And when both of them promised to give him money, Aristobulus
four hundred talents, and Hyrcanus no less, he accepted of Aristobulus’s
promise, for he was rich, and had a great soul, and desired to obtain
nothing but what was moderate; whereas the other was poor, and tenacious,
and made incredible promises in hopes of greater advantages; for it was
not the same thing to take a city that was exceeding strong and powerful,
as it was to eject out of the country some fugitives, with a greater
number of Mabateans, who were no very warlike people. He therefore made an
agreement with Aristobulus, for the reasons before mentioned, and took his
money, and raised the siege, and ordered Aretas to depart, or else he
should be declared an enemy to the Romans. So Scaurus returned to Damascus
again; and Aristobulus, with a great army, made war with Aretas and
Hyrcanus, and fought them at a place called Papyron, and beat them in the
battle, and slew about six thousand of the enemy, with whom fell Phalion
also, the brother of Antipater.
CHAPTER 3. How Aristobulus And Hyrcanus Came To Pompey In Order To Argue
Who Ought To Have The Kingdom; And How Upon The Plight Of Aristobulus To
The Fortress Alexandrium Pompey Led His Army Against Him And Ordered Him
To Deliver Up The Fortresses Whereof He Was Possessed.
1. A Little afterward Pompey came to Damascus, and marched over Celesyria;
at which time there came ambassadors to him from all Syria, and Egypt, and
out of Judea also, for Aristobulus had sent him a great present, which was
a golden vine 3 of the value of five hundred
talents. Now Strabo of Cappadocia mentions this present in these words:
“There came also an embassage out of Egypt, and a crown of the value of
four thousand pieces of gold; and out of Judea there came another, whether
you call it a vine or a garden; they call the thing Terpole, the Delight.
However, we ourselves saw that present reposited at Rome, in the temple of
Jupiter Capitolinus, with this inscription, ‘The gift of Alexander, the
king of the Jews.’ It was valued at five hundred talents; and the report
is, that Aristobulus, the governor of the Jews, sent it.”
2. In a little time afterward came ambassadors again to him, Antipater
from Hyrcanus, and Nicodemus from Aristobulus; which last also accused
such as had taken bribes; first Gabinius, and then Scaurus,—the one
three hundred talents, and the other four hundred; by which procedure he
made these two his enemies, besides those he had before. And when Pompey
had ordered those that had controversies one with another to come to him
in the beginning of the spring, he brought his army out of their winter
quarters, and marched into the country of Damascus; and as he went along
he demolished the citadel that was at Apamia, which Antiochus Cyzicenus
had built, and took cognizance of the country of Ptolemy Menneus, a wicked
man, and not less so than Dionysius of Tripoli, who had been beheaded, who
was also his relation by marriage; yet did he buy off the punishment of
his crimes for a thousand talents, with which money Pompey paid the
soldiers their wages. He also conquered the place called Lysias, of which
Silas a Jew was tyrant. And when he had passed over the cities of
Heliopolis and Chalcis, and got over the mountain which is on the limit of
Celesyria, he came from Pella to Damascus; and there it was that he heard
the causes of the Jews, and of their governors Hyrcanus and Aristobulus,
who were at difference one with another, as also of the nation against
them both, which did not desire to be under kingly’ government, because
the form of government they received from their forefathers was that of
subjection to the priests of that God whom they worshipped; and [they
complained], that though these two were the posterity of priests, yet did
they seek to change the government of their nation to another form, in
order to enslave them. Hyrcanus complained, that although he were the
elder brother, he was deprived of the prerogative of his birth by
Aristobulus, and that he had but a small part of the country under him,
Aristobulus having taken away the rest from him by force. He also accused
him, that the incursions which had been made into their neighbors’
countries, and the piracies that had been at sea, were owing to him; and
that the nation would not have revolted, unless Aristobulus had been a man
given to violence and disorder; and there were no fewer than a thousand
Jews, of the best esteem among them, who confirmed this accusation; which
confirmation was procured by Antipater. But Aristobulus alleged against
him, that it was Hyrcanus’s own temper, which was inactive, and on that
account contemptible, which caused him to be deprived of the government;
and that for himself, he was necessitated to take it upon him, for fear
lest it should be transferred to others. And that as to his title [of
king], it was no other than what his father had taken [before him]. He
also called for witnesses of what he said some persons who were both young
and insolent; whose purple garments, fine heads of hair, and other
ornaments, were detested [by the court], and which they appeared in, not
as though they were to plead their cause in a court of justice, but as if
they were marching in a pompous procession.
3. When Pompey had heard the causes of these two, and had condemned
Aristobulus for his violent procedure, he then spake civilly to them, and
sent them away; and told them, that when he came again into their country,
he would settle all their affairs, after he had first taken a view of the
affairs of the Nabateans. In the mean time, he ordered them to be quiet;
and treated Aristobulus civilly, lest he should make the nation revolt,
and hinder his return; which yet Aristobulus did; for without expecting
any further determination, which Pompey had promised them, he went to the
city Delius, and thence marched into Judea.
4. At this behavior Pompey was angry; and taking with him that army which
he was leading against the Nabateans, and the auxiliaries that came from
Damascus, and the other parts of Syria, with the other Roman legions which
he had with him, he made an expedition against Aristobulus; but as he
passed by Pella and Scythopolis, he came to Corem, which is the first
entrance into Judea when one passes over the midland countries, where he
came to a most beautiful fortress that was built on the top of a mountain
called Alexandrium, whither Aristobulus had fled; and thence Pompey sent
his commands to him, that he should come to him. Accordingly, at the
persuasions of many that he would not make war with the Romans, he came
down; and when he had disputed with his brother about the right to the
government, he went up again to the citadel, as Pompey gave him leave to
do; and this he did two or three times, as flattering himself with the
hopes of having the kingdom granted him; so that he still pretended he
would obey Pompey in whatsoever he commanded, although at the same time he
retired to his fortress, that he might not depress himself too low, and
that he might be prepared for a war, in case it should prove as he feared,
that Pompey would transfer the government to Hyrcanus. But when Pompey
enjoined Aristobulus to deliver up the fortresses he held, and to send an
injunction to their governors under his own hand for that purpose, for
they had been forbidden to deliver them up upon any other commands, he
submitted indeed to do so; but still he retired in displeasure to
Jerusalem, and made preparation for war. A little after this, certain
persons came out of Pontus, and informed Pompey, as he was on the way, and
conducting his army against Aristobulus, that Mithridates was dead, and
was slain by his son Pharmaces.
CHAPTER 4. How Pompey When The Citizens Of Jerusalem Shut Their Gates
Against Him Besieged The City And Took It By Force; As Also What Other
Things He Did In Judea.
1. Now when Pompey had pitched his camp at Jericho, [where the palm tree
grows, and that balsam which is an ointment of all the most precious,
which upon any incision made in the wood with a sharp stone, distills out
thence like a juice,] 4 he marched in the morning to
Jerusalem. Hereupon Aristobulus repented of what he was doing, and came to
Pompey, had [promised to] give him money, and received him into Jerusalem,
and desired that he would leave off the war, and do what he pleased
peaceably. So Pompey, upon his entreaty, forgave him, and sent Gabinius,
and soldiers with him, to receive the money and the city: yet was no part
of this performed; but Gabinius came back, being both excluded out of the
city, and receiving none of the money promised, because Aristobulus’s
soldiers would not permit the agreements to be executed. At this Pompey
was very angry, and put Aristobulus into prison, and came himself to the
city, which was strong on every side, excepting the north, which was not
so well fortified, for there was a broad and deep ditch that encompassed
the city 5 and included within it the
temple, which was itself encompassed about with a very strong stone wall.
2. Now there was a sedition of the men that were within the city, who did
not agree what was to be done in their present circumstances, while some
thought it best to deliver up the city to Pompey; but Aristobulus’s party
exhorted them to shut the gates, because he was kept in prison. Now these
prevented the others, and seized upon the temple, and cut off the bridge
which reached from it to the city, and prepared themselves to abide a
siege; but the others admitted Pompey’s army in, and delivered up both the
city and the king’s palace to him. So Pompey sent his lieutenant Piso with
an army, and placed garrisons both in the city and in the palace, to
secure them, and fortified the houses that joined to the temple, and all
those which were more distant and without it. And in the first place, he
offered terms of accommodation to those within; but when they would not
comply with what was desired, he encompassed all the places thereabout
with a wall, wherein Hyrcanus did gladly assist him on all occasions; but
Pompey pitched his camp within [the wall], on the north part of the
temple, where it was most practicable; but even on that side there were
great towers, and a ditch had been dug, and a deep valley begirt it round
about, for on the parts towards the city were precipices, and the bridge
on which Pompey had gotten in was broken down. However, a bank was raised,
day by day, with a great deal of labor, while the Romans cut down
materials for it from the places round about. And when this bank was
sufficiently raised, and the ditch filled up, though but poorly, by reason
of its immense depth, he brought his mechanical engines and battering-rams
from Tyre, and placing them on the bank, he battered the temple with the
stones that were thrown against it. And had it not been our practice, from
the days of our forefathers, to rest on the seventh day, this bank could
never have been perfected, by reason of the opposition the Jews would have
made; for though our law gives us leave then to defend ourselves against
those that begin to fight with us and assault us, yet does it not permit
us to meddle with our enemies while they do any thing else.
3. Which thing when the Romans understood, on those days which we call
Sabbaths they threw nothing at the Jews, nor came to any pitched battle
with them; but raised up their earthen banks, and brought their engines
into such forwardness, that they might do execution the next day. And any
one may hence learn how very great piety we exercise towards God, and the
observance of his laws, since the priests were not at all hindered from
their sacred ministrations by their fear during this siege, but did still
twice a-day, in the morning and about the ninth hour, offer their
sacrifices on the altar; nor did they omit those sacrifices, if any
melancholy accident happened by the stones that were thrown among them;
for although the city was taken on the third month, on the day of the
fast, 6
upon the hundred and seventy-ninth olympiad, when Caius Antonius and
Marcus Tullius Cicero were consuls, and the enemy then fell upon them, and
cut the throats of those that were in the temple; yet could not those that
offered the sacrifices be compelled to run away, neither by the fear they
were in of their own lives, nor by the number that were already slain, as
thinking it better to suffer whatever came upon them, at their very
altars, than to omit any thing that their laws required of them. And that
this is not a mere brag, or an encomium to manifest a degree of our piety
that was false, but is the real truth, I appeal to those that have written
of the acts of Pompey; and, among them, to Strabo and Nicolaus [of
Damascus]; and besides these two, Titus Livius, the writer of the Roman
History, who will bear witness to this thing. 7
4. But when the battering-engine was brought near, the greatest of the
towers was shaken by it, and fell down, and broke down a part of the
fortifications, so the enemy poured in apace; and Cornelius Faustus, the
son of Sylla, with his soldiers, first of all ascended the wall, and next
to him Furius the centurion, with those that followed on the other part,
while Fabius, who was also a centurion, ascended it in the middle, with a
great body of men after him. But now all was full of slaughter; some of
the Jews being slain by the Romans, and some by one another; nay, some
there were who threw themselves down the precipices, or put fire to their
houses, and burnt them, as not able to bear the miseries they were under.
Of the Jews there fell twelve thousand, but of the Romans very few.
Absalom, who was at once both uncle and father-in-law to Aristobulus, was
taken captive; and no small enormities were committed about the temple
itself, which, in former ages, had been inaccessible, and seen by none;
for Pompey went into it, and not a few of those that were with him also,
and saw all that which it was unlawful for any other men to see but only
for the high priests. There were in that temple the golden table, the holy
candlestick, and the pouring vessels, and a great quantity of spices; and
besides these there were among the treasures two thousand talents of
sacred money: yet did Pompey touch nothing of all this, 8
on account of his regard to religion; and in this point also he acted in a
manner that was worthy of his virtue. The next day he gave order to those
that had the charge of the temple to cleanse it, and to bring what
offerings the law required to God; and restored the high priesthood to
Hyrcanus, both because he had been useful to him in other respects, and
because he hindered the Jews in the country from giving Aristobulus any
assistance in his war against him. He also cut off those that had been the
authors of that war; and bestowed proper rewards on Faustus, and those
others that mounted the wall with such alacrity; and he made Jerusalem
tributary to the Romans, and took away those cities of Celesyria which the
inhabitants of Judea had subdued, and put them under the government of the
Roman president, and confined the whole nation, which had elevated itself
so high before, within its own bounds. Moreover, he rebuilt Gadara, 9
which had been demolished a little before, to gratify Demetrius of Gadara,
who was his freedman, and restored the rest of the cities, Hippos, and
Scythopolis, and Pella, and Dios, and Samaria, as also Marissa, and
Ashdod, and Jamnia, and Arethusa, to their own inhabitants: these were in
the inland parts. Besides those that had been demolished, and also of the
maritime cities, Gaza, and Joppa, and Dora, and Strato’s Tower; which last
Herod rebuilt after a glorious manner, and adorned with havens and
temples, and changed its name to Cæsarea. All these Pompey left in a
state of freedom, and joined them to the province of Syria.
5. Now the occasions of this misery which came upon Jerusalem were
Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, by raising a sedition one against the other; for
now we lost our liberty, and became subject to the Romans, and were
deprived of that country which we had gained by our arms from the Syrians,
and were compelled to restore it to the Syrians. Moreover, the Romans
exacted of us, in a little time, above ten thousand talents; and the royal
authority, which was a dignity formerly bestowed on those that were high
priests, by the right of their family, became the property of private men.
But of these matters we shall treat in their proper places. Now Pompey
committed Celesyria, as far as the river Euphrates and Egypt, to Scaurus,
with two Roman legions, and then went away to Cilicia, and made haste to
Rome. He also carried bound along with him Aristobulus and his children;
for he had two daughters, and as many sons; the one of which ran away, but
the younger, Antigonus, was carried to Rome, together with his sisters.
CHAPTER 5. How Scaurus Made A League Of Mutual Assistance With Aretas; And
What Gabinius Did In Judea, After He Had Conquered Alexander, The Son Of
Aristobulus.
1. Scaurus made now an expedition against Petrea, in Arabia, and set on
fire all the places round about it, because of the great difficulty of
access to it. And as his army was pinched by famine, Antipater furnished
him with corn out of Judea, and with whatever else he wanted, and this at
the command of Hyrcanus. And when he was sent to Aretas, as an ambassador
by Scaurus, because he had lived with him formerly, he persuaded Aretas to
give Scaurus a sum of money, to prevent the burning of his country, and
undertook to be his surety for three hundred talents. So Scaurus, upon
these terms, ceased to make war any longer; which was done as much at
Scaurus’s desire, as at the desire of Aretas.
2. Some time after this, when Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, made an
incursion into Judea, Gabinius came from Rome into Syria, as commander of
the Roman forces. He did many considerable actions; and particularly made
war with Alexander, since Hyrcanus was not yet able to oppose his power,
but was already attempting to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, which Pompey
had overthrown, although the Romans which were there restrained him from
that his design. However, Alexander went over all the country round about,
and armed many of the Jews, and suddenly got together ten thousand armed
footmen, and fifteen hundred horsemen, and fortified Alexandrium, a
fortress near to Corem, and Macherus, near the mountains of Arabia.
Gabinius therefore came upon him, having sent Marcus Antonius, with other
commanders, before. These armed such Romans as followed them; and,
together with them, such Jews as were subject to them, whose leaders were
Pitholaus and Malichus; and they took with them also their friends that
were with Antipater, and met Alexander, while Gabinius himself followed
with his legion. Hereupon Alexander retired to the neighborhood of
Jerusalem, where they fell upon one another, and it came to a pitched
battle, in which the Romans slew of their enemies about three thousand,
and took a like number alive.
3. At which time Gabinius 10 came to Alexandrium, and
invited those that were in it to deliver it up on certain conditions, and
promised that then their former offenses should be forgiven. But as a
great number of the enemy had pitched their camp before the fortress, whom
the Romans attacked, Marcus Antonius fought bravely, and slew a great
number, and seemed to come off with the greatest honor. So Gabinius left
part of his army there, in order to take the place, and he himself went
into other parts of Judea, and gave order to rebuild all the cities that
he met with that had been demolished; at which time were rebuilt Samaria,
Ashdod, Scythopolis, Anthedon, Raphia, and Dora; Marissa also, and Gaza,
and not a few others besides. And as the men acted according to Gabinius’s
command, it came to pass, that at this time these cities were securely
inhabited, which had been desolate for a long time.
4. When Gabinius had done thus in the country, he returned to Alexandrium;
and when he urged on the siege of the place, Alexander sent an embassage
to him, desiring that he would pardon his former offenses; he also
delivered up the fortresses, Hyrcania and Macherus, and at last
Alexandrium itself which fortresses Gabinius demolished. But when
Alexander’s mother, who was of the side of the Romans, as having her
husband and other children at Rome, came to him, he granted her whatsoever
she asked; and when he had settled matters with her, he brought Hyrcanus
to Jerusalem, and committed the care of the temple to him. And when he had
ordained five councils, he distributed the nation into the same number of
parts. So these councils governed the people; the first was at Jerusalem,
the second at Gadara, the third at Amathus, the fourth at Jericho, and the
fifth at Sepphoris in Galilee. So the Jews were now freed from monarchic
authority, and were governed by an aristocracy.
CHAPTER 6. How Gabinius Caught Aristobulus After He Had Fled From Rome,
And Sent Him Back To Rome Again; And How The Same Gabinius As He Returned
Out Of Egypt Overcame Alexander And The Nabateans In Battle.
1. Now Aristobulus ran away from Rome to Judea, and set about the
rebuilding of Alexandrium, which had been newly demolished. Hereupon
Gabinius sent soldiers against him, add for their commanders Sisenna, and
Antonius, and Servilius, in order to hinder him from getting possession of
the country, and to take him again. And indeed many of the Jews ran to
Aristobulus, on account of his former glory, as also because they should
be glad of an innovation. Now there was one Pitholaus, a lieutenant at
Jerusalem, who deserted to him with a thousand men, although a great
number of those that came to him were unarmed; and when Aristobulus had
resolved to go to Macherus, he dismissed those people, because they were
unarmed; for they could not be useful to him in what actions he was going
about; but he took with him eight thousand that were armed, and marched
on; and as the Romans fell upon them severely, the Jews fought valiantly,
but were beaten in the battle; and when they had fought with alacrity, but
were overborne by the enemy, they were put to flight; of whom were slain
about five thousand, and the rest being dispersed, tried, as well as they
were able, to save themselves. However, Aristobulus had with him still
above a thousand, and with them he fled to Macherus, and fortified the
place; and though he had had ill success, he still had good hope of his
affairs; but when he had struggled against the siege for two days’ time,
and had received many wounds, he was brought as a captive to Gabinius,
with his son Antigonus, who also fled with him from Rome. And this was the
fortune of Aristobulus, who was sent back again to Rome, and was there
retained in bonds, having been both king and high priest for three years
and six months; and was indeed an eminent person, and one of a great soul.
However, the senate let his children go, upon Gabinius’s writing to them
that he had promised their mother so much when she delivered up the
fortresses to him; and accordingly they then returned into Judea.
2. Now when Gabinius was making an expedition against the Parthians, and
had already passed over Euphrates, he changed his mind, and resolved to
return into Egypt, in order to restore Ptolemy to his kingdom. 11
This hath also been related elsewhere. However, Antipater supplied his
army, which he sent against Archelaus, with corn, and weapons, and money.
He also made those Jews who were above Pelusium his friends and
confederates, and had been the guardians of the passes that led into
Egypt. But when he came back out of Egypt, he found Syria in disorder,
with seditions and troubles; for Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, having
seized on the government a second time by force, made many of the Jews
revolt to him; and so he marched over the country with a great army, and
slew all the Romans he could light upon, and proceeded to besiege the
mountain called Gerizzim, whither they had retreated.
3. But when Gabinius found Syria in such a state, he sent Antipater, who
was a prudent man, to those that were seditious, to try whether he could
cure them of their madness, and persuade them to return to a better mind;
and when he came to them, he brought many of them to a sound mind, and
induced them to do what they ought to do; but he could not restrain
Alexander, for he had an army of thirty thousand Jews, and met Gabinius,
and joining battle with him, was beaten, and lost ten thousand of his men
about Mount Tabor.
4. So Gabinius settled the affairs which belonged to the city Jerusalem,
as was agreeable to Antipater’s inclination, and went against the
Nabateans, and overcame them in battle. He also sent away in a friendly
manner Mithridates and Orsanes, who were Parthian deserters, and came to
him, though the report went abroad that they had run away from him. And
when Gabinius had performed great and glorious actions, in his management
of the affairs of war, he returned to Rome, and delivered the government
to Crassus. Now Nicolaus of Damascus, and Strabo of Cappadocia, both
describe the expeditions of Pompey and Gabinius against the Jews, while
neither of them say anything new which is not in the other.
CHAPTER 7. How Crassus Came Into Judea, And Pillaged The Temple; And Then
Marched Against The Parthians And Perished, With His Army. Also How
Cassius Obtained Syria, And Put A Stop To The Parthians And Then Went Up
To Judea.
1. Now Crassus, as he was going upon his expedition against the Parthians,
came into Judea, and carried off the money that was in the temple, which
Pompey had left, being two thousand talents, and was disposed to spoil it
of all the gold belonging to it, which was eight thousand talents. He also
took a beam, which was made of solid beaten gold, of the weight of three
hundred minae, each of which weighed two pounds and a half. It was the
priest who was guardian of the sacred treasures, and whose name was
Eleazar, that gave him this beam, not out of a wicked design, for he was a
good and a righteous man; but being intrusted with the custody of the
veils belonging to the temple, which were of admirable beauty, and of very
costly workmanship, and hung down from this beam, when he saw that Crassus
was busy in gathering money, and was in fear for the entire ornaments of
the temple, he gave him this beam of gold as a ransom for the whole, but
this not till he had given his oath that he would remove nothing else out
of the temple, but be satisfied with this only, which he should give him,
being worth many ten thousand [shekels]. Now this beam was contained in a
wooden beam that was hollow, but was known to no others; but Eleazar alone
knew it; yet did Crassus take away this beam, upon the condition of
touching nothing else that belonged to the temple, and then brake his
oath, and carried away all the gold that was in the temple.
2. And let no one wonder that there was so much wealth in our temple,
since all the Jews throughout the habitable earth, and those that
worshipped God, nay, even those of Asia and Europe, sent their
contributions to it, and this from very ancient times. Nor is the
largeness of these sums without its attestation; nor is that greatness
owing to our vanity, as raising it without ground to so great a height;
but there are many witnesses to it, and particularly Strabo of Cappadocia,
who says thus: “Mithridates sent to Cos, and took the money which queen
Cleopatra had deposited there, as also eight hundred talents belonging to
the Jews.” Now we have no public money but only what appertains to God;
and it is evident that the Asian Jews removed this money out of fear of
Mithridates; for it is not probable that those of Judea, who had a strong
city and temple, should send their money to Cos; nor is it likely that the
Jews who are inhabitants of Alexandria should do so neither, since they
were in no fear of Mithridates. And Strabo himself bears witness to the
same thing in another place, that at the same time that Sylla passed over
into Greece, in order to fight against Mithridates, he sent Lucullus to
put an end to a sedition that our nation, of whom the habitable earth is
full, had raised in Cyrene; where he speaks thus: “There were four classes
of men among those of Cyrene; that of citizens, that of husbandmen, the
third of strangers, and the fourth of Jews. Now these Jews are already
gotten into all cities; and it is hard to find a place in the habitable
earth that hath not admitted this tribe of men, and is not possessed by
them; and it hath come to pass that Egypt and Cyrene, as having the same
governors, and a great number of other nations, imitate their way of
living, and maintain great bodies of these Jews in a peculiar manner, and
grow up to greater prosperity with them, and make use of the same laws
with that nation also. Accordingly, the Jews have places assigned them in
Egypt, wherein they inhabit, besides what is peculiarly allotted to this
nation at Alexandria, which is a large part of that city. There is also an
ethnarch allowed them, who governs the nation, and distributes justice to
them, and takes care of their contracts, and of the laws to them
belonging, as if he were the ruler of a free republic. In Egypt,
therefore, this nation is powerful, because the Jews were originally
Egyptians, and because the land wherein they inhabit, since they went
thence, is near to Egypt. They also removed into Cyrene, because that this
land adjoined to the government of Egypt, as well as does Judea, or rather
was formerly under the same government.” And this is what Strabo says.
3. So when Crassus had settled all things as he himself pleased, he
marched into Parthia, where both he himself and all his army perished, as
hath been related elsewhere. But Cassius, as he fled from Rome to Syria,
took possession of it, and was an impediment to the Parthians, who by
reason of their victory over Crassus made incursions upon it. And as he
came back to Tyre, he went up into Judea also, and fell upon Tarichee, and
presently took it, and carried about thirty thousand Jews captives; and
slew Pitholaus, who succeeded Aristobulus in his seditious practices, and
that by the persuasion of Antipater, who proved to have great interest in
him, and was at that time in great repute with the Idumeans also: out of
which nation he married a wife, who was the daughter of one of their
eminent men, and her name was Cypros, 12 by
whom he had four sons, Phasael, and Herod, who was afterwards made king,
and Joseph, and Pheroras; and a daughter, named Salome. This Antipater
cultivated also a friendship and mutual kindness with other potentates,
but especially with the king of Arabia, to whom he committed his children,
while he fought against Aristobulus. So Cassius removed his camp, and
marched to Euphrates, to meet those that were coming to attack him, as
hath been related by others.
4. But some time afterward Cæsar, when he had taken Rome, and after Pompey
and the senate were fled beyond the Ionian Sea, freed Aristobulus from his
bonds, and resolved to send him into Syria, and delivered two legions to
him, that he might set matters right, as being a potent man in that
country. But Aristobulus had no enjoyment of what he hoped for from the
power that was given him by Cæsar; for those of Pompey’s party prevented
it, and destroyed him by poison; and those of Cæsar’s party buried him.
His dead body also lay, for a good while, embalmed in honey, till Antony
afterward sent it to Judea, and caused him to be buried in the royal
sepulcher. But Scipio, upon Pompey’s sending to him to slay Alexander, the
son of Aristobulus, because the young man was accused of what offenses he
had been guilty of at first against the Romans, cut off his head; and thus
did he die at Antioch. But Ptolemy, the son of Menneus, who was the ruler
of Chalcis, under Mount Libanus, took his brethren to him, and sent his
son Philippion to Askelon to Aristobulus’s wife, and desired her to send
back with him her son Antigonus, and her daughters; the one of which,
whose name was Alexandra, Philippion fell in love with, and married her,
though afterward his father Ptolemy slew him, and married Alexandra, and
continued to take care of her brethren.
CHAPTER 8. The Jews Become Confederates With Cæsar When He Fought Against
Egypt. The Glorious Actions Of Antipater, And His Friendship With Cæsar.
The Honors Which The Jews Received From The Romans And Athenians.
1. Now after Pompey was dead, and after that victory Cæsar had gained
over him, Antipater, who managed the Jewish affairs, became very useful to
Cæsar when he made war against Egypt, and that by the order of Hyrcanus;
for when Mithridates of Pergainus was bringing his auxiliaries, and was
not able to continue his march through Pelusium, but obliged to stay at
Askelon, Antipater came to him, conducting three thousand of the Jews,
armed men. He had also taken care the principal men of the Arabians should
come to his assistance; and on his account it was that all the Syrians
assisted him also, as not willing to appear behindhand in their alacrity
for Cæsar, viz. Jamblicus the ruler, and Ptolemy his son, and Tholomy the
son of Sohemus, who dwelt at Mount Libanus, and almost all the cities. So
Mithridates marched out of Syria, and came to Pelusium; and when its
inhabitants would not admit him, he besieged the city. Now Antipater
signalized himself here, and was the first who plucked down a part of the
wall, and so opened a way to the rest, whereby they might enter the city,
and by this means Pelusium was taken. But it happened that the Egyptian
Jews, who dwelt in the country called Onion, would not let Antipater and
Mithridates, with their soldiers, pass to Cæsar; but Antipater persuaded
them to come over with their party, because he was of the same people with
them, and that chiefly by showing them the epistles of Hyrcanus the high
priest, wherein he exhorted them to cultivate friendship with Cæsar, and
to supply his army with money, and all sorts of provisions which they
wanted; and accordingly, when they saw Antipater and the high priest of
the same sentiments, they did as they were desired. And when the Jews
about Memphis heard that these Jews were come over to Cæsar, they also
invited Mithridates to come to them; so he came and received them also
into his army.
2. And when Mithridates had gone over all Delta, as the place is called,
he came to a pitched battle with the enemy, near the place called the
Jewish Camp. Now Mithridates had the right wing, and Antipater the left;
and when it came to a fight, that wing where Mithridates was gave way, and
was likely to suffer extremely, unless Antipater had come running to him
with his own soldiers along the shore, when he had already beaten the
enemy that opposed him; so he delivered Mithridates, and put those
Egyptians who had been too hard for him to flight. He also took their
camp, and continued in the pursuit of them. He also recalled Mithridates,
who had been worsted, and was retired a great way off; of whose soldiers
eight hundred fell, but of Antipater’s fifty. So Mithridates sent an
account of this battle to Cæsar, and openly declared that Antipater was
the author of this victory, and of his own preservation, insomuch that
Cæsar commended Antipater then, and made use of him all the rest of that
war in the most hazardous undertakings; he happened also to be wounded in
one of those engagements.
3. However, when Cæsar, after some time, had finished that war, and was
sailed away for Syria, he honored Antipater greatly, and confirmed
Hyrcanus in the high priesthood; and bestowed on Antipater the privilege
of a citizen of Rome, and a freedom from taxes every where; and it is
reported by many, that Hyrcanus went along with Antipater in this
expedition, and came himself into Egypt. And Strabo of Cappadocia bears
witness to this, when he says thus, in the name of Aslnius: “After
Mithridates had invaded Egypt, and with him Hyrcanus the high priest of
the Jews.” Nay, the same Strabo says thus again, in another place, in the
name of Hypsicrates, that “Mithridates at first went out alone; but that
Antipater, who had the care of the Jewish affairs, was called by him to
Askelon, and that he had gotten ready three thousand soldiers to go along
with him, and encouraged other governors of the country to go along with
him also; and that Hyrcanus the high priest was also present in this
expedition.” This is what Strabo says.
4. But Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, came at this time to Cæsar, and
lamented his father’s fate; and complained, that it was by Antipater’s
means that Aristobulus was taken off by poison, and his brother was
beheaded by Scipio, and desired that he would take pity of him who had
been ejected out of that principality which was due to him. He also
accused Hyrcanus and Antipater as governing the nation by violence, and
offering injuries to himself. Antipater was present, and made his defense
as to the accusations that were laid against him. He demonstrated that
Antigonus and his party were given to innovation, and were seditious
persons. He also put Cæsar in mind what difficult services he had
undergone when he assisted him in his wars, and discoursed about what he
was a witness of himself. He added, that Aristobulus was justly carried
away to Rome, as one that was an enemy to the Romans, and could never be
brought to be a friend to them, and that his brother had no more than he
deserved from Scipio, as being seized in committing robberies; and that
this punishment was not inflicted on him in a way of violence or injustice
by him that did it.
5. When Antipater had made this speech, Cæsar appointed Hyrcauus to be
high priest, and gave Antipater what principality he himself should
choose, leaving the determination to himself; so he made him procurator of
Judea. He also gave Hyrcanus leave to raise up the walls of his own city,
upon his asking that favor of him, for they had been demolished by Pompey.
And this grant he sent to the consuls to Rome, to be engraven in the
capitol. The decree of the senate was this that follows: 13
“Lucius Valerius, the son of Lucius the praetor, referred this to the
senate, upon the Ides of December, in the temple of Concord. There were
present at the writing of this decree Lucius Coponius, the son of Lucius
of the Colline tribe, and Papirius of the Quirine tribe, concerning the
affairs which Alexander, the son of Jason, and Numenius, the son of
Antiochus, and Alexander, the son of Dositheus, ambassadors of the Jews,
good and worthy men, proposed, who came to renew that league of goodwill
and friendship with the Romans which was in being before. They also
brought a shield of gold, as a mark of confederacy, valued at fifty
thousand pieces of gold; and desired that letters might be given them,
directed both to the free cities and to the kings, that their country and
their havens might be at peace, and that no one among them might receive
any injury. It therefore pleased [the senate] to make a league of
friendship and good-will with them, and to bestow on them whatsoever they
stood in need of, and to accept of the shield which was brought by them.
This was done in the ninth year of Hyrcanus the high priest and ethnarch,
in the month Panemus.” Hyrcanus also received honors from the people of
Athens, as having been useful to them on many occasions. And when they
wrote to him, they sent him this decree, as it here follows “Under the
prutaneia and priesthood of Dionysius, the son of Esculapius, on the fifth
day of the latter part of the month Panemus, this decree of the Athenians
was given to their commanders, when Agathocles was archon, and Eucles, the
son of Menander of Alimusia, was the scribe. In the month Munychion, on
the eleventh day of the prutaneia, a council of the presidents was held in
the theater. Dorotheus the high priest, and the fellow presidents with
him, put it to the vote of the people. Dionysius, the son of Dionysius,
gave the sentence. Since Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, the high priest
and ethnarch of the Jews, continues to bear good-will to our people in
general, and to every one of our citizens in particular, and treats them
with all sorts of kindness; and when any of the Athenians come to him,
either as ambassadors, or on any occasion of their own, he receives them
in an obliging manner, and sees that they are conducted back in safety, of
which we have had several former testimonies; it is now also decreed, at
the report of Theodosius, the son of Theodorus, and upon his putting the
people in mind of the virtue of this man, and that his purpose is to do us
all the good that is in his power, to honor him with a crown of gold, the
usual reward according to the law, and to erect his statue in brass in the
temple of Demus and of the Graces; and that this present of a crown shall
be proclaimed publicly in the theater, in the Dionysian shows, while the
new tragedies are acting; and in the Panathenean, and Eleusinian, and
Gymnical shows also; and that the commanders shall take care, while he
continues in his friendship, and preserves his good-will to us, to return
all possible honor and favor to the man for his affection and generosity;
that by this treatment it may appear how our people receive the good
kindly, and repay them a suitable reward; and he may be induced to proceed
in his affection towards us, by the honors we have already paid him. That
ambassadors be also chosen out of all the Athenians, who shall carry this
decree to him, and desire him to accept of the honors we do him, and to
endeavor always to be doing some good to our city.” And this shall suffice
us to have spoken as to the honors that were paid by the Romans and the
people of Athens to Hyrcanus.
CHAPTER 9. How Antipater Committed The Care Of Galilee To Herod, And That
Of Jerusalem To Phasaelus; As Also How Herod Upon The Jews’ Envy At
Antipater Was Accused Before Hyrcanus.
1. Now when Cæsar had settled the affairs of Syria, he sailed away. And
as soon as Antipater had conducted Cæsar out of Syria, he returned to
Judea. He then immediately raised up the wall which had been thrown down
by Pompey; and, by coming thither, he pacified that tumult which had been
in the country, and this by both threatening and advising them to be
quiet; for that if they would be of Hyrcanus’s side, they would live
happily, and lead their lives without disturbance, and in the enjoyment of
their own possessions; but if they were addicted to the hopes of what
might come by innovation, and aimed to get wealth thereby, they should
have him a severe master instead of a gentle governor, and Hyrcanus a
tyrant instead of a king, and the Romans, together with Cæsar, their
bitter enemies instead of rulers, for that they would never bear him to be
set aside whom they had appointed to govern. And when Antipater had said
this to them, he himself settled the affairs of this country.
2. And seeing that Hyrcanus was of a slow and slothful temper, he made
Phasaelus, his eldest son, governor of Jerusalem, and of the places that
were about it, but committed Galilee to Herod, his next son, who was then
a very young man, for he was but fifteen years of age 14
But that youth of his was no impediment to him; but as he was a youth of
great mind, he presently met with an opportunity of signalizing his
courage; for finding that there was one Hezekiah, a captain of a band of
robbers, who overran the neighboring parts of Syria with a great troop of
them, he seized him and slew him, as well as a great number of the other
robbers that were with him; for which action he was greatly beloved by the
Syrians; for when they were very desirous to have their country freed from
this nest of robbers, he purged it of them. So they sung songs in his
commendation in their villages and cities, as having procured them peace,
and the secure enjoyment of their possessions; and on this account it was
that he became known to Sextus Cæsar, who was a relation of the great
Cæsar, and was now president of Syria. Now Phasaelus, Herod’s brother,
was moved with emulation at his actions, and envied the fame he had
thereby gotten, and became ambitious not to be behindhand with him in
deserving it. So he made the inhabitants of Jerusalem bear him the
greatest good-will while he held the city himself, but did neither manage
its affairs improperly, nor abuse his authority therein. This conduct
procured from the nation to Antipater such respect as is due to kings, and
such honors as he might partake of if he were an absolute lord of the
country. Yet did not this splendor of his, as frequently happens, in the
least diminish in him that kindness and fidelity which he owed to
Hyrcanus.
3. But now the principal men among the Jews, when they saw Antipater and
his sons to grow so much in the good-will the nation bare to them, and in
the revenues which they received out of Judea, and out of Hyrcanus’s own
wealth, they became ill- disposed to him; for indeed Antipater had
contracted a friendship with the Roman emperors; and when he had prevailed
with Hyrcanus to send them money, he took it to himself, and purloined the
present intended, and sent it as if it were his own, and not Hyrcanus’s
gift to them. Hyrcanus heard of this his management, but took no care
about it; nay, he rather was very glad of it. But the chief men of the
Jews were therefore in fear, because they saw that Herod was a violent and
bold man, and very desirous of acting tyrannically; so they came to
Hyrcanus, and now accused Antipater openly, and said to him, “How long
wilt thou be quiet under such actions as are now done? Or dost thou not
see that Antipater and his sons have already seized upon the government,
and that it is only the name of a king which is given thee? But do not
thou suffer these things to be hidden from thee, nor do thou think to
escape danger by being so careless of thyself and of thy kingdom; for
Antipater and his sons are not now stewards of thine affairs: do not thou
deceive thyself with such a notion; they are evidently absolute lords; for
Herod, Antipater’s son, hath slain Hezekiah, and those that were with him,
and hath thereby transgressed our law, which hath forbidden to slay any
man, even though he were a wicked man, unless he had been first condemned
to suffer death by the Sanhedrim 15 yet
hath he been so insolent as to do this, and that without any authority
from thee.”
4. Upon Hyrcanus hearing this, he complied with them. The mothers also of
those that had been slain by Herod raised his indignation; for those women
continued every day in the temple, persuading the king and the people that
Herod might undergo a trial before the Sanhedrim for what he had done.
Hyrcanus was so moved by these complaints, that he summoned Herod to come
to his trial for what was charged upon him. Accordingly he came; but his
father had persuaded him to come not like a private man, but with a guard,
for the security of his person; and that when he had settled the affairs
of Galilee in the best manner he could for his own advantage, he should
come to his trial, but still with a body of men sufficient for his
security on his journey, yet so that he should not come with so great a
force as might look like terrifying Hyrcanus, but still such a one as
might not expose him naked and unguarded [to his enemies.] However, Sextus
Cæsar, president of Syria, wrote to Hyrcanus, and desired him to clear
Herod, and dismiss him at his trial, and threatened him beforehand if he
did not do it. Which epistle of his was the occasion of Hyrcanus
delivering Herod from suffering any harm from the Sanhedrim, for he loved
him as his own son. But when Herod stood before the Sanhedrim, with his
body of men about him, he affrighted them all, and no one of his former
accusers durst after that bring any charge against him, but there was a
deep silence, and nobody knew what was to be done. When affairs stood
thus, one whose name was Sameas, 16 a
righteous man he was, and for that reason above all fear, rose up, and
said, “O you that are assessors with me, and O thou that art our king, I
neither have ever myself known such a case, nor do I suppose that any one
of you can name its parallel, that one who is called to take his trial by
us ever stood in such a manner before us; but every one, whosoever he be,
that comes to be tried by this Sanhedrim, presents himself in a submissive
manner, and like one that is in fear of himself, and that endeavors to
move us to compassion, with his hair dishevelled, and in a black and
mourning garment: but this admirable man Herod, who is accused of murder,
and called to answer so heavy an accusation, stands here clothed in
purple, and with the hair of his head finely trimmed, and with his armed
men about him, that if we shall condemn him by our law, he may slay us,
and by overbearing justice may himself escape death. Yet do not I make
this complaint against Herod himself; he is to be sure more concerned for
himself than for the laws; but my complaint is against yourselves, and
your king, who gave him a license so to do. However, take you notice, that
God is great, and that this very man, whom you are going to absolve and
dismiss, for the sake of Hyrcanus, will one day punish both you and your
king himself also.” Nor did Sameas mistake in any part of this prediction;
for when Herod had received the kingdom, he slew all the members of this
Sanhedrim, and Hyrcanus himself also, excepting Sameas, for he had a great
honor for him on account of his righteousness, and because, when the city
was afterward besieged by Herod and Sosius, he persuaded the people to
admit Herod into it; and told them that for their sins they would not be
able to escape his hands:—which things will be related by us in
their proper places.
5. But when Hyrcanus saw that the members of the Sanhedrim were ready to
pronounce the sentence of death upon Herod, he put off the trial to
another day, and sent privately to Herod, and advised him to fly out of
the city, for that by this means he might escape. So he retired to
Damascus, as though he fled from the king; and when he had been with
Sextus Cæsar, and had put his own affairs in a sure posture, he resolved
to do thus; that in case he were again summoned before the Sanhedrim to
take his trial, he would not obey that summons. Hereupon the members of
the Sanhedrim had great indignation at this posture of affairs, and
endeavored to persuade Hyrcanus that all these things were against him;
which state of matters he was not ignorant of; but his temper was so
unmanly, and so foolish, that he was able to do nothing at all. But when
Sextus had made Herod general of the army of Celesyria, for he sold him
that post for money, Hyrcanus was in fear lest Herod should make war upon
him; nor was the effect of what he feared long in coming upon him; for
Herod came and brought an army along with him to fight with Hyrcanus, as
being angry at the trial he had been summoned to undergo before the
Sanhedrim; but his father Antipater, and his brother [Phasaelus], met him,
and hindered him from assaulting Jerusalem. They also pacified his
vehement temper, and persuaded him to do no overt action, but only to
affright them with threatenings, and to proceed no further against one who
had given him the dignity he had: they also desired him not only to be
angry that he was summoned, and obliged to come to his trial, but to
remember withal how he was dismissed without condemnation, and how he
ought to give Hyrcanus thanks for the same; and that he was not to regard
only what was disagreeable to him, and be unthankful for his deliverance.
So they desired him to consider, that since it is God that turns the
scales of war, there is great uncertainty in the issue of battles, and
that therefore he ought of to expect the victory when he should fight with
his king, and him that had supported him, and bestowed many benefits upon
him, and had done nothing itself very severe to him; for that his
accusation, which was derived from evil counselors, and not from himself,
had rather the suspicion of some severity, than any thing really severe in
it. Herod was persuaded by these arguments, and believed that it was
sufficient for his future hopes to have made a show of his strength before
the nation, and done no more to it—and in this state were the
affairs of Judea at this time.
CHAPTER 10. The Honors That Were Paid The Jews; And The Leagues That Were
Made By The Romans And Other Nations, With Them.
1. Now when Cæsar was come to Rome, he was ready to sail into Africa to
fight against Scipio and Cato, when Hyrcanus sent ambassadors to him, and
by them desired that he would ratify that league of friendship and mutual
alliance which was between them, And it seems to me to be necessary here
to give an account of all the honors that the Romans and their emperor
paid to our nation, and of the leagues of mutual assistance they have made
with it, that all the rest of mankind may know what regard the kings of
Asia and Europe have had to us, and that they have been abundantly
satisfied of our courage and fidelity; for whereas many will not believe
what hath been written about us by the Persians and Macedonians, because
those writings are not every where to be met with, nor do lie in public
places, but among us ourselves, and certain other barbarous nations, while
there is no contradiction to be made against the decrees of the Romans,
for they are laid up in the public places of the cities, and are extant
still in the capitol, and engraven upon pillars of brass; nay, besides
this, Julius Cæsar made a pillar of brass for the Jews at Alexandria, and
declared publicly that they were citizens of Alexandria. Out of these
evidences will I demonstrate what I say; and will now set down the decrees
made both by the senate and by Julius Cæsar, which relate to Hyrcanus and
to our nation.
2. “Caius Julius Cæsar, imperator and high priest, and dictator the
second time, to the magistrates, senate, and people of Sidon, sendeth
greeting. If you be in health, it is well. I also and the army are well. I
have sent you a copy of that decree, registered on the tables, which
concerns Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, the high priest and ethnarch of
the Jews, that it may be laid up among the public records; and I will that
it be openly proposed in a table of brass, both in Greek and in Latin. It
is as follows: I Julius Cæsar, imperator the second time, and high
priest, have made this decree, with the approbation of the senate. Whereas
Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander the Jew, hath demonstrated his fidelity and
diligence about our affairs, and this both now and in former times, both
in peace and in war, as many of our generals have borne witness, and came
to our assistance in the last Alexandrian war, 17 with
fifteen hundred soldiers; and when he was sent by me to Mithridates,
showed himself superior in valor to all the rest of that army;—for
these reasons I will that Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, and his
children, be ethnarchs of the Jews, and have the high priesthood of the
Jews for ever, according to the customs of their forefathers, and that he
and his sons be our confederates; and that besides this, everyone of them
be reckoned among our particular friends. I also ordain that he and his
children retain whatsoever privileges belong to the office of high priest,
or whatsoever favors have been hitherto granted them; and if at any time
hereafter there arise any questions about the Jewish customs, I will that
he determine the same. And I think it not proper that they should be
obliged to find us winter quarters, or that any money should be required
of them.”
3. “The decrees of Caius Cæsar, consul, containing what hath been granted
and determined, are as follows: That Hyrcanus and his children bear rule
over the nation of the Jews, and have the profits of the places to them
bequeathed; and that he, as himself the high priest and ethnarch of the
Jews, defend those that are injured; and that ambassadors be sent to
Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, the high priest of the Jews, that may
discourse with him about a league of friendship and mutual assistance; and
that a table of brass, containing the premises, be openly proposed in the
capitol, and at Sidon, and Tyre, and Askelon, and in the temple, engraven
in Roman and Greek letters: that this decree may also be communicated to
the quaestors and praetors of the several cities, and to the friends of
the Jews; and that the ambassadors may have presents made them; and that
these decrees be sent every where.” 18
4. “Caius Cæsar, imperator, dictator, consul, hath granted, That out of
regard to the honor, and virtue, and kindness of the man, and for the
advantage of the senate, and of the people of Rome, Hyrcanus, the son of
Alexander, both he and his children, be high priests and priests of
Jerusalem, and of the Jewish nation, by the same right, and according to
the same laws, by which their progenitors have held the priesthood.”
5. “Caius Cæsar, consul the fifth time, hath decreed, That the Jews shall
possess Jerusalem, and may encompass that city with walls; and that
Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, the high priest and ethnarch of the Jews,
retain it in the manner he himself pleases; and that the Jews be allowed
to deduct out of their tribute, every second year the land is let [in the
Sabbatic period], a corus of that tribute; and that the tribute they pay
be not let to farm, nor that they pay always the same tribute.”
6. “Caius Cæsar, imperator the second time, hath ordained, That all the
country of the Jews, excepting Joppa, do pay a tribute yearly for the city
Jerusalem, excepting the seventh, which they call the sabbatical year,
because thereon they neither receive the fruits of their trees, nor do
they sow their land; and that they pay their tribute in Sidon on the
second year [of that sabbatical period], the fourth part of what was sown:
and besides this, they are to pay the same tithes to Hyrcanus and his sons
which they paid to their forefathers. And that no one, neither president,
nor lieutenant, nor ambassador, raise auxiliaries within the bounds of
Judea; nor may soldiers exact money of them for winter quarters, or under
any other pretense; but that they be free from all sorts of injuries; and
that whatsoever they shall hereafter have, and are in possession of, or
have bought, they shall retain them all. It is also our pleasure that the
city Joppa, which the Jews had originally, when they made a league of
friendship with the Romans, shall belong to them, as it formerly did; and
that Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, and his sons, have as tribute of that
city from those that occupy the land for the country, and for what they
export every year to Sidon, twenty thousand six hundred and seventy-five
modii every year, the seventh year, which they call the Sabbatic year,
excepted, whereon they neither plough, nor receive the product of their
trees. It is also the pleasure of the senate, that as to the villages
which are in the great plain, which Hyrcanus and his forefathers formerly
possessed, Hyrcanus and the Jews have them with the same privileges with
which they formerly had them also; and that the same original ordinances
remain still in force which concern the Jews with regard to their high
priests; and that they enjoy the same benefits which they have had
formerly by the concession of the people, and of the senate; and let them
enjoy the like privileges in Lydda. It is the pleasure also of the senate
that Hyrcanus the ethnarch, and the Jews, retain those places, countries,
and villages which belonged to the kings of Syria and Phoenicia, the
confederates of the Romans, and which they had bestowed on them as their
free gifts. It is also granted to Hyrcanus, and to his sons, and to the
ambassadors by them sent to us, that in the fights between single
gladiators, and in those with beasts, they shall sit among the senators to
see those shows; and that when they desire an audience, they shall be
introduced into the senate by the dictator, or by the general of the
horse; and when they have introduced them, their answers shall be returned
them in ten days at the furthest, after the decree of the senate is made
about their affairs.”
7. “Caius Cæsar, imperator, dictator the fourth time, and consul the
fifth time, declared to be perpetual dictator, made this speech concerning
the rights and privileges of Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, the high
priest and ethnarch of the Jews. Since those imperators that have been in
the provinces before me have borne witness to Hyrcanus, the high priest of
the Jews, and to the Jews themselves, and this before the senate and
people of Rome, when the people and senate returned their thanks to them,
it is good that we now also remember the same, and provide that a requital
be made to Hyrcanus, to the nation of the Jews, and to the sons of
Hyrcanus, by the senate and people of Rome, and that suitably to what
good-will they have shown us, and to the benefits they have bestowed upon
us.”
8. “Julius Caius, praetor [consul] of Rome, to the magistrates, senate,
and people of the Parians, sendeth greeting. The Jews of Delos, and some
other Jews that sojourn there, in the presence of your ambassadors,
signified to us, that, by a decree of yours, you forbid them to make use
of the customs of their forefathers, and their way of sacred worship. Now
it does not please me that such decrees should be made against our friends
and confederates, whereby they are forbidden to live according to their
own customs, or to bring in contributions for common suppers and holy
festivals, while they are not forbidden so to do even at Rome itself; for
even Caius Cæsar, our imperator and consul, in that decree wherein he
forbade the Bacchanal rioters to meet in the city, did yet permit these
Jews, and these only, both to bring in their contributions, and to make
their common suppers. Accordingly, when I forbid other Bacchanal rioters,
I permit these Jews to gather themselves together, according to the
customs and laws of their forefathers, and to persist therein. It will be
therefore good for you, that if you have made any decree against these our
friends and confederates, to abrogate the same, by reason of their virtue
and kind disposition towards us.”
9. Now after Caius was slain, when Marcus Antonius and Publius Dolabella
were consuls, they both assembled the senate, and introduced Hyrcanus’s
ambassadors into it, and discoursed of what they desired, and made a
league of friendship with them. The senate also decreed to grant them all
they desired. I add the decree itself, that those who read the present
work may have ready by them a demonstration of the truth of what we say.
The decree was this:
10. “The decree of the senate, copied out of the treasury, from the public
tables belonging to the quaestors, when Quintus Rutilius and Caius
Cornelius were quaestors, and taken out of the second table of the first
class, on the third day before the Ides of April, in the temple of
Concord. There were present at the writing of this decree, Lucius
Calpurnius Piso of the Menenian tribe, Servius Papinins Potitus of the
Lemonian tribe, Caius Caninius Rebilius of the Terentine tribe, Publius
Tidetius, Lucius Apulinus, the son of Lucius, of the Sergian tribe,
Flavius, the son of Lucius, of the Lemonian tribe, Publius Platins, the
son of Publius, of the Papyrian tribe, Marcus Acilius, the son of Marcus,
of the Mecian tribe, Lucius Erucius, the son of Lucius, of the Stellatine
tribe, Mareils Quintus Plancillus, the son of Marcus, of the Pollian
tribe, and Publius Serius. Publius Dolabella and Marcus Antonius, the
consuls, made this reference to the senate, that as to those things which,
by the decree of the senate, Caius Cæsar had adjudged about the Jews, and
yet had not hitherto that decree been brought into the treasury, it is our
will, as it is also the desire of Publius Dolabella and Marcus Antonius,
our consuls, to have these decrees put into the public tables, and brought
to the city quaestors, that they may take care to have them put upon the
double tables. This was done before the fifth of the Ides of February, in
the temple of Concord. Now the ambassadors from Hyrcanus the high priest
were these: Lysimachus, the son of Pausanias, Alexander, the son of
Theodorus, Patroclus, the son of Chereas, and Jonathan the son of Onias.”
11. Hyrcanus sent also one of these ambassadors to Dolabella, who was then
the prefect of Asia, and desired him to dismiss the Jews from military
services, and to preserve to them the customs of their forefathers, and to
permit them to live according to them. And when Dolabella had received
Hyrcanus’s letter, without any further deliberation, he sent an epistle to
all the Asiatics, and particularly to the city of the Ephesians, the
metropolis of Asia, about the Jews; a copy of which epistle here follows:
12. “When Artermon was prytanis, on the first day of the month Leneon,
Dolabella, imperator, to the senate, and magistrates, and people of the
Ephesians, sendeth greeting. Alexander, the son of Theodorus, the
ambassador of Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander, the high priest and ethnarch
of the Jews, appeared before me, to show that his countrymen could not go
into their armies, because they are not allowed to bear arms or to travel
on the sabbath days, nor there to procure themselves those sorts of food
which they have been used to eat from the times of their forefathers;—I
do therefore grant them a freedom from going into the army, as the former
prefects have done, and permit them to use the customs of their
forefathers, in assembling together for sacred and religious purposes, as
their law requires, and for collecting oblations necessary for sacrifices;
and my will is, that you write this to the several cities under your
jurisdiction.”
13. And these were the concessions that Dolabella made to our nation when
Hyrcanus sent an embassage to him. But Lucius the consul’s decree ran
thus: “I have at my tribunal set these Jews, who are citizens of Rome, and
follow the Jewish religious rites, and yet live at Ephesus, free from
going into the army, on account of the superstition they are under. This
was done before the twelfth of the calends of October, when Lucius
Lentulus and Caius Marcellus were consuls, in the presence of Titus Appius
Balgus, the son of Titus, and lieutenant of the Horatian tribe; of Titus
Tongins, the son of Titus, of the Crustumine tribe; of Quintus Resius, the
son of Quintus; of Titus Pompeius Longinus, the son of Titus; of Catus
Servilius, the son of Caius, of the Terentine tribe; of Bracchus the
military tribune; of Publius Lucius Gallus, the son of Publius, of the
Veturian tribe; of Caius Sentins, the son of Caius, of the Sabbatine
tribe; of Titus Atilius Bulbus, the son of Titus, lieutenant and
vice-praetor to the magistrates, senate, and people of the Ephesians,
sendeth greeting. Lucius Lentulus the consul freed the Jews that are in
Asia from going into the armies, at my intercession for them; and when I
had made the same petition some time afterward to Phanius the imperator,
and to Lucius Antonius the vice-quaestor, I obtained that privilege of
them also; and my will is, that you take care that no one give them any
disturbance.”
14. The decree of the Delians. “The answer of the praetors, when Beotus
was archon, on the twentieth day of the month Thargeleon. While Marcus
Piso the lieutenant lived in our city, who was also appointed over the
choice of the soldiers, he called us, and many other of the citizens, and
gave order, that if there be here any Jews who are Roman citizens, no one
is to give them any disturbance about going into the army, because
Cornelius Lentulus, the consul, freed the Jews from going into the army,
on account of the superstition they are under;—you are therefore
obliged to submit to the praetor.” And the like decree was made by the
Sardians about us also.
15. “Caius Phanius, the son of Caius, imperator and consul, to the
magistrates of Cos, sendeth greeting. I would have you know that the
ambassadors of the Jews have been with me, and desired they might have
those decrees which the senate had made about them; which decrees are here
subjoined. My will is, that you have a regard to and take care of these
men, according to the senate’s decree, that they may be safely conveyed
home through your country.”
16. The declaration of Lucius Lentulus the consul: “I have dismissed those
Jews who are Roman citizens, and who appear to me to have their religious
rites, and to observe the laws of the Jews at Ephesus, on account of the
superstition they are under. This act was done before the thirteenth of
the calends of October.”
17. “Lucius Antonius, the son of Marcus, vice-quaestor, and vice-praetor,
to the magistrates, senate, and people of the Sardians, sendeth greeting.
Those Jews that are our fellow citizens of Rome came to me, and
demonstrated that they had an assembly of their own, according to the laws
of their forefathers, and this from the beginning, as also a place of
their own, wherein they determined their suits and controversies with one
another. Upon their petition therefore to me, that these might be lawful
for them, I gave order that these their privileges be preserved, and they
be permitted to do accordingly.”
18. The declaration of Marcus Publius, the son of Spurius, and of Marcus,
the son of Marcus, and of Lucius, the son of Publius: “We went to the
proconsul, and informed him of what Dositheus, the son of Cleopatrida of
Alexandria, desired, that, if he thought good, he would dismiss those Jews
who were Roman citizens, and were wont to observe the rites of the Jewish
religion, on account of the superstition they were under. Accordingly, he
did dismiss them. This was done before the thirteenth of the calends of
October.”
19. “In the month Quntius, when Lucius Lentulus and Caius Mercellus were
consuls; and there were present Titus Appius Balbus, the son of Titus,
lieutenant of the Horatian tribe, Titus Tongius of the Crustumine tribe,
Quintus Resius, the son of Quintus, Titus Pompeius, the son of Titus,
Cornelius Longinus, Caius Servilius Bracchus, the son of Caius, a military
tribune, of the Terentine tribe, Publius Clusius Gallus, the son of
Publius, of the Veturian tribe, Caius Teutius, the son of Caius, a milital
tribune, of the EmilJan tribe, Sextus Atilius Serranus, the son of Sextus,
of the Esquiline tribe, Caius Pompeius, the son of Caius, of the Sabbatine
tribe, Titus Appius Menander, the son of Titus, Publius Servilius Strabo,
the son of Publius, Lucius Paccius Capito, the son of Lucius, of the
Colline tribe, Aulus Furius Tertius, the son of Aulus, and Appius Menus.
In the presence of these it was that Lentulus pronounced this decree: I
have before the tribunal dismissed those Jews that are Roman citizens, and
are accustomed to observe the sacred rites of the Jews at Ephesus, on
account of the superstition they are under.”
20. “The magistrates of the Laodiceans to Caius Rubilius, the son of
Caius, the consul, sendeth greeting. Sopater, the ambassador of Hyrcanus
the high priest, hath delivered us an epistle from thee, whereby he lets
us know that certain ambassadors were come from Hyrcanus, the high priest
of the Jews, and brought an epistle written concerning their nation,
wherein they desire that the Jews may be allowed to observe their
Sabbaths, and other sacred rites, according to the laws of their
forefathers, and that they may be under no command, because they are our
friends and confederates, and that nobody may injure them in our
provinces. Now although the Trallians there present contradicted them, and
were not pleased with these decrees, yet didst thou give order that they
should be observed, and informedst us that thou hadst been desired to
write this to us about them. We therefore, in obedience to the injunctions
we have received from thee, have received the epistle which thou sentest
us, and have laid it up by itself among our public records. And as to the
other things about which thou didst send to us, we will take care that no
complaint be made against us.”
21. “Publius Servilius, the son of Publius, of the Galban tribe, the
proconsul, to the magistrates, senate, and people of the Milesians,
sendeth greeting. Prytanes, the son of Hermes, a citizen of yours, came to
me when I was at Tralles, and held a court there, and informed me that you
used the Jews in a way different from my opinion, and forbade them to
celebrate their Sabbaths, and to perform the Sacred rites received from
their forefathers, and to manage the fruits of the land, according to
their ancient custom; and that he had himself been the promulger of your
decree, according as your laws require: I would therefore have you know,
that upon hearing the pleadings on both sides, I gave sentence that the
Jews should not be prohibited to make use of their own customs.”
22. The decree of those of Pergamus. “When Cratippus was prytanis, on the
first day of the month Desius, the decree of the praetors was this: Since
the Romans, following the conduct of their ancestors, undertake dangers
for the common safety of all mankind, and are ambitious to settle their
confederates and friends in happiness, and in firm peace, and since the
nation of the Jews, and their high priest Hyrcanus, sent as ambassadors to
them, Strato, the son of Theodatus, and Apollonius, the son of Alexander,
and Eneas, the son of Antipater, and Aristobulus, the son of Amyntas, and
Sosipater, the son of Philip, worthy and good men, who gave a particular
account of their affairs, the senate thereupon made a decree about what
they had desired of them, that Antiochus the king, the son of Antiochus,
should do no injury to the Jews, the confederates of the Romans; and that
the fortresses, and the havens, and the country, and whatsoever else he
had taken from them, should be restored to them; and that it may be lawful
for them to export their goods out of their own havens; and that no king
nor people may have leave to export any goods, either out of the country
of Judea, or out of their havens, without paying customs, but only
Ptolemy, the king of Alexandria, because he is our confederate and friend;
and that, according to their desire, the garrison that is in Joppa may be
ejected. Now Lucius Pettius, one of our senators, a worthy and good man,
gave order that we should take care that these things should be done
according to the senate’s decree; and that we should take care also that
their ambassadors might return home in safety. Accordingly, we admitted
Theodorus into our senate and assembly, and took the epistle out his
hands, as well as the decree of the senate. And as he discoursed with
great zeal about the Jews, and described Hyrcanus’s virtue and generosity,
and how he was a benefactor to all men in common, and particularly to
every body that comes to him, we laid up the epistle in our public
records; and made a decree ourselves, that since we also are in
confederacy with the Romans, we would do every thing we could for the
Jews, according to the senate’s decree. Theodorus also, who brought the
epistle, desired of our praetors, that they would send Hyrcanus a copy of
that decree, as also ambassadors to signify to him the affection of our
people to him, and to exhort them to preserve and augment their friendship
for us, and be ready to bestow other benefits upon us, as justly expecting
to receive proper requitals from us; and desiring them to remember that
our ancestors 19 were friendly to the Jews even
in the days of Abraham, who was the father of all the Hebrews, as we have
[also] found it set down in our public records.”
23. The decree of those of Halicarnassus. “When Memnon, the son of
Orestidas by descent, but by adoption of Euonymus, was priest, on the
—— day of the month Aristerion, the decree of the people, upon
the representation of Marcus Alexander, was this: Since we have ever a
great regard to piety towards God, and to holiness; and since we aim to
follow the people of the Romans, who are the benefactors of all men, and
what they have written to us about a league of friendship and mutual
assistance between the Jews and our city, and that their sacred offices
and accustomed festivals and assemblies may be observed by them; we have
decreed, that as many men and women of the Jews as are willing so to do,
may celebrate their Sabbaths, and perform their holy offices, according to
Jewish laws; and may make their proseuchae at the sea-side, according to
the customs of their forefathers; and if any one, whether he be a
magistrate or private person, hindereth them from so doing, he shall be
liable to a fine, to be applied to the uses of the city.”
24. The decree of the Sardians. “This decree was made by the senate and
people, upon the representation of the praetors: Whereas those Jews who
are fellow citizens, and live with us in this city, have ever had great
benefits heaped upon them by the people, and have come now into the
senate, and desired of the people, that upon the restitution of their law
and their liberty, by the senate and people of Rome, they may assemble
together, according to their ancient legal custom, and that we will not
bring any suit against them about it; and that a place may be given them
where they may have their congregations, with their wives and children,
and may offer, as did their forefathers, their prayers and sacrifices to
God. Now the senate and people have decreed to permit them to assemble
together on the days formerly appointed, and to act according to their own
laws; and that such a place be set apart for them by the praetors, for the
building and inhabiting the same, as they shall esteem fit for that
purpose; and that those that take care of the provision for the city,
shall take care that such sorts of food as they esteem fit for their
eating may be imported into the city.”
25. The decree of the Ephesians. “When Menophilus was prytanis, on the
first day of the month Artemisius, this decree was made by the people:
Nicanor, the son of Euphemus, pronounced it, upon the representation of
the praetors. Since the Jews that dwell in this city have petitioned
Marcus Julius Pompeius, the son of Brutus, the proconsul, that they might
be allowed to observe their Sabbaths, and to act in all things according
to the customs of their forefathers, without impediment from any body, the
praetor hath granted their petition. Accordingly, it was decreed by the
senate and people, that in this affair that concerned the Romans, no one
of them should be hindered from keeping the sabbath day, nor be fined for
so doing, but that they may be allowed to do all things according to their
own laws.”
26. Now there are many such decrees of the senate and imperators of the
Romans 20 and those different from these
before us, which have been made in favor of Hyrcanus, and of our nation;
as also, there have been more decrees of the cities, and rescripts of the
praetors, to such epistles as concerned our rights and privileges; and
certainly such as are not ill-disposed to what we write may believe that
they are all to this purpose, and that by the specimens which we have
inserted; for since we have produced evident marks that may still be seen
of the friendship we have had with the Romans, and demonstrated that those
marks are engraven upon columns and tables of brass in the capitol, that
axe still in being, and preserved to this day, we have omitted to set them
all down, as needless and disagreeable; for I cannot suppose any one so
perverse as not to believe the friendship we have had with the Romans,
while they have demonstrated the same by such a great number of their
decrees relating to us; nor will they doubt of our fidelity as to the rest
of those decrees, since we have shown the same in those we have produced,
And thus have we sufficiently explained that friendship and confederacy we
at those times had with the Romans.
CHAPTER 11. How Marcus, Succeeded Sextus When He Had Been Slain By
Bassus’s Treachery; And How, After The Death Of Cæsar, Cassius Came Into
Syria, And Distressed Judea; As Also How Malichus Slew Antipater And Was
Himself Slain By Herod.
1. Now it so fell out, that about this very time the affairs of Syria were
in great disorder, and this on the occasion following: Cecilius Bassus,
one of Pompey’s party, laid a treacherous design against Sextus Cæsar,
and slew him, and then took his army, and got the management of public
affairs into his own hand; so there arose a great war about Apamia, while
Cæsar’s generals came against him with an army of horsemen and footmen;
to these Antipater also sent succors, and his sons with them, as calling
to mind the kindnesses they had received from Cæsar, and on that account
he thought it but just to require punishment for him, and to take
vengeance on the man that had murdered him. And as the war was drawn out
into a great length, Marcus 21 came
from Rome to take Sextus’s government upon him. But Cæsar was slain by
Cassius and Brutus in the senate-house, after he had retained the
government three years and six months. This fact however, is related
elsewhere.
2. As the war that arose upon the death of Cæsar was now begun, and the
principal men were all gone, some one way, and some another, to raise
armies, Cassius came from Rome into Syria, in order to receive the [army
that lay in the] camp at Apamia; and having raised the siege, he brought
over both Bassus and Marcus to his party. He then went over the cities,
and got together weapons and soldiers, and laid great taxes upon those
cities; and he chiefly oppressed Judea, and exacted of it seven hundred
talents: but Antipater, when he saw the state to be in so great
consternation and disorder, he divided the collection of that sum, and
appointed his two sons to gather it; and so that part of it was to be
exacted by Malichus, who was ill- disposed to him, and part by others. And
because Herod did exact what is required of him from Galilee before
others, he was in the greatest favor with Cassius; for he thought it a
part of prudence to cultivate a friendship with the Romans, and to gain
their goodwill at the expense of others; whereas the curators of the other
cities, with their citizens, were sold for slaves; and Cassius reduced
four cities into a state of slavery, the two most potent of which were
Gophna and Emmaus; and, besides these, Lydia and Thamna. Nay, Cassius was
so very angry at Malichus, that he had killed him, [for he assaulted him,]
had not Hyrcanus, by the means of Antipater, sent him a hundred talents of
his own, and thereby pacified his anger against him.
3. But after Cassius was gone out of Judea, Malichus laid snares for
Antipater, as thinking that his death would-be the preservation of
Hyrcanus’s government; but his design was not unknown to Antipater, which
when he perceived, he retired beyond Jordan, and got together an army,
partly of Arabs, and partly of his own countrymen. However, Malichus,
being one of great cunning, denied that he had laid any snares for him,
and made his defense with an oath, both to himself and his sons; and said
that while Phasaelus had a garrison in Jerusalem, and Herod had the
weapons of war in his custody, he could never have a thought of any such
thing. So Antipater, perceiving the distress that Malichus was in, was
reconciled to him, and made an agreement with him: this was when Marcus
was president of Syria; who yet perceiving that this Malichus was making a
disturbance in Judea, proceeded so far that he had almost killed him; but
still, at the intercession of Antipater, he saved him.
4. However, Antipater little thought that by saving Malichus he had saved
his own murderer; for now Cassius and Marcus had got together an army, and
intrusted the entire care of it with Herod, and made him general of the
forces of Celesyria, and gave him a fleet of ships, and an army of
horsemen and footmen; and promised him, that after the war was over they
would make him king of Judea; for a war was already begun between Antony
and the younger Cæsar: but as Malichus was most afraid of Antipater, he
took him out of the way; and by the offer of money, persuaded the butler
of Hyrcanus, with whom they were both to feast, to kill him by poison.
This being done, and he having armed men with him, settled the affairs of
the city. But when Antipater’s sons, Herod and Phasaelus, were acquainted
with this conspiracy against their father, and had indignation at it,
Malichus denied all, and utterly renounced any knowledge of the murder.
And thus died Antipater, a man that had distinguished himself for piety
and justice, and love to his country. And whereas one of his sons, Herod,
resolved immediately to revenge their father’s death, and was coming upon
Malichus with an army for that purpose, the elder of his sons, Phasaelus,
thought it best rather to get this man into their hands by policy, lest
they should appear to begin a civil war in the country; so he accepted of
Malichus’s defense for himself, and pretended to believe him that he had
had no hand in the violent death of Antipater his father, but erected a
fine monument for him. Herod also went to Samaria; and when he found them
in great distress, he revived their spirits, and composed their
differences.
5. However, a little after this, Herod, upon the approach of a festival,
came with his soldiers into the city; whereupon Malichus was affrighted,
and persuaded Hyrcanus not to permit him to come into the city. Hyrcanus
complied; and, for a pretense of excluding him, alleged, that a rout of
strangers ought not to be admitted when the multitude were purifying
themselves. But Herod had little regard to the messengers that were sent
to him, and entered the city in the night time, and affrighted Malichus;
yet did he remit nothing of his former dissimulation, but wept for
Antipater, and bewailed him as a friend of his with a loud voice; but
Herod and his friends though, it proper not openly to contradict
Malichus’s hypocrisy, but to give him tokens of mutual friendship, in
order to prevent his suspicion of them.
6. However, Herod sent to Cassius, and informed him of the murder of his
father; who knowing what sort of man Malichus was as to his morals, sent
him back word that he should revenge his father’s death; and also sent
privately to the commanders of his army at Tyre, with orders to assist
Herod in the execution of a very just design of his. Now when Cassius had
taken Laodicea, they all went together to him, and carried him garlands
and money; and Herod thought that Malichus might be punished while he was
there; but he was somewhat apprehensive of the thing, and designed to make
some great attempt, and because his son was then a hostage at Tyre, he
went to that city, and resolved to steal him away privately, and to march
thence into Judea; and as Cassius was in haste to march against Antony, he
thought to bring the country to revolt, and to procure the government for
himself. But Providence opposed his counsels; and Herod being a shrewd
man, and perceiving what his intention was, he sent thither beforehand a
servant, in appearance indeed to get a supper ready, for he had said
before that he would feast them all there, but in reality to the
commanders of the army, whom he persuaded to go out against Malichus, with
their daggers. So they went out and met the man near the city, upon the
sea-shore, and there stabbed him. Whereupon Hyrcanus was so astonished at
what had happened, that his speech failed him; and when, after some
difficulty, he had recovered himself, he asked Herod what the matter could
be, and who it was that slew Malichus; and when he said that it was done
by the command of Cassius, he commended the action; for that Malichus was
a very wicked man, and one that conspired against his own country. And
this was the punishment that was inflicted on Malichus for what he
wickedly did to Antipater.
7. But when Cassius was marched out of Syria, disturbances arose in Judea;
for Felix, who was left at Jerusalem with an army, made a sudden attempt
against Phasaelus, and the people themselves rose in arms; but Herod went
to Fabius, the prefect of Damascus, and was desirous to run to his
brother’s assistance, but was hindered by a distemper that seized upon
him, till Phasaelus by himself had been too hard for Felix, and had shut
him up in the tower, and there, on certain conditions, dismissed him.
Phasaelus also complained of Hyrcanus, that although he had received a
great many benefits from them, yet did he support their enemies; for
Malichus’s brother had made many places to revolt, and kept garrisons in
them, and particularly Masada, the strongest fortress of them all. In the
mean time, Herod was recovered of his disease, and came and took from
Felix all the places he had gotten; and, upon certain conditions,
dismissed him also.
CHAPTER 12. Herod Ejects Antigonus, The Son Of Aristobulus Out Of Judea,
And Gains The Friendship Of Antony, Who Was Now Come Into Syria, By
Sending Him Much Money; On Which Account He Would Not Admit Of Those That
Would Have Accused Herod: And What It Was That Antony Wrote To The Tyrians
In Behalf.
1. Now 22 Ptolemy, the son of Menneus,
brought back into Judea Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, who had already
raised an army, and had, by money, made Fabius to be his friend, add this
because he was of kin to him. Marion also gave him assistance. He had been
left by Cassius to tyrannize over Tyre; for this Cassius was a man that
seized on Syria, and then kept it under, in the way of a tyrant. Marion
also marched into Galilee, which lay in his neighborhood, and took three
of his fortresses, and put garrisons into them to keep them. But when
Herod came, he took all from him; but the Tyrian garrison he dismissed in
a very civil manner; nay, to some of the soldiers he made presents out of
the good-will he bare to that city. When he had despatched these affairs,
and was gone to meet Antigonus, he joined battle with him, and beat him,
and drove him out of Judea presently, when he was just come into its
borders. But when he was come to Jerusalem, Hyrcanus and the people put
garlands about his head; for he had already contracted an affinity with
the family of Hyrcanus by having espoused a descendant of his, and for
that reason Herod took the greater care of him, as being to marry the
daughter of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus, add the granddaughter of
Hyrcanus, by which wife he became the father of three male and two female
children. He had also married before this another wife, out of a lower
family of his own nation, whose name was Doris, by whom he had his eldest
son Antipater.
2. Now Antonius and Cæsar had beaten Cassius near Philippi, as others
have related; but after the victory, Cæsar went into Gaul, [Italy,] and
Antony marched for Asia, who, when he was arrived at Bithynia, he had
ambassadors that met him from all parts. The principal men also of the
Jews came thither, to accuse Phasaelus and Herod; and they said that
Hyrcanus had indeed the appearance of reigning, but that these men had all
the power: but Antony paid great respect to Herod, who was come to him to
make his defense against his accusers, on which account his adversaries
could not so much as obtain a hearing; which favor Herod had gained of
Antony by money. But still, when Antony was come to Ephesus, Hyrcanus the
high priest, and our nation, sent an embassage to him, which carried a
crown of gold with them, and desired that he would write to the governors
of the provinces, to set those Jews free who had been carried captive by
Cassius, and this without their having fought against him, and to restore
them that country, which, in the days of Cassius, had been taken from
them. Antony thought the Jews’ desires were just, and wrote immediately to
Hyrcanus, and to the Jews. He also sent, at the same time, a decree to the
Tyrians; the contents of which were to the same purpose.
3. “Marcus Antonius, imperator, to Hyrcanus the high priest and ethnarch
of the Jews, sendeth greeting. It you be in health, it is well; I am also
in health, with the army. Lysimachus, the son of Pausanias, and Josephus,
the son of Menneus, and Alexander, the son of Theodorus, your ambassadors,
met me at Ephesus, and have renewed the embassage which they had formerly
been upon at Rome, and have diligently acquitted themselves of the present
embassage, which thou and thy nation have intrusted to them, and have
fully declared the goodwill thou hast for us. I am therefore satisfied,
both by your actions and your words, that you are well-disposed to us; and
I understand that your conduct of life is constant and religious: so I
reckon upon you as our own. But when those that were adversaries to you,
and to the Roman people, abstained neither from cities nor temples, and
did not observe the agreement they had confirmed by oath, it was not only
on account of our contest with them, but on account of all mankind in
common, that we have taken vengeance on those who have been the authors of
great injustice towards men, and of great wickedness towards the gods; for
the sake of which we suppose it was that the sun turned away his light
from us, 23 as unwilling to view the
horrid crime they were guilty of in the case of Cæsar. We have also
overcome their conspiracies, which threatened the gods themselves, which
Macedonia received, as it is a climate peculiarly proper for impious and
insolent attempts; and we have overcome that confused rout of men, half
mad with spite against us, which they got together at Philippi in
Macedonia, when they seized on the places that were proper for their
purpose, and, as it were, walled them round with mountains to the very
sea, and where the passage was open only through a single gate. This
victory we gained, because the gods had condemned those men for their
wicked enterprises. Now Brutus, when he had fled as far as Philippi, was
shut up by us, and became a partaker of the same perdition with Cassius;
and now these have received their punishment, we suppose that we may enjoy
peace for the time to come, and that Asia may be at rest from war. We
therefore make that peace which God hath given us common to our
confederates also, insomuch that the body of Asia is now recovered out of
that distemper it was under by the means of our victory. I, therefore,
bearing in mind both thee and your nation, shall take care of what may be
for your advantage. I have also sent epistles in writing to the several
cities, that if any persons, whether free-men or bond-men, have been sold
under the spear by Caius Cassius, or his subordinate officers, they may be
set free. And I will that you kindly make use of the favors which I and
Dolabella have granted you. I also forbid the Tyrians to use any violence
with you; and for what places of the Jews they now possess, I order them
to restore them. I have withal accepted of the crown which thou sentest
me.”
4. “Marcus Antonius, imperator, to the magistrates, senate, and people of
Tyre, sendeth greeting. The ambassadors of Hyrcanus, the high priest and
ethnarch [of the Jews], appeared before me at Ephesus, and told me that
you are in possession of part of their country, which you entered upon
under the government of our adversaries. Since, therefore, we have
undertaken a war for the obtaining the government, and have taken care to
do what was agreeable to piety and justice, and have brought to punishment
those that had neither any remembrance of the kindnesses they had
received, nor have kept their oaths, I will that you be at peace with
those that are our confederates; as also, that what you have taken by the
means of our adversaries shall not be reckoned your own, but be returned
to those from whom you took them; for none of them took their provinces or
their armies by the gift of the senate, but they seized them by force, and
bestowed them by violence upon such as became useful to them in their
unjust proceedings. Since, therefore, those men have received the
punishment due to them, we desire that our confederates may retain
whatsoever it was that they formerly possessed without disturbance, and
that you restore all the places which belong to Hyrcanus, the ethnarch of
the Jews, which you have had, though it were but one day before Caius
Cassius began an unjustifiable war against us, and entered into our
province; nor do you use any force against him, in order to weaken him,
that he may not be able to dispose of that which is his own; but if you
have any contest with him about your respective rights, it shall be lawful
for you to plead your cause when we come upon the places concerned, for we
shall alike preserve the rights and hear all the causes of our
confederates.”
5. “Marcus Antonius, imperator, to the magistrates, senate, and people of
Tyre, sendeth greeting. I have sent you my decree, of which I will that ye
take care that it be engraven on the public tables, in Roman and Greek
letters, and that it stand engraven in the most illustrious places, that
it may be read by all. Marcus Antonius, imperator, one of the triumvirate
over the public affairs, made this declaration: Since Caius Cassius, in
this revolt he hath made, hath pillaged that province which belonged not
to him, and was held by garrisons there encamped, while they were our
confederates, and hath spoiled that nation of the Jews that was in
friendship with the Roman people, as in war; and since we have overcome
his madness by arms, we now correct by our decrees and judicial
determinations what he hath laid waste, that those things may be restored
to our confederates. And as for what hath been sold of the Jewish
possessions, whether they be bodies or possessions, let them be released;
the bodies into that state of freedom they were originally in, and the
possessions to their former owners. I also will that he who shall not
comply with this decree of mine shall be punished for his disobedience;
and if such a one be caught, I will take care that the offenders suffer
condign punishment.”
6. The same thing did Antony write to the Sidonians, and the Antiochians,
and the Aradians. We have produced these decrees, therefore, as marks for
futurity of the truth of what we have said, that the Romans had a great
concern about our nation.
CHAPTER 13. How Antony Made Herod And Phasaelus Tetrarchs, After They Had
Been Accused To No Purpose; And How The Parthians When They Brought
Antigonus Into Judea Took Hyrcanus And Phasaelus Captives. Herod’s Flight;
And What Afflictions Hyrcanus And Phasaelus Endured.
1. When after this Antony came into Syria, Cleopatra met him in Cilicia,
and brought him to fall in love with her. And there came now also a
hundred of the most potent of the Jews to accuse Herod and those about
him, and set the men of the greatest eloquence among them to speak. But
Messala contradicted them, on behalf of the young men, and all this in the
presence of Hyrcanus, who was Herod’s father-in-law 24
already. When Antony had heard both sides at Daphne, he asked Hyrcanus who
they were that governed the nation best. He replied, Herod and his
friends. Hereupon Antony, by reason of the old hospitable friendship he
had made with his father [Antipater], at that time when he was with
Gabinius, he made both Herod and Phasaelus tetrarchs, and committed the
public affairs of the Jews to them, and wrote letters to that purpose. He
also bound fifteen of their adversaries, and was going to kill them, but
that Herod obtained their pardon.
2. Yet did not these men continue quiet when they were come back, but a
thousand of the Jews came to Tyre to meet him there, whither the report
was that he would come. But Antony was corrupted by the money which Herod
and his brother had given him; and so he gave order to the governor of the
place to punish the Jewish ambassadors, who were for making innovations,
and to settle the government upon Herod; but Herod went out hastily to
them, and Hyrcanus was with him, [for they stood upon the shore before the
city,] and he charged them to go their ways, because great mischief would
befall them if they went on with their accusation. But they did not
acquiesce; whereupon the Romans ran upon them with their daggers, and slew
some, and wounded more of them, and the rest fled away and went home, and
lay still in great consternation. And when the people made a clamor
against Herod, Antony was so provoked at it, that he slew the prisoners.
3. Now, in the second year, Pacorus, the king of Parthia’s son, and
Barzapharnes, a commander of the Parthians, possessed themselves of Syria.
Ptolemy, the son of Menneus, also was now dead, and Lysanias his son took
his government, and made a league of friendship with Antigonus, the son of
Aristobulus; and in order to obtain it, made use of that commander, who
had great interest in him. Now Antigonus had promised to give the
Parthians a thousand talents, and five hundred women, upon condition they
would take the government away from Hyrcanus, and bestow it upon him, and
withal kill Herod. And although he did not give them what he had promised,
yet did the Parthians make an expedition into Judea on that account, and
carried Antigonus with them. Pacorus went along the maritime parts, but
the commander Barzapharnes through the midland. Now the Tyrians excluded
Pacorus, but the Sidonians and those of Ptolemais received him. However,
Pacorus sent a troop of horsemen into Judea, to take a view of the state
of the country, and to assist Antigonus; and sent also the king’s butler,
of the same name with himself. So when the Jews that dwelt about Mount
Carmel came to Antigonus, and were ready to march with him into Judea,
Antigonus hoped to get some part of the country by their assistance. The
place is called Drymi; and when some others came and met them, the men
privately fell upon Jerusalem; and when some more were come to them, they
got together in great numbers, and came against the king’s palace, and
besieged it. But as Phasaelus’s and Herod’s party came to the other’s
assistance, and a battle happened between them in the market-place, the
young men beat their enemies, and pursued them into the temple, and sent
some armed men into the adjoining houses to keep them in, who yet being
destitute of such as should support them, were burnt, and the houses with
them, by the people who rose up against them. But Herod was revenged on
these seditious adversaries of his a little afterward for this injury they
had offered him, when he fought with them, and slew a great number of
them.
4. But while there were daily skirmishes, the enemy waited for the coming
of the multitude out of the country to Pentecost, a feast of ours so
called; and when that day was come, many ten thousands of the people were
gathered together about the temple, some in armor, and some without. Now
those that came guarded both the temple and the city, excepting what
belonged to the palace, which Herod guarded with a few of his soldiers;
and Phasaelus had the charge of the wall, while Herod, with a body of his
men, sallied out upon the enemy, who lay in the suburbs, and fought
courageously, and put many ten thousands to flight, some flying into the
city, and some into the temple, and some into the outer fortifications,
for some such fortifications there were in that place. Phasaelus came also
to his assistance; yet was Pacorus, the general of the Parthians, at the
desire of Antigonus, admitted into the city, with a few of his horsemen,
under pretence indeed as if he would still the sedition, but in reality to
assist Antigonus in obtaining the government. And when Phasaelus met him,
and received him kindly, Pacorus persuaded him to go himself as ambassador
to Barzapharnes, which was done fraudulently. Accordingly, Phasaelus,
suspecting no harm, complied with his proposal, while Herod did not give
his consent to what was done, because of the perfidiousness of these
barbarians, but desired Phasaelus rather to fight those that were come
into the city.
5. So both Hyrcanus and Phasaelus went on the embassage; but Pacorus left
with Herod two hundred horsemen, and ten men, who were called the freemen,
and conducted the others on their journey; and when they were in Galilee,
the governors of the cities there met them in their arms. Barzapharnes
also received them at the first with cheerfulness, and made them presents,
though he afterward conspired against them; and Phasaelus, with his
horsemen, were conducted to the sea-side. But when they heard that
Antigonus had promised to give the Parthians a thousand talents, and five
hundred women, to assist him against them, they soon had a suspicion of
the barbarians. Moreover, there was one who informed them that snares were
laid for them by night, while a guard came about them secretly; and they
had then been seized upon, had not they waited for the seizure of Herod by
the Parthians that were about Jerusalem, lest, upon the slaughter of
Hyrcanus and Phasaelus, he should have an intimation of it, and escape out
of their hands. And these were the circumstances they were now in; and
they saw who they were that guarded them. Some persons indeed would have
persuaded Phasaelus to fly away immediately on horseback, and not stay any
longer; and there was one Ophellius, who, above all the rest, was earnest
with him to do so; for he had heard of this treachery from Saramalla, the
richest of all the Syrians at that time, who also promised to provide him
ships to carry him off; for the sea was just by them. But he had no mind
to desert Hyrcanus, nor bring his brother into danger; but he went to
Barzapharnes, and told him he did not act justly when he made such a
contrivance against them; for that if he wanted money, he would give him
more than Antigonus; and besides, that it was a horrible thing to slay
those that came to him upon the security of their oaths, and that when
they had done them no injury. But the barbarian swore to him that there
was no truth in any of his suspicions, but that he was troubled with
nothing but false proposals, and then went away to Pacorus.
6. But as soon as he was gone away, some men came and bound Hyrcanus and
Phasaelus, while Phasaelus greatly reproached the Parthians for their
perjury; However, that butler who was sent against Herod had it in command
to get him without the walls of the city, and seize upon him; but
messengers had been sent by Phasaelus to inform Herod of the
perfidiousness of the Parthians. And when he knew that the enemy had
seized upon them, he went to Pacorus, and to the most potent of the
Parthians, as to the lord of the rest, who, although they knew the whole
matter, dissembled with him in a deceitful way; and said that he ought to
go out with them before the walls, and meet those which were bringing him
his letters, for that they were not taken by his adversaries, but were
coming to give him an account of the good success Phasaelus had had. Herod
did not give credit to what they said; for he had heard that his brother
was seized upon by others also; and the daughter of Hyrcanus, whose
daughter he had espoused, was his monitor also [not to credit them], which
made him still more suspicious of the Parthians; for although other people
did not give heed to her, yet did he believe her as a woman of very great
wisdom.
7. Now while the Parthians were in consultation what was fit to be done;
for they did not think it proper to make an open attempt upon a person of
his character; and while they put off the determination to the next day,
Herod was under great disturbance of mind, and rather inclining to believe
the reports he heard about his brother and the Parthians, than to give
heed to what was said on the other side, he determined, that when the
evening came on, he would make use of it for his flight, and not make any
longer delay, as if the dangers from the enemy were not yet certain. He
therefore removed with the armed men whom he had with him; and set his
wives upon the beasts, as also his mother, and sister, and her whom he was
about to marry, [Mariamne,] the daughter of Alexander, the son of
Aristobulus, with her mother, the daughter of Hyrcanus, and his youngest
brother, and all their servants, and the rest of the multitude that was
with him, and without the enemy’s privity pursued his way to Idumea. Nor
could any enemy of his who then saw him in this case be so hardhearted,
but would have commiserated his fortune, while the women drew along their
infant children and left their own country, and their friends in prison,
with tears in their eyes, and sad lamentations, and in expectation of
nothing but what was of a melancholy nature.
8. But for Herod himself, he raised his mind above the miserable state he
was in, and was of good courage in the midst of his misfortunes; and as he
passed along, he bid them every one to be of good cheer, and not to give
themselves up to sorrow, because that would hinder them in their flight,
which was now the only hope of safety that they had. Accordingly, they
tried to bear with patience the calamity they were under, as he exhorted
them to do; yet was he once almost going to kill himself, upon the
overthrow of a waggon, and the danger his mother was then in of being
killed; and this on two accounts, because of his great concern for her,
and because he was afraid lest, by this delay, the enemy should overtake
him in the pursuit: but as he was drawing his sword, and going to kill
himself therewith, those that were present restrained him, and being so
many in number, were too hard for him; and told him that he ought not to
desert them, and leave them a prey to their enemies, for that it was not
the part of a brave man to free himself from the distresses he was in, and
to overlook his friends that were in the same distresses also. So he was
compelled to let that horrid attempt alone, partly out of shame at what
they said to him, and partly out of regard to the great number of those
that would not permit him to do what he intended. So he encouraged his
mother, and took all the care of her the time would allow, and proceeded
on the way he proposed to go with the utmost haste, and that was to the
fortress of Masada. And as he had many skirmishes with such of the
Parthians as attacked him and pursued him, he was conqueror in them all.
9. Nor indeed was he free from the Jews all along as he was in his flight;
for by that time he was gotten sixty furlongs out of the city, and was
upon the road, they fell upon him, and fought hand to hand with him, whom
he also put to flight, and overcame, not like one that was in distress and
in necessity, but like one that was excellently prepared for war, and had
what he wanted in great plenty. And in this very place where he overcame
the Jews it was that he some time afterward build a most excellent palace,
and a city round about it, and called it Herodium. And when he was come to
Idumea, at a place called Thressa, his brother Joseph met him, and he then
held a council to take advice about all his affairs, and what was fit to
be done in his circumstances, since he had a great multitude that followed
him, besides his mercenary soldiers, and the place Masada, whither he
proposed to fly, was too small to contain so great a multitude; so he sent
away the greater part of his company, being above nine thousand, and bid
them go, some one way, and some another, and so save themselves in Idumea,
and gave them what would buy them provisions in their journey. But he took
with him those that were the least encumbered, and were most intimate with
him, and came to the fortress, and placed there his wives and his
followers, being eight hundred in number, there being in the place a
sufficient quantity of corn and water, and other necessaries, and went
directly for Petra, in Arabia. But when it was day, the Parthians
plundered all Jerusalem, and the palace, and abstained from nothing but
Hyrcanus’s money, which was three hundred talents. A great deal of Herod’s
money escaped, and principally all that the man had been so provident as
to send into Idumea beforehand; nor indeed did what was in the city
suffice the Parthians, but they went out into the country, and plundered
it, and demolished the city Marissa.
10. And thus was Antigonus brought back into Judea by the king of the
Parthians, and received Hyrcanus and Phasaelus for his prisoners; but he
was greatly cast down because the women had escaped, whom he intended to
have given the enemy, as having promised they should have them, with the
money, for their reward: but being afraid that Hyrcanus, who was under the
guard of the Parthians, might have his kingdom restored to him by the
multitude, he cut off his ears, and thereby took care that the high
priesthood should never come to him any more, because he was maimed, while
the law required that this dignity should belong to none but such as had
all their members entire 25 But now one cannot but here
admire the fortitude of Phasaelus, who, perceiving that he was to be put
to death, did not think death any terrible thing at all; but to die thus
by the means of his enemy, this he thought a most pitiable and
dishonorable thing; and therefore, since he had not his hands at liberty,
but the bonds he was in prevented him from killing himself thereby, he
dashed his head against a great stone, and thereby took away his own life,
which he thought to be the best thing he could do in such a distress as he
was in, and thereby put it out of the power of the enemy to bring him to
any death he pleased. It is also reported, that when he had made a great
wound in his head, Antigonus sent physicians to cure it, and, by ordering
them to infuse poison into the wound, killed him. However, Phasaelus
hearing, before he was quite dead, by a certain woman, that his brother
Herod had escaped the enemy, underwent his death cheerfully, since he now
left behind him one who would revenge his death, and who was able to
inflict punishment on his enemies.
CHAPTER 14. How Herod Got Away From The King Of Arabia And Made Haste To
Go Into Egypt And Thence Went Away In Haste Also To Rome; And How, By
Promising A Great Deal Of Money To Antony He Obtained Of The Senate And Of
Cæsar To Be Made King Of The Jews.
1. As for Herod, the great miseries he was in did not discourage him, but
made him sharp in discovering surprising undertakings; for he went to
Malchus, king of Arabia, whom he had formerly been very kind to, in order
to receive somewhat by way of requital, now he was in more than ordinary
want of it, and desired he would let him have some money, either by way of
loan, or as his free gift, on account of the many benefits he had received
from him; for not knowing what was become of his brother, he was in haste
to redeem him out of the hand of his enemies, as willing to give three
hundred talents for the price of his redemption. He also took with him the
son of Phasaelus, who was a child of but seven years of age, for this very
reason, that he might be a hostage for the repayment of the money. But
there came messengers from Malchus to meet him, by whom he was desired to
be gone, for that the Parthians had laid a charge upon him not to
entertain Herod. This was only a pretense which he made use of, that he
might not be obliged to repay him what he owed him; and this he was
further induced to by the principal men among the Arabians, that they
might cheat him of what sums they had received from [his father]
Antipater, and which he had committed to their fidelity. He made answer,
that he did not intend to be troublesome to them by his coning thither,
but that he desired only to discourse with them about certain affairs that
were to him of the greatest importance.
2. Hereupon he resolved to go away, and did go very prudently the road to
Egypt; and then it was that he lodged in a certain temple; for he had left
a great many of his followers there. On the next day he came to
Rhinocolura, and there it was that he heard what was befallen his brother.
Though Malehus soon repented of what he had done, and came running after
Herod; but with no manner of success, for he was gotten a very great way
off, and made haste into the road to Pelusium; and when the stationary
ships that lay there hindered him from sailing to Alexandria, he went to
their captains, by whose assistance, and that out of much reverence of and
great regard to him, he was conducted into the city [Alexandria], and was
retained there by Cleopatra; yet was she not able to prevail with him to
stay there, because he was making haste to Rome, even though the weather
was stormy, and he was informed that the affairs of Italy were very
tumultuous, and in great disorder.
3. So he set sail from thence to Pamphylia, and falling into a violent
storm, he had much ado to escape to Rhodes, with the loss of the ship’s
burden; and there it was that two of his friends, Sappinas and Ptolemeus,
met with him; and as he found that city very much damaged in the war
against Cassius, though he were in necessity himself, he neglected not to
do it a kindness, but did what he could to recover it to its former state.
He also built there a three-decked ship, and set sail thence, with his
friends, for Italy, and came to the port of Brundusium; and when he was
come from thence to Rome, he first related to Antony what had befallen him
in Judea, and how Phasaelus his brother was seized on by the Parthians,
and put to death by them, and how Hyrcanus was detained captive by them,
and how they had made Antigonus king, who had promised them a sum of
money, no less than a thousand talents, with five hundred women, who were
to be of the principal families, and of the Jewish stock; and that he had
carried off the women by night; and that, by undergoing a great many
hardships, he had escaped the hands of his enemies; as also, that his own
relations were in danger of being besieged and taken, and that he had
sailed through a storm, and contemned all these terrible dangers of it, in
order to come, as soon as possible, to him, who was his hope and only
succor at this time.
4. This account made Antony commiserate the change that had happened in
Herod’s condition; 26 and reasoning with himself
that this was a common case among those that are placed in such great
dignities, and that they are liable to the mutations that come from
fortune, he was very ready to give him the assistance he desired, and this
because he called to mind the friendship he had had with Antipater because
Herod offered him money to make him king, as he had formerly given it him
to make him tetrarch, and chiefly because of his hatred to Antigonus; for
he took him to be a seditious person, and an enemy to the Romans. Cæsar
was also the forwarder to raise Herod’s dignity, and to give him his
assistance in what he desired, on account of the toils of war which he had
himself undergone with Antipater his father in Egypt, and of the
hospitality he had treated him withal, and the kindness he had always
showed him, as also to gratify Antony, who was very zealous for Herod. So
a senate was convocated; and Messala first, and then Atratinus, introduced
Herod into it, and enlarged upon the benefits they had received from his
father, and put them in mind of the good-will he had borne to the Romans.
At the same time, they accused Antigonus, and declared him an enemy, not
only because of his former opposition to them, but that he had now
overlooked the Romans, and taken the government from the Parthians. Upon
this the senate was irritated; and Antony informed them further, that it
was for their advantage in the Parthian war that Herod should be king.
This seemed good to all the senators; and so they made a decree
accordingly.
5. And this was the principal instance of Antony’s affection for Herod,
that he not only procured him a kingdom which he did not expect, [for he
did not come with an intention to ask the kingdom for himself, which he
did not suppose the Romans would grant him, who used to bestow it on some
of the royal family, but intended to desire it for his wife’s brother, who
was grandson by his father to Aristobulus, and to Hyrcanus by his mother,]
but that he procured it for him so suddenly, that he obtained what he did
not expect, and departed out of Italy in so few days as seven in all. This
young man [the grandson] Herod afterward took care to have slain, as we
shall show in its proper place. But when the senate was dissolved, Antony
and Cæsar went out of the senate house with Herod between them, and with
the consuls and other magistrates before them, in order to offer
sacrifices, and to lay up their decrees in the capitol. Antony also
feasted Herod the first day of his reign. And thus did this man receive
the kingdom, having obtained it on the hundred and eighty-fourth olympiad,
when Caius Domitius Calvinus was consul the second time, and Caius Asinius
Pollio [the first time].
6. All this while Antigonus besieged those that were in Masada, who had
plenty of all other necessaries, but were only in want of water 27
insomuch that on this occasion Joseph, Herod’s brother, was contriving to
run away from it, with two hundred of his dependents, to the Arabians; for
he had heard that Malchus repented of the offenses he had been guilty of
with regard to Herod; but God, by sending rain in the night time,
prevented his going away, for their cisterns were thereby filled, and he
was under no necessity of running away on that account; but they were now
of good courage, and the more so, because the sending that plenty of water
which they had been in want of seemed a mark of Divine Providence; so they
made a sally, and fought hand to hand with Antigonus’s soldiers, [with
some openly, with some privately,] and destroyed a great number of them.
At the same time Ventidius, the general of the Romans, was sent out of
Syria, to drive the Parthians out of it, and marched after them into
Judea, in pretense indeed to succor Joseph; but in reality the whole
affair was no more than a stratagem, in order to get money of Antigonus;
so they pitched their camp very near to Jerusalem, and stripped Antigonus
of a great deal of money, and then he retired himself with the greater
part of the army; but, that the wickedness he had been guilty of might be
found out, he left Silo there, with a certain part of his soldiers, with
whom also Antigonus cultivated an acquaintance, that he might cause him no
disturbance, and was still in hopes that the Parthians would come again
and defend him.
CHAPTER 15. How Herod Sailed Out Of Italy To Judea, And Fought With
Antigonus And What Other Things Happened In Judea About That Time.
1. By this time Herod had sailed out of Italy to Ptolemais, and had gotten
together no small army, both of strangers and of his own countrymen, and
marched through Galilee against Antignus. Silo also, and Ventidius, came
and assisted him, being persuaded by Dellius, who was sent by Antony to
assist in bringing back Herod. Now for Ventidius, he was employed in
composing the disturbances that had been made in the cities by the means
of the Parthians; and for Silo, he was in Judea indeed, but corrupted by
Antigonus. However, as Herod went along his army increased every day, and
all Galilee, with some small exception, joined him; but as he was to those
that were in Masada, [for he was obliged to endeavor to save those that
were in that fortress now they were besieged, because they were his
relations,] Joppa was a hinderance to him, for it was necessary for him to
take that place first, it being a city at variance with him, that no
strong hold might be left in his enemies’ hands behind him when he should
go to Jerusalem. And when Silo made this a pretense for rising up from
Jerusalem, and was thereupon pursued by the Jews, Herod fell upon them
with a small body of men, and both put the Jews to flight and saved Silo,
when he was very poorly able to defend himself; but when Herod had taken
Joppa, he made haste to set free those of his family that were in Masada.
Now of the people of the country, some joined him because of the
friendship they had had with his father, and some because of the splendid
appearance he made, and others by way of requital for the benefits they
had received from both of them; but the greatest number came to him in
hopes of getting somewhat from him afterward, if he were once firmly
settled in the kingdom.
2. Herod had now a strong army; and as he marched on, Antigonus laid
snares and ambushes in the passes and places most proper for them; but in
truth he thereby did little or no damage to the enemy. So Herod received
those of his family out of Masada, and the fortress Ressa, and then went
on for Jerusalem. The soldiery also that was with Silo accompanied him all
along, as did many of the citizens, being afraid of his power; and as soon
as he had pitched his camp on the west side of the city, the soldiers that
were set to guard that part shot their arrows and threw their darts at
him; and when some sallied out in a crowd, and came to fight hand to hand
with the first ranks of Herod’s army, he gave orders that they should, in
the first place, make proclamation about the wall, that he came for the
good of the people, and for the preservation of the city, and not to bear
any old grudge at even his most open enemies, but ready to forget the
offenses which his greatest adversaries had done him. But Antigonus, by
way of reply to what Herod had caused to be proclaimed, and this before
the Romans, and before Silo also, said that they would not do justly, if
they gave the kingdom to Herod, who was no more than a private man, and an
Idumean, i.e. a half Jew, 28 whereas they ought to bestow
it on one of the royal family, as their custom was; for that in case they
at present bear an ill-will to him, and had resolved to deprive him of the
kingdom, as having received it from the Parthians, yet were there many
others of his family that might by their law take it, and these such as
had no way offended the Romans; and being of the sacerdotal family, it
would be an unworthy thing to put them by. Now while they said thus one to
another, and fell to reproaching one another on both sides, Antigonus
permitted his own men that were upon the wall to defend themselves, who
using their bows, and showing great alacrity against their enemies, easily
drove them away from the towers.
3. And now it was that Silo discovered that he had taken bribes; for he
set a good number of his soldiers to complain aloud of the want of
provisions they were in, and to require money to buy them food; and that
it was fit to let them go into places proper for winter quarters, since
the places near the city were a desert, by reason that Antigonus’s
soldiers had carried all away; so he set the army upon removing, and
endeavored to march away; but Herod pressed Silo not to depart, and
exhorted Silo’s captains and soldiers not to desert him, when Cæsar, and
Antony, and the senate had sent him thither, for that he would provide
them plenty of all the things they wanted, and easily procure them a great
abundance of what they required; after which entreaty, he immediately went
out into the country, and left not the least pretense to Silo for his
departure; for he brought an unexpected quantity of provisions, and sent
to those friends of his who inhabited about Samaria to bring down corn,
and wine, and oil, and cattle, and all other provisions, to Jericho, that
those might be no want of a supply for the soldiers for the time to come.
Antigonus was sensible of this, and sent presently over the country such
as might restrain and lie in ambush for those that went out for
provisions. So these men obeyed the orders of Antigonus, and got together
a great number of armed men about Jericho, and sat upon the mountains, and
watched those that brought the provisions. However, Herod was not idle in
the mean time, for he took ten bands of soldiers, of whom five were of the
Romans, and five of the Jews, with some mercenaries among them, and with
some few horsemen, and came to Jericho; and as they found the city
deserted, but that five hundred of them had settled themselves on the tops
of the hills, with their wives and children, those he took and sent away;
but the Romans fell upon the city, and plundered it, and found the houses
full of all sorts of good things. So the king left a garrison at Jericho,
and came back again, and sent the Roman army to take their winter quarters
in the countries that were come over to him, Judea, and Galilee, and
Samaria. And so much did Antigonus gain of Silo for the bribes he gave
him, that part of the army should be quartered at Lydda, in order to
please Antony. So the Romans laid their weapons aside, and lived in plenty
of all things.
4. But Herod was not pleased with lying still, but sent out his brother
Joseph against Idumea with two thousand armed footmen, and four hundred
horsemen, while he himself came to Samaria, and left his mother and his
other relations there, for they were already gone out of Masada, and went
into Galilee, to take certain places which were held by the garrisons of
Antigonus; and he passed on to Sepphoris, as God sent a snow, while
Antigonus’s garrisons withdrew themselves, and had great plenty of
provisions. He also went thence, and resolved to destroy those robbers
that dwelt in the caves, and did much mischief in the country; so he sent
a troop of horsemen, and three companies of armed footmen, against them.
They were very near to a village called Arbela; and on the fortieth day
after, he came himself with his whole army: and as the enemy sallied out
boldly upon him, the left wing of his army gave way; but he appearing with
a body of men, put those to flight who were already conquerors, and
recalled his men that ran away. He also pressed upon his enemies, and
pursued them as far as the river Jordan, though they ran away by different
roads. So he brought over to him all Galilee, excepting those that dwelt
in the caves, and distributed money to every one of his soldiers, giving
them a hundred and fifty drachmae apiece, and much more to their captains,
and sent them into winter quarters; at which time Silo came to him, and
his commanders with him, because Antigonus would not give them provisions
any longer, for he supplied them for no more than one month; nay, he had
sent to all the country about, and ordered them to carry off the
provisions that were there, and retire to the mountains, that the Romans
might have no provisions to live upon, and so might perish by famine. But
Herod committed the care of that matter to Pheroras, his youngest brother,
and ordered him to repair Alexandrium also. Accordingly, he quickly made
the soldiers abound with great plenty of provisions, and rebuilt
Alexandrium, which had been before desolate.
5. About this time it was that Antony continued some time at Athens, and
that Ventidius, who was now in Syria, sent for Silo, and commanded him to
assist Herod, in the first place, to finish the present war, and then to
send for their confederates for the war they were themselves engaged in;
but as for Herod, he went in haste against the robbers that were in the
caves, and sent Silo away to Ventidius, while he marched against them.
These caves were in mountains that were exceeding abrupt, and in their
middle were no other than precipices, with certain entrances into the
caves, and those caves were encompassed with sharp rocks, and in these did
the robbers lie concealed, with all their families about them; but the
king caused certain chests to be made, in order to destroy them, and to be
hung down, bound about with iron chains, by an engine, from the top of the
mountain, it being not possible to get up to them, by reason of the sharp
ascent of the mountains, nor to creep down to them from above. Now these
chests were filled with armed men, who had long hooks in their hands, by
which they might pull out such as resisted them, and then tumble them
down, and kill them by so doing; but the letting the chests down proved to
be a matter of great danger, because of the vast depth they were to be let
down, although they had their provisions in the chests themselves. But
when the chests were let down, and not one of those in the mouths of the
caves durst come near them, but lay still out of fear, some of the armed
men girt on their armor, and by both their hands took hold of the chain by
which the chests were let down, and went into the mouths of the caves,
because they fretted that such delay was made by the robbers not daring to
come out of the caves; and when they were at any of those mouths, they
first killed many of those that were in the mouths with their darts, and
afterwards pulled those to them that resisted them with their hooks, and
tumbled them down the precipices, and afterwards went into the caves, and
killed many more, and then went into their chests again, and lay still
there; but, upon this, terror seized the rest, when they heard the
lamentations that were made, and they despaired of escaping. However, when
the night came on, that put an end to the whole work; and as the king
proclaimed pardon by a herald to such as delivered themselves up to him,
many accepted of the offer. The same method of assault was made use of the
next day; and they went further, and got out in baskets to fight them, and
fought them at their doors, and sent fire among them, and set their caves
on fire, for there was a great deal of combustible matter within them. Now
there was one old man who was caught within one of these caves, with seven
children and a wife; these prayed him to give them leave to go out, and
yield themselves up to the enemy; but he stood at the cave’s mouth, and
always slew that child of his who went out, till he had destroyed them
every one, and after that he slew his wife, and cast their dead bodies
down the precipice, and himself after them, and so underwent death rather
than slavery: but before he did this, he greatly reproached Herod with the
meanness of his family, although he was then king. Herod also saw what he
was doing, and stretched out his hand, and offered him all manner of
security for his life; by which means all these caves were at length
subdued entirely.
6. And when the king had set Ptolemy over these parts of the country as
his general, he went to Samaria, with six hundred horsemen, and three
thousand armed footmen, as intending to fight Antigonus. But still this
command of the army did not succeed well with Ptolemy, but those that had
been troublesome to Galilee before attacked him, and slew him; and when
they had done this, they fled among the lakes and places almost
inaccessible laying waste and plundering whatsoever they could come at in
those places. But Herod soon returned, and punished them for what they had
done; for some of these rebels he slew, and others of them, who had fled
to the strong holds he besieged, and both slew them, and demolished their
strong holds. And when he had thus put an end to their rebellion, he laid
a fine upon the cities of a hundred talents.
7. In the mean time, Pacorus was fallen in a battle, and the Parthians
were defeated, when Ventidius sent Macheras to the assistance of Herod,
with two legions, and a thousand horsemen, while Antony encouraged him to
make haste. But Macheras, at the instigation of Antigonus, without the
approbation of Herod, as being corrupted by money, went about to take a
view of his affairs; but Antigonus suspecting this intention of his
coming, did not admit him into the city, but kept him at a distance, with
throwing stones at him, and plainly showed what he himself meant. But when
Macheras was sensible that Herod had given him good advice, and that he
had made a mistake himself in not hearkening to that advice, he retired to
the city Emmaus; and what Jews he met with he slew them, whether they were
enemies or friends, out of the rage he was in at what hardships he had
undergone. The king was provoked at this conduct of his, and went to
Samaria, and resolved to go to Antony about these affairs, and to inform
him that he stood in no need of such helpers, who did him more mischief
than they did his enemies; and that he was able of himself to beat
Antigonus. But Macheras followed him, and desired that he would not go to
Antony; or if he was resolved to go, that he would join his brother Joseph
with them, and let them fight against Antigonus. So he was reconciled to
Macheras, upon his earnest entreaties. Accordingly, he left Joseph there
with his army, but charged him to run no hazards, nor to quarrel with
Macheras.
8. But for his own part, he made haste to Antony [who was then at the
siege of Samosata, a place upon Euphrates] with his troops, both horsemen
and footmen, to be auxiliaries to him. And when he came to Antioch, and
met there a great number of men gotten together that were very desirous to
go to Antony, but durst not venture to go, out of fear, because the
barbarians fell upon men on the road, and slew many, so he encouraged
them, and became their conductor upon the road. Now when they were within
two days’ march of Samosata, the barbarians had laid an ambush there to
disturb those that came to Antony, and where the woods made the passes
narrow, as they led to the plains, there they laid not a few of their
horsemen, who were to lie still until those passengers were gone by into
the wide place. Now as soon as the first ranks were gone by, [for Herod
brought on the rear,] those that lay in ambush, who were about five
hundred, fell upon them on the sudden, and when they had put the foremost
to flight, the king came riding hard, with the forces that were about him,
and immediately drove back the enemy; by which means he made the minds of
his own men courageous, and imboldened them to go on, insomuch that those
who ran away before now returned back, and the barbarians were slain on
all sides. The king also went on killing them, and recovered all the
baggage, among which were a great number of beasts for burden, and of
slaves, and proceeded on in his march; and whereas there were a great
number of those in the woods that attacked them, and were near the passage
that led into the plain, he made a sally upon these also with a strong
body of men, and put them to flight, and slew many of them, and thereby
rendered the way safe for those that came after; and these called Herod
their savior and protector.
9. And when he was near to Samosata, Antony sent out his army in all their
proper habiliments to meet him, in order to pay Herod this respect, and
because of the assistance he had given him; for he had heard what attacks
the barbarians had made upon him [in Judea]. He also was very glad to see
him there, as having been made acquainted with the great actions he had
performed upon the road. So he entertained him very kindly, and could not
but admire his courage. Antony also embraced him as soon as he saw him,
and saluted him after a most affectionate manner, and gave him the upper
hand, as having himself lately made him a king; and in a little time
Antiochus delivered up the fortress, and on that account this war was at
an end; then Antony committed the rest to Sosius, and gave him orders to
assist Herod, and went himself to Egypt. Accordingly, Sosius sent two
legions before into Judea to the assistance of Herod, and he followed
himself with the body of the army.
10. Now Joseph was already slain in Judea, in the manner following: He
forgot what charge his brother Herod had given him when he went to Antony;
and when he had pitched his camp among the mountains, for Macheras had
lent him five regiments, with these he went hastily to Jericho, in order
to reap the corn thereto belonging; and as the Roman regiments were but
newly raised, and were unskillful in war, for they were in great part
collected out of Syria, he was attacked by the enemy, and caught in those
places of difficulty, and was himself slain, as he was fighting bravely,
and the whole army was lost, for there were six regiments slain. So when
Antigonus had got possession of the dead bodies, he cut off Joseph’s head,
although Pheroras his brother would have redeemed it at the price of fifty
talents. After which defeat, the Galileans revolted from their commanders,
and took those of Herod’s party, and drowned them in the lake, and a great
part of Judea was become seditious; but Macheras fortified the place Gitta
[in Samaria].
11. At this time messengers came to Herod, and informed him of what had
been done; and when he was come to Daphne by Antioch, they told him of the
ill fortune that had befallen his brother; which yet he expected, from
certain visions that appeared to him in his dreams, which clearly
foreshowed his brother’s death. So he hastened his march; and when he came
to Mount Libanus, he received about eight hundred of the men of that
place, having already with him also one Roman legion, and with these he
came to Ptolemais. He also marched thence by night with his army, and
proceeded along Galilee. Here it was that the enemy met him, and fought
him, and were beaten, and shut up in the same place of strength whence
they had sallied out the day before. So he attacked the place in the
morning; but by reason of a great storm that was then very violent, he was
able to do nothing, but drew off his army into the neighboring villages;
yet as soon as the other legion that Antony sent him was come to his
assistance, those that were in garrison in the place were afraid, and
deserted it in the night time. Then did the king march hastily to Jericho,
intending to avenge himself on the enemy for the slaughter of his brother;
and when he had pitched his tents, he made a feast for the principal
commanders; and after this collation was over, and he had dismissed his
guests, he retired to his own chamber; and here may one see what kindness
God had for the king, for the upper part of the house fell down when
nobody was in it, and so killed none, insomuch that all the people
believed that Herod was beloved of God, since he had escaped such a great
and surprising danger.
12. But the next day six thousand of the enemy came down from the tops of
the mountains to fight the Romans, which greatly terrified them; and the
soldiers that were in light armor came near, and pelted the king’s guards
that were come out with darts and stones, and one of them hit him on the
side with a dart. Antigonus also sent a commander against Samaria, whose
name was Pappus, with some forces, being desirous to show the enemy how
potent he was, and that he had men to spare in his war with them. He sat
down to oppose Macheras; but Herod, when he had taken five cities, took
such as were left in them, being about two thousand, and slew them, and
burnt the cities themselves, and then returned to go against Pappus, who
was encamped at a village called Isanas; and there ran in to him many out
of Jericho and Judea, near to which places he was, and the enemy fell upon
his men, so stout were they at this time, and joined battle with them, but
he beat them in the fight; and in order to be revenged on them for the
slaughter of his brother, he pursued them sharply, and killed them as they
ran away; and as the houses were full of armed men, 29
and many of them ran as far as the tops of the houses, he got them under
his power, and pulled down the roofs of the houses, and saw the lower
rooms full of soldiers that were caught, and lay all on a heap; so they
threw stones down upon them as they lay piled one upon another, and
thereby killed them; nor was there a more frightful spectacle in all the
war than this, where beyond the walls an immense multitude of dead men lay
heaped one upon another. This action it was which chiefly brake the
spirits of the enemy, who expected now what would come; for there appeared
a mighty number of people that came from places far distant, that were now
about the village, but then ran away; and had it not been for the depth of
winter, which then restrained them, the king’s army had presently gone to
Jerusalem, as being very courageous at this good success, and the whole
work had been done immediately; for Antigonus was already looking about
how he might fly away and leave the city.
13. At this time the king gave order that the soldiers should go to
supper, for it was late at night, while he went into a chamber to use the
bath, for he was very weary; and here it was that he was in the greatest
danger, which yet, by God’s providence, he escaped; for as he was naked,
and had but one servant that followed him, to be with him while he was
bathing in an inner room, certain of the enemy, who were in their armor,
and had fled thither, out of fear, were then in the place; and as he was
bathing, the first of them came out with his naked sword drawn, and went
out at the doors, and after him a second, and a third, armed in like
manner, and were under such a consternation, that they did no hurt to the
king, and thought themselves to have come off very well ill suffering no
harm themselves in their getting out of the house. However, on the next
day, he cut off the head of Pappus, for he was already slain, and sent it
to Pheroras, as a punishment of what their brother had suffered by his
means, for he was the man that slew him with his own hand.
14. When the rigor of winter was over, Herod removed his army, and came
near to Jerusalem, and pitched his camp hard by the city. Now this was the
third year since he had been made king at Rome; and as he removed his
camp, and came near that part of the wall where it could be most easily
assaulted, he pitched that camp before the temple, intending to make his
attacks in the same manner as did Pompey. So he encompassed the place with
three bulwarks, and erected towers, and employed a great many hands about
the work, and cut down the trees that were round about the city; and when
he had appointed proper persons to oversee the works, even while the army
lay before the city, he himself went to Samaria, to complete his marriage,
and to take to wife the daughter of Alexander, the son of Aristobulus; for
he had betrothed her already, as I have before related.
CHAPTER 16. How Herod, When He Had Married Mariamne Took Jerusalem With
The Assistance Of Sosius By Force; And How The Government Of The
Asamoneans Was Put An End To.
1. After the wedding was over, came Sosius through Phoenicia, having sent
out his army before him over the midland parts. He also, who was their
commander, came himself, with a great number of horsemen and footmen. The
king also came himself from Samaria, and brought with him no small army,
besides that which was there before, for they were about thirty thousand;
and they all met together at the walls of Jerusalem, and encamped at the
north wall of the city, being now an army of eleven legions, armed men on
foot, and six thousand horsemen, with other auxiliaries out of Syria. The
generals were two: Sosius, sent by Antony to assist Herod, and Herod on
his own account, in order to take the government from Antigonus, who was
declared all enemy at Rome, and that he might himself be king, according
to the decree of the Senate.
2. Now the Jews that were enclosed within the walls of the city fought
against Herod with great alacrity and zeal [for the whole nation was
gathered together]; they also gave out many prophecies about the temple,
and many things agreeable to the people, as if God would deliver them out
of the dangers they were in; they had also carried off what was out of the
city, that they might not leave any thing to afford sustenance either for
men or for beasts; and by private robberies they made the want of
necessaries greater. When Herod understood this, he opposed ambushes in
the fittest places against their private robberies, and he sent legions of
armed men to bring its provisions, and that from remote places, so that in
a little time they had great plenty of provisions. Now the three bulwarks
were easily erected, because so many hands were continually at work upon
it; for it was summer time, and there was nothing to hinder them in
raising their works, neither from the air nor from the workmen; so they
brought their engines to bear, and shook the walls of the city, and tried
all manner of ways to get it; yet did not those within discover any fear,
but they also contrived not a few engines to oppose their engines withal.
They also sallied out, and burnt not only those engines that were not yet
perfected, but those that were; and when they came hand to hand, their
attempts were not less bold than those of the Romans, though they were
behind them in skill. They also erected new works when the former were
ruined, and making mines underground, they met each other, and fought
there; and making use of brutish courage rather than of prudent valor,
they persisted in this war to the very last; and this they did while a
mighty army lay round about them, and while they were distressed by famine
and the want of necessaries, for this happened to be a Sabbatic year. The
first that scaled the walls were twenty chosen men, the next were Sosius’s
centurions; for the first wall was taken in forty days, and the second in
fifteen more, when some of the cloisters that were about the temple were
burnt, which Herod gave out to have been burnt by Antigonus, in order to
expose him to the hatred of the Jews. And when the outer court of the
temple and the lower city were taken, the Jews fled into the inner court
of the temple, and into the upper city; but now fearing lest the Romans
should hinder them from offering their daily sacrifices to God, they sent
an embassage, and desired that they would only permit them to bring in
beasts for sacrifices, which Herod granted, hoping they were going to
yield; but when he saw that they did nothing of what he supposed, but
bitterly opposed him, in order to preserve the kingdom to Antigonus, he
made an assault upon the city, and took it by storm; and now all parts
were full of those that were slain, by the rage of the Romans at the long
duration of the siege, and by the zeal of the Jews that were on Herod’s
side, who were not willing to leave one of their adversaries alive; so
they were murdered continually in the narrow streets and in the houses by
crowds, and as they were flying to the temple for shelter, and there was
no pity taken of either infants or the aged, nor did they spare so much as
the weaker sex; nay, although the king sent about, and besought them to
spare the people, yet nobody restrained their hand from slaughter, but, as
if they were a company of madmen, they fell upon persons of all ages,
without distinction; and then Antigonus, without regard to either his past
or present circumstances, came down from the citadel, and fell down at the
feet of Sosius, who took no pity of him, in the change of his fortune, but
insulted him beyond measure, and called him Antigone [i.e. a woman, and
not a man;] yet did he not treat him as if he were a woman, by letting him
go at liberty, but put him into bonds, and kept him in close custody.
3. And now Herod having overcome his enemies, his care was to govern those
foreigners who had been his assistants, for the crowd of strangers rushed
to see the temple, and the sacred things in the temple; but the king,
thinking a victory to be a more severe affliction than a defeat, if any of
those things which it was not lawful to see should be seen by them, used
entreaties and threatenings, and even sometimes force itself, to restrain
them. He also prohibited the ravage that was made in the city, and many
times asked Sosius whether the Romans would empty the city both of money
and men, and leave him king of a desert; and told him that he esteemed the
dominion over the whole habitable earth as by no means an equivalent
satisfaction for such a murder of his citizens’; and when he said that
this plunder was justly to be permitted the soldiers for the siege they
had undergone, he replied, that he would give every one their reward out
of his own money; and by this means be redeemed what remained of the city
from destruction; and he performed what he had promised him, for he gave a
noble present to every soldier, and a proportionable present to their
commanders, but a most royal present to Sosius himself, till they all went
away full of money.
4. This destruction befell the city of Jerusalem when Marcus Agrippa and
Caninius Gallus were consuls of Rome 30 on the
hundred eighty and fifth olympiad, on the third month, on the solemnity of
the fast, as if a periodical revolution of calamities had returned since
that which befell the Jews under Pompey; for the Jews were taken by him on
the same day, and this was after twenty-seven years’ time. So when Sosius
had dedicated a crown of gold to God, he marched away from Jerusalem, and
carried Antigonus with him in bonds to Antony; but Herod was afraid lest
Antigonus should be kept in prison [only] by Antony, and that when he was
carried to Rome by him, he might get his cause to be heard by the senate,
and might demonstrate, as he was himself of the royal blood, and Herod but
a private man, that therefore it belonged to his sons however to have the
kingdom, on account of the family they were of, in case he had himself
offended the Romans by what he had done. Out of Herod’s fear of this it
was that he, by giving Antony a great deal of money, endeavored to
persuade him to have Antigonus slain, which if it were once done, he
should be free from that fear. And thus did the government of the
Asamoneans cease, a hundred twenty and six years after it was first set
up. This family was a splendid and an illustrious one, both on account of
the nobility of their stock, and of the dignity of the high priesthood, as
also for the glorious actions their ancestors had performed for our
nation; but these men lost the government by their dissensions one with
another, and it came to Herod, the son of Antipater, who was of no more
than a vulgar family, and of no eminent extraction, but one that was
subject to other kings. And this is what history tells us was the end of
the Asamonean family.
FOOTNOTES:
1 (return)
[ Reland takes notice here,
very justly, how Josephus’s declaration, that it was his great concern not
only to write “an agreeable, an accurate,” and “a true” history, but also
distinctly not to omit any thing [of consequence], either through
“ignorance or laziness,” implies that he could not, consistently with that
resolution, omit the mention of [so famous a person as] “Jesus Christ.”]
2 (return)
[ That the famous
Antipater’s or Antipas’s father was also Antipater or Antipas [which two
may justly be esteemed one and the same frame, the former with a Greek or
Gentile, the latter with a Hebrew or Jewish termination] Josephus here
assures us, though Eusebias indeed says it was Herod.]
3 (return)
[ This “golden vine,” or
“garden,” seen by Strabo at Rome, has its inscription here as if it were
the gift of Alexander, the father of Aristobulus, and not of Aristobulus
himself, to whom yet Josephus ascribes it; and in order to prove the truth
of that part of his history, introduces this testimony of Strabo; so that
the ordinary copies seem to be here either erroneous or defective, and the
original reading seems to have been either Aristobulus, instead of
Alexander, with one Greek copy, or else “Aristobulus the son of
Alexander,” with the Latin copies; which last seems to me the most
probable. For as to Archbishop Usher’s conjectures, that Alexander made
it, and dedicated it to God in the temple, and that thence Aristobulus
took it, and sent it to Pompey, they are both very improbable, and no way
agreeable to Josephus, who would hardly have avoided the recording both
these uncommon points of history, had he known any thing of them; nor
would either the Jewish nation, or even Pompey himself, then have relished
such a flagrant instance of sacrilege.]
4 (return)
[ These express testimonies
of Josephus here, and Antiq. B. VIII. ch. 6. sect. 6, and B. XV. ch. 4.
sect. 2, that the only balsam gardens, and the best palm trees, were, at
least in his days, near Jericho and Kugaddi, about the north part of the
Dead Sea, [whereabout also Alexander the Great saw the balsam drop,] show
the mistake of those that understand Eusebius and Jerom as if one of those
gardens were at the south part of that sea, at Zoar or Segor, whereas they
must either mean another Zoar or Segor, which was between Jericho and
Kugaddi, agreeably to Josephus: which yet they do not appear to do, or
else they directly contradict Josephus, and were therein greatly mistaken:
I mean this, unless that balsam, and the best palm trees, grew much more
southward in Judea in the days of Eusebius and Jerom than they did in the
days of Josephus.]
5 (return)
[ The particular depth and
breadth of this ditch, whence the stones for the wall about the temple
were probably taken, are omitted in our copies of Josephus, but set down
by Strabo, B. XVI. p. 763; from whom we learn that this ditch was sixty
feet deep, and two hundred and fifty feet broad. However, its depth is, in
the next section, said by Josephus to be immense, which exactly agrees to
Strabo’s description, and which numbers in Strabo are a strong
confirmation of the truth of Josephus’s description also.]
6 (return)
[ That is, on the 23rd of
Sivan, the annual fast for the defection and idolatry of Jeroboam, “who
made Israel to sin;” or possibly some other fast might fall into that
month, before and in the days of Josephus.]
7 (return)
[ It deserves here to be
noted, that this Pharisaical, superstitious notion, that offensive
fighting was unlawful to Jews, even under the utmost necessity, on the
Sabbath day, of which we hear nothing before the times of the Maccabees,
was the proper occasion of Jerusalem’s being taken by Pompey, by Sosius,
and by Titus, as appears from the places already quoted in the note on
Antiq. B. XIII. ch. 8. sect. 1; which scrupulous superstition, as to the
observation of such a rigorous rest upon the Sabbath day, our Savior
always opposed, when the Pharisaical Jews insisted on it, as is evident in
many places in the New Testament, though he still intimated how pernicious
that superstition might prove to them in their flight from the Romans,
Matthew 25:20.]
8 (return)
[ This is fully confirmed
by the testimony of Cicero, who: says, in his oration for Flaecus, that
“Cneius Pompeius, when he was conqueror, and had taken Jerusalem, did not
touch any thing belonging to that temple.”]
9 (return)
[ Of this destruction of
Gadara here presupposed, and its restoration by Pompey, see the note on
the War, B. I. ch. 7. sect. 7.]
10 (return)
[ Dean Prideaux well
observes, “That notwithstanding the clamor against Gabinius at Rome,
Josephus gives him a able character, as if he had acquitted himself with
honor in the charge committed to him” [in Judea]. See at the year 55.]
11 (return)
[ This history is best
illustrated by Dr. Hudson out of Livy, who says that “A. Gabinius, the
proconsul, restored Ptolemy of Pompey and Gabinius against the Jews, while
neither of them say any thing new which is not in the other to his kingdom
of Egypt, and ejected Archelaus, whom they had set up for king,” &c.
See Prid. at the years 61 and 65.]
12 (return)
[ Dr. Hudson observes,
that the name of this wife of Antipater in Josephus was Cypros, as a
Hebrew termination, but not Cypris, the Greek name for Venus, as some
critics were ready to correct it.]
13 (return)
[ Take Dr. Hudson’s note
upon this place, which I suppose to be the truth: “Here is some mistake in
Josephus; for when he had promised us a decree for the restoration of
Jerusalem he brings in a decree of far greater antiquity, and that a
league of friendship and union only. One may easily believe that Josephus
gave order for one thing, and his amanuensis performed another, by
transposing decrees that concerned the Hyrcani, and as deluded by the
sameness of their names; for that belongs to the first high priest of this
name, [John Hyrcanus,] which Josephus here ascribes to one that lived
later [Hyrcanus, the son of Alexander Janneus]. However, the decree which
he proposes to set down follows a little lower, in the collection of Raman
decrees that concerned the Jews and is that dated when Cæsar was consul
the fifth time.” See ch. 10. sect. 5.]
14 (return)
[ Those who will
carefully observe the several occasional numbers and chronological
characters in the life and death of this Herod, and of his children,
hereafter noted, will see that twenty-five years, and not fifteen, must
for certain have been here Josephus’s own number for the age of Herod,
when he was made governor of Galilee. See ch. 23. sect. 5, and ch. 24.
sect. 7; and particularly Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 8. sect. 1, where about
forty-four years afterwards Herod dies an old man at about seventy.]
15 (return)
[ It is here worth our
while to remark, that none could be put to death in Judea but by the
approbation of the Jewish Sanhedrim, there being an excellent provision in
the law of Moses, that even in criminal causes, and particularly where
life was concerned, an appeal should lie from the lesser councils of seven
in the other cities to the supreme council of seventy-one at Jerusalem;
and that is exactly according to our Savior’s words, when he says, “It
could not be that a prophet should perish out of Jerusalem,” Luke 13:33.]
16 (return)
[ This account, as Reland
observes, is confirmed by the Talmudists, who call this Sameas, “Simeon,
the son of Shetach.”]
17 (return)
[ That Hyrcanus was
himself in Egypt, along with Antipater, at this time, to whom accordingly
the bold and prudent actions of his deputy Antipater are here ascribed, as
this decree of Julius Cæsar supposes, we are further assured by the
testimony of Strabo, already produced by Josephus, ch. 8. sect. 3.]
18 (return)
[ Dr. Hudson justly
supposes that the Roman imperators, or generals of armies, meant both here
and sect. 2, who gave testimony to Hyrcanus’s and the Jews’ faithfulness
and goodwill to the Romans before the senate and people of Rome, were
principally Pompey, Scaurus, and Gabinius; of all whom Josephus had
already given us the history, so far as the Jews were concerned with
them.]
19 (return)
[ We have here a most
remarkable and authentic attestation of the citizens of Pergamus, that
Abraham was the father of all the Hebrews; that their own ancestors were,
in the oldest times, the friends of those Hebrews; and that the public
arts of their city, then extant, confirmed the same; which evidence is too
strong to be evaded by our present ignorance of the particular occasion of
such ancient friendship and alliance between those people. See the like
full evidence of the kindred of the Lacedemonians and the Jews; and that
became they were both of the posterity of Abraham, by a public epistle of
those people to the Jews, preserved in the First Book of the Maccabees,
12:19-23; and thence by Josephus, Antiq. B. XII. ch. 4 sect. 10; both
which authentic records are highly valuable. It is also well worthy of
observation, what Moses Chorenensis, the principal Armenian historian,
informs us of, p. 83, that Arsaces, who raised the Parthian empire, was of
the seed of Abraham by Chetura; and that thereby was accomplished that
prediction which said, “Kings of nations shall proceed from thee,” Genesis
17:6.]
20 (return)
[ If we compare
Josephus’s promise in sect. 1, to produce all the public decrees of the
Romans in favor of the Jews, with his excuse here for omitting many of
them, we may observe, that when he came to transcribe all those decrees he
had collected, he found them so numerous, that he thought he should too
much tire his readers if he had attempted it, which he thought a
sufficient apology for his omitting the rest of them; yet do those by him
produced afford such a strong confirmation to his history, and give such
great light to even the Roman antiquities themselves, that I believe the
curious are not a little sorry for such his omissions.]
21 (return)
[ For Marcus, this
president of Syria, sent as successor to Sextus Cæsar, the Roman
historians require us to read “Marcus” in Josephus, and this perpetually,
both in these Antiquities, and in his History of the Wars, as the learned
generally agree.]
22 (return)
[ In this and the
following chapters the reader will easily remark, how truly Gronovius
observes, in his notes on the Roman decrees in favor of the Jews, that
their rights and privileges were commonly purchased of the Romans with
money. Many examples of this sort, both as to the Romans and others in
authority, will occur in our Josephus, both now and hereafter, and need
not be taken particular notice of on the several occasions in these notes.
Accordingly, the chief captain confesses to St. Paul that “with a great
sum he had obtained his freedom,” Acts 22:28; as had St. Paul’s ancestors,
very probably, purchased the like freedom for their family by money, as
the same author justly concludes also.]
23 (return)
[ This clause plainly
alludes to that well-known but unusual and very long darkness of the sun
which happened upon the murder of Julius Cæsar by Brutus and Cassius,
which is greatly taken notice of by Virgil, Pliny, and other Roman
authors. See Virgil’s Georgics, B. I., just before the end; and Pliny’s
Nat. Hist. B. IL ch. 33.]
24 (return)
[ We may here take notice
that espousals alone were of old esteemed a sufficient foundation for
affinity, Hyrcanus being here called father-in-law to Herod because his
granddaughter Mariamne was betrothed to him, although the marriage was
not completed till four years afterwards. See Matthew 1:16.]
25 (return)
[ This law of Moses, that
the priests were to be “without blemish,” as to all the parts of their
bodies, is in Leviticus 21:17-24]
26 (return)
[ Concerning the
chronology of Herod, and the time when he was first made king at Rome, and
concerning the time when he began his second reign, without a rival, upon
the conquest and slaughter of Antigonus, both principally derived from
this and the two next chapters in Josephus, see the note on sect. 6, and
ch. 15. sect. 10.]
27 (return)
[ This grievous want of
water at Masada, till the place had like to have been taken by the
Parthians, [mentioned both here, and Of the War, B. I. ch. 15. sect. 1,]
is an indication that it was now summer time.]
28 (return)
[ This affirmation of
Antigonus, spoken in the days of Herod, and in a manner to his face, that
he was an Idumean, i.e. a half Jew, seems to me of much greater authority
than that pretense of his favorite and flatterer Nicolaus of Damascus,
that he derived his pedigree from Jews as far backward as the Babylonish
captivity, ch. 1. sect. 3. Accordingly Josephus always esteems him an
Idumean, though he says his father Antipater was of the same people with
the Jews, ch. viii. sect. 1. and by birth a Jew, Antiq. B. XX. ch. 8.
sect. 7; as indeed all such proselytes of justice, as the Idumeans, were
in time esteemed the very same people with the Jews.]
29 (return)
[ It may be worth our
observation here, that these soldiers of Herod could not have gotten upon
the tops of these houses which were full of enemies, in order to pull up
the upper floors, and destroy them beneath, but by ladders from the out
side; which illustrates some texts in the New Testament, by which it
appears that men used to ascend thither by ladders on the outsides. See
Matthew 24:17; Mark 13:15; Luke 5:19; 17:31.]
30 (return)
[ Note here, that
Josephus fully and frequently assures us that there passed above three
years between Herod’s first obtaining the kingdom at Rome, and his second
obtaining it upon the taking of Jerusalem and death of Antigonus. The
present history of this interval twice mentions the army going into winter
quarters, which perhaps belonged to two several winters, ch. 15. sect. 3,
4; and though Josephus says nothing how long they lay in those quarters,
yet does he give such an account of the long and studied delays of
Ventidius, Silo, and Macheras, who were to see Herod settled in his new
kingdom, but seem not to have had sufficient forces for that purpose, and
were for certain all corrupted by Antigonus to make the longest delays
possible, and gives us such particular accounts of the many great actions
of Herod during the same interval, as fairly imply that interval, before
Herod went to Samosata, to have been very considerable. However, what is
wanting in Josephus, is fully supplied by Moses Chorenensis, the Armenian
historian, in his history of that interval, B. II ch. 18., where he
directly assures us that Tigranes, then king of Armenia, and the principal
manager of this Parthian war, reigned two years after Herod was made king
at Rome, and yet Antony did not hear of his death, in that very
neighborhood, at Samosata, till he was come thither to besiege it; after
which Herod brought him an army, which was three hundred and forty miles’
march, and through a difficult country, full of enemies also, and joined
with him in the siege of Samosata till that city was taken; then Herod and
Sosins marched back with their large armies the same number of three
hundred and forty miles; and when, in a little time, they sat down to
besiege Jerusalem, they were not able to take it but by a siege of five
months. All which put together, fully supplies what is wanting in
Josephus, and secures the entire chronology of these times beyond
contradiction.]
BOOK XV. Containing The Interval Of Eighteen Years.—From The
Death Of Antigonus To The Finishing Of The Temple By Herod.
CHAPTER 1. Concerning Pollio And Sameas. Herod Slays The Principal Of
Antigonus’s Friends, And Spoils The City Of Its Wealth. Antony Beheads
Antigonus.
1. How Sosius and Herod took Jerusalem by force; and besides that, how
they took Antigonus captive, has been related by us in the foregoing book.
We will now proceed in the narration. And since Herod had now the
government of all Judea put into his hands, he promoted such of the
private men in the city as had been of his party, but never left off
avenging and punishing every day those that had chosen to be of the party
of his enemies. But Pollio the Pharisee, and Sameas, a disciple of his,
were honored by him above all the rest; for when Jerusalem was besieged,
they advised the citizens to receive Herod, for which advice they were
well requited. But this Pollio, at the time when Herod was once upon his
trial of life and death, foretold, in way of reproach, to Hyrcanus and the
other judges, how this Herod, whom they suffered now to escape, would
afterward inflict punishment on them all; which had its completion in
time, while God fulfilled the words he had spoken.
2. At this time Herod, now he had got Jerusalem under his power, carried
off all the royal ornaments, and spoiled the wealthy men of what they had
gotten; and when, by these means, he had heaped together a great quantity
of silver and gold, he gave it all to Antony, and his friends that were
about him. He also slew forty-five of the principal men of Antigonus’s
party, and set guards at the gates of the city, that nothing might be
carried out together with their dead bodies. They also searched the dead,
and whatsoever was found, either of silver or gold, or other treasure, it
was carried to the king; nor was there any end of the miseries he brought
upon them; and this distress was in part occasioned by the covetousness of
the prince regent, who was still in want of more, and in part by the
Sabbatic year, which was still going on, and forced the country to lie
still uncultivated, since we are forbidden to sow our land in that year.
Now when Antony had received Antigonus as his captive, he determined to
keep him against his triumph; but when he heard that the nation grew
seditious, and that, out of their hatred to Herod, they continued to bear
good-will to Antigonus, he resolved to behead him at Antioch, for
otherwise the Jews could no way be brought to be quiet. And Strabo of
Cappadocia attests to what I have said, when he thus speaks: “Antony
ordered Antigonus the Jew to be brought to Antioch, and there to be
beheaded. And this Antony seems to me to have been the very first man who
beheaded a king, as supposing he could no other way bend the minds of the
Jews so as to receive Herod, whom he had made king in his stead; for by no
torments could they be forced to call him king, so great a fondness they
had for their former king; so he thought that this dishonorable death
would diminish the value they had for Antigonus’s memory, and at the same
time would diminish the hatred they bare to Herod.” Thus far Strabo.
CHAPTER 2. How Hyrcanus Was Set At Liberty By The Parthians, And Returned
To Herod; And What Alexandra Did When She Heard That Ananelus Was Made
High Priest.
1. Now after Herod was in possession of the kingdom, Hyrcanus the high
priest, who was then a captive among the Parthians, came to him again, and
was set free from his captivity, in the manner following: Barzapharnes and
Pacorus, the generals of the Parthians, took Hyrcanus, who was first made
high priest and afterward king, and Herod’s brother, Phasaelus captives,
and were them away into Parthia. Phasaelus indeed could not bear the
reproach of being in bonds; and thinking that death with glory was better
than any life whatsoever, he became his own executioner, as I have
formerly related.
2. But when Hyrcanus was brought into Parthia the king Phraates treated
him after a very gentle manner, as having already learned of what an
illustrious family he was; on which account he set him free from his
bonds, and gave him a habitation at Babylon, 1 where
there were Jews in great numbers. These Jews honored Hyrcanus as their
high priest and king, as did all the Jewish nation that dwelt as far as
Euphrates; which respect was very much to his satisfaction. But when he
was informed that Herod had received the kingdom, new hopes came upon him,
as having been himself still of a kind disposition towards him, and
expecting that Herod would bear in mind what favor he had received from
him; and when he was upon his trial, and when he was in danger that a
capital sentence would be pronounced against him, he delivered him from
that danger, and from all punishment. Accordingly, he talked of that
matter with the Jews that came often to him with great affection; but they
endeavored to retain him among them, and desired that he would stay with
them, putting him in mind of the kind offices and honors they did him, and
that those honors they paid him were not at all inferior to what they
could pay to either their high priests or their kings; and what was a
greater motive to determine him, they said, was this, that he could not
have those dignities [in Judea] because of that maim in his body, which
had been inflicted on him by Antigonus; and that kings do not use to
requite men for those kindnesses which they received when they were
private persons, the height of their fortune making usually no small
changes in them.
3. Now although they suggested these arguments to him for his own
advantage, yet did Hyrcanus still desire to depart. Herod also wrote to
him, and persuaded him to desire of Phraates, and the Jews that were
there, that they should not grudge him the royal authority, which he
should have jointly with himself, for that now was the proper time for
himself to make him amends for the favors he had received from him, as
having been brought up by him, and saved by him also, as well as for
Hyrcanus to receive it. And as he wrote thus to Hyrcanus, so did he send
also Saramallas, his ambassador, to Phraates, and many presents with him,
and desired him in the most obliging way that he would be no hinderance to
his gratitude towards his benefactor. But this zeal of Herod’s did not
flow from that principle, but because he had been made governor of that
country without having any just claim to it, he was afraid, and that upon
reasons good enough, of a change in his condition, and so made what haste
he could to get Hyrcanus into his power, or indeed to put him quite out of
the way; which last thing he compassed afterward.
4. Accordingly, when Hyrcanus came, full of assurance, by the permission
of the king of Parthia, and at the expense of the Jews, who supplied him
with money, Herod received him with all possible respect, and gave him the
upper place at public meetings, and set him above all the rest at feasts,
and thereby deceived him. He called him his father, and endeavored, by all
the ways possible, that he might have no suspicion of any treacherous
design against him. He also did other things, in order to secure his
government, which yet occasioned a sedition in his own family; for being
cautious how he made any illustrious person the high priest of God, 2
he sent for an obscure priest out of Babylon, whose name was Ananelus, and
bestowed the high priesthood upon him.
5. However, Alexandra, the daughter of Hyrcanus, and wife of Alexander,
the son of Aristobulus the king, who had also brought Alexander [two]
children, could not bear this indignity. Now this son was one of the
greatest comeliness, and was called Aristobulus; and the daughter,
Mariamne, was married to Herod, and eminent for her beauty also. This
Alexandra was much disturbed, and took this indignity offered to her son
exceeding ill, that while he was alive, any one else should be sent for to
have the dignity of the high priesthood conferred upon him. Accordingly,
she wrote to Cleopatra [a musician assisting her in taking care to have
her letters carried] to desire her intercession with Antony, in order to
gain the high priesthood for her son.
6. But as Antony was slow in granting this request, his friend Dellius 3
came into Judea upon some affairs; and when he saw Aristobulus, he stood
in admiration at the tallness and handsomeness of the child, and no less
at Mariamne, the king’s wife, and was open in his commendations of
Alexandra, as the mother of most beautiful children. And when she came to
discourse with him, he persuaded her to get pictures drawn of them both,
and to send them to Antony, for that when he saw them, he would deny her
nothing that she should ask. Accordingly, Alexandra was elevated with
these words of his, and sent the pictures to Antony. Dellius also talked
extravagantly, and said that these children seemed not derived from men,
but from some god or other. His design in doing so was to entice Antony
into lewd pleasures with them, who was ashamed to send for the damsel, as
being the wife of Herod, and avoided it, because of the reproaches he
should have from Cleopatra on that account; but he sent, in the most
decent manner he could, for the young man; but added this withal, unless
he thought it hard upon him so to do. When this letter was brought to
Herod, he did not think it safe for him to send one so handsome as was
Aristobulus, in the prime of his life, for he was sixteen years of age,
and of so noble a family, and particularly not to Antony, the principal
man among the Romans, and one that would abuse him in his amours, and
besides, one that openly indulged himself in such pleasures as his power
allowed him without control. He therefore wrote back to him, that if this
boy should only go out of the country, all would be in a state of war and
uproar, because the Jews were in hopes of a change in the government, and
to have another king over them.
7. When Herod had thus excused himself to Antony, he resolved that he
would not entirely permit the child or Alexandra to be treated
dishonorably; but his wife Mariamne lay vehemently at him to restore the
high priesthood to her brother; and he judged it was for his advantage so
to do, because if he once had that dignity, he could not go out of the
country. So he called his friends together, and told them that Alexandra
privately conspired against his royal authority, and endeavored, by the
means of Cleopatra, so to bring it about, that he might be deprived of the
government, and that by Antony’s means this youth might have the
management of public affairs in his stead; and that this procedure of hers
was unjust, since she would at the same time deprive her daughter of the
dignity she now had, and would bring disturbances upon the kingdom, for
which he had taken a great deal of pains, and had gotten it with
extraordinary hazards; that yet, while he well remembered her wicked
practices, he would not leave off doing what was right himself, but would
even now give the youth the high priesthood; and that he formerly set up
Ananelus, because Aristobulus was then so very young a child. Now when he
had said this, not at random, but as he thought with the best discretion
he had, in order to deceive the women, and those friends whom he had taken
to consult withal, Alexandra, out of the great joy she had at this
unexpected promise, and out of fear from the suspicions she lay under,
fell a weeping; and made the following apology for herself; and said, that
as to the [high] priesthood, she was very much concerned for the disgrace
her son was under, and so did her utmost endeavors to procure it for him;
but that as to the kingdom, she had made no attempts, and that if it were
offered her [for her son], she would not accept it; and that now she would
be satisfied with her son’s dignity, while he himself held the civil
government, and she had thereby the security that arose from his peculiar
ability in governing to all the remainder of her family; that she was now
overcome by his benefits, and thankfully accepted of this honor showed by
him to her son, and that she would hereafter be entirely obedient. And she
desired him to excuse her, if the nobility of her family, and that freedom
of acting which she thought that allowed her, had made her act too
precipitately and imprudently in this matter. So when they had spoken thus
to one another, they came to an agreement, and all suspicions, so far as
appeared, were vanished away.
CHAPTER 3. How Herod Upon His Making Aristobulus High Priest Took Care
That He Should Be Murdered In A Little Time; And What Apology He Made To
Antony About Aristobulus; As Also Concerning Joseph And Mariamne.
1. So king Herod immediately took the high priesthood away from Ananelus,
who, as we said before, was not of this country, but one of those Jews
that had been carried captive beyond Euphrates; for there were not a few
ten thousands of this people that had been carried captives, and dwelt
about Babylonia, whence Ananelus came. He was one of the stock of the high
priests 4
and had been of old a particular friend of Herod; and when he was first
made king, he conferred that dignity upon him, and now put him out of it
again, in order to quiet the troubles in his family, though what he did
was plainly unlawful, for at no other time [of old] was any one that had
once been in that dignity deprived of it. It was Antiochus Epiphanes who
first brake that law, and deprived Jesus, and made his brother Onias high
priest in his stead. Aristobulus was the second that did so, and took that
dignity from his brother [Hyrcanus]; and this Herod was the third, who
took that high office away [from Ananelus], and gave it to this young
man, Aristobulus, in his stead.
2. And now Herod seemed to have healed the divisions in his family; yet
was he not without suspicion, as is frequently the case, of people seeming
to be reconciled to one another, but thought that, as Alexandra had
already made attempts tending to innovations, so did he fear that she
would go on therein, if she found a fit opportunity for so doing; so he
gave a command that she should dwell in the palace, and meddle with no
public affairs. Her guards also were so careful, that nothing she did in
private life every day was concealed. All these hardships put her out of
patience, by little and little and she began to hate Herod; for as she had
the pride of a woman to the utmost degree, she had great indignation at
this suspicious guard that was about her, as desirous rather to undergo
any thing that could befall her, than to be deprived of her liberty of
speech, and, under the notion of an honorary guard, to live in a state of
slavery and terror. She therefore sent to Cleopatra, and made a long
complaint of the circumstances she was in, and entreated her to do her
utmost for her assistance. Cleopatra hereupon advised her to take her son
with her, and come away immediately to her into Egypt. This advice pleased
her; and she had this contrivance for getting away: She got two coffins
made, as if they were to carry away two dead bodies and put herself into
one, and her son into the other and gave orders to such of her servants as
knew of her intentions to carry them away in the night time. Now their
road was to be thence to the sea-side and there was a ship ready to carry
them into Egypt. Now Aesop, one of her servants, happened to fall upon
Sabion, one of her friends, and spake of this matter to him, as thinking
he had known of it before. When Sabion knew this, [who had formerly been
an enemy of Herod, and been esteemed one of those that laid snares for and
gave the poison to [his father] Antipater,] he expected that this
discovery would change Herod’s hatred into kindness; so he told the king
of this private stratagem of Alexandra: whereupon be suffered her to
proceed to the execution of her project, and caught her in the very fact;
but still he passed by her offense; and though he had a great mind to do
it, he durst not inflict any thing that was severe upon her, for he knew
that Cleopatra would not bear that he should have her accused, on account
of her hatred to him; but made a show as if it were rather the generosity
of his soul, and his great moderation, that made him forgive them.
However, he fully proposed to himself to put this young man out of the
way, by one means or other; but he thought he might in probability be
better concealed in doing it, if he did it not presently, nor immediately
after what had lately happened.
3. And now, upon the approach of the feast of tabernacles, which is a
festival very much observed among us, he let those days pass over, and
both he and the rest of the people were therein very merry; yet did the
envy which at this time arose in him cause him to make haste to do what he
was about, and provoke him to it; for when this youth Aristobulus, who was
now in the seventeenth year of his age, went up to the altar, according to
the law, to offer the sacrifices, and this with the ornaments of his high
priesthood, and when he performed the sacred offices, 5
he seemed to be exceedingly comely, and taller than men usually were at
that age, and to exhibit in his countenance a great deal of that high
family he was sprung from,—a warm zeal and affection towards him
appeared among the people, and the memory of the actions of his
grandfather Aristobulus was fresh in their minds; and their affections got
so far the mastery of them, that they could not forbear to show their
inclinations to him. They at once rejoiced and were confounded, and
mingled with good wishes their joyful acclamations which they made to him,
till the good-will of the multitude was made too evident; and they more
rashly proclaimed the happiness they had received from his family than was
fit under a monarchy to have done. Upon all this, Herod resolved to
complete what he had intended against the young man. When therefore the
festival was over, and he was feasting at Jericho 6 with
Alexandra, who entertained them there, he was then very pleasant with the
young man, and drew him into a lonely place, and at the same time played
with him in a juvenile and ludicrous manner. Now the nature of that place
was hotter than ordinary; so they went out in a body, and of a sudden, and
in a vein of madness; and as they stood by the fish-ponds, of which there
were large ones about the house, they went to cool themselves [by
bathing], because it was in the midst of a hot day. At first they were
only spectators of Herod’s servants and acquaintance as they were
swimming; but after a while, the young man, at the instigation of Herod,
went into the water among them, while such of Herod’s acquaintance, as he
had appointed to do it, dipped him as he was swimming, and plunged him
under water, in the dark of the evening, as if it had been done in sport
only; nor did they desist till he was entirely suffocated. And thus was
Aristobulus murdered, having lived no more in all than eighteen years, 7
and kept the high priesthood one year only; which high priesthood Ananelus
now recovered again.
4. When this sad accident was told the women, their joy was soon changed
to lamentation, at the sight of the dead body that lay before them, and
their sorrow was immoderate. The city also [of Jerusalem], upon the
spreading of this news, were in very great grief, every family looking on
this calamity as if it had not belonged to another, but that one of
themselves was slain. But Alexandra was more deeply affected, upon her
knowledge that he had been destroyed [on purpose]. Her sorrow was greater
than that of others, by her knowing how the murder was committed; but she
was under the necessity of bearing up under it, out of her prospect of a
greater mischief that might otherwise follow; and she oftentimes came to
an inclination to kill herself with her own hand, but still she restrained
herself, in hopes she might live long enough to revenge the unjust murder
thus privately committed; nay, she further resolved to endeavor to live
longer, and to give no occasion to think she suspected that her son was
slain on purpose, and supposed that she might thereby be in a capacity of
revenging it at a proper opportunity. Thus did she restrain herself, that
she might not be noted for entertaining any such suspicion. However, Herod
endeavored that none abroad should believe that the child’s death was
caused by any design of his; and for this purpose he did not only use the
ordinary signs of sorrow, but fell into tears also, and exhibited a real
confusion of soul; and perhaps his affections were overcome on this
occasion, when he saw the child’s countenance so young and so beautiful,
although his death was supposed to tend to his own security. So far at
least this grief served as to make some apology for him; and as for his
funeral, that he took care should be very magnificent, by making great
preparation for a sepulcher to lay his body in, and providing a great
quantity of spices, and burying many ornaments together with him, till the
very women, who were in such deep sorrow, were astonished at it, and
received in this way some consolation.
5. However, no such things could overcome Alexandra’s grief; but the
remembrance of this miserable case made her sorrow, both deep and
obstinate. Accordingly, she wrote an account of this treacherous scene to
Cleopatra, and how her son was murdered; but Cleopatra, as she had
formerly been desirous to give her what satisfaction she could, and
commiserating Alexandra’s misfortunes, made the case her own, and would
not let Antony be quiet, but excited him to punish the child’s murder; for
that it was an unworthy thing that Herod, who had been by him made king of
a kingdom that no way belonged to him, should be guilty of such horrid
crimes against those that were of the royal blood in reality. Antony was
persuaded by these arguments; and when he came to Laodicea, he sent and
commanded Herod to come and make his defense, as to what he had done to
Aristobulus, for that such a treacherous design was not well done, if he
had any hand in it. Herod was now in fear, both of the accusation, and of
Cleopatra’s ill-will to him, which was such that she was ever endeavoring
to make Antony hate him. He therefore determined to obey his summons, for
he had no possible way to avoid it. So he left his uncle Joseph procurator
for his government, and for the public affairs, and gave him a private
charge, that if Antony should kill him, he also should kill Mariamne
immediately; for that he had a tender affection for this his wife, and was
afraid of the injury that should be offered him, if, after his death, she,
for her beauty, should be engaged to some other man: but his intimation
was nothing but this at the bottom, that Antony had fallen in love with
her, when he had formerly heard somewhat of her beauty. So when Herod had
given Joseph this charge, and had indeed no sure hopes of escaping with
his life, he went away to Antony.
6. But as Joseph was administering the public affairs of the kingdom, and
for that reason was very frequently with Mariamne, both because his
business required it, and because of the respects he ought to pay to the
queen, he frequently let himself into discourses about Herod’s kindness,
and great affection towards her; and when the women, especially Alexandra,
used to turn his discourses into feminine raillery, Joseph was so
over-desirous to demonstrate the kings inclinations, that he proceeded so
far as to mention the charge he had received, and thence drew his
demonstration, that Herod was not able to live without her; and that if he
should come to any ill end, he could not endure a separation from her,
even after he was dead. Thus spake Joseph. But the women, as was natural,
did not take this to be an instance of Herod’s strong affection for them,
but of his severe usage of them, that they could not escape destruction,
nor a tyrannical death, even when he was dead himself. And this saying [of
Joseph] was a foundation for the women’s severe suspicions about him
afterwards.
7. At this time a report went about the city Jerusalem among Herod’s
enemies, that Antony had tortured Herod, and put him to death. This
report, as is natural, disturbed those that were about the palace, but
chiefly the women; upon which Alexandra endeavored to persuade Joseph to
go out of the palace, and fly away with them to the ensigns of the Roman
legion, which then lay encamped about the city, as a guard to the kingdom,
under the command of Julius; for that by this means, if any disturbance
should happen about the palace, they should be in greater security, as
having the Romans favorable to them; and that besides, they hoped to
obtain the highest authority, if Antony did but once see Mariamne, by
whose means they should recover the kingdom, and want nothing which was
reasonable for them to hope for, because of their royal extraction.
8. But as they were in the midst of these deliberations, letters were
brought from Herod about all his affairs, and proved contrary to the
report, and of what they before expected; for when he was come to Antony,
he soon recovered his interest with him, by the presents he made him,
which he had brought with him from Jerusalem; and he soon induced him,
upon discoursing with him, to leave off his indignation at him, so that
Cleopatra’s persuasions had less force than the arguments and presents he
brought to regain his friendship; for Antony said that it was not good to
require an account of a king, as to the affairs of his government, for at
this rate he could be no king at all, but that those who had given him
that authority ought to permit him to make use of it. He also said the
same things to Cleopatra, that it would be best for her not busily to
meddle with the acts of the king’s government. Herod wrote an account of
these things, and enlarged upon the other honors which he had received
from Antony; how he sat by him at his hearing causes, and took his diet
with him every day, and that he enjoyed those favors from him,
notwithstanding the reproaches that Cleopatra so severely laid against
him, who having a great desire of his country, and earnestly entreating
Antony that the kingdom might be given to her, labored with her utmost
diligence to have him out of the way; but that he still found Antony just
to him, and had no longer any apprehensions of hard treatment from him;
and that he was soon upon his return, with a firmer additional assurance
of his favor to him, in his reigning and managing public affairs; and that
there was no longer any hope for Cleopatra’s covetous temper, since Antony
had given her Celesyria instead of what she had desired; by which means he
had at once pacified her, and got clear of the entreaties which she made
him to have Judea bestowed upon her.
9. When these letters were brought, the women left off their attempt for
flying to the Romans, which they thought of while Herod was supposed to be
dead; yet was not that purpose of theirs a secret; but when the king had
conducted Antony on his way against the Partnians, he returned to Judea,
when both his sister Salome and his mother informed him of Alexandra’s
intentions. Salome also added somewhat further against Joseph, though it
was no more than a calumny, that he had often had criminal conversation
with Mariamne. The reason of her saying so was this, that she for a long
time bare her ill-will; for when they had differences with one another,
Mariamne took great freedoms, and reproached the rest for the meanness of
their birth. But Herod, whose affection to Mariamne was always very warm,
was presently disturbed at this, and could not bear the torments of
jealousy, but was still restrained from doing any rash thing to her by the
love he had for her; yet did his vehement affection and jealousy together
make him ask Mariamne by herself about this matter of Joseph; but she
denied it upon her oath, and said all that an innocent woman could
possibly say in her own defense; so that by little and little the king was
prevailed upon to drop the suspicion, and left off his anger at her; and
being overcome with his passion for his wife, he made an apology to her
for having seemed to believe what he had heard about her, and returned her
a great many acknowledgments of her modest behavior, and professed the
extraordinary affection and kindness he had for her, till at last, as is
usual between lovers, they both fell into tears, and embraced one another
with a most tender affection. But as the king gave more and more
assurances of his belief of her fidelity, and endeavored to draw her to a
like confidence in him, Mariamne said, “Yet was not that command thou
gavest, that if any harm came to thee from Antony, I, who had been no
occasion of it, should perish with thee, a sign of thy love to me?” When
these words were fallen from her, the king was shocked at them, and
presently let her go out of his arms, and cried out, and tore his hair
with his own hands, and said, that “now he had an evident demonstration
that Joseph had had criminal conversation” with his wife; for that he
would never have uttered what he had told him alone by himself, unless
there had been such a great familiarity and firm confidence between them.
And while he was in this passion he had like to have killed his wife; but
being still overborne by his love to her, he restrained this his passion,
though not without a lasting grief and disquietness of mind. However, he
gave order to slay Joseph, without permitting him to come into his sight;
and as for Alexandra, he bound her, and kept her in custody, as the cause
of all this mischief.
CHAPTER 4. How Cleopatra, When She Had Gotten From Antony Some Parts Of
Judea And Arabia Came Into Judea; And How Herod Gave Her Many Presents And
Conducted Her On Her Way Back To Egypt.
1. Now at this time the affairs of Syria were in confusion by Cleopatra’s
constant persuasions to Antony to make an attempt upon every body’s
dominions; for she persuaded him to take those dominions away from their
several princes, and bestow them upon her; and she had a mighty influence
upon him, by reason of his being enslaved to her by his affections. She
was also by nature very covetous, and stuck at no wickedness. She had
already poisoned her brother, because she knew that he was to be king of
Egypt, and this when he was but fifteen years old; and she got her sister
Arsinoe to be slain, by the means of Antony, when she was a supplicant at
Diana’s temple at Ephesus; for if there were but any hopes of getting
money, she would violate both temples and sepulchers. Nor was there any
holy place that was esteemed the most inviolable, from which she would not
fetch the ornaments it had in it; nor any place so profane, but was to
suffer the most flagitious treatment possible from her, if it could but
contribute somewhat to the covetous humor of this wicked creature: yet did
not all this suffice so extravagant a woman, who was a slave to her lusts,
but she still imagined that she wanted every thing she could think of, and
did her utmost to gain it; for which reason she hurried Antony on
perpetually to deprive others of their dominions, and give them to her.
And as she went over Syria with him, she contrived to get it into her
possession; so he slew Lysanias, the son of Ptolemy, accusing him of his
bringing the Parthians upon those countries. She also petitioned Antony to
give her Judea and Arabia; and, in order thereto, desired him to take
these countries away from their present governors. As for Antony, he was
so entirely overcome by this woman, that one would not think her
conversation only could do it, but that he was some way or other bewitched
to do whatsoever she would have him; yet did the grossest parts of her
injustice make him so ashamed, that he would not always hearken to her to
do those flagrant enormities she would have persuaded him to. That
therefore he might not totally deny her, nor, by doing every thing which
she enjoined him, appear openly to be an ill man, he took some parts of
each of those countries away from their former governors, and gave them to
her. Thus he gave her the cities that were within the river Eleutherus, as
far as Egypt, excepting Tyre and Sidon, which he knew to have been free
cities from their ancestors, although she pressed him very often to bestow
those on her also.
2. When Cleopatra had obtained thus much, and had accompanied Antony in
his expedition to Armenia as far as Euphrates, she returned back, and came
to Apamia and Damascus, and passed on to Judea, where Herod met her, and
farmed of her parts of Arabia, and those revenues that came to her from
the region about Jericho. This country bears that balsam, which is the
most precious drug that is there, and grows there alone. The place bears
also palm trees, both many in number, and those excellent in their kind.
When she was there, and was very often with Herod, she endeavored to have
criminal conversation with the king; nor did she affect secrecy in the
indulgence of such sort of pleasures; and perhaps she had in some measure
a passion of love to him; or rather, what is most probable, she laid a
treacherous snare for him, by aiming to obtain such adulterous
conversation from him: however, upon the whole, she seemed overcome with
love to him. Now Herod had a great while borne no good-will to Cleopatra,
as knowing that she was a woman irksome to all; and at that time he
thought her particularly worthy of his hatred, if this attempt proceeded
out of lust; he had also thought of preventing her intrigues, by putting
her to death, if such were her endeavors. However, he refused to comply
with her proposals, and called a counsel of his friends to consult with
them whether he should not kill her, now he had her in his power; for that
he should thereby deliver all those from a multitude of evils to whom she
was already become irksome, and was expected to be still so for the time
to come; and that this very thing would be much for the advantage of
Antony himself, since she would certainly not be faithful to him, in case
any such season or necessity should come upon him as that he should stand
in need of her fidelity. But when he thought to follow this advice, his
friends would not let him; and told him that, in the first place, it was
not right to attempt so great a thing, and run himself thereby into the
utmost danger; and they laid hard at him, and begged of him to undertake
nothing rashly, for that Antony would never bear it, no, not though any
one should evidently lay before his eyes that it was for his own
advantage; and that the appearance of depriving him of her conversation,
by this violent and treacherous method, would probably set his affections
more on a flame than before. Nor did it appear that he could offer any
thing of tolerable weight in his defense, this attempt being against such
a woman as was of the highest dignity of any of her sex at that time in
the world; and as to any advantage to be expected from such an
undertaking, if any such could be supposed in this case, it would appear
to deserve condemnation, on account of the insolence he must take upon him
in doing it: which considerations made it very plain that in so doing he
would find his government filled with mischief, both great and lasting,
both to himself and his posterity, whereas it was still in his power to
reject that wickedness she would persuade him to, and to come off
honorably at the same time. So by thus affrighting Herod, and representing
to him the hazard he must, in all probability, run by this undertaking,
they restrained him from it. So he treated Cleopatra kindly, and made her
presents, and conducted her on her way to Egypt.
3. But Antony subdued Armenia, and sent Artabazes, the son of Tigranes, in
bonds, with his children and procurators, to Egypt, and made a present of
them, and of all the royal ornaments which he had taken out of that
kingdom, to Cleopatra. And Artaxias, the eldest of his sons, who had
escaped at that time, took the kingdom of Armenia; who yet was ejected by
Archelaus and Nero Cæsar, when they restored Tigranes, his younger
brother, to that kingdom; but this happened a good while afterward.
4. But then, as to the tributes which Herod was to pay Cleopatra for that
country which Antony had given her, he acted fairly with her, as deeming
it not safe for him to afford any cause for Cleopatra to hate him. As for
the king of Arabia, whose tribute Herod had undertaken to pay her, for
some time indeed he paid him as much as came to two hundred talents; but
he afterwards became very niggardly and slow in his payments, and could
hardly be brought to pay some parts of it, and was not willing to pay even
them without some deductions.
CHAPTER 5. How Herod Made War With The King Of Arabia, And After They Had
Fought Many Battles, At Length Conquered Him, And Was Chosen By The Arabs
To Be Governor Of That Nation; As Also Concerning A Great Earthquake.
1. Hereupon Herod held himself ready to go against the king of Arabia,
because of his ingratitude to him, and because, after all, he would do
nothing that was just to him, although Herod made the Roman war an
occasion of delaying his own; for the battle at Actium was now expected,
which fell into the hundred eighty and seventh olympiad, where Cæsar and
Antony were to fight for the supreme power of the world; but Herod having
enjoyed a country that was very fruitful, and that now for a long time,
and having received great taxes, and raised great armies therewith, got
together a body of men, and carefully furnished them with all necessaries,
and designed them as auxiliaries for Antony. But Antony said he had no
want of his assistance; but he commanded him to punish the king of Arabia;
for he had heard both from him, and from Cleopatra, how perfidious he was;
for this was what Cleopatra desired, who thought it for her own advantage
that these two kings should do one another as great mischief as possible.
Upon this message from Antony, Herod returned back, but kept his army with
him, in order to invade Arabia immediately. So when his army of horsemen
and footmen was ready, he marched to Diospolis, whither the Arabians came
also to meet them, for they were not unapprized of this war that was
coming upon them; and after a great battle had been fought, the Jews had
the victory. But afterward there were gotten together another numerous
army of the Arabians, at Cana, which is a place of Celesyria. Herod was
informed of this beforehand; so he came marching against them with the
greatest part of the forces he had; and when he was come near to Cana, he
resolved to encamp himself; and he cast up a bulwark, that he might take a
proper season for attacking the enemy; but as he was giving those orders,
the multitude of the Jews cried out that he should make no delay, but lead
them against the Arabians. They went with great spirit, as believing they
were in very good order; and those especially were so that had been in the
former battle, and had been conquerors, and had not permitted their
enemies so much as to come to a close fight with them. And when they were
so tumultuous, and showed such great alacrity, the king resolved to make
use of that zeal the multitude then exhibited; and when he had assured
them he would not be behindhand with them in courage, he led them on, and
stood before them all in his armor, all the regiments following him in
their several ranks: whereupon a consternation fell upon the Arabians; for
when they perceived that the Jews were not to be conquered, and were full
of spirit, the greater part of them ran away, and avoided fighting; and
they had been quite destroyed, had not Anthony fallen upon the Jews, and
distressed them; for this man was Cleopatra’s general over the soldiers
she had there, and was at enmity with Herod, and very wistfully looked on
to see what the event of the battle would be. He had also resolved, that
in case the Arabians did any thing that was brave and successful, he would
lie still; but in case they were beaten, as it really happened, he would
attack the Jews with those forces he had of his own, and with those that
the country had gotten together for him. So he fell upon the Jews
unexpectedly, when they were fatigued, and thought they had already
vanquished the enemy, and made a great slaughter of them; for as the Jews
had spent their courage upon their known enemies, and were about to enjoy
themselves in quietness after their victory, they were easily beaten by
these that attacked them afresh, and in particular received a great loss
in places where the horses could not be of service, and which were very
stony, and where those that attacked them were better acquainted with the
places than themselves. And when the Jews had suffered this loss, the
Arabians raised their spirits after their defeat, and returning back
again, slew those that were already put to flight; and indeed all sorts of
slaughter were now frequent, and of those that escaped, a few only
returned into the camp. So king Herod, when he despaired of the battle,
rode up to them to bring them assistance; yet did he not come time enough
to do them any service, though he labored hard to do it; but the Jewish
camp was taken; so that the Arabians had unexpectedly a most glorious
success, having gained that victory which of themselves they were no way
likely to have gained, and slaying a great part of the enemy’s army:
whence afterward Herod could only act like a private robber, and make
excursions upon many parts of Arabia, and distress them by sudden
incursions, while he encamped among the mountains, and avoided by any
means to come to a pitched battle; yet did he greatly harass the enemy by
his assiduity, and the hard labor he took in this matter. He also took
great care of his own forces, and used all the means he could to restore
his affairs to their old state.
2. At this time it was that the fight happened at Actium, between Octavius
Cæsar and Antony, in the seventh year of the reign of Herod 8
and then it was also that there was an earthquake in Judea, such a one as
had not happened at any other time, and which earthquake brought a great
destruction upon the cattle in that country. About ten thousand men also
perished by the fall of houses; but the army, which lodged in the field,
received no damage by this sad accident. When the Arabians were informed
of this, and when those that hated the Jews, and pleased themselves with
aggravating the reports, told them of it, they raised their spirits, as if
their enemy’s country was quite overthrown, and the men were utterly
destroyed, and thought there now remained nothing that could oppose them.
Accordingly, they took the Jewish ambassadors, who came to them after all
this had happened, to make peace with them, and slew them, and came with
great alacrity against their army; but the Jews durst not withstand them,
and were so cast down by the calamities they were under, that they took no
care of their affairs, but gave up themselves to despair; for they had no
hope that they should be upon a level again with them in battles, nor
obtain any assistance elsewhere, while their affairs at home were in such
great distress also. When matters were in this condition, the king
persuaded the commanders by his words, and tried to raise their spirits,
which were quite sunk; and first he endeavored to encourage and embolden
some of the better sort beforehand, and then ventured to make a speech to
the multitude, which he had before avoided to do, lest he should find them
uneasy thereat, because of the misfortunes which had happened; so he made
a consolatory speech to the multitude, in the manner following:
3. “You are not unacquainted, my fellow soldiers, that we have had, not
long since, many accidents that have put a stop to what we are about, and
it is probable that even those that are most distinguished above others
for their courage can hardly keep up their spirits in such circumstances;
but since we cannot avoid fighting, and nothing that hath happened is of
such a nature but it may by ourselves be recovered into a good state, and
this by one brave action only well performed, I have proposed to myself
both to give you some encouragement, and, at the same time, some
information; both which parts of my design will tend to this point; that
you may still continue in your own proper fortitude. I will then, in the
first place, demonstrate to you that this war is a just one on our side,
and that on this account it is a war of necessity, and occasioned by the
injustice of our adversaries; for if you be once satisfied of this, it
will be a real cause of alacrity to you; after which I will further
demonstrate, that the misfortunes we are under are of no great
consequence, and that we have the greatest reason to hope for victory. I
shall begin with the first, and appeal to yourselves as witnesses to what
I shall say. You are not ignorant certainly of the wickedness of the
Arabians, which is to that degree as to appear incredible to all other
men, and to include somewhat that shows the grossest barbarity and
ignorance of God. The chief things wherein they have affronted us have
arisen from covetousness and envy; and they have attacked us in an
insidious manner, and on the sudden. And what occasion is there for me to
mention many instances of such their procedure? When they were in danger
of losing their own government of themselves, and of being slaves to
Cleopatra, what others were they that freed them from that fear? for it
was the friendship I had with Antony, and the kind disposition he was in
towards us, that hath been the occasion that even these Arabians have not
been utterly undone, Antony being unwilling to undertake any thing which
might be suspected by us of unkindness: but when he had a mind to bestow
some parts of each of our dominions on Cleopatra, I also managed that
matter so, that by giving him presents of my own, I might obtain a
security to both nations, while I undertook myself to answer for the
money, and gave him two hundred talents, and became surety for those two
hundred more which were imposed upon the land that was subject to this
tribute; and this they have defrauded us of, although it was not
reasonable that Jews should pay tribute to any man living, or allow part
of their land to be taxable; but although that was to be, yet ought we not
to pay tribute for these Arabians, whom we have ourselves preserved; nor
is it fit that they, who have professed [and that with great integrity and
sense of our kindness] that it is by our means that they keep their
principality, should injure us, and deprive us of what is our due, and
this while we have been still not their enemies, but their friends. And
whereas observation of covenants takes place among the bitterest enemies,
but among friends is absolutely necessary, this is not observed among
these men, who think gain to be the best of all things, let it be by any
means whatsoever, and that injustice is no harm, if they may but get money
by it: is it therefore a question with you, whether the unjust are to be
punished or not? when God himself hath declared his mind that so it ought
to be, and hath commanded that we ever should hate injuries and injustice,
which is not only just, but necessary, in wars between several nations;
for these Arabians have done what both the Greeks and barbarians own to be
an instance of the grossest wickedness, with regard to our ambassadors,
which they have beheaded, while the Greeks declare that such ambassadors
are sacred and inviolable. 9 And for ourselves, we have
learned from God the most excellent of our doctrines, and the most holy
part of our law, by angels or ambassadors; for this name brings God to the
knowledge of mankind, and is sufficient to reconcile enemies one to
another. What wickedness then can be greater than the slaughter of
ambassadors, who come to treat about doing what is right? And when such
have been their actions, how is it possible they can either live securely
in common life, or be successful in war? In my opinion, this is
impossible; but perhaps some will say, that what is holy, and what is
righteous, is indeed on our side, but that the Arabians are either more
courageous or more numerous than we are. Now, as to this, in the first
place, it is not fit for us to say so, for with whom is what is righteous,
with them is God himself; now where God is, there is both multitude and
courage. But to examine our own circumstances a little, we were conquerors
in the first battle; and when we fought again, they were not able to
oppose us, but ran away, and could not endure our attacks or our courage;
but when we had conquered them, then came Athenion, and made war against
us without declaring it; and pray, is this an instance of their manhood?
or is it not a second instance of their wickedness and treachery? Why are
we therefore of less courage, on account of that which ought to inspire us
with stronger hopes? and why are we terrified at these, who, when they
fight upon the level, are continually beaten, and when they seem to be
conquerors, they gain it by wickedness? and if we suppose that any one
should deem them to be men of real courage, will not he be excited by that
very consideration to do his utmost against them? for true valor is not
shown by fighting against weak persons, but in being able to overcome the
most hardy. But then if the distresses we are ourselves under, and the
miseries that have come by the earthquake, hath affrighted any one, let
him consider, in the first place, that this very thing will deceive the
Arabians, by their supposal that what hath befallen us is greater than it
really is. Moreover, it is not right that the same thing that emboldens
them should discourage us; for these men, you see, do not derive their
alacrity from any advantageous virtue of their own, but from their hope,
as to us, that we are quite cast down by our misfortunes; but when we
boldly march against them, we shall soon pull down their insolent conceit
of themselves, and shall gain this by attacking them, that they will not
be so insolent when we come to the battle; for our distresses are not so
great, nor is what hath happened all indication of the anger of God
against us, as some imagine; for such things are accidental, and
adversities that come in the usual course of things; and if we allow that
this was done by the will of God, we must allow that it is now over by his
will also, and that he is satisfied with what hath already happened; for
had he been willing to afflict us still more thereby, he had not changed
his mind so soon. And as for the war we are engaged in, he hath himself
demonstrated that he is willing it should go on, and that he knows it to
be a just war; for while some of the people in the country have perished,
all you who were in arms have suffered nothing, but are all preserved
alive; whereby God makes it plain to us, that if you had universally, with
your children and wives, been in the army, it had come to pass that you
had not undergone any thing that would have much hurt you. Consider these
things, and, what is more than all the rest, that you have God at all
times for your Protector; and prosecute these men with a just bravery,
who, in point of friendship, are unjust, in their battles perfidious,
towards ambassadors impious, and always inferior to you in valor.”
4. When the Jews heard this speech, they were much raised in their minds,
and more disposed to fight than before. So Herod, when he had offered the
sacrifices appointed by the law 10 made
haste, and took them, and led them against the Arabians; and in order to
that passed over Jordan, and pitched his camp near to that of the enemy.
He also thought fit to seize upon a certain castle that lay in the midst
of them, as hoping it would be for his advantage, and would the sooner
produce a battle; and that if there were occasion for delay, he should by
it have his camp fortified; and as the Arabians had the same intentions
upon that place, a contest arose about it; at first they were but
skirmishes, after which there came more soldiers, and it proved a sort of
fight, and some fell on both sides, till those of the Arabian side were
beaten and retreated. This was no small encouragement to the Jews
immediately; and when Herod observed that the enemy’s army was disposed to
any thing rather than to come to an engagement, he ventured boldly to
attempt the bulwark itself, and to pull it to pieces, and so to get nearer
to their camp, in order to fight them; for when they were forced out of
their trenches, they went out in disorder, and had not the least alacrity,
or hope of victory; yet did they fight hand to hand, because they were
more in number than the Jews, and because they were in such a disposition
of war that they were under a necessity of coming on boldly; so they came
to a terrible battle, while not a few fell on each side. However, at
length the Arabians fled; and so great a slaughter was made upon their
being routed, that they were not only killed by their enemies, but became
the authors of their own deaths also, and were trodden down by the
multitude, and the great current of people in disorder, and were destroyed
by their own armor; so five thousand men lay dead upon the spot, while the
rest of the multitude soon ran within the bulwark for safety, but had no
firm hope of safety, by reason of their want of necessaries, and
especially of water. The Jews pursued them, but could not get in with
them, but sat round about the bulwark, and watched any assistance that
would get in to them, and prevented any there, that had a mind to it, from
running away.
5. When the Arabians were in these circumstances, they sent ambassadors to
Herod, in the first place, to propose terms of accommodation, and after
that to offer him, so pressing was their thirst upon them, to undergo
whatsoever he pleased, if he would free them from their present distress;
but he would admit of no ambassadors, of no price of redemption, nor of
any other moderate terms whatever, being very desirous to revenge those
unjust actions which they had been guilty of towards his nation. So they
were necessitated by other motives, and particularly by their thirst, to
come out, and deliver themselves up to him, to be carried away captives;
and in five days’ time the number of four thousand were taken prisoners,
while all the rest resolved to make a sally upon their enemies, and to
fight it out with them, choosing rather, if so it must be, to die therein,
than to perish gradually and ingloriously. When they had taken this
resolution, they came out of their trenches, but could no way sustain the
fight, being too much disabled, both in mind and body, and having not room
to exert themselves, and thought it an advantage to be killed, and a
misery to survive; so at the first onset there fell about seven thousand
of them, after which stroke they let all the courage they had put on
before fall, and stood amazed at Herod’s warlike spirit under his own
calamities; so for the future they yielded, and made him ruler of their
nation; whereupon he was greatly elevated at so seasonable a success, and
returned home, taking great authority upon him, on account of so bold and
glorious an expedition as he had made.
CHAPTER 6. How Herod Slew Hyrcanus And Then Hasted Away To Cæsar, And
Obtained The Kingdom From Him Also; And How A Little Time Afterward, He
Entertained Cæsar In A Most Honorable Manner.
1. Herod’s other affairs were now very prosperous, and he was not to be
easily assaulted on any side. Yet did there come upon him a danger that
would hazard his entire dominions, after Antony had been beaten at the
battle of Actium by Cæsar [Octavian]; for at that time both Herod’s
enemies and friends despaired of his affairs, for it was not probable that
he would remain without punishment, who had showed so much friendship for
Antony. So it happened that his friends despaired, and had no hopes of his
escape; but for his enemies, they all outwardly appeared to be troubled at
his case, but were privately very glad of it, as hoping to obtain a change
for the better. As for Herod himself he saw that there was no one of royal
dignity left but Hyrcanus, and therefore he thought it would be for his
advantage not to suffer him to be an obstacle in his way any longer; for
that in case he himself survived, and escaped the danger he was in, he
thought it the safest way to put it out of the power of such a man to make
any attempt against him, at such junctures of affairs, as was more worthy
of the kingdom than himself; and in case he should be slain by Cæsar, his
envy prompted him to desire to slay him that would otherwise be king after
him.
2. While Herod had these things in his mind, there was a certain occasion
afforded him: for Hyrcanus was of so mild a temper, both then and at other
times, that he desired not to meddle with public affairs, nor to concern
himself with innovations, but left all to fortune, and contented himself
with what that afforded him: but Alexandra [his daughter] was a lover of
strife, and was exceeding desirous of a change of the government, and
spake to her father not to bear for ever Herod’s injurious treatment of
their family, but to anticipate their future hopes, as he safely might;
and desired him to write about these matters to Malchus, who was then
governor of Arabia, to receive them, and to secure them [from Herod], for
that if they went away, and Herod’s affairs proved to be as it was likely
they would be, by reason of Cæsar’s enmity to him, they should then be
the only persons that could take the government; and this, both on account
of the royal family they were of, and on account of the good disposition
of: the multitude to them. While she used these persuasions, Hyrcanus put
off her suit; but as she showed that she was a woman, and a contentious
woman too, and would not desist either night or day, but would always be
speaking to him about these matters, and about Herod’s treacherous
designs, she at last prevailed with him to intrust Dositheus, one of his
friends, with a letter, wherein his resolution was declared; and he
desired the Arabian governor to send to him some horsemen, who should
receive him, and conduct him to the lake Asphaltites, which is from the
bounds of Jerusalem three hundred furlongs: and he did therefore trust
Dositheus with this letter, because he was a careful attendant on him, and
on Alexandra, and had no small occasions to bear ill-will to Herod; for he
was a kinsman of one Joseph, whom he had slain, and a brother of those
that were formerly slain at Tyre by Antony: yet could not these motives
induce Dositheus to serve Hyrcanus in this affair; for, preferring the
hopes he had from the present king to those he had from him, he gave Herod
the letter. So he took his kindness in good part, and bid him besides do
what he had already done, that is, go on in serving him, by rolling up the
epistle and sealing it again, and delivering it to Malchus, and then to
bring back his letter in answer to it; for it would be much better if he
could know Malchus’s intentions also. And when Dositheus was very ready to
serve him in this point also, the Arabian governor returned back for
answer, that he would receive Hyrcanus, and all that should come with him,
and even all the Jews that were of his party; that he would, moreover,
send forces sufficient to secure them in their journey; and that he should
be in no want of any thing he should desire. Now as soon as Herod had
received this letter, he immediately sent for Hyrcanus, and questioned him
about the league he had made with Malchus; and when he denied it, he
showed his letter to the Sanhedrim, and put the man to death immediately.
3. And this account we give the reader, as it is contained in the
commentaries of king Herod: but other historians do not agree with them,
for they suppose that Herod did not find, but rather make, this an
occasion for thus putting him to death, and that by treacherously laying a
snare for him; for thus do they write: That Herod and he were once at a
treat, and that Herod had given no occasion to suspect [that he was
displeased at him], but put this question to Hyrcanus, Whether he had
received any letters from Malchus? and when he answered that he had
received letters, but those of salutation only; and when he asked further,
whether he had not received any presents from him? and when he had replied
that he had received no more than four horses to ride on, which Malchus
had sent him; they pretended that Herod charged these upon him as the
crimes of bribery and treason, and gave order that he should be led away
and slain. And in order to demonstrate that he had been guilty of no
offense, when he was thus brought to his end, they alleged how mild his
temper had been, and that even in his youth he had never given any
demonstration of boldness or rashness, and that the case was the same when
he came to be king, but that he even then committed the management of the
greatest part of public affairs to Antipater; and that he was now above
fourscore years old, and knew that Herod’s government was in a secure
state. He also came over Euphrates, and left those who greatly honored him
beyond that river, though he were to be entirely under Herod’s government;
and that it was a most incredible thing that he should enterprise any
thing by way of innovation, and not at all agreeable to his temper, but
that this was a plot of Herod’s contrivance.
4. And this was the fate of Hyrcanus; and thus did he end his life, after
he had endured various and manifold turns of fortune in his lifetime. For
he was made high priest of the Jewish nation in the beginning of his
mother Alexandra’s reign, who held the government nine years; and when,
after his mother’s death, he took the kingdom himself, and held it three
months, he lost it, by the means of his brother Aristobulus. He was then
restored by Pompey, and received all sorts of honor from him, and enjoyed
them forty years; but when he was again deprived by Antigonus, and was
maimed in his body, he was made a captive by the Parthians, and thence
returned home again after some time, on account of the hopes that Herod
had given him; none of which came to pass according to his expectation,
but he still conflicted with many misfortunes through the whole course of
his life; and, what was the heaviest calamity of all, as we have related
already, he came to an end which was undeserved by him. His character
appeared to be that of a man of a mild and moderate disposition, and
suffered the administration of affairs to be generally done by others
under him. He was averse to much meddling with the public, nor had
shrewdness enough to govern a kingdom. And both Antipater and Herod came
to their greatness by reason of his mildness; and at last he met with such
an end from them as was not agreeable either to justice or piety.
5. Now Herod, as soon as he had put Hyrcanus out of the way, made haste to
Cæsar; and because he could not have any hopes of kindness from him, on
account of the friendship he had for Antony, he had a suspicion of
Alexandra, lest she should take this opportunity to bring the multitude to
a revolt, and introduce a sedition into the affairs of the kingdom; so he
committed the care of every thing to his brother Pheroras, and placed his
mother Cypros, and his sister [Salome], and the whole family at Masada,
and gave him a charge, that if he should hear any sad news about him, he
should take care of the government. But as to Mariamne his wife, because
of the misunderstanding between her and his sister, and his sister’s
mother, which made it impossible for them to live together, he placed her
at Alexandrium, with Alexandra her mother, and left his treasurer Joseph
and Sohemus of Iturea to take care of that fortress. These two had been
very faithful to him from the beginning, and were now left as a guard to
the women. They also had it in charge, that if they should hear any
mischief had befallen him, they should kill them both, and, as far as they
were able, to preserve the kingdom for his sons, and for his brother
Pheroras.
6. When he had given them this charge, he made haste to Rhodes, to meet
Cæsar; and when he had sailed to that city, he took off his diadem, but
remitted nothing else of his usual dignity. And when, upon his meeting
him, he desired that he would let him speak to him, he therein exhibited a
much more noble specimen of a great soul; for he did not betake himself to
supplications, as men usually do upon such occasions, nor offered him any
petition, as if he were an offender; but, after an undaunted manner, gave
an account of what he had done; for he spake thus to Cæsar: That he had
the greatest friendship for Antony, and did every thing he could that he
might attain the government; that he was not indeed in the army with him,
because the Arabians had diverted him; but that he had sent him both money
and corn, which was but too little in comparison of what he ought to have
done for him; “for if a man owns himself to be another’s friend, and knows
him to be a benefactor, he is obliged to hazard every thing, to use every
faculty of his soul, every member of his body, and all the wealth he hath,
for him, in which I confess I have been too deficient. However, I am
conscious to myself, that so far I have done right, that I have not
deserted him upon his defeat at Actium; nor upon the evident change of his
fortune have I transferred my hopes from him to another, but have
preserved myself, though not as a valuable fellow soldier, yet certainly
as a faithful counselor, to Antony, when I demonstrated to him that the
only way that he had to save himself, and not to lose all his authority,
was to slay Cleopatra; for when she was once dead, there would be room for
him to retain his authority, and rather to bring thee to make a
composition with him, than to continue at enmity any longer. None of which
advises would he attend to, but preferred his own rash resolution before
them, which have happened unprofitably for him, but profitably for thee.
Now, therefore, in case thou determinest about me, and my alacrity in
serving Antony, according to thy anger at him, I own there is no room for
me to deny what I have done, nor will I be ashamed to own, and that
publicly too, that I had a great kindness for him. But if thou wilt put
him out of the case, and only examine how I behave myself to my
benefactors in general, and what sort of friend I am, thou wilt find by
experience that we shall do and be the same to thyself, for it is but
changing the names, and the firmness of friendship that we shall bear to
thee will not be disapproved by thee.”
7. By this speech, and by his behavior, which showed Cæsar the frankness
of his mind, he greatly gained upon him, who was himself of a generous and
magnificent temper, insomuch that those very actions, which were the
foundation of the accusation against him, procured him Cæsar’s good-will.
Accordingly, he restored him his diadem again; and encouraged him to
exhibit himself as great a friend to himself as he had been to Antony, and
then had him in great esteem. Moreover, he added this, that Quintus Didius
had written to him that Herod had very readily assisted him in the affair
of the gladiators. So when he had obtained such a kind reception, and had,
beyond all his hopes, procured his crown to be more entirely and firmly
settled upon him than ever by Cæsar’s donation, as well as by that decree
of the Romans, which Cæsar took care to procure for his greater security,
he conducted Cæsar on his way to Egypt, and made presents, even beyond
his ability, to both him and his friends, and in general behaved himself
with great magnanimity. He also desired that Cæsar would not put to death
one Alexander, who had been a companion of Antony; but Cæsar had sworn to
put him to death, and so he could not obtain that his petition. And now he
returned to Judea again with greater honor and assurance than ever, and
affrighted those that had expectations to the contrary, as still acquiring
from his very dangers greater splendor than before, by the favor of God to
him. So he prepared for the reception of Cæsar, as he was going out of
Syria to invade Egypt; and when he came, he entertained him at Ptolemais
with all royal magnificence. He also bestowed presents on the army, and
brought them provisions in abundance. He also proved to be one of Cæsar’s
most cordial friends, and put the army in array, and rode along with
Cæsar, and had a hundred and fifty men, well appointed in all respects,
after a rich and sumptuous manner, for the better reception of him and his
friends. He also provided them with what they should want, as they passed
over the dry desert, insomuch that they lacked neither wine nor water,
which last the soldiers stood in the greatest need of; and besides, he
presented Cæsar with eight hundred talents, and procured to himself the
good-will of them all, because he was assisting to them in a much greater
and more splendid degree than the kingdom he had obtained could afford; by
which means he more and more demonstrated to Cæsar the firmness of his
friendship, and his readiness to assist him; and what was of the greatest
advantage to him was this, that his liberality came at a seasonable time
also. And when they returned again out of Egypt, his assistances were no
way inferior to the good offices he had formerly done them.
CHAPTER 7. How Herod Slew Sohemus And Mariamne And Afterward Alexandra And
Costobarus, And His Most Intimate Friends, And At Last The Sons Of Babbas
Also.
1. However, when he came into his kingdom again, he found his house all in
disorder, and his wife Mariamne and her mother Alexandra very uneasy; for
as they supposed [what was easy to be supposed] that they were not put
into that fortress [Alexandrium] for the security of their persons, but as
into a garrison for their imprisonment, and that they had no power over
any thing, either of others or of their own affairs, they were very
uneasy; and Mariamne supposing that the king’s love to her was but
hypocritical, and rather pretended [as advantageous to himself] than real,
she looked upon it as fallacious. She also was grieved that he would not
allow her any hopes of surviving him, if he should come to any harm
himself. She also recollected what commands he had formerly given to
Joseph, insomuch that she endeavored to please her keepers, and especially
Sohemus, as well apprized how all was in his power. And at the first
Sohemus was faithful to Herod, and neglected none of the things he had
given him in charge; but when the women, by kind words and liberal
presents, had gained his affections over to them, he was by degrees
overcome, and at length discovered to them all the king’s injunctions, and
this on that account principally, that he did not so much as hope he would
come back with the same authority he had before; so that he thought he
should both escape any danger from him, and supposed that he did hereby
much gratify the women, who were likely not to be overlooked in the
settling of the government; nay, that they would be able to make him
abundant recompense, since they must either reign themselves, or be very
near to him that should reign. He had a further ground of hope also, that
though Herod should have all the success he could wish for, and should
return again, he could not contradict his wife in what she desired, for he
knew that the king’s fondness for his wife was inexpressible. These were
the motives that drew Sohemus to discover what injunctions had been given
him. So Mariamne was greatly displeased to hear that there was no end of
the dangers she was under from Herod, and was greatly uneasy at it, and
wished that he might obtain no favors [from Cæsar], and esteemed it
almost an insupportable task to live with him any longer; and this she
afterward openly declared, without concealing her resentment.
2. And now Herod sailed home with joy, at the unexpected good success he
had had; and went first of all, as was proper, to this his wife, and told
her, and her only, the good news, as preferring her before the rest, on
account of his fondness for her, and the intimacy there had been between
them, and saluted her; but so it happened, that as he told her of the good
success he had had, she was so far from rejoicing at it, that she rather
was sorry for it; nor was she able to conceal her resentments, but,
depending on her dignity, and the nobility of her birth, in return for his
salutations, she gave a groan, and declared evidently that she rather
grieved than rejoiced at his success, and this till Herod was disturbed at
her, as affording him, not only marks of her suspicion, but evident signs
of her dissatisfaction. This much troubled him, to see that this
surprising hatred of his wife to him was not concealed, but open; and he
took this so ill, and yet was so unable to bear it, on account of the
fondness he had for her, that he could not continue long in any one mind,
but sometimes was angry at her, and sometimes reconciled himself to her;
but by always changing one passion for another, he was still in great
uncertainty, and thus was he entangled between hatred and love, and was
frequently disposed to inflict punishment on her for her insolence towards
him; but being deeply in love with her in his soul, he was not able to get
quit of this woman. In short, as he would gladly have her punished, so was
he afraid lest, ere he were aware, he should, by putting her to death,
bring a heavier punishment upon himself at the same time.
3. When Herod’s sister and mother perceived that he was in this temper
with regard to Mariamne they thought they had now got an excellent
opportunity to exercise their hatred against her and provoked Herod to
wrath by telling him, such long stories and calumnies about her, as might
at once excite his hatred and his jealousy. Now, though he willingly
enough heard their words, yet had not he courage enough to do any thing to
her as if he believed them; but still he became worse and worse disposed
to her, and these ill passions were more and more inflamed on both sides,
while she did not hide her disposition towards him, and he turned his love
to her into wrath against her. But when he was just going to put this
matter past all remedy, he heard the news that Cæsar was the victor in
the war, and that Antony and Cleopatra were both dead, and that he had
conquered Egypt; whereupon he made haste to go to meet Cæsar, and left
the affairs of his family in their present state. However, Mariamne
recommended Sohemus to him, as he was setting out on his journey, and
professed that she owed him thanks for the care he had taken of her, and
asked of the king for him a place in the government; upon which an
honorable employment was bestowed upon him accordingly. Now when Herod was
come into Egypt, he was introduced to Cæsar with great freedom, as
already a friend of his, and received very great favors from him; for he
made him a present of those four hundred Galatians who had been
Cleopatra’s guards, and restored that country to him again, which, by her
means, had been taken away from him. He also added to his kingdom Gadara,
Hippos, and Samaria; and, besides those, the maritime cities, Gaza, and
Anthedon, and Joppa, and Strato’s Tower.
4. Upon these new acquisitions, he grew more magnificent, and conducted
Cæsar as far as Antioch; but upon his return, as much as his prosperity
was augmented by the foreign additions that had been made him, so much the
greater were the distresses that came upon him in his own family, and
chiefly in the affair of his wife, wherein he formerly appeared to have
been most of all fortunate; for the affection he had for Mariamne was no
way inferior to the affections of such as are on that account celebrated
in history, and this very justly. As for her, she was in other respects a
chaste woman, and faithful to him; yet had she somewhat of a woman rough
by nature, and treated her husband imperiously enough, because she saw he
was so fond of her as to be enslaved to her. She did not also consider
seasonably with herself that she lived under a monarchy, and that she was
at another’s disposal, and accordingly would behave herself after a saucy
manner to him, which yet he usually put off in a jesting way, and bore
with moderation and good temper. She would also expose his mother and his
sister openly, on account of the meanness of their birth, and would speak
unkindly of them, insomuch that there was before this a disagreement and
unpardonable hatred among the women, and it was now come to greater
reproaches of one another than formerly, which suspicions increased, and
lasted a whole year after Herod returned from Cæsar. However, these
misfortunes, which had been kept under some decency for a great while,
burst out all at once upon such an occasion as was now offered; for as the
king was one day about noon lain down on his bed to rest him, he called
for Mariamne, out of the great affection he had always for her. She came
in accordingly, but would not lie down by him; and when he was very
desirous of her company, she showed her contempt of him; and added, by way
of reproach, that he had caused her father and her brother to be slain. 11
And when he took this injury very unkindly, and was ready to use violence
to her, in a precipitate manner, the king’s sister Salome, observing that
he was more than ordinarily disturbed, sent in to the king his cup-bearer,
who had been prepared long beforehand for such a design, and bid him tell
the king how Mariamne had persuaded him to give his assistance in
preparing a love potion for him; and if he appeared to be greatly
concerned, and to ask what that love potion was, to tell him that she had
the potion, and that he was desired only to give it him; but that in case
he did not appear to be much concerned at this potion, to let the thing
drop; and that if he did so, no harm should thereby come to him. When she
had given him these instructions, she sent him in at this time to make
such a speech. So he went in, after a composed manner, to gain credit to
what he should say, and yet somewhat hastily, and said that Mariamne had
given him presents, and persuaded him to give him a love potion. And when
this moved the king, he said that this love potion was a composition that
she had given him, whose effects he did not know, which was the reason of
his resolving to give him this information, as the safest course he could
take, both for himself and for the king. When Herod heard what he said,
and was in an ill disposition before, his indignation grew more violent;
and he ordered that eunuch of Mariamne, who was most faithful to her, to
be brought to torture about this potion, as well knowing it was not
possible that any thing small or great could be done without him. And when
the man was under the utmost agonies, he could say nothing concerning the
thing he was tortured about, but so far he knew, that Mariamne’s hatred
against him was occasioned by somewhat that Sohemus had said to her. Now
as he was saying this, Herod cried out aloud, and said that Sohemus, who
had been at all other times most faithful to him, and to his government,
would not have betrayed what injunctions he had given him, unless he had
had a nearer conversation than ordinary with Mariamne. So he gave order
that Sohemus should be seized on and slain immediately; but he allowed his
wife to take her trial; and got together those that were most faithful to
him, and laid an elaborate accusation against her for this love potion and
composition, which had been charged upon her by way of calumny only.
However, he kept no temper in what he said, and was in too great a passion
for judging well about this matter. Accordingly, when the court was at
length satisfied that he was so resolved, they passed the sentence of
death upon her; but when the sentence was passed upon her, this temper was
suggested by himself, and by some others of the court, that she should not
be thus hastily put to death, but be laid in prison in one of the
fortresses belonging to the kingdom: but Salome and her party labored hard
to have the woman put to death; and they prevailed with the king to do so,
and advised this out of caution, lest the multitude should be tumultuous
if she were suffered to live; and thus was Mariamne led to execution.
5. When Alexandra observed how things went, and that there were small
hopes that she herself should escape the like treatment from Herod, she
changed her behavior to quite the reverse of what might have been expected
from her former boldness, and this after a very indecent manner; for out
of her desire to show how entirely ignorant she was of the crimes laid
against Mariamne, she leaped out of her place, and reproached her daughter
in the hearing of all the people; and cried out that she had been an ill
woman, and ungrateful to her husband, and that her punishment came justly
upon her for such her insolent behavior, for that she had not made proper
returns to him who had been their common benefactor. And when she had for
some time acted after this hypocritical manner, and been so outrageous as
to tear her hair, this indecent and dissembling behavior, as was to be
expected, was greatly condemned by the rest of the spectators, as it was
principally by the poor woman who was to suffer; for at the first she gave
her not a word, nor was discomposed at her peevishness, and only looked at
her, yet did she out of a greatness of soul discover her concern for her
mother’s offense, and especially for her exposing herself in a manner so
unbecoming her; but as for herself, she went to her death with an unshaken
firmness of mind, and without changing the color of her face, and thereby
evidently discovered the nobility of her descent to the spectators, even
in the last moments of her life.
6. And thus died Mariamne, a woman of an excellent character, both for
chastity and greatness of soul; but she wanted moderation, and had too
much of contention in her nature; yet had she all that can be said in the
beauty of her body, and her majestic appearance in conversation; and
thence arose the greatest part of the occasions why she did not prove so
agreeable to the king, nor live so pleasantly with him, as she might
otherwise have done; for while she was most indulgently used by the king,
out of his fondness for her, and did not expect that he could do any hard
thing to her, she took too unbounded a liberty. Moreover, that which most
afflicted her was, what he had done to her relations, and she ventured to
speak of all they had suffered by him, and at last greatly provoked both
the king’s mother and sister, till they became enemies to her; and even he
himself also did the same, on whom alone she depended for her expectations
of escaping the last of punishments.
7. But when she was once dead, the king’s affections for her were kindled
in a more outrageous manner than before, whose old passion for her we have
already described; for his love to her was not of a calm nature, nor such
as we usually meet with among other husbands; for at its commencement it
was of an enthusiastic kind, nor was it by their long cohabitation and
free conversation together brought under his power to manage; but at this
time his love to Mariamne seemed to seize him in such a peculiar manner,
as looked like Divine vengeance upon him for the taking away her life; for
he would frequently call for her, and frequently lament for her in a most
indecent manner. Moreover, he bethought him of every thing he could make
use of to divert his mind from thinking of her, and contrived feasts and
assemblies for that purpose, but nothing would suffice; he therefore laid
aside the administration of public affairs, and was so far conquered by
his passion, that he would order his servants to call for Mariamne, as if
she were still alive, and could still hear them. And when he was in this
way, there arose a pestilential disease, and carried off the greatest part
of the multitude, and of his best and most esteemed friends, and made all
men suspect that this was brought upon them by the anger of God, for the
injustice that had been done to Mariamne. This circumstance affected the
king still more, till at length he forced himself to go into desert
places, and there, under pretense of going a hunting, bitterly afflicted
himself; yet had he not borne his grief there many days before he fell
into a most dangerous distemper himself: he had an inflammation upon him,
and a pain in the hinder part of his head, joined with madness; and for
the remedies that were used, they did him no good at all, but proved
contrary to his case, and so at length brought him to despair. All the
physicians also that were about him, partly because the medicines they
brought for his recovery could not at all conquer the disease, and partly
because his diet could be no other than what his disease inclined him to,
desired him to eat whatever he had a mind to, and so left the small hopes
they had of his recovery in the power of that diet, and committed him to
fortune. And thus did his distemper go on, while he was at Samaria, now
called Sebaste.
8. Now Alexandra abode at this time at Jerusalem; and being informed what
condition Herod was in, she endeavored to get possession of the fortified
places that were about the city, which were two, the one belonging to the
city itself, the other belonging to the temple; and those that could get
them into their hands had the whole nation under their power, for without
the command of them it was not possible to offer their sacrifices; and to
think of leaving on those sacrifices is to every Jew plainly impossible,
who are still more ready to lose their lives than to leave off that Divine
worship which they have been wont to pay unto God. Alexandra, therefore,
discoursed with those that had the keeping of these strong holds, that it
was proper for them to deliver the same to her, and to Herod’s sons, lest,
upon his death, any other person should seize upon the government; and
that upon his recovery none could keep them more safely for him than those
of his own family. These words were not by them at all taken in good part;
and as they had been in former times faithful [to Herod], they resolved to
continue so more than ever, both because they hated Alexandra, and because
they thought it a sort of impiety to despair of Herod’s recovery while he
was yet alive, for they had been his old friends; and one of them, whose
name was Achiabus, was his cousin-german. They sent messengers therefore
to acquaint him with Alexandra’s design; so he made no longer delay, but
gave orders to have her slain; yet was it still with difficulty, and after
he had endured great pain, that he got clear of his distemper. He was
still sorely afflicted, both in mind and body, and made very uneasy, and
readier than ever upon all occasions to inflict punishment upon those that
fell under his hand. He also slew the most intimate of his friends,
Costobarus, and Lysimachus, and Cadias, who was also called Antipater; as
also Dositheus, and that upon the following occasion.
9. Costobarus was an Idumean by birth, and one of principal dignity among
them, and one whose ancestors had been priests to the Koze, whom the
Idumeans had [formerly] esteemed as a god; but after Hyrcanus had made a
change in their political government, and made them receive the Jewish
customs and law, Herod made Costobarus governor of Idumea and Gaza, and
gave him his sister Salome to wife; and this was upon the slaughter of
[his uncle] Joseph, who had that government before, as we have related
already. When Costobarus had gotten to be so highly advanced, it pleased
him and was more than he hoped for, and he was more and more puffed up by
his good success, and in a little while he exceeded all bounds, and did
not think fit to obey what Herod, as their ruler, commanded him, or that
the Idumeans should make use of the Jewish customs, or be subject to them.
He therefore sent to Cleopatra, and informed her that the Idumeans had
been always under his progenitors, and that for the same reason it was but
just that she should desire that country for him of Antony, for that he
was ready to transfer his friendship to her; and this he did, not because
he was better pleased to be under Cleopatra’s government, but because he
thought that, upon the diminution of Herod’s power, it would not be
difficult for him to obtain himself the entire government over the
Idumeans, and somewhat more also; for he raised his hopes still higher, as
having no small pretenses, both by his birth and by these riches which he
had gotten by his constant attention to filthy lucre; and accordingly it
was not a small matter that he aimed at. So Cleopatra desired this country
of Antony, but failed of her purpose. An account of this was brought to
Herod, who was thereupon ready to kill Costobarus; yet, upon the
entreaties of his sister and mother, he forgave him, and vouchsafed to
pardon him entirely; though he still had a suspicion of him afterward for
this his attempt.
10. But some time afterward, when Salome happened to quarrel with
Costobarus, she sent him a bill of divorce 12 and
dissolved her marriage with him, though this was not according to the
Jewish laws; for with us it is lawful for a husband to do so; but a wife;
if she departs from her husband, cannot of herself be married to another,
unless her former husband put her away. However, Salome chose to follow
not the law of her country, but the law of her authority, and so renounced
her wedlock; and told her brother Herod, that she left her husband out of
her good-will to him, because she perceived that he, with Antipater, and
Lysimachus, and Dositheus, were raising a sedition against him; as an
evidence whereof, she alleged the case of the sons of Babas, that they had
been by him preserved alive already for the interval of twelve years;
which proved to be true. But when Herod thus unexpectedly heard of it, he
was greatly surprised at it, and was the more surprised, because the
relation appeared incredible to him. As for the fact relating to these
sons of Babas, Herod had formerly taken great pains to bring them to
punishment, as being enemies to his government; but they were now
forgotten by him, on account of the length of time [since he had ordered
them to be slain]. Now the cause of his ill-will and hatred to them arose
hence, that while Antigonus was king, Herod, with his army, besieged the
city of Jerusalem, where the distress and miseries which the besieged
endured were so pressing, that the greater number of them invited Herod
into the city, and already placed their hopes on him. Now the sons of
Babas were of great dignity, and had power among the multitude, and were
faithful to Antigonus, and were always raising calumnies against Herod,
and encouraged the people to preserve the government to that royal family
which held it by inheritance. So these men acted thus politically, and, as
they thought, for their own advantage; but when the city was taken, and
Herod had gotten the government into his hands, and Costobarus was
appointed to hinder men from passing out at the gates, and to guard the
city, that those citizens that were guilty, and of the party opposite to
the king, might not get out of it, Costobarus, being sensible that the
sons of Babas were had in respect and honor by the whole multitude, and
supposing that their preservation might be of great advantage to him in
the changes of government afterward, he set them by themselves, and
concealed them in his own farms; and when the thing was suspected, he
assured Herod upon oath that he really knew nothing of that matter, and so
overcame the suspicions that lay upon him; nay, after that, when the king
had publicly proposed a reward for the discovery, and had put in practice
all sorts of methods for searching out this matter, he would not confess
it; but being persuaded that when he had at first denied it, if the men
were found, he should not escape unpunished, he was forced to keep them
secret, not only out of his good-will to them, but out of a necessary
regard to his own preservation also. But when the king knew the thing, by
his sister’s information, he sent men to the places where he had the
intimation they were concealed, and ordered both them, and those that were
accused as guilty with them, to be slain, insomuch that there were now
none at all left of the kindred of Hyrcanus, and the kingdom was entirely
in Herod’s own power, and there was nobody remaining of such dignity as
could put a stop to what he did against the Jewish laws.
CHAPTER 8. How Ten Men Of The Citizens [Of Jerusalem] Made A Conspiracy
Against Herod, For The Foreign Practices He Had Introduced, Which Was A
Transgression Of The Laws Of Their Country. Concerning The Building Of
Sebaste And Cæsarea, And Other Edifices Of Herod.
1. On this account it was that Herod revolted from the laws of his
country, and corrupted their ancient constitution, by the introduction of
foreign practices, which constitution yet ought to have been preserved
inviolable; by which means we became guilty of great wickedness afterward,
while those religious observances which used to lead the multitude to
piety were now neglected; for, in the first place, he appointed solemn
games to be celebrated every fifth year, in honor of Cæsar, and built a
theater at Jerusalem, as also a very great amphitheater in the plain. Both
of them were indeed costly works, but opposite to the Jewish customs; for
we have had no such shows delivered down to us as fit to be used or
exhibited by us; yet did he celebrate these games every five years, in the
most solemn and splendid manner. He also made proclamation to the
neighboring countries, and called men together out of every nation. The
wrestlers also, and the rest of those that strove for the prizes in such
games, were invited out of every land, both by the hopes of the rewards
there to be bestowed, and by the glory of victory to be there gained. So
the principal persons that were the most eminent in these sorts of
exercises were gotten together, for there were very great rewards for
victory proposed, not only to those that performed their exercises naked,
but to those that played the musicians also, and were called Thymelici;
and he spared no pains to induce all persons, the most famous for such
exercises, to come to this contest for victory. He also proposed no small
rewards to those who ran for the prizes in chariot races, when they were
drawn by two, or three, or four pair of horses. He also imitated every
thing, though never so costly or magnificent, in other nations, out of an
ambition that he might give most public demonstration of his grandeur.
Inscriptions also of the great actions of Cæsar, and trophies of those
nations which he had conquered in his wars, and all made of the purest
gold and silver, encompassed the theater itself; nor was there any thing
that could be subservient to his design, whether it were precious
garments, or precious stones set in order, which was not also exposed to
sight in these games. He had also made a great preparation of wild beasts,
and of lions themselves in great abundance, and of such other beasts as
were either of uncommon strength, or of such a sort as were rarely seen.
These were prepared either to fight with one another, or that men who were
condemned to death were to fight with them. And truly foreigners were
greatly surprised and delighted at the vastness of the expenses here
exhibited, and at the great dangers that were here seen; but to natural
Jews, this was no better than a dissolution of those customs for which
they had so great a veneration. 13 It
appeared also no better than an instance of barefaced impiety, to throw
men to wild beasts, for the affording delight to the spectators; and it
appeared an instance of no less impiety, to change their own laws for such
foreign exercises: but, above all the rest, the trophies gave most
distaste to the Jews; for as they imagined them to be images, included
within the armor that hung round about them, they were sorely displeased
at them, because it was not the custom of their country to pay honors to
such images.
2. Nor was Herod unacquainted with the disturbance they were under; and as
he thought it unseasonable to use violence with them, so he spake to some
of them by way of consolation, and in order to free them from that
superstitious fear they were under; yet could not he satisfy them, but
they cried out with one accord, out of their great uneasiness at the
offenses they thought he had been guilty of, that although they should
think of bearing all the rest yet would they never bear images of men in
their city, meaning the trophies, because this was disagreeable to the
laws of their country. Now when Herod saw them in such a disorder, and
that they would not easily change their resolution unless they received
satisfaction in this point, he called to him the most eminent men among
them, and brought them upon the theater, and showed them the trophies, and
asked them what sort of things they took these trophies to be; and when
they cried out that they were the images of men, he gave order that they
should be stripped of these outward ornaments which were about them, and
showed them the naked pieces of wood; which pieces of wood, now without
any ornament, became matter of great sport and laughter to them, because
they had before always had the ornaments of images themselves in derision.
3. When therefore Herod had thus got clear of the multitude, and had
dissipated the vehemency of passion under which they had been, the
greatest part of the people were disposed to change their conduct, and not
to be displeased at him any longer; but still some of them continued in
their displeasure against him, for his introduction of new customs, and
esteemed the violation of the laws of their country as likely to be the
origin of very great mischiefs to them, so that they deemed it an instance
of piety rather to hazard themselves [to be put to death], than to seem as
if they took no notice of Herod, who, upon the change he had made in their
government, introduced such customs, and that in a violent manner, which
they had never been used to before, as indeed in pretense a king, but in
reality one that showed himself an enemy to their whole nation; on which
account ten men that were citizens [of Jerusalem] conspired together
against him, and sware to one another to undergo any dangers in the
attempt, and took daggers with them under their garments [for the purpose
of killing Herod]. Now there was a certain blind man among those
conspirators who had thus sworn to one another, on account of the
indignation he had against what he heard to have been done; he was not
indeed able to afford the rest any assistance in the undertaking, but was
ready to undergo any suffering with them, if so be they should come to any
harm, insomuch that he became a very great encourager of the rest of the
undertakers.
4. When they had taken this resolution, and that by common consent, they
went into the theater, hoping that, in the first place, Herod himself
could not escape them, as they should fall upon him so unexpectedly; and
supposing, however, that if they missed him, they should kill a great many
of those that were about him; and this resolution they took, though they
should die for it, in order to suggest to the king what injuries he had
done to the multitude. These conspirators, therefore, standing thus
prepared beforehand, went about their design with great alacrity; but
there was one of those spies of Herod, that were appointed for such
purposes, to fish out and inform him of any conspiracies that should be
made against him, who found out the whole affair, and told the king of it,
as he was about to go into the theater. So when he reflected on the hatred
which he knew the greatest part of the people bore him, and on the
disturbances that arose upon every occasion, he thought this plot against
him not to be improbable. Accordingly, he retired into his palace, and
called those that were accused of this conspiracy before him by their
several names; and as, upon the guards falling upon them, they were caught
in the very fact, and knew they could not escape, they prepared themselves
for their ends with all the decency they could, and so as not at all to
recede from their resolute behavior, for they showed no shame for what
they were about, nor denied it; but when they were seized, they showed
their daggers, and professed that the conspiracy they had sworn to was a
holy and pious action; that what they intended to do was not for gain, or
out of any indulgence to their passions, but principally for those common
customs of their country, which all the Jews were obliged to observe, or
to die for them. This was what these men said, out of their undaunted
courage in this conspiracy. So they were led away to execution by the
king’s guards that stood about them, and patiently underwent all the
torments inflicted on them till they died. Nor was it long before that spy
who had discovered them was seized on by some of the people, out of the
hatred they bore to him; and was not only slain by them, but pulled to
pieces, limb from limb, and given to the dogs. This execution was seen by
many of the citizens, yet would not one of them discover the doers of it,
till upon Herod’s making a strict scrutiny after them, by bitter and
severe tortures, certain women that were tortured confessed what they had
seen done; the authors of which fact were so terribly punished by the
king, that their entire families were destroyed for this their rash
attempt; yet did not the obstinacy of the people, and that undaunted
constancy they showed in the defense of their laws, make Herod any easier
to them, but he still strengthened himself after a more secure manner, and
resolved to encompass the multitude every way, lest such innovations
should end in an open rebellion.
5. Since, therefore, he had now the city fortified by the palace in which
he lived, and by the temple which had a strong fortress by it, called
Antonia, and was rebuilt by himself, he contrived to make Samaria a
fortress for himself also against all the people, and called it Sebaste,
supposing that this place would be a strong hold against the country, not
inferior to the former. So he fortified that place, which was a day’s
journey distant from Jerusalem, and which would be useful to him in
common, to keep both the country and the city in awe. He also built
another fortress for the whole nation; it was of old called Strato’s
Tower, but was by him named Cæsarea. Moreover, he chose out some select
horsemen, and placed them in the great plain; and built [for them] a
place in Galilee, called Gaba with Hesebonitis, in Perea. And these were
the places which he particularly built, while he always was inventing
somewhat further for his own security, and encompassing the whole nation
with guards, that they might by no means get from under his power, nor
fall into tumults, which they did continually upon any small commotion;
and that if they did make any commotions, he might know of it, while some
of his spies might be upon them from the neighborhood, and might both be
able to know what they were attempting, and to prevent it. And when he
went about building the wall of Samaria, he contrived to bring thither
many of those that had been assisting to him in his wars, and many of the
people in that neighborhood also, whom he made fellow citizens with the
rest. This he did out of an ambitious desire of building a temple, and out
of a desire to make the city more eminent than it had been before; but
principally because he contrived that it might at once be for his own
security, and a monument of his magnificence. He also changed its name,
and called it Sebaste. Moreover, he parted the adjoining country, which
was excellent in its kind, among the inhabitants of Samaria, that they
might be in a happy condition, upon their first coming to inhabit. Besides
all which, he encompassed the city with a wall of great strength, and made
use of the acclivity of the place for making its fortifications stronger;
nor was the compass of the place made now so small as it had been before,
but was such as rendered it not inferior to the most famous cities; for it
was twenty furlongs in circumference. Now within, and about the middle of
it, he built a sacred place, of a furlong and a half [in circuit], and
adorned it with all sorts of decorations, and therein erected a temple,
which was illustrious on account of both its largeness and beauty. And as
to the several parts of the city, he adorned them with decorations of all
sorts also; and as to what was necessary to provide for his own security,
he made the walls very strong for that purpose, and made it for the
greatest part a citadel; and as to the elegance of the building, it was
taken care of also, that he might leave monuments of the fineness of his
taste, and of his beneficence, to future ages.
CHAPTER 9. Concerning The Famine That Happened In Judea And Syria; And How
Herod, After He Had Married Another Wife, Rebuilt Cæsarea, And Other
Grecian Cities.
1. Now on this very year, which was the thirteenth year of the reign of
Herod, very great calamities came upon the country; whether they were
derived from the anger of God, or whether this misery returns again
naturally in certain periods of time 14 for,
in the first place, there were perpetual droughts, and for that reason the
ground was barren, and did not bring forth the same quantity of fruits
that it used to produce; and after this barrenness of the soil, that
change of food which the want of corn occasioned produced distempers in
the bodies of men, and a pestilential disease prevailed, one misery
following upon the back of another; and these circumstances, that they
were destitute both of methods of cure and of food, made the pestilential
distemper, which began after a violent manner, the more lasting. The
destruction of men also after such a manner deprived those that survived
of all their courage, because they had no way to provide remedies
sufficient for the distresses they were in. When therefore the fruits of
that year were spoiled, and whatsoever they had laid up beforehand was
spent, there was no foundation of hope for relief remaining, but the
misery, contrary to what they expected still increased upon them; and this
not only on that year, while they had nothing for themselves left [at the
end of it], but what seed they had sown perished also, by reason of the
ground not yielding its fruits on the second year. 15 This
distress they were in made them also, out of necessity, to eat many things
that did not use to be eaten; nor was the king himself free from this
distress any more than other men, as being deprived of that tribute he
used to have from the fruits of the ground, and having already expended
what money he had, in his liberality to those whose cities he had built;
nor had he any people that were worthy of his assistance, since this
miserable state of things had procured him the hatred of his subjects: for
it is a constant rule, that misfortunes are still laid to the account of
those that govern.
2. In these circumstances he considered with himself how to procure some
seasonable help; but this was a hard thing to be done, while their
neighbors had no food to sell them; and their money also was gone, had it
been possible to purchase a little food at a great price. However, he
thought it his best way, by all means, not to leave off his endeavors to
assist his people; so he cut off the rich furniture that was in his
palace, both of silver and gold, insomuch that he did not spare the finest
vessels he had, or those that were made with the most elaborate skill of
the artificers, but sent the money to Petronius, who had been made prefect
of Egypt by Cæsar; and as not a few had already fled to him under their
necessities, and as he was particularly a friend to Herod, and desirous to
have his subjects preserved, he gave leave to them in the first place to
export corn, and assisted them every way, both in purchasing and exporting
the same; so that he was the principal, if not the only person, who
afforded them what help they had. And Herod taking care the people should
understand that this help came from himself, did thereby not only remove
the ill opinion of those that formerly hated him, but gave them the
greatest demonstration possible of his good-will to them, and care of
them; for, in the first place, as for those who were able to provide their
own food, he distributed to them their proportion of corn in the exactest
manner; but for those many that were not able, either by reason of their
old age, or any other infirmity, to provide food for themselves, he made
this provision for them, the bakers should make their bread ready for
them. He also took care that they might not be hurt by the dangers of
winter, since they were in great want of clothing also, by reason of the
utter destruction and consumption of their sheep and goats, till they had
no wool to make use of, nor any thing else to cover themselves withal. And
when he had procured these things for his own subjects, he went further,
in order to provide necessaries for their neighbors, and gave seed to the
Syrians, which thing turned greatly to his own advantage also, this
charitable assistance being afforded most seasonably to their fruitful
soil, so that every one had now a plentiful provision of food. Upon the
whole, when the harvest of the land was approaching, he sent no fewer than
fifty thousand men, whom he had sustained, into the country; by which
means he both repaired the afflicted condition of his own kingdom with
great generosity and diligence, and lightened the afflictions of his
neighbors, who were under the same calamities; for there was nobody who
had been in want that was left destitute of a suitable assistance by him;
nay, further, there were neither any people, nor any cities, nor any
private men, who were to make provision for the multitudes, and on that
account were in want of support, and had recourse to him, but received
what they stood in need of, insomuch that it appeared, upon a computation,
that the number of cori of wheat, of ten attic medimni apiece, that were
given to foreigners, amounted to ten thousand, and the number that was
given in his own kingdom was about fourscore thousand. Now it happened
that this care of his, and this seasonable benefaction, had such influence
on the Jews, and was so cried up among other nations, as to wipe off that
old hatred which his violation of some of their customs, during his reign,
had procured him among all the nation, and that this liberality of his
assistance in this their greatest necessity was full satisfaction for all
that he had done of that nature, as it also procured him great fame among
foreigners; and it looked as if these calamities that afflicted his land,
to a degree plainly incredible, came in order to raise his glory, and to
be to his great advantage; for the greatness of his liberality in these
distresses, which he now demonstrated beyond all expectation, did so
change the disposition of the multitude towards him, that they were ready
to suppose he had been from the beginning not such a one as they had found
him to be by experience, but such a one as the care he had taken of them
in supplying their necessities proved him now to be.
3. About this time it was that he sent five hundred chosen men out of the
guards of his body as auxiliaries to Cæsar, whom Aelius Gallus 16
led to the Red Sea, and who were of great service to him there. When
therefore his affairs were thus improved, and were again in a flourishing
condition, he built himself a palace in the upper city, raising the rooms
to a very great height, and adorning them with the most costly furniture
of gold, and marble scats, and beds; and these were so large that they
could contain very many companies of men. These apartments were also of
distinct magnitudes, and had particular names given them; for one
apartment was called Cæsar’s, another Agrippa’s. He also fell in love
again, and married another wife, not suffering his reason to hinder him
from living as he pleased. The occasion of this his marriage was as
follows: There was one Simon, a citizen of Jerusalem, the son of one
Boethus, a citizen of Alexandria, and a priest of great note there; this
man had a daughter, who was esteemed the most beautiful woman of that
time; and when the people of Jerusalem began to speak much in her
commendation, it happened that Herod was much affected with what was said
of her; and when he saw the damsel, he was smitten with her beauty, yet
did he entirely reject the thoughts of using his authority to abuse her,
as believing, what was the truth, that by so doing he should be
stigmatized for violence and tyranny; so he thought it best to take the
damsel to wife. And while Simon was of a dignity too inferior to be allied
to him, but still too considerable to be despised, he governed his
inclinations after the most prudent manner, by augmenting the dignity of
the family, and making them more honorable; so he immediately deprived
Jesus, the son of Phabet, of the high priesthood, and conferred that
dignity on Simon, and so joined in affinity with him [by marrying his
daughter].
4. When this wedding was over, he built another citadel in that place
where he had conquered the Jews when he was driven out of his government,
and Antigonus enjoyed it. This citadel is distant from Jerusalem about
threescore furlongs. It was strong by nature, and fit for such a building.
It is a sort of a moderate hill, raised to a further height by the hand of
man, till it was of the shape of a woman’s breast. It is encompassed with
circular towers, and hath a strait ascent up to it, which ascent is
composed of steps of polished stones, in number two hundred. Within it are
royal and very rich apartments, of a structure that provided both for
security and for beauty. About the bottom there are habitations of such a
structure as are well worth seeing, both on other accounts, and also on
account of the water which is brought thither from a great way off, and at
vast expenses, for the place itself is destitute of water. The plain that
is about this citadel is full of edifices, not inferior to any city in
largeness, and having the hill above it in the nature of a castle.
5. And now, when all Herod’s designs had succeeded according to his hopes,
he had not the least suspicion that any troubles could arise in his
kingdom, because he kept his people obedient, as well by the fear they
stood in of him, for he was implacable in the infliction of his
punishments, as by the provident care he had showed towards them, after
the most magnanimous manner, when they were under their distresses. But
still he took care to have external security for his government as a
fortress against his subjects; for the orations he made to the cities were
very fine, and full of kindness; and he cultivated a seasonable good
understanding with their governors, and bestowed presents on every one of
them, inducing them thereby to be more friendly to him, and using his
magnificent disposition so as his kingdom might be the better secured to
him, and this till all his affairs were every way more and more augmented.
But then this magnificent temper of his, and that submissive behavior and
liberality which he exercised towards Cæsar, and the most powerful men of
Rome, obliged him to transgress the customs of his nation, and to set
aside many of their laws, and by building cities after an extravagant
manner, and erecting temples,—not in Judea indeed, for that would
not have been borne, it being forbidden for us to pay any honor to images,
or representations of animals, after the manner of the Greeks; but still
he did thus in the country [properly] out of our bounds, and in the cities
thereof 17 The apology which he made to
the Jews for these things was this: That all was done, not out of his own
inclinations, but by the commands and injunctions of others, in order to
please Cæsar and the Romans, as though he had not the Jewish customs so
much in his eye as he had the honor of those Romans, while yet he had
himself entirely in view all the while, and indeed was very ambitious to
leave great monuments of his government to posterity; whence it was that
he was so zealous in building such fine cities, and spent such vast sums
of money upon them.
6. Now upon his observation of a place near the sea, which was very proper
for containing a city, and was before called Strato’s Tower, he set about
getting a plan for a magnificent city there, and erected many edifices
with great diligence all over it, and this of white stone. He also adorned
it with most sumptuous palaces and large edifices for containing the
people; and what was the greatest and most laborious work of all, he
adorned it with a haven, that was always free from the waves of the sea.
Its largeness was not less than the Pyrmum [at Athens], and had towards
the city a double station for the ships. It was of excellent workmanship;
and this was the more remarkable for its being built in a place that of
itself was not suitable to such noble structures, but was to be brought to
perfection by materials from other places, and at very great expenses.
This city is situate in Phoenicia, in the passage by sea to Egypt, between
Joppa and Dora, which are lesser maritime cities, and not fit for havens,
on account of the impetuous south winds that beat upon them, which rolling
the sands that come from the sea against the shores, do not admit of ships
lying in their station; but the merchants are generally there forced to
ride at their anchors in the sea itself. So Herod endeavored to rectify
this inconvenience, and laid out such a compass towards the land as might
be sufficient for a haven, wherein the great ships might lie in safety;
and this he effected by letting down vast stones of above fifty feet in
length, not less than eighteen in breadth, and nine in depth, into twenty
fathom deep; and as some were lesser, so were others bigger than those
dimensions. This mole which he built by the sea-side was two hundred feet
wide, the half of which was opposed to the current of the waves, so as to
keep off those waves which were to break upon them, and so was called
Procymatia, or the first breaker of the waves; but the other half had upon
it a wall, with several towers, the largest of which was named Drusus, and
was a work of very great excellence, and had its name from Drusus, the
son-in-law of Cæsar, who died young. There were also a great number of
arches where the mariners dwelt. There was also before them a quay, [or
landing place,] which ran round the entire haven, and was a most agreeable
walk to such as had a mind to that exercise; but the entrance or mouth of
the port was made on the north quarter, on which side was the stillest of
the winds of all in this place: and the basis of the whole circuit on the
left hand, as you enter the port, supported a round turret, which was made
very strong, in order to resist the greatest waves; while on the right
hand, as you enter, stood two vast stones, and those each of them larger
than the turret, which were over against them; these stood upright, and
were joined together. Now there were edifices all along the circular
haven, made of the politest stone, with a certain elevation, whereon was
erected a temple, that was seen a great way off by those that were sailing
for that haven, and had in it two statues, the one of Rome, the other of
Cæsar. The city itself was called Cæsarea, which was also itself built of
fine materials, and was of a fine structure; nay, the very subterranean
vaults and cellars had no less of architecture bestowed on them than had
the buildings above ground. Some of these vaults carried things at even
distances to the haven and to the sea; but one of them ran obliquely, and
bound all the rest together, that both the rain and the filth of the
citizens were together carried off with ease, and the sea itself, upon the
flux of the tide from without, came into the city, and washed it all
clean. Herod also built therein a theater of stone; and on the south
quarter, behind the port, an amphitheater also, capable of holding a vast
number of men, and conveniently situated for a prospect to the sea. So
this city was thus finished in twelve years; 18 during
which time the king did not fail to go on both with the work, and to pay
the charges that were necessary.
CHAPTER 10. How Herod Sent His Sons To Rome; How Also He Was Accused By
Zenodorus And The Gadarens, But Was Cleared Of What They Accused Him Of
And Withal Gained To Himself The Good-Will Of Cæsar. Concerning The
Pharisees, The Essens And Manahem.
1. When Herod was engaged in such matters, and when he had already
re-edified Sebaste, [Samaria,] he resolved to send his sons Alexander and
Aristobulus to Rome, to enjoy the company of Cæsar; who, when they came
thither, lodged at the house of Pollio, 19 who
was very fond of Herod’s friendship; and they had leave to lodge in
Cæsar’s own palace, for he received these sons of Herod with all
humanity, and gave Herod leave to give his kingdom to which of his sons
he pleased; and besides all this, he bestowed on him Trachon, and Batanea,
and Auranitis, which he gave him on the occasion following: One Zenodorus
20
had hired what was called the house of Lysanias, who, as he was not
satisfied with its revenues, became a partner with the robbers that
inhabited the Trachonites, and so procured himself a larger income; for
the inhabitants of those places lived in a mad way, and pillaged the
country of the Damascenes, while Zenodorus did not restrain them, but
partook of the prey they acquired. Now as the neighboring people were
hereby great sufferers, they complained to Varro, who was then president
[of Syria], and entreated him to write to Cæsar about this injustice of
Zenodorus. When these matters were laid before Cæsar, he wrote back to
Varro to destroy those nests of robbers, and to give the land to Herod,
that so by his care the neighboring countries might be no longer disturbed
with these doings of the Trachonites; for it was not an easy firing to
restrain them, since this way of robbery had been their usual practice,
and they had no other way to get their living, because they had neither
any city of their own, nor lands in their possession, but only some
receptacles and dens in the earth, and there they and their cattle lived
in common together. However, they had made contrivances to get pools of
water, and laid up corn in granaries for themselves, and were able to make
great resistance, by issuing out on the sudden against any that attacked
them; for the entrances of their caves were narrow, in which but one could
come in at a time, and the places within incredibly large, and made very
wide but the ground over their habitations was not very high, but rather
on a plain, while the rocks are altogether hard and difficult to be
entered upon, unless any one gets into the plain road by the guidance of
another, for these roads are not straight, but have several revolutions.
But when these men are hindered from their wicked preying upon their
neighbors, their custom is to prey one upon another, insomuch that no sort
of injustice comes amiss to them. But when Herod had received this grant
from Cæsar, and was come into this country, he procured skillful guides,
and put a stop to their wicked robberies, and procured peace and quietness
to the neighboring people.
2. Hereupon Zenodorus was grieved, in the first place, because his
principality was taken away from him; and still more so, because he envied
Herod, who had gotten it; So he went up to Rome to accuse him, but
returned back again without success. Now Agrippa was [about this time]
sent to succeed Cæsar in the government of the countries beyond the
Ionian Sea, upon whom Herod lighted when he was wintering about Mitylene,
for he had been his particular friend and companion, and then returned
into Judea again. However, some of the Gadarens came to Agrippa, and
accused Herod, whom he sent back bound to the king without giving them the
hearing. But still the Arabians, who of old bare ill-will to Herod’s
government, were nettled, and at that time attempted to raise a sedition
in his dominions, and, as they thought, upon a more justifiable occasion;
for Zenodorus, despairing already of success as to his own affairs,
prevented [his enemies], by selling to those Arabians a part of his
principality, called Auranitis, for the value of fifty talents; but as
this was included in the donations of Cæsar, they contested the point
with Herod, as unjustly deprived of what they had bought. Sometimes they
did this by making incursions upon him, and sometimes by attempting force
against him, and sometimes by going to law with him. Moreover, they
persuaded the poorer soldiers to help them, and were troublesome to him,
out of a constant hope that they should reduce the people to raise a
sedition; in which designs those that are in the most miserable
circumstances of life are still the most earnest; and although Herod had
been a great while apprized of these attempts, yet did not he indulge any
severity to them, but by rational methods aimed to mitigate things, as not
willing to give any handle for tumults.
3. Now when Herod had already reigned seventeen years, Cæsar came into
Syria; at which time the greatest part of the inhabitants of Gadara
clamored against Herod, as one that was heavy in his injunctions, and
tyrannical. These reproaches they mainly ventured upon by the
encouragement of Zenodorus, who took his oath that he would never leave
Herod till he had procured that they should be severed from Herod’s
kingdom, and joined to Cæsar’s province. The Gadarens were induced
hereby, and made no small cry against him, and that the more boldly,
because those that had been delivered up by Agrippa were not punished by
Herod, who let them go, and did them no harm; for indeed he was the
principal man in the world who appeared almost inexorable in punishing
crimes in his own family, but very generous in remitting the offenses that
were committed elsewhere. And while they accused Herod of injuries, and
plunderings, and subversions of temples, he stood unconcerned, and was
ready to make his defense. However, Cæsar gave him his right hand, and
remitted nothing of his kindness to him, upon this disturbance by the
multitude; and indeed these things were alleged the first day, but the
hearing proceeded no further; for as the Gadarens saw the inclination of
Cæsar and of his assessors, and expected, as they had reason to do, that
they should be delivered up to the king, some of them, out of a dread of
the torments they might undergo, cut their own throats in the night time,
and some of them threw themselves down precipices, and others of them cast
themselves into the river, and destroyed themselves of their own accord;
which accidents seemed a sufficient condemnation of the rashness and
crimes they had been guilty of; whereupon Cæsar made no longer delay, but
cleared Herod from the crimes he was accused of. Another happy accident
there was, which was a further great advantage to Herod at this time; for
Zenodorus’s belly burst, and a great quantity of blood issued from him in
his sickness, and he thereby departed this life at Antioch in Syria; so
Cæsar bestowed his country, which was no small one, upon Herod; it lay
between Trachon and Galilee, and contained Ulatha, and Paneas, and the
country round about. He also made him one of the procurators of Syria, and
commanded that they should do every thing with his approbation; and, in
short, he arrived at that pitch of felicity, that whereas there were but
two men that governed the vast Roman empire, first Cæsar, and then
Agrippa, who was his principal favorite, Cæsar preferred no one to Herod
besides Agrippa, and Agrippa made no one his greater friend than Herod
besides Cæsar. And when he had acquired such freedom, he begged of Cæsar
a tetrarchy 21 for his brother Pheroras,
while he did himself bestow upon him a revenue of a hundred talents out of
his own kingdom, that in case he came to any harm himself, his brother
might be in safety, and that his sons might not have dominion over him. So
when he had conducted Cæsar to the sea, and was returned home, he built
him a most beautiful temple, of the whitest stone, in Zenodorus’s country,
near the place called Panlure. This is a very fine cave in a mountain,
under which there is a great cavity in the earth, and the cavern is
abrupt, and prodigiously deep, and full of a still water; over it hangs a
vast mountain; and under the caverns arise the springs of the river
Jordan. Herod adorned this place, which was already a very remarkable one,
still further by the erection of this temple, which he dedicated to
Cæsar.
4. At which time Herod released to his subjects the third part of their
taxes, under pretense indeed of relieving them, after the dearth they had
had; but the main reason was, to recover their good-will, which he now
wanted; for they were uneasy at him, because of the innovations he had
introduced in their practices, of the dissolution of their religion, and
of the disuse of their own customs; and the people every where talked
against him, like those that were still more provoked and disturbed at his
procedure; against which discontents he greatly guarded himself, and took
away the opportunities they might have to disturb him, and enjoined them
to be always at work; nor did he permit the citizens either to meet
together, or to walk or eat together, but watched every thing they did,
and when any were caught, they were severely punished; and many there were
who were brought to the citadel Hyrcania, both openly and secretly, and
were there put to death; and there were spies set every where, both in the
city and in the roads, who watched those that met together; nay, it is
reported that he did not himself neglect this part of caution, but that he
would oftentimes himself take the habit of a private man, and mix among
the multitude, in the night time, and make trial what opinion they had of
his government: and as for those that could no way be reduced to acquiesce
under his scheme of government, he prosecuted them all manner of ways; but
for the rest of the multitude, he required that they should be obliged to
take an oath of fidelity to him, and at the same time compelled them to
swear that they would bear him good-will, and continue certainly so to do,
in his management of the government; and indeed a great part of them,
either to please him, or out of fear of him, yielded to what he required
of them; but for such as were of a more open and generous disposition, and
had indignation at the force he used to them, he by one means or other
made away, with them. He endeavored also to persuade Pollio the Pharisee,
and Satneas, and the greatest part of their scholars, to take the oath;
but these would neither submit so to do, nor were they punished together
with the rest, out of the reverence he bore to Pollio. The Essens also, as
we call a sect of ours, were excused from this imposition. These men live
the same kind of life as do those whom the Greeks call Pythagoreans,
concerning whom I shall discourse more fully elsewhere. However, it is but
fit to set down here the reasons wherefore Herod had these Essens in such
honor, and thought higher of them than their mortal nature required; nor
will this account be unsuitable to the nature of this history, as it will
show the opinion men had of these Essens.
5. Now there was one of these Essens, whose name was Manahem, who had this
testimony, that he not only conducted his life after an excellent manner,
but had the foreknowledge of future events given him by God also. This man
once saw Herod when he was a child, and going to school, and saluted him
as king of the Jews; but he, thinking that either he did not know him, or
that he was in jest, put him in mind that he was but a private man; but
Manahem smiled to himself, and clapped him on his backside with his hand,
and said, “However that be, thou wilt be king, and wilt begin thy reign
happily, for God finds thee worthy of it. And do thou remember the blows
that Manahem hath given thee, as being a signal of the change of thy
fortune. And truly this will be the best reasoning for thee, that thou
love justice [towards men], and piety towards God, and clemency towards
thy citizens; yet do I know how thy whole conduct will be, that thou wilt
not be such a one, for thou wilt excel all men in happiness, and obtain an
everlasting reputation, but wilt forget piety and righteousness; and these
crimes will not be concealed from God, at the conclusion of thy life, when
thou wilt find that he will be mindful of them, and punish them for them.”
Now at that time Herod did not at all attend to what Manahem said, as
having no hopes of such advancement; but a little afterward, when he was
so fortunate as to be advanced to the dignity of king, and was in the
height of his dominion, he sent for Manahem, and asked him how long he
should reign. Manahem did not tell him the full length of his reign;
wherefore, upon that silence of his, he asked him further, whether he
should reign ten years or not? He replied, “Yes, twenty, nay, thirty
years;” but did not assign the just determinate limit of his reign. Herod
was satisfied with these replies, and gave Manahem his hand, and dismissed
him; and from that time he continued to honor all the Essens. We have
thought it proper to relate these facts to our readers, how strange soever
they be, and to declare what hath happened among us, because many of these
Essens have, by their excellent virtue, been thought worthy of this
knowledge of Divine revelations.
CHAPTER 11. How Herod Rebuilt The Temple And Raised It Higher And Made It
More Magnificent Than It Was Before; As Also Concerning That Tower Which
He Called Antonia.
1. And now Herod, in the eighteenth year of his reign, and after the acts
already mentioned, undertook a very great work, that is, to build of
himself the temple of God, 22 and make it larger in compass,
and to raise it to a most magnificent altitude, as esteeming it to be the
most glorious of all his actions, as it really was, to bring it to
perfection; and that this would be sufficient for an everlasting memorial
of him; but as he knew the multitude were not ready nor willing to assist
him in so vast a design, he thought to prepare them first by making a
speech to them, and then set about the work itself; so he called them
together, and spake thus to them: “I think I need not speak to you, my
countrymen, about such other works as I have done since I came to the
kingdom, although I may say they have been performed in such a manner as
to bring more security to you than glory to myself; for I have neither
been negligent in the most difficult times about what tended to ease your
necessities, nor have the buildings. I have made been so proper to
preserve me as yourselves from injuries; and I imagine that, with God’s
assistance, I have advanced the nation of the Jews to a degree of
happiness which they never had before; and for the particular edifices
belonging to your own country, and your own cities, as also to those
cities that we have lately acquired, which we have erected and greatly
adorned, and thereby augmented the dignity of your nation, it seems to me
a needless task to enumerate them to you, since you well know them
yourselves; but as to that undertaking which I have a mind to set about at
present, and which will be a work of the greatest piety and excellence
that can possibly be undertaken by us, I will now declare it to you. Our
fathers, indeed, when they were returned from Babylon, built this temple
to God Almighty, yet does it want sixty cubits of its largeness in
altitude; for so much did that first temple which Solomon built exceed
this temple; nor let any one condemn our fathers for their negligence or
want of piety herein, for it was not their fault that the temple was no
higher; for they were Cyrus, and Darius the son of Hystaspes, who
determined the measures for its rebuilding; and it hath been by reason of
the subjection of those fathers of ours to them and to their posterity,
and after them to the Macedonians, that they had not the opportunity to
follow the original model of this pious edifice, nor could raise it to its
ancient altitude; but since I am now, by God’s will, your governor, and I
have had peace a long time, and have gained great riches and large
revenues, and, what is the principal thing of all, I am at amity with and
well regarded by the Romans, who, if I may so say, are the rulers of the
whole world, I will do my endeavor to correct that imperfection, which
hath arisen from the necessity of our affairs, and the slavery we have
been under formerly, and to make a thankful return, after the most pious
manner, to God, for what blessings I have received from him, by giving me
this kingdom, and that by rendering his temple as complete as I am able.”
2. And this was the speech which Herod made to them; but still this speech
affrighted many of the people, as being unexpected by them; and because it
seemed incredible, it did not encourage them, but put a damp upon them,
for they were afraid that he would pull down the whole edifice, and not be
able to bring his intentions to perfection for its rebuilding; and this
danger appeared to them to be very great, and the vastness of the
undertaking to be such as could hardly be accomplished. But while they
were in this disposition, the king encouraged them, and told them he would
not pull down their temple till all things were gotten ready for building
it up entirely again. And as he promised them this beforehand, so he did
not break his word with them, but got ready a thousand waggons, that were
to bring stones for the building, and chose out ten thousand of the most
skillful workmen, and bought a thousand sacerdotal garments for as many of
the priests, and had some of them taught the arts of stone-cutters, and
others of carpenters, and then began to build; but this not till every
thing was well prepared for the work.
3. So Herod took away the old foundations, and laid others, and erected
the temple upon them, being in length a hundred cubits, and in height
twenty additional cubits, which [twenty], upon the sinking of their
foundations 23 fell down; and this part it
was that we resolved to raise again in the days of Nero. Now the temple
was built of stones that were white and strong, and each of their length
was twenty-five cubits, their height was eight, and their breadth about
twelve; and the whole structure, as also the structure of the royal
cloister, was on each side much lower, but the middle was much higher,
till they were visible to those that dwelt in the country for a great many
furlongs, but chiefly to such as lived over against them, and those that
approached to them. The temple had doors also at the entrance, and lintels
over them, of the same height with the temple itself. They were adorned
with embroidered veils, with their flowers of purple, and pillars
interwoven; and over these, but under the crown-work, was spread out a
golden vine, with its branches hanging down from a great height, the
largeness and fine workmanship of which was a surprising sight to the
spectators, to see what vast materials there were, and with what great
skill the workmanship was done. He also encompassed the entire temple with
very large cloisters, contriving them to be in a due proportion thereto;
and he laid out larger sums of money upon them than had been done before
him, till it seemed that no one else had so greatly adorned the temple as
he had done. There was a large wall to both the cloisters, which wall was
itself the most prodigious work that was ever heard of by man. The hill
was a rocky ascent, that declined by degrees towards the east parts of the
city, till it came to an elevated level. This hill it was which Solomon,
who was the first of our kings, by Divine revelation, encompassed with a
wall; it was of excellent workmanship upwards, and round the top of it. He
also built a wall below, beginning at the bottom, which was encompassed by
a deep valley; and at the south side he laid rocks together, and bound
them one to another with lead, and included some of the inner parts, till
it proceeded to a great height, and till both the largeness of the square
edifice and its altitude were immense, and till the vastness of the stones
in the front were plainly visible on the outside, yet so that the inward
parts were fastened together with iron, and preserved the joints immovable
for all future times. When this work [for the foundation] was done in this
manner, and joined together as part of the hill itself to the very top of
it, he wrought it all into one outward surface, and filled up the hollow
places which were about the wall, and made it a level on the external
upper surface, and a smooth level also. This hill was walled all round,
and in compass four furlongs, [the distance of] each angle containing in
length a furlong: but within this wall, and on the very top of all, there
ran another wall of stone also, having, on the east quarter, a double
cloister, of the same length with the wall; in the midst of which was the
temple itself. This cloister looked to the gates of the temple; and it had
been adorned by many kings in former times; and round about the entire
temple were fixed the spoils taken from barbarous nations; all these had
been dedicated to the temple by Herod, with the addition of those he had
taken from the Arabians.
4. Now on the north side [of the temple] was built a citadel, whose walls
were square, and strong, and of extraordinary firmness. This citadel was
built by the kings of the Asamonean race, who were also high priests
before Herod, and they called it the Tower, in which were reposited the
vestments of the high priest, which the high priest only put on at the
time when he was to offer sacrifice. These vestments king Herod kept in
that place; and after his death they were under the power of the Romans,
until the time of Tiberius Cæsar; under whose reign Vitellius, the
president of Syria, when he once came to Jerusalem, and had been most
magnificently received by the multitude, he had a mind to make them some
requital for the kindness they had shewn him; so, upon their petition to
have those holy vestments in their own power, he wrote about them to
Tiberius Cæsar, who granted his request: and this their power over the
sacerdotal vestments continued with the Jews till the death of king
Agrippa; but after that, Cassius Longinus, who was president of Syria, and
Cuspius Fadus, who was procurator of Judea, enjoined the Jews to reposit
those vestments in the tower of Antonia, for that they ought to have them
in their power, as they formerly had. However, the Jews sent ambassadors
to Claudius Cæsar, to intercede with him for them; upon whose coming,
king Agrippa, junior, being then at Rome, asked for and obtained the power
over them from the emperor, who gave command to Vitellius, who was then
commander in Syria, to give it them accordingly. Before that time they
were kept under the seal of the high priest, and of the treasurers of the
temple; which treasurers, the day before a festival, went up to the Roman
captain of the temple guards, and viewed their own seal, and received the
vestments; and again, when the festival was over, they brought it to the
same place, and showed the captain of the temple guards their seal, which
corresponded with his seal, and reposited them there. And that these
things were so, the afflictions that happened to us afterwards [about
them] are sufficient evidence. But for the tower itself, when Herod the
king of the Jews had fortified it more firmly than before, in order to
secure and guard the temple, he gratified Antonius, who was his friend,
and the Roman ruler, and then gave it the name of the Tower of Antonia.
5. Now in the western quarters of the enclosure of the temple there were
four gates; the first led to the king’s palace, and went to a passage over
the intermediate valley; two more led to the suburbs of the city; and the
last led to the other city, where the road descended down into the valley
by a great number of steps, and thence up again by the ascent for the city
lay over against the temple in the manner of a theater, and was
encompassed with a deep valley along the entire south quarter; but the
fourth front of the temple, which was southward, had indeed itself gates
in its middle, as also it had the royal cloisters, with three walks, which
reached in length from the east valley unto that on the west, for it was
impossible it should reach any farther: and this cloister deserves to be
mentioned better than any other under the sun; for while the valley was
very deep, and its bottom could not be seen, if you looked from above into
the depth, this further vastly high elevation of the cloister stood upon
that height, insomuch that if any one looked down from the top of the
battlements, or down both those altitudes, he would be giddy, while his
sight could not reach to such an immense depth. This cloister had pillars
that stood in four rows one over against the other all along, for the
fourth row was interwoven into the wall, which [also was built of stone];
and the thickness of each pillar was such, that three men might, with
their arms extended, fathom it round, and join their hands again, while
its length was twenty-seven feet, with a double spiral at its basis; and
the number of all the pillars [in that court] was a hundred and sixty-two.
Their chapiters were made with sculptures after the Corinthian order, and
caused an amazement [to the spectators], by reason of the grandeur of the
whole. These four rows of pillars included three intervals for walking in
the middle of this cloister; two of which walks were made parallel to each
other, and were contrived after the same manner; the breadth of each of
them was thirty feet, the length was a furlong, and the height fifty feet;
but the breadth of the middle part of the cloister was one and a half of
the other, and the height was double, for it was much higher than those on
each side; but the roofs were adorned with deep sculptures in wood,
representing many sorts of figures. The middle was much higher than the
rest, and the wall of the front was adorned with beams, resting upon
pillars, that were interwoven into it, and that front was all of polished
stone, insomuch that its fineness, to such as had not seen it, was
incredible, and to such as had seen it, was greatly amazing. Thus was the
first enclosure. In the midst of which, and not far from it, was the
second, to be gone up to by a few steps: this was encompassed by a stone
wall for a partition, with an inscription, which forbade any foreigner to
go in under pain of death. Now this inner enclosure had on its southern
and northern quarters three gates [equally] distant one from another; but
on the east quarter, towards the sun-rising, there was one large gate,
through which such as were pure came in, together with their wives; but
the temple further inward in that gate was not allowed to the women; but
still more inward was there a third [court of the] temple, whereinto it
was not lawful for any but the priests alone to enter. The temple itself
was within this; and before that temple was the altar, upon which we offer
our sacrifices and burnt-offerings to God. Into none of these three did
king Herod enter, 24 for he was forbidden, because
he was not a priest. However, he took care of the cloisters and the outer
enclosures, and these he built in eight years.
6. But the temple itself was built by the priests in a year and six
months; upon which all the people were full of joy; and presently they
returned thanks, in the first place, to God; and in the next place, for
the alacrity the king had showed. They feasted and celebrated this
rebuilding of the temple: and for the king, he sacrificed three hundred
oxen to God, as did the rest every one according to his ability; the
number of which sacrifices is not possible to set down, for it cannot be
that we should truly relate it; for at the same time with this celebration
for the work about the temple fell also the day of the king’s
inauguration, which he kept of an old custom as a festival, and it now
coincided with the other, which coincidence of them both made the festival
most illustrious.
7. There was also an occult passage built for the king; it led from
Antonia to the inner temple, at its eastern gate; over which he also
erected for himself a tower, that he might have the opportunity of a
subterraneous ascent to the temple, in order to guard against any sedition
which might be made by the people against their kings. It is also
reported, 25 that during the time that the
temple was building, it did not rain in the daytime, but that the showers
fell in the nights, so that the work was not hindered. And this our
fathers have delivered to us; nor is it incredible, if any one have regard
to the manifestations of God. And thus was performed the work of the
rebuilding of the temple.
FOOTNOTES:
1 (return)
[ The city here called
“Babylon” by Josephus, seems to be one which was built by some of the
Seleucidae upon the Tigris, which long after the utter desolation of old
Babylon was commonly so called, and I suppose not far from Seleueia; just
as the latter adjoining city Bagdat has been and is often called by the
same old name of Babylon till this very day.]
2 (return)
[ Here we have an eminent
example of Herod’s worldly and profane politics, when by the abuse of his
unlawful and usurped power, to make whom he pleased high priest, in the
person of Ananelus, he occasioned such disturbances in his kingdom, and in
his own family, as suffered him to enjoy no lasting peace or tranquillity
ever afterward; and such is frequently the effect of profane court
politics about matters of religion in other ages and nations. The Old
Testament is full of the miseries of the people of the Jews derived from
such court politics, especially in and after the days of Jeroboam the son
of Nebat, “who made Israel to sin;” who gave the most pernicious example
of it; who brought on the grossest corruption of religion by it; and the
punishment of whose family for it was most remarkable. The case is too
well known to stand in need of particular citations.]
3 (return)
[ Of this wicked Dellius,
see the note on the War, B. I. ch. 15. sect. 3.]
4 (return)
[ When Josephus says here
that this Ananelus, the new high priest, was “of the stock of the high
priests,” and since he had been just telling us that he was a priest of an
obscure family or character, ch. 2. sect. 4, it is not at all probable
that he could so soon say that he was “of the stock of the high priests.”
However, Josephus here makes a remarkable observation, that this Ananelus
was the third that was ever unjustly and wickedly turned out of the high
priesthood by the civil power, no king or governor having ventured to do
so, that Josephus knew of, but that heathen tyrant and persecutor
Antiochus Epiphanes; that barbarous parricide Aristobulus, the first that
took royal authority among the Maccabees; and this tyrant king Herod the
Great, although afterward that infamous practice became frequent, till the
very destruction of Jerusalem, when the office of high priesthood was at
an end.]
5 (return)
[ This entirely confutes
the Talmudists, who pretend that no one under twenty years of age could
officiate as high priest among the Jews.]
6 (return)
[ A Hebrew chronicle, cited
by Reland, says this drowning was at Jordan, not at Jericho, and this even
when he quote Josephus. I suspect the transcriber of the Hebrew chronicle
mistook the name, and wrote Jordan for Jericho.]
7 (return)
[ The reading of one of
Josephus’s Greek MSS. seems here to be right, that Aristobulus was “not
eighteen years old” when he was drowned, for he was not seventeen when he
was made high priest, ch. 2. sect. 6, ch. 3. sect. 3, and he continued in
that office but one year, as in the place before us.]
8 (return)
[ The reader is here to
take notice, that this seventh year of the reign of Herod, and all the
other years of his reign, in Josephus, are dated from the death of
Antigonus, or at the soonest from the conclusion of Antigonus, and the
taking of Jerusalem a few months before, and never from his first
obtaining the kingdom at Rome, above three years before, as some have very
weakly and injudiciously done.]
9 (return)
[ Herod says here, that as
ambassadors were sacred when they carried messages to others, so did the
laws of the Jews derive a sacred authority by being delivered from God by
angels, [or Divine ambassadors,] which is St. Paul’s expression about the
same laws, Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2;2.]
10 (return)
[ This piece of religion,
the supplicating God with sacrifices, by Herod, before he went to this
fight with the Arabians, taken notice of also in the first book of the
War, ch. 19. sect. 5, is worth remarking, because it is the only example
of this nature, so far as I remember, that Josephus ever mentions in all
his large and particular accounts of this Herod; and it was when he had
been in mighty distress, and discouraged by a great defeat of his former
army, and by a very great earthquake in Judea, such times of affliction
making men most religious; nor was he disappointed of his hopes here, but
immediately gained a most signal victory over the Arabians, while they who
just before had been so great victors, and so much elevated upon the
earthquake in Judea as to venture to slay the Jewish ambassadors, were now
under a strange consternation, and hardly able to fight at all.]
11 (return)
[ Whereas Mariamne is
here represented as reproaching: Herod with the murder of her father
[Alexander], as well as her brother [Aristobulus], while it was her
grandfather Hyrcanus, and not her father Alexander, whom he caused to be
slain, [as Josephus himself informs us, ch. 6. sect. 2,] we must either
take Zonaras’s reading, which is here grandfather, rightly, or else we
must, as before, ch. 1. sect. 1, allow a slip of Josephus’s pen or memory
in the place before us.]
12 (return)
[ Here is a plain example
of a Jewish lady giving a bill of divorce to her husband, though in the
days of Josephus it was not esteemed lawful for a woman so to do. See the
like among the Parthians, Antiq. B. XVIII. ch. 9. sect. 6. However, the
Christian law, when it allowed divorce for adultery, Matthew 5:32, allowed
the innocent wife to divorce her guilty husband, as well as the innocent
husband to divorce his guilty wife, as we learn from the shepherd of
Hermas, Mand. B. IV., and from: the second apology of Justin Martyr, where
a persecution was brought upon the Christians upon such a divorce; and I
think the Roman laws permitted it at that time, as well as the laws of
Christianity. Now this Babas, who was one of the race of the Asamoneans or
Maccabees, as the latter end of this section informs us, is related by the
Jews, as Dr. Hudson here remarks, to have been so eminently religious in
the Jewish way, that, except the day following the tenth of Tisri, the
great day of atonement, when he seems to have supposed all his sins
entirely forgiven, he used every day of the whole year to offer a
sacrifice for his sins of ignorance, or such as he supposed he had been
guilty of, but did not distinctly remember. See somewhat like it of
Agrippa the Great, Antiq. B. XIX. ch. 3. sect. 3, and Job 1:4, 5.]
13 (return)
[ These grand plays, and
shows, and Thymelici, or music meetings, and chariot races, when the
chariots were drawn by two, three, or four pair of horses, etc.,
instituted by Herod in his theatres, were still, as we see here, looked on
by the sober Jews as heathenish sports, and tending to corrupt the manners
of the Jewish nation, and to bring them in love with paganish idolatry,
and paganish conduct of life, but to the dissolution of the law of Moses,
and accordingly were greatly and justly condemned by them, as appears here
and every where else in Josephus. Nor is the case of our modern
masquerades, plays, operas, and the like “pomps and vanities of this
wicked world,” of any better tendency under Christianity.]
14 (return)
[ Here we have an eminent
example of the language of Josephus in his writing to Gentiles, different
from that when he wrote to Jews; in his writing to whom he still derives
all such judgments from the anger of God; but because he knew many of the
Gentiles thought they might naturally come in certain periods, he complies
with them in the following sentence. See the note on the War. B. I. ch.
33. sect. 2.]
15 (return)
[ This famine for two
years that affected Judea and Syria, the thirteenth mid fourteenth years
of Herod, which are the twenty-third and twenty-fourth years before the
Christian era, seems to have been more terrible during this time than was
that in the days of Jacob, Genesis 41., 42. And what makes the comparison
the more remarkable is this, that now, as well as then, the relief they
had was from Egypt also; then from Joseph the governor of Egypt, under
Pharaoh king of Egypt; and now from Petronius the prefect of Egypt, under
Augustus the Roman emperor. See almost the like case, Antiq. B. XX. ch. 2.
sect. 6. It is also well worth our observation here, that these two years
were a Sabbatic year, and a year of jubilee, for which Providence, during
the theocracy, used to provide a triple crop beforehand; but became now,
when the Jews had forfeited that blessing, the greatest years of famine to
them ever since the days of Ahab, 1 Kings 17., 18.]
16 (return)
[ This Aelius Gallus
seems to be no other than that Aelius Lagus whom Dio speaks of as
conducting an expedition that was about this time made into Arabia Felix,
according to Betarius, who is here cited by Spanheim. See a full account
of this expedition in Prideaux, at the years 23 and 24.]
17 (return)
[ One may here take
notice, that how tyrannical and extravagant soever Herod were in himself,
and in his Grecian cities, as to those plays, and shows, and temples for
idolatry, mentioned above, ch. 8. sect. 1, and here also; yet durst even
he introduce very few of them into the cities of the Jews, who, as
Josephus here notes, would not even then have borne them, so zealous were
they still for many of the laws of Moses, even under so tyrannical a
government as this was of Herod the Great; which tyrannical government
puts me naturally in mind of Dean Prideaux’s honest reflection upon the
like ambition after such tyrannical power in Pompey and Cæsar: “One of
these [says he, at the year 60: could not bear an equal, nor the other a
superior; and through this ambitions humor and thirst after more power in
these two men, the whole Roman empire being divided into two opposite
factions, there was produced hereby the most destructive war that ever
afflicted it; and the like folly too much reigns in all other places.
Could about thirty men be persuaded to live at home in peace, without
enterprising upon the rights of each other, for the vain glory of
conquest, and the enlargement of power, the whole world might be at quiet;
but their ambition, their follies, and their humor, leading them
constantly to encroach upon and quarrel with each other, they involve all
that are under them in the mischiefs thereof; and many thousands are they
which yearly perish by it; so that it may almost raise a doubt, whether
the benefit which the world receives from government be sufficient to make
amends for the calamities which it suffers from the follies, mistakes, and
real-administrations of those that manage it.”]
18 (return)
[ Cæsarea being here said
to be rebuilt and adorned in twelve years, and soon afterwards in ten
years, Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 5. sect. 1, there must be a mistake in one of
the places as to the true number, but in which of them it is hard
positively to determine.]
19 (return)
[ This Pollio, with whom
Herod’s sons lived at Rome, was not Pollio the Pharisee, already mentioned
by Josephus, ch. 1. sect. 1, and again presently after this, ch. 10. sect.
4; but Asinine Pollo, the Roman, as Spanheim here observes.]
20 (return)
[ The character of this
Zenodorus is so like that of a famous robber of the same name in Strabo,
and that about this very country, and about this very time also, that I
think Dr. Hudson hardly needed to have put a overlaps to his determination
that they were the same.]
21 (return)
[ A tetrarchy properly
and originally denoted the fourth part of an entire kingdom or country,
and a tetrarch one that was ruler of such a fourth part, which always
implies somewhat less extent of dominion and power than belong to a
kingdom and to a king.]
22 (return)
[ We may here observe,
that the fancy of the modern Jews, in calling this temple, which was
really the third of their temples, the second temple, followed so long by
later Christians, seems to be without any solid foundation. The reason why
the Christians here followed the Jews is, because of the prophecy of
Haggai, 2:6-9, which they expound of the Messiah’s coning to the second or
Zorobabel’s temple, of which they suppose this of Herod to be only a
continuation; which is meant, I think, of his coming to the fourth and
last temple, of that future, largest, and most glorious one, described by
Ezekiel; whence I take the former notion, how general soever, to be a
great mistake. See Lit. Accorap. of Proph. p. 2.]
23 (return)
[ Some of our modern
students in architecture have made a strange blunder here, when they
imagine that Josephus affirms the entire foundations of the temple or holy
house sunk down into the rocky mountain on which it stood no less than
twenty cubits, whereas he is clear that they were the foundations of the
additional twenty cubits only above the hundred [made perhaps weak on
purpose, and only for show and grandeur] that sunk or fell down, as Dr.
Hudson rightly understands him; nor is the thing itself possible in the
other sense. Agrippa’s preparation for building the inner parts of the
temple twenty cubits higher [History of the War, B. V. ch. 1. sect. 5:
must in all probability refer to this matter, since Josephus says here,
that this which had fallen down was designed to be raised up again under
Nero, under whom Agrippa made that preparation. But what Josephus says
presently, that Solomon was the first king of the Jews, appears by the
parallel place, Antiq. B. XX. ch. 9. sect. 7, and other places, to be
meant only the first of David’s posterity, and the first builder of the
temple.]
24 (return)
[ “Into none Of these
three did king Herod enter,” i.e. 1. Not into the court of the priests; 2.
Nor into the holy house itself; 3. Nor into the separate place belonging
to the altar, as the words following imply; for none but priests, or their
attendants the Levites, might come into any of them. See Antiq. B. XVI.
ch. 4. sect. 6, when Herod goes into the temple, and makes a speech in it
to the people, but that could only be into the court of Israel, whither
the people could come to hear him.]
25 (return)
[ This tradition which
Josephus here mentions, as delivered down from fathers to their children,
of this particular remarkable circumstance relating to the building of
Herod’s temple, is a demonstration that such its building was a known
thing in Judea at this time. He was born about forty-six years after it is
related to have been finished, and might himself have seen and spoken with
some of the builders themselves, and with a great number of those that had
seen it building. The doubt therefore about the truth of this history of
the pulling down and rebuilding this temple by Herod, which some weak
people have indulged, was not then much greater than it soon may be,
whether or not our St. Paul’s church in London was burnt down in the fire
of London, A.D. 1666, and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren a little
afterward.]
BOOK XVI. Containing The Interval Of Twelve Years.—From The
Finishing Of The Temple By Herod To The Death Of Alexander And
Aristobulus.
CHAPTER 1. A Law Of Herod’s About, Thieves. Salome And Pheroras Calumniate
Alexander And Aristobulus, Upon Their Return From Rome For Whom Yet Herod
Provides Wives.
1. As king Herod was very zealous in the administration of his entire
government, and desirous to put a stop to particular acts of injustice
which were done by criminals about the city and country, he made a law, no
way like our original laws, and which he enacted of himself, to expose
house-breakers to be ejected out of his kingdom; which punishment was not
only grievous to be borne by the offenders, but contained in it a
dissolution of the customs of our forefathers; for this slavery to
foreigners, and such as did not live after the manner of Jews, and this
necessity that they were under to do whatsoever such men should command,
was an offense against our religious settlement, rather than a punishment
to such as were found to have offended, such a punishment being avoided in
our original laws; for those laws ordain, that the thief shall restore
fourfold; and that if he have not so much, he shall be sold indeed, but
not to foreigners, nor so that he be under perpetual slavery, for he must
have been released after six years. But this law, thus enacted, in order
to introduce a severe and illegal punishment, seemed to be a piece of
insolence of Herod, when he did not act as a king, but as a tyrant, and
thus contemptuously, and without any regard to his subjects, did he
venture to introduce such a punishment. Now this penalty, thus brought
into practice, was like Herod’s other actions, and became a part of his
accusation, and an occasion of the hatred he lay under.
2. Now at this time it was that he sailed to Italy, as very desirous to
meet with Cæsar, and to see his sons who lived at Rome; and Cæsar was
not only very obliging to him in other respects, but delivered him his
sons again, that he might take them home with him, as having already
completed themselves in the sciences; but as soon as the young men were
come from Italy, the multitude were very desirous to see them, and they
became conspicuous among them all, as adorned with great blessings of
fortune, and having the countenances of persons of royal dignity. So they
soon appeared to be the objects of envy to Salome, the king’s sister, and
to such as had raised calumnies against Mariamne; for they were
suspicious, that when these came to the government, they should be
punished for the wickedness they had been guilty of against their mother;
so they made this very fear of theirs a motive to raise calumnies against
them also. They gave it out that they were not pleased with their father’s
company, because he had put their mother to death, as if it were not
agreeable to piety to appear to converse with their mother’s murderer.
Now, by carrying these stories; that had indeed a true foundation [in the
fact], but were only built on probabilities as to the present accusation,
they were able to do them mischief, and to make Herod take away that
kindness from his sons which he had before borne to them; for they did not
say these things to him openly, but scattered abroad such words, among the
rest of the multitude; from which words, when carried to Herod, he was
induced [at last] to hate them, and which natural affection itself, even
in length of time, was not able to overcome; yet was the king at that time
in a condition to prefer the natural affection of a father before all the
suspicions and calumnies his sons lay under. So he respected them as he
ought to do, and married them to wives, now they were of an age suitable
thereto. To Aristobulus he gave for a wife Bernice, Salome’s daughter; and
to Alexander, Glaphyra, the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia.
CHAPTER 2. How Herod Twice Sailed To Agrippa; And How Upon The Complaint
In Ionia Against The Greeks Agrippa Confirmed The Laws To Them.
1. When Herod had despatched these affairs, and he understood that Marcus
Agrippa had sailed again out of Italy into Asia, he made haste to him, and
besought him to come to him into his kingdom, and to partake of what he
might justly expect from one that had been his guest, and was his friend.
This request he greatly pressed, and to it Agrippa agreed, and came into
Judea; whereupon Herod omitted nothing that might please him. He
entertained him in his new-built cities, and showed him the edifices he
had built, and provided all sorts of the best and most costly dainties for
him and his friends, and that at Sebaste and Cæsarea, about that port that
he had built, and at the fortresses which he had erected at great
expenses, Alexandrium, and Herodium, and Hyrcania. He also conducted him
to the city Jerusalem, where all the people met him in their festival
garments, and received him with acclamations. Agrippa also offered a
hecatomb of sacrifices to God; and feasted the people, without omitting
any of the greatest dainties that could be gotten. He also took so much
pleasure there, that he abode many days with them, and would willingly
have staid longer, but that the season of the year made him make haste
away; for as winter was coming on, he thought it not safe to go to sea
later, and yet he was of necessity to return again to Ionia.
2. So Agrippa went away, when Herod had bestowed on him, and on the
principal of those that were with him, many presents; but king Herod, when
he had passed the winter in his own dominions, made haste to get to him
again in the spring, when he knew he designed to go to a campaign at the
Bosphorus. So when he had sailed by Rhodes and by Cos, he touched at
Lesbos, as thinking he should have overtaken Agrippa there; but he was
taken short here by a north wind, which hindered his ship from going to
the shore; so he continued many days at Chius, and there he kindly treated
a great many that came to him, and obliged them by giving them royal
gifts. And when he saw that the portico of the city was fallen down, which
as it was overthrown in the Mithridatic war, and was very large and fine
building, so was it not so easy to rebuild that as it was the rest, yet
did he furnish a sum not only large enough for that purpose, but what was
more than sufficient to finish the building; and ordered them not to
overlook that portico, but to rebuild it quickly, that so the city might
recover its proper ornaments. And when the high winds were laid, he sailed
to Mytilene, and thence to Byzantium; and when he heard that Agrippa was
sailed beyond the Cyanean rocks, he made all the haste possible to
overtake him, and came up with him about Sinope, in Pontus. He was seen
sailing by the ship-men most unexpectedly, but appeared to their great
joy; and many friendly salutations there were between them, insomuch that
Agrippa thought he had received the greatest marks of the king’s kindness
and humanity towards him possible, since the king had come so long a
voyage, and at a very proper season, for his assistance, and had left the
government of his own dominions, and thought it more worth his while to
come to him. Accordingly, Herod was all in all to Agrippa, in the
management of the war, and a great assistant in civil affairs, and in
giving him counsel as to particular matters. He was also a pleasant
companion for him when he relaxed himself, and a joint partaker with him
in all things; ill troubles because of his kindness, and in prosperity
because of the respect Agrippa had for him. Now as soon as those affairs
of Pontus were finished, for whose sake Agrippa was sent thither, they did
not think fit to return by sea, but passed through Paphlagonia and
Cappadocia; they then traveled thence over great Phrygia, and came to
Ephesus, and then they sailed from Ephesus to Samos. And indeed the king
bestowed a great many benefits on every city that he came to, according as
they stood in need of them; for as for those that wanted either money or
kind treatment, he was not wanting to them; but he supplied the former
himself out of his own expenses: he also became an intercessor with
Agrippa for all such as sought after his favor, and he brought things so
about, that the petitioners failed in none of their suits to him, Agrippa
being himself of a good disposition, and of great generosity, and ready to
grant all such requests as might be advantageous to the petitioners,
provided they were not to the detriment of others. The inclination of the
king was of great weight also, and still excited Agrippa, who was himself
ready to do good; for he made a reconciliation between the people of
Ilium, at whom he was angry, and paid what money the people of Chius owed
Cæsar’s procurators, and discharged them of their tributes; and helped
all others, according as their several necessities required.
3. But now, when Agrippa and Herod were in Ionia, a great multitude of
Jews, who dwelt in their cities, came to them, and laying hold of the
opportunity and the liberty now given them, laid before them the injuries
which they suffered, while they were not permitted to use their own laws,
but were compelled to prosecute their law-suits, by the ill usage of the
judges, upon their holy days, and were deprived of the money they used to
lay up at Jerusalem, and were forced into the army, and upon such other
offices as obliged them to spend their sacred money; from which burdens
they always used to be freed by the Romans, who had still permitted them
to live according to their own laws. When this clamor was made, the king
desired of Agrippa that he would hear their cause, and assigned Nicolaus,
one of his friends, to plead for those their privileges. Accordingly, when
Agrippa had called the principal of the Romans, and such of the kings and
rulers as were there, to be his assessors, Nicolaus stood up, and pleaded
for the Jews, as follows: “It is of necessity incumbent on such as are in
distress to have recourse to those that have it in their power to free
them from those injuries they lie under; and for those that now are
complainants, they approach you with great assurance; for as they have
formerly often obtained your favor, so far as they have even wished to
have it, they now only entreat that you, who have been the donors, will
take care that those favors you have already granted them may not be taken
away from them. We have received these favors from you, who alone have
power to grant them, but have them taken from us by such as are no greater
than ourselves, and by such as we know are as much subjects as we are; and
certainly, if we have been vouchsafed great favors, it is to our
commendation who have obtained them, as having been found deserving of
such great favors; and if those favors be but small ones, it would be
barbarous for the donors not to confirm them to us. And for those that are
the hinderance of the Jews, and use them reproachfully, it is evident that
they affront both the receivers, while they will not allow those to be
worthy men to whom their excellent rulers themselves have borne their
testimony, and the donors, while they desire those favors already granted
may be abrogated. Now if any one should ask these Gentiles themselves,
which of the two things they would choose to part with, their lives, or
the customs of their forefathers, their solemnities, their sacrifices,
their festivals, which they celebrated in honor of those they suppose to
be gods? I know very well that they would choose to suffer any thing
whatsoever rather than a dissolution of any of the customs of their
forefathers; for a great many of them have rather chosen to go to war on
that account, as very solicitous not to transgress in those matters. And
indeed we take an estimate of that happiness which all mankind do now
enjoy by your means from this very thing, that we are allowed every one to
worship as our own institutions require, and yet to live [in peace]; and
although they would not be thus treated themselves, yet do they endeavor
to compel others to comply with them, as if it were not as great an
instance of impiety profanely to dissolve the religious solemnities of any
others, as to be negligent in the observation of their own towards their
gods. And let us now consider the one of these practices. Is there any
people, or city, or community of men, to whom your government and the
Roman power does not appear to be the greatest blessing? Is there any
one that can desire to make void the favors they have granted? No one is
certainly so mad; for there are no men but such as have been partakers of
their favors, both public and private; and indeed those that take away
what you have granted, can have no assurance but every one of their own
grants made them by you may be taken from them also; which grants of yours
can yet never be sufficiently valued; for if they consider the old
governments under kings, together with your present government, besides
the great number of benefits which this government hath bestowed on them,
in order to their happiness, this is instead of all the rest, that they
appear to be no longer in a state of slavery, but of freedom. Now the
privileges we desire, even when we are in the best circumstances, are not
such as deserve to be envied, for we are indeed in a prosperous state by
your means, but this is only in common with others; and it is no more than
this which we desire, to preserve our religion without any prohibition;
which as it appears not in itself a privilege to be envied us, so it is
for the advantage of those that grant it to us; for if the Divinity
delights in being honored, it must delight in those that permit them to be
honored. And there are none of our customs which are inhuman, but all
tending to piety, and devoted to the preservation of justice; nor do we
conceal those injunctions of ours by which we govern our lives, they being
memorials of piety, and of a friendly conversation among men. And the
seventh day we set apart from labor; it is dedicated to the learning of
our customs and laws, 1 we thinking it proper to reflect
on them, as well as on any [good] thing else, in order to our avoiding of
sin. If any one therefore examine into our observances, he will find they
are good in themselves, and that they are ancient also, though some think
otherwise, insomuch that those who have received them cannot easily be
brought to depart from them, out of that honor they pay to the length of
time they have religiously enjoyed them and observed them. Now our
adversaries take these our privileges away in the way of injustice; they
violently seize upon that money of ours which is owed to God, and called
sacred money, and this openly, after a sacrilegious manner; and they
impose tributes upon us, and bring us before tribunals on holy days, and
then require other like debts of us, not because the contracts require it,
and for their own advantage, but because they would put an affront on our
religion, of which they are conscious as well as we, and have indulged
themselves in an unjust, and to them involuntary, hatred; for your
government over all is one, tending to the establishing of benevolence,
and abolishing of ill-will among such as are disposed to it. This is
therefore what we implore from thee, most excellent Agrippa, that we may
not be ill-treated; that we may not be abused; that we may not be hindered
from making use of our own customs, nor be despoiled of our goods, nor be
forced by these men to do what we ourselves force nobody to do; for these
privileges of ours are not only according to justice, but have formerly
been granted us by you. And we are able to read to you many decrees of the
senate, and the tables that contain them, which are still extant in the
capitol, concerning these things, which it is evident were granted after
you had experience of our fidelity towards you, which ought to be valued,
though no such fidelity had been; for you have hitherto preserved what
people were in possession of, not to us only, but almost to all men, and
have added greater advantages than they could have hoped for, and thereby
your government is become a great advantage to them. And if any one were
able to enumerate the prosperity you have conferred on every nation, which
they possess by your means, he could never put an end to his discourse;
but that we may demonstrate that we are not unworthy of all those
advantages we have obtained, it will be sufficient for us, to say nothing
of other things, but to speak freely of this king who now governs us, and
is now one of thy assessors; and indeed in what instance of good-will, as
to your house, hath he been deficient? What mark of fidelity to it hath he
omitted? What token of honor hath he not devised? What occasion for his
assistance of you hath he not regarded at the very first? What hindereth;
therefore, but that your kindnesses may be as numerous as his so great
benefits to you have been? It may also perhaps be fit not here to pass
over in silence the valor of his father Antipater, who, when Cæsar made
an expedition into Egypt, assisted him with two thousand armed men, and
proved inferior to none, neither in the battles on land, nor in the
management of the navy; and what need I say any thing of how great weight
those soldiers were at that juncture? or how many and how great presents
they were vouchsafed by Cæsar? And truly I ought before now to have
mentioned the epistles which Cæsar wrote to the senate; and how Antipater
had honors, and the freedom of the city of Rome, bestowed upon him; for
these are demonstrations both that we have received these favors by our
own deserts, and do on that account petition thee for thy confirmation of
them, from whom we had reason to hope for them, though they had not been
given us before, both out of regard to our king’s disposition towards you,
and your disposition towards him. And further, we have been informed by
those Jews that were there with what kindness thou camest into our
country, and how thou offeredst the most perfect sacrifices to God, and
honoredst him with remarkable vows, and how thou gavest the people a
feast, and acceptedst of their own hospitable presents to thee. We ought
to esteem all these kind entertainments made both by our nation and to our
city, to a man who is the ruler and manager of so much of the public
affairs, as indications of that friendship which thou hast returned to the
Jewish nation, and which hath been procured them by the family of Herod.
So we put thee in mind of these things in the presence of the king, now
sitting by thee, and make our request for no more but this, that what you
have given us yourselves you will not see taken away by others from us.”
4. When Nicolaus had made this speech, there was no opposition made to it
by the Greeks, for this was not an inquiry made, as in a court of justice,
but an intercession to prevent violence to be offered to the Jews any
longer; nor did the Greeks make any defense of themselves, or deny what it
was supposed they had done. Their pretense was no more than this, that
while the Jews inhabited in their country, they were entirely unjust to
them [in not joining in their worship] but they demonstrated their
generosity in this, that though they worshipped according to their
institutions, they did nothing that ought to grieve them. So when Agrippa
perceived that they had been oppressed by violence, he made this answer:
That, on account of Herod’s good-will and friendship, he was ready to
grant the Jews whatsoever they should ask him, and that their requests
seemed to him in themselves just; and that if they requested any thing
further, he should not scruple to grant it them, provided they were no way
to the detriment of the Roman government; but that while their request was
no more than this, that what privileges they had already given them might
not be abrogated, he confirmed this to them, that they might continue in
the observation of their own customs, without any one offering them the
least injury. And when he had said thus, he dissolved the assembly; upon
which Herod stood up and saluted him, and gave him thanks for the kind
disposition he showed to them. Agrippa also took this in a very obliging
manner, and saluted him again, and embraced him in his arms; after which
he went away from Lesbos; but the king determined to sail from Samos to
his own country; and when he had taken his leave of Agrippa, he pursued
his voyage, and landed at Cæsarea in a few days’ time, as having favorable
winds; from whence he went to Jerusalem, and there gathered all the people
together to an assembly, not a few being there out of the country also. So
he came to them, and gave them a particular account of all his journey,
and of the affairs of all the Jews in Asia, how by his means they would
live without injurious treatment for the time to come. He also told them
of the entire good fortune he had met with and how he had administered the
government, and had not neglected any thing which was for their advantage;
and as he was very joyful, he now remitted to them the fourth part of
their taxes for the last year. Accordingly, they were so pleased with his
favor and speech to them, that they went their ways with great gladness,
and wished the king all manner of happiness.
CHAPTER 3
How Great Disturbances Arose In Herods Family On His Preferring Antipater
His Eldest Son Before The Rest, Till Alexander Took That Injury Very
Heinously.
1. But now the affairs in Herod’s family were in more and more disorder,
and became more severe upon him, by the hatred of Salome to the young men
[Alexander and Aristobulus], which descended as it were by inheritance
[from their mother Mariamne]; and as she had fully succeeded against their
mother, so she proceeded to that degree of madness and insolence, as to
endeavor that none of her posterity might be left alive, who might have it
in their power to revenge her death. The young men had also somewhat of a
bold and uneasy disposition towards their father occasioned by the
remembrance of what their mother had unjustly suffered, and by their own
affectation of dominion. The old grudge was also renewed; and they cast
reproaches on Salome and Pheroras, who requited the young men with
malicious designs, and actually laid treacherous snares for them. Now as
for this hatred, it was equal on both sides, but the manner of exerting
that hatred was different; for as for the young men, they were rash,
reproaching and affronting the others openly, and were inexperienced
enough to think it the most generous to declare their minds in that
undaunted manner; but the others did not take that method, but made use of
calumnies after a subtle and a spiteful manner, still provoking the young
men, and imagining that their boldness might in time turn to the offering
violence to their father; for inasmuch as they were not ashamed of the
pretended crimes of their mother, nor thought she suffered justly, these
supposed that might at length exceed all bounds, and induce them to think
they ought to be avenged on their father, though it were by despatching
him with their own hands. At length it came to this, that the whole city
was full of their discourses, and, as is usual in such contests, the
unskilfulness of the young men was pitied; but the contrivance of Salome
was too hard for them, and what imputations she laid upon them came to be
believed, by means of their own conduct; for they who were so deeply
affected with the death of their mother, that while they said both she and
themselves were in a miserable case, they vehemently complained of her
pitiable end, which indeed was truly such, and said that they were
themselves in a pitiable case also, because they were forced to live with
those that had been her murderers, and to be partakers with them.
2. These disorders increased greatly, and the king’s absence abroad had
afforded a fit opportunity for that increase; but as soon as Herod was
returned, and had made the forementioned speech to the multitude, Pheroras
and Salome let fill words immediately as if he were in great danger, and
as if the young men openly threatened that they would not spare him any
longer, but revenge their mother’s death upon him. They also added another
circumstance, that their hopes were fixed on Archelaus, the king of
Cappadocia, that they should be able by his means to come to Cæsar, and
accuse their father. Upon hearing such things, Herod was immediately
disturbed; and indeed was the more astonished, because the same things
were related to him by some others also. He then called to mind his former
calamity, and considered that the disorders in his family had hindered him
from enjoying any comfort from those that were dearest to him or from his
wife whom he loved so well; and suspecting that his future troubles would
soon be heavier and greater than those that were past, he was in great
confusion of mind; for Divine Providence had in reality conferred upon him
a great many outward advantages for his happiness, even beyond his hopes;
but the troubles he had at home were such as he never expected to have met
with, and rendered him unfortunate; nay, both sorts came upon him to such
a degree as no one could imagine, and made it a doubtful question,
whether, upon the comparison of both, he ought to have exchanged so great
a success of outward good things for so great misfortunes at home, or
whether he ought not to have chosen to avoid the calamities relating to
his family, though he had, for a compensation, never been possessed of the
admired grandeur of a kingdom.
3. As he was thus disturbed and afflicted, in order to depress these young
men, he brought to court another of his sons, that was born to him when he
was a private man; his name was Antipater; yet did he not then indulge him
as he did afterwards, when he was quite overcome by him, and let him do
every thing as he pleased, but rather with a design of depressing the
insolence of the sons of Mariamne, and managing this elevation of his so,
that it might be for a warning to them; for this bold behavior of theirs
[he thought] would not be so great, if they were once persuaded that the
succession to the kingdom did not appertain to them alone, or must of
necessity come to them. So he introduced Antipater as their antagonist,
and imagined that he made a good provision for discouraging their pride,
and that after this was done to the young men, there might be a proper
season for expecting these to be of a better disposition; but the event
proved otherwise than he intended, for the young men thought he did them a
very great injury; and as Antipater was a shrewd man, when he had once
obtained this degree of freedom, and began to expect greater things than
he had before hoped for, he had but one single design in his head, and
that was to distress his brethren, and not at all to yield to them the
pre-eminence, but to keep close to his father, who was already alienated
from them by the calumnies he had heard about them, and ready to be
wrought upon in any way his zeal against them should advise him to pursue,
that he might be continually more and more severe against them.
Accordingly, all the reports that were spread abroad came from him, while
he avoided himself the suspicion as if those discoveries proceeded from
him; but he rather chose to make use of those persons for his assistants
that were unsuspected, and such as might be believed to speak truth by
reason of the good-will they bore to the king; and indeed there were
already not a few who cultivated a friendship with Antipater, in hopes of
gaining somewhat by him, and these were the men who most of all persuaded
Herod, because they appeared to speak thus out of their good-will to him:
and with these joint accusations, which from various foundations supported
one another’s veracity, the young men themselves afforded further
occasions to Antipater also; for they were observed to shed tears often,
on account of the injury that was offered them, and had their mother in
their mouths; and among their friends they ventured to reproach their
father, as not acting justly by them; all which things were with an evil
intention reserved in memory by Antipater against a proper opportunity;
and when they were told to Herod, with aggravations, increased the
disorder so much, that it brought a great tumult into the family; for
while the king was very angry at imputations that were laid upon the sons
of Mariamne, and was desirous to humble them, he still increased the honor
that he had bestowed on Antipater, and was at last so overcome by his
persuasions, that he brought his mother to court also. He also wrote
frequently to Cæsar in favor of him, and more earnestly recommended him
to his care particularly. And when Agrippa was returning to Rome, after he
had finished his ten years’ government in Asia. 2 Herod
sailed from Judea; and when he met with him, he had none with him but
Antipater, whom he delivered to Agrippa, that he might take him along with
him, together with many presents, that so he might become Cæsar’s friend,
insomuch that things already looked as if he had all his father’s favor,
and that the young men were already entirely rejected from any hopes of
the kingdom.
CHAPTER 4. How During Antipater’s Abode At Rome, Herod Brought Alexander
And Aristobulus Before Cæsar And Accused Them. Alexander’s Defense Of
Himself Before Cæsar And Reconciliation To His Father.
1. And now what happened during Antipater’s absence augmented the honor to
which he had been promoted, and his apparent eminence above his brethren;
for he had made a great figure in Rome, because Herod had sent
recommendations of him to all his friends there; only he was grieved that
he was not at home, nor had proper opportunities of perpetually
calumniating his brethren; and his chief fear was, lest his father should
alter his mind, and entertain a more favorable opinion of the sons of
Mariamne; and as he had this in his mind, he did not desist from his
purpose, but continually sent from Rome any such stories as he hoped might
grieve and irritate his father against his brethren, under pretense indeed
of a deep concern for his preservation, but in truth such as his malicious
mind dictated, in order to purchase a greater hope of the succession,
which yet was already great in itself: and thus he did till he had excited
such a degree of anger in Herod, that he was already become very
ill-disposed towards the young men; but still while he delayed to exercise
so violent a disgust against them, and that he might not either be too
remiss or too rash, and so offend, he thought it best to sail to Rome, and
there accuse his sons before Cæsar, and not indulge himself in any such
crime as might be heinous enough to be suspected of impiety. But as he was
going up to Rome, it happened that he made such haste as to meet with
Cæsar at the city Aquilei 3 so when he came to the speech of
Cæsar, he asked for a time for hearing this great cause, wherein he
thought himself very miserable, and presented his sons there, and accused
them of their mad actions, and of their attempts against him: That they
were enemies to him; and by all the means they were able, did their
endeavors to show their hatred to their own father, and would take away
his life, and so obtain his kingdom, after the most barbarous manner: that
he had power from Cæsar to dispose of it, not by necessity, but by
choice, to him who shall exercise the greatest piety towards him; while
these my sons are not so desirous of ruling, as they are, upon a
disappointment thereof, to expose their own life, if so be they may but
deprive their father of his life; so wild and polluted is their mind by
time become, out of their hatred to him: that whereas he had a long time
borne this his misfortune, he was now compelled to lay it before Cæsar,
and to pollute his ears with such language, while he himself wants to know
what severity they have ever suffered from him, or what hardships he hath
ever laid upon them to make them complain of him; and how they can think
it just that he should not be lord of that kingdom which he in a long
time, and with great danger, had gained, and not allow him to keep it and
dispose of it to him who should deserve best; and this, with other
advantages, he proposes as a reward for the piety of such a one as will
hereafter imitate the care he hath taken of it, and that such a one may
gain so great a requital as that is: and that it is an impious thing for
them to pretend to meddle with it beforehand; for he who hath ever the
kingdom in his view, at the same time reckons upon procuring the death of
his father, because otherwise he cannot come at the government: that as
for himself, he had hitherto given them all that he was able, and what was
agreeable to such as are subject to the royal authority, and the sons of a
king; what ornaments they wanted, with servants and delicate fare, and had
married them into the most illustrious families, the one [Aristobulus] to
his sister’s daughter, but Alexander to the daughter of king Archelaus;
and, what was the greatest favor of all, when their crimes were so very
bad, and he had authority to punish them, yet had he not made use of it
against them, but had brought them before Cæsar, their common benefactor,
and had not used the severity which, either as a father who had been
impiously abused, or as a king who had been assaulted treacherously, he
might have done, but made them stand upon a level with him in judgment:
that, however, it was necessary that all this should not be passed over
without punishment, nor himself live in the greatest fears; nay, that it
was not for their own advantage to see the light of the sun after what
they have done, although they should escape at this time, since they had
done the vilest things, and would certainly suffer the greatest
punishments that ever were known among mankind.
2. These were the accusations which Herod laid with great vehemency
against his sons before Cæsar. Now the young men, both while he was
speaking, and chiefly at his concluding, wept, and were in confusion. Now
as to themselves, they knew in their own conscience they were innocent;
but because they were accused by their father, they were sensible, as the
truth was, that it was hard for them to make their apology, since though
they were at liberty to speak their minds freely as the occasion required,
and might with force and earnestness refute the accusation, yet was it not
now decent so to do. There was therefore a difficulty how they should be
able to speak; and tears, and at length a deep groan, followed, while they
were afraid, that if they said nothing, they should seem to be in this
difficulty from a consciousness of guilt,—nor had they any defense
ready, by reason of their youth, and the disorder they were under; yet was
not Cæsar unapprized, when he looked upon them in the confusion they were
in, that their delay to make their defense did not arise from any
consciousness of great enormities, but from their unskilfulness and
modesty. They were also commiserated by those that were there in
particular; and they moved their father’s affections in earnest till he
had much ado to conceal them.
3. But when they saw there was a kind disposition arisen both in him and
in Cæsar, and that every one of the rest did either shed tears, or at
least did all grieve with them, the one of them, whose name was Alexander,
called to his father, and attempted to answer his accusation, and said, “O
father, the benevolence thou hast showed to us is evident, even in this
very judicial procedure, for hadst thou had any pernicious intentions
about us, thou hadst not produced us here before the common savior of all,
for it was in thy power, both as a king and as a father, to punish the
guilty; but by thus bringing us to Rome, and making Cæsar himself a
witness to what is done, thou intimatest that thou intendest to save us;
for no one that hath a design to slay a man will bring him to the temples,
and to the altars; yet are our circumstances still worse, for we cannot
endure to live ourselves any longer, if it be believed that we have
injured such a father; nay, perhaps it would be worse for us to live with
this suspicion upon us, that we have injured him, than to die without such
guilt. And if our open defense may be taken to be true, we shall be happy,
both in pacifying thee, and in escaping the danger we are in; but if this
calumny so prevails, it is more than enough for us that we have seen the
sun this day; which why should we see, if this suspicion be fixed upon us?
Now it is easy to say of young men, that they desire to reign; and to say
further, that this evil proceeds from the case of our unhappy mother. This
is abundantly sufficient to produce our present misfortune out of the
former; but consider well, whether such an accusation does not suit all
such young men, and may not be said of them all promiscuously; for nothing
can hinder him that reigns, if he have children, and their mother be dead,
but the father may have a suspicion upon all his sons, as intending some
treachery to him; but a suspicion is not sufficient to prove such an
impious practice. Now let any man say, whether we have actually and
insolently attempted any such thing, whereby actions otherwise incredible
use to be made credible? Can any body prove that poison hath been
prepared? or prove a conspiracy of our equals, or the corruption of
servants, or letters written against thee? though indeed there are none of
those things but have sometimes been pretended by way of calumny, when
they were never done; for a royal family that is at variance with itself
is a terrible thing; and that which thou callest a reward of piety often
becomes, among very wicked men, such a foundation of hope, as makes them
leave no sort of mischief untried. Nor does any one lay any wicked
practices to our charge; but as to calumnies by hearsay, how can he put an
end to them, who will not hear what we have to say? Have we talked with
too great freedom? Yes; but not against thee, for that would be unjust,
but against those that never conceal any thing that is spoken to them.
Hath either of us lamented our mother? Yes; but not because she is dead,
but because she was evil spoken of by those that had no reason so to do.
Are we desirous of that dominion which we know our father is possessed of?
For what reason can we do so? If we already have royal honors, as we have,
should not we labor in vain? And if we have them not, yet are not we in
hopes of them? Or supposing that we had killed thee, could we expect to
obtain thy kingdom? while neither the earth would let us tread upon it,
nor the sea let us sail upon it, after such an action as that; nay, the
religion of all your subjects, and the piety of the whole nation, would
have prohibited parricides from assuming the government, and from entering
into that most holy temple which was built by thee 4 But
suppose we had made light of other dangers, can any murderer go off
unpunished while Cæsar is alive? We are thy sons, and not so impious or
so thoughtless as that comes to, though perhaps more unfortunate than is
convenient for thee. But in case thou neither findest any causes of
complaint, nor any treacherous designs, what sufficient evidence hast thou
to make such a wickedness of ours credible? Our mother is dead indeed, but
then what befell her might be an instruction to us to caution, and not an
incitement to wickedness. We are willing to make a larger apology for
ourselves; but actions never done do not admit of discourse. Nay, we will
make this agreement with thee, and that before Cæsar, the lord of all,
who is now a mediator between us, If thou, O father, canst bring thyself,
by the evidence of truth, to have a mind free from suspicion concerning us
let us live, though even then we shall live in an unhappy way, for to be
accused of great acts of wickedness, though falsely, is a terrible thing;
but if thou hast any fear remaining, continue thou on in thy pious life,
we will give this reason for our own conduct; our life is not so desirable
to us as to desire to have it, if it tend to the harm of our father who
gave it us.”
4. When Alexander had thus spoken, Cæsar, who did not before believe so
gross a calumny, was still more moved by it, and looked intently upon
Herod, and perceived he was a little confounded: the persons there present
were under an anxiety about the young men, and the fame that was spread
abroad made the king hated, for the very incredibility of the calumny, and
the commiseration of the flower of youth, the beauty of body, which were
in the young men, pleaded for assistance, and the more so on this account,
that Alexander had made their defense with dexterity and prudence; nay,
they did not themselves any longer continue in their former countenances,
which had been bedewed with tears, and cast downwards to the ground, but
now there arose in them hope of the best; and the king himself appeared
not to have had foundation enough to build such an accusation upon, he
having no real evidence wherewith to correct them. Indeed he wanted some
apology for making the accusation; but Cæsar, after some delay, said,
that although the young men were thoroughly innocent of that for which
they were calumniated, yet had they been so far to blame, that they had
not demeaned themselves towards their father so as to prevent that
suspicion which was spread abroad concerning them. He also exhorted Herod
to lay all such suspicions aside, and to be reconciled to his sons; for
that it was not just to give any credit to such reports concerning his own
children; and that this repentance on both sides might still heal those
breaches that had happened between them, and might improve that their
good-will to one another, whereby those on both sides, excusing the
rashness of their suspicions, might resolve to bear a greater degree of
affection towards each other than they had before. After Cæsar had given
them this admonition, he beckoned to the young men. When therefore they
were disposed to fall down to make intercession to their father, he took
them up, and embraced them, as they were in tears, and took each of them
distinctly in his arms, till not one of those that were present, whether
free-man or slave, but was deeply affected with what they saw. 5
5. Then did they return thanks to Cæsar, and went away together; and with
them went Antipater, with an hypocritical pretense that he rejoiced at
this reconciliation. And in the last days they were with Cæsar, Herod
made him a present of three hundred talents, as he was then exhibiting
shows and largesses to the people of Rome; and Cæsar made him a present
of half the revenue of the copper mines in Cyprus, and committed the care
of the other half to him, and honored him with other gifts and incomes;
and as to his own kingdom, he left it in his own power to appoint which of
his sons he pleased for his successor, or to distribute it in parts to
every one, that the dignity might thereby come to them all. And when Herod
was disposed to make such a settlement immediately, Cæsar said he would
not give him leave to deprive himself, while he was alive, of the power
over his kingdom, or over his sons.
6. After this, Herod returned to Judea again. But during his absence no
small part of his dominion about Trachon had revolted, whom yet the
commanders he left there had vanquished, and compelled to a submission
again. Now as Herod was sailing with his sons, and was come over against
Cilicia, to [the island] Eleusa, which hath now changed its name for
Sebaste, he met with Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, who received him
kindly, as rejoicing that he was reconciled to his sons, and that the
accusation against Alexander, who had married his daughter, was at an end.
They also made one another such presents as it became kings to make, From
thence Herod came to Judea and to the temple, where he made a speech to
the people concerning what had been done in this his journey. He also
discoursed to them about Cæsar’s kindness to him, and about as many of
the particulars he had done as he thought it for his advantage other
people should be acquainted with. At last he turned his speech to the
admonition of his sons; and exhorted those that lived at court, and the
multitude, to concord; and informed them that his sons were to reign after
him; Antipater first, and then Alexander and Aristobulus, the sons of
Mariamne: but he desired that at present they should all have regard to
himself, and esteem him king and lord of all, since he was not yet
hindered by old age, but was in that period of life when he must be the
most skillful in governing; and that he was not deficient in other arts of
management that might enable him to govern the kingdom well, and to rule
over his children also. He further told the rulers under him, and the
soldiery, that in case they would look upon him alone, their life would be
led in a peaceable manner, and they would make one another happy. And when
he had said this, he dismissed the assembly. Which speech was acceptable
to the greatest part of the audience, but not so to them all; for the
contention among his sons, and the hopes he had given them, occasioned
thoughts and desires of innovations among them.
CHAPTER 5. How Herod Celebrated The Games That Were To Return Every Fifth
Year Upon The Building Of Cæsarea; And How He Built And Adorned Many Other
Places After A Magnificent Manner; And Did Many Other Actions Gloriously
1. About this time it was that Cæsarea Sebaste, which he had built, was
finished. The entire building being accomplished: in the tenth year, the
solemnity of it fell into the twenty-eighth year of Herod’s reign, and
into the hundred and ninety-second olympiad. There was accordingly a great
festival and most sumptuous preparations made presently, in order to its
dedication; for he had appointed a contention in music, and games to be
performed naked. He had also gotten ready a great number of those that
fight single combats, and of beasts for the like purpose; horse races
also, and the most chargeable of such sports and shows as used to be
exhibited at Rome, and in other places. He consecrated this combat to
Cæsar, and ordered it to be celebrated every fifth year. He also sent all
sorts of ornaments for it out of his own furniture, that it might want
nothing to make it decent; nay, Julia, Cæsar’s wife, sent a great part of
her most valuable furniture [from Rome], insomuch that he had no want of
any thing. The sum of them all was estimated at five hundred talents. Now
when a great multitude was come to that city to see the shows, as well as
the ambassadors whom other people sent, on account of the benefits they
had received from Herod, he entertained them all in the public inns, and
at public tables, and with perpetual feasts; this solemnity having in the
day time the diversions of the fights, and in the night time such merry
meetings as cost vast sums of money, and publicly demonstrated the
generosity of his soul; for in all his undertakings he was ambitious to
exhibit what exceeded whatsoever had been done before of the same kind.
And it is related that Cæsar and Agrippa often said, that the dominions
of Herod were too little for the greatness of his soul; for that he
deserved to have both all the kingdom of Syria, and that of Egypt also.
2. After this solemnity and these festivals were over, Herod erected
another city in the plain called Capharsaba, where he chose out a fit
place, both for plenty of water and goodness of soil, and proper for the
production of what was there planted, where a river encompassed the city
itself, and a grove of the best trees for magnitude was round about it:
this he named Antipatris, from his father Antipater. He also built upon
another spot of ground above Jericho, of the same name with his mother, a
place of great security and very pleasant for habitation, and called it
Cypros. He also dedicated the finest monuments to his brother Phasaelus,
on account of the great natural affection there had been between them, by
erecting a tower in the city itself, not less than the tower of Pharos,
which he named Phasaelus, which was at once a part of the strong defenses
of the city, and a memorial for him that was deceased, because it bare his
name. He also built a city of the same name in the valley of Jericho, as
you go from it northward, whereby he rendered the neighboring country more
fruitful by the cultivation its inhabitants introduced; and this also he
called Phasaelus.
3. But as for his other benefits, it is impossible to reckon them up,
those which he bestowed on cities, both in Syria and in Greece, and in all
the places he came to in his voyages; for he seems to have conferred, and
that after a most plentiful manner, what would minister to many
necessities, and the building of public works, and gave them the money
that was necessary to such works as wanted it, to support them upon the
failure of their other revenues: but what was the greatest and most
illustrious of all his works, he erected Apollo’s temple at Rhodes, at his
own expenses, and gave them a great number of talents of silver for the
repair of their fleet. He also built the greatest part of the public
edifices for the inhabitants of Nicopolis, at Actium; 6
and for the Antiochinus, the inhabitants of the principal city of Syria,
where a broad street cuts through the place lengthways, he built cloisters
along it on both sides, and laid the open road with polished stone, and
was of very great advantage to the inhabitants. And as to the olympic
games, which were in a very low condition, by reason of the failure of
their revenues, he recovered their reputation, and appointed revenues for
their maintenance, and made that solemn meeting more venerable, as to the
sacrifices and other ornaments; and by reason of this vast liberality, he
was generally declared in their inscriptions to be one of the perpetual
managers of those games.
4. Now some there are who stand amazed at the diversity of Herod’s nature
and purposes; for when we have respect to his magnificence, and the
benefits which he bestowed on all mankind, there is no possibility for
even those that had the least respect for him to deny, or not openly to
confess, that he had a nature vastly beneficent; but when any one looks
upon the punishments he inflicted, and the injuries he did, not only to
his subjects, but to his nearest relations, and takes notice of his severe
and unrelenting disposition there, he will be forced to allow that he was
brutish, and a stranger to all humanity; insomuch that these men suppose
his nature to be different, and sometimes at contradiction with itself;
but I am myself of another opinion, and imagine that the occasion of both
these sort of actions was one and the same; for being a man ambitious of
honor, and quite overcome by that passion, he was induced to be
magnificent, wherever there appeared any hopes of a future memorial, or of
reputation at present; and as his expenses were beyond his abilities, he
was necessitated to be harsh to his subjects; for the persons on whom he
expended his money were so many, that they made him a very bad procurer of
it; and because he was conscious that he was hated by those under him, for
the injuries he did them, he thought it not an easy thing to amend his
offenses, for that it was inconvenient for his revenue; he therefore
strove on the other side to make their ill- will an occasion of his gains.
As to his own court, therefore, if any one was not very obsequious to him
in his language, and would not confess himself to be his slave, or but
seemed to think of any innovation in his government, he was not able to
contain himself, but prosecuted his very kindred and friends, and punished
them as if they were enemies and this wickedness he undertook out of a
desire that he might be himself alone honored. Now for this, my assertion
about that passion of his, we have the greatest evidence, by what he did
to honor Cæsar and Agrippa, and his other friends; for with what honors
he paid his respects to them who were his superiors, the same did he
desire to be paid to himself; and what he thought the most excellent
present he could make another, he discovered an inclination to have the
like presented to himself. But now the Jewish nation is by their law a
stranger to all such things, and accustomed to prefer righteousness to
glory; for which reason that nation was not agreeable to him, because it
was out of their power to flatter the king’s ambition with statues or
temples, or any other such performances; And this seems to me to have been
at once the occasion of Herod’s crimes as to his own courtiers and
counselors, and of his benefactions as to foreigners and those that had no
relation to him.
CHAPTER 6. An Embassage In Cyrene And Asia To Cæsar, Concerning The
Complaints They Had To Make Against The Greeks; With Copies Of The
Epistles Which Cæsar And Agrippa Wrote To The Cities For Them.
1. Now the cities ill-treated the Jews in Asia, and all those also of the
same nation which lived in Libya, which joins to Cyrene, while the former
kings had given them equal privileges with the other citizens; but the
Greeks affronted them at this time, and that so far as to take away their
sacred money, and to do them mischief on other particular occasions. When
therefore they were thus afflicted, and found no end of their barbarous
treatment they met with among the Greeks, they sent ambassadors to Cæsar
on those accounts, who gave them the same privileges as they had before,
and sent letters to the same purpose to the governors of the provinces,
copies of which I subjoin here, as testimonials of the ancient favorable
disposition the Roman emperors had towards us.
2. “Cæsar Augustus, high priest and tribune of the people, ordains thus:
Since the nation of the Jews hath been found grateful to the Roman people,
not only at this time, but in time past also, and chiefly Hyrcanus the
high priest, under my father 7 Cæsar the emperor, it seemed
good to me and my counselors, according to the sentence and oath of the
people of Rome, that the Jews have liberty to make use of their own
customs, according to the law of their forefathers, as they made use of
them under Hyrcanus the high priest of the Almighty God; and that their
sacred money be not touched, but be sent to Jerusalem, and that it be
committed to the care of the receivers at Jerusalem; and that they be not
obliged to go before any judge on the sabbath day, nor on the day of the
preparation to it, after the ninth hour. 8 But if
any one be caught stealing their holy books, or their sacred money,
whether it be out of the synagogue or public school, he shall be deemed a
sacrilegious person, and his goods shall be brought into the public
treasury of the Romans. And I give order that the testimonial which they
have given me, on account of my regard to that piety which I exercise
toward all mankind, and out of regard to Caius Marcus Censorinus, together
with the present decree, be proposed in that most eminent place which hath
been consecrated to me by the community of Asia at Ancyra. And if any one
transgress any part of what is above decreed, he shall be severely
punished.” This was inscribed upon a pillar in the temple of Cæsar.
3. “Cæsar to Norbanus Flaccus, sendeth greeting. Let those Jews, how many
soever they be, who have been used, according to their ancient custom, to
send their sacred money to Jerusalem, do the same freely.” These were the
decrees of Cæsar.
4. Agrippa also did himself write after the manner following, on behalf of
the Jews: “Agrippa, to the magistrates, senate, and people of the
Ephesians, sendeth greeting. I will that the care and custody of the
sacred money that is carried to the temple at Jerusalem be left to the
Jews of Asia, to do with it according to their ancient custom; and that
such as steal that sacred money of the Jews, and fly to a sanctuary, shall
be taken thence and delivered to the Jews, by the same law that
sacrilegious persons are taken thence. I have also written to Sylvanus the
praetor, that no one compel the Jews to come before a judge on the sabbath
day.”
5. “Marcus Agrippa to the magistrates, senate, and people of Cyrene,
sendeth greeting. The Jews of Cyrene have interceded with me for the
performance of what Augustus sent orders about to Flavius, the then
praetor of Libya, and to the other procurators of that province, that the
sacred money may be sent to Jerusalem freely, as hath been their custom
from their forefathers, they complaining that they are abused by certain
informers, and under pretense of taxes which were not due, are hindered
from sending them, which I command to be restored without any diminution
or disturbance given to them. And if any of that sacred money in the
cities be taken from their proper receivers, I further enjoin, that the
same be exactly returned to the Jews in that place.”
6. “Caius Norbanus Flaccus, proconsul, to the magistrates of the Sardians,
sendeth greeting. Cæsar hath written to me, and commanded me not to
forbid the Jews, how many soever they be, from assembling together
according to the custom of their forefathers, nor from sending their money
to Jerusalem. I have therefore written to you, that you may know that both
Cæsar and I would have you act accordingly.”
7. Nor did Julius Antonius, the proconsul, write otherwise. “To the
magistrates, senate, and people of the Ephesians, sendeth greeting. As I
was dispensing justice at Ephesus, on the Ides of February, the Jews that
dwell in Asia demonstrated to me that Augustus and Agrippa had permitted
them to use their own laws and customs, and to offer those their
first-fruits, which every one of them freely offers to the Deity on
account of piety, and to carry them in a company together to Jerusalem
without disturbance. They also petitioned me that I also would confirm
what had been granted by Augustus and Agrippa by my own sanction. I would
therefore have you take notice, that according to the will of Augustus and
Agrippa, I permit them to use and do according to the customs of their
forefathers without disturbance.”
8. I have been obliged to set down these decree because the present
history of our own acts will go generally among the Greeks; and I have
hereby demonstrated to them that we have formerly been in great esteem,
and have not been prohibited by those governors we were under from keeping
any of the laws of our forefathers; nay, that we have been supported by
them, while we followed our own religion, and the worship we paid to God;
and I frequently make mention of these decrees, in order to reconcile
other people to us, and to take away the causes of that hatred which
unreasonable men bear to us. As for our customs 9 there is
no nation which always makes use of the same, and in every city almost we
meet with them different from one another; but natural justice is most
agreeable to the advantage of all men equally, both Greeks and barbarians,
to which our laws have the greatest regard, and thereby render us, if we
abide in them after a pure manner, benevolent and friendly to all men; on
which account we have reason to expect the like return from others, and to
inform them that they ought not to esteem difference of positive
institutions a sufficient cause of alienation, but [join with us in] the
pursuit of virtue and probity, for this belongs to all men in common, and
of itself alone is sufficient for the preservation of human life. I now
return to the thread of my history.
CHAPTER 7. How, Upon Herod’s Going Down Into David’s Sepulcher, The
Sedition In His Family Greatly Increased.
1. As for Herod, he had spent vast sums about the cities, both without and
within his own kingdom; and as he had before heard that Hyrcanus, who had
been king before him, had opened David’s sepulcher, and taken out of it
three thousand talents of silver, and that there was a much greater number
left behind, and indeed enough to suffice all his wants, he had a great
while an intention to make the attempt; and at this time he opened that
sepulcher by night, and went into it, and endeavored that it should not be
at all known in the city, but took only his most faithful friends with
him. As for any money, he found none, as Hyrcanus had done, but that
furniture of gold, and those precious goods that were laid up there; all
which he took away. However, he had a great desire to make a more diligent
search, and to go farther in, even as far as the very bodies of David and
Solomon; where two of his guards were slain, by a flame that burst out
upon those that went in, as the report was. So he was terribly affrighted,
and went out, and built a propitiatory monument of that fright he had been
in; and this of white stone, at the mouth of the sepulcher, and that at
great expense also. And even Nicolaus 10 his
historiographer makes mention of this monument built by Herod, though he
does not mention his going down into the sepulcher, as knowing that action
to be of ill repute; and many other things he treats of in the same manner
in his book; for he wrote in Herod’s lifetime, and under his reign, and so
as to please him, and as a servant to him, touching upon nothing but what
tended to his glory, and openly excusing many of his notorious crimes, and
very diligently concealing them. And as he was desirous to put handsome
colors on the death of Mariamne and her sons, which were barbarous actions
in the king, he tells falsehoods about the incontinence of Mariamne, and
the treacherous designs of his sons upon him; and thus he proceeded in his
whole work, making a pompous encomium upon what just actions he had done,
but earnestly apologizing for his unjust ones. Indeed, a man, as I said,
may have a great deal to say by way of excuse for Nicolaus; for he did not
so properly write this as a history for others, as somewhat that might be
subservient to the king himself. As for ourselves, who come of a family
nearly allied to the Asamonean kings, and on that account have an
honorable place, which is the priesthood, we think it indecent to say any
thing that is false about them, and accordingly we have described their
actions after an unblemished and upright manner. And although we reverence
many of Herod’s posterity, who still reign, yet do we pay a greater regard
to truth than to them, and this though it sometimes happens that we incur
their displeasure by so doing.
2. And indeed Herod’s troubles in his family seemed to be augmented by
reason of this attempt he made upon David’s sepulcher; whether Divine
vengeance increased the calamities he lay under, in order to render them
incurable, or whether fortune made an assault upon him, in those cases
wherein the seasonableness of the cause made it strongly believed that the
calamities came upon him for his impiety; for the tumult was like a civil
war in his palace, and their hatred towards one another was like that
where each one strove to exceed another in calumnies. However, Antipater
used stratagems perpetually against his brethren, and that very cunningly;
while abroad he loaded them with accusations, but still took upon him
frequently to apologize for them, that this apparent benevolence to them
might make him be believed, and forward his attempts against them; by
which means he, after various manners, circumvented his father, who
believed all that he did was for his preservation. Herod also recommended
Ptolemy, who was a great director of the affairs of his kingdom, to
Antipater; and consulted with his mother about the public affairs also.
And indeed these were all in all, and did what they pleased, and made the
king angry against any other persons, as they thought it might be to their
own advantage; but still the sons of Mariamne were in a worse and worse
condition perpetually; and while they were thrust out, and set in a more
dishonorable rank, who yet by birth were the most noble, they could not
bear the dishonor. And for the women, Glaphyra, Alexander’s wife, the
daughter of Archelaus, hated Salome, both because of her love to her
husband, and because Glaphyra seemed to behave herself somewhat insolently
towards Salome’s daughter, who was the wife of Aristobulus, which equality
of hers to herself Glaphyra took very impatiently.
3. Now, besides this second contention that had fallen among them, neither
did the king’s brother Pheroras keep himself out of trouble, but had a
particular foundation for suspicion and hatred; for he was overcome with
the charms of his wife, to such a degree of madness, that he despised the
king’s daughter, to whom he had been betrothed, and wholly bent his mind
to the other, who had been but a servant. Herod also was grieved by the
dishonor that was done him, because he had bestowed many favors upon him,
and had advanced him to that height of power that he was almost a partner
with him in the kingdom, and saw that he had not made him a due return for
his labors, and esteemed himself unhappy on that account. So upon
Pheroras’s unworthy refusal, he gave the damsel to Phasaelus’s son; but
after some time, when he thought the heat of his brother’s affections was
over, he blamed him for his former conduct, and desired him to take his
second daughter, whose name was Cypros. Ptolemy also advised him to leave
off affronting his brother, and to forsake her whom he had loved, for that
it was a base thing to be so enamored of a servant, as to deprive himself
of the king’s good-will to him, and become an occasion of his trouble, and
make himself hated by him. Pheroras knew that this advice would be for his
own advantage, particularly because he had been accused before, and
forgiven; so he put his wife away, although he already had a son by her,
and engaged to the king that he would take his second daughter, and agreed
that the thirtieth day after should be the day of marriage; and sware he
would have no further conversation with her whom he had put away; but when
the thirty days were over, he was such a slave to his affections, that he
no longer performed any thing he had promised, but continued still with
his former wife. This occasioned Herod to grieve openly, and made him
angry, while the king dropped one word or other against Pheroras
perpetually; and many made the king’s anger an opportunity for raising
calumnies against him. Nor had the king any longer a single quiet day or
hour, but occasions of one fresh quarrel or another arose among his
relations, and those that were dearest to him; for Salome was of a harsh
temper, and ill-natured to Mariamne’s sons; nor would she suffer her own
daughter, who was the wife of Aristobulus, one of those young men, to bear
a good-will to her husband, but persuaded her to tell her if he said any
thing to her in private, and when any misunderstandings happened, as is
common, she raised a great many suspicions out of it; by which means she
learned all their concerns, and made the damsel ill-natured to the young
man. And in order to gratify her mother, she often said that the young men
used to mention Mariamne when they were by themselves; and that they hated
their father, and were continually threatening, that if they had once got
the kingdom, they would make Herod’s sons by his other wives country
schoolmasters, for that the present education which was given them, and
their diligence in learning, fitted them for such an employment. And as
for the women, whenever they saw them adorned with their mother’s clothes,
they threatened, that instead of their present gaudy apparel, they should
be clothed in sackcloth, and confined so closely that they should not see
the light of the sun. These stories were presently carried by Salome to
the king, who was troubled to hear them, and endeavored to make up
matters; but these suspicions afflicted him, and becoming more and more
uneasy, he believed every body against every body. However, upon his
rebuking his sons, and hearing the defense they made for themselves, he
was easier for a while, though a little afterwards much worse accidents
came upon him.
4. For Pheroras came to Alexander, the husband of Glaphyra, who was the
daughter of Archelaus, as we have already told you, and said that he had
heard from Salome that Herod has enamored on Glaphyra, and that his
passion for her was incurable. When Alexander heard that, he was all on
fire, from his youth and jealousy; and he interpreted the instances of
Herod’s obliging behavior to her, which were very frequent, for the worse,
which came from those suspicions he had on account of that word which fell
from Pheroras; nor could he conceal his grief at the thing, but informed
him what word Pheroras had said. Upon which Herod was in a greater
disorder than ever; and not bearing such a false calumny, which was to his
shame, was much disturbed at it; and often did he lament the wickedness of
his domestics, and how good he had been to them, and how ill requitals
they had made him. So he sent for Pheroras, and reproached him, and said,
“Thou vilest of all men! art thou come to that unmeasurable and
extravagant degree of ingratitude, as not only to suppose such things of
me, but to speak of them? I now indeed perceive what thy intentions are.
It is not thy only aim to reproach me, when thou usest such words to my
son, but thereby to persuade him to plot against me, and get me destroyed
by poison. And who is there, if he had not a good genius at his elbow, as
hath my son, but would not bear such a suspicion of his father, but would
revenge himself upon him? Dost thou suppose that thou hast only dropped a
word for him to think of, and not rather hast put a sword into his hand to
slay his father? And what dost thou mean, when thou really hatest both him
and his brother, to pretend kindness to them, only in order to raise a
reproach against me, and talk of such things as no one but such an impious
wretch as thou art could either devise in their mind, or declare in their
words? Begone, thou art such a plague to thy benefactor and thy brother,
and may that evil conscience of thine go along with thee; while I still
overcome my relations by kindness, and am so far from avenging myself of
them, as they deserve, that I bestow greater benefits upon them than they
are worthy of.”
5. Thus did the king speak. Whereupon Pheroras, who was caught in the very
act of his villainy, said that “it was Salome who was the framer of this
plot, and that the words came from her.” But as soon as she heard that,
for she was at hand, she cried out, like one that would be believed, that
no such thing ever came out of her mouth; that they all earnestly
endeavored to make the king hate her, and to make her away, because of the
good-will she bore to Herod, and because she was always foreseeing the
dangers that were coming upon him, and that at present there were more
plots against him than usual; for while she was the only person who
persuaded her brother to put away the wife he now had, and to take the
king’s daughter, it was no wonder if she were hated by him. As she said
this, and often tore her hair, and often beat her breast, her countenance
made her denial to be believed; but the peverseness of her manners
declared at the same time her dissimulation in these proceedings; but
Pheroras was caught between them, and had nothing plausible to offer in
his own defense, while he confessed that he had said what was charged upon
him, but was not believed when he said he had heard it from Salome; so the
confusion among them was increased, and their quarrelsome words one to
another. At last the king, out of his hatred to his brother and sister,
sent them both away; and when he had commended the moderation of his son,
and that he had himself told him of the report, he went in the evening to
refresh himself. After such a contest as this had fallen out among them,
Salome’s reputation suffered greatly, since she was supposed to have first
raised the calumny; and the king’s wives were grieved at her, as knowing
she was a very ill-natured woman, and would sometimes be a friend, and
sometimes an enemy, at different seasons: so they perpetually said one
thing or another against her; and somewhat that now fell out made them the
bolder in speaking against her.
6. There was one Obodas, king of Arabia, an inactive and slothful man in
his nature; but Sylleus managed most of his affairs for him. He was a
shrewd man, although he was but young, and was handsome withal. This
Sylleus, upon some occasion coming to Herod, and supping with him, saw
Salome, and set his heart upon her; and understanding that she was a
widow, he discoursed with her. Now because Salome was at this time less in
favor with her brother, she looked upon Sylleus with some passion, and was
very earnest to be married to him; and on the days following there
appeared many, and those very great, indications of their agreement
together. Now the women carried this news to the king, and laughed at the
indecency of it; whereupon Herod inquired about it further of Pheroras,
and desired him to observe them at supper, how their behavior was one
toward another; who told him, that by the signals which came from their
heads and their eyes, they both were evidently in love. After this,
Sylleus the Arabian being suspected, went away, but came again in two or
three months afterwards, as it were on that very design, and spake to
Herod about it, and desired that Salome might be given him to wife; for
that his affinity might not be disadvantageous to his affairs, by a union
with Arabia, the government of which country was already in effect under
his power, and more evidently would be his hereafter. Accordingly, when
Herod discoursed with his sister about it, and asked her whether she were
disposed to this match, she immediately agreed to it. But when Sylleus was
desired to come over to the Jewish religion, and then he should marry her,
and that it was impossible to do it on any other terms, he could not bear
that proposal, and went his way; for he said, that if he should do so, he
should be stoned by the Arabs. Then did Pheroras reproach Salome for her
incontinency, as did the women much more; and said that Sylleus had
debauched her. As for that damsel which the king had betrothed to his
brother Pheroras, but he had not taken her, as I have before related,
because he was enamored on his former wife, Salome desired of Herod she
might be given to her son by Costobarus; which match he was very willing
to, but was dissuaded from it by Pheroras, who pleaded that this young man
would not be kind to her, since his father had been slain by him, and that
it was more just that his son, who was to be his successor in the
tetrarchy, should have her. So he begged his pardon, and persuaded him to
do so. Accordingly the damsel, upon this change of her espousals, was
disposal of to this young man, the son of Pheroras, the king giving for
her portion a hundred talents.
CHAPTER 8. How Herod Took Up Alexander And Bound Him; Whom Yet Archelaus
King Of Cappadocia Reconciled To His Father Herod Again.
1. But still the affairs of Herod’s family were no better, but perpetually
more troublesome. Now this accident happened, which arose from no decent
occasion, but proceeded so far as to bring great difficulties upon him.
There were certain eunuchs which the king had, and on account of their
beauty was very fond of them; and the care of bringing him drink was
intrusted to one of them; of bringing him his supper, to another; and of
putting him to bed, to the third, who also managed the principal affairs
of the government; and there was one told the king that these eunuchs were
corrupted by Alexander the king’s son with great sums of money. And when
they were asked whether Alexander had had criminal conversation with them,
they confessed it, but said they knew of no further mischief of his
against his father; but when they were more severely tortured, and were in
the utmost extremity, and the tormentors, out of compliance with
Antipater, stretched the rack to the very utmost, they said that Alexander
bare great ill-will and innate hatred to his father; and that he told them
that Herod despaired to live much longer; and that, in order to cover his
great age, he colored his hair black, and endeavored to conceal what would
discover how old he was; but that if he would apply himself to him, when
he should attain the kingdom, which, in spite of his father, could come to
no one else, he should quickly have the first place in that kingdom under
him, for that he was now ready to take the kingdom, not only as his
birth-right, but by the preparations he had made for obtaining it, because
a great many of the rulers, and a great many of his friends, were of his
side, and those no ill men neither, ready both to do and to suffer
whatsoever should come on that account.
2. When Herod heard this confession, he was all over anger and fear, some
parts seeming to him reproachful, and some made him suspicious of dangers
that attended him, insomuch that on both accounts he was provoked, and
bitterly afraid lest some more heavy plot was laid against him than he
should be then able to escape from; whereupon he did not now make an open
search, but sent about spies to watch such as he suspected, for he was now
overrun with suspicion and hatred against all about him; and indulging
abundance of those suspicions, in order to his preservation, he continued
to suspect those that were guiltless; nor did he set any bounds to
himself, but supposing that those who staid with him had the most power to
hurt him, they were to him very frightful; and for those that did not use
to come to him, it seemed enough to name them [to make them suspected],
and he thought himself safer when they were destroyed. And at last his
domestics were come to that pass, that being no way secure of escaping
themselves, they fell to accusing one another, and imagining that he who
first accused another was most likely to save himself; yet when any had
overthrown others, they were hated; and they were thought to suffer justly
who unjustly accused others, and they only thereby prevented their own
accusation; nay, they now executed their own private enmities by this
means, and when they were caught, they were punished in the same way. Thus
these men contrived to make use of this opportunity as an instrument and a
snare against their enemies; yet when they tried it, were themselves
caught also in the same snare which they laid for others: and the king
soon repented of what he had done, because he had no clear evidence of the
guilt of those whom he had slain; and yet what was still more severe in
him, he did not make use of his repentance, in order to leave off doing
the like again, but in order to inflict the same punishment upon their
accusers.
3. And in this state of disorder were the affairs of the palace; and he
had already told many of his friends directly that they ought not to
appear before him, nor come into the palace; and the reason of this
injunction was, that [when they were there], he had less freedom of
acting, or a greater restraint on himself on their account; for at this
time it was that he expelled Andromachus and Gamellus, men who had of old
been his friends, and been very useful to him in the affairs of his
kingdom, and been of advantage to his family, by their embassages and
counsels; and had been tutors to his sons, and had in a manner the first
degree of freedom with him. He expelled Andromachus, because his son
Demetrius was a companion to Alexander; and Gamellus, because he knew that
he wished him well, which arose from his having been with him in his
youth, when he was at school, and absent at Rome. These he expelled out of
his palace, and was willing enough to have done worse by them; but that he
might not seem to take such liberty against men of so great reputation, he
contented himself with depriving them of their dignity, and of their power
to hinder his wicked proceedings.
4. Now it was Antipater who was the cause of all this; who when he knew
what a mad and licentious way of acting his father was in, and had been a
great while one of his counselors, he hurried him on, and then thought he
should bring him to do somewhat to purpose, when every one that could
oppose him was taken away. When therefore Andromachus and his friends were
driven away, and had no discourse nor freedom with the king any longer,
the king, in the first place, examined by torture all whom he thought to
be faithful to Alexander, Whether they knew of any of his attempts against
him; but these died without having any thing to say to that matter, which
made the king more zealous [after discoveries], when he could not find out
what evil proceedings he suspected them of. As for Antipater, he was very
sagacious to raise a calumny against those that were really innocent, as
if their denial was only their constancy and fidelity [to Alexander], and
thereupon provoked Herod to discover by the torture of great numbers what
attempts were still concealed. Now there was a certain person among the
many that were tortured, who said that he knew that the young man had
often said, that when he was commended as a tall man in his body, and a
skillful marksman, and that in his other commendable exercises he exceeded
all men, these qualifications given him by nature, though good in
themselves, were not advantageous to him, because his father was grieved
at them, and envied him for them; and that when he walked along with his
father, he endeavored to depress and shorten himself, that he might not
appear too tall; and that when he shot at any thing as he was hunting,
when his father was by, he missed his mark on purpose, for he knew how
ambitious his father was of being superior in such exercises. So when the
man was tormented about this saying, and had ease given his body after it,
he added, that he had his brother Aristobulus for his assistance, and
contrived to lie in wait for their father, as they were hunting, and kill
him; and when they had done so to fly to Rome, and desire to have the
kingdom given them. There were also letters of the young man found,
written to his brother, wherein he complained that his father did not act
justly in giving Antipater a country, whose [yearly] revenues amounted to
two hundred talents. Upon these confessions Herod presently thought he had
somewhat to depend on, in his own opinion, as to his suspicion about his
sons; so he took up Alexander and bound him: yet did he still continue to
be uneasy, and was not quite satisfied of the truth of what he had heard;
and when he came to recollect himself, he found that they had only made
juvenile complaints and contentions, and that it was an incredible thing,
that when his son should have slain him, he should openly go to Rome [to
beg the kingdom]; so he was desirous to have some surer mark of his son’s
wickedness, and was very solicitous about it, that he might not appear to
have condemned him to be put in prison too rashly; so he tortured the
principal of Alexander’s friends, and put not a few of them to death,
without getting any of the things out of them which he suspected. And
while Herod was very busy about this matter, and the palace was full of
terror and trouble, one of the younger sort, when he was in the utmost
agony, confessed that Alexander had sent to his friends at Rome, and
desired that he might be quickly invited thither by Cæsar, and that he
could discover a plot against him; that Mithridates, the king of Parthia,
was joined in friendship with his father against the Romans, and that he
had a poisonous potion ready prepared at Askelori.
5. To these accusations Herod gave credit, and enjoyed hereby, in his
miserable case, some sort of consolation, in excuse of his rashness, as
flattering himself with finding things in so bad a condition; but as for
the poisonous potion, which he labored to find, he could find none. As for
Alexander, he was very desirous to aggravate the vast misfortunes he was
under, so he pretended not to deny the accusations, but punished the
rashness of his father with a greater crime of his own; and perhaps he was
willing to make his father ashamed of his easy belief of such calumnies:
he aimed especially, if he could gain belief to his story, to plague him
and his whole kingdom; for he wrote four letters, and sent them to him,
that he did not need to torture any more persons, for he had plotted
against him; and that he had for his partners Pheroras and the most
faithful of his friends; and that Salome came in to him by night, and that
she lay with him whether he would or not; and that all men were come to be
of one mind, to make away with him as soon as they could, and so get clear
of the continual fear they were in from him. Among these were accused
Ptolemy and Sapinnius, who were the most faithful friends to the king. And
what more can be said, but that those who before were the most intimate
friends, were become wild beasts to one another, as if a certain madness
had fallen upon them, while there was no room for defense or refutation,
in order to the discovery of the truth, but all were at random doomed to
destruction; so that some lamented those that were in prison, some those
that were put to death, and others lamented that they were in expectation
of the same miseries; and a melancholy solitude rendered the kingdom
deformed, and quite the reverse to that happy state it was formerly in.
Herod’s own life also was entirely disturbed; and because he could trust
nobody, he was sorely punished by the expectation of further misery; for
he often fancied in his imagination that his son had fallen upon him, or
stood by him with a sword in his hand; and thus was his mind night and day
intent upon this thing, and revolved it over and over, no otherwise than
if he were under a distraction. And this was the sad condition Herod was
now in.
6. But when Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, heard of the state that Herod
was in, and being in great distress about his daughter, and the young man
[her husband], and grieving with Herod, as with a man that was his friend,
on account of so great a disturbance as he was under, he came [to
Jerusalem] on purpose to compose their differences; and when he found
Herod in such a temper, he thought it wholly unseasonable to reprove him,
or to pretend that he had done any thing rashly, for that he should
thereby naturally bring him to dispute the point with him, and by still
more and more apologizing for himself to be the more irritated: he went,
therefore, another way to work, in order to correct the former
misfortunes, and appeared angry at the young man, and said that Herod had
been so very mild a man, that he had not acted a rash part at all. He also
said he would dissolve his daughter’s marriage with Alexander, nor could
in justice spare his own daughter, if she were conscious of any thing, and
did not inform Herod of it. When Archelaus appeared to be of this temper,
and otherwise than Herod expected or imagined, and, for the main, took
Herod’s part, and was angry on his account, the king abated of his
harshness, and took occasion from his appearing to have acted justly
hitherto, to come by degrees to put on the affection of a father, and was
on both sides to be pitied; for when some persons refuted the calumnies
that were laid on the young man, he was thrown into a passion; but when
Archelaus joined in the accusation, he was dissolved into tears and sorrow
after an affectionate manner. Accordingly, he desired that he would not
dissolve his son’s marriage, and became not so angry as before for his
offenses. So when Archelaus had brought him to a more moderate temper, he
transferred the calumnies upon his friends; and said it must be owing to
them that so young a man, and one unacquainted with malice, was corrupted;
and he supposed that there was more reason to suspect the brother than the
soft. Upon which Herod was very much displeased at Pheroras, who indeed
now had no one that could make a reconciliation between him and his
brother. So when he saw that Archelaus had the greatest power with Herod,
he betook himself to him in the habit of a mourner, and like one that had
all the signs upon him of an undone man. Upon this Archelaus did not
overlook the intercession he made to him, nor yet did he undertake to
change the king’s disposition towards him immediately; and he said that it
was better for him to come himself to the king, and confess himself the
occasion of all; that this would make the king’s anger not to be
extravagant towards him, and that then he would be present to assist him.
When he had persuaded him to this, he gained his point with both of them;
and the calumnies raised against the young man were, beyond all
expectation, wiped off. And Archelaus, as soon as he had made the
reconciliation, went then away to Cappadocia, having proved at this
juncture of time the most acceptable person to Herod in the world; on
which account he gave him the richest presents, as tokens of his respects
to him; and being on other occasions magnanimous, he esteemed him one of
his dearest friends. He also made an agreement with him that he would go
to Rome, because he had written to Cæsar about these affairs; so they
went together as far as Antioch, and there Herod made a reconciliation
between Archelaus and Titus, the president of Syria, who had been greatly
at variance, and so returned back to Judea.
CHAPTER 9. Concerning The Revolt Of The Trachonites; How Sylleus Accused
Herod Before Cæsar; And How Herod, When Cæsar Was Angry At Him, Resolved
To Send Nicolaus To Rome.
1. When Herod had been at Rome, and was come back again, a war arose
between him and the Arabians, on the occasion following: The inhabitants
of Trachonitis, after Cæsar had taken the country away from Zenodorus,
and added it to Herod, had not now power to rob, but were forced to plough
the land, and to live quietly, which was a thing they did not like; and
when they did take that pains, the ground did not produce much fruit for
them. However, at the first the king would not permit them to rob, and so
they abstained from that unjust way of living upon their neighbors, which
procured Herod a great reputation for his care. But when he was sailing to
Rome, it was at that time when he went to accuse his son Alexander, and to
commit Antipater to Cæsar’s protection, the Trachonites spread a report
as if he were dead, and revolted from his dominion, and betook themselves
again to their accustomed way of robbing their neighbors; at which time
the king’s commanders subdued them during his absence; but about forty of
the principal robbers, being terrified by those that had been taken, left
the country, and retired into Arabia, Sylleus entertaining them, after he
had missed of marrying Salome, and gave them a place of strength, in which
they dwelt. So they overran not only Judea, but all Celesyria also, and
carried off the prey, while Sylleus afforded them places of protection and
quietness during their wicked practices. But when Herod came back from
Rome, he perceived that his dominions had greatly suffered by them; and
since he could not reach the robbers themselves, because of the secure
retreat they had in that country, and which the Arabian government
afforded them, and yet being very uneasy at the injuries they had done
him, he went all over Trachonitis, and slew their relations; whereupon
these robbers were more angry than before, it being a law among them to be
avenged on the murderers of their relations by all possible means; so they
continued to tear and rend every thing under Herod’s dominion with
impunity. Then did he discourse about these robberies to Saturninus and
Volumnius, and required that they should be punished; upon which occasion
they still the more confirmed themselves in their robberies, and became
more numerous, and made very great disturbances, laying waste the
countries and villages that belonged to Herod’s kingdom, and killing those
men whom they caught, till these unjust proceedings came to be like a real
war, for the robbers were now become about a thousand;—at which
Herod was sore displeased, and required the robbers, as well as the money
which he had lent Obodas, by Sylleus, which was sixty talents, and since
the time of payment was now past, he desired to have it paid him; but
Sylleus, who had laid Obodas aside, and managed all by himself, denied
that the robbers were in Arabia, and put off the payment of the money;
about which there was a hearing before Saturninus and Volumnius, who were
then the presidents of Syria. 11 At
last he, by their means, agreed, that within thirty days’ time Herod
should be paid his money, and that each of them should deliver up the
other’s subjects reciprocally. Now, as to Herod, there was not one of the
other’s subjects found in his kingdom, either as doing any injustice, or
on any other account, but it was proved that the Arabians had the robbers
amongst them.
2. When this day appointed for payment of the money was past, without
Sylleus’s performing any part of his agreement, and he was gone to Rome,
Herod demanded the payment of the money, and that the robbers that were in
Arabia should be delivered up; and, by the permission of Saturninus and
Volumnius, executed the judgment himself upon those that were refractory.
He took an army that he had, and let it into Arabia, and in three days’
time marched seven mansions; and when he came to the garrison wherein the
robbers were, he made an assault upon them, and took them all, and
demolished the place, which was called Raepta, but did no harm to any
others. But as the Arabians came to their assistance, under Naceb their
captain, there ensued a battle, wherein a few of Herod’s soldiers, and
Naceb, the captain of the Arabians, and about twenty of his soldiers,
fell, while the rest betook themselves to flight. So when he had brought
these to punishment, he placed three thousand Idumeans in Trachonitis, and
thereby restrained the robbers that were there. He also sent an account to
the captains that were about Phoenicia, and demonstrated that he had done
nothing but what he ought to do, in punishing the refractory Arabians,
which, upon an exact inquiry, they found to be no more than what was true.
3. However, messengers were hasted away to Sylleus to Rome, and informed
him what had been done, and, as is usual, aggravated every thing. Now
Sylleus had already insinuated himself into the knowledge of Cæsar, and
was then about the palace; and as soon as he heard of these things, he
changed his habit into black, and went in, and told Cæsar that Arabia was
afflicted with war, and that all his kingdom was in great confusion, upon
Herod’s laying it waste with his army; and he said, with tears in his
eyes, that two thousand five hundred of the principal men among the
Arabians had been destroyed, and that their captain Nacebus, his familiar
friend and kinsman, was slain; and that the riches that were at Raepta
were carried off; and that Obodas was despised, whose infirm state of body
rendered him unfit for war; on which account neither he, nor the Arabian
army, were present. When Sylleus said so, and added invidiously, that he
would not himself have come out of the country, unless he had believed
that Cæsar would have provided that they should all have peace one with
another, and that, had he been there, he would have taken care that the
war should not have been to Herod’s advantage; Cæsar was provoked when
this was said, and asked no more than this one question, both of Herod’s
friends that were there, and of his own friends, who were come from Syria,
Whether Herod had led an army thither? And when they were forced to
confess so much, Cæsar, without staying to hear for what reason he did
it, and how it was done, grew very angry, and wrote to Herod sharply. The
sum of his epistle was this, that whereas of old he had used him as his
friend, he should now use him as his subject. Sylleus also wrote an
account of this to the Arabians, who were so elevated with it, that they
neither delivered up the robbers that had fled to them, nor paid the money
that was due; they retained those pastures also which they had hired, and
kept them without paying their rent, and all this because the king of the
Jews was now in a low condition, by reason of Cæsar’s anger at him. Those
of Trachonitis also made use of this opportunity, and rose up against the
Idumean garrison, and followed the same way of robbing with the Arabians,
who had pillaged their country, and were more rigid in their unjust
proceedings, not only in order to get by it, but by way of revenge also.
4. Now Herod was forced to bear all this, that confidence of his being
quite gone with which Cæsar’s favor used to inspire him; for Cæsar would
not admit so much as an embassage from him to ‘make an apology for him;
and when they came again, he sent them away without success. So he was
cast into sadness and fear; and Sylleus’s circumstances grieved him
exceedingly, who was now believed by Cæsar, and was present at Rome, nay,
sometimes aspiring higher. Now it came to pass that Obodas was dead; and
Aeneas, whose name was afterward changed to Aretas, 12
took the government, for Sylleus endeavored by calumnies to get him turned
out of his principality, that he might himself take it; with which design
he gave much money to the courtiers, and promised much money to Cæsar,
who indeed was angry that Aretas had not sent to him first before he took
the kingdom; yet did Aeneas send an epistle and presents to Cæsar, and a
golden crown, of the weight of many talents. Now that epistle accused
Sylleus as having been a wicked servant, and having killed Obodas by
poison; and that while he was alive, he had governed him as he pleased;
and had also debauched the wives of the Arabians; and had borrowed money,
in order to obtain the dominion for himself: yet did not Cæsar give heed
to these accusations, but sent his ambassadors back, without receiving any
of his presents. But in the mean time the affairs of Judea and Arabia
became worse and worse, partly because of the anarchy they were under, and
partly because, as bad as they were, nobody had power to govern them; for
of the two kings, the one was not yet confirmed in his kingdom, and so had
not authority sufficient to restrain the evil-doers; and as for Herod,
Cæsar was immediately angry at him for having avenged himself, and so he
was compelled to bear all the injuries that were offered him. At length,
when he saw no end of the mischief which surrounded him, he resolved to
send ambassadors to Rome again, to see whether his friends had prevailed
to mitigate Cæsar, and to address themselves to Cæsar himself; and the
ambassador he sent thither was Nicolans of Damascus.
CHAPTER 10. How Eurycles Falsely Accused Herod’s Sons; And How Their
Father Bound Them, And Wrote To Cæsar About Them. Of Sylleus And How He
Was Accused By Nicolaus.
1. The disorders about Herod’s family and children about this time grew
much worse; for it now appeared certain, nor was it unforeseen
before-hand, that fortune threatened the greatest and most insupportable
misfortunes possible to his kingdom. Its progress and augmentation at this
time arose on the occasion following: One Eurycles, a Lacedemonian, [a
person of note there, but a man of a perverse mind, and so cunning in his
ways of voluptuousness and flattery, as to indulge both, and yet seem to
indulge neither of them,] came in his travels to Herod, and made him
presents, but so that he received more presents from him. He also took
such proper seasons for insinuating himself into his friendship, that he
became one of the most intimate of the king’s friends. He had his lodging
in Antipater’s house; but he had not only access, but free conversation,
with Alexander, as pretending to him that he was in great favor with
Archelaus, the king of Cappadocia; whence he pretended much respect to
Glaphyra, and in an occult manner cultivated a friendship with them all;
but always attending to what was said and done, that he might be furnished
with calumnies to please them all. In short, he behaved himself so to
every body in his conversation, as to appear to be his particular friend,
and he made others believe that his being any where was for that person’s
advantage. So he won upon Alexander, who was but young; and persuaded him
that he might open his grievances to him with assurance and with nobody
else. So he declared his grief to him, how his father was alienated from
him. He related to him also the affairs of his mother, and of Antipater;
that he had driven them from their proper dignity, and had the power over
every thing himself; that no part of this was tolerable, since his father
was already come to hate them; and he added, that he would neither admit
them to his table, nor to his conversation. Such were the complaints, as
was but natural, of Alexander about the things that troubled him; and
these discourses Eurycles carried to Antipater, and told him he did not
inform him of this on his own account, but that being overcome by his
kindness, the great importance of the thing obliged him to do it; and he
warned him to have a care of Alexander, for that what he said was spoken
with vehemency, and that, in consequence of what he said, he would
certainly kill him with his own hand. Whereupon Antipater, thinking him to
be his friend by this advice, gave him presents upon all occasions, and at
length persuaded him to inform Herod of what he had heard. So when he
related to the king Alexander’s ill temper, as discovered by the words he
had heard him speak, he was easily believed by him; and he thereby brought
the king to that pass, turning him about by his words, and irritating him,
till he increased his hatred to him and made him implacable, which he
showed at that very time, for he immediately gave Eurycles a present of
fifty talents; who, when he had gotten them, went to Archelaus, king of
Cappadocia, and commended Alexander before him, and told him that he had
been many ways of advantage to him, in making a reconciliation between him
and his father. So he got money from him also, and went away, before his
pernicious practices were found out; but when Eurycles was returned to
Lacedemon, he did not leave off doing mischief; and so, for his many acts
of injustice, he was banished from his own country.
2. But as for the king of the Jews, he was not now in the temper he was in
formerly towards Alexander and Aristobulus, when he had been content with
the hearing their calumnies when others told him of them; but he was now
come to that pass as to hate them himself, and to urge men to speak
against them, though they did not do it of themselves. He also observed
all that was said, and put questions, and gave ear to every one that would
but speak, if they could but say any thing against them, till at length he
heard that Euaratus of Cos was a conspirator with Alexander; which thing
to Herod was the most agreeable and sweetest news imaginable.
3. But still a greater misfortune came upon the young men; while the
calumnies against them were continually increased, and, as a man may say,
one would think it was every one’s endeavor to lay some grievous thing to
their charge, which might appear to be for the king’s preservation. There
were two guards of Herod’s body, who were in great esteem for their
strength and tallness, Jucundus and Tyrannus; these men had been cast off
by Herod, who was displeased at them; these now used to ride along with
Alexander, and for their skill in their exercises were in great esteem
with him, and had some gold and other gifts bestowed on them. Now the king
having an immediate suspicion of those men, had them tortured, who endured
the torture courageously for a long time; but at last confessed that
Alexander would have persuaded them to kill Herod, when he was in pursuit
of the wild beasts, that it might be said he fell from his horse, and was
run through with his own spear, for that he had once such a misfortune
formerly. They also showed where there was money hidden in the stable
under ground; and these convicted the king’s chief hunter, that he had
given the young men the royal hunting spears and weapons to Alexander’s
dependents, at Alexander’s command.
4. After these, the commander of the garrison of Alexandrium was caught
and tortured; for he was accused to have promised to receive the young men
into his fortress, and to supply them with that money of the king’s which
was laid up in that fortress, yet did not he acknowledge any thing of it
himself; but his son came ill, and said it was so, and delivered up the
writing, which, so far as could be guessed, was in Alexander’s hand. Its
contents were these: “When we have finished, by God’s help, all that we
have proposed to do, we will come to you; but do your endeavors, as you
have promised, to receive us into your fortress.” After this writing was
produced, Herod had no doubt about the treacherous designs of his sons
against him. But Alexander said that Diophantus the scribe had imitated
his hand, and that the paper was maliciously drawn up by Antipater; for
Diophantus appeared to be very cunning in such practices; and as he was
afterward convicted of forging other papers, he was put to death for it.
5. So the king produced those that had been tortured before the multitude
at Jericho, in order to have them accuse the young men, which accusers
many of the people stoned to death; and when they were going to kill
Alexander and Aristobulus likewise, the king would not permit them to do
so, but restrained the multitude, by the means of Ptolemy and Pheroras.
However, the young men were put under a guard, and kept in custody, that
nobody might come at them; and all that they did or said was watched, and
the reproach and fear they were in was little or nothing different from
those of condemned criminals: and one of them, who was Aristobulus, was so
deeply affected, that he brought Salome, who was his aunt, and his
mother-in-law, to lament with him for his calamities, and to hate him who
had suffered things to come to that pass; when he said to her, “Art thou
not in danger of destruction also, while the report goes that thou hadst
disclosed beforehand all our affairs to Syllcus, when thou wast in hopes
of being married to him?” But she immediately carried these words to her
brother. Upon this he was out of patience, and gave command to bind him;
and enjoined them both, now they were kept separate one from the other, to
write down the ill things they had done against their father, and bring
the writings to him, So when this was enjoined them, they wrote this, that
they had laid no treacherous designs, nor made any preparations against
their father, but that they had intended to fly away; and that by the
distress they were in, their lives being now uncertain and tedious to
them.
6. About this time there came an ambassador out of Cappadocia from
Archelaus, whose name was Melas; he was one of the principal rulers under
him. So Herod, being desirous to show Archelaus’s ill-will to him, called
for Alexander, as he was in his bonds, and asked him again concerning his
fight, whether and how they had resolved to retire Alexander replied, To
Archelaus, who had promised to send them away to Rome; but that they had
no wicked nor mischievous designs against their father, and that nothing
of that nature which their adversaries had charged upon them was true; and
that their desire was, that he might have examined Tyrannus and Jucundus
more strictly, but that they had been suddenly slain by the means of
Antipater, who put his own friends among the multitude [for that purpose].
7. When this was said, Herod commanded that both Alexander and Melas
should be carried to Glaphyra, Archelaus’s daughter, and that she should
be asked, whether she did not know somewhat of Alexander’s treacherous
designs against Herod? Now as soon as they were come to her, and she saw
Alexander in bonds, she beat her head, and in a great consternation gave a
deep and moving groan. The young man also fell into tears. This was so
miserable a spectacle to those present, that, for a great while, they were
not able to say or to do any thing; but at length Ptolemy, who was ordered
to bring Alexander, bid him say whether his wife was conscious of his
actions. He replied, “How is it possible that she, whom I love better than
my own soul, and by whom I have had children, should not know what I do?”
Upon which she cried out that she knew of no wicked designs of his; but
that yet, if her accusing herself falsely would tend to his preservation,
she would confess it all. Alexander replied, “There is no such wickedness
as those [who ought the least of all so to do] suspect, which either I
have imagined, or thou knowest of, but this only, that we had resolved to
retire to Archelaus, and from thence to Rome.” Which she also confessed.
Upon which Herod, supposing that Archelaus’s ill-will to him was fully
proved, sent a letter by Olympus and Volumnius; and bid them, as they
sailed by, to touch at Eleusa of Cilicia, and give Archelaus the letter.
And that when they had ex-postulated with him, that he had a hand in his
son’s treacherous design against him, they should from thence sail to
Rome; and that, in case they found Nicolaus had gained any ground, and
that Cæsar was no longer displeased at him, he should give him his
letters, and the proofs which he had ready to show against the young men.
As to Archelaus, he made his defense for himself, that he had promised to
receive the young men, because it was both for their own and their
father’s advantage so to do, lest some too severe procedure should be gone
upon in that anger and disorder they were in on occasion of the present
suspicions; but that still he had not promised to send them to Cæsar; and
that he had not promised any thing else to the young men that could show
any ill-will to him.
8. When these ambassadors were come to Rome, they had a fit opportunity of
delivering their letters to Cæsar, because they found him reconciled to
Herod; for the circumstances of Nicolaus’s embassage had been as follows:
As soon as he was come to Rome, and was about the court, he did not first
of all set about what he was come for only, but he thought fit also to
accuse Sylleus. Now the Arabians, even before he came to talk with them,
were quarrelling one with another; and some of them left Sylleus’s party,
and joining themselves to Nicolaus, informed him of all the wicked things
that had been done; and produced to him evident demonstrations of the
slaughter of a great number of Obodas’s friends by Sylleus; for when these
men left Sylleus, they had carried off with them those letters whereby
they could convict him. When Nicolaus saw such an opportunity afforded
him, he made use of it, in order to gain his own point afterward, and
endeavored immediately to make a reconciliation between Cæsar and Herod;
for he was fully satisfied, that if he should desire to make a defense for
Herod directly, he should not be allowed that liberty; but that if he
desired to accuse Sylleus, there would an occasion present itself of
speaking on Herod’s behalf. So when the cause was ready for a hearing, and
the day was appointed, Nicolaus, while Aretas’s ambassadors were present,
accused Sylleus, and said that he imputed to him the destruction of the
king [Obodas], and of many others of the Arabians; that he had borrowed
money for no good design; and he proved that he had been guilty of
adultery, not only with the Arabian, but Reinan women also. And he added,
that above all the rest he had alienated Cæsar from Herod, and that all
that he had said about the actions of Herod were falsities. When Nicolaus
was come to this topic, Cæsar stopped him from going on, and desired him
only to speak to this affair of Herod, and to show that he had not led an
army into Arabia, nor slain two thousand five hundred men there, nor taken
prisoners, nor pillaged the country. To which Nicolaus made this answer:
“I shall principally demonstrate, that either nothing at all, or but a
very little, of those imputations are true, of which thou hast been
informed; for had they been true, thou mightest justly have been still
more angry at Herod.” At this strange assertion Cæsar was very attentive;
and Nicolaus said that there was a debt due to Herod of five hundred
talents, and a bond, wherein it was written, that if the time appointed be
lapsed, it should be lawful to make a seizure out of any part of his
country. “As for the pretended army,” he said, “it was no army, but a
party sent out to require the just payment of the money; that this was not
sent immediately, nor so soon as the bond allowed, but that Sylleus had
frequently come before Saturninus and Volumnius, the presidents of Syria;
and that at last he had sworn at Berytus, by thy fortune, 13
that he would certainly pay the money within thirty days, and deliver up
the fugitives that were under his dominion. And that when Sylleus had
performed nothing of this, Herod came again before the presidents; and
upon their permission to make a seizure for his money, he, with
difficulty, went out of his country with a party of soldiers for that
purpose. And this is all the war which these men so tragically describe;
and this is the affair of the expedition into Arabia. And how can this be
called a war, when thy presidents permitted it, the covenants allowed it,
and it was not executed till thy name, O Cæsar, as well as that of the
other gods, had been profaned? And now I must speak in order about the
captives. There were robbers that dwelt in Trachonitis; at first their
number was no more than forty, but they became more afterwards, and they
escaped the punishment Herod would have inflicted on them, by making
Arabia their refuge. Sylleus received them, and supported them with food,
that they might be mischievous to all mankind, and gave them a country to
inhabit, and himself received the gains they made by robbery; yet did he
promise that he would deliver up these men, and that by the same oaths and
same time that he sware and fixed for payment of his debt: nor can he by
any means show that any other persons have at this time been taken out of
Arabia besides these, and indeed not all these neither, but only so many
as could not conceal themselves. And thus does the calumny of the
captives, which hath been so odiously represented, appear to be no better
than a fiction and a lie, made on purpose to provoke thy indignation; for
I venture to affirm that when the forces of the Arabians came upon us, and
one or two of Herod’s party fell, he then only defended himself, and there
fell Nacebus their general, and in all about twenty-five others, and no
more; whence Sylleus, by multiplying every single soldier to a hundred, he
reckons the slain to have been two thousand five hundred.”
9. This provoked Cæsar more than ever. So he turned to Sylleus full of
rage, and asked him how many of the Arabians were slain. Hereupon he
hesitated, and said he had been imposed upon. The covenants also were read
about the money he had borrowed, and the letters of the presidents of
Syria, and the complaints of the several cities, so many as had been
injured by the robbers. The conclusion was this, that Sylleus was
condemned to die, and that Cæsar was reconciled to Herod, and owned his
repentance for what severe things he had written to him, occasioned by
calumny, insomuch that he told Sylleus, that he had compelled him, by his
lying account of things, to be guilty of ingratitude against a man that
was his friend. At the last all came to this, Sylleus was sent away to
answer Herod’s suit, and to repay the debt that he owed, and after that to
be punished [with death]. But still Cæsar was offended with Aretas, that
he had taken upon himself the government, without his consent first
obtained, for he had determined to bestow Arabia upon Herod; but that the
letters he had sent hindered him from so doing; for Olympus and Volumnius,
perceiving that Cæsar was now become favorable to Herod, thought fit
immediately to deliver him the letters they were commanded by Herod to
give him concerning his sons. When Cæsar had read them, he thought it
would not be proper to add another government to him, now he was old, and
in an ill state with relation to his sons, so he admitted Aretas’s
ambassadors; and after he had just reproved him for his rashness, in not
tarrying till he received the kingdom from him, he accepted of his
presents, and confirmed him in his government.
CHAPTER 11. How Herod, By Permission From Cæsar Accused His Sons Before
An Assembly Of Judges At Berytus; And What Tero Suffered For Using A
Boundless And Military Liberty Of Speech. Concerning Also The Death Of The
Young Men And Their Burial At
Alexandrium.
So Cæsar was now reconciled to Herod, and wrote thus to him: That he was
grieved for him on account of his sons; and that in case they had been
guilty of any profane and insolent crimes against him, it would behoove
him to punish them as parricides, for which he gave him power accordingly;
but if they had only contrived to fly away, he would have him give them an
admonition, and not proceed to extremity with them. He also advised him to
get an assembly together, and to appoint some place near Berytus, 14
which is a city belonging to the Romans, and to take the presidents of
Syria, and Archelaus king of Cappadocia, and as many more as he thought to
be illustrious for their friendship to him, and the dignities they were
in, and determine what should be done by their approbation. These were the
directions that Cæsar gave him. Accordingly Herod, when the letter was
brought to him, was immediately very glad of Cæsar’s reconciliation to
him, and very glad also that he had a complete authority given him over
his sons. And it strangely came about, that whereas before, in his
adversity, though he had indeed showed himself severe, yet had he not been
very rash nor hasty in procuring the destruction of his sons; he now, in
his prosperity, took advantage of this change for the better, and the
freedom he now had, to exercise his hatred against them after an unheard
of manner; he therefore sent and called as many as he thought fit to this
assembly, excepting Archelaus; for as for him, he either hated him, so
that he would not invite him, or he thought he would be an obstacle to his
designs.
2. When the presidents, and the rest that belonged to the cities, were
come to Berytus, he kept his sons in a certain village belonging to Sidon,
called Platana, but near to this city, that if they were called, he might
produce them, for he did not think fit to bring them before the assembly:
and when there were one hundred and fifty assessors present, Herod came by
himself alone, and accused his sons, and that in such a way as if it were
not a melancholy accusation, and not made but out of necessity, and upon
the misfortunes he was under; indeed, in such a way as was very indecent
for a father to accuse his sons, for he was very vehement and disordered
when he came to the demonstration of the crime they were accused of, and
gave the greatest signs of passion and barbarity: nor would he suffer the
assessors to consider of the weight of the evidence, but asserted them to
be true by his own authority, after a manner most indecent in a father
against his sons, and read himself what they themselves had written,
wherein there was no confession of any plots or contrivances against him,
but only how they had contrived to fly away, and containing withal certain
reproaches against him, on account of the ill-will he bare them; and when
he came to those reproaches, he cried out most of all, and exaggerated
what they said, as if they had confessed the design against him, and took
his oath that he had rather lose his life than hear such reproachful
words. At last he said that he had sufficient authority, both by nature
and by Cæsar’s grant to him, [to do what he thought fit]. He also added
an allegation of a law of their country, which enjoined this: That if
parents laid their hands on the head of him that was accused, the standers
by were obliged to cast stones at him, and thereby to slay him; which
though he were ready to do in his own country and kingdom, yet did he wait
for their determination; and yet they came thither not so much as judges,
to condemn them for such manifest designs against him, whereby he had
almost perished by his sons’ means, but as persons that had an opportunity
of showing their detestation of such practices, and declaring how unworthy
a thing it must be in any, even the most remote, to pass over such
treacherous designs [without punishment].
3. When the king had said this, and the young men had not been produced to
make any defense for themselves, the assessors perceived there was no room
for equity and reconciliation, so they confirmed his authority. And in the
first place, Saturninus, a person that had been consul, and one of great
dignity, pronounced his sentence, but with great moderation and trouble;
and said that he condemned Herod’s sons, but did not think they should be
put to death. He had sons of his own, and to put one’s son to death is a
greater misfortune than any other that could befall him by their means.
After him Saturninus’s sons, for he had three sons that followed him, and
were his legates, pronounced the same sentence with their father. On the
contrary, Volumnius’s sentence was to inflict death on such as had been so
impiously undutiful to their father; and the greatest part of the rest
said the same, insomuch that the conclusion seemed to be, that the young
men were condemned to die. Immediately after this Herod came away from
thence, and took his sons to Tyre, where Nicolaus met him in his voyage
from Rome; of whom he inquired, after he had related to him what had
passed at Berytus, what his sentiments were about his sons, and what his
friends at Rome thought of that matter. His answer was, “That what they
had determined to do to thee was impious, and that thou oughtest to keep
them in prison; and if thou thinkest any thing further necessary, thou
mayst indeed so punish them, that thou mayst not appear to indulge thy
anger more than to govern thyself by judgment; but if thou inclinest to
the milder side, thou mayst absolve them, lest perhaps thy misfortunes be
rendered incurable; and this is the opinion of the greatest part of thy
friends at Rome also.” Whereupon Herod was silent, and in great
thoughtfulness, and bid Nicolaus sail along with him.
4. Now as they came to Cæsarea, every body was there talking of Herod’s
sons, and the kingdom was in suspense, and the people in great expectation
of what would become of them; for a terrible fear seized upon all men,
lest the ancient disorders of the family should come to a sad conclusion,
and they were in great trouble about their sufferings; nor was it without
danger to say any rash thing about this matter, nor even to hear another
saying it, but men’s pity was forced to be shut up in themselves, which
rendered the excess of their sorrow very irksome, but very silent yet was
there an old soldier of Herod’s, whose name was Tero, who had a son of the
same age with Alexander, and his friend, who was so very free as openly to
speak out what others silently thought about that matter; and was forced
to cry out often among the multitude, and said, in the most unguarded
manner, that truth was perished, and justice taken away from men, while
lies and ill-will prevailed, and brought such a mist before public
affairs, that the offenders were not able to see the greatest mischiefs
that can befall men. And as he was so bold, he seemed not to have kept
himself out of danger, by speaking so freely; but the reasonableness of
what he said moved men to regard him as having behaved himself with great
manhood, and this at a proper time also, for which reason every one heard
what he said with pleasure; and although they first took care of their own
safety by keeping silent themselves, yet did they kindly receive the great
freedom he took; for the expectation they were in of so great an
affliction, put a force upon them to speak of Tero whatsoever they
pleased.
5. This man had thrust himself into the king’s presence with the greatest
freedom, and desired to speak with him by himself alone, which the king
permitted him to do, where he said this: “Since I am not able, O king, to
bear up under so great a concern as I am under, I have preferred the use
of this bold liberty that I now take, which may be for thy advantage, if
thou mind to get any profit by it, before my own safety. Whither is thy
understanding gone, and left thy soul empty? Whither is that extraordinary
sagacity of thine gone whereby thou hast performed so many and such
glorious-actions? Whence comes this solitude, and desertion of thy friends
and relations? Of which I cannot but determine that they are neither thy
friends nor relations, while they overlook such horrid wickedness in thy
once happy kingdom. Dost not thou perceive what is doing? Wilt thou slay
these two young men, born of thy queen, who are accomplished with every
virtue in the highest degree, and leave thyself destitute in thy old age,
but exposed to one son, who hath very ill managed the hopes thou hast
given him,’ and to relations, whose death thou hast so often resolved on
thyself? Dost not thou take notice, that the very silence of the multitude
at once sees the crime, and abhors the fact? The whole army and the
officers have commiseration on the poor unhappy youths, and hatred to
those that are the actors in this matter.” These words the king heard, and
for some time with good temper. But what can one say? When Tero plainly
touched upon the bad behavior and perfidiousness of his domestics, he was
moved at it; but Tero went on further, and by degrees used an unbounded
military freedom of speech, nor was he so well disciplined as to
accommodate himself to the time. So Herod was greatly disturbed, and
seeming to be rather reproached by this speech, than to be hearing what
was for his advantage, while he learned thereby that both the soldiers
abhorred the thing he was about, and the officers had indignation at it,
he gave order that all whom Tero had named, and Tero himself, should be
bound and kept in prison.
6. When this was over, one Trypho, who was the king’s barber, took the
opportunity, and came and told the king, that Tero would often have
persuaded him, when he trimmed him with a razor, to cut his throat, for
that by this means he should be among the chief of Alexander’s friends,
and receive great rewards from him. When he had said this, the king gave
order that Tero, and his son, and the barber should be tortured, which was
done accordingly; but while Tero bore up himself, his son seeing his
father already in a sad case, and had no hope of deliverance, and
perceiving what would be the consequence of his terrible sufferings, said,
that if the king would free him and his father from these torments for
what he should say, he would tell the truth. And when the king had given
his word to do so, he said that there was an agreement made, that Tero
should lay violent hands on the king, because it was easy for him to come
when he was alone; and that if, when he had done the thing, he should
suffer death for it, as was not unlikely, it would be an act of generosity
done in favor of Alexander. This was what Tero’s son said, and thereby
freed his father from the distress he was in; but uncertain it is whether
he had been thus forced to speak what was true, or whether it were a
contrivance of his, in order to procure his own and his father’s
deliverance from their miseries.
7. As for Herod, if he had before any doubt about the slaughter of his
sons, there was now no longer any room left in his soul for it; but he had
banished away whatsoever might afford him the least suggestion of
reasoning better about this matter, so he already made haste to bring his
purpose to a conclusion. He also brought out three hundred of the officers
that were under an accusation, as also Tero and his son, and the barber
that accused them before an assembly, and brought an accusation against
them all; whom the multitude stoned with whatsoever came to hand, and
thereby slew them. Alexander also and Aristobulus were brought to Sebaste,
by their father’s command, and there strangled; but their dead bodies were
in the night time carried to Alexandrium, where their uncle by the
mother’s side, and the greatest part of their ancestors, had been
deposited.
8. 15
And now perhaps it may not seem unreasonable to some, that such an
inveterate hatred might increase so much [on both sides], as to proceed
further, and overcome nature; but it may justly deserve consideration,
whether it be to be laid to the charge of the young men, that they gave
such an occasion to their father’s anger, and led him to do what he did,
and by going on long in the same way put things past remedy, and brought
him to use them so unmercifully; or whether it be to be laid to the
father’s charge, that he was so hard-hearted, and so very tender in the
desire of government, and of other things that would tend to his glory,
that tae would take no one into a partnership with him, that so whatsoever
he would have done himself might continue immovable; or, indeed, whether
fortune have not greater power than all prudent reasonings; whence we are
persuaded that human actions are thereby determined beforehand by an
inevitable necessity, and we call her Fate, because there is nothing which
is not done by her; wherefore I suppose it will be sufficient to compare
this notion with that other, which attribute somewhat to ourselves, and
renders men not unaccountable for the different conducts of their lives,
which notion is no other than the philosophical determination of our
ancient law. Accordingly, of the two other causes of this sad event, any
body may lay the blame on the young men, who acted by youthful vanity, and
pride of their royal birth, that they should bear to hear the calumnies
that were raised against their father, while certainly they were not
equitable judges of the actions of his life, but ill-natured in
suspecting, and intemperate in speaking of it, and on both accounts easily
caught by those that observed them, and revealed them to gain favor; yet
cannot their father be thought worthy excuse, as to that horrid impiety
which he was guilty of about them, while he ventured, without any certain
evidence of their treacherous designs against him, and without any proofs
that they had made preparations for such attempt, to kill his own sons,
who were of very comely bodies, and the great darlings of other men, and
no way deficient in their conduct, whether it were in hunting, or in
warlike exercises, or in speaking upon occasional topics of discourse; for
in all these they were skillful, and especially Alexander, who was the
eldest; for certainly it had been sufficient, even though he had condemned
them, to have kept them alive in bonds, or to let them live at a distance
from his dominions in banishment, while he was surrounded by the Roman
forces, which were a strong security to him, whose help would prevent his
suffering any thing by a sudden onset, or by open force; but for him to
kill them on the sudden, in order to gratify a passion that governed him,
was a demonstration of insufferable impiety. He also was guilty of so
great a crime in his older age; nor will the delays that he made, and the
length of time in which the thing was done, plead at all for his excuse;
for when a man is on a sudden amazed, and in commotion of mind, and then
commits a wicked action, although this be a heavy crime, yet is it a thing
that frequently happens; but to do it upon deliberation, and after
frequent attempts, and as frequent puttings-off, to undertake it at last,
and accomplish it, was the action of a murderous mind, and such as was not
easily moved from that which is evil. And this temper he showed in what he
did afterward, when he did not spare those that seemed to be the best
beloved of his friends that were left, wherein, though the justice of the
punishment caused those that perished to be the less pitied, yet was the
barbarity of the man here equal, in that he did not abstain from their
slaughter also. But of those persons we shall have occasion to discourse
more hereafter.
FOOTNOTES
1 (return)
[ We may here observe the
ancient practice of the Jews, of dedicating the sabbath day, not to
idleness, but to the learning their sacred rites and religious customs,
and to the meditation on the law of Moses; the like to which we meet with
elsewhere in Josephus also against Apion, B. I. sect. 22.]
2 (return)
[ This interval of ten
years for the duration of Marcus Agrippa’s government in Asia seems to be
true, and agreeable to the Roman history. See Usher’s Annals at A.M.
3392.]
3 (return)
[ Although Herod met
Augustus at Aquilei, yet was this accusation of his sons deferred till
they came to Rome, as sect. 3 assures us, and as we are particularly
informed in the History of the War, B. I. ch. 23. sect. 3; though what he
here says belonged distinctly to Alexander, the elder brother, I mean his
being brought to Rome, is here justly extended to both the brothers, and
that not only in our copies, but in that of Zonaras also; nor is there
reason to doubt but they were both at this solemn hearing by Augustus,
although the defense was made by Alexander alone, who was the eldest
brother, and one that could speak very well.]
4 (return)
[ Since some prejudiced men
have indulged a wild suspicion, as we have supposed already, Antiq. B. XV.
ch. 11. sect. 7, that Josephus’s history of Herod’s rebuilding the temple
is no better than a fable, it may not be amiss to take notice of this
occasional clause in the speech of Alexander before his father Herod, in
his and his brother’s vindication, which mentions the temple as known by
every body to have been built by Herod.]
5 (return)
[ See John 2:20. See also
another speech of Herod’s own to the young men that pulled down his golden
eagle from the front of the temple, where he takes notice how the building
of the temple cost him a vast sum; and that the Asamoneans, in those one
hundred and twenty-five years they held the government, were not able to
perform so great a work, to the honor of God, as this was, Antiq. B. XVII.
ch. 6. sect. 3.]
6 (return)
[ Dr. Hudson here gives us
the words of Suetonius concerning this Nicopolis, when Augustus rebuilt
it: “And that the memory of the victory at Actium might be celebrated the
more afterward, he built Nicopolis at Actium, and appointed public shows
to be there exhibited every fifth year.” In August, sect. 18.]
7 (return)
[ Augustus here calls
Julius Cæsar his father, though by birth he was only his uncle, on
account of his adoption by him. See the same Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 14. sect.
4.]
8 (return)
[ This is authentic
evidence that the Jews, in the days of Augustus, began to prepare for the
celebration of the sabbath at the ninth hour on Friday, as the tradition
of the elders did, it seems, then require of them.]
9 (return)
[ The remaining part of
this chapter is remarkable, as justly distinguishing natural justice,
religion, and morality, from positive institutions in all countries, and
evidently preferring the former before the latter, as did the true
prophets of God always under the Old Testament, and Christ and his New;
whence Josephus seems to have been at this time nearer Christianity than
were the Scribes and Pharisees of his age; who, as we know from the New
Testament, were entirely of a different opinion and practice.]
10 (return)
[ It is here worth our
observation, how careful Josephus was as to the discovery of truth in
Herod’s history, since he would not follow Nicolaus of Damascus himself,
so great an historian, where there was great reason to suspect that he
flattered Herod; which impartiality in history Josephus here solemnly pro
fesses, and of which impartiality he has given more demonstrations than
almost any historian whomsoever; but as to Herod’s taking great wealth out
of David’s sepulcher, though I cannot prove it, yet do I strongly suspect
it from this very history.]
11 (return)
[ These joint presidents
of Syria, Saturninus and Volumnius, were not perhaps of equal authority,
but the latter like a procurator under the former, as the very learned
Noris and Pagi, and with them Dr. Hudson, determine.]
12 (return)
[ This Aretas was now
become so established a name for the kings of Arabia, [at Petra and
Damascus,] that when the crown came to this Aeneas, he changed his name to
Aretas, as Havercamp here justly observes. See Antiq. B. XIII. ch. 15.
sect, 2.]
13 (return)
[ This oath, by the
fortune of Cæsar, was put to Polycarp, a bishop of Smyrna, by the Roman
governor, to try whether he were a Christian, as they were then esteemed
who refused to swear that oath. Martyr. Polycarp, sect. 9.]
14 (return)
[ What Josephus relates
Augustus to have here said, that Berytus was a city belonging to the
Romans, is confirmed by Spanheim’s notes here: “It was,” says he, “a
colony placed there by Augustus. Whence Ulpian, De Gens. bel. L. T. XV.
The colony of Berytus was rendered famous by the benefits of Cæsar; and
thence it is that, among the coins of Augustus, we meet with some having
this inscription: The happy colony of Augustus at Berytua.”]
15 (return)
[ The reader is here to
note, that this eighth section is entirely wanting in the old Latin
version, as Spanheim truly observes; nor is there any other reason for it,
I suppose, than the great difficulty of an exact translation.]
BOOK XVII. Containing The Interval Of Fourteen Years.—From The
Death Of Alexander And Aristobulus To The Banishment Of Archelaus.
CHAPTER 1. How Antipater Was Hated By All The Nation [Of The Jews] For The
Slaughter Of His Brethren; And How, For That Reason He Got Into Peculiar
Favor With His Friends At Rome, By Giving Them Many Presents; As He Did
Also With Saturninus, The President Of Syria And The Governors Who Were
Under Him; And Concerning Herod’s Wives And Children.
1. When Antipater had thus taken off his brethren, and had brought his
father into the highest degree of impiety, till he was haunted with furies
for what he had done, his hopes did not succeed to his mind, as to the
rest of his life; for although he was delivered from the fear of his
brethren being his rivals as to the government, yet did he find it a very
hard thing, and almost impracticable, to come at the kingdom, because the
hatred of the nation against him on that account was become very great;
and besides this very disagreeable circumstance, the affair of the
soldiery grieved him still more, who were alienated from him, from which
yet these kings derived all the safety which they had, whenever they found
the nation desirous of innovation: and all this danger was drawn upon him
by his destruction of his brethren. However, he governed the nation
jointly with his father, being indeed no other than a king already; and he
was for that very reason trusted, and the more firmly depended on, for the
which he ought himself to have been put to death, as appearing to have
betrayed his brethren out of his concern for the preservation of Herod,
and not rather out of his ill-will to them, and, before them, to his
father himself: and this was the accursed state he was in. Now all
Antipater’s contrivances tended to make his way to take off Herod, that he
might have nobody to accuse him in the vile practices he was devising: and
that Herod might have no refuge, nor any to afford him their assistance,
since they must thereby have Antipater for their open enemy; insomuch that
the very plots he had laid against his brethren were occasioned by the
hatred he bore his father. But at this time he was more than ever set upon
the execution of his attempts against Herod, because if he were once dead,
the government would now be firmly secured to him; but if he were suffered
to live any longer, he should be in danger, upon a discovery of that
wickedness of which he had been the contriver, and his father would of
necessity then become his enemy. And on this account it was that he became
very bountiful to his father’s friends, and bestowed great sums on several
of them, in order to surprise men with his good deeds, and take off their
hatred against him. And he sent great presents to his friends at Rome
particularly, to gain their good-will; and above all to Saturninus, the
president of Syria. He also hoped to gain the favor of Saturninus’s
brother with the large presents he bestowed on him; as also he used the
same art to [Salome] the king’s sister, who had married one of Herod’s
chief friends. And when he counterfeited friendship to those with whom he
conversed, he was very subtle in gaining their belief, and very cunning to
hide his hatred against any that he really did hate. But he could not
impose upon his aunt, who understood him of a long time, and was a woman
not easily to be deluded, especially while she had already used all
possible caution in preventing his pernicious designs. Although
Antipeter’s uncle by the mother’s side was married to her daughter, and
this by his own connivance and management, while she had before been
married to Aristobulus, and while Salome’s other daughter by that husband
was married to the son of Calleas; yet that marriage was no obstacle to
her, who knew how wicked he was, in her discovering his designs, as her
former kindred to him could not prevent her hatred of him. Now Herod had
compelled Salome, while she was in love with Sylleus the Arabian, and had
taken a fondness for him, to marry Alexas; which match was by her
submitted to at the instance of Julia, who persuaded Salome not to refuse
it, lest she should herself be their open enemy, since Herod had sworn
that he would never be friends with Salome, if she would not accept of
Alexas for her husband; so she submitted to Julia as being Cæsar’s wife;
and besides that, she advised her to nothing but what was very much for
her own advantage. At this time also it was that Herod sent back king
Archelaus’s daughter, who had been Alexander’s wife, to her father,
returning the portion he had with her out of his own estate, that there
might be no dispute between them about it.
2. Now Herod brought up his sons’ children with great care; for Alexander
had two sons by Glaphyra; and Aristobulus had three sons by Bernice,
Salome’s daughter, and two daughters; and as his friends were once with
him, he presented the children before them; and deploring the hard fortune
of his own sons, he prayed that no such ill fortune would befall these who
were their children, but that they might improve in virtue, and obtain
what they justly deserved, and might make him amends for his care of their
education. He also caused them to be betrothed against they should come to
the proper age of marriage; the elder of Alexander’s sons to Pheroras’s
daughter, and Antipater’s daughter to Aristobulus’s eldest son. He also
allotted one of Aristobulus’s daughters to Antipater’s son, and
Aristobulus’s other daughter to Herod, a son of his own, who was born to
him by the high priest’s daughter; for it is the ancient practice among us
to have many wives at the same time. Now the king made these espousals for
the children, out of commiseration of them now they were fatherless, as
endeavoring to render Antipater kind to them by these intermarriages. But
Antipater did not fail to bear the same temper of mind to his brothers’
children which he had borne to his brothers themselves; and his father’s
concern about them provoked his indignation against them upon this
supposal, that they would become greater than ever his brothers had been;
while Archelaus, a king, would support his daughter’s sons, and Pheroras,
a tetrarch, would accept of one of the daughters as a wife to his son.
What provoked him also was this, that all the multitude would so
commiserate these fatherless children, and so hate him [for making them
fatherless], that all would come out, since they were no strangers to his
vile disposition towards his brethren. He contrived, therefore, to
overturn his father’s settlements, as thinking it a terrible thing that
they should be so related to him, and be so powerful withal. So Herod
yielded to him, and changed his resolution at his entreaty; and the
determination now was, that Antipater himself should marry Aristobulus’s
daughter, and Antipater’s son should marry Pheroras’s daughter. So the
espousals for the marriages were changed after this manner, even without
the king’s real approbation.
3. Now Herod the king had at this time nine wives; one of them Antipater’s
mother, and another the high priest’s daughter, by whom he had a son of
his own name. He had also one who was his brother’s daughter, and another
his sister’s daughter; which two had no children. One of his wives also
was of the Samaritan nation, whose sons were Antipas and Archelaus, and
whose daughter was Olympias; which daughter was afterward married to
Joseph, the king’s brother’s son; but Archelaus and Antipas were brought
up with a certain private man at Rome. Herod had also to wife Cleopatra of
Jerusalem, and by her he had his sons Herod and Philip; which last was
also brought up at Rome. Pallas also was one of his wives, which bare him
his son Phasaelus. And besides these, he had for his wives Phedra and
Elpis, by whom he had his daughters Roxana and Salome. As for his elder
daughters by the same mother with Alexander and Aristobulus, and whom
Pheroras neglected to marry, he gave the one in marriage to Antipater, the
king’s sister’s son, and the other to Phasaelus, his brother’s son. And
this was the posterity of Herod. 1
CHAPTER 2. Concerning Zamaris, The Babylonian Jew; Concerning The Plots
Laid By Antipater Against His Father; And Somewhat About The Pharisees.
1. And now it was that Herod, being desirous of securing himself on the
side of the Trachonites, resolved to build a village as large as a city
for the Jews, in the middle of that country, which might make his own
country difficult to be assaulted, and whence he might be at hand to make
sallies upon them, and do them a mischief. Accordingly, when he understood
that there was a man that was a Jew come out of Babylon, with five hundred
horsemen, all of whom could shoot their arrows as they rode on horse-back,
and, with a hundred of his relations, had passed over Euphrates, and now
abode at Antioch by Daphne of Syria, where Saturninus, who was then
president, had given them a place for habitation, called Valatha, he sent
for this man, with the multitude that followed him, and promised to give
him land in the toparchy called Batanea, which country is bounded with
Trachonitis, as desirous to make that his habitation a guard to himself.
He also engaged to let him hold the country free from tribute, and that
they should dwell entirely without paying such customs as used to be paid,
and gave it him tax-free.
2. The Babylonian was reduced by these offers to come hither; so he took
possession of the land, and built in it fortresses and a village, and
named it Bathyra. Whereby this man became a safeguard to the inhabitants
against the Trachonites, and preserved those Jews who came out of Babylon,
to offer their sacrifices at Jerusalem, from being hurt by the Trachonite
robbers; so that a great number came to him from all those parts where the
ancient Jewish laws were observed, and the country became full of people,
by reason of their universal freedom from taxes. This continued during the
life of Herod; but when Philip, who was [tetrarch] after him, took the
government, he made them pay some small taxes, and that for a little while
only; and Agrippa the Great, and his son of the same name, although they
harassed them greatly, yet would they not take their liberty away. From
whom, when the Romans have now taken the government into their own hands,
they still gave them the privilege of their freedom, but oppress them
entirely with the imposition of taxes. Of which matter I shall treat more
accurately in the progress of this history. 2
3. At length Zamaris the Babylonian, to whom Herod had given that country
for a possession, died, having lived virtuously, and left children of a
good character behind him; one of whom was Jacim, who was famous for his
valor, and taught his Babylonians how to ride their horses; and a troop of
them were guards to the forementioned kings. And when Jacim was dead in
his old age, he left a son, whose name was Philip, one of great strength
in his hands, and in other respects also more eminent for his valor than
any of his contemporaries; on which account there was a confidence and
firm friendship between him and king Agrippa. He had also an army which he
maintained as great as that of a king, which he exercised and led
wheresoever he had occasion to march.
4. When the affairs of Herod were in the condition I have described, all
the public affairs depended upon Antipater; and his power was such, that
he could do good turns to as many as he pleased, and this by his father’s
concession, in hopes of his good-will and fidelity to him; and this till
he ventured to use his power still further, because his wicked designs
were concealed from his father, and he made him believe every thing he
said. He was also formidable to all, not so much on account of the power
and authority he had, as for the shrewdness of his vile attempts
beforehand; but he who principally cultivated a friendship with him was
Pheroras, who received the like marks of his friendship; while Antipater
had cunningly encompassed him about by a company of women, whom he placed
as guards about him; for Pheroras was greatly enslaved to his wife, and to
her mother, and to her sister; and this notwithstanding the hatred he bare
them for the indignities they had offered to his virgin daughters. Yet did
he bear them, and nothing was to be done without the women, who had got
this man into their circle, and continued still to assist each other in
all things, insomuch that Antipater was entirely addicted to them, both by
himself and by his mother; for these four women, 3 said all
one and the same thing; but the opinions of Pheroras and Antipater were
different in some points of no consequence. But the king’s sister [Salome]
was their antagonist, who for a good while had looked about all their
affairs, and was apprized that this their friendship was made in order to
do Herod some mischief, and was disposed to inform the king of it. And
since these people knew that their friendship was very disagreeable to
Herod, as tending to do him a mischief, they contrived that their meetings
should not be discovered; so they pretended to hate one another, and to
abuse one another when time served, and especially when Herod was present,
or when any one was there that would tell him: but still their intimacy
was firmer than ever, when they were private. And this was the course they
took. But they could not conceal from Salome neither their first
contrivance, when they set about these their intentions, nor when they had
made some progress in them; but she searched out every thing; and,
aggravating the relations to her brother, declared to him, as well their
secret assemblies and compotations, as their counsels taken in a
clandestine manner, which if they were not in order to destroy him, they
might well enough have been open and public. But to appearance they are at
variance, and speak about one another as if they intended one another a
mischief, but agree so well together when they are out of the sight of the
multitude; for when they are alone by themselves, they act in concert, and
profess that they will never leave off their friendship, but will fight
against those from whom they conceal their designs. And thus did she
search out these things, and get a perfect knowledge of them, and then
told her brother of them, who understood also of himself a great deal of
what she said, but still durst not depend upon it, because of the
suspicions he had of his sister’s calumnies. For there was a certain sect
of men that were Jews, who valued themselves highly upon the exact skill
they had in the law of their fathers, and made men believe they were
highly favored by God, by whom this set of women were inveigled. These are
those that are called the sect of the Pharisees, who were in a capacity of
greatly opposing kings. A cunning sect they were, and soon elevated to a
pitch of open fighting and doing mischief. Accordingly, when all the
people of the Jews gave assurance of their good-will to Cæsar, and to the
king’s government, these very men did not swear, being above six thousand;
and when the king imposed a fine upon them, Pheroras’s wife paid their
fine for them. In order to requite which kindness of hers, since they were
believed to have the foreknowledge of things to come by Divine
inspiration, they foretold how God had decreed that Herod’s government
should cease, and his posterity should be deprived of it; but that the
kingdom should come to her and Pheroras, and to their children. These
predictions were not concealed from Salome, but were told the king; as
also how they had perverted some persons about the palace itself; so the
king slew such of the Pharisees as were principally accused, and Bagoas
the eunuch, and one Carus, who exceeded all men of that time in
comeliness, and one that was his catamite. He slew also all those of his
own family who had consented to what the Pharisees foretold; and for
Bagoas, he had been puffed up by them, as though he should be named the
father and the benefactor of him who, by the prediction, was foretold to
be their appointed king; for that this king would have all things in his
power, and would enable Bagoas to marry, and to have children of his own
body begotten.
CHAPTER 3. Concerning The Enmity Between Herod And Pheroras; How Herod
Sent Antipater To Cæsar; And Of The Death Of Pheroras.
1. When Herod had punished those Pharisees who had been convicted of the
foregoing crimes, he gathered an assembly together of his friends, and
accused Pheroras’s wife; and ascribing the abuses of the virgins to the
impudence of that woman, brought an accusation against her for the
dishonor she had brought upon them: that she had studiously introduced a
quarrel between him and his brother, and, by her ill temper, had brought
them into a state of war, both by her words and actions; that the fines
which he had laid had not been paid, and the offenders had escaped
punishment by her means; and that nothing which had of late been done had
been done without her; “for which reason Pheroras would do well, if he
would of his own accord, and by his own command, and not at my entreaty,
or as following my opinion, put this his wife away, as one that will still
be the occasion of war between thee and me. And now, Pheroras, if thou
valuest thy relation to me, put this wife of thine away; for by this means
thou wilt continue to be a brother to me, and wilt abide in thy love to
me.” Then said Pheroras, [although he was pressed hard by the former
words,] that as he would not do so unjust a thing as to renounce his
brotherly relation to him, so would he not leave off his affection for his
wife; that he would rather choose to die than to live, and be deprived of
a wife that was so dear unto him. Hereupon Herod put off his anger against
Pheroras on these accounts, although he himself thereby underwent a very
uneasy punishment. However, he forbade Antipater and his mother to have
any conversation with Pheroras, and bid them to take care to avoid the
assemblies of the women; which they promised to do, but still got together
when occasion served, and both Ptieroras and Antipater had their own merry
meetings. The report went also, that Antipater had criminal conversation
with Pheroras’s wife, and that they were brought together by Antipater’s
mother.
2. But Antipater had now a suspicion of his father, and was afraid that
the effects of his hatred to him might increase; so he wrote to his
friends at Rome, and bid them to send to Herod, that he would immediately
send Antipater to Cæsar; which when it was done, Herod sent Antipater
thither, and sent most noble presents along with him; as also his
testament, wherein Antipater was appointed to be his successor; and that
if Antipater should die first, his son [Herod Philip] by the high priest’s
daughter should succeed. And, together with Antipater, there went to Rome
Sylleus the Arabian, although he had done nothing of all that Cæsar had
enjoined him. Antipater also accused him of the same crimes of which he
had been formerly accused by Herod. Sylleus was also accused by Aretas,
that without his consent he had slain many of the chief of the Arabians at
Petra; and particularly Soemus, a man that deserved to be honored by all
men; and that he had slain Fabatus, a servant of Cæsar. These were the
things of which Sylleus was accused, and that on the occasion following:
There was one Corinthus, belonging to Herod, of the guards of the king’s
body, and one who was greatly trusted by him. Sylleus had persuaded this
man with the offer of a great sum of money to kill Herod; and he had
promised to do it. When Fabatus had been made acquainted with this, for
Sylleus had himself told him of it, he informed the king of it; who caught
Corinthus, and put him to the torture, and thereby got out of him the
whole conspiracy. He also caught two other Arabians, who were discovered
by Corinthus; the one the head of a tribe, and the other a friend to
Sylleus, who both were by the king brought to the torture, and confessed
that they were come to encourage Corinthus not to fail of doing what he
had undertaken to do; and to assist him with their own hands in the
murder, if need should require their assistance. So Saturninus, upon
Herod’s discovering the whole to him, sent them to Rome.
3. At this time Herod commanded Pheroras, that since he was so obstinate
in his affection for his wife, he should retire into his own tetrarchy;
which he did very willingly, and sware many oaths that he would not come
again till he heard that Herod was dead. And indeed when, upon a sickness
of the king, he was desired to come to him before he died, that he might
intrust him with some of his injunctions, he had such a regard to his
oath, that he would not come to him; yet did not Herod so retain his
hatred to Pheroras, but remitted of his purpose [not to see him], which he
before had, and that for such great causes as have been already mentioned:
but as soon as he began to be ill, he came to him, and this without being
sent for; and when he was dead, he took care of his funeral, and had his
body brought to Jerusalem, and buried there, and appointed a solemn
mourning for him. This [death of Pheroras] became the origin of
Antipater’s misfortunes, although he were already sailed for Rome, God now
being about to punish him for the murder of his brethren, I will explain
the history of this matter very distinctly, that it may be for a warning
to mankind, that they take care of conducting their whole lives by the
rules of virtue.
CHAPTER 4. Pheroras’s Wife Is Accused By His Freedmen, As Guilty Of
Poisoning Him; And How Herod, Upon Examining; Of The Matter By Torture
Found The Poison; But So That It Had Been Prepared For Himself By His Son
Antipater; And Upon An Inquiry By Torture He Discovered The Dangerous
Designs Of Antipater.
1. As soon as Pheroras was dead, and his funeral was over, two of
Pheroras’s freed-men, who were much esteemed by him, came to Herod, and
entreated him not to leave the murder of his brother without avenging it,
but to examine into such an unreasonable and unhappy death. When he was
moved with these words, for they seemed to him to be true, they said that
Pheroras supped with his wife the day before he fell sick, and that a
certain potion was brought him in such a sort of food as he was not used
to eat; but that when he had eaten, he died of it: that this potion was
brought out of Arabia by a woman, under pretense indeed as a love-potion,
for that was its name, but in reality to kill Pheroras; for that the
Arabian women are skillful in making such poisons: and the woman to whom
they ascribe this was confessedly a most intimate friend of one of
Sylleus’s mistresses; and that both the mother and the sister of
Pheroras’s wife had been at the places where she lived, and had persuaded
her to sell them this potion, and had come back and brought it with them
the day before that his supper. Hereupon the king was provoked, and put
the women slaves to the torture, and some that were free with them; and as
the fact did not yet appear, because none of them would confess it, at
length one of them, under the utmost agonies, said no more but this, that
she prayed that God would send the like agonies upon Antipater’s mother,
who had been the occasion of these miseries to all of them. This prayer
induced Herod to increase the women’s tortures, till thereby all was
discovered; their merry meetings, their secret assemblies, and the
disclosing of what he had said to his son alone unto Pheroras’s 4
women. [Now what Herod had charged Antipater to conceal, was the gift of a
hundred talents to him not to have any conversation with Pheroras.] And
what hatred he bore to his father; and that he complained to his mother
how very long his father lived; and that he was himself almost an old man,
insomuch that if the kingdom should come to him, it would not afford him
any great pleasure; and that there were a great many of his brothers, or
brothers’ children, bringing up, that might have hopes of the kingdom as
well as himself, all which made his own hopes of it uncertain; for that
even now, if he should himself not live, Herod had ordained that the
government should be conferred, not on his son, but rather on a brother.
He also had accused the king of great barbarity, and of the slaughter of
his sons; and that it was out of the fear he was under, lest he should do
the like to him, that made him contrive this his journey to Rome, and
Pheroras contrive to go to his own tetrarchy. 5
2. These confessions agreed with what his sister had told him, and tended
greatly to corroborate her testimony, and to free her from the suspicion
of her unfaithfulness to him. So the king having satisfied himself of the
spite which Doris, Antipater’s mother, as well as himself, bore to him,
took away from her all her fine ornaments, which were worth many talents,
and then sent her away, and entered into friendship with Pheroras’s women.
But he who most of all irritated the king against his son was one
Antipater, the procurator of Antipater the king’s son, who, when he was
tortured, among other things, said that Antipater had prepared a deadly
potion, and given it to Pheroras, with his desire that he would give it to
his father during his absence, and when he was too remote to have the
least suspicion cast upon him thereto relating; that Antiphilus, one of
Antipater’s friends, brought that potion out of Egypt; and that it was
sent to Pheroras by Thendion, the brother of the mother of Antipater, the
king’s son, and by that means came to Pheroras’s wife, her husband having
given it her to keep. And when the king asked her about it, she confessed
it; and as she was running to fetch it, she threw herself down from the
house-top; yet did she not kill herself, because she fell upon her feet;
by which means, when the king had comforted her, and had promised her and
her domestics pardon, upon condition of their concealing nothing of the
truth from him, but had threatened her with the utmost miseries if she
proved ungrateful [and concealed any thing]: so she promised, and swore
that she would speak out every thing, and tell after what manner every
thing was done; and said what many took to be entirely true, that the
potion was brought out of Egypt by Antiphilus; and that his brother, who
was a physician, had procured it; and that “when Thendion brought it us,
she kept it upon Pheroras’s committing it to her; and that it was prepared
by Antipater for thee. When, therefore, Pheroras was fallen sick, and thou
camest to him and tookest care of him, and when he saw the kindness thou
hadst for him, his mind was overborne thereby. So he called me to him, and
said to me, ‘O woman! Antipater hath circumvented me in this affair of his
father and my brother, by persuading me to have a murderous intention to
him, and procuring a potion to be subservient thereto; do thou, therefore,
go and fetch my potion, [since my brother appears to have still the same
virtuous disposition towards me which he had formerly, and I do not expect
to live long myself, and that I may not defile my forefathers by the
murder of a brother,] and burn it before my face:’ that accordingly she
immediately brought it, and did as her husband bade her; and that she
burnt the greatest part of the potion; but that a little of it was left,
that if the king, after Pheroras’s death, should treat her ill, she might
poison herself, and thereby get clear of her miseries.” Upon her saying
thus, she brought out the potion, and the box in which it was, before them
all. Nay, there was another brother of Antiphilus, and his mother also,
who, by the extremity of pain and torture, confessed the same things, and
owned the box [to be that which had been brought out of Egypt]. The high
priest’s daughter also, who was the king’s wife, was accused to have been
conscious of all this, and had resolved to conceal it; for which reason
Herod divorced her, and blotted her son out of his testament, wherein he
had been mentioned as one that was to reign after him; and he took the
high priesthood away from his father-in-law, Simeon the son of Boethus,
and appointed Matthias the son of Theophilus, who was born at Jerusalem,
to be high priest in his room.
3. While this was doing, Bathyllus also, Antipater’s freed-man, came from
Rome, and, upon the torture, was found to have brought another potion, to
give it into the hands of Antipater’s mother, and of Pheroras, that if the
former potion did not operate upon the king, this at least might carry him
off. There came also letters from Herod’s friends at Rome, by the
approbation and at the suggestion of Antipater, to accuse Archelaus and
Philip, as if they calumniated their father on account of the slaughter of
Alexander and Aristobulus, and as if they commiserated their deaths, and
as if, because they were sent for home, [for their father had already
recalled them,] they concluded they were themselves also to be destroyed.
These letters had been procured by great rewards by Antipater’s friends;
but Antipater himself wrote to his father about them, and laid the
heaviest things to their charge; yet did he entirely excuse them of any
guilt, and said they were but young men, and so imputed their words to
their youth. But he said that he had himself been very busy in the affair
relating to Sylleus, and in getting interest among the great men; and on
that account had bought splendid ornaments to present them withal, which
cost him two hundred talents. Now one may wonder how it came about, that
while so many accusations were laid against him in Judea during seven
months before this time, he was not made acquainted with any of them. The
causes of which were, that the roads were exactly guarded, and that men
hated Antipater; for there was nobody who would run any hazard himself to
gain him any advantages.
CHAPTER 5. Antipater’s Navigation From Rome To His Father; And How He Was
Accused By Nicolaus Of Damascus And Condemned To Die By His Father, And By
Quintilius Varus, Who Was Then President Of Syria; And How He Was Then
Bound Till Cæsar Should Be Informed Of His Cause.
1. Now Herod, upon Antipater’s writing to him, that having done all that
he was to do, and this in the manner he was to do it, he would suddenly
come to him, concealed his anger against him, and wrote back to him, and
bid him not delay his journey, lest any harm should befall himself in his
absence. At the same time also he made some little complaint about his
mother, but promised that he would lay those complaints aside when he
should return. He withal expressed his entire affection for him, as
fearing lest he should have some suspicion of him, and defer his journey
to him; and lest, while he lived at Rome, he should lay plots for the
kingdom, and, moreover, do somewhat against himself. This letter Antipater
met with in Cilicia; but had received an account of Pheroras’s death
before at Tarentum. This last news affected him deeply; not out of any
affection for Pheroras, but because he was dead without having murdered
his father, which he had promised him to do. And when he was at Celenderis
in Cilicia, he began to deliberate with himself about his sailing home, as
being much grieved with the ejection of his mother. Now some of his
friends advised him that he should tarry a while some where, in
expectation of further information. But others advised him to sail home
without delay; for that if he were once come thither, he would soon put an
end to all accusations, and that nothing afforded any weight to his
accusers at present but his absence. He was persuaded by these last, and
sailed on, and landed at the haven called Sebastus, which Herod had built
at vast expenses in honor of Cæsar, and called Sebastus. And now was
Antipater evidently in a miserable condition, while nobody came to him nor
saluted him, as they did at his going away, with good wishes of joyful
acclamations; nor was there now any thing to hinder them from entertaining
him, on the contrary, with bitter curses, while they supposed he was come
to receive his punishment for the murder of his brethren.
2. Now Quintilius Varus was at this time at Jerusalem, being sent to
succeed Saturninus as president of Syria, and was come as an assessor to
Herod, who had desired his advice in his present affairs; and as they were
sitting together, Antipater came upon them, without knowing any thing of
the matter; so he came into the palace clothed in purple. The porters
indeed received him in, but excluded his friends. And now he was in great
disorder, and presently understood the condition he was in, while, upon
his going to salute his father, he was repulsed by him, who called him a
murderer of his brethren, and a plotter of destruction against himself,
and told him that Varus should be his auditor and his judge the very next
day; so he found that what misfortunes he now heard of were already upon
him, with the greatness of which he went away in confusion; upon which his
mother and his wife met him, [which wife was the daughter of Antigonus,
who was king of the Jews before Herod,] from whom he learned all
circumstances which concerned him, and then prepared himself for his
trial.
3. On the next day Varus and the king sat together in judgment, and both
their friends were also called in, as also the king’s relations, with his
sister Salome, and as many as could discover any thing, and such as had
been tortured; and besides these, some slaves of Antipater’s mother, who
were taken up a little before Antipater’s coming, and brought with them a
written letter, the sum of which was this: That he should not come back,
because all was come to his father’s knowledge; and that Cæsar was the
only refuge he had left to prevent both his and her delivery into his
father’s hands. Then did Antipater fall down at his father’s feet, and
besought him not to prejudge his cause, but that he might be first heard
by his father, and that his father would keep himself unprejudiced. So
Herod ordered him to be brought into the midst, and then lamented himself
about his children, from whom he had suffered such great misfortunes; and
because Antipater fell upon him in his old age. He also reckoned up what
maintenance and what education he had given them; and what seasonable
supplies of wealth he had afforded them, according to their own desires;
none of which favors had hindered them from contriving against him, and
from bringing his very life into danger, in order to gain his kingdom,
after an impious manner, by taking away his life before the course of
nature, their father’s wishes, or justice required that that kingdom
should come to them; and that he wondered what hopes could elevate
Antipater to such a pass as to be hardy enough to attempt such things;
that he had by his testament in writing declared him his successor in the
government; and while he was alive, he was in no respect inferior to him,
either in his illustrious dignity, or in power and authority, he having no
less than fifty talents for his yearly income, and had received for his
journey to Rome no fewer than thirty talents. He also objected to him the
case of his brethren whom he had accused; and if they were guilty, he had
imitated their example; and if not, he had brought him groundless
accusations against his near relations; for that he had been acquainted
with all those things by him, and by nobody else, and had done what was
done by his approbation, and whom he now absolved from all that was
criminal, by becoming the inheritor of the guilt of such their parricide.
4. When Herod had thus spoken, he fell a weeping, and was not able to say
any more; but at his desire Nicolaus of Damascus, being the king’s friend,
and always conversant with him, and acquainted with whatsoever he did, and
with the circumstances of his affairs, proceeded to what remained, and
explained all that concerned the demonstrations and evidences of the
facts. Upon which Antipater, in order to make his legal defense, turned
himself to his father, and enlarged upon the many indications he had given
of his good-will to him; and instanced in the honors that had been done
him, which yet had not been done, had he not deserved them by his virtuous
concern about him; for that he had made provision for every thing that was
fit to be foreseen beforehand, as to giving him his wisest advice; and
whenever there was occasion for the labor of his own hands, he had not
grudged any such pains for him. And that it was almost impossible that he,
who had delivered his father from so many treacherous contrivances laid
against him, should be himself in a plot against him, and so lose all the
reputation he had gained for his virtue, by his wickedness which succeeded
it; and this while he had nothing to prohibit him, who was already
appointed his successor, to enjoy the royal honor with his father also at
present; and that there was no likelihood that a person who had the one
half of that authority without any danger, and with a good character,
should hunt after the whole with infamy and danger, and this when it was
doubtful whether he could obtain it or not; and when he saw the sad
example of his brethren before him, and was both the informer and the
accuser against them, at a time when they might not otherwise have been
discovered; nay, was the author of the punishment inflicted upon them,
when it appeared evidently that they were guilty of a wicked attempt
against their father; and that even the contentions there were in the
king’s family were indications that he had ever managed affairs out of the
sincerest affection to his father. And as to what he had done at Rome,
Cæsar was a witness thereto, who yet was no more to be imposed upon than
God himself; of whose opinions his letters sent hither are sufficient
evidence; and that it was not reasonable to prefer the calumnies of such
as proposed to raise disturbances before those letters; the greatest part
of which calumnies had been raised during his absence, which gave scope to
his enemies to forge them, which they had not been able to do if he had
been there. Moreover he showed the weakness of the evidence obtained by
torture, which was commonly false, because the distress men are in under
such tortures naturally obliges them to say many things in order to please
those that govern them. He also offered himself to the torture.
5. Hereupon there was a change observed in the assembly, while they
greatly pitied Antipater, who by weeping and putting on a countenance
suitable to his sad case made them commiserate the same, insomuch that his
very enemies were moved to compassion; and it appeared plainly that Herod
himself was affected in his own mind, although he was not willing it
should be taken notice of. Then did Nicolaus begin to prosecute what the
king had begun, and that with great bitterness; and summed up all the
evidence which arose from the tortures, or from the testimonies. He
principally and largely cried up the king’s virtues, which he had
exhibited in the maintenance and education of his sons; while he never
could gain any advantage thereby, but still fell from one misfortune to
another. Although he owned that he was not so much surprised with that
thoughtless behavior of his former sons, who were but young, and were
besides corrupted by wicked counselors, who were the occasion of their
wiping out of their minds the righteous dictates of nature, and this out
of a desire of coming to the government sooner than they ought to do; yet
that he could not but justly stand amazed at the horrid wickedness of
Antipater, who, although he had not only had great benefits bestowed on
him by his father, enough to tame his reason, yet could not be more tamed
than the most envenomed serpents; whereas even those creatures admit of
some mitigation, and will not bite their benefactors, while Antipater hath
not let the misfortunes of his brethren be any hinderance to him, but he
hath gone on to imitate their barbarity notwithstanding. “Yet wast thou, O
Antipater! [as thou hast thyself confessed,] the informer as to what
wicked actions they had done, and the searcher out of the evidence against
them, and the author of the punishment they underwent upon their
detection. Nor do we say this as accusing thee for being so zealous in thy
anger against them, but are astonished at thy endeavors to imitate their
profligate behavior; and we discover thereby that thou didst not act thus
for the safety of thy father, but for the destruction of thy brethren,
that by such outside hatred of their impiety thou mightest be believed a
lover of thy father, and mightest thereby get thee power enough to do
mischief with the greatest impunity; which design thy actions indeed
demonstrate. It is true, thou tookest thy brethren off, because thou didst
convict theft of their wicked designs; but thou didst not yield up to
justice those who were their partners; and thereby didst make it evident
to all men that thou madest a covenant with them against thy father, when
thou chosest to be the accuser of thy brethren, as desirous to gain to
thyself alone this advantage of laying plots to kill thy father, and so to
enjoy double pleasure, which is truly worthy of thy evil disposition,
which thou has openly showed against thy brethren; on which account thou
didst rejoice, as having done a most famous exploit, nor was that behavior
unworthy of thee. But if thy intention were otherwise, thou art worse than
they: while thou didst contrive to hide thy treachery against thy father,
thou didst hate them, not as plotters against thy father, for in that case
thou hadst not thyself fallen upon the like crime, but as successors of
his dominions, and more worthy of that succession than thyself. Thou
wouldst kill thy father after thy brethren, lest thy lies raised against
them might be detected; and lest thou shouldst suffer what punishment thou
hadst deserved, thou hadst a mind to exact that punishment of thy unhappy
father, and didst devise such a sort of uncommon parricide as the world
never yet saw. For thou who art his son didst not only lay a treacherous
design against thy father, and didst it while he loved thee, and had been
thy benefactor, had made thee in reality his partner in the kingdom, and
had openly declared thee his successor, while thou wast not forbidden to
taste the sweetness of authority already, and hadst the firm hope of what
was future by thy father’s determination, and the security of a written
testament; but, for certain, thou didst not measure these things according
to thy father’s various disposition, but according to thy own thoughts and
inclinations; and was desirous to take the part that remained away from
thy too indulgent father, and soughtest to destroy him with thy deeds,
whom thou in words pretendedst to preserve. Nor wast thou content to be
wicked thyself, but thou filledst thy mother’s head with thy devices, and
raised disturbances among thy brethren, and hadst the boldness to call thy
father a wild beast; while thou hadst thyself a mind more cruel than any
serpent, whence thou sentest out that poison among thy nearest kindred and
greatest benefactors, and invitedst them to assist thee and guard thee,
and didst hedge thyself in on all sides, by the artifices of both men and
women, against an old man, as though that mind of thine was not sufficient
of itself to support so great a hatred as thou baredst to him. And here
thou appearest, after the tortures of free-men, of domestics, of men and
women, which have been examined on thy account, and after the informations
of thy fellow conspirators, as making haste to contradict the truth; and
hast thought on ways not only how to take thy father out of the world, but
to disannul that written law which is against thee, and the virtue of
Varus, and the nature of justice; nay, such is that impudence of thine on
which thou confidest, that thou desirest to be put to the torture thyself,
while thou allegest that the tortures of those already examined thereby
have made them tell lies; that those that have been the deliverers of thy
father may not be allowed to have spoken the truth; but that thy tortures
may be esteemed the discoverers of truth. Wilt not thou, O Varus! deliver
the king from the injuries of his kindred? Wilt not thou destroy this
wicked wild beast, which hath pretended kindness to his father, in order
to destroy his brethren; while yet he is himself alone ready to carry off
the kingdom immediately, and appears to be the most bloody butcher to him
of them all? for thou art sensible that parricide is a general injury both
to nature and to common life, and that the intention of parricide is not
inferior to its perpetration; and he who does not punish it is injurious
to nature itself.”
6. Nicolaus added further what belonged to Antipater’s mother, and
whatsoever she had prattled like a woman; as also about the predictions
and the sacrifices relating to the king; and whatsoever Antipater had done
lasciviously in his cups and his amours among Pheroras’s women; the
examination upon torture; and whatsoever concerned the testimonies of the
witnesses, which were many, and of various kinds; some prepared
beforehand, and others were sudden answers, which further declared and
confirmed the foregoing evidence. For those men who were not acquainted
with Antipater’s practices, but had concealed them out of fear, when they
saw that he was exposed to the accusations of the former witnesses, and
that his great good fortune, which had supported him hitherto, had now
evidently betrayed him into the hands of his enemies, who were now
insatiable in their hatred to him, told all they knew of him. And his ruin
was now hastened, not so much by the enmity of those that were his
accusers, as by his gross, and impudent, and wicked contrivances, and by
his ill-will to his father and his brethren; while he had filled their
house with disturbance, and caused them to murder one another; and was
neither fair in his hatred, nor kind in his friendship, but just so far as
served his own turn. Now there were a great number who for a long time
beforehand had seen all this, and especially such as were naturally
disposed to judge of matters by the rules of virtue, because they were
used to determine about affairs without passion, but had been restrained
from making any open complaints before; these, upon the leave now given
them, produced all that they knew before the public. The demonstrations
also of these wicked facts could no way be disproved, because the many
witnesses there were did neither speak out of favor to Herod, nor were
they obliged to keep what they had to say silent, out of suspicion of any
danger they were in; but they spake what they knew, because they thought
such actions very wicked, and that Antipater deserved the greatest
punishment; and indeed not so much for Herod’s safety, as on account of
the man’s own wickedness. Many things were also said, and those by a great
number of persons, who were no way obliged to say them, insomuch that
Antipater, who used generally to be very shrewd in his lies and impudence,
was not able to say one word to the contrary. When Nicolaus had left off
speaking, and had produced the evidence, Varus bid Antipater to betake
himself to the making his defense, if he had prepared any thing whereby it
might appear that he was not guilty of the crimes he was accused of; for
that, as he was himself desirous, so did he know that his father was in
like manner desirous also, to have him found entirely innocent. But
Antipater fell down on his face, and appealed to God and to all men for
testimonials of his innocency, desiring that God would declare, by some
evident signals, that he had not laid any plot against his father. This
being the usual method of all men destitute of virtue, that when they set
about any wicked undertakings, they fall to work according to their own
inclinations, as if they believed that God was unconcerned in human
affairs; but when once they are found out, and are in danger of undergoing
the punishment due to their crimes, they endeavor to overthrow all the
evidence against them by appealing to God; which was the very thing which
Antipater now did; for whereas he had done everything as if there were no
God in the world, when he was on all sides distressed by justice, and when
he had no other advantage to expect from any legal proofs, by which he
might disprove the accusations laid against him, he impudently abused the
majesty of God, and ascribed it to his power that he had been preserved
hitherto; and produced before them all what difficulties he had ever
undergone in his bold acting for his father’s preservation.
7. So when Varus, upon asking Antipater what he had to say for himself,
found that he had nothing to say besides his appeal to God, and saw that
there was no end of that, he bid them bring the potion before the court,
that he might see what virtue still remained in it; and when it was
brought, and one that was condemned to die had drank it by Varus’s
command, he died presently. Then Varus got up, and departed out of the
court, and went away the day following to Antioch, where his usual
residence was, because that was the palace of the Syrians; upon which
Herod laid his son in bonds. But what were Varus’s discourses to Herod was
not known to the generality, and upon what words it was that he went away;
though it was also generally supposed that whatsoever Herod did afterward
about his son was done with his approbation. But when Herod had bound his
son, he sent letters to Rome to Cæsar about him, and such messengers
withal as should, by word of mouth, inform Cæsar of Antipater’s
wickedness. Now at this very time there was seized a letter of Antiphilus,
written to Antipater out of Egypt [for he lived there]; and when it was
opened by the king, it was found to contain what follows: “I have sent
thee Acme’s letter, and hazarded my own life; for thou knowest that I am
in danger from two families, if I be discovered. I wish thee good success
in thy affair.” These were the contents of this letter; but the king made
inquiry about the other letter also, for it did not appear; and
Antiphilus’s slave, who brought that letter which had been read, denied
that he had received the other. But while the king was in doubt about it,
one of Herod’s friends seeing a seam upon the inner coat of the slave, and
a doubling of the cloth, [for he had two coats on,] he guessed that the
letter might be within that doubling; which accordingly proved to be true.
So they took out the letter, and its contents were these: “Acme to
Antipater. I have written such a letter to thy father as thou desiredst
me. I have also taken a copy and sent it, as if it came from Salome, to my
lady [Livia]; which, when thou readest, I know that Herod Will punish
Salome, as plotting against him?’ Now this pretended letter of Salome to
her lady was composed by Antipater, in the name of Salome, as to its
meaning, but in the words of Acme. The letter was this: ‘Acme to king
Herod. I have done my endeavor that nothing that is done against thee
should be concealed from thee. So, upon my finding a letter of Salome
written to my lady against thee, I have written out a copy, and sent it to
thee; with hazard to myself, but for thy advantage.’ The reason why she
wrote it was this, that she had a mind to be married to Sylleus. Do thou
therefore tear this letter in pieces, that I may not come into danger of
my life.” Now Acme had written to Antipater himself, and informed him,
that, in compliance with his command, she had both herself written to
Herod, as if Salome had laid a sudden plot entirely against him, and had
herself sent a copy of an epistle, as coming from Salome to her lady. Now
Acme was a Jew by birth, and a servant to Julia, Cæsar’s wife; and did
this out of her friendship for Antipater, as having been corrupted by him
with a large present of money, to assist in his pernicious designs against
his father and his aunt.
8. Hereupon Herod was so amazed at the prodigious wickedness of Antipater,
that he was ready to have ordered him to be slain immediately, as a
turbulent person in the most important concerns, and as one that had laid
a plot not only against himself, but against his sister also, and even
corrupted Cæsar’s own domestics. Salome also provoked him to it, beating
her breast, and bidding him kill her, if he could produce any credible
testimony that she had acted in that manner. Herod also sent for his son,
and asked him about this matter, and bid him contradict if he could, and
not suppress any thing he had to say for himself; and when he had not one
word to say, he asked him, since he was every way caught in his villainy,
that he would make no further delay, but discover his associates in these
his wicked designs. So he laid all upon Antiphilus, but discovered nobody
else. Hereupon Herod was in such great grief, that he was ready to send
his son to Rome to Cæsar, there to give an account of these his wicked
contrivances. But he soon became afraid, lest he might there, by the
assistance of his friends, escape the danger he was in; so he kept him
bound as before, and sent more ambassadors and letters [to Rome] to accuse
his son, and an account of what assistance Acme had given him in his
wicked designs, with copies of the epistles before mentioned.
CHAPTER 6. Concerning The Disease That Herod Fell Into And The Sedition
Which The Jews Raised Thereupon; With The Punishment Of The Seditious.
1. Now Herod’s ambassadors made haste to Rome; but sent, as instructed
beforehand, what answers they were to make to the questions put to them.
They also carried the epistles with them. But Herod now fell into a
distemper, and made his will, and bequeathed his kingdom to [Antipas], his
youngest son; and this out of that hatred to Archelaus and Philip, which
the calumnies of Antipater had raised against them. He also bequeathed a
thousand talents to Cæsar, and five hundred to Julia, Cæsar’s wife, to
Cæsar’s children, and friends and freed-men. He also distributed among
his sons and their sons his money, his revenues, and his lands. He also
made Salome his sister very rich, because she had continued faithful to
him in all his circumstances, and was never so rash as to do him any harm;
and as he despaired of recovering, for he was about the seventieth year of
his age, he grew fierce, and indulged the bitterest anger upon all
occasions; the cause whereof was this, that he thought himself despised,
and that the nation was pleased with his misfortunes; besides which, he
resented a sedition which some of the lower sort of men excited against
him, the occasion of which was as follows.
2. There was one Judas, the son of Saripheus, and Matthias, the son of
Margalothus, two of the most eloquent men among the Jews, and the most
celebrated interpreters of the Jewish laws, and men well beloved by the
people, because of their education of their youth; for all those that were
studious of virtue frequented their lectures every day. These men, when
they found that the king’s distemper was incurable, excited the young men
that they would pull down all those works which the king had erected
contrary to the law of their fathers, and thereby obtain the rewards which
the law will confer on them for such actions of piety; for that it was
truly on account of Herod’s rashness in making such things as the law had
forbidden, that his other misfortunes, and this distemper also, which was
so unusual among mankind, and with which he was now afflicted, came upon
him; for Herod had caused such things to be made which were contrary to
the law, of which he was accused by Judas and Matthias; for the king had
erected over the great gate of the temple a large golden eagle, of great
value, and had dedicated it to the temple. Now the law forbids those that
propose to live according to it, to erect images 6 or
representations of any living creature. So these wise men persuaded [their
scholars] to pull down the golden eagle; alleging, that although they
should incur any danger, which might bring them to their deaths, the
virtue of the action now proposed to them would appear much more
advantageous to them than the pleasures of life; since they would die for
the preservation and observation of the law of their fathers; since they
would also acquire an everlasting fame and commendation; since they would
be both commended by the present generation, and leave an example of life
that would never be forgotten to posterity; since that common calamity of
dying cannot be avoided by our living so as to escape any such dangers;
that therefore it is a right thing for those who are in love with a
virtuous conduct, to wait for that fatal hour by such behavior as may
carry them out of the world with praise and honor; and that this will
alleviate death to a great degree, thus to come at it by the performance
of brave actions, which bring us into danger of it; and at the same time
to leave that reputation behind them to their children, and to all their
relations, whether they be men or women, which will be of great advantage
to them afterward.
3. And with such discourses as this did these men excite the young men to
this action; and a report being come to them that the king was dead, this
was an addition to the wise men’s persuasions; so, in the very middle of
the day, they got upon the place, they pulled down the eagle, and cut it
into pieces with axes, while a great number of the people were in the
temple. And now the king’s captain, upon hearing what the undertaking was,
and supposing it was a thing of a higher nature than it proved to be, came
up thither, having a great band of soldiers with him, such as was
sufficient to put a stop to the multitude of those who pulled down what
was dedicated to God; so he fell upon them unexpectedly, and as they were
upon this bold attempt, in a foolish presumption rather than a cautious
circumspection, as is usual with the multitude, and while they were in
disorder, and incautious of what was for their advantage; so he caught no
fewer than forty of the young men, who had the courage to stay behind when
the rest ran away, together with the authors of this bold attempt, Judas
and Matthias, who thought it an ignominious thing to retire upon his
approach, and led them to the king. And when they were come to the king,
and he asked them if they had been so bold as to pull down what he had
dedicated to God, “Yes, [said they,] what was contrived we contrived, and
what hath been performed we performed it, and that with such a virtuous
courage as becomes men; for we have given our assistance to those things
which were dedicated to the majesty of God, and we have provided for what
we have learned by hearing the law; and it ought not to be wondered at, if
we esteem those laws which Moses had suggested to him, and were taught him
by God, and which he wrote and left behind him, more worthy of observation
than thy commands. Accordingly we will undergo death, and all sorts of
punishments which thou canst inflict upon us, with pleasure, since we are
conscious to ourselves that we shall die, not for any unrighteous actions,
but for our love to religion.” And thus they all said, and their courage
was still equal to their profession, and equal to that with which they
readily set about this undertaking. And when the king had ordered them to
be bound, he sent them to Jericho, and called together the principal men
among the Jews; and when they were come, he made them assemble in the
theater, and because he could not himself stand, he lay upon a couch, and
enumerated the many labors that he had long endured on their account, and
his building of the temple, and what a vast charge that was to him; while
the Asamoneans, during the hundred and twenty-five years of their
government, had not been able to perform any so great a work for the honor
of God as that was; that he had also adorned it with very valuable
donations, on which account he hoped that he had left himself a memorial,
and procured himself a reputation after his death. He then cried out, that
these men had not abstained from affronting him, even in his lifetime, but
that in the very day time, and in the sight of the multitude, they had
abused him to that degree, as to fall upon what he had dedicated, and in
that way of abuse had pulled it down to the ground. They pretended,
indeed, that they did it to affront him; but if any one consider the thing
truly, they will find that they were guilty of sacrilege against God
therein.
4. But the people, on account of Herod’s barbarous temper, and for fear he
should be so cruel and to inflict punishment on them, said what was done
was done without their approbation, and that it seemed to them that the
actors might well be punished for what they had done. But as for Herod, he
dealt more mildly with others [of the assembly] but he deprived Matthias
of the high priesthood, as in part an occasion of this action, and made
Joazar, who was Matthias’s wife’s brother, high priest in his stead. Now
it happened, that during the time of the high priesthood of this Matthias,
there was another person made high priest for a single day, that very day
which the Jews observed as a fast. The occasion was this: This Matthias
the high priest, on the night before that day when the fast was to be
celebrated, seemed, in a dream, 7 to have
conversation with his wife; and because he could not officiate himself on
that account, Joseph, the son of Ellemus, his kinsman, assisted him in
that sacred office. But Herod deprived this Matthias of the high
priesthood, and burnt the other Matthias, who had raised the sedition,
with his companions, alive. And that very night there was an eclipse of
the moon. 8
5. But now Herod’s distemper greatly increased upon him after a severe
manner, and this by God’s judgment upon him for his sins; for a fire
glowed in him slowly, which did not so much appear to the touch outwardly,
as it augmented his pains inwardly; for it brought upon him a vehement
appetite to eating, which he could not avoid to supply with one sort of
food or other. His entrails were also ex-ulcerated, and the chief violence
of his pain lay on his colon; an aqueous and transparent liquor also had
settled itself about his feet, and a like matter afflicted him at the
bottom of his belly. Nay, further, his privy-member was putrefied, and
produced worms; and when he sat upright, he had a difficulty of breathing,
which was very loathsome, on account of the stench of his breath, and the
quickness of its returns; he had also convulsions in all parts of his
body, which increased his strength to an insufferable degree. It was said
by those who pretended to divine, and who were endued with wisdom to
foretell such things, that God inflicted this punishment on the king on
account of his great impiety; yet was he still in hopes of recovering,
though his afflictions seemed greater than any one could bear. He also
sent for physicians, and did not refuse to follow what they prescribed for
his assistance, and went beyond the river Jordan, and bathed himself in
the warm baths that were at Callirrhoe, which, besides their other general
virtues, were also fit to drink; which water runs into the lake called
Asphaltiris. And when the physicians once thought fit to have him bathed
in a vessel full of oil, it was supposed that he was just dying; but upon
the lamentable cries of his domestics, he revived; and having no longer
the least hopes of recovering, he gave order that every soldier should be
paid fifty drachmae; and he also gave a great deal to their commanders,
and to his friends, and came again to Jericho, where he grew so choleric,
that it brought him to do all things like a madman; and though he were
near his death, he contrived the following wicked designs. He commanded
that all the principal men of the entire Jewish nation, wheresoever they
lived, should be called to him. Accordingly, they were a great number that
came, because the whole nation was called, and all men heard of this call,
and death was the penalty of such as should despise the epistles that were
sent to call them. And now the king was in a wild rage against them all,
the innocent as well as those that had afforded ground for accusations;
and when they were come, he ordered them to be all shut up in the
hyppodrome, 9 and sent for his sister Salome,
and her husband Alexas, and spake thus to them: “I shall die in a little
time, so great are my pains; which death ought to be cheerfully borne, and
to be welcomed by all men; but what principally troubles me is this, that
I shall die without being lamented, and without such mourning as men
usually expect at a king’s death.” For that he was not unacquainted with
the temper of the Jews, that his death would be a thing very desirable,
and exceedingly acceptable to them, because during his lifetime they were
ready to revolt from him, and to abuse the donations he had dedicated to
God that it therefore was their business to resolve to afford him some
alleviation of his great sorrows on this occasion; for that if they do not
refuse him their consent in what he desires, he shall have a great
mourning at his funeral, and such as never had any king before him; for
then the whole nation would mourn from their very soul, which otherwise
would be done in sport and mockery only. He desired therefore, that as
soon as they see he hath given up the ghost, they shall place soldiers
round the hippodrome, while they do not know that he is dead; and that
they shall not declare his death to the multitude till this is done, but
that they shall give orders to have those that are in custody shot with
their darts; and that this slaughter of them all will cause that he shall
not miss to rejoice on a double account; that as he is dying, they will
make him secure that his will shall be executed in what he charges them to
do; and that he shall have the honor of a memorable mourning at his
funeral. So he deplored his condition, with tears in his eyes, and
obtested them by the kindness due from them, as of his kindred, and by the
faith they owed to God, and begged of them that they would not hinder him
of this honorable mourning at his funeral. So they promised him not to
transgress his commands.
6. Now any one may easily discover the temper of this man’s mind, which
not only took pleasure in doing what he had done formerly against his
relations, out of the love of life, but by those commands of his which
savored of no humanity; since he took care, when he was departing out of
this life, that the whole nation should be put into mourning, and indeed
made desolate of their dearest kindred, when he gave order that one out of
every family should be slain, although they had done nothing that was
unjust, or that was against him, nor were they accused of any other
crimes; while it is usual for those who have any regard to virtue to lay
aside their hatred at such a time, even with respect to those they justly
esteemed their enemies.
CHAPTER 7. Herod Has Thoughts Of Killing Himself With His Own Hand; And A
Little Afterwards He Orders Antipater To Be Slain.
1. As he was giving these commands to his relations, there came letters
from his ambassadors, who had been sent to Rome unto Cæsar, which, when
they were read, their purport was this: That Acme was slain by Cæsar, out
of his indignation at what hand, she had in Antipater’s wicked practices;
and that as to Antipater himself, Cæsar left it to Herod to act as became
a father and a king, and either to banish him, or to take away his life,
which he pleased. When Herod heard this, he was some- what better, out of
the pleasure he had from the contents of the letters, and was elevated at
the death of Acme, and at the power that was given him over his son; but
as his pains were become very great, he was now ready to faint for want of
somewhat to eat; so he called for an apple and a knife; for it was his
custom formerly to pare the apple himself, and soon afterwards to cut it,
and eat it. When he had got the knife, he looked about, and had a mind to
stab himself with it; and he had done it, had not his first cousin,
Achiabus, prevented him, and held his hand, and cried out loudly.
Whereupon a woeful lamentation echoed through the palace, and a great
tumult was made, as if the king were dead. Upon which Antipater, who
verily believed his father was deceased, grew bold in his discourse, as
hoping to be immediately and entirely released from his bonds, and to take
the kingdom into his hands without any more ado; so he discoursed with the
jailer about letting him go, and in that case promised him great things,
both now and hereafter, as if that were the only thing now in question.
But the jailer did not only refuse to do what Antipater would have him,
but informed the king of his intentions, and how many solicitations he had
had from him [of that nature]. Hereupon Herod, who had formerly no
affection nor good-will towards his son to restrain him, when he heard
what the jailer said, he cried out, and beat his head, although he was at
death’s door, and raised himself upon his elbow, and sent for some of his
guards, and commanded them to kill Antipater without tiny further delay,
and to do it presently, and to bury him in an ignoble manner at Hyrcania.
CHAPTER 8. Concerning Herod’s Death, And Testament, And Burial.
1. And now Herod altered his testament upon the alteration of his mind;
for he appointed Antipas, to whom he had before left the kingdom, to be
tetrarch of Galilee and Perea, and granted the kingdom to Archelaus. He
also gave Gaulonitis, and Trachonitis, and Paneas to Philip, who was his
son, but own brother to Archelaus 10 by the
name of a tetrarchy; and bequeathed Jarnnia, and Ashdod, and Phasaelis to
Salome his sister, with five hundred thousand [drachmae] of silver that
was coined. He also made provision for all the rest of his kindred, by
giving them sums of money and annual revenues, and so left them all in a
wealthy condition. He bequeathed also to Cæsar ten millions [of drachmae]
of coined money, besides both vessels of gold and silver, and garments
exceeding costly, to Julia, Cæsar’s wife; and to certain others, five
millions. When he had done these things, he died, the fifth day after he
had caused Antipater to be slain; having reigned, since he had procured
Antigonus to be slain, thirty-four years; but since he had been declared
king by the Romans, thirty-seven. 11 A man
he was of great barbarity towards all men equally, and a slave to his
passion; but above the consideration of what was right; yet was he favored
by fortune as much as any man ever was, for from a private man he became a
king; and though he were encompassed with ten thousand dangers, he got
clear of them all, and continued his life till a very old age. But then,
as to the affairs of his family and children, in which indeed, according
to his own opinion, he was also very fortunate, because he was able to
conquer his enemies, yet, in my opinion, he was herein very unfortunate.
2. But then Salome and Alexas, before the king’s death was made known,
dismissed those that were shut up in the hippodrome, and told them that
the king ordered them to go away to their own lands, and take care of
their own affairs, which was esteemed by the nation a great benefit. And
now the king’s death was made public, when Salome and Alexas gathered the
soldiery together in the amphitheater at Jericho; and the first thing they
did was, they read Herod’s letter, written to the soldiery, thanking them
for their fidelity and good-will to him, and exhorting them to afford his
son Archelaus, whom he had appointed for their king, like fidelity and
good-will. After which Ptolemy, who had the king’s seal intrusted to him,
read the king’s testament, which was to be of force no otherwise than as
it should stand when Cæsar had inspected it; so there was presently an
acclamation made to Archelaus, as king; and the soldiers came by bands,
and their commanders with them, and promised the same good-will to him,
and readiness to serve him, which they had exhibited to Herod; and they
prayed God to be assistant to him.
3. After this was over, they prepared for his funeral, it being
Archelaus’s care that the procession to his father’s sepulcher should be
very sumptuous. Accordingly, he brought out all his ornaments to adorn the
pomp of the funeral. The body was carried upon a golden bier, embroidered
with very precious stones of great variety, and it was covered over with
purple, as well as the body itself; he had a diadem upon his head, and
above it a crown of gold: he also had a scepter in his right hand. About
the bier were his sons and his numerous relations; next to these was the
soldiery, distinguished according to their several countries and
denominations; and they were put into the following order: First of all
went his guards, then the band of Thracians, and after them the Germans;
and next the band of Galatians, every one in their habiliments of war; and
behind these marched the whole army in the same manner as they used to go
out to war, and as they used to be put in array by their muster-masters
and centurions; these were followed by five hundred of his domestics
carrying spices. So they went eight furlongs 12 to
Herodium; for there by his own command he was to be buried. And thus did
Herod end his life.
4. Now Archelaus paid him so much respect, as to continue his mourning
till the seventh day; for so many days are appointed for it by the law of
our fathers. And when he had given a treat to the multitude, and left off
his motoring, he went up into the temple; he had also acclamations and
praises given him, which way soever he went, every one striving with the
rest who should appear to use the loudest acclamations. So he ascended a
high elevation made for him, and took his seat, in a throne made of gold,
and spake kindly to the multitude, and declared with what joy he received
their acclamations, and the marks of the good-will they showed to him; and
returned them thanks that they did not remember the injuries his father
had done them to his disadvantage; and promised them he would endeavor not
to be behindhand with them in rewarding their alacrity in his service,
after a suitable manner; but that he should abstain at present from the
name of king, and that he should have the honor of that dignity, if Cæsar
should confirm and settle that testament which his father had made; and
that it was on this account, that when the army would have put the diadem
on him at Jericho, he would not accept of that honor, which is usually so
much desired, because it was not yet evident that he who was to be
principally concerned in bestowing it would give it him; although, by his
acceptance of the government, he should not want the ability of rewarding
their kindness to him and that it should be his endeavor, as to all things
wherein they were concerned, to prove in every respect better than his
father. Whereupon the multitude, as it is usual with them, supposed that
the first days of those that enter upon such governments declare the
intentions of those that accept them; and so by how much Archelaus spake
the more gently and civilly to them, by so much did they more highly
commend him, and made application to him for the grant of what they
desired. Some made a clamor that he would ease them of some of their
annual payments; but others desired him to release those that were put
into prison by Herod, who were many, and had been put there at several
times; others of them required that he would take away those taxes which
had been severely laid upon what was publicly sold and bought. So
Archelaus contradicted them in nothing, since he pretended to do all
things so as to get the good-will of the multitude to him, as looking upon
that good-will to be a great step towards his preservation of the
government. Hereupon he went and offered sacrifice to God, and then betook
himself to feast with his friends.
CHAPTER 9. How The People Raised A Sedition Against Archelaus, And How He
Sailed To Rome.
1. At this time also it was that some of the Jews got together out of a
desire of innovation. They lamented Matthias, and those that were slain
with him by Herod, who had not any respect paid them by a funeral
mourning, out of the fear men were in of that man; they were those who had
been condemned for pulling down the golden eagle. The people made a great
clamor and lamentation hereupon, and cast out some reproaches against the
king also, as if that tended to alleviate the miseries of the deceased.
The people assembled together, and desired of Archelaus, that, in way of
revenge on their account, he would inflict punishment on those who had
been honored by Herod; and that, in the first and principal place, he
would deprive that high priest whom Herod had made, and would choose one
more agreeable to the law, and of greater purity, to officiate as high
priest. This was granted by Archelaus, although he was mightily offended
at their importunity, because he proposed to himself to go to Rome
immediately to look after Cæsar’s determination about him. However, he
sent the general of his forces to use persuasions, and to tell them that
the death which was inflicted on their friends was according to the law;
and to represent to them that their petitions about these things were
carried to a great height of injury to him; that the time was not now
proper for such petitions, but required their unanimity until such time as
he should be established in the government by the consent of Cæsar, and
should then be come back to them; for that he would then consult with them
in common concerning the purport of their petitions; but that they ought
at present to be quiet, lest they should seem seditious persons.
2. So when the king had suggested these things, and instructed his general
in what he was to say, he sent him away to the people; but they made a
clamor, and would not give him leave to speak, and put him in danger of
his life, and as many more as were desirous to venture upon saying openly
any thing which might reduce them to a sober mind, and prevent their going
on in their present courses, because they had more concern to have all
their own wills performed than to yield obedience to their governors;
thinking it to be a thing insufferable, that, while Herod was alive, they
should lose those that were most dear to them, and that when he was dead,
they could not get the actors to be punished. So they went on with their
designs after a violent manner, and thought all to be lawful and right
which tended to please them, and being unskillful in foreseeing what
dangers they incurred; and when they had suspicion of such a thing, yet
did the present pleasure they took in the punishment of those they deemed
their enemies overweigh all such considerations; and although Archelaus
sent many to speak to them, yet they treated them not as messengers sent
by him, but as persons that came of their own accord to mitigate their
anger, and would not let one of them speak. The sedition also was made by
such as were in a great passion; and it was evident that they were
proceeding further in seditious practices, by the multitude running so
fast upon them.
3. Now, upon the approach of that feast of unleavened bread, which the law
of their fathers had appointed for the Jews at this time, which feast is
called the Passover 13 and is a memorial of their
deliverance out of Egypt, when they offer sacrifices with great alacrity;
and when they are required to slay more sacrifices in number than at any
other festival; and when an innumerable multitude came thither out of the
country, nay, from beyond its limits also, in order to worship God, the
seditious lamented Judas and Matthias, those teachers of the laws, and
kept together in the temple, and had plenty of food, because these
seditious persons were not ashamed to beg it. And as Archelaus was afraid
lest some terrible thing should spring up by means of these men’s madness,
he sent a regiment of armed men, and with them a captain of a thousand, to
suppress the violent efforts of the seditious before the whole multitude
should be infected with the like madness; and gave them this charge, that
if they found any much more openly seditious than others, and more busy in
tumultuous practices, they should bring them to him. But those that were
seditious on account of those teachers of the law, irritated the people by
the noise and clamors they used to encourage the people in their designs;
so they made an assault upon the soldiers, and came up to them, and stoned
the greatest part of them, although some of them ran away wounded, and
their captain among them; and when they had thus done, they returned to
the sacrifices which were already in their hands. Now Archelaus thought
there was no way to preserve the entire government but by cutting off
those who made this attempt upon it; so he sent out the whole army upon
them, and sent the horsemen to prevent those that had their tents without
the temple from assisting those that were within the temple, and to kill
such as ran away from the footmen when they thought themselves out of
danger; which horsemen slew three thousand men, while the rest went to the
neighboring mountains. Then did Archelaus order proclamation to be made to
them all, that they should retire to their own homes; so they went away,
and left the festival, out of fear of somewhat worse which would follow,
although they had been so bold by reason of their want of instruction. So
Archelaus went down to the sea with his mother, and took with him Nicolaus
and Ptolemy, and many others of his friends, and left Philip his brother
as governor of all things belonging both to his own family and to the
public. There went out also with him Salome, Herod’s sister who took with
her, her children, and many of her kindred were with her; which kindred of
hers went, as they pretended, to assist Archelaus in gaining the kingdom,
but in reality to oppose him, and chiefly to make loud complaints of what
he had done in the temple. But Sabinus, Cæsar’s steward for Syrian
affairs, as he was making haste into Judea to preserve Herod’s effects,
met with Archelaus at Cæsarea; but Varus [president of Syria] came at
that time, and restrained him from meddling with them, for he was there as
sent for by Archceaus, by the means of Ptolemy. And Sabinus, out of regard
to Varus, did neither seize upon any of the castles that were among the
Jews, nor did he seal up the treasures in them, but permitted Archelaus to
have them, until Cæsar should declare his resolution about them; so that,
upon this his promise, he tarried still at Cæsarea. But after Archelaus
was sailed for Rome, and Varus was removed to Antioch, Sabinus went to
Jerusalem, and seized on the king’s palace. He also sent for the keepers
of the garrisons, and for all those that had the charge of Herod’s
effects, and declared publicly that he should require them to give an
account of what they had; and he disposed of the castles in the manner he
pleased; but those who kept them did not neglect what Archelaus had given
them in command, but continued to keep all things in the manner that had
been enjoined them; and their pretense was, that they kept them all for
Cæsar.
4. At the same time also did Antipas, another of Herod’s sons, sail to
Rome, in order to gain the government; being buoyed up by Salome with
promises that he should take that government; and that he was a much
honester and fitter man than Archelaus for that authority, since Herod
had, in his former testament, deemed him the worthiest to be made king,
which ought to be esteemed more valid than his latter testament. Antipas
also brought with him his mother, and Ptolemy the brother of Nicolaus, one
that had been Herod’s most honored friend, and was now zealous for
Antipas; but it was Ireneus the orator, and one who, on account of his
reputation for sagacity, was intrusted with the affairs of the kingdom,
who most of all encouraged him to attempt to gain the kingdom; by whose
means it was, that when some advised him to yield to Archelaus, as to his
elder brother, and who had been declared king by their father’s last will,
he would not submit so to do. And when he was come to Rome, all his
relations revolted to him; not out of their good-will to him, but out of
their hatred to Archelaus; though indeed they were most of all desirous of
gaining their liberty, and to be put under a Roman governor; but if there
were too great an opposition made to that, they thought Antipas preferable
to Archelaus, and so joined with him, in order to procure the kingdom for
him. Sabinus also, by letters, accused Archelaus to Cæsar.
5. Now when Archelaus had sent in his papers to Cæsar, wherein he pleaded
his right to the kingdom, and his father’s testament, with the accounts of
Herod’s money, and with Ptolemy, who brought Herod’s seal, he so expected
the event; but when Cæsar had read these papers, and Varus’s and
Sabinus’s letters, with the accounts of the money, and what were the
annual incomes of the kingdom, and understood that Antipas had also sent
letters to lay claim to the kingdom, he summoned his friends together, to
know their opinions, and with them Caius, the son of Agrippa, and of Julia
his daughter, whom he had adopted, and took him, and made him sit first of
all, and desired such as pleased to speak their minds about the affairs
now before them. Now Antipater, Salome’s son, a very subtle orator, and a
bitter enemy to Archelaus, spake first to this purpose: That it was
ridiculous in Archelaus to plead now to have the kingdom given him, since
he had, in reality, taken already the power over it to himself, before
Cæsar had granted it to him; and appealed to those bold actions of his,
in destroying so many at the Jewish festival; and if the men had acted
unjustly, it was but fit the punishing of them should have been reserved
to those that were out of the country, but had the power to punish them,
and not been executed by a man that, if he pretended to be a king, he did
an injury to Cæsar, by usurping that authority before it was determined
for him by Cæsar; but if he owned himself to be a private person, his
case was much worse, since he who was putting in for the kingdom could by
no means expect to have that power granted him, of which he had already
deprived Cæsar [by taking it to himself]. He also touched sharply upon
him, and appealed to his changing the commanders in the army, and his
sitting in the royal throne beforehand, and his determination of
law-suits; all done as if he were no other than a king. He appealed also
to his concessions to those that petitioned him on a public account, and
indeed doing such things, than which he could devise no greater if he had
been already settled in the kingdom by Cæsar. He also ascribed to him the
releasing of the prisoners that were in the hippodrome, and many other
things, that either had been certainly done by him, or were believed to be
done, and easily might be believed to have been done, because they were of
such a nature as to be usually done by young men, and by such as, out of a
desire of ruling, seize upon the government too soon. He also charged him
with his neglect of the funeral mourning for his father, and with having
merry meetings the very night in which he died; and that it was thence the
multitude took the handle of raising a tumult: and if Archelaus could thus
requite his dead father, who had bestowed such benefits upon him, and
bequeathed such great things to him, by pretending to shed tears for him
in the day time, like an actor on the stage, but every night making mirth
for having gotten the government, he would appear to be the same Archelaus
with regard to Cæsar, if he granted him the kingdom, which he hath been
to his father; since he had then dancing and singing, as though an enemy
of his were fallen, and not as though a man were carried to his funeral,
that was so nearly related, and had been so great a benefactor to him. But
he said that the greatest crime of all was this, that he came now before
Cæsar to obtain the government by his grant, while he had before acted in
all things as he could have acted if Cæsar himself, who ruled all, had
fixed him firmly in the government. And what he most aggravated in his
pleading was the slaughter of those about the temple, and the impiety of
it, as done at the festival; and how they were slain like sacrifices
themselves, some of whom were foreigners, and others of their own country,
till the temple was full of dead bodies: and all this was done, not by an
alien, but by one who pretended to the lawful title of a king, that he
might complete the wicked tyranny which his nature prompted him to, and
which is hated by all men. On which account his father never so much as
dreamed of making him his successor in the kingdom, when he was of a sound
mind, because he knew his disposition; and in his former and more
authentic testament, he appointed his antagonist Antipas to succeed; but
that Archelaus was called by his father to that dignity when he was in a
dying condition, both of body and mind; while Antipas was called when he
was ripest in his judgment, and of such strength of body as made him
capable of managing his own affairs: and if his father had the like notion
of him formerly that he hath now showed, yet hath he given a sufficient
specimen what a king he is likely to be, when he hath [in effect] deprived
Cæsar of that power of disposing of the kingdom, which he justly hath,
and hath not abstained from making a terrible slaughter of his fellow
citizens in the temple, while he was but a private person.
6. So when Antipater had made this speech, and had confirmed what he had
said by producing many witnesses from among Archelaus’s own relations, he
made an end of his pleading. Upon which Nicolaus arose up to plead for
Archelaus, and said, “That what had been done at the temple was rather to
be attributed to the mind of those that had been killed, than to the
authority of Archelaus; for that those who were the authors of such things
are not only wicked in the injuries they do of themselves, but in forcing
sober persons to avenge themselves upon them. Now it is evident that what
these did in way of opposition was done under pretense, indeed, against
Archelaus, but in reality against Cæsar himself, for they, after an
injurious manner, attacked and slew those who were sent by Archelaus, and
who came only to put a stop to their doings. They had no regard, either to
God or to the festival, whom Antipater yet is not ashamed to patronize,
whether it be out of his indulgence of an enmity to Archelaus, or out of
his hatred of virtue and justice. For as to those who begin such tumults,
and first set about such unrighteous actions, they are the men who force
those that punish them to betake themselves to arms even against their
will. So that Antipater in effect ascribes the rest of what was done to
all those who were of counsel to the accusers; for nothing which is here
accused of injustice has been done but what was derived from them as its
authors; nor are those things evil in themselves, but so represented only
in order to do harm to Archelaus. Such is these men’s inclination to do an
injury to a man that is of their kindred, their father’s benefactor, and
familiarity acquainted with them, and that hath ever lived in friendship
with them; for that, as to this testament, it was made by the king when he
was of a sound mind, and so ought to be of more authority than his former
testament; and that for this reason, because Cæsar is therein left to be
the judge and disposer of all therein contained; and for Cæsar, he will
not, to be sure, at all imitate the unjust proceedings of those men, who,
during Herod’s whole life, had on all occasions been joint partakers of
power with him, and yet do zealously endeavor to injure his determination,
while they have not themselves had the same regard to their kinsman [which
Archelaus had]. Cæsar will not therefore disannul the testament of a man
whom he had entirely supported, of his friend and confederate, and that
which is committed to him in trust to ratify; nor will Cæsar’s virtuous
and upright disposition, which is known and uncontested through all the
habitable world, imitate the wickedness of these men in condemning a king
as a madman, and as having lost his reason, while he hath bequeathed the
succession to a good son of his, and to one who flies to Cæsar’s upright
determination for refuge. Nor can Herod at any time have been mistaken in
his judgment about a successor, while he showed so much prudence as to
submit all to Cæsar’s determination.”
7. Now when Nicolaus had laid these things before Cæsar, he ended his
plea; whereupon Cæsar was so obliging to Archelaus, that he raised him up
when he had cast himself down at his feet, and said that he well deserved
the kingdom; and he soon let them know that he was so far moved in his
favor, that he would not act otherwise than his father’s testament
directed, and than was for the advantage of Archelaus. However, while he
gave this encouragement to Archelaus to depend on him securely, he made no
full determination about him; and when the assembly was broken up, he
considered by himself whether he should confirm the kingdom to Archelaus,
or whether he should part it among all Herod’s posterity; and this because
they all stood in need of much assistance to support them.
CHAPTER 10. A Sedition Against Sabinus; And How Varus Brought The Authors
Of It To Punishment.
1. But before these things could be brought to a settlement, Malthace,
Archelaus’s mother, fell into a distemper, and died of it; and letters
came from Varus, the president of Syria, which informed Cæsar of the
revolt of the Jews; for after Archelaus was sailed, the whole nation was in
a tumult. So Varus, since he was there himself, brought the authors of the
disturbance to punishment; and when he had restrained them for the most
part from this sedition, which was a great one, he took his journey to
Antioch, leaving one legion of his army at Jerusalem to keep the Jews
quiet, who were now very fond of innovation. Yet did not this at all avail
to put an end to that their sedition; for after Varus was gone away,
Sabinus, Cæsar’s procurator, staid behind, and greatly distressed the
Jews, relying on the forces that were left there that they would by their
multitude protect him; for he made use of them, and armed them as his
guards, thereby so oppressing the Jews, and giving them so great
disturbance, that at length they rebelled; for he used force in seizing
the citadels, and zealously pressed on the search after the king’s money,
in order to seize upon it by force, on account of his love of gain and his
extraordinary covetousness.
2. But on the approach of pentecost, which is a festival of ours, so
called from the days of our forefathers, a great many ten thousands of men
got together; nor did they come only to celebrate the festival, but out of
their indignation at the madness of Sabinus, and at the injuries he
offered them. A great number there was of Galileans, and Idumeans, and
many men from Jericho, and others who had passed over the river Jordan,
and inhabited those parts. This whole multitude joined themselves to all
the rest, and were more zealous than the others in making an assault on
Sabinus, in order to be avenged on him; so they parted themselves into
three bands, and encamped themselves in the places following:—some
of them seized on the hippodrome and of the other two bands, one pitched
themselves from the northern part of the temple to the southern, on the
east quarter; but the third band held the western part of the city, where
the king’s palace was. Their work tended entirely to besiege the Romans,
and to enclose them on all sides. Now Sabinus was afraid of these men’s
number, and of their resolution, who had little regard to their lives, but
were very desirous not to be overcome, while they thought it a point of
puissance to overcome their enemies; so he sent immediately a letter to
Varus, and, as he used to do, was very pressing with him, and entreated
him to come quickly to his assistance, because the forces he had left were
in imminent danger, and would probably, in no long time, be seized upon,
and cut to pieces; while he did himself get up to the highest tower of the
fortress Phasaelus, which had been built in honor of Phasaelus, king
Herod’s brother, and called so when the Parthians had brought him to his
death. 14 So Sabinus gave thence a
signal to the Romans to fall upon the Jews, although he did not himself
venture so much as to come down to his friends, and thought he might
expect that the others should expose themselves first to die on account of
his avarice. However, the Romans ventured to make a sally out of the
place, and a terrible battle ensued; wherein, though it is true the Romans
beat their adversaries, yet were not the Jews daunted in their
resolutions, even when they had the sight of that terrible slaughter that
was made of them; but they went round about, and got upon those cloisters
which encompassed the outer court of the temple, where a great fight was
still continued, and they cast stones at the Romans, partly with their
hands, and partly with slings, as being much used to those exercises. All
the archers also in array did the Romans a great deal of mischief, because
they used their hands dexterously from a place superior to the others, and
because the others were at an utter loss what to do; for when they tried
to shoot their arrows against the Jews upwards, these arrows could not
reach them, insomuch that the Jews were easily too hard for their enemies.
And this sort of fight lasted a great while, till at last the Romans, who
were greatly distressed by what was done, set fire to the cloisters so
privately, that those that were gotten upon them did not perceive it. This
fire 15
being fed by a great deal of combustible matter, caught hold immediately
on the roof of the cloisters; so the wood, which was full of pitch and
wax, and whose gold was laid on it with wax, yielded to the flame
presently, and those vast works, which were of the highest value and
esteem, were destroyed utterly, while those that were on the roof
unexpectedly perished at the same time; for as the roof tumbled down, some
of these men tumbled down with it, and others of them were killed by their
enemies who encompassed them. There was a great number more, who, out of
despair of saving their lives, and out of astonishment at the misery that
surrounded them, did either cast themselves into the fire, or threw
themselves upon their swords, and so got out of their misery. But as to
those that retired behind the same way by which they ascended, and thereby
escaped, they were all killed by the Romans, as being unarmed men, and
their courage failing them; their wild fury being now not able to help
them, because they were destitute of armor, insomuch that of those that
went up to the top of the roof, not one escaped. The Romans also rushed
through the fire, where it gave them room so to do, and seized on that
treasure where the sacred money was reposited; a great part of which was
stolen by the soldiers, and Sabinus got openly four hundred talents.
3. But this calamity of the Jews’ friends, who fell in this battle,
grieved them, as did also this plundering of the money dedicated to God in
the temple. Accordingly, that body of them which continued best together,
and was the most warlike, encompassed the palace, and threatened to set
fire to it, and kill all that were in it. Yet still they commanded them to
go out presently, and promised, that if they would do so, they would not
hurt them, nor Sabinus neither; at which time the greatest part of the
king’s troops deserted to them, while Rufus and Gratus, who had three
thousand of the most warlike of Herod’s army with them, who were men of
active bodies, went over to the Romans. There was also a band of horsemen
under the command of Rufus, which itself went over to the Romans also.
However, the Jews went on with the siege, and dug mines under the palace
walls, and besought those that were gone over to the other side not to be
their hinderance, now they had such a proper opportunity for the recovery
of their country’s ancient liberty; and for Sabinus, truly he was desirous
of going away with his soldiers, but was not able to trust himself with
the enemy, on account of what mischief he had already done them; and he
took this great [pretended] lenity of theirs for an argument why he should
not comply with them; and so, because he expected that Varus was coming,
he still bore the siege.
4. Now at this time there were ten thousand other disorders in Judea,
which were like tumults, because a great number put themselves into a
warlike posture, either out of hopes of gain to themselves, or out of
enmity to the Jews. In particular, two thousand of Herod’s old soldiers,
who had been already disbanded, got together in Judea itself, and fought
against the king’s troops, although Achiabus, Herod’s first cousin,
opposed them; but as he was driven out of the plains into the mountainous
parts by the military skill of those men, he kept himself in the
fastnesses that were there, and saved what he could.
5. There was also Judas, 16 the son of that Ezekias who
had been head of the robbers; which Ezekias was a very strong man, and had
with great difficulty been caught by Herod. This Judas, having gotten
together a multitude of men of a profligate character about Sepphoris in
Galilee, made an assault upon the palace [there,] and seized upon all the
weapons that were laid up in it, and with them armed every one of those
that were with him, and carried away what money was left there; and he
became terrible to all men, by tearing and rending those that came near
him; and all this in order to raise himself, and out of an ambitious
desire of the royal dignity; and he hoped to obtain that as the reward not
of his virtuous skill in war, but of his extravagance in doing injuries.
6. There was also Simon, who had been a slave of Herod the king, but in
other respects a comely person, of a tall and robust body; he was one that
was much superior to others of his order, and had had great things
committed to his care. This man was elevated at the disorderly state of
things, and was so bold as to put a diadem on his head, while a certain
number of the people stood by him, and by them he was declared to be a
king, and thought himself more worthy of that dignity than any one else.
He burnt down the royal palace at Jericho, and plundered what was left in
it. He also set fire to many other of the king’s houses in several places
of the country, and utterly destroyed them, and permitted those that were
with him to take what was left in them for a prey; and he would have done
greater things, unless care had been taken to repress him immediately; for
Gratus, when he had joined himself to some Roman soldiers, took the forces
he had with him, and met Simon, and after a great and a long fight, no
small part of those that came from Perea, who were a disordered body of
men, and fought rather in a bold than in a skillful manner, were
destroyed; and although Simon had saved himself by flying away through a
certain valley, yet Gratus overtook him, and cut off his head. The royal
palace also at Amathus, by the river Jordan, was burnt down by a party of
men that were got together, as were those belonging to Simon. And thus did
a great and wild fury spread itself over the nation, because they had no
king to keep the multitude in good order, and because those foreigners who
came to reduce the seditious to sobriety did, on the contrary, set them
more in a flame, because of the injuries they offered them, and the
avaricious management of their affairs.
7. But because Athronges, a person neither eminent by the dignity of his
progenitors, nor for any great wealth he was possessed of, but one that
had in all respects been a shepherd only, and was not known by any body;
yet because he was a tall man, and excelled others in the strength of his
hands, he was so bold as to set up for king. This man thought it so sweet
a thing to do more than ordinary injuries to others, that although he
should be killed, he did not much care if he lost his life in so great a
design. He had also four brethren, who were tall men themselves, and were
believed to be superior to others in the strength of their hands, and
thereby were encouraged to aim at great things, and thought that strength
of theirs would support them in retaining the kingdom. Each of these ruled
over a band of men of their own; for those that got together to them were
very numerous. They were every one of them also commanders; but when they
came to fight, they were subordinate to him, and fought for him, while he
put a diadem about his head, and assembled a council to debate about what
things should be done, and all things were done according to his pleasure.
And this man retained his power a great while; he was also called king,
and had nothing to hinder him from doing what he pleased. He also, as well
as his brethren, slew a great many both of the Romans and of the king’s
forces, and managed matters with the like hatred to each of them. The
king’s forces they fell upon, because of the licentious conduct they had
been allowed under Herod’s government; and they fell upon the Romans,
because of the injuries they had so lately received from them. But in
process of time they grew more cruel to all sorts of men, nor could any
one escape from one or other of these seditions, since they slew some out
of the hopes of gain, and others from a mere custom of slaying men. They
once attacked a company of Romans at Emmaus, who were bringing corn and
weapons to the army, and fell upon Arius, the centurion, who commanded the
company, and shot forty of the best of his foot soldiers; but the rest of
them were affrighted at their slaughter, and left their dead behind them,
but saved themselves by the means of Gratus, who came with the king’s
troops that were about him to their assistance. Now these four brethren
continued the war a long while by such sort of expeditions, and much
grieved the Romans; but did their own nation also a great deal of
mischief. Yet were they afterwards subdued; one of them in a fight with
Gratus, another with Ptolemy; Archelaus also took the eldest of them
prisoner; while the last of them was so dejected at the other’s
misfortune, and saw so plainly that he had no way now left to save
himself, his army being worn away with sickness and continual labors, that
he also delivered himself up to Archelaus, upon his promise and oath to
God [to preserve his life.] But these things came to pass a good while
afterward.
8. And now Judea was full of robberies; and as the several companies of
the seditious lighted upon any one to head them, he was created a king
immediately, in order to do mischief to the public. They were in some
small measure indeed, and in small matters, hurtful to the Romans; but the
murders they committed upon their own people lasted a long while.
9. As soon as Varus was once informed of the state of Judea by Sabinus’s
writing to him, he was afraid for the legion he had left there; so he took
the two other legions, [for there were three legions in all belonging to
Syria,] and four troops of horsemen, with the several auxiliary forces
which either the kings or certain of the tetrarchs afforded him, and made
what haste he could to assist those that were then besieged in Judea. He
also gave order that all that were sent out for this expedition, should
make haste to Ptolemais. The citizens of Berytus also gave him fifteen
hundred auxiliaries as he passed through their city. Aretas also, the king
of Arabia Petrea, out of his hatred to Herod, and in order to purchase the
favor of the Romans, sent him no small assistance, besides their footmen
and horsemen; and when he had now collected all his forces together, he
committed part of them to his son, and to a friend of his, and sent them
upon an expedition into Galilee, which lies in the neighborhood of
Ptolemais; who made an attack upon the enemy, and put them to flight, and
took Sepphoris, and made its inhabitants slaves, and burnt the city. But
Varus himself pursued his march for Samaria with his whole army; yet did
not he meddle with the city of that name, because it had not at all joined
with the seditious; but pitched his camp at a certain village that
belonged to Ptolemy, whose name was Arus, which the Arabians burnt, out of
their hatred to Herod, and out of the enmity they bore to his friends;
whence they marched to another village, whose name was Sampho, which the
Arabians plundered and burnt, although it was a fortified and a strong
place; and all along this march nothing escaped them, but all places were
full of fire and of slaughter. Emmaus was also burnt by Varus’s order,
after its inhabitants had deserted it, that he might avenge those that had
there been destroyed. From thence he now marched to Jerusalem; whereupon
those Jews whose camp lay there, and who had besieged the Roman legion,
not bearing the coming of this army, left the siege imperfect: but as to
the Jerusalem Jews, when Varus reproached them bitterly for what had been
done, they cleared themselves of the accusation, and alleged that the
conflux of the people was occasioned by the feast; that the war was not
made with their approbation, but by the rashness of the strangers, while
they were on the side of the Romans, and besieged together with them,
rather than having any inclination to besiege them. There also came
beforehand to meet Varus, Joseph, the cousin-german of king Herod, as also
Gratus and Rufus, who brought their soldiers along with them, together
with those Romans who had been besieged; but Sabinus did not come into
Varus’s presence, but stole out of the city privately, and went to the
sea-side.
10. Upon this, Varus sent a part of his army into the country, to seek out
those that had been the authors of the revolt; and when they were
discovered, he punished some of them that were most guilty, and some he
dismissed: now the number of those that were crucified on this account
were two thousand. After which he disbanded his army, which he found no
way useful to him in the affairs he came about; for they behaved
themselves very disorderly, and disobeyed his orders, and what Varus
desired them to do, and this out of regard to that gain which they made by
the mischief they did. As for himself, when he was informed that ten
thousand Jews had gotten together, he made haste to catch them; but they
did not proceed so far as to fight him, but, by the advice of Achiabus,
they came together, and delivered themselves up to him: hereupon Varus
forgave the crime of revolting to the multitude, but sent their several
commanders to Cæsar, many of whom Cæsar dismissed; but for the several
relations of Herod who had been among these men in this war, they were the
only persons whom he punished, who, without the least regard to justice,
fought against their own kindred.
CHAPTER 11. An Embassage To Cæsar; And How Cæsar Confirmed Herod’s
Testament.
1. So when Varus had settled these affairs, and had placed the former
legion at Jerusalem, he returned back to Antioch; but as for Archelaus, he
had new sources of trouble come upon him at Rome, on the occasions
following: for an embassage of the Jews was come to Rome, Varus having
permitted the nation to send it, that they might petition for the liberty
of living by their own laws. 17 Now
the number of the ambassadors that were sent by the authority of the
nation were fifty, to which they joined above eight thousand of the Jews
that were at Rome already. Hereupon Cæsar assembled his friends, and the
chief men among the Romans, in the temple of Apollo, 18
which he had built at a vast charge; whither the ambassadors came, and a
multitude of the Jews that were there already came with them, as did also
Archelaus and his friends; but as for the several kinsmen which Archelaus
had, they would not join themselves with him, out of their hatred to him;
and yet they thought it too gross a thing for them to assist the
ambassadors [against him], as supposing it would be a disgrace to them in
Cæsar’s opinion to think of thus acting in opposition to a man of their
own kindred. Philip 19 also was come hither out of
Syria, by the persuasion of Varus, with this principal intention to assist
his brother [Archelaus]; for Varus was his great friend: but still so,
that if there should any change happen in the form of government, [which
Varus suspected there would,] and if any distribution should be made on
account of the number that desired the liberty of living by their own
laws, that he might not be disappointed, but might have his share in it.
2. Now upon the liberty that was given to the Jewish ambassadors to speak,
they who hoped to obtain a dissolution of kingly government betook
themselves to accuse Herod of his iniquities; and they declared that he
was indeed in name a king, but that he had taken to himself that
uncontrollable authority which tyrants exercise over their subjects, and
had made use of that authority for the destruction of the Jews, and did
not abstain from making many innovations among them besides, according to
his own inclinations; and that whereas there were a great many who
perished by that destruction he brought upon them, so many indeed as no
other history relates, they that survived were far more miserable than
those that suffered under him; not only by the anxiety they were in from
his looks and disposition towards them, but from the danger their estates
were in of being taken away by him. That he did never leave off adorning
these cities that lay in their neighborhood, but were inhabited by
foreigners; but so that the cities belonging to his own government were
ruined, and utterly destroyed that whereas, when he took the kingdom, it
was in an extraordinary flourishing condition, he had filled the nation
with the utmost degree of poverty; and when, upon unjust pretenses, he had
slain any of the nobility, he took away their estates; and when he
permitted any of them to live, he condemned them to the forfeiture of what
they possessed. And besides the annual impositions which he laid upon
every one of them, they were to make liberal presents to himself, to his
domestics and friends, and to such of his slaves as were vouchsafed the
favor of being his tax-gatherers, because there was no way of obtaining a
freedom from unjust violence without giving either gold or silver for it.
That they would say nothing of the corruption of the chastity of their
virgins, and the reproach laid on their wives for incontinency, and those
things acted after an insolent and inhuman manner; because it was not a
smaller pleasure to the sufferers to have such things concealed, than it
would have been not to have suffered them. That Herod had put such abuses
upon them as a wild beast would not have put on them, if he had power
given him to rule over us; and that although their nation had passed
through many subversions and alterations of government, their history gave
no account of any calamity they had ever been under, that could be
compared with this which Herod had brought upon their nation; that it was
for this reason that they thought they might justly and gladly salute
Archelaus as king, upon this supposition, that whosoever should be set
over their kingdom, he would appear more mild to them than Herod had been;
and that they had joined with him in the mourning for his father, in order
to gratify him, and were ready to oblige him in other points also, if they
could meet with any degree of moderation from him; but that he seemed to
be afraid lest he should not be deemed Herod’s own son; and so, without
any delay, he immediately let the nation understand his meaning, and this
before his dominion was well established, since the power of disposing of
it belonged to Cæsar, who could either give it to him or not, as he
pleased. That he had given a specimen of his future virtue to his
subjects, and with what kind of moderation and good administration he
would govern them, by that his first action, which concerned them, his own
citizens, and God himself also, when he made the slaughter of three
thousand of his own countrymen at the temple. How then could they avoid
the just hatred of him, who, to the rest of his barbarity, hath added this
as one of our crimes, that we have opposed and contradicted him in the
exercise of his authority? Now the main thing they desired was this: That
they might be delivered from kingly and the like forms of government, 20
and might be added to Syria, and be put under the authority of such
presidents of theirs as should be sent to them; for that it would thereby
be made evident, whether they be really a seditious people, and generally
fond of innovations, or whether they would live in an orderly manner, if
they might have governors of any sort of moderation set over them.
3. Now when the Jews had said this, Nicolaus vindicated the kings from
those accusations, and said, that as for Herod, since he had never been
thus accused all the time of his life, it was not fit for those that might
have accused him of lesser crimes than those now mentioned, and might have
procured him to be punished during his lifetime, to bring an accusation
against him now he is dead. He also attributed the actions of Archlaus to
the Jews’ injuries to him, who, affecting to govern contrary to the laws,
and going about to kill those that would have hindered them from acting
unjustly, when they were by him punished for what they had done, made
their complaints against him; so he accused them of their attempts for
innovation, and of the pleasure they took in sedition, by reason of their
not having learned to submit to justice and to the laws, but still
desiring to be superior in all things. This was the substance of what
Nicolaus said.
4. When Cæsar had heard these pleadings, he dissolved the assembly; but a
few days afterwards he appointed Archelaus, not indeed to be king of the
whole country, but ethnarch of the one half of that which had been subject
to Herod, and promised to give him the royal dignity hereafter, if he
governed his part virtuously. But as for the other half, he divided it
into two parts, and gave it to two other of Herod’s sons, to Philip and to
Antipas, that Antipas who disputed with Archelaus for the whole kingdom.
Now to him it was that Peres and Galilee paid their tribute, which
amounted annually to two hundred talents, 21 while
Batanea, with Trachonitis, as well as Auranitis, with a certain part of
what was called the House of Zenodorus, 22 paid
the tribute of one hundred talents to Philip; but Idumea, and Judea, and
the country of Samaria paid tribute to Archelaus, but had now a fourth
part of that tribute taken off by the order of Cæsar, who decreed them
that mitigation, because they did not join in this revolt with the rest of
the multitude. There were also certain of the cities which paid tribute to
Archelaus: Strato’s Tower and Sebaste, with Joppa and Jerusalem; for as to
Gaza, and Gadara, and Hippos, they were Grecian cities, which Cæsar
separated from his government, and added them to the province of Syria.
Now the tribute-money that came to Archelaus every year from his own
dominions amounted to six hundred talents.
5. And so much came to Herod’s sons from their father’s inheritance. But
Salome, besides what her brother left her by his testament, which were
Jamnia, and Ashdod, and Phasaelis, and five hundred thousand [drachmae] of
coined silver, Cæsar made her a present of a royal habitation at Askelo;
in all, her revenues amounted to sixty talents by the year, and her
dwelling-house was within Archelaus’s government. The rest also of the
king’s relations received what his testament allotted them. Moreover,
Cæsar made a present to each of Herod’s two virgin daughters, besides
what their father left them, of two hundred and fifty thousand [drachmae]
of silver, and married them to Pheroras’s sons: he also granted all that
was bequeathed to himself to the king’s sons, which was one thousand five
hundred talents, excepting a few of the vessels, which he reserved for
himself; and they were acceptable to him, not so much for the great value
they were of, as because they were memorials of the king to him.
CHAPTER 12. Concerning A Spurious Alexander.
1. When these affairs had been thus settled by Cæsar, a certain young
man, by birth a Jew, but brought up by a Roman freed-man in the city
Sidon, ingrafted himself into the kindred of Herod, by the resemblance of
his countenance, which those that saw him attested to be that of
Alexander, the son of Herod, whom he had slain; and this was an incitement
to him to endeavor to obtain the government; so he took to him as an
assistant a man of his own country, [one that was well acquainted with the
affairs of the palace, but, on other accounts, an ill man, and one whose
nature made him capable of causing great disturbances to the public, and
one that became a teacher of such a mischievous contrivance to the other,]
and declared himself to be Alexander, and the son of Herod, but stolen
away by one of those that were sent to slay him, who, in reality, slew
other men, in order to deceive the spectators, but saved both him and his
brother Aristobulus. Thus was this man elated, and able to impose on those
that came to him; and when he was come to Crete, he made all the Jews that
came to discourse with him believe him [to be Alexander]. And when he had
gotten much money which had been presented to him there, he passed over to
Melos, where he got much more money than he had before, out of the belief
they had that he was of the royal family, and their hopes that he would
recover his father’s principality, and reward his benefactors; so he made
haste to Rome, and was conducted thither by those strangers who
entertained him. He was also so fortunate, as, upon his landing at
Dicearchia, to bring the Jews that were there into the same delusion; and
not only other people, but also all those that had been great with Herod,
or had a kindness for him, joined themselves to this man as to their king.
The cause of it was this, that men were glad of his pretenses, which were
seconded by the likeness of his countenance, which made those that had
been acquainted with Alexander strongly to believe that he was no other
but the very same person, which they also confirmed to others by oath;
insomuch that when the report went about him that he was coming to Rome,
the whole multitude of the Jews that were there went out to meet him,
ascribing it to Divine Providence that he has so unexpectedly escaped, and
being very joyful on account of his mother’s family. And when he was come,
he was carried in a royal litter through the streets; and all the
ornaments about him were such as kings are adorned withal; and this was at
the expense of those that entertained him. The multitude also flocked
about him greatly, and made mighty acclamations to him, and nothing was
omitted which could be thought suitable to such as had been so
unexpectedly preserved.
2. When this thing was told Cæsar, he did not believe it, because Herod
was not easily to be imposed upon in such affairs as were of great concern
to him; yet, having some suspicion it might be so, he sent one Celadus, a
freed-man of his, and one that had conversed with the young men
themselves, and bade him bring Alexander into his presence; so he brought
him, being no more accurate in judging about him than the rest of the
multitude. Yet did not he deceive Cæsar; for although there was a
resemblance between him and Alexander, yet was it not so exact as to
impose on such as were prudent in discerning; for this spurious Alexander
had his hands rough, by the labors he had been put to and instead of that
softness of body which the other had, and this as derived from his
delicate and generous education, this man, for the contrary reason, had a
rugged body. When, therefore, Cæsar saw how the master and the scholar
agreed in this lying story, and in a bold way of talking, he inquired
about Aristobulus, and asked what became of him who [it seems] was stolen
away together with him, and for what reason it was that he did not come
along with him, and endeavor to recover that dominion which was due to his
high birth also. And when he said that he had been left in the isle of
Crete, for fear of the dangers of the sea, that, in case any accident
should come to himself, the posterity of Mariamne might not utterly
perish, but that Aristobulus might survive, and punish those that laid
such treacherous designs against them; and when he persevered in his
affirmations, and the author of the imposture agreed in supporting it,
Cæsar took the young man by himself, and said to him, “If thou wilt not
impose upon me, thou shalt have this for thy reward, that thou shalt
escape with thy life; tell me, then, who thou art, and who it was that had
boldness enough to contrive such a cheat as this. For this contrivance is
too considerable a piece of villainy to be undertaken by one of thy age.”
Accordingly, because he had no other way to take, he told Cæsar the
contrivance, and after what manner and by whom it was laid together. So
Cæsar, upon observing the spurious Alexander to be a strong active man,
and fit to work with his hands, that he might not break his promise to
him, put him among those that were to row among the mariners, but slew him
that induced him to do what he had done; for as for the people of Melos,
he thought them sufficiently punished, in having thrown away so much of
their money upon this spurious Alexander. And such was the ignominious
conclusion of this bold contrivance about the spurious Alexander.
CHAPTER 13. How Archelaus Upon A Second Accusation, Was Banished To
Vienna.
1. When Archelaus was entered on his ethnarchy, and was come into Judea,
he accused Joazar, the son of Boethus, of assisting the seditious, and
took away the high priesthood from him, and put Eleazar his brother in his
place. He also magnificently rebuilt the royal palace that had been at
Jericho, and he diverted half the water with which the village of Neara
used to be watered, and drew off that water into the plain, to water those
palm trees which he had there planted: he also built a village, and put
his own name upon it, and called it Archelais. Moreover, he transgressed
the law of our fathers 23 and married Glaphyra, the
daughter of Archelaus, who had been the wife of his brother Alexander,
which Alexander had three children by her, while it was a thing detestable
among the Jews to marry the brother’s wife. Nor did this Eleazar abide
long in the high priesthood, Jesus, the son of Sie, being put in his room
while he was still living.
2. But in the tenth year of Archelaus’s government, both his brethren, and
the principal men of Judea and Samaria, not being able to bear his
barbarous and tyrannical usage of them, accused him before Cæsar, and
that especially because they knew he had broken the commands of Cæsar,
which obliged him to behave himself with moderation among them. Whereupon
Cæsar, when he heard it, was very angry, and called for Archelaus’s
steward, who took care of his affairs at Rome, and whose name was
Archelaus also; and thinking it beneath him to write to Archelaus, he bid
him sail away as soon as possible, and bring him to us: so the man made
haste in his voyage, and when he came into Judea, he found Archelaus
feasting with his friends; so he told him what Cæsar had sent him about,
and hastened him away. And when he was come [to Rome], Cæsar, upon
hearing what certain accusers of his had to say, and what reply he could
make, both banished him, and appointed Vienna, a city of Gaul, to be the
place of his habitation, and took his money away from him.
3. Now, before Archelaus was gone up to Rome upon this message, he related
this dream to his friends: That he saw ears of corn, in number ten, full
of wheat, perfectly ripe, which ears, as it seemed to him, were devoured
by oxen. And when he was awake and gotten up, because the vision appeared
to be of great importance to him, he sent for the diviners, whose study was
employed about dreams. And while some were of one opinion, and some of
another, [for all their interpretations did not agree,] Simon, a man of
the sect of the Essens, desired leave to speak his mind freely, and said
that the vision denoted a change in the affairs of Archelaus, and that not
for the better; that oxen, because that animal takes uneasy pains in his
labors, denoted afflictions, and indeed denoted, further, a change of
affairs, because that land which is ploughed by oxen cannot remain in its
former state; and that the ears of corn being ten, determined the like
number of years, because an ear of corn grows in one year; and that the
time of Archelaus’s government was over. And thus did this man expound the
dream. Now on the fifth day after this dream came first to Archelaus, the
other Archelaus, that was sent to Judea by Cæsar to call him away, came
hither also.
4. The like accident befell Glaphyra his wife, who was the daughter of
king Archelaus, who, as I said before, was married, while she was a
virgin, to Alexander, the son of Herod, and brother of Archelaus; but
since it fell out so that Alexander was slain by his father, she was
married to Juba, the king of Lybia; and when he was dead, and she lived in
widowhood in Cappadocia with her father, Archelaus divorced his former
wife Mariamne, and married her, so great was his affection for this
Glphyra; who, during her marriage to him, saw the following dream: She
thought she saw Alexander standing by her, at which she rejoiced, and
embraced him with great affection; but that he complained o her, and said,
O Glaphyra! thou provest that saying to be true, which assures us that
women are not to be trusted. Didst not thou pledge thy faith to me? and
wast not thou married to me when thou wast a virgin? and had we not
children between us? Yet hast thou forgotten the affection I bare to thee,
out of a desire of a second husband. Nor hast thou been satisfied with
that injury thou didst me, but thou hast been so bold as to procure thee a
third husband to lie by thee, and in an indecent and imprudent manner hast
entered into my house, and hast been married to Archelaus, thy husband and
my brother. However, I will not forget thy former kind affection for me,
but will set thee free from every such reproachful action, and cause thee
to be mine again, as thou once wast. When she had related this to her
female companions, in a few days’ time she departed this life.
5. Now I did not think these histories improper for the present discourse,
both because my discourse now is concerning kings, and otherwise also on
account of the advantage hence to be drawn, as well for the confirmation
of the immortality of the soul, as of the providence of God over human
affairs, I thought them fit to be set down; but if any one does not
believe such relations, let him indeed enjoy his own opinion, but let him
not hinder another that would thereby encourage himself in virtue. So
Archelaus’s country was laid to the province of Syria; and Cyrenius, one
that had been consul, was sent by Cæsar to take account of people’s
effects in Syria, and to sell the house of Archelaus.
FOOTNOTES:
1 (return)
[ Those who have a mind to
know all the family and descendants of Antipater the Idumean, and of Herod
the Great, his son, and have a memory to preserve them all distinctly, may
consult Josephus, Antiq. B. XVIII. ch. 5. sect. 4; and Of the War, B. I.
ch. 28. sect. 4; in Havercamp’s edition, p. 336; and Spanheim, lb. p. 402—405;
and Reland, Paleslin. Part I. p. 178, 176.]
2 (return)
[ This is now wanting.]
3 (return)
[ Pheroras’s wife, and her
mother and sister, and Doris, Antipater’s mother.]
4 (return)
[ His wife, her mother, and
sister.]
5 (return)
[ It seems to me, by this
whole story put together, that Pheroras was not himself poisoned, as is
commonly supposed; for Antipater had persuaded him to poison Herod, ch. v.
sect. 1, which would fall to the ground if he wore himself poisoned; nor
could the poisoning of Pheroras serve any design that appears now going
forward; it was only the supposal of two of his freed-men, that this
love-potion, or poison, which they knew was brought to Pheroras’s wife,
was made use of for poisoning him; whereas it appears to have been brought
for her husband to poison Herod withal, as the future examinations
demonstrate.]
6 (return)
[ That the making of
images, without an intention to worship them, was not unlawful to the
Jews, see the note on Antiq. B VIII. ch. 7. sect. 5.
7 (return)
[ This fact, that one
Joseph was made high priest for a single day, on occasion of the action
here specified, that befell Matthias, the real high priest, in his sleep,
the night before the great day of expiation, is attested to both in the
Mishna and Talmud, as Dr. Hudson here informs us. And indeed, from this
fact, thus fully attested, we may confute that pretended rule in the
Talmud here mentioned, and endeavored to be excused lay Reland, that the
high priest was not suffered to sleep the night before that great day of
expiation; which watching would surely rather unfit him for the many
important duties he was to perform on that solemn day, than dispose him
duly to perform them. Nor do such Talmudical rules, when unsupported by
better evidence, much less when contradicted there by, seem to me of
weight enough to deserve that so great a man as Reland should spend his
time in endeavors at their vindication.]
8 (return)
[ This eclipse of the moon
[which is the only eclipse of either of the luminaries mentioned by our
Josephus in any of his writings] is of the greatest consequence for the
determination of the time for the death of Herod and Antipater, and for
the birth and entire chronology of Jesus Christ. It happened March 13th,
in the year of the Julian period 4710, and the 4th year before the
Christian era. See its calculation by the rules of astronomy, at the end
of the Astronomical Lectures, edit. Lat. p. 451, 452.]
9 (return)
[ A place for the
horse-races.]
10 (return)
[ When it is here said
that Philip the tetrarch, and Archelaus the king, or ethnarch, were own
brother, or genuine brothers, if those words mean own brothers, or born of
the same father and mother, there must be here some mistake; because they
had indeed the same father, Herod, but different mothers; the former
Cleopatra, and Archelaus Malthace. They were indeed brought up together
privately at Rome like when he went to have his kingdom confirmed to him
at Rome, ch. 9. sect. 5; and Of the War, B. II. ch. 2. sect. 1; which
intimacy is perhaps all that Josephus intended by the words before us.]
11 (return)
[ These numbers of years
for Herod’s reign, 34 and 37, are the very same with those, Of the War, B.
I. ch. 33. sect. 8, and are among the principal chronological characters
belonging to the reign or death of Herod. See Harm. p. 150—155.]
12 (return)
[ At eight stadia or
furlongs a-day, as here, Herod’s funeral, conducted to Herodium, which lay
at the distance from Jericho, where he died, of 200 stadia or furlongs, Of
the War, B. 1. ch. 33. sect. 9, must have taken up no less than
twenty-five days.]
13 (return)
[ This passover, when the
sedition here mentioned was moved against Archelaus, was not one, but
thirteen months after the eclipse of the moon already mentioned.]
14 (return)
[ See Antiq. B. XIV. ch.
13. sect. 10; and Of the War; B. II. ch. 12. sect. 9.]
15 (return)
[ These great
devastations made about the temple here, and Of the War, B. II. ch. 3.
sect. 3, seem not to have been full re-edified in the days of Nero; till
whose time there were eighteen thousand workmen continually employed in
rebuilding and repairing that temple, as Josephus informs us, Antiq. B.
XX. ch. 9. sect. 7. See the note on that place.]
16 (return)
[ Unless this Judas, the
son of Ezekias, be the same with that Theudas, mentioned Acts 5:36,
Josephus must have omitted him; for that other Thoualas, whom he afterward
mentions, under Fadus the Roman governor, B. XX. ch. 5. sect. 1, is much
too late to correspond to him that is mentioned in the Acts. The names
Theudas, Thaddeus, and Judas differ but little. See Archbishop Usher’s
Annals at A.M. 4001. However, since Josephus does not pretend to reckon up
the heads of all those ten thousand disorders in Judea, which he tells us
were then abroad, see sect. 4 and 8, the Theudas of the Acts might be at
the head of one of those seditions, though not particularly named by him.
Thus he informs us here, sect. 6, and Of the War, B. II. ch. 4. Sect. 2,
that certain of the seditious came and burnt the royal palace at Amsthus,
or Betharamphta, upon the river Jordan. Perhaps their leader, who is not
named by Josephus, might be this Theudas.]
17 (return)
[ See Of the War, B. II.
ch. 2. sect. 3.]
18 (return)
[ See the note, Of the
War, B. II. ch. 6. sect. 1.]
19 (return)
[ He was tetrarch
afterward.]
20 (return)
[ If any one compare that
Divine prediction concerning the tyrannical power which Jewish kings would
exercise over them, if they would be so foolish as to prefer it before
their ancient theocracy or aristocracy, 1 Samuel 8:1-22; Antiq. B. VI. ch.
4. sect. 4, he will soon find that it was superabundantly fulfilled in the
days of Herod, and that to such a degree, that the nation now at last seem
sorely to repent of such their ancient choice, in opposition to God’s
better choice for them, and had much rather be subject to even a pagan
Roman government, and their deputies, than to be any longer under the
oppression of the family of Herod; which request of theirs Augustus did
not now grant them, but did it for the one half of that nation in a few
years afterward, upon fresh complaints made by the Jews against Archelaus,
who, under the more humble name of an ethnarch, which Augustus only would
now allow him, soon took upon him the insolence and tyranny of his father
king Herod, as the remaining part of this book will inform us, and
particularly ch. 13. sect. 2.]
21 (return)
[ This is not true. See
Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 9. sect. 3, 4; and ch. 12. sect. 2; and ch. 13. sect.
1, 2. Antiq. B. XV. ch. 3. sect. 5; and ch. 10. sect. 2, 3. Antiq. B. XVI.
ch. 9. sect. 3. Since Josephus here informs us that Archelaus had one half
of the kingdom of Herod, and presently informs us further that Archelaus’s
annual income, after an abatement of one quarter for the present, was 600
talents, we may therefore gather pretty nearly what was Herod the Great’s
yearly income, I mean about 1600 talents, which, at the known value of
3000 shekels to a talent, and about 2s. 10d. to a shekel, in the days of
Josephus, see the note on Antiq. B. III. ch. 8. sect. 2, amounts to
680,000 sterling per annum; which income, though great in itself, bearing
no proportion to his vast expenses every where visible in Josephus, and to
the vast sums he left behind him in his will, ch. 8. sect. 1, and ch. 12.
sect. 1, the rest must have arisen either from his confiscation of those
great men’s estates whom he put to death, or made to pay fine for the
saving of their lives, or from some other heavy methods of oppression
which such savage tyrants usually exercise upon their miserable subjects;
or rather from these several methods not together, all which yet seem very
much too small for his expenses, being drawn from no larger a nation than
that of the Jews, which was very populous, but without the advantage of
trade to bring them riches; so that I cannot but strongly suspect that no
small part of this his wealth arose from another source; I mean from some
vast sums he took out of David’s sepulcher, but concealed from the people.
See the note on Antiq. B. VII. ch. 15. sect. 3.]
22 (return)
[ Take here a very useful
note of Grotias, on Luke 3:1, here quoted by Dr. Hudson: “When Josephus
says that some part of the house [or possession] of Zenodorus [i.e.
Abilene] was allotted to Philip, he thereby declares that the larger part
of it belonged to another. This other was Lysanias, whom Luke mentions, of
the posterity of that Lysanias who was possessed of the same country
called Abilene, from the city Abila, and by others Chalcidene, from the
city Chaleis, when the government of the East was under Antonius, and this
after Ptolemy, the son of Menneus; from which Lysanias this country came
to be commonly called the Country of Lysanias; and as, after the death of
the former Lyanias, it was called the tetrarchy of Zenodorus, so, after
the death of Zenodorus, or when the time for which he hired it was ended
when another Lysanias, of the same name with the former, was possessed of
the same country, it began to be called the Tetrarchy of Lysanias.”
However, since Josephus elsewhere [Antiq. B. XX. ch. 7. sect. 1: clearly
distinguishes Abilene from Cilalcidcue, Groius must be here so far
mistaken.]
23 (return)
[ Spanheim seasonably
observes here, that it was forbidden the Jews to marry their brother’s
wife when she had children by her first husband, and that Zonaras [cites,
or] interprets the clause before us accordingly.]
BOOK XVIII. Containing The Interval Of Thirty-Two Years.—From
The Banishment Of Archelaus To The Departure From Babylon.
CHAPTER 1. How Cyrenius Was Sent By Cæsar To Make A Taxation Of Syria And
Judea; And How Coponius Was Sent To Be Procurator Of Judea; Concerning
Judas Of Galilee And Concerning The Sects That Were Among The Jews.
1. Now Cyrenius, a Roman senator, and one who had gone through other
magistracies, and had passed through them till he had been consul, and one
who, on other accounts, was of great dignity, came at this time into
Syria, with a few others, being sent by Cæsar to be a judge of that
nation, and to take an account of their substance. Coponius also, a man of
the equestrian order, was sent together with him, to have the supreme
power over the Jews. Moreover, Cyrenius came himself into Judea, which was
now added to the province of Syria, to take an account of their substance,
and to dispose of Archelaus’s money; but the Jews, although at the
beginning they took the report of a taxation heinously, yet did they leave
off any further opposition to it, by the persuasion of Joazar, who was the
son of Beethus, and high priest; so they, being over-persuaded by Joazar’s
words, gave an account of their estates, without any dispute about it. Yet
was there one Judas, a Gaulonite, 1 of a city
whose name was Gamala, who, taking with him Sadduc, 2 a
Pharisee, became zealous to draw them to a revolt, who both said that this
taxation was no better than an introduction to slavery, and exhorted the
nation to assert their liberty; as if they could procure them happiness
and security for what they possessed, and an assured enjoyment of a still
greater good, which was that of the honor and glory they would thereby
acquire for magnanimity. They also said that God would not otherwise be
assisting to them, than upon their joining with one another in such
councils as might be successful, and for their own advantage; and this
especially, if they would set about great exploits, and not grow weary in
executing the same; so men received what they said with pleasure, and this
bold attempt proceeded to a great height. All sorts of misfortunes also
sprang from these men, and the nation was infected with this doctrine to
an incredible degree; one violent war came upon us after another, and we
lost our friends which used to alleviate our pains; there were also very
great robberies and murder of our principal men. This was done in pretense
indeed for the public welfare, but in reality for the hopes of gain to
themselves; whence arose seditions, and from them murders of men, which
sometimes fell on those of their own people, [by the madness of these men
towards one another, while their desire was that none of the adverse party
might be left,] and sometimes on their enemies; a famine also coming upon
us, reduced us to the last degree of despair, as did also the taking and
demolishing of cities; nay, the sedition at last increased so high, that
the very temple of God was burnt down by their enemies’ fire. Such were
the consequences of this, that the customs of our fathers were altered,
and such a change was made, as added a mighty weight toward bringing all
to destruction, which these men occasioned by their thus conspiring
together; for Judas and Sadduc, who excited a fourth philosophic sect
among us, and had a great many followers therein, filled our civil
government with tumults at present, and laid the foundations of our future
miseries, by this system of philosophy, which we were before unacquainted
withal, concerning which I will discourse a little, and this the rather
because the infection which spread thence among the younger sort, who were
zealous for it, brought the public to destruction.
2. The Jews had for a great while had three sects of philosophy peculiar
to themselves; the sect of the Essens, and the sect of the Sadducees, and
the third sort of opinions was that of those called Pharisees; of which
sects, although I have already spoken in the second book of the Jewish
War, yet will I a little touch upon them now.
3. Now, for the Pharisees, they live meanly, and despise delicacies in
diet; and they follow the conduct of reason; and what that prescribes to
them as good for them they do; and they think they ought earnestly to
strive to observe reason’s dictates for practice. They also pay a respect
to such as are in years; nor are they so bold as to contradict them in any
thing which they have introduced; and when they determine that all things
are done by fate, they do not take away the freedom from men of acting as
they think fit; since their notion is, that it hath pleased God to make a
temperament, whereby what he wills is done, but so that the will of man
can act virtuously or viciously. They also believe that souls have an
immortal rigor in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or
punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this
life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that
the former shall have power to revive and live again; on account of which
doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people; and
whatsoever they do about Divine worship, prayers, and sacrifices, they
perform them according to their direction; insomuch that the cities give
great attestations to them on account of their entire virtuous conduct,
both in the actions of their lives and their discourses also.
4. But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this: That souls die with the
bodies; nor do they regard the observation of any thing besides what the
law enjoins them; for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with
those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent: but this doctrine is
received but by a few, yet by those still of the greatest dignity. But
they are able to do almost nothing of themselves; for when they become
magistrates, as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes obliged to be,
they addict themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, because the
multitude would not otherwise bear them.
5. The doctrine of the Essens is this: That all things are best ascribed
to God. They teach the immortality of souls, and esteem that the rewards
of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for; and when they send what
they have dedicated to God into the temple, they do not offer sacrifices
3
because they have more pure lustrations of their own; on which account
they are excluded from the common court of the temple, but offer their
sacrifices themselves; yet is their course of life better than that of
other men; and they entirely addict themselves to husbandry. It also
deserves our admiration, how much they exceed all other men that addict
themselves to virtue, and this in righteousness; and indeed to such a
degree, that as it hath never appeared among any other men, neither Greeks
nor barbarians, no, not for a little time, so hath it endured a long while
among them. This is demonstrated by that institution of theirs, which will
not suffer any thing to hinder them from having all things in common; so
that a rich man enjoys no more of his own wealth than he who hath nothing
at all. There are about four thousand men that live in this way, and
neither marry wives, nor are desirous to keep servants; as thinking the
latter tempts men to be unjust, and the former gives the handle to
domestic quarrels; but as they live by themselves, they minister one to
another. They also appoint certain stewards to receive the incomes of
their revenues, and of the fruits of the ground; such as are good men and
priests, who are to get their corn and their food ready for them. They
none of them differ from others of the Essens in their way of living, but
do the most resemble those Dacae who are called Polistae 4
[dwellers in cities].
6. But of the fourth sect of Jewish philosophy, Judas the Galilean was the
author. These men agree in all other things with the Pharisaic notions;
but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty, and say that God is to
be their only Ruler and Lord. They also do not value dying any kinds of
death, nor indeed do they heed the deaths of their relations and friends,
nor can any such fear make them call any man lord. And since this
immovable resolution of theirs is well known to a great many, I shall
speak no further about that matter; nor am I afraid that any thing I have
said of them should be disbelieved, but rather fear, that what I have said
is beneath the resolution they show when they undergo pain. And it was in
Gessius Florus’s time that the nation began to grow mad with this
distemper, who was our procurator, and who occasioned the Jews to go wild
with it by the abuse of his authority, and to make them revolt from the
Romans. And these are the sects of Jewish philosophy.
CHAPTER 2. How Herod And Philip Built Several Cities In Honor Of Cæsar.
Concerning The Succession Of Priests And Procurators; As Also What Befell
Phraates And The Parthians.
1. When Cyrenius had now disposed of Archelaus’s money, and when the
taxings were come to a conclusion, which were made in the thirty-seventh
year of Cæsar’s victory over Antony at Actium, he deprived Joazar of the
high priesthood, which dignity had been conferred on him by the multitude,
and he appointed Ananus, the son of Seth, to be high priest; while Herod
and Philip had each of them received their own tetrarchy, and settled the
affairs thereof. Herod also built a wall about Sepphoris, [which is the
security of all Galilee,] and made it the metropolis of the country. He
also built a wall round Betharamphtha, which was itself a city also, and
called it Julias, from the name of the emperor’s wife. When Philip also
had built Paneas, a city at the fountains of Jordan, he named it Cæsarea.
He also advanced the village Bethsaida, situate at the lake of
Gennesareth, unto the dignity of a city, both by the number of inhabitants
it contained, and its other grandeur, and called it by the name of Julias,
the same name with Cæsar’s daughter.
2. As Coponius, who we told you was sent along with Cyrenius, was
exercising his office of procurator, and governing Judea, the following
accidents happened. As the Jews were celebrating the feast of unleavened
bread, which we call the Passover, it was customary for the priests to
open the temple-gates just after midnight. When, therefore, those gates
were first opened, some of the Samaritans came privately into Jerusalem,
and threw about dead men’s bodies, in the cloisters; on which account the
Jews afterward excluded them out of the temple, which they had not used to
do at such festivals; and on other accounts also they watched the temple
more carefully than they had formerly done. A little after which accident
Coponius returned to Rome, and Marcus Ambivius came to be his successor in
that government; under whom Salome, the sister of king Herod, died, and
left to Julia, [Cæsar’s wife,] Jamnia, all its toparchy, and Phasaelis in
the plain, and Arehelais, where is a great plantation of palm trees, and
their fruit is excellent in its kind. After him came Annius Rufus, under
whom died Cæsar, the second emperor of the Romans, the duration of whose
reign was fifty-seven years, besides six months and two days [of which
time Antonius ruled together with him fourteen years; but the duration of
his life was seventy-seven years]; upon whose death Tiberius Nero, his
wife Julia’s son, succeeded. He was now the third emperor; and he sent
Valerius Gratus to be procurator of Judea, and to succeed Annius Rufus.
This man deprived Ananus of the high priesthood, and appointed Ismael, the
son of Phabi, to be high priest. He also deprived him in a little time,
and ordained Eleazar, the son of Ananus, who had been high priest before,
to be high priest; which office, when he had held for a year, Gratus
deprived him of it, and gave the high priesthood to Simon, the son of
Camithus; and when he had possessed that dignity no longer than a year,
Joseph Caiaphas was made his successor. When Gratus had done those things,
he went back to Rome, after he had tarried in Judea eleven years, when
Pontius Pilate came as his successor.
3. And now Herod the tetrarch, who was in great favor with Tiberius, built
a city of the same name with him, and called it Tiberias. He built it in
the best part of Galilee, at the lake of Gennesareth. There are warm baths
at a little distance from it, in a village named Emmaus. Strangers came
and inhabited this city; a great number of the inhabitants were Galileans
also; and many were necessitated by Herod to come thither out of the
country belonging to him, and were by force compelled to be its
inhabitants; some of them were persons of condition. He also admitted poor
people, such as those that were collected from all parts, to dwell in it.
Nay, some of them were not quite free-men, and these he was benefactor to,
and made them free in great numbers; but obliged them not to forsake the
city, by building them very good houses at his own expenses, and by giving
them land also; for he was sensible, that to make this place a habitation
was to transgress the Jewish ancient laws, because many sepulchers were to
be here taken away, in order to make room for the city Tiberias 5
whereas our laws pronounce that such inhabitants are unclean for seven
days. 6
4. About this time died Phraates, king of the Parthians, by the treachery
of Phraataces his son, upon the occasion following: When Phraates had had
legitimate sons of his own, he had also an Italian maid-servant, whose
name was Thermusa, who had been formerly sent to him by Julius Cæsar,
among other presents. He first made her his concubine; but he being a
great admirer of her beauty, in process of time having a son by her, whose
name was Phraataces, he made her his legitimate wife, and had a great
respect for her. Now she was able to persuade him to do any thing that she
said, and was earnest in procuring the government of Parthia for her son;
but still she saw that her endeavors would not succeed, unless she could
contrive how to remove Phraates’s legitimate sons [out of the kingdom;] so
she persuaded him to send those his sons as pledges of his fidelity to
Rome; and they were sent to Rome accordingly, because it was not easy for
him to contradict her commands. Now while Phraataces was alone brought up
in order to succeed in the government, he thought it very tedious to
expect that government by his father’s donation [as his successor]; he
therefore formed a treacherous design against his father, by his mother’s
assistance, with whom, as the report went, he had criminal conversation
also. So he was hated for both these vices, while his subjects esteemed
this [wicked] love of his mother to be no way inferior to his parricide;
and he was by them, in a sedition, expelled out of the country before he
grew too great, and died. But as the best sort of Parthians agreed
together that it was impossible they should be governed without a king,
while also it was their constant practice to choose one of the family of
Arsaces, [nor did their law allow of any others; and they thought this
kingdom had been sufficiently injured already by the marriage with an
Italian concubine, and by her issue,] they sent ambassadors, and called
Orodes [to take the crown]; for the multitude would not otherwise have
borne them; and though he was accused of very great cruelty, and was of an
untractable temper, and prone to wrath, yet still he was one of the family
of Arsaces. However, they made a conspiracy against him, and slew him, and
that, as some say, at a festival, and among their sacrifices; [for it is
the universal custom there to carry their swords with them;] but, as the
more general report is, they slew him when they had drawn him out a
hunting. So they sent ambassadors to Rome, and desired they would send one
of those that were there as pledges to be their king. Accordingly, Vonones
was preferred before the rest, and sent to them [for he seemed capable of
such great fortune, which two of the greatest kingdoms under the sun now
offered him, his own and a foreign one]. However, the barbarians soon
changed their minds, they being naturally of a mutable disposition, upon
the supposal that this man was not worthy to be their governor; for they
could not think of obeying the commands of one that had been a slave, [for
so they called those that had been hostages,] nor could they bear the
ignominy of that name; and this was the more intolerable, because then the
Parthians must have such a king set over them, not by right of war, but in
time of peace. So they presently invited Artabanus, king of Media, to be
their king, he being also of the race of Arsaces. Artabanus complied with
the offer that was made him, and came to them with an army. So Vonones met
him; and at first the multitude of the Parthians stood on this side, and
he put his army in array; but Artabanus was beaten, and fled to the
mountains of Media. Yet did he a little after gather a great army
together, and fought with Vonones, and beat him; whereupon Vonones fled
away on horseback, with a few of his attendants about him, to Seleucia
[upon Tigris]. So when Artabanus had slain a great number, and this after
he had gotten the victory by reason of the very great dismay the
barbarians were in, he retired to Ctesiphon with a great number of his
people; and so he now reigned over the Parthians. But Vonones fled away to
Armenia; and as soon as he came thither, he had an inclination to have the
government of the country given him, and sent ambassadors to Rome [for
that purpose]. But because Tiberius refused it him, and because he wanted
courage, and because the Parthian king threatened him, and sent
ambassadors to him to denounce war against him if he proceeded, and
because he had no way to take to regain any other kingdom, [for the people
of authority among the Armenians about Niphates joined themselves to
Artabanus,] he delivered up himself to Silanus, the president of Syria,
who, out of regard to his education at Rome, kept him in Syria, while
Artabanus gave Armenia to Orodes, one of his own sons.
5. At this time died Antiochus, the king of Commagene; whereupon the
multitude contended with the nobility, and both sent ambassadors to
[Rome]; for the men of power were desirous that their form of government
might be changed into that of a [Roman] province; as were the multitude
desirous to be under kings, as their fathers had been. So the senate made
a decree that Germanicus should be sent to settle the affairs of the East,
fortune hereby taking a proper opportunity for depriving him of his life;
for when he had been in the East, and settled all affairs there, his life
was taken away by the poison which Piso gave him, as hath been related
elsewhere. 7
CHAPTER 3. Sedition Of The Jews Against Pontius Pilate. Concerning Christ,
And What Befell Paulina And The Jews At Rome.
1. But now Pilate, the procurator of Judea, removed the army from Cæsarea
to Jerusalem, to take their winter quarters there, in order to abolish the
Jewish laws. So he introduced Cæsar’s effigies, which were upon the
ensigns, and brought them into the city; whereas our law forbids us the
very making of images; on which account the former procurators were wont
to make their entry into the city with such ensigns as had not those
ornaments. Pilate was the first who brought those images to Jerusalem, and
set them up there; which was done without the knowledge of the people,
because it was done in the night time; but as soon as they knew it, they
came in multitudes to Cæsarea, and interceded with Pilate many days that
he would remove the images; and when he would not grant their requests,
because it would tend to the injury of Cæsar, while yet they persevered
in their request, on the sixth day he ordered his soldiers to have their
weapons privately, while he came and sat upon his judgment-seat, which
seat was so prepared in the open place of the city, that it concealed the
army that lay ready to oppress them; and when the Jews petitioned him
again, he gave a signal to the soldiers to encompass them routed, and
threatened that their punishment should be no less than immediate death,
unless they would leave off disturbing him, and go their ways home. But
they threw themselves upon the ground, and laid their necks bare, and said
they would take their death very willingly, rather than the wisdom of
their laws should be transgressed; upon which Pilate was deeply affected
with their firm resolution to keep their laws inviolable, and presently
commanded the images to be carried back from Jerusalem to Cæsarea.
2. But Pilate undertook to bring a current of water to Jerusalem, and did
it with the sacred money, and derived the origin of the stream from the
distance of two hundred furlongs. However, the Jews 8 were not
pleased with what had been done about this water; and many ten thousands
of the people got together, and made a clamor against him, and insisted
that he should leave off that design. Some of them also used reproaches,
and abused the man, as crowds of such people usually do. So he habited a
great number of his soldiers in their habit, who carried daggers under
their garments, and sent them to a place where they might surround them.
So he bid the Jews himself go away; but they boldly casting reproaches
upon him, he gave the soldiers that signal which had been beforehand
agreed on; who laid upon them much greater blows than Pilate had commanded
them, and equally punished those that were tumultuous, and those that were
not; nor did they spare them in the least: and since the people were
unarmed, and were caught by men prepared for what they were about, there
were a great number of them slain by this means, and others of them ran
away wounded. And thus an end was put to this sedition.
3. Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to
call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such
men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of
the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate,
at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to
the cross, 9 those that loved him at the
first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third
day; 10
as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful
things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are
not extinct at this day.
4. About the same time also another sad calamity put the Jews into
disorder, and certain shameful practices happened about the temple of Isis
that was at Rome. I will now first take notice of the wicked attempt about
the temple of Isis, and will then give an account of the Jewish affairs.
There was at Rome a woman whose name was Paulina; one who, on account of
the dignity of her ancestors, and by the regular conduct of a virtuous
life, had a great reputation: she was also very rich; and although she was
of a beautiful countenance, and in that flower of her age wherein women
are the most gay, yet did she lead a life of great modesty. She was
married to Saturninus, one that was every way answerable to her in an
excellent character. Decius Mundus fell in love with this woman, who was a
man very high in the equestrian order; and as she was of too great dignity
to be caught by presents, and had already rejected them, though they had
been sent in great abundance, he was still more inflamed with love to her,
insomuch that he promised to give her two hundred thousand Attic drachmae
for one night’s lodging; and when this would not prevail upon her, and he
was not able to bear this misfortune in his amours, he thought it the best
way to famish himself to death for want of food, on account of Paulina’s
sad refusal; and he determined with himself to die after such a manner,
and he went on with his purpose accordingly. Now Mundus had a freed-woman,
who had been made free by his father, whose name was Ide, one skillful in
all sorts of mischief. This woman was very much grieved at the young man’s
resolution to kill himself, [for he did not conceal his intentions to
destroy himself from others,] and came to him, and encouraged him by her
discourse, and made him to hope, by some promises she gave him, that he
might obtain a night’s lodging with Paulina; and when he joyfully
hearkened to her entreaty, she said she wanted no more than fifty thousand
drachmae for the entrapping of the woman. So when she had encouraged the
young man, and gotten as much money as she required, she did not take the
same methods as had been taken before, because she perceived that the
woman was by no means to be tempted by money; but as she knew that she was
very much given to the worship of the goddess Isis, she devised the
following stratagem: She went to some of Isis’s priests, and upon the
strongest assurances [of concealment], she persuaded them by words, but
chiefly by the offer of money, of twenty-five thousand drachmae in hand,
and as much more when the thing had taken effect; and told them the
passion of the young man, and persuaded them to use all means possible to
beguile the woman. So they were drawn in to promise so to do, by that
large sum of gold they were to have. Accordingly, the oldest of them went
immediately to Paulina; and upon his admittance, he desired to speak with
her by herself. When that was granted him, he told her that he was sent by
the god Anubis, who was fallen in love with her, and enjoined her to come
to him. Upon this she took the message very kindly, and valued herself
greatly upon this condescension of Anubis, and told her husband that she
had a message sent her, and was to sup and lie with Anubis; so he agreed
to her acceptance of the offer, as fully satisfied with the chastity of
his wife. Accordingly, she went to the temple, and after she had supped
there, and it was the hour to go to sleep, the priest shut the doors of
the temple, when, in the holy part of it, the lights were also put out.
Then did Mundus leap out, [for he was hidden therein,] and did not fail of
enjoying her, who was at his service all the night long, as supposing he
was the god; and when he was gone away, which was before those priests who
knew nothing of this stratagem were stirring, Paulina came early to her
husband, and told him how the god Anubis had appeared to her. Among her
friends, also, she declared how great a value she put upon this favor, who
partly disbelieved the thing, when they reflected on its nature, and
partly were amazed at it, as having no pretense for not believing it, when
they considered the modesty and the dignity of the person. But now, on the
third day after what had been done, Mundus met Paulina, and said, “Nay,
Paulina, thou hast saved me two hundred thousand drachmae, which sum thou
mightest have added to thy own family; yet hast thou not failed to be at
my service in the manner I invited thee. As for the reproaches thou hast
laid upon Mundus, I value not the business of names; but I rejoice in the
pleasure I reaped by what I did, while I took to myself the name of
Anubis.” When he had said this, he went his way. But now she began to come
to the sense of the grossness of what she had done, and rent her garments,
and told her husband of the horrid nature of this wicked contrivance, and
prayed him not to neglect to assist her in this case. So he discovered the
fact to the emperor; whereupon Tiberius inquired into the matter
thoroughly by examining the priests about it, and ordered them to be
crucified, as well as Ide, who was the occasion of their perdition, and
who had contrived the whole matter, which was so injurious to the woman.
He also demolished the temple of Isis, and gave order that her statue
should be thrown into the river Tiber; while he only banished Mundus, but
did no more to him, because he supposed that what crime he had committed
was done out of the passion of love. And these were the circumstances
which concerned the temple of Isis, and the injuries occasioned by her
priests. I now return to the relation of what happened about this time to
the Jews at Rome, as I formerly told you I would.
5. There was a man who was a Jew, but had been driven away from his own
country by an accusation laid against him for transgressing their laws,
and by the fear he was under of punishment for the same; but in all
respects a wicked man. He, then living at Rome, professed to instruct men
in the wisdom of the laws of Moses. He procured also three other men,
entirely of the same character with himself, to be his partners. These men
persuaded Fulvia, a woman of great dignity, and one that had embraced the
Jewish religion, to send purple and gold to the temple at Jerusalem; and
when they had gotten them, they employed them for their own uses, and
spent the money themselves, on which account it was that they at first
required it of her. Whereupon Tiberius, who had been informed of the thing
by Saturninus, the husband of Fulvia, who desired inquiry might be made
about it, ordered all the Jews to be banished out of Rome; at which time
the consuls listed four thousand men out of them, and sent them to the
island Sardinia; but punished a greater number of them, who were unwilling
to become soldiers, on account of keeping the laws of their forefathers.
11
Thus were these Jews banished out of the city by the wickedness of four
men.
CHAPTER 4. How The Samaritans Made A Tumult And Pilate Destroyed Many Of
Them; How Pilate Was Accused And What Things Were Done By Vitellius
Relating To The Jews And The Parthians.
1. But the nation of the Samaritans did not escape without tumults. The
man who excited them to it was one who thought lying a thing of little
consequence, and who contrived every thing so that the multitude might be
pleased; so he bid them to get together upon Mount Gerizzim, which is by
them looked upon as the most holy of all mountains, and assured them, that
when they were come thither, he would show them those sacred vessels which
were laid under that place, because Moses put them there 12
So they came thither armed, and thought the discourse of the man probable;
and as they abode at a certain village, which was called Tirathaba, they
got the rest together to them, and desired to go up the mountain in a
great multitude together; but Pilate prevented their going up, by seizing
upon the roads with a great band of horsemen and foot-men, who fell upon
those that were gotten together in the village; and when it came to an
action, some of them they slew, and others of them they put to flight, and
took a great many alive, the principal of which, and also the most potent
of those that fled away, Pilate ordered to be slain.
2. But when this tumult was appeased, the Samaritan senate sent an embassy
to Vitellius, a man that had been consul, and who was now president of
Syria, and accused Pilate of the murder of those that were killed; for
that they did not go to Tirathaba in order to revolt from the Romans, but
to escape the violence of Pilate. So Vitellius sent Marcellus, a friend of
his, to take care of the affairs of Judea, and ordered Pilate to go to
Rome, to answer before the emperor to the accusations of the Jews. So
Pilate, when he had tarried ten years in Judea, made haste to Rome, and
this in obedience to the orders of Vitellius, which he durst not
contradict; but before he could get to Rome Tiberius was dead.
3. But Vitellius came into Judea, and went up to Jerusalem; it was at the
time of that festival which is called the Passover. Vitellius was there
magnificently received, and released the inhabitants of Jerusalem from all
the taxes upon the fruits that were bought and sold, and gave them leave
to have the care of the high priest’s vestments, with all their ornaments,
and to have them under the custody of the priests in the temple, which
power they used to have formerly, although at this time they were laid up
in the tower of Antonia, the citadel so called, and that on the occasion
following: There was one of the [high] priests, named Hyrcanus; and as
there were many of that name, he was the first of them; this man built a
tower near the temple, and when he had so done, he generally dwelt in it,
and had these vestments with him, because it was lawful for him alone to
put them on, and he had them there reposited when he went down into the
city, and took his ordinary garments; the same things were continued to be
done by his sons, and by their sons after them. But when Herod came to be
king, he rebuilt this tower, which was very conveniently situated, in a
magnificent manner; and because he was a friend to Antonius, he called it
by the name of Antonia. And as he found these vestments lying there, he
retained them in the same place, as believing, that while he had them in
his custody, the people would make no innovations against him. The like to
what Herod did was done by his son Archelaus, who was made king after him;
after whom the Romans, when they entered on the government, took
possession of these vestments of the high priest, and had them reposited
in a stone-chamber, under the seal of the priests, and of the keepers of
the temple, the captain of the guard lighting a lamp there every day; and
seven days before a festival 13 they
were delivered to them by the captain of the guard, when the high priest
having purified them, and made use of them, laid them up again in the same
chamber where they had been laid up before, and this the very next day
after the feast was over. This was the practice at the three yearly
festivals, and on the fast day; but Vitellius put those garments into our
own power, as in the days of our forefathers, and ordered the captain of
the guard not to trouble himself to inquire where they were laid, or when
they were to be used; and this he did as an act of kindness, to oblige the
nation to him. Besides which, he also deprived Joseph, who was also called
Caiaphas, of the high priesthood, and appointed Jonathan the son of
Ananus, the former high priest, to succeed him. After which, he took his
journey back to Antioch.
4. Moreover, Tiberius sent a letter to Vitellius, and commanded him to
make a league of friendship with Artabanus, the king of Parthia; for while
he was his enemy, he terrified him, because he had taken Armenia away from
him, lest he should proceed further, and told him he should no otherwise
trust him than upon his giving him hostages, and especially his son
Artabanus. Upon Tiberius’s writing thus to Vitellius, by the offer of
great presents of money, he persuaded both the king of Iberia and the king
of Albania to make no delay, but to fight against Artabanus; and although
they would not do it themselves, yet did they give the Scythians a passage
through their country, and opened the Caspian gates to them, and brought
them upon Artabanus. So Armenia was again taken from the Parthians, and
the country of Parthia was filled with war, and the principal of their men
were slain, and all things were in disorder among them: the king’s son
also himself fell in these wars, together with many ten thousands of his
army. Vitellius had also sent such great sums of money to Artabanus’s
father’s kinsmen and friends, that he had almost procured him to be slain
by the means of those bribes which they had taken. And when Artabanus
perceived that the plot laid against him was not to be avoided, because it
was laid by the principal men, and those a great many in number, and that
it would certainly take effect,—when he had estimated the number of
those that were truly faithful to him, as also of those who were already
corrupted, but were deceitful in the kindness they professed to him, and
were likely, upon trial, to go over to his enemies, he made his escape to
the upper provinces, where he afterwards raised a great army out of the
Dahae and Sacre, and fought with his enemies, and retained his
principality.
5. When Tiberius had heard of these things, he desired to have a league of
friendship made between him and Artabanus; and when, upon this invitation,
he received the proposal kindly, Artabanus and Vitellius went to
Euphrates, and as a bridge was laid over the river, they each of them came
with their guards about them, and met one another on the midst of the
bridge. And when they had agreed upon the terms of peace Herod, the
tetrarch erected a rich tent on the midst of the passage, and made them a
feast there. Artabanus also, not long afterward, sent his son Darius as an
hostage, with many presents, among which there was a man seven cubits
tall, a Jew he was by birth, and his name was Eleazar, who, for his
tallness, was called a giant. After which Vitellius went to Antioch, and
Artabanus to Babylon; but Herod [the tetrarch] being desirous to give
Cæsar the first information that they had obtained hostages, sent posts
with letters, wherein he had accurately described all the particulars, and
had left nothing for the consular Vitellius to inform him of. But when
Vitellius’s letters were sent, and Cæsar had let him know that he was
acquainted with the affairs already, because Herod had given him an
account of them before, Vitellius was very much troubled at it; and
supposing that he had been thereby a greater sufferer than he really was,
he kept up a secret anger upon this occasion, till he could be revenged on
him, which he was after Caius had taken the government.
6. About this time it was that Philip, Herod’s brother, departed this
life, in the twentieth year of the reign of Tiberius, 14
after he had been tetrarch of Trachonitis and Gaulanitis, and of the
nation of the Bataneans also, thirty-seven years. He had showed himself a
person of moderation and quietness in the conduct of his life and
government; he constantly lived in that country which was subject to him;
he used to make his progress with a few chosen friends; his tribunal also,
on which he sat in judgment, followed him in his progress; and when any
one met him who wanted his assistance, he made no delay, but had his
tribunal set down immediately, wheresoever he happened to be, and sat down
upon it, and heard his complaint: he there ordered the guilty that were
convicted to be punished, and absolved those that had been accused
unjustly. He died at Julias; and when he was carried to that monument
which he had already erected for himself beforehand, he was buried with
great pomp. His principality Tiberius took, [for he left no sons behind
him,] and added it to the province of Syria, but gave order that the
tributes which arose from it should be collected, and laid up in his
tetrachy.
CHAPTER 5. Herod The Tetrarch Makes War With Aretas, The King Of Arabia,
And Is Beaten By Him As Also Concerning The Death Of John The Baptist. How
Vitellius Went Up To Jerusalem; Together With Some Account Of Agrippa And
Of The Posterity Of Herod The Great.
1. About this time Aretas [the king of Arabia Petres] and Herod had a
quarrel on the account following: Herod the tetrarch had, married the
daughter of Aretas, and had lived with her a great while; but when he was
once at Rome, he lodged with Herod, 15 who
was his brother indeed, but not by the same mother; for this Herod was the
son of the high priest Sireoh’s daughter. However, he fell in love with
Herodias, this last Herod’s wife, who was the daughter of Aristobulus
their brother, and the sister of Agrippa the Great. This man ventured to
talk to her about a marriage between them; which address, when she
admitted, an agreement was made for her to change her habitation, and come
to him as soon as he should return from Rome: one article of this marriage
also was this, that he should divorce Aretas’s daughter. So Antipas, when
he had made this agreement, sailed to Rome; but when he had done there the
business he went about, and was returned again, his wife having discovered
the agreement he had made with Herodias, and having learned it before he
had notice of her knowledge of the whole design, she desired him to send
her to Macherus, which is a place in the borders of the dominions of
Aretas and Herod, without informing him of any of her intentions.
Accordingly Herod sent her thither, as thinking his wife had not perceived
any thing; now she had sent a good while before to Macherus, which was
subject to her father and so all things necessary for her journey were
made ready for her by the general of Aretas’s army; and by that means she
soon came into Arabia, under the conduct of the several generals, who
carried her from one to another successively; and she soon came to her
father, and told him of Herod’s intentions. So Aretas made this the first
occasion of his enmity between him and Herod, who had also some quarrel
with him about their limits at the country of Gamalitis. So they raised
armies on both sides, and prepared for war, and sent their generals to
fight instead of themselves; and when they had joined battle, all Herod’s
army was destroyed by the treachery of some fugitives, who, though they
were of the tetrarchy of Philip, joined with Aretas’s army.. So Herod
wrote about these affairs to Tiberius, who being very angry at the attempt
made by Aretas, wrote to Vitellius to make war upon him, and either to
take him alive, and bring him to him in bonds, or to kill him, and send
him his head. This was the charge that Tiberius gave to the president of
Syria.
2. Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod’s army came
from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against
John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man,
and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness
towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for
that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use
of it, not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins
[only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the
soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness. Now when [many]
others came in crowds about him, for they were very greatly moved [or
pleased] by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence
John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to
raise a rebellion, [for they seemed ready to do any thing he should
advise,] thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief
he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man
who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly he
was sent a prisoner, out of Herod’s suspicious temper, to Macherus, the
castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death. Now the Jews had an
opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon
Herod, and a mark of God’s displeasure to him.
3. So Vitellius prepared to make war with Aretas, having with him two
legions of armed men; he also took with him all those of light armature,
and of the horsemen which belonged to them, and were drawn out of those
kingdoms which were under the Romans, and made haste for Petra, and came
to Ptolemais. But as he was marching very busily, and leading his army
through Judea, the principal men met him, and desired that he would not
thus march through their land; for that the laws of their country would
not permit them to overlook those images which were brought into it, of
which there were a great many in their ensigns; so he was persuaded by
what they said, and changed that resolution of his which he had before
taken in this matter. Whereupon he ordered the army to march along the
great plain, while he himself, with Herod the tetrarch and his friends,
went up to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God, an ancient festival of the
Jews being then just approaching; and when he had been there, and been
honorably entertained by the multitude of the Jews, he made a stay there
for three days, within which time he deprived Jonathan of the high
priesthood, and gave it to his brother Theophilus. But when on the fourth
day letters came to him, which informed him of the death of Tiberius, he
obliged the multitude to take an oath of fidelity to Caius; he also
recalled his army, and made them every one go home, and take their winter
quarters there, since, upon the devolution of the empire upon Caius, he
had not the like authority of making this war which he had before. It was
also reported, that when Aretas heard of the coming of Vitellius to fight
him, he said, upon his consulting the diviners, that it was impossible
that this army of Vitellius’s could enter Petra; for that one of the
rulers would die, either he that gave orders for the war, or he that was
marching at the other’s desire, in order to be subservient to his will, or
else he against whom this army is prepared. So Vitellius truly retired to
Antioch; but Agrippa, the son of Aristobulus, went up to Rome, a year
before the death of Tiberius, in order to treat of some affairs with the
emperor, if he might be permitted so to do. I have now a mind to describe
Herod and his family, how it fared with them, partly because it is
suitable to this history to speak of that matter, and partly because this
thing is a demonstration of the interposition of Providence, how a
multitude of children is of no advantage, no more than any other strength
that mankind set their hearts upon, besides those acts of piety which are
done towards God; for it happened, that, within the revolution of a
hundred years, the posterity of Herod, which were a great many in number,
were, excepting a few, utterly destroyed. 16 One
may well apply this for the instruction of mankind, and learn thence how
unhappy they were: it will also show us the history of Agrippa, who, as he
was a person most worthy of admiration, so was he from a private man,
beyond all the expectation of those that knew him, advanced to great power
and authority. I have said something of them formerly, but I shall now
also speak accurately about them.
4. Herod the Great had two daughters by Mariamne, the [grand] daughter of
Hyrcanus; the one was Salampsio, who was married to Phasaelus, her first
cousin, who was himself the son of Phasaelus, Herod’s brother, her father
making the match; the other was Cypros, who was herself married also to
her first cousin Antipater, the son of Salome, Herod’s sister. Phasaelus
had five children by Salampsio; Antipater, Herod, and Alexander, and two
daughters, Alexandra and Cypros; which last Agrippa, the son of
Aristobulus, married; and Timius of Cyprus married Alexandra; he was a man
of note, but had by her no children. Agrippa had by Cypros two sons and
three daughters, which daughters were named Bernice, Mariamne, and
Drusius; but the names of the sons were Agrippa and Drusus, of which
Drusus died before he came to the years of puberty; but their father,
Agrippa, was brought up with his other brethren, Herod and Aristobulus,
for these were also the sons of the son of Herod the Great by Bernice; but
Bernice was the daughter of Costobarus and of Salome, who was Herod’s
sister. Aristobulus left these infants when he was slain by his father,
together with his brother Alexander, as we have already related. But when
they were arrived at years of puberty, this Herod, the brother of Agrippa,
married Mariamne, the daughter of Olympias, who was the daughter of Herod
the king, and of Joseph, the son of Joseph, who was brother to Herod the
king, and had by her a son, Aristobulus; but Aristobulus, the third
brother of Agrippa, married Jotape, the daughter of Sampsigeramus, king of
Emesa; they had a daughter who was deaf, whose name also was Jotape; and
these hitherto were the children of the male line. But Herodias, their
sister, was married to Herod [Philip], the son of Herod the Great, who was
born of Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the high priest, who had a
daughter, Salome; after whose birth Herodias took upon her to confound the
laws of our country, and divorced herself from her husband while he was
alive, and was married to Herod [Antipas], her husband’s brother by the
father’s side, he was tetrarch of Galilee; but her daughter Salome was
married to Philip, the son of Herod, and tetrarch of Trachonitis; and as
he died childless, Aristobulus, the son of Herod, the brother of Agrippa,
married her; they had three sons, Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus; and
this was the posterity of Phasaelus and Salampsio. But the daughter of
Antipater by Cypros was Cypros, whom Alexas Selcias, the son of Alexas,
married; they had a daughter, Cypros; but Herod and Alexander, who, as we
told you, were the brothers of Antipater, died childless. As to Alexander,
the son of Herod the king, who was slain by his father, he had two sons,
Alexander and Tigranes, by the daughter of Archelaus, king of Cappadocia.
Tigranes, who was king of Armenia, was accused at Rome, and died
childless; Alexander had a son of the same name with his brother Tigranes,
and was sent to take possession of the kingdom of Armenia by Nero; he had
a son, Alexander, who married Jotape, 17 the
daughter of Antiochus, the king of Commagena; Vespasian made him king of
an island in Cilicia. But these descendants of Alexander, soon after their
birth, deserted the Jewish religion, and went over to that of the Greeks.
But for the rest of the daughters of Herod the king, it happened that they
died childless. And as these descendants of Herod, whom we have
enumerated, were in being at the same time that Agrippa the Great took the
kingdom, and I have now given an account of them, it now remains that I
relate the several hard fortunes which befell Agrippa, and how he got
clear of them, and was advanced to the greatest height of dignity and
power.
CHAPTER 6. Of The Navigation Of King Agrippa To Rome, To Tiberius Cæsar;
And Now Upon His Being Accused By His Own Freed-Man, He Was Bound; How
Also He, Was Set At Liberty By Caius, After Tiberius’s Death And Was Made
King Of The Tetrarchy Of Philip.
1. A Little before the death of Herod the king, Agrippa lived at Rome, and
was generally brought up and conversed with Drusus, the emperor Tiberius’s
son, and contracted a friendship with Antonia, the wife of Drusus the
Great, who had his mother Bernice in great esteem, and was very desirous
of advancing her son. Now as Agrippa was by nature magnanimous and
generous in the presents he made, while his mother was alive, this
inclination of his mind did not appear, that he might be able to avoid her
anger for such his extravagance; but when Bernice was dead, and he was
left to his own conduct, he spent a great deal extravagantly in his daily
way of living, and a great deal in the immoderate presents he made, and
those chiefly among Cæsar’s freed-men, in order to gain their assistance,
insomuch that he was, in a little time, reduced to poverty, and could not
live at Rome any longer. Tiberius also forbade the friends of his deceased
son to come into his sight, because on seeing them he should be put in
mind of his son, and his grief would thereby be revived.
2. For these reasons he went away from Rome, and sailed to Judea, but in
evil circumstances, being dejected with the loss of that money which he
once had, and because he had not wherewithal to pay his creditors, who
were many in number, and such as gave him no room for escaping them.
Whereupon he knew not what to do; so, for shame of his present condition,
he retired to a certain tower, at Malatha, in Idumea, and had thoughts of
killing himself; but his wife Cypros perceived his intentions, and tried
all sorts of methods to divert him from his taking such a course; so she
sent a letter to his sister Herodias, who was now the wife of Herod the
tetrarch, and let her know Agrippa’s present design, and what necessity it
was which drove him thereto, and desired her, as a kinswoman of his, to
give him her help, and to engage her husband to do the same, since she saw
how she alleviated these her husband’s troubles all she could, although
she had not the like wealth to do it withal. So they sent for him, and
allotted him Tiberias for his habitation, and appointed him some income of
money for his maintenance, and made him a magistrate of that city, by way
of honor to him. Yet did not Herod long continue in that resolution of
supporting him, though even that support was not sufficient for him; for
as once they were at a feast at Tyre, and in their cups, and reproaches
were cast upon one another, Agrippa thought that was not to be borne,
while Herod hit him in the teeth with his poverty, and with his owing his
necessary food to him. So he went to Flaccus, one that had been consul,
and had been a very great friend to him at Rome formerly, and was now
president of Syria.
3. Hereupon Flaccus received him kindly, and he lived with him. Flaccus
had also with him there Aristobulus, who was indeed Agrippa’s brother, but
was at variance with him; yet did not their enmity to one another hinder
the friendship of Flaccus to them both, but still they were honorably
treated by him. However, Aristobulus did not abate of his ill-will to
Agrippa, till at length he brought him into ill terms with Flaccus; the
occasion of bringing on which estrangement was this: The Damascens were at
difference with the Sidonians about their limits, and when Flaccus was
about to hear the cause between them, they understood that Agrippa had a
mighty influence upon him; so they desired that he would be of their side,
and for that favor promised him a great deal of money; so he was zealous
in assisting the Damascens as far as he was able. Now Aristobulus had
gotten intelligence of this promise of money to him, and accused him to
Flaccus of the same; and when, upon a thorough examination of the matter,
it appeared plainly so to be, he rejected Agrippa out of the number of his
friends. So he was reduced to the utmost necessity, and came to Ptolemais;
and because he knew not where else to get a livelihood, he thought to sail
to Italy; but as he was restrained from so doing by want of money, he
desired Marsyas, who was his freed-man, to find some method for procuring
him so much as he wanted for that purpose, by borrowing such a sum of some
person or other. So Marsyas desired of Peter, who was the freed-man of
Bernice, Agrippa’s mother, and by the right of her testament was
bequeathed to Antonia, to lend so much upon Agrippa’s own bond and
security; but he accused Agrippa of having defrauded him of certain sums
of money, and so obliged Marsyas, when he made the bond of twenty thousand
Attic drachmae, to accept of twenty-five hundred drachma as 18
less than what he desired, which the other allowed of, because he could
not help it. Upon the receipt of this money, Agrippa came to Anthedon, and
took shipping, and was going to set sail; but Herennius Capito, who was
the procurator of Jamhis, sent a band of soldiers to demand of him three
hundred thousand drachmae of silver, which were by him owing to Cæsar’s
treasury while he was at Rome, and so forced him to stay. He then
pretended that he would do as he bid him; but when night came on, he cut
his cables, and went off, and sailed to Alexandria, where he desired
Alexander the alabarch 19 to lend him two hundred
thousand drachmae; but he said he would not lend it to him, but would not
refuse it to Cypros, as greatly astonished at her affection to her
husband, and at the other instances of her virtue; so she undertook to
repay it. Accordingly, Alexander paid them five talents at Alexandria, and
promised to pay them the rest of that sum at Dicearchia [Puteoli]; and
this he did out of the fear he was in that Agrippa would soon spend it. So
this Cypros set her husband free, and dismissed him to go on with his
navigation to Italy, while she and her children departed for Judea.
4. And now Agrippa was come to Puteoli, whence he wrote a letter to
Tiberius Cæsar, who then lived at Capreae, and told him that he was come
so far in order to wait on him, and to pay him a visit; and desired that
he would give him leave to come over to Caprein: so Tiberius made no
difficulty, but wrote to him in an obliging way in other respects; and
withal told him he was glad of his safe return, and desired him to come to
Capreae; and when he was come, he did not fail to treat him as kindly as
he had promised him in his letter to do. But the next day came a letter to
Cæsar from Herennius Capito, to inform him that Agrippa had borrowed
three hundred thousand drachmae, and not pad it at the time appointed; but
when it was demanded of him, he ran away like a fugitive, out of the
places under his government, and put it out of his power to get the money
of him. When Cæsar had read this letter, he was much troubled at it, and
gave order that Agrippa should be excluded from his presence until he had
paid that debt: upon which he was no way daunted at Cæsar’s anger, but
entreated Antonia, the mother of Germanicus, and of Claudius, who was
afterward Cæsar himself, to lend him those three hundred thousand
drachmae, that he might not be deprived of Tiberius’s friendship; so, out
of regard to the memory of Bernice his mother, [for those two women were
very familiar with one another,] and out of regard to his and Claudius’s
education together, she lent him the money; and, upon the payment of this
debt, there was nothing to hinder Tiberius’s friendship to him. After
this, Tiberius Cæsar recommended to him his grandson, 20
and ordered that he should always accompany him when he went abroad. But
upon Agrippa’s kind reception by Antonia, he betook him to pay his
respects to Caius, who was her grandson, and in very high reputation by
reason of the good-will they bare his father. Now there was one Thallus, a
freed-man of Cæsar, of whom he borrowed a million of drachmae, and thence
repaid Antonia the debt he owed her; and by sending the overplus in paying
his court to Caius, became a person of great authority with him.
5. Now as the friendship which Agrippa had for Caius was come to a great
height, there happened some words to pass between them, as they once were
in a chariot together, concerning Tiberius; Agrippa praying [to God] [for
they two sat by themselves] that Tiberius might soon go off the stage, and
leave the government to Caius, who was in every respect more worthy of it.
Now Eutychus, who was Agrippa’s freed-man, and drove his chariot, heard
these words, and at that time said nothing of them; but when Agrippa
accused him of stealing some garments of his, [which was certainly true,]
he ran away from him; but when he was caught, and brought before Piso, who
was governor of the city, and the man was asked why he ran away, he
replied, that he had somewhat to say to Cæsar, that tended to his
security and preservation: so Piso bound him, and sent him to Capreae. But
Tiberius, according to his usual custom, kept him still in bonds, being a
delayer of affairs, if ever there was any other king or tyrant that was
so; for he did not admit ambassadors quickly, and no successors were
despatched away to governors or procurators of the provinces that had been
formerly sent, unless they were dead; whence it was that he was so
negligent in hearing the causes of prisoners; insomuch that when he was
asked by his friends what was the reason of his delay in such cases, he
said that he delayed to hear ambassadors, lest, upon their quick
dismission, other ambassadors should be appointed, and return upon him;
and so he should bring trouble upon himself in their public reception and
dismission: that he permitted those governors who had been sent once to
their government [to stay there a long while], out of regard to the
subjects that were under them; for that all governors are naturally
disposed to get as much as they can; and that those who are not to fix
there, but to stay a short time, and that at an uncertainty when they
shall be turned out, do the more severely hurry themselves on to fleece
the people; but that if their government be long continued to them; they
are at last satiated with the spoils, as having gotten a vast deal, and so
become at length less sharp in their pillaging; but that if successors are
sent quickly, the poor subjects, who are exposed to them as a prey, will
not be able to bear the new ones, while they shall not have the same time
allowed them wherein their predecessors had filled themselves, and so grew
more unconcerned about getting more; and this because they are removed
before they have had time [for their oppressions]. He gave them an example
to show his meaning: A great number of flies came about the sore places of
a man that had been wounded; upon which one of the standers-by pitied the
man’s misfortune, and thinking he was not able to drive those flies away
himself, was going to drive them away for him; but he prayed him to let
them alone: the other, by way of reply, asked him the reason of such a
preposterous proceeding, in preventing relief from his present misery; to
which he answered, “If thou drivest these flies away, thou wilt hurt me
worse; for as these are already full of my blood, they do not crowd about
me, nor pain me so much as before, but are somewhat more remiss, while the
fresh ones that come almost famished, and find me quite tired down
already, will be my destruction. For this cause, therefore, it is that I
am myself careful not to send such new governors perpetually to those my
subjects, who are already sufficiently harassed by many oppressions, as
may, like these flies, further distress them; and so, besides their
natural desire of gain, may have this additional incitement to it, that
they expect to be suddenly deprived of that pleasure which they take in
it.” And, as a further attestation to what I say of the dilatory nature of
Tiberius, I appeal to this his practice itself; for although he was
emperor twenty-two years, he sent in all but two procurators to govern the
nation of the Jews, Gratus, and his successor in the government, Pilate.
Nor was he in one way of acting with respect to the Jews, and in another
with respect to the rest of his subjects. He further informed them, that
even in the hearing of the causes of prisoners, he made such delays,
because immediate death to those that must be condemned to die would be an
alleviation of their present miseries, while those wicked wretches have
not deserved any such favor; “but I do it, that, by being harassed with
the present calamity, they may undergo greater misery.”
6. On this account it was that Eutychus could not obtain a bearing, but
was kept still in prison. However, some time afterward, Tiberius came from
Capreae to Tusculanum, which is about a hundred furlongs from Rome.
Agrippa then desired of Antonia that she would procure a hearing for
Eutychus, let the matter whereof he accused him prove what it would. Now
Antonia was greatly esteemed by Tiberius on all accounts, from the dignity
of her relation to him, who had been his brother Drusus’s wife, and from
her eminent chastity; 21 for though she was still a
young woman, she continued in her widowhood, and refused all other
matches, although Augustus had enjoined her to be married to somebody
else; yet did she all along preserve her reputation free from reproach.
She had also been the greatest benefactress to Tiberius, when there was a
very dangerous plot laid against him by Sejanus, a man who had been her
husband’s friend, and who had the greatest authority, because he was
general of the army, and when many members of the senate and many of the
freed-men joined with him, and the soldiery was corrupted, and the plot
was come to a great height. Now Sejanus had certainly gained his point,
had not Antonia’s boldness been more wisely conducted than Sejanus’s
malice; for when she had discovered his designs against Tiberius, she
wrote him an exact account of the whole, and gave the letter to Pallas,
the most faithful of her servants, and sent him to Caprere to Tiberius,
who, when he understood it, slew Sejanus and his confederates; so that
Tiberius, who had her in great esteem before, now looked upon her with
still greater respect, and depended upon her in all things. So when
Tiberius was desired by this Antonia to examine Eutychus, he answered, “If
indeed Eutychus hath falsely accused Agrippa in what he hath said of him,
he hath had sufficient punishment by what I have done to him already; but
if, upon examination, the accusation appears to be true, let Agrippa have
a care, lest, out of desire of punishing his freed-man, he do not rather
bring a punishment upon himself.” Now when Antonia told Agrippa of this,
he was still much more pressing that the matter might be examined into; so
Antonia, upon Agrippa’s lying hard at her continually to beg this favor,
took the following opportunity: As Tiberius lay once at his ease upon his
sedan, and was carried about, and Caius, her grandson, and Agrippa, were
before him after dinner she walked by the sedan, and desired him to call
Eutychus, and have him examined; to which he replied, “O Antonia! the gods
are my witnesses that I am induced to do what I am going to do, not by my
own inclination, but because I am forced to it by thy prayers.” When he
had said this, he ordered Macro, who succeeded Sejanus, to bring Eutychus
to him; accordingly, without any delay, he was brought. Then Tiberius
asked him what he had to say against a man who had given him his liberty.
Upon which he said, “O my lord! this Caius, and Agrippa with him, were
once riding in a chariot, when I sat at their feet, and, among other
discourses that passed, Agrippa said to Caius, Oh that the day would once
come when this old fellow will die and name thee for the governor of the
habitable earth! for then this Tiberius, his grandson, would be no
hinderance, but would be taken off by thee, and that earth would be happy,
and I happy also.” Now Tiberius took these to be truly Agrippa’s words,
and bearing a grudge withal at Agrippa, because, when he had commanded him
to pay his respects to Tiberius, his grandson, and the son of Drusus,
Agrippa had not paid him that respect, but had disobeyed his commands, and
transferred all his regard to Caius; he said to Macro, “Bind this man.”
But Macro, not distinctly knowing which of them it was whom he bid him
bind, and not expecting that he would have any such thing done to Agrippa,
he forbore, and came to ask more distinctly what it was that he said. But
when Cæsar had gone round the hippodrome, he found Agrippa standing: “For
certain,” said he, “Macro, this is the man I meant to have bound;” and
when he still asked, “Which of these is to be bound?” he said “Agrippa.”
Upon which Agrippa betook himself to make supplication for himself,
putting him in mind of his son, with whom he was brought up, and of
Tiberius [his grandson] whom he had educated; but all to no purpose; for
they led him about bound even in his purple garments. It was also very hot
weather, and they had but little wine to their meal, so that he was very
thirsty; he was also in a sort of agony, and took this treatment of him
heinously: as he therefore saw one of Caius’s slaves, whose name was
Thaumastus, carrying some water in a vessel, he desired that he would let
him drink; so the servant gave him some water to drink, and he drank
heartily, and said, “O thou boy! this service of thine to me will be for
thy advantage; for if I once get clear of these my bonds, I will soon
procure thee thy freedom of Caius who has not been wanting to minister to
me now I am in bonds, in the same manner as when I was in my former state
and dignity.” Nor did he deceive him in what he promised him, but made him
amends for what he had now done; for when afterward Agrippa was come to
the kingdom, he took particular care of Thaumastus, and got him his
liberty from Caius, and made him the steward over his own estate; and when
he died, he left him to Agrippa his son, and to Bernice his daughter, to
minister to them in the same capacity. The man also grew old in that
honorable post, and therein died. But all this happened a good while
later.
7. Now Agrippa stood in his bonds before the royal palace, and leaned on a
certain tree for grief, with many others, who were in bonds also; and as a
certain bird sat upon the tree on which Agrippa leaned, [the Romans call
this bird bubo,] [an owl,] one of those that were bound, a German by
nation, saw him, and asked a soldier who that man in purple was; and when
he was informed that his name was Agrippa, and that he was by nation a
Jew, and one of the principal men of that nation, he asked leave of the
soldier to whom he was bound, 22 to let
him come nearer to him, to speak with him; for that he had a mind to
inquire of him about some things relating to his country; which liberty,
when he had obtained, and as he stood near him, he said thus to him by an
interpreter: “This sudden change of thy condition, O young man! is
grievous to thee, as bringing on thee a manifold and very great adversity;
nor wilt thou believe me, when I foretell how thou wilt get clear of this
misery which thou art now under, and how Divine Providence will provide
for thee. Know therefore [and I appeal to my own country gods, as well as
to the gods of this place, who have awarded these bonds to us] that all I
am going to say about thy concerns shall neither be said for favor nor
bribery, nor out of an endeavor to make thee cheerful without cause; for
such predictions, when they come to fail, make the grief at last, and in
earnest, more bitter than if the party had never heard of any such thing.
However, though I run the hazard of my own self, I think it fit to declare
to thee the prediction of the gods. It cannot be that thou shouldst long
continue in these bonds; but thou wilt soon be delivered from them, and
wilt be promoted to the highest dignity and power, and thou wilt be envied
by all those who now pity thy hard fortune; and thou wilt be happy till
thy death, and wilt leave thine happiness to the children whom thou shalt
have. But do thou remember, when thou seest this bird again, that thou
wilt then live but five days longer. This event will be brought to pass by
that God who hath sent this bird hither to be a sign unto thee. And I
cannot but think it unjust to conceal from thee what I foreknow concerning
thee, that, by thy knowing beforehand what happiness is coming upon thee,
thou mayst not regard thy present misfortunes. But when this happiness
shall actually befall thee, do not forget what misery I am in myself, but
endeavor to deliver me.” So when the German had said this, he made Agrippa
laugh at him as much as he afterwards appeared worthy of admiration. But
now Antonia took Agrippa’s misfortune to heart: however, to speak to
Tiberius on his behalf, she took to be a very difficult thing, and indeed
quite impracticable, as to any hope of success; yet did she procure of
Macro, that the soldiers that kept him should be of a gentle nature, and
that the centurion who was over them and was to diet with him, should be
of the same disposition, and that he might have leave to bathe himself
every day, and that his freed-men and friends might come to him, and that
other things that tended to ease him might be indulged him. So his friend
Silas came in to him, and two of his freed-men, Marsyas and Stechus,
brought him such sorts of food as he was fond of, and indeed took great
care of him; they also brought him garments, under pretense of selling
them; and when night came on, they laid them under him; and the soldiers
assisted them, as Macro had given them order to do beforehand. And this
was Agrippa’s condition for six months’ time, and in this case were his
affairs.
8. But for Tiberius, upon his return to Caprein, he fell sick. At first
his distemper was but gentle; but as that distemper increased upon him, he
had small or no hopes of recovery. Hereupon he bid Euodus, who was that
freed-man whom he most of all respected, to bring the children 23
to him, for that he wanted to talk to them before he died. Now he had at
present no sons of his own alive for Drusus, who was his only son, was
dead; but Drusus’s son Tiberius was still living, whose additional name
was Gemellus: there was also living Caius, the son of Germanicus, who was
the son 24 of his brother [Drusus]. He
was now grown up, and had a liberal education, and was well improved by
it, and was in esteem and favor with the people, on account of the
excellent character of his father Germanicus, who had attained the highest
honor among the multitude, by the firmness of his virtuous behavior, by
the easiness and agreeableness of his conversing with the multitude, and
because the dignity he was in did not hinder his familiarity with them
all, as if they were his equals; by which behavior he was not only greatly
esteemed by the people and the senate, but by every one of those nations
that were subject to the Romans; some of which were affected when they
came to him with the gracefulness of their reception by him, and others
were affected in the same manner by the report of the others that had been
with him; and, upon his death, there was a lamentation made by all men;
not such a one as was to be made in way of flattery to their rulers, while
they did but counterfeit sorrow, but such as was real; while every body
grieved at his death, as if they had lost one that was near to them. And
truly such had been his easy conversation with men, that it turned greatly
to the advantage of his son among all; and, among others, the soldiery
were so peculiarly affected to him, that they reckoned it an eligible
thing, if need were, to die themselves, if he might but attain to the
government.
9. But when Tiberius had given order to Euodus to bring the children to
him the next day in the morning, he prayed to his country gods to show him
a manifest signal which of those children should come to the government;
being very desirous to leave it to his son’s son, but still depending upon
what God should foreshow concerning them more than upon his own opinion
and inclination; so he made this to be the omen, that the government
should be left to him who should come to him first the next day. When he
had thus resolved within himself, he sent to his grandson’s tutor, and
ordered him to bring the child to him early in the morning, as supposing
that God would permit him to be made emperor. But God proved opposite to
his designation; for while Tiberius was thus contriving matters, and as
soon as it was at all day, he bid Euodus to call in that child which
should be there ready. So he went out, and found Caius before the door,
for Tiberius was not yet come, but staid waiting for his breakfast; for
Euodus knew nothing of what his lord intended; so he said to Caius, “Thy
father calls thee,” and then brought him in. As soon as Tiberius saw
Caius, and not before, he reflected on the power of God, and how the
ability of bestowing the government on whom he would was entirely taken
from him; and thence he was not able to establish what he had intended. So
he greatly lamented that his power of establishing what he had before
contrived was taken from him, and that his grandson Tiberius was not only
to lose the Roman empire by his fatality, but his own safety also, because
his preservation would now depend upon such as would be more potent than
himself, who would think it a thing not to be borne, that a kinsman should
live with them, and so his relation would not be able to protect him; but
he would be feared and hated by him who had the supreme authority, partly
on account of his being next to the empire, and partly on account of his
perpetually contriving to get the government, both in order to preserve
himself, and to be at the head of affairs also. Now Tiberius had been very
much given to astrology, 25 and the calculation of
nativities, and had spent his life in the esteem of what predictions had
proved true, more than those whose profession it was. Accordingly, when he
once saw Galba coming in to him, he said to his most intimate friends,
that there came in a man that would one day have the dignity of the Roman
empire. So that this Tiberius was more addicted to all such sorts of
diviners than any other of the Roman emperors, because he had found them
to have told him truth in his own affairs. And indeed he was now in great
distress upon this accident that had befallen him, and was very much
grieved at the destruction of his son’s son, which he foresaw, and
complained of himself, that he should have made use of such a method of
divination beforehand, while it was in his power to have died without
grief by this knowledge of futurity; whereas he was now tormented by his
foreknowledge of the misfortune of such as were dearest to him, and must
die under that torment. Now although he was disordered at this unexpected
revolution of the government to those for whom he did not intend it, he
spake thus to Caius, though unwillingly, and against his own inclination:
“O child! although Tiberius be nearer related to me than thou art, I, by
my own determination, and the conspiring suffrage of the gods, do give and
put into thy hand the Roman empire; and I desire thee never to be
unmindful when thou comest to it, either of my kindness to thee, who set
thee in so high a dignity, or of thy relation to Tiberius. But as thou
knowest that I am, together with and after the gods, the procurer of so
great happiness to thee; so I desire that thou wilt make me a return for
my readiness to assist thee, and wilt take care of Tiberius because of his
near relation to thee. Besides which, thou art to know, that while
Tiberius is alive, he will be a security to thee, both as to empire and as
to thy own preservation; but if he die, that will be but a prelude to thy
own misfortunes; for to be alone under the weight of such vast affairs is
very dangerous; nor will the gods suffer those actions which are unjustly
done, contrary to that law which directs men to act otherwise, to go off
unpunished.” This was the speech which Tiberius made, which did not
persuade Caius to act accordingly, although he promised so to do; but when
he was settled in the government, he took off this Tiberius, as was
predicted by the other Tiberius; as he was also himself, in no long time
afterward, slain by a secret plot laid against him.
10. So when Tiberius had at this time appointed Caius to be his successor,
he outlived but a few days, and then died, after he had held the
government twenty-two years five months and three days. Now Caius was the
fourth emperor. But when the Romans understood that Tiberius was dead,
they rejoiced at the good news, but had not courage to believe it; not
because they were unwilling it should be true, for they would have given
huge sums of money that it might be so, but because they were afraid, that
if they had showed their joy when the news proved false, their joy should
be openly known, and they should be accused for it, and be thereby undone.
For this Tiberius had brought a vast number of miseries on the best
families of the Romans, since he was easily inflamed with passion in all
cases, and was of such a temper as rendered his anger irrevocable, till he
had executed the same, although he had taken a hatred against men without
reason; for he was by nature fierce in all the sentences he gave, and made
death the penalty for the lightest offenses; insomuch that when the Romans
heard the rumor about his death gladly, they were restrained from the
enjoyment of that pleasure by the dread of such miseries as they foresaw
would follow, if their hopes proved ill-grounded. Now Marsyas, Agrippa’s
freed-man, as soon as he heard of Tiberius’s death, came running to tell
Agrippa the news; and finding him going out to the bath, he gave him a
nod, and said, in the Hebrew tongue, “The lion 26 is
dead;” who, understanding his meaning, and being overjoyed at the news,
“Nay,” said he, “but all sorts of thanks and happiness attend thee for
this news of thine; only I wish that what thou sayest may prove true.” Now
the centurion who was set to keep Agrippa, when he saw with what haste
Marsyas came, and what joy Agrippa had from what he said, he had a
suspicion that his words implied some great innovation of affairs, and he
asked them about what was said. They at first diverted the discourse; but
upon his further pressing, Agrippa, without more ado, told him, for he was
already become his friend; so he joined with him in that pleasure which
this news occasioned, because it would be fortunate to Agrippa, and made
him a supper. But as they were feasting, and the cups went about, there
came one who said that Tiberius was still alive, and would return to the
city in a few days. At which news the centurion was exceedingly troubled,
because he had done what might cost him his life, to have treated so
joyfully a prisoner, and this upon the news of the death of Cæsar; so he
thrust Agrippa from the couch whereon he lay, and said, “Dost thou think
to cheat me by a lie about the emperor without punishment? and shalt not
thou pay for this thy malicious report at the price of thine head?” When
he had so said, he ordered Agrippa to be bound again, [for he had loosed
him before,] and kept a severer guard over him than formerly, and in that
evil condition was Agrippa that night; but the next day the rumor
increased in the city, and confirmed the news that Tiberius was certainly
dead; insomuch that men durst now openly and freely talk about it; nay,
some offered sacrifices on that account. Several letters also came from
Caius; one of them to the senate, which informed them of the death of
Tiberius, and of his own entrance on the government; another to Piso, the
governor of the city, which told him the same thing. He also gave order
that Agrippa should be removed out of the camp, and go to that house where
he lived before he was put in prison; so that he was now out of fear as to
his own affairs; for although he was still in custody, yet it was now with
ease to his own affairs. Now, as soon as Caius was come to Rome, and had
brought Tiberius’s dead body with him, and had made a sumptuous funeral
for him, according to the laws of his country, he was much disposed to set
Agrippa at liberty that very day; but Antonia hindered him, not out of any
ill-will to the prisoner, but out of regard to decency in Caius, lest that
should make men believe that he received the death of Tiberius with
pleasure, when he loosed one whom he had bound immediately. However, there
did not many days pass ere he sent for him to his house, and had him
shaved, and made him change his raiment; after which he put a diadem upon
his head, and appointed him to be king of the tetrarchy of Philip. He also
gave him the tetrarchy of Lysanias, 27 and
changed his iron chain for a golden one of equal weight. He also sent
Marullus to be procurator of Judea.
11. Now, in the second year of the reign of Caius Cæsar, Agrippa desired
leave to be given him to sail home, and settle the affairs of his
government; and he promised to return again, when he had put the rest in
order, as it ought to be put. So, upon the emperor’s permission, he came
into his own country, and appeared to them all unexpectedly as asking, and
thereby demonstrated to the men that saw him the power of fortune, when
they compared his former poverty with his present happy affluence; so some
called him a happy man, and others could not well believe that things were
so much changed with him for the better.
CHAPTER 7. How Herod The Tetrarch Was Banished.
1. But Herodias, Agrippa’s sister, who now lived as wife to that Herod who
was tetrarch of Galilee and Peres, took this authority of her brother in
an envious manner, particularly when she saw that he had a greater dignity
bestowed on him than her husband had; since, when he ran away, it was
because he was not able to pay his debts; and now he was come back, he was
in a way of dignity, and of great good fortune. She was therefore grieved
and much displeased at so great a mutation of his affairs; and chiefly
when she saw him marching among the multitude with the usual ensigns of
royal authority, she was not able to conceal how miserable she was, by
reason of the envy she had towards him; but she excited her husband, and
desired him that he would sail to Rome, to court honors equal to his; for
she said that she could not bear to live any longer, while Agrippa, the
son of that Aristobulus who was condemned to die by his father, one that
came to her husband in such extreme poverty, that the necessaries of life
were forced to be entirely supplied him day by day; and when he fled away
from his creditors by sea, he now returned a king; while he was himself
the son of a king, and while the near relation he bare to royal authority
called upon him to gain the like dignity, he sat still, and was contented
with a privater life. “But then, Herod, although thou wast formerly not
concerned to be in a lower condition than thy father from whom thou wast
derived had been, yet do thou now seek after the dignity which thy kinsman
hath attained to; and do not thou bear this contempt, that a man who
admired thy riches should be in greater honor than thyself, nor suffer his
poverty to show itself able to purchase greater things than our abundance;
nor do thou esteem it other than a shameful thing to be inferior to one
who, the other day, lived upon thy charity. But let us go to Rome, and let
us spare no pains nor expenses, either of silver or gold, since they
cannot be kept for any better use than for the obtaining of a kingdom.”
2. But for Herod, he opposed her request at this time, out of the love of
ease, and having a suspicion of the trouble he should have at Rome; so he
tried to instruct her better. But the more she saw him draw back, the more
she pressed him to it, and desired him to leave no stone unturned in order
to be king; and at last she left not off till she engaged him, whether he
would or not, to be of her sentiments, because he could no otherwise avoid
her importunity. So he got all things ready, after as sumptuous a manner
as he was able, and spared for nothing, and went up to Rome, and took
Herodias along with him. But Agrippa, when he was made sensible of their
intentions and preparations, he also prepared to go thither; and as soon
as he heard they set sail, he sent Fortunatus, one of his freed-men, to
Rome, to carry presents to the emperor, and letters against Herod, and to
give Caius a particular account of those matters, if he should have any
opportunity. This man followed Herod so quick, and had so prosperous a
voyage, and came so little after Herod, that while Herod was with Caius,
he came himself, and delivered his letters; for they both sailed to
Dicearchia, and found Caius at Bairn, which is itself a little city of
Campania, at the distance of about five furlongs from Dicearchia. There
are in that place royal palaces, with sumptuous apartments, every emperor
still endeavoring to outdo his predecessor’s magnificence; the place also
affords warm baths, that spring out of the ground of their own accord,
which are of advantage for the recovery of the health of those that make
use of them; and, besides, they minister to men’s luxury also. Now Caius
saluted Herod, for he first met with him, and then looked upon the letters
which Agrippa had sent him, and which were written in order to accuse
Herod; wherein he accused him, that he had been in confederacy with
Sejanus against Tiberius’s and that he was now confederate with Artabanus,
the king of Parthia, in opposition to the government of Caius; as a
demonstration of which he alleged, that he had armor sufficient for
seventy thousand men ready in his armory. Caius was moved at this
information, and asked Herod whether what was said about the armor was
true; and when he confessed there was such armor there, for he could not
deny the same, the truth of it being too notorious, Caius took that to be
a sufficient proof of the accusation, that he intended to revolt. So he
took away from him his tetrarchy, and gave it by way of addition to
Agrippa’s kingdom; he also gave Herod’s money to Agrippa, and, by way of
punishment, awarded him a perpetual banishment, and appointed Lyons, a
city of Gaul, to be his place of habitation. But when he was informed that
Herodias was Agrippa’s sister, he made her a present of what money was her
own, and told her that it was her brother who prevented her being put
under the same calamity with her husband. But she made this reply: “Thou,
indeed, O emperor! actest after a magnificent manner, and as becomes
thyself in what thou offerest me; but the kindness which I have for my
husband hinders me from partaking of the favor of thy gift; for it is not
just that I, who have been made a partner in his prosperity, should
forsake him in his misfortunes.” Hereupon Caius was angry at her, and sent
her with Herod into banishment, and gave her estate to Agrippa. And thus
did God punish Herodias for her envy at her brother, and Herod also for
giving ear to the vain discourses of a woman. Now Caius managed public
affairs with great magnanimity during the first and second year of his
reign, and behaved himself with such moderation, that he gained the
good-will of the Romans themselves, and of his other subjects. But, in
process of time, he went beyond the bounds of human nature in his conceit
of himself, and by reason of the vastness of his dominions made himself a
god, and took upon himself to act in all things to the reproach of the
Deity itself.
CHAPTER 8. Concerning The Embassage Of The Jews To Caius; 28
And How Caius Sent Petronius Into Syria To Make War Against The Jews,
Unless They Would Receive His Statue.
1. There was now a tumult arisen at Alexandria, between the Jewish
inhabitants and the Greeks; and three ambassadors were chosen out of each
party that were at variance, who came to Caius. Now one of these
ambassadors from the people of Alexandria was Apion, 29
who uttered many blasphemies against the Jews; and, among other things
that he said, he charged them with neglecting the honors that belonged to
Cæsar; for that while all who were subject to the Roman empire built
altars and temples to Caius, and in other regards universally received him
as they received the gods, these Jews alone thought it a dishonorable
thing for them to erect statues in honor of him, as well as to swear by
his name. Many of these severe things were said by Apion, by which he
hoped to provoke Caius to anger at the Jews, as he was likely to be. But
Philo, the principal of the Jewish embassage, a man eminent on all
accounts, brother to Alexander the alabarch, 30 and
one not unskillful in philosophy, was ready to betake himself to make his
defense against those accusations; but Caius prohibited him, and bid him
begone; he was also in such a rage, that it openly appeared he was about
to do them some very great mischief. So Philo being thus affronted, went
out, and said to those Jews who were about him, that they should be of
good courage, since Caius’s words indeed showed anger at them, but in
reality had already set God against himself.
2. Hereupon Caius, taking it very heinously that he should be thus
despised by the Jews alone, sent Petronius to be president of Syria, and
successor in the government to Vitellius, and gave him order to make an
invasion into Judea, with a great body of troops; and if they would admit
of his statue willingly, to erect it in the temple of God; but if they
were obstinate, to conquer them by war, and then to do it. Accordingly,
Petronius took the government of Syria, and made haste to obey Cæsar’s
epistle. He got together as great a number of auxiliaries as he possibly
could, and took with him two legions of the Roman army, and came to
Ptolemais, and there wintered, as intending to set about the war in the
spring. He also wrote word to Caius what he had resolved to do, who
commended him for his alacrity, and ordered him to go on, and to make war
with them, in case they would not obey his commands. But there came many
ten thousands of the Jews to Petronius, to Ptolemais, to offer their
petitions to him, that he would not compel them to transgress and violate
the law of their forefathers; “but if,” said they, “thou art entirely
resolved to bring this statue, and erect it, do thou first kill us, and
then do what thou hast resolved on; for while we are alive we cannot
permit such things as are forbidden us to be done by the authority of our
legislator, and by our forefathers’ determination that such prohibitions
are instances of virtue.” But Petronius was angry at them, and said, “If
indeed I were myself emperor, and were at liberty to follow my own
inclination, and then had designed to act thus, these your words would be
justly spoken to me; but now Cæsar hath sent to me, I am under the
necessity of being subservient to his decrees, because a disobedience to
them will bring upon me inevitable destruction.” Then the Jews replied,
“Since, therefore, thou art so disposed, O Petronius! that thou wilt not
disobey Caius’s epistles, neither will we transgress the commands of our
law; and as we depend upon the excellency of our laws, and, by the labors
of our ancestors, have continued hitherto without suffering them to be
transgressed, we dare not by any means suffer ourselves to be so timorous
as to transgress those laws out of the fear of death, which God hath
determined are for our advantage; and if we fall into misfortunes, we will
bear them, in order to preserve our laws, as knowing that those who expose
themselves to dangers have good hope of escaping them, because God will
stand on our side, when, out of regard to him, we undergo afflictions, and
sustain the uncertain turns of fortune. But if we should submit to thee,
we should be greatly reproached for our cowardice, as thereby showing
ourselves ready to transgress our law; and we should incur the great anger
of God also, who, even thyself being judge, is superior to Caius.”
3. When Petronius saw by their words that their determination was hard to
be removed, and that, without a war, he should not be able to be
subservient to Caius in the dedication of his statue, and that there must
be a great deal of bloodshed, he took his friends, and the servants that
were about him, and hasted to Tiberias, as wanting to know in what posture
the affairs of the Jews were; and many ten thousands of the Jews met
Petronius again, when he was come to Tiberias. These thought they must run
a mighty hazard if they should have a war with the Romans, but judged that
the transgression of the law was of much greater consequence, and made
supplication to him, that he would by no means reduce them to such
distresses, nor defile their city with the dedication of the statue. Then
Petronius said to them, “Will you then make war with Cæsar, without
considering his great preparations for war, and your own weakness?” They
replied, “We will not by any means make war with him, but still we will
die before we see our laws transgressed.” So they threw themselves down
upon their faces, and stretched out their throats, and said they were
ready to be slain; and this they did for forty days together, and in the
mean time left off the tilling of their ground, and that while the season
of the year required them to sow it. 31 Thus
they continued firm in their resolution, and proposed to themselves to die
willingly, rather than to see the dedication of the statue.
4. When matters were in this state, Aristobulus, king Agrippa’s brother,
and Heleias the Great, and the other principal men of that family with
them, went in unto Petronius, and besought him, that since he saw the
resolution of the multitude, he would not make any alteration, and thereby
drive them to despair; but would write to Caius, that the Jews had an
insuperable aversion to the reception of the statue, and how they
continued with him, and left off the tillage off their ground: that they
were not willing to go to war with him, because they were not able to do
it, but were ready to die with pleasure, rather than suffer their laws to
be transgressed: and how, upon the land’s continuing unsown, robberies
would grow up, on the inability they would be under of paying their
tributes; and that Caius might be thereby moved to pity, and not order any
barbarous action to be done to them, nor think of destroying the nation:
that if he continues inflexible in his former opinion to bring a war upon
them, he may then set about it himself. And thus did Aristobulus, and the
rest with him, supplicate Petronius. So Petronius, 32 partly
on account of the pressing instances which Aristobulus and the rest with
him made, and because of the great consequence of what they desired, and
the earnestness wherewith they made their supplication,—partly on
account of the firmness of the opposition made by the Jews, which he saw,
while he thought it a terrible thing for him to be such a slave to the
madness of Caius, as to slay so many ten thousand men, only because of
their religious disposition towards God, and after that to pass his life
in expectation of punishment; Petronius, I say, thought it much better to
send to Caius, and to let him know how intolerable it was to him to bear
the anger he might have against him for not serving him sooner, in
obedience to his epistle, for that perhaps he might persuade him; and that
if this mad resolution continued, he might then begin the war against
them; nay, that in case he should turn his hatred against himself, it was
fit for virtuous persons even to die for the sake of such vast multitudes
of men. Accordingly, he determined to hearken to the petitioners in this
matter.
5. He then called the Jews together to Tiberias, who came many ten
thousands in number; he also placed that army he now had with him opposite
to them; but did not discover his own meaning, but the commands of the
emperor, and told them that his wrath would, without delay, be executed on
such as had the courage to disobey what he had commanded, and this
immediately; and that it was fit for him, who had obtained so great a
dignity by his grant, not to contradict him in any thing:—”yet,”
said he, “I do not think it just to have such a regard to my own safety
and honor, as to refuse to sacrifice them for your preservation, who are
so many in number, and endeavor to preserve the regard that is due to your
law; which as it hath come down to you from your forefathers, so do you
esteem it worthy of your utmost contention to preserve it: nor, with the
supreme assistance and power of God, will I be so hardy as to suffer your
temple to fall into contempt by the means of the imperial authority. I
will, therefore, send to Caius, and let him know what your resolutions
are, and will assist your suit as far as I am able, that you may not be
exposed to suffer on account of the honest designs you have proposed to
yourselves; and may God be your assistant, for his authority is beyond all
the contrivance and power of men; and may he procure you the preservation
of your ancient laws, and may not he be deprived, though without your
consent, of his accustomed honors. But if Caius be irritated, and turn the
violence of his rage upon me, I will rather undergo all that danger and
that affliction that may come either on my body or my soul, than see so
many of you to perish, while you are acting in so excellent a manner. Do
you, therefore, every one of you, go your way about your own occupations,
and fall to the cultivation of your ground; I will myself send to Rome,
and will not refuse to serve you in all things, both by myself and by my
friends.”
6. When Petronius had said this, and had dismissed the assembly of the
Jews, he desired the principal of them to take care of their husbandry,
and to speak kindly to the people, and encourage them to have good hope of
their affairs. Thus did he readily bring the multitude to be cheerful
again. And now did God show his presence to Petronius, and signify to him
that he would afford him his assistance in his whole design; for he had no
sooner finished the speech that he made to the Jews, but God sent down
great showers of rain, contrary to human expectation; 33
for that day was a clear day, and gave no sign, by the appearance of the
sky, of any rain; nay, the whole year had been subject to a great drought,
and made men despair of any water from above, even when at any time they
saw the heavens overcast with clouds; insomuch that when such a great
quantity of rain came, and that in an unusual manner, and without any
other expectation of it, the Jews hoped that Petronius would by no means
fail in his petition for them. But as to Petronius, he was mightily
surprised when he perceived that God evidently took care of the Jews, and
gave very plain signs of his appearance, and this to such a degree, that
those that were in earnest much inclined to the contrary had no power left
to contradict it. This was also among those other particulars which he
wrote to Caius, which all tended to dissuade him, and by all means to
entreat him not to make so many ten thousands of these men go distracted;
whom, if he should slay, [for without war they would by no means suffer
the laws of their worship to be set aside,] he would lose the revenue they
paid him, and would be publicly cursed by them for all future ages.
Moreover, that God, who was their Governor, had shown his power most
evidently on their account, and that such a power of his as left no room
for doubt about it. And this was the business that Petronius was now
engaged in.
7. But king Agrippa, who now lived at Rome, was more and more in the favor
of Caius; and when he had once made him a supper, and was careful to
exceed all others, both in expenses and in such preparations as might
contribute most to his pleasure; nay, it was so far from the ability of
others, that Caius himself could never equal, much less exceed it [such
care had he taken beforehand to exceed all men, and particularly to make
all agreeable to Cæsar]; hereupon Caius admired his understanding and
magnificence, that he should force himself to do all to please him, even
beyond such expenses as he could bear, and was desirous not to be behind
Agrippa in that generosity which he exerted in order to please him. So
Caius, when he had drank wine plentifully, and was merrier than ordinary,
said thus during the feast, when Agrippa had drunk to him: “I knew before
now how great a respect thou hast had for me, and how great kindness thou
hast shown me, though with those hazards to thyself, which thou
underwentest under Tiberius on that account; nor hast thou omitted any
thing to show thy good-will towards us, even beyond thy ability; whence it
would be a base thing for me to be conquered by thy affection. I am
therefore desirous to make thee amends for every thing in which I have
been formerly deficient; for all that I have bestowed on thee, that may be
called my gifts, is but little. Everything that may contribute to thy
happiness shall be at thy service, and that cheerfully, and so far as my
ability will reach.” 34 And this was what Caius said
to Agrippa, thinking he would ask for some large country, or the revenues
of certain cities. But although he had prepared beforehand what he would
ask, yet had he not discovered his intentions, but made this answer to
Caius immediately: That it was not out of any expectation of gain that he
formerly paid his respects to him, contrary to the commands of Tiberius,
nor did he now do any thing relating to him out of regard to his own
advantage, and in order to receive any thing from him; that the gifts he
had already bestowed upon him were great, and beyond the hopes of even a
craving man; for although they may be beneath thy power, [who art the
donor,] yet are they greater than my inclination and dignity, who am the
receiver. And as Caius was astonished at Agrippa’s inclinations, and still
the more pressed him to make his request for somewhat which he might
gratify him with, Agrippa replied, “Since thou, O my lord! declarest such
is thy readiness to grant, that I am worthy of thy gifts, I will ask
nothing relating to my own felicity; for what thou hast already bestowed
on me has made me excel therein; but I desire somewhat which may make thee
glorious for piety, and render the Divinity assistant to thy designs, and
may be for an honor to me among those that inquire about it, as showing
that I never once fail of obtaining what I desire of thee; for my petition
is this, that thou wilt no longer think of the dedication of that statue
which thou hast ordered to be set up in the Jewish temple by Petronius.”
8. And thus did Agrippa venture to cast the die upon this occasion, so
great was the affair in his opinion, and in reality, though he knew how
dangerous a thing it was so to speak; for had not Caius approved of it, it
had tended to no less than the loss of his life. So Caius, who was
mightily taken with Agrippa’s obliging behavior, and on other accounts
thinking it a dishonorable thing to be guilty of falsehood before so many
witnesses, in points wherein he had with such alacrity forced Agrippa to
become a petitioner, and that it would look as if he had already repented
of what he had said, and because he greatly admired Agrippa’s virtue, in
not desiring him at all to augment his own dominions, either with larger
revenues, or other authority, but took care of the public tranquillity, of
the laws, and of the Divinity itself, he granted him what he had
requested. He also wrote thus to Petronius, commending him for his
assembling his army, and then consulting him about these affairs. “If
therefore,” said’ he, “thou hast already erected my statue, let it stand;
but if thou hast not yet dedicated it, do not trouble thyself further
about it, but dismiss thy army, go back, and take care of those affairs
which I sent thee about at first, for I have now no occasion for the
erection of that statue. This I have granted as a favor to Agrippa, a man
whom I honor so very greatly, that I am not able to contradict what he
would have, or what he desired me to do for him.” And this was what Caius
wrote to Petronius, which was before he received his letter, informing him
that the Jews were very ready to revolt about the statue, and that they
seemed resolved to threaten war against the Romans, and nothing else. When
therefore Caius was much displeased that any attempt should be made
against his government as he was a slave to base and vicious actions on
all occasions, and had no regard to what was virtuous and honorable, and
against whomsoever he resolved to show his anger, and that for any cause
whatsoever, he suffered not himself to be restrained by any admonition,
but thought the indulging his anger to be a real pleasure, he wrote thus
to Petronius: “Seeing thou esteemest the presents made thee by the Jews to
be of greater value than my commands, and art grown insolent enough to be
subservient to their pleasure, I charge thee to become thy own judge, and
to consider what thou art to do, now thou art under my displeasure; for I
will make thee an example to the present and to all future ages, that
they may not dare to contradict the commands of their emperor.”
9. This was the epistle which Caius wrote to Petronius; but Petronius did
not receive it while Caius was alive, that ship which carried it sailing
so slow, that other letters came to Petronius before this, by which he
understood that Caius was dead; for God would not forget the dangers
Petronius had undertaken on account of the Jews, and of his own honor. But
when he had taken Caius away, out of his indignation of what he had so
insolently attempted in assuming to himself divine worship, both Rome and
all that dominion conspired with Petronius, especially those that were of
the senatorian order, to give Caius his due reward, because he had been
unmercifully severe to them; for he died not long after he had written to
Petronius that epistle which threatened him with death. But as for the
occasion of his death, and the nature of the plot against him, I shall
relate them in the progress of this narration. Now that epistle which
informed Petronius of Caius’s death came first, and a little afterward
came that which commanded him to kill himself with his own hands.
Whereupon he rejoiced at this coincidence as to the death of Caius, and
admired God’s providence, who, without the least delay, and immediately,
gave him a reward for the regard he had to the temple, and the assistance
he afforded the Jews for avoiding the dangers they were in. And by this
means Petronius escaped that danger of death, which he could not foresee.
CHAPTER 9. What Befell The Jews That Were In Babylon On Occasion Of
Asineus And Anileus, Two Brethren.
1. A Very sad calamity now befell the Jews that were in Mesopotamia, and
especially those that dwelt in Babylonia. Inferior it was to none of the
calamities which had gone before, and came together with a great slaughter
of them, and that greater than any upon record before; concerning all
which I shall speak accurately, and shall explain the occasions whence
these miseries came upon them. There was a city of Babylonia called
Neerda; not only a very populous one, but one that had a good and a large
territory about it, and, besides its other advantages, full of men also.
It was, besides, not easily to be assaulted by enemies, from the river
Euphrates encompassing it all round, and from the wails that were built
about it. There was also the city Nisibis, situate on the same current of
the river. For which reason the Jews, depending on the natural strength of
these places, deposited in them that half shekel which every one, by the
custom of our country, offers unto God, as well as they did other things
devoted to him; for they made use of these cities as a treasury, whence,
at a proper time, they were transmitted to Jerusalem; and many ten
thousand men undertook the carriage of those donations, out of fear of the
ravages of the Parthians, to whom the Babylonians were then subject. Now
there were two men, Asineus and Anileus, of the city Neerda by birth, and
brethren to one another. They were destitute of a father, and their mother
put them to learn the art of weaving curtains, it not being esteemed
disgrace among them for men to be weavers of cloth. Now he that taught
them that art, and was set over them, complained that they came too late
to their work, and punished them with stripes; but they took this just
punishment as an affront, and carried off all the weapons which were kept
in that house, which were not a few, and went into a certain place where
was a partition of the rivers, and was a place naturally very fit for the
feeding of cattle, and for preserving such fruits as were usually laid up
against winter. The poorest sort of the young men also resorted to them,
whom they armed with the weapons they had gotten, and became their
captains; and nothing hindered them from being their leaders into
mischief; for as soon as they were become invincible, and had built them a
citadel, they sent to such as fed cattle, and ordered them to pay them so
much tribute out of them as might be sufficient for their maintenance,
proposing also that they would be their friends, if they would submit to
them, and that they would defend them from all their other enemies on
every side, but that they would kill the cattle of those that refused to
obey them. So they hearkened to their proposals, [for they could do
nothing else,] and sent them as many sheep as were required of them;
whereby their forces grew greater, and they became lords over all they
pleased, because they marched suddenly, and did them a mischief, insomuch
that every body who had to do with them chose to pay them respect; and
they became formidable to such as came to assault them, till the report
about them came to the ears of the king of Parthia himself.
2. But when the governor of Babylonia understood this, and had a mind to
put a stop to them before they grew greater, and before greater mischiefs
should arise from them, he got together as great an army as he could, both
of Parthians and Babylonians, and marched against them, thinking to attack
them and destroy them before any one should carry them the news that he
had got an army together. He then encamped at a lake, and lay still; but
on the next day [it was the sabbath, which is among the Jews a day of rest
from all sorts of work] he supposed that the enemy would not dare to fight
him thereon, but that he would take them and carry them away prisoners,
without fighting. He therefore proceeded gradually, and thought to fall
upon them on the sudden. Now Asineus was sitting with the rest, and their
weapons lay by them; upon which he said, “Sirs, I hear a neighing of
horses; not of such as are feeding, but such as have men on their backs; I
also hear such a noise of their bridles, that I am afraid that some
enemies are coming upon us to encompass us round. However, let somebody go
to look about, and make report of what reality there is in the present
state of things; and may what I have said prove a false alarm.” And when
he had said this, some of them went out to spy out what was the matter;
and they came again immediately, and said to him, that “neither hast thou
been mistaken in telling us what our enemies were doing, nor will those
enemies permit us to be injurious to people any longer. We are caught by
their intrigues like brute beasts, and there is a large body of cavalry
marching upon us, while we are destitute of hands to defend ourselves
withal, because we are restrained from doing it by the prohibition of our
law, which obliges us to rest [on this day].” But Asineus did not by any
means agree with the opinion of his spy as to what was to be done, but
thought it more agreeable to the law to pluck up their spirits in this
necessity they were fallen into, and break their law by avenging
themselves, although they should die in the action, than by doing nothing
to please their enemies in submitting to be slain by them. Accordingly, he
took up his weapons, and infused courage into those that were with him to
act as courageously as himself. So they fell upon their enemies, and slew
a great many of them, because they despised them and came as to a certain
victory, and put the rest to flight.
3. But when the news of this fight came to the king of Parthia, he was
surprised at the boldness of these brethren, and was desirous to see them,
and speak with them. He therefore sent the most trusty of all his guards
to say thus to them: “That king Artabanus, although he had been unjustly
treated by you, who have made an attempt against his government, yet hath
he more regard to your courageous behavior, than to the anger he bears to
you, and hath sent me to give you his right hand 35 and
security; and he permits you to come to him safely, and without any
violence upon the road; and he wants to have you address yourselves to him
as friends, without meaning any guile or deceit to you. He also promises
to make you presents, and to pay you those respects which will make an
addition of his power to your courage, and thereby be of advantage to
you.” Yet did Asineus himself put off his journey thither, but sent his
brother Anileus with all such presents as he could procure. So he went,
and was admitted to the king’s presence; and when Artabanus saw Anileus
coming alone, he inquired into the reason why Asineus avoided to come
along with him; and when he understood that he was afraid, and staid by
the lake, he took an oath, by the gods of his country, that he would do
them no harm, if they came to him upon the assurances he gave them, and
gave him his right hand. This is of the greatest force there with all
these barbarians, and affords a firm security to those who converse with
them; for none of them will deceive you when once they have given you
their right hands, nor will any one doubt of their fidelity, when that is
once given, even though they were before suspected of injustice. When
Artabanus had done this, he sent away Anileus to persuade his brother to
come to him. Now this the king did, because he wanted to curb his own
governors of provinces by the courage of these Jewish brethren, lest they
should make a league with them; for they were ready for a revolt, and were
disposed to rebel, had they been sent on an expedition against them. He
was also afraid, lest when he was engaged in a war, in order to subdue
those governors of provinces that had revolted, the party of Asineus, and
those in Babylonia, should be augmented, and either make war upon him,
when they should hear of that revolt, or if they should be disappointed in
that case, they would not fail of doing further mischief to him.
4. When the king had these intentions, he sent away Anileus, and Anileus
prevailed on his brother [to come to the king], when he had related to him
the king’s good-will, and the oath that he had taken. Accordingly, they
made haste to go to Artabanus, who received them when they were come with
pleasure, and admired Asineus’s courage in the actions he had done, and
this because he was a little man to see to, and at first sight appeared
contemptible also, and such as one might deem a person of no value at all.
He also said to his friends, how, upon the comparison, he showed his soul
to be in all respects superior to his body; and when, as they were
drinking together, he once showed Asineus to Abdagases, one of the
generals of his army, and told him his name, and described the great
courage he was of in war, and Abdagases had desired leave to kill him, and
thereby to inflict on him a punishment for those injuries he had done to
the Parthian government, the king replied, “I will never give thee leave
to kill a man who hath depended on my faith, especially not after I have
sent him my right hand, and endeavored to gain his belief by oaths made by
the gods. But if thou be a truly warlike man, thou standest not in need of
my perjury. Go thou then, and avenge the Parthian government; attack this
man, when he is returned back, and conquer him by the forces that are
under thy command, without my privity.” Hereupon the king called for
Asineus, and said to him, “It is time for thee, O thou young man! to
return home, and not provoke the indignation of my generals in this place
any further, lest they attempt to murder thee, and that without my
approbation. I commit to thee the country of Babylonia in trust, that it
may, by thy care, be preserved free from robbers, and from other
mischiefs. I have kept my faith inviolable to thee, and that not in
trifling affairs, but in those that concerned thy safety, and do therefore
deserve thou shouldst be kind to me.” When he had said this, and given
Asineus some presents, he sent him away immediately; who, when he was come
home, built fortresses, and became great in a little time, and managed
things with such courage and success, as no other person, that had no
higher a beginning, ever did before him. Those Parthian governors also,
who were sent that way, paid him great respect; and the honor that was
paid him by the Babylonians seemed to them too small, and beneath his
deserts, although he were in no small dignity and power there; nay,
indeed, all the affairs of Mesopotamia depended upon him, and he more and
more flourished in this happy condition of his for fifteen years.
5. But as their affairs were in so flourishing a state, there sprang up a
calamity among them on the following occasion. When once they had deviated
from that course of virtue whereby they had gained so great power, they
affronted and transgressed the laws of their forefathers, and fell under
the dominion of their lusts and pleasures. A certain Parthian, who came as
general of an army into those parts, had a wife following him, who had a
vast reputation for other accomplishments, and particularly was admired
above all other women for her beauty. Anileus, the brother of Asineus,
either heard of that her beauty from others, or perhaps saw her himself
also, and so became at once her lover and her enemy; partly because he
could not hope to enjoy this woman but by obtaining power over her as a
captive, and partly because he thought he could not conquer his
inclinations for her. As soon therefore as her husband had been declared
an enemy to them, and was fallen in the battle, the widow of the deceased
was married to this her lover. However, this woman did not come into their
house without producing great misfortunes, both to Anileus himself, and to
Asineus also; but brought great mischiefs upon them on the occasion
following. Since she was led away captive, upon the death of her husband,
she concealed the images of those gods which were their country gods,
common to her husband and to herself: now it was the custom 36
of that country for all to have the idols they worship in their own
houses, and to carry them along with them when they go into a foreign
land; agreeable to which custom of theirs she carried her idols with her.
Now at first she performed her worship to them privately; but when she was
become Anileus’s married wife, she worshipped them in her accustomed
manner, and with the same appointed ceremonies which she used in her
former husband’s days; upon which their most esteemed friends blamed him
at first, that he did not act after the manner of the Hebrews, nor perform
what was agreeable to their laws, in marrying a foreign wife, and one that
transgressed the accurate appointments of their sacrifices and religious
ceremonies; that he ought to consider, lest, by allowing himself in many
pleasures of the body, he might lose his principality, on account of the
beauty of a wife, and that high authority which, by God’s blessing, he had
arrived at. But when they prevailed not at all upon him, he slew one of
them for whom he had the greatest respect, because of the liberty he took
with him; who, when he was dying, out of regard to the laws, imprecated a
punishment upon his murderer Anileus, and upon Asineus also, and that all
their companions might come to a like end from their enemies; upon the two
first as the principal actors of this wickedness, and upon the rest as
those that would not assist him when he suffered in the defense of their
laws. Now these latter were sorely grieved, yet did they tolerate these
doings, because they remembered that they had arrived at their present
happy state by no other means than their fortitude. But when they also
heard of the worship of those gods whom the Parthians adore, they thought
the injury that Anileus offered to their laws was to be borne no longer;
and a greater number of them came to Asineus, and loudly complained of
Anileus, and told him that it had been well that he had of himself seen
what was advantageous to them; but that however it was now high time to
correct what had been done amiss, before the crime that had been committed
proved the ruin of himself and all the rest of them. They added, that the
marriage of this woman was made without their consent, and without a
regard to their old laws; and that the worship which this woman paid [to
her gods] was a reproach to the God whom they worshipped. Now Asineus was
sensible of his brother’s offense, that it had been already the cause of
great mischiefs, and would be so for the time to come; yet did he tolerate
the same from the good-will he had to so near a relation, and forgiving it
to him, on account that his brother was quite overborne by his wicked
inclinations. But as more and more still came about him every day, and the
clamors about it became greater, he at length spake to Anileus about these
clamors, reproving him for his former actions, and desiring him for the
future to leave them off, and send the woman back to her relations. But
nothing was gained by these reproofs; for as the woman perceived what a
tumult was made among the people on her account, and was afraid for
Anileus, lest he should come to any harm for his love to her, she infused
poison into Asineus’s food, and thereby took him off, and was now secure
of prevailing, when her lover was to be judge of what should be done about
her.
6. So Anileus took the government upon himself alone, and led his army
against the villages of Mithridates, who was a man of principal authority
in Parthia, and had married king Artabanus’s daughter; he also plundered
them, and among that prey was found much money, and many slaves, as also a
great number of sheep, and many other things, which, when gained, make
men’s condition happy. Now when Mithridates, who was there at this time,
heard that his villages were taken, he was very much displeased to find
that Anileus had first begun to injure him, and to affront him in his
present dignity, when he had not offered any injury to him beforehand; and
he got together the greatest body of horsemen he was able, and those out
of that number which were of an age fit for war, and came to fight
Anileus; and when he was arrived at a certain village of his own, he lay
still there, as intending to fight him on the day following, because it
was the sabbath, the day on which the Jews rest. And when Anileus was
informed of this by a Syrian stranger of another village, who not only
gave him an exact account of other circumstances, but told him where
Mithridates would have a feast, he took his supper at a proper time, and
marched by night, with an intent of falling upon the Parthians while they
were unapprised what they should do; so he fell upon them about the fourth
watch of the night, and some of them he slew while they were asleep, and
others he put to flight, and took Mithridates alive, and set him naked
upon an ass 37 which, among the Parthians, is
esteemed the greatest reproach possible. And when he had brought him into
a wood with such a resolution, and his friends desired him to kill
Mithridates, he soon told them his own mind to the contrary, and said that
it was not right to kill a man who was of one of the principal families
among the Parthians, and greatly honored with matching into the royal
family; that so far as they had hitherto gone was tolerable; for although
they had injured Mithridates, yet if they preserved his life, this benefit
would be remembered by him to the advantage of those that gave it him; but
that if he were once put to death, the king would not be at rest till he
had made a great slaughter of the Jews that dwelt at Babylon; “to whose
safety we ought to have a regard, both on account of our relation to them,
and because if any misfortune befall us, we have no other place to retire
to, since he hath gotten the flower of their youth under him.” By this
thought, and this speech of his made in council, he persuaded them to act
accordingly; so Mithridates was let go. But when he was got away, his wife
reproached him, that although he was son-in-law to the king, he neglected
to avenge himself on those that had injured him, while he took no care
about it, but was contented to have been made a captive by the Jews, and
to have escaped them; and she bid him either to go back like a man of
courage, or else she sware by the gods of their royal family that she
would certainly dissolve her marriage with him. Upon which, partly because
he could not bear the daily trouble of her taunts, and partly because he
was afraid of her insolence, lest she should in earnest dissolve their
marriage, he unwillingly, and against his inclinations, got together again
as great an army as he could, and marched along with them, as himself
thinking it a thing not to be borne any longer, that he, a Parthian,
should owe his preservation to the Jews, when they had been too hard for
him in the war.
7. But as soon as Anileus understood that Mithridates was marching with a
great army against him, he thought it too ignominious a thing to tarry
about the lakes, and not to take the first opportunity of meeting his
enemies, and he hoped to have the same success, and to beat their enemies
as they did before; as also he ventured boldly upon the like attempts.
Accordingly, he led out his army, and a great many more joined themselves
to that army, in order to betake themselves to plunder the people, and in
order to terrify the enemy again by their numbers. But when they had
marched ninety furlongs, while the road had been through dry [and sandy]
places, and about the midst of the day, they were become very thirsty; and
Mithridates appeared, and fell upon them, as they were in distress for
want of water, on which account, and on account of the time of the day,
they were not able to bear their weapons. So Anileus and his men were put
to an ignominious rout, while men in despair were to attack those that
were fresh and in good plight; so a great slaughter was made, and many ten
thousand men fell. Now Anileus, and all that stood firm about him, ran
away as fast as they were able into a wood, and afforded Mithridates the
pleasure of having gained a great victory over them. But there now came in
to Anileus a conflux of bad men, who regarded their own lives very little,
if they might but gain some present ease, insomuch that they, by thus
coming to him, compensated the multitude of those that perished in the
fight. Yet were not these men like to those that fell, because they were
rash, and unexercised in war; however, with these he came upon the
villages of the Babylonians, and a mighty devastation of all things was
made there by the injuries that Anileus did them. So the Babylonians, and
those that had already been in the war, sent to Neerda to the Jews there,
and demanded Anileus. But although they did not agree to their demands,
[for if they had been willing to deliver him up, it was not in their power
so to do,] yet did they desire to make peace with them. To which the other
replied, that they also wanted to settle conditions of peace with them,
and sent men together with the Babylonians, who discoursed with Anileus
about them. But the Babylonians, upon taking a view of his situation, and
having learned where Anileus and his men lay, fell secretly upon them as
they were drunk and fallen asleep, and slew all that they caught of them,
without any fear, and killed Anileus himself also.
8. The Babylonians were now freed from Anileus’s heavy incursions, which
had been a great restraint to the effects of that hatred they bore to the
Jews; for they were almost always at variance, by reason of the
contrariety of their laws; and which party soever grew boldest before the
other, they assaulted the other: and at this time in particular it was,
that upon the ruin of Anileus’s party, the Babylonians attacked the Jews,
which made those Jews so vehemently to resent the injuries they received
from the Babylonians, that being neither able to fight them, nor bearing
to live with them, they went to Seleucia, the principal city of those
parts, which was built by Seleucus Nicator. It was inhabited by many of
the Macedonians, but by more of the Grecians; not a few of the Syrians
also dwelt there; and thither did the Jews fly, and lived there five
years, without any misfortunes. But on the sixth year, a pestilence came
upon these at Babylon, which occasioned new removals of men’s habitations
out of that city; and because they came to Seleucia, it happened that a
still heavier calamity came upon them on that account which I am going to
relate immediately.
9. Now the way of living of the people of Seleucia, which were Greeks and
Syrians, was commonly quarrelsome, and full of discords, though the Greeks
were too hard for the Syrians. When, therefore, the Jews were come
thither, and dwelt among them, there arose a sedition, and the Syrians
were too hard for the other, by the assistance of the Jews, who are men
that despise dangers, and very ready to fight upon any occasion. Now when
the Greeks had the worst in this sedition, and saw that they had but one
way of recovering their former authority, and that was, if they could
prevent the agreement between the Jews and the Syrians, they every one
discoursed with such of the Syrians as were formerly their acquaintance,
and promised they would be at peace and friendship with them. Accordingly,
they gladly agreed so to do; and when this was done by the principal men
of both nations, they soon agreed to a reconciliation; and when they were
so agreed, they both knew that the great design of such their union would
be their common hatred to the Jews. Accordingly, they fell upon them, and
slew about fifty thousand of them; nay, the Jews were all destroyed,
excepting a few who escaped, either by the compassion which their friends
or neighbors afforded them, in order to let them fly away. These retired
to Ctesiphon, a Grecian city, and situate near to Seleucia, where the king
[of Parthia] lives in winter every year, and where the greatest part of
his riches are reposited; but the Jews had here no certain settlement,
those of Seleucia having little concern for the king’s honor. Now the
whole nation of the Jews were in fear both of the Babylonians and of the
Seleucians, because all the Syrians that live in those places agreed with
the Seleucians in the war against the Jews; so the most of them gathered
themselves together, and went to Neerda and Nisibis, and obtained security
there by the strength of those cities; besides which their inhabitants,
who were a great many, were all warlike men. And this was the state of the
Jews at this time in Babylonia.
FOOTNOTES:
1 (return)
[ Since St. Luke once, Acts
5:37, and Josephus four several times, once here, sect. 6; and B. XX. ch.
5. sect. 2; Of the War, B. II. ch. 8. sect. 1; and ch. 17. sect. 8, calls
this Judas, who was the pestilent author of that seditious doctrine and
temper which brought the Jewish nation to utter destruction, a Galilean;
but here [sect. 1: Josephus calls him a Gaulonite, of the city of Gamala;
it is a great question where this Judas was born, whether in Galilee on
the west side, or in Gaulonitis on the east side, of the river Jordan;
while, in the place just now cited out of the Antiquities, B. XX. ch. 5.
sect. 2, he is not only called a Galilean, but it is added to his story,
“as I have signified in the books that go before these,” as if he had
still called him a Galilean in those Antiquities before, as well as in
that particular place, as Dean Aldrich observes, Of the War, B. II. ch. 8.
sect. 1. Nor can one well imagine why he should here call him a Gaulonite,
when in the 6th sect. following here, as well as twice Of the War, he
still calls him a Galilean. As for the city of Gamala, whence this Judas
was derived, it determines nothing, since there were two of that name, the
one in Gaulonitis, the other in Galilee. See Reland on the city or town of
that name.]
2 (return)
[ It seems not very
improbable to me that this Sadduc, the Pharisee, was the very same man of
whom the Rabbins speak, as the unhappy, but undesigning, occasion of the
impiety or infidelity of the Sadducees; nor perhaps had the men this name
of Sadducees till this very time, though they were a distinct sect long
before. See the note on B. XIII. ch. 10. sect 5; and Dean Prideaux, as
there quoted. Nor do we, that I know of, find the least footsteps of such
impiety or infidelity of these Sadducees before this time, the
Recognitions assuring us that they began about the days of John the
Baptist; B. 1. ch. 54. See note above.]
3 (return)
[ It seems by what Josephus
says here, and Philo himself elsewhere, Op. p. 679, that these Essens did
not use to go to the Jewish festivals at Jerusalem, or to offer sacrifices
there, which may be one great occasion why they are never mentioned in the
ordinary books of the New Testament; though, in the Apostolical
Constitutions, they are mentioned as those that observed the customs of
their forefathers, and that without any such ill character laid upon them
as is there laid upon the other sects among that people.]
4 (return)
[ Who these Polistae in
Josephus, or in Strabo, among the Pythagoric Dacae, were, it is not easy
to determine. Scaliger offers no improbable conjecture, that some of these
Dacae lived alone, like monks, in tents or caves; but that others of them
lived together in built cities, and thence were called by such names as
implied the same.]
5 (return)
[ We may here take notice,
as well as in the parallel parts of the books Of the War, B. II. ch. 9.
sect. 1, that after the death of Herod the Great, and the succession of
Archelaus, Josephus is very brief in his accounts of Judea, till near his
own time. I suppose the reason is, that after the large history of
Nicolaus of Damascus, including the life of Herod, and probably the
succession and first actions of his sons, he had but few good histories of
those times before him.]
6 (return)
[ Numbers 19:11-14.]
7 (return)
[ This citation is now
wanting.]
8 (return)
[ These Jews, as they are
here called, whose blood Pilate shed on this occasion, may very well be
those very Galilean Jews, “whose blood Pilate had mingled with their
sacrifices,” Luke 13:1, 2; these tumults being usually excited at some of
the Jews’ great festivals, when they slew abundance of sacrifices, and the
Galileans being commonly much more busy in such tumults than those of
Judea and Jerusalem, as we learn from the history of Archelaus, Antiq. B.
XVII. ch. 9. sect. 3 and ch. 10. sect. 2, 9; though, indeed, Josephus’s
present copies say not one word of “those eighteen upon whom the tower in
Siloam fell, and slew them,” which the 4th verse of the same 13th chapter
of St. Luke informs us of. But since our gospel teaches us, Luke 23:6, 7,
that “when Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether Jesus were a
Galilean. And as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction,
he sent him to Herod;” and ver. 12, “The same day Pilate and Herod were
made friends together for before they had been at enmity between
themselves;” take the very probable key of this matter in the words of the
learned Noldius, de Herod. No. 219: “The cause of the enmity between Herod
and Pilate [says he] seems to have been this, that Pilate had intermeddled
with the tetrarch’s jurisdiction, and had slain some of his Galilean
subjects, Luke 13:1; and, as he was willing to correct that error, he sent
Christ to Herod at this time.”]
9 (return)
[ A.D. 33, April 3.]
10 (return)
[ April 5.]
11 (return)
[ Of the banishment of
these four thousand Jews into Sardinia by Tiberius, see Suetonlus in
Tiber. sect. 36. But as for Mr. Reland’s note here, which supposes that
Jews could not, consistently with their laws, be soldiers, it is
contradicted by one branch of the history before us, and contrary to
innumerable instances of their fighting, and proving excellent soldiers in
war; and indeed many of the best of them, and even under heathen kings
themselves, did so; those, I mean, who allowed them their rest on the
sabbath day, and other solemn festivals, and let them live according to
their own laws, as Alexander the Great and the Ptolemies of Egypt did. It
is true, they could not always obtain those privileges, and then they got
executed as well as they could, or sometimes absolutely refused to fight,
which seems to have been the case here, as to the major part of the Jews
now banished, but nothing more. See several of the Roman decrees in their
favor as to such matters, B. XIV. ch. 10.]
12 (return)
[ Since Moses never came
himself beyond Jordan, nor particularly to Mount Gerizzim, and since these
Samaritans have a tradition among them, related here by Dr. Hudson, from
Reland, who was very skillful in Jewish and Samaritan learning, that in
the days of Uzzi or Ozis the high priest, 1 Chronicles 6:6; the ark and
other sacred vessels were, by God’s command, laid up or hidden in Mount
Gerizzim, it is highly probable that this was the foolish foundation the
present Samaritans went upon, in the sedition here described.]
13 (return)
[ This mention of the
high priest’s sacred garments received seven days before a festival, and
purified in those days against a festival, as having been polluted by
being in the custody of heathens, in Josephus, agrees well with the
traditions of the Talmudists, as Reland here observes. Nor is there any
question but the three feasts here mentioned were the passover, pentecost,
and feast of tabernacles; and the fast so called by way of distinction, as
Acts 27:9, was the great day of expiation.]
14 (return)
[ This calculation, from
all Josephus’s Greek copies, is exactly right; for since Herod died about
September, in the fourth year before the Christian era, and Tiberius
began, as is well known, Aug. 19, A.D. 14, it is evident that the
thirty-seventh year of Philip, reckoned from his father’s death, was the
twentieth of Tiberius, or near the end of A.D. 33, [the very year of our
Savior’s death also,] or, however, in the beginning of the next year, A.D.
34. This Philip the tetrarch seems to have been the best of all the
posterity of Herod, for his love of peace, and his love of justice. An
excellent example this.]
15 (return)
[ This Herod seems to
have had the additional name of Philip, as Antipas was named
Herod-Antipas: and as Antipas and Antipater seem to be in a manner the
very same name, yet were the names of two sons of Herod the Great; so
might Philip the tetrarch and this Herod-Philip be two different sons of
the same father, all which Grotias observes on Matthew 14:3. Nor was it,
as I with Grotias and others of the Philip the tetrarch, but this
Herod-Philip, whose wife Herod the tetrarch had married, and that in her
first husband’s lifetime, and when her first husband had issue by her-;
for which adulterous and incestuous marriage John the Baptist justly
reproved Herod the tetrarch, and for which reproof Salome, the daughter of
Herodias by her first husband Herod-Philip, who was still alive,
occasioned him to be unjustly beheaded.]
16 (return)
[ Whether this sudden
extinction of almost the entire lineage of Herod the Great, which was very
numerous, as we are both here and in the next section informed, was not in
part as a punishment for the gross incests they were frequently guilty of,
in marrying their own nephews and nieces, well deserves to be considered.
See Leviticus 18:6, 7; 21:10; and Noldius, De Herod, No. 269, 270.]
17 (return)
[ There are coins still
extant of this Eraess, as Spanheim informs us. Spanheim also informs us of
a coin still extant of this Jotape, daughter of the king of Commageus.]
18 (return)
[ Spanheim observes, that
we have here an instance of the Attic quantity of use-money, which was the
eighth part of the original sum, or 12 per cent., for such is the
proportion of 2500 to 20,000.]
19 (return)
[ The governor of the
Jews there.]
20 (return)
[ Tiberius, junior of
Germanicus.]
21 (return)
[ This high commendation
of Antonia for marrying but once, given here, and supported elsewhere;
Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 13. sect. 4, and this, notwithstanding the strongest
temptations, shows how honorable single marriages were both among the Jews
and Romans, in the days of Josephus and of the apostles, and takes away
much of that surprise which the modern Protestants have at those laws of
the apostles, where no widows, but those who had been the wives of one
husband only, are taken into the church list; and no bishops, priests, or
deacons are allowed to marry more than once, without leaving off to
officiate as clergymen any longer. See Luke 2:36; 1 Timothy 5:11, 12; 3:2,
12; Titus 1:10; Constit. Apost. B. II. sect. 1, 2; B. VI. sect. 17; Can.
B. XVII,; Grot. in Luc. ii. 36; and Resports. ad Consult. Cassand. p. 44;
and Cotelet. in Constit. B. VI. sect. 17. And note, that Tertullian owns
this law against second marriages of the clergy had been once at least
executed in his time; and heavily complains elsewhere, that the breach
thereof had not been always punished by the catholics, as it ought to have
been. Jerome, speaking of the ill reputation of marrying twice, says, that
no such person could be chosen into the clergy in his days; which
Augustine testifies also; and for Epiphanius, rather earlier, he is clear
and full to the same purpose, and says that law obtained over the whole
catholic church in his days,—as the places in the forecited authors
inform us.]
22 (return)
[ Dr. Hudson here takes
notice, out of Seneca, Epistle V. that this was the custom of Tiberius, to
couple the prisoner and the soldier that guarded him together in the same
chain.]
23 (return)
[ Tiberius his own
grandson, and Caius his brother Drusus’s grandson.]
24 (return)
[ So I correct Josephus’s
copy, which calls Germanicus his brother, who was his brother’s son.]
25 (return)
[ This is a known thing
among the Roman historians and poets, that Tiberius was greatly given to
astrology and divination.]
26 (return)
[ This name of a lion is
often given to tyrants, especially by the such Agrippa, and probably his
freed-man Marsyas, in effect were, Ezekiel 19:1, 9; Esther 4:9 2 Timothy
4:17. They are also sometimes compared to or represented by wild beasts,
of which the lion is the principal, Daniel 7:3, 8; Apoc. 13:1, 2.]
27 (return)
[ Although Caius now
promised to give Agrippa the tetrarchy of Lysanias, yet was it not
actually conferred upon him till the reign of Claudius, as we learn,
Antiq. B. XIX, ch. 5. sect. 1.]
28 (return)
[ Regarding instances of
the interpositions of Providence, as have been always very rare among the
other idolatrous nations, but of old very many among the posterity of
Abraham, the worshippers of the true God; nor do these seem much inferior
to those in the Old Testament, which are the more remarkable, because,
among all their other follies and vices, the Jews were not at this time
idolaters; and the deliverances here mentioned were done in order to
prevent their relapse into that idolatry.]
29 (return)
[ Josephus here assures
us that the ambassadors from Alexandria to Caius were on each part no more
than three in number, for the Jews, and for the Gentiles, which are but
six in all; whereas Philo, who was the principal ambassador from the Jews,
as Josephus here confesses, [as was Apion for the Gentiles,] says, the
Jews’ ambassadors were themselves no fewer than live, towards the end of
his legation to Caius; which, if there be no mistake in the copies, must
be supposed the truth; nor, in that case, would Josephus have contradicted
so authentic a witness, had he seen that account of Philo’s; which that he
ever did does not appear.]
30 (return)
[ This Alexander, the
alabarch, or governor of the Jews, at Alexandria, and brother to Philo, is
supposed by Bishop Pearson, in Act. Apost. p. 41,42, to be the same with
that Alexander who is mentioned by St. Luke, as of the kindred of the high
priests, Acts 4:6.]
31 (return)
[ What Josephus here, and
sect. 6, relates as done by the Jews seed time, is in Philo, “not far off
the time when the corn was ripe,” who, as Le Clerc notes, differ here one
from the other. This is another indication that Josephus, when he wrote
this account, had not seen Philo’s Legat. ad Caiurn, otherwise he would
hardly trove herein differed from him.]
32 (return)
[ This. Publius Petronius
was after this still president of Syria, under Cladius, and, at the desire
of Agrippa, published a severe decree against the inhabitants of Dora,
who, in a sort of intitiation of Caius, had set op a statue of Claudius in
a Jewish synagogue there. This decree is extant, B. XIX. ch. 6. sect. 3,
and greatly confirms the present accounts of Josephus, as do the other
decrees of Claudius, relating to the like Jewish affairs, B. XIX. ch. 5.
sect. 2, 3, to which I refer the inquisitive reader.]
33 (return)
[ Josephus here uses the
solemn New Testament words, the presence and appearance of God, for the
extraordinary manifestation of his power and providence to Petronius, by
sending rain in a time of distress, immediately upon the resolution he had
taken to preserve the temple unpolluted, at the hazard of his own life,
without any other miraculous appearance at all in that case; which well
deserves to be taken notice of here, and greatly illustrates several
texts, both in the Old and New Testament.]
34 (return)
[ This behavior of Caius
to Agrippa is very like that of Herod Antipas, his uncle, to Herodias,
Agrippa’s sister, about it John the Baptist, Matthew 14:6—11.]
35 (return)
[ The joining of the
right hands was esteemed among the Peoians [and Parthians] in particular a
most inviolable obligation to fidelity, as Dr. Hudson here observes, and
refers to the commentary on Justin, B. XI. ch. 15., for its confirmation.
We often meet with the like use of it in Josephus.]
36 (return)
[ This custom of the
Mesopotamians to carry their household gods along with them wherever they
traveled is as old as the days of Jacob, when Rachel his wife did the
same, Genesis 31:19, 30-35; nor is it to pass here unobserved, what great
miseries came on these Jews, because they suffered one of their leaders to
marry an idolatrous wife, contrary to the law of Moses. Of which matter
see the note on B. XIX. ch. 5. sect. 3.]
37 (return)
[ This custom, in Syria
and Mesopotamia, of setting men upon an ass, by way of disgrace, is still
kept up at Damascus in Syria; where, in order to show their despite
against the Christians, the Turks will not suffer them to hire horses, but
asses only, when they go abroad to see the country, as Mr. Maundrell
assures us, p. 128.]
BOOK XIX. Containing The Interval Of Three Years And A Half.—From
The Departure Out Of Babylon To Fadus, The Roman Procurator.
CHAPTER 1. How Caius 1 Was Slain By Cherea.
1. Now this Caius 2 did not demonstrate his madness
in offering injuries only to the Jews at Jerusalem, or to those that dwelt
in the neighborhood; but suffered it to extend itself through all the
earth and sea, so far as was in subjection to the Romans, and filled it
with ten thousand mischiefs; so many indeed in number as no former history
relates. But Rome itself felt the most dismal effects of what he did,
while he deemed that not to be any way more honorable than the rest of the
cities; but he pulled and hauled its other citizens, but especially the
senate, and particularly the nobility, and such as had been dignified by
illustrious ancestors; he also had ten thousand devices against such of
the equestrian order, as it was styled, who were esteemed by the citizens
equal in dignity and wealth with the senators, because out of them the
senators were themselves chosen; these he treated after all ignominious
manner, and removed them out of his way, while they were at once slain,
and their wealth plundered, because he slew men generally in order to
seize on their riches. He also asserted his own divinity, and insisted on
greater honors to be paid him by his subjects than are due to mankind. He
also frequented that temple of Jupiter which they style the Capitol, which
is with them the most holy of all their temples, and had boldness enough
to call himself the brother of Jupiter. And other pranks he did like a
madman; as when he laid a bridge from the city Dicearchia, which belongs
to Campania, to Misenum, another city upon the sea-side, from one
promontory to another, of the length of thirty furlongs, as measured over
the sea. And this was done because he esteemed it to be a most tedious
thing to row over it in a small ship, and thought withal that it became
him to make that bridge, since he was lord of the sea, and might oblige it
to give marks of obedience as well as the earth; so he enclosed the whole
bay within his bridge, and drove his chariot over it; and thought that, as
he was a god, it was fit for him to travel over such roads as this was.
Nor did he abstain from the plunder of any of the Grecian temples, and
gave order that all the engravings and sculptures, and the rest of the
ornaments of the statues and donations therein dedicated, should be
brought to him, saying that the best things ought to be set no where but
in the best place, and that the city of Rome was that best place. He also
adorned his own house and his gardens with the curiosities brought from
those temples, together with the houses he lay at when he traveled all
over Italy; whence he did not scruple to give a command that the statue of
Jupiter Olympius, so called because he was honored at the Olympian games
by the Greeks, which was the work of Phidias the Athenian, should be
brought to Rome. Yet did not he compass his end, because the architects
told Memmius Regulus, who was commanded to remove that statue of Jupiter,
that the workmanship was such as would be spoiled, and would not bear the
removal. It was also reported that Memmius, both on that account, and on
account of some such mighty prodigies as are of an incredible nature, put
off the taking it down, and wrote to Caius those accounts, as his apology
for not having done what his epistle required of him; and that when he was
thence in danger of perishing, he was saved by Caius being dead himself,
before he had put him to death.
2. Nay, Caius’s madness came to this height, that when he had a daughter
born, he carried her into the capitol, and put her upon the knees of the
statue, and said that the child was common to him and to Jupiter, and
determined that she had two fathers, but which of these fathers were the
greatest he left undetermined; and yet mankind bore him in such his
pranks. He also gave leave to slaves to accuse their masters of any crimes
whatsoever they pleased; for all such accusations were terrible, because
they were in great part made to please him, and at his suggestion,
insomuch that Pollux, Claudius’s slave, had the boldness to lay an
accusation against Claudius himself; and Caius was not ashamed to be
present at his trial of life and death, to hear that trial of his own
uncle, in hopes of being able to take him off, although he did not succeed
to his mind. But when he had filled the whole habitable world which he
governed with false accusations and miseries, and had occasioned the
greatest insults of slaves against their masters, who indeed in a great
measure ruled them, there were many secret plots now laid against him;
some in anger, and in order for men to revenge themselves, on account of
the miseries they had already undergone from him; and others made attempts
upon him, in order to take him off before they should fall into such great
miseries, while his death came very fortunately for the preservation of
the laws of all men, and had a great influence upon the public welfare;
and this happened most happily for our nation in particular, which had
almost utterly perished if he had not been suddenly slain. And I confess I
have a mind to give a full account of this matter particularly, because it
will afford great assurance of the power of God, and great comfort to
those that are under afflictions, and wise caution to those who think
their happiness will never end, nor bring them at length to the most
lasting miseries, if they do not conduct their lives by the principles of
virtue.
3. Now there were three several conspiracies made in order to take off
Caius, and each of these three were conducted by excellent persons.
Emilius Regulus, born at Corduba in Spain, got some men together, and was
desirous to take Caius off, either by them or by himself. Another
conspiracy there was laid by them, under the conduct of Cherea Cassius,
the tribune [of the Pretorian band]. Minucianus Annins was also one of
great consequence among those that were prepared to oppose his tyranny.
Now the several occasions of these men’s several hatred and conspiracy
against Caius were these: Regulus had indignation and hatred against all
injustice, for he had a mind naturally angry, and bold, and free, which
made him not conceal his counsels; so he communicated them to many of his
friends, and to others who seemed to him persons of activity and vigor:
Minucianus entered into this conspiracy, because of the injustice done to
Lepidus his particular friend, and one of the best character of all the
citizens, whom Caius had slain, as also because he was afraid of himself,
since Caius’s wrath tended to the slaughter of all alike: and for Cherea,
he came in, because he thought it a deed worthy of a free ingenuous man to
kill Caius, and was ashamed of the reproaches he lay under from Caius, as
though he were a coward; as also because he was himself in danger every
day from his friendship with him, and the observance he paid him. These
men proposed this attempt to all the rest that were concerned, who saw the
injuries that were offered them, and were desirous that Caius’s slaughter
might succeed by their mutual assistance of one another, and they might
themselves escape being killed by the taking off Caius; that perhaps they
should gain their point; and that it would be a happy thing, if they
should gain it, to approve themselves to so many excellent persons, as
earnestly wished to be partakers with them in their design for the
delivery of the city and of the government, even at the hazard of their
own lives. But still Cherea was the most zealous of them all, both out of
a desire of getting himself the greatest name, and also by reason of his
access to Caius’s presence with less danger, because he was tribune, and
could therefore the more easily kill him.
4. Now at this time came on the horse-races [Circensian games]; the view
of which games was eagerly desired by the people of Rome, for they come
with great alacrity into the hippodrome [circus] at such times, and
petition their emperors, in great multitudes, for what they stand in need
of; who usually did not think fit to deny them their requests, but readily
and gratefully granted them. Accordingly, they most importunately desired
that Caius would now ease them in their tributes, and abate somewhat of
the rigor of their taxes imposed upon them; but he would not hear their
petition; and when their clamors increased, he sent soldiers some one way
and some another, and gave order that they should lay hold on those that
made the clamors, and without any more ado bring them out, and put them to
death. These were Caius’s commands, and those who were commanded executed
the same; and the number of those who were slain on this occasion was very
great. Now the people saw this, and bore it so far, that they left off
clamoring, because they saw with their own eyes that this petition to be
relieved, as to the payment of their money, brought immediate death upon
them. These things made Cherea more resolute to go on with his plot, in
order to put an end to this barbarity of Caius against men. He then at
several times thought to fall upon Caius, even as he was feasting; yet did
he restrain himself by some considerations; not that he had any doubt on
him about killing him, but as watching for a proper season, that the
attempt might not be frustrated, but that he might give the blow so as
might certainly gain his purpose.
5. Cherea had been in the army a long time, yet was he not pleased with
conversing so much with Caius. But Caius had set him to require the
tributes, and other dues, which, when not paid in due time, were forfeited
to Cæsar’s treasury; and he had made some delays in requiring them,
because those burdens had been doubled, and had rather indulged his own
mild disposition than performed Caius’s command; nay, indeed, he provoked
Caius to anger by his sparing men, and pitying the hard fortunes of those
from whom he demanded the taxes; and Caius upbraided him with his sloth
and effeminacy in being so long about collecting the taxes. And indeed he
did not only affront him in other respects, but when he gave him the
watchword of the day, to whom it was to be given by his place, he gave him
feminine words, and those of a nature very reproachful; and these
watchwords he gave out, as having been initiated in the secrets of certain
mysteries, which he had been himself the author of. Now although he had
sometimes put on women’s clothes, and had been wrapt in some embroidered
garments to them belonging, and done a great many other things, in order
to make the company mistake him for a woman; yet did he, by way of
reproach, object the like womanish behavior to Cherea. But when Cherea
received the watchword from him, he had indignation at it, but had greater
indignation at the delivery of it to others, as being laughed at by those
that received it; insomuch that his fellow tribunes made him the subject
of their drollery; for they would foretell that he would bring them some
of his usual watchwords when he was about to take the watchword from
Cæsar, and would thereby make him ridiculous; on which accounts he took
the courage of assuming certain partners to him, as having just reasons
for his indignation against Caius. Now there was one Pompedius, a senator,
and one who had gone through almost all posts in the government, but
otherwise an Epicurean, and for that reason loved to lead an inactive
life. Now Timidius, an enemy of his, had informed Caius that he had used
indecent reproaches against him, and he made use of Quintilia for a
witness to them; a woman she was much beloved by many that frequented the
theater, and particularly by Pompedius, on account of her great beauty.
Now this woman thought it a horrible thing to attest to an accusation that
touched the life of her lover, which was also a lie. Timidius, however,
wanted to have her brought to the torture. Caius was irritated at this
reproach upon him, and commanded Cherea, without any delay, to torture
Quintilia, as he used to employ Cherea in such bloody matters, and those
that required the torture, because he thought he would do it the more
barbarously, in order to avoid that imputation of effeminacy which he had
laid upon him. But Quintilia, when she was brought to the rack, trod upon
the foot of one of her associates, and let him know that he might be of
good courage, and not be afraid of the consequence of her tortures, for
that she would bear them with magnanimity. Cherea tortured this woman
after a cruel manner; unwillingly indeed, but because he could not help
it. He then brought her, without being in the least moved at what she had
suffered, into the presence of Caius, and that in such a state as was sad
to behold; and Caius, being somewhat affected with the sight of Quintilia,
who had her body miserably disordered by the pains she had undergone,
freed both her and Pompedius of the crime laid to their charge. He also
gave her money to make her an honorable amends, and comfort her for that
maiming of her body which she had suffered, and for her glorious patience
under such insufferable torments.
6. This matter sorely grieved Cherea, as having been the cause, as far as
he could, or the instrument, of those miseries to men, which seemed worthy
of consolation to Caius himself; on which account he said to Clement and
to Papinius, [of whom Clement was general of the army, and Papinius was a
tribune,] “To be sure, O Clement, we have no way failed in our guarding
the emperor; for as to those that have made conspiracies against his
government, some have been slain by our care and pains, and some have been
by us tortured, and this to such a degree, that he hath himself pitied
them. How great then is our virtue in submitting to conduct his armies!”
Clement held his peace, but showed the shame he was under in obeying
Caius’s orders, both by his eyes and his blushing countenance, while he
thought it by no means right to accuse the emperor in express words, lest
their own safety should be endangered thereby. Upon which Cherea took
courage, and spake to him without fear of the dangers that were before
him, and discoursed largely of the sore calamities under which the city
and the government then labored, and said, “We may indeed pretend in words
that Caius is the person unto whom the cause of such miseries ought to be
imputed; but, in the opinion of such as are able to judge uprightly, it is
I, O Clement! and this Papinius, and before us thou thyself, who bring
these tortures upon the Romans, and upon all mankind. It is not done by
our being subservient to the commands of Caius, but it is done by our own
consent; for whereas it is in our power to put an end to the life of this
man, who hath so terribly injured the citizens and his subjects, we are
his guard in mischief, and his executioners instead of his soldiers, and
are the instruments of his cruelty. We bear these weapons, not for our
liberty, not for the Roman government, but only for his preservation, who
hath enslaved both their bodies and their minds; and we are every day
polluted with the blood that we shed, and the torments we inflict upon
others; and this we do, till somebody becomes Caius’s instrument in
bringing the like miseries upon ourselves. Nor does he thus employ us
because he hath a kindness for us, but rather because he hath a suspicion
of us, as also because when abundance more have been killed, [for Caius
will set no bounds to his wrath, since he aims to do all, not out of
regard to justice, but to his own pleasure,] we shall also ourselves be
exposed to his cruelty; whereas we ought to be the means of confirming the
security and liberty of all, and at the same time to resolve to free
ourselves from dangers.”
7. Hereupon Clement openly commended Cherea’s intentions, but bid him hold
his tongue; for that in case his words should get out among many, and such
things should be spread abroad as were fit to be concealed, the plot would
come to be discovered before it was executed, and they should be brought
to punishment; but that they should leave all to futurity, and the hope
which thence arose, that some fortunate event would come to their
assistance; that, as for himself, his age would not permit him to make any
attempt in that case. “However, although perhaps I could suggest what may
be safer than what thou, Cherea, hast contrived and said, yet how is it
possible for any one to suggest what is more for thy reputation?” So
Clement went his way home, with deep reflections on what he had heard, and
what he had himself said. Cherea also was under a concern, and went
quickly to Cornelius Sabinus, who was himself one of the tribunes, and
whom he otherwise knew to be a worthy man, and a lover of liberty, and on
that account very uneasy at the present management of public affairs, he
being desirous to come immediately to the execution of what had been
determined, and thinking it right for him to propose it to the other, and
afraid lest Clement should discover them, and besides looking upon delays
and puttings off to be the next to desisting from the enterprise.
8. But as all was agreeable to Sabinus, who had himself, equally without
Cherea, the same design, but had been silent for want of a person to whom
he could safely communicate that design; so having now met with one, who
not only promised to conceal what he heard, but who had already opened his
mind to him, he was much more encouraged, and desired of Cherea that no
delay might be made therein. Accordingly they went to Minucianus, who was
as virtuous a man, and as zealous to do glorious actions, as themselves,
and suspected by Caius on occasion of the slaughter of Lepidus; for
Minucianus and Lepidus were intimate friends, and both in fear of the
dangers that they were under; for Caius was terrible to all the great men,
as appearing ready to act a mad part towards each of them in particular,
and towards all of them in general; and these men were afraid of one
another, while they were yet uneasy at the posture of affairs, but avoided
to declare their mind and their hatred against Caius to one another, out
of fear of the dangers they might be in thereby, although they perceived
by other means their mutual hatred against Caius, and on that account were
not averse to a mutual kindness one towards another.
9. When Minucianus and Cherea had met together, and saluted one another,
[as they had been used on former conversations to give the upper hand to
Minucianus, both on account of his eminent dignity, for he was the noblest
of all the citizens, and highly commended by all men, especially when he
made speeches to them,] Minucianus began first, and asked Cherea, What was
the watchword he had received that day from Caius; for the affront which
was offered Cherea, in giving the watchwords, was famous over the city.
But Cherea made no delay so long as to reply to that question, out of the
joy he had that Minueianus would have such confidence in him as to
discourse with him. “But do thou,” said he, “give me the watchword of
liberty. And I return thee my thanks that thou hast so greatly encouraged
me to exert myself after an extraordinary manner; nor do I stand in need
of many words to encourage me, since both thou and I are of the same mind,
and partakers of the same resolutions, and this before we have conferred
together. I have indeed but one sword girt on, but this one will serve us
both. Come on, therefore, let us set about the work. Do thou go first, if
thou hast a mind, and bid me follow thee; or else I will go first, and
thou shalt assist me, and we will assist one another, and trust one
another. Nor is there a necessity for even one sword to such as have a
mind disposed to such works, by which mind the sword uses to be
successful. I am zealous about this action, nor am I solicitous what I may
myself undergo; for I can not at leisure to consider the dangers that may
come upon myself, so deeply am I troubled at the slavery our once free
country is now under, and at the contempt cast upon our excellent laws,
and at the destruction which hangs over all men, by the means of Caius. I
wish that I may be judged by thee, and that thou mayst esteem me worthy of
credit in these matters, seeing we are both of the same opinion, and there
is herein no difference between us.”
10. When Minucianus saw the vehemency with which Cherea delivered himself,
he gladly embraced him, and encouraged him in his bold attempt, commending
him, and embracing him; so he let him go with his good wishes; and some
affirm that he thereby confirmed Minucianus in the prosecution of what had
been agreed among them; for as Cherea entered into the court, the report
runs, that a voice came from among the multitude to encourage him, which
bid him finish what he was about, and take the opportunity that Providence
afforded; and that Cherea at first suspected that some one of the
conspirators had betrayed him, and he was caught, but at length perceived
that it was by way of exhortation. Whether somebody 3 that was
conscious of what he was about, gave a signal for his encouragement, or
whether it was God himself, who looks upon the actions of men, that
encouraged him to go on boldly in his design, is uncertain. The plot was
now communicated to a great many, and they were all in their armor; some
of the conspirators being senators, and some of the equestrian order, and
as many of the soldiery as were made acquainted with it; for there was not
one of them who would not reckon it a part of his happiness to kill Caius;
and on that account they were all very zealous in the affair, by what
means soever any one could come at it, that he might not be behindhand in
these virtuous designs, but might be ready with all his alacrity or power,
both by words and actions, to complete this slaughter of a tyrant. And
besides these, Callistus also, who was a freed-man of Caius, and was the
only man that had arrived at the greatest degree of power under him,—such
a power, indeed, as was in a manner equal to the power of the tyrant
himself, by the dread that all men had of him, and by the great riches he
had acquired; for he took bribes most plenteously, and committed injuries
without bounds, and was more extravagant in the use of his power in unjust
proceedings than any other. He also knew the disposition of Caius to be
implacable, and never to be turned from what he had resolved on. He had
withal many other reasons why he thought himself in danger, and the
vastness of his wealth was not one of the least of them; on which account
he privately ingratiated himself with Claudius, and transferred his
courtship to him, out of this hope, that in case, upon the removal of
Caius, the government should come to him, his interest in such changes
should lay a foundation for his preserving his dignity under him, since he
laid in beforehand a stock of merit, and did Claudius good offices in his
promotion. He had also the boldness to pretend that he had been persuaded
to make away with Claudius, by poisoning him, but had still invented ten
thousand excuses for delaying to do it. But it seems probable to me that
Callistus only counterfeited this, in order to ingratiate himself with
Claudius; for if Caius had been in earnest resolved to take off Claudius,
he would not have admitted of Callistus’s excuses; nor would Callistus, if
he had been enjoined to do such an act as was desired by Caius, have put
it off; nor if he had disobeyed those injunctions of his master, had he
escaped immediate punishment; while Claudius was preserved from the
madness of Caius by a certain Divine providence, and Callistus pretended
to such a piece of merit as he no way deserved.
11. However, the execution of Cherea’s designs was put off from day to
day, by the sloth of many therein concerned; for as to Cherea himself, he
would not willingly make any delay in that execution, thinking every time
a fit time for it; for frequent opportunities offered themselves; as when
Caius went up to the capitol to sacrifice for his daughter, or when he
stood upon his royal palace, and threw gold and silver pieces of money
among the people, he might be pushed down headlong, because the top of the
palace, that looks towards the market-place, was very high; and also when
he celebrated the mysteries, which he had appointed at that time; for he
was then no way secluded from the people, but solicitous to do every thing
carefully and decently, and was free from all suspicion that he should be
then assaulted by any body; and although the gods should afford him no
divine assistance to enable him to take away his life, yet had he strength
himself sufficient to despatch Caius, even without a sword. Thus was
Chorea angry at his fellow conspirators, for fear they should suffer a
proper opportunity to pass by; and they were themselves sensible that he
had just cause to be angry at them, and that his eagerness was for their
advantage; yet did they desire he would have a little longer patience,
lest, upon any disappointment they might meet with, they should put the
city into disorder, and an inquisition should be made after the
conspiracy, and should render the courage of those that were to attack
Caius without success, while he would then secure himself more carefully
than ever against them; that it would therefore be the best to set about
the work when the shows were exhibited in the palace. These shows were
acted in honor of that Cæsar 4 who first
of all changed the popular government, and transferred it to himself;
galleries being fixed before the palace, where the Romans that were
patricians became spectators, together with their children and their
wives, and Cæsar himself was to be also a spectator; and they reckoned,
among those many ten thousands who would there be crowded into a narrow
compass, they should have a favorable opportunity to make their attempt
upon him as he came in, because his guards that should protect him, if any
of them should have a mind to do it, would not here be able to give him
any assistance.
12. Cherea consented to this delay; and when the shows were exhibited, it
was resolved to do the work the first day. But fortune, which allowed a
further delay to his slaughter, was too hard for their foregoing
resolution; and as three days of the regular times for these shows were
now over, they had much ado to get the business done on the last day. Then
Cherea called the conspirators together, and spake thus to them: “So much
time passed away without effort is a reproach to us, as delaying to go
through such a virtuous design as we are engaged in; but more fatal will
this delay prove if we be discovered, and the design be frustrated; for
Caius will then become more cruel in his unjust proceedings. Do we not see
how long we deprive all our friends of their liberty, and give Caius leave
still to tyrannize over them? while we ought to have procured them
security for the future, and, by laying a foundation for the happiness of
others, gain to ourselves great admiration and honor for all time to
come.” Now while the conspirators had nothing tolerable to say by way of
contradiction, and yet did not quite relish what they were doing, but
stood silent and astonished, he said further, “O my brave comrades! why do
we make such delays? Do not you see that this is the last day of these
shows, and that Caius is about to go to sea? for he is preparing to sail
to Alexandria, in order to see Egypt. Is it therefore for your honor to
let a man go out of your hands who is a reproach to mankind, and to permit
him to go, after a pompous manner, triumphing both at land and sea? Shall
not we be justly ashamed of ourselves, if we give leave to some Egyptian
or other, who shall think his injuries insufferable to free-men, to kill
him? As for myself, I will no longer bear your slow proceedings, but will
expose myself to the dangers of the enterprise this very day, and bear
cheerfully whatsoever shall be the consequence of the attempt; nor, let
them be ever so great, will I put them off any longer: for, to a wise and
courageous man, what can be more miserable than that, while I am alive,
any one else should kill Caius, and deprive me of the honor of so virtuous
an action?”
13. When Cherea had spoken thus, he zealously set about the work, and
inspired courage into the rest to go on with it, and they were all eager
to fall to it without further delay. So he was at the palace in the
morning, with his equestrian sword girt on him; for it was the custom that
the tribunes should ask for the watchword with their swords on, and this
was the day on which Cherea was, by custom, to receive the watchword; and
the multitude were already come to the palace, to be soon enough for
seeing the shows, and that in great crowds, and one tumultuously crushing
another, while Caius was delighted with this eagerness of the multitude;
for which reason there was no order observed in the seating men, nor was
any peculiar place appointed for the senators, or for the equestrian
order; but they sat at random, men and women together, and free-men were
mixed with the slaves. So Caius came out in a solemn manner, and offered
sacrifice to Augustus Cæsar, in whose honor indeed these shows were
celebrated. Now it happened, upon the fall of a certain priest, that the
garment of Asprenas, a senator, was filled with blood, which made Caius
laugh, although this was an evident omen to Asprenas, for he was slain at
the same time with Caius. It is also related that Caius was that day,
contrary to his usual custom, so very affable and good-natured in his
conversation, that every one of those that were present were astonished at
it. After the sacrifice was over, Caius betook himself to see the shows,
and sat down for that purpose, as did also the principal of his friends
sit near him. Now the parts of the theater were so fastened together, as
it used to be every year, in the manner following: It had two doors, the
one door led to the open air, the other was for going into, or going out
of, the cloisters, that those within the theater might not be thereby
disturbed; but out of one gallery there went an inward passage, parted
into partitions also, which led into another gallery, to give room to the
combatants and to the musicians to go out as occasion served. When the
multitude were set down, and Cherea, with the other tribunes, were set
down also, and the right corner of the theater was allotted to Cæsar, one
Vatinius, a senator, commander of the praetorian band, asked of Cluvius,
one that sat by him, and was of consular dignity also, whether he had
heard any thing of news, or not? but took care that nobody should hear
what he said; and when Cluvius replied, that he had heard no news, “Know
then,” said Vatinius, “that the game of the slaughter of tyrants is to be
played this day.” But Cluvius replied “O brave comrade hold thy peace,
lest some other of the Achaians hear thy tale.” And as there was abundance
of autumnal fruit thrown among the spectators, and a great number of
birds, that were of great value to such as possessed them, on account of
their rareness, Caius was pleased with the birds fighting for the fruits,
and with the violence wherewith the spectators seized upon them: and here
he perceived two prodigies that happened there; for an actor was
introduced, by whom a leader of robbers was crucified, and the pantomime
brought in a play called Cinyras, wherein he himself was to be slain, as
well as his daughter Myrrha, and wherein a great deal of fictitious blood
was shed, both about him that was crucified, and also about Cinyras. It
was also confessed that this was the same day wherein Pausanias, a friend
of Philip, the son of Amyntas, who was king of Macedonia, slew him, as he
was entering into the theater. And now Caius was in doubt whether he
should tarry to the end of the shows, because it was the last day, or
whether he should not go first to the bath, and to dinner, and then return
and sit down as before. Hereupon Minucianus, who sat over Caius, and was
afraid that the opportunity should fail them, got up, because he saw
Cherea was already gone out, and made haste out, to confirm him in his
resolution; but Caius took hold of his garment, in an obliging way, and
said to him, “O brave man! whither art thou going?” Whereupon, out of
reverence to Cæsar, as it seemed, he sat down again; but his fear
prevailed over him, and in a little time he got up again, and then Caius
did no way oppose his going out, as thinking that he went out to perform
some necessities of nature. And Asprenas, who was one of the confederates,
persuaded Caius to go out to the bath, and to dinner, and then to come in
again, as desirous that what had been resolved on might be brought to a
conclusion immediately.
14. So Cherea’s associates placed themselves in order, as the time would
permit them, and they were obliged to labor hard, that the place which was
appointed them should not be left by them; but they had an indignation at
the tediousness of the delays, and that what they were about should be put
off any longer, for it was already about the ninth 5 hour of
the day; and Cherea, upon Caius’s tarrying so long, had a great mind to go
in, and fall upon him in his seat, although he foresaw that this could not
be done without much bloodshed, both of the senators, and of those of the
equestrian order that were present; and although he knew this must happen,
yet had he a great mind to do so, as thinking it a right thing to procure
security and freedom to all, at the expense of such as might perish at the
same time. And as they were just going back into the entrance to the
theater, word was brought them that Caius was arisen, whereby a tumult was
made; hereupon the conspirators thrust away the crowd, under pretense as
if Caius was angry at them, but in reality as desirous to have a quiet
place, that should have none in it to defend him, while they set about
Caius’s slaughter. Now Claudius, his uncle, was gone out before, and
Marcus Vinicius his sister’s husband, as also Valellus of Asia; whom
though they had had such a mind to put out of their places, the reverence
to their dignity hindered them so to do; then followed Caius, with Paulus
Arruntius: and because Caius was now gotten within the palace, he left the
direct road, along which those his servants stood that were in waiting,
and by which road Claudius had gone out before, Caius turned aside into a
private narrow passage, in order to go to the place for bathing, as also
in order to take a view of the boys that came out of Asia, who were sent
thence, partly to sing hymns in these mysteries which were now celebrated,
and partly to dance in the Pyrrhic way of dancing upon the theatres. So
Cherea met him, and asked him for the watchword; upon Caius’s giving him
one of his ridiculous words, he immediately reproached him, and drew his
sword, and gave him a terrible stroke with it, yet was not this stroke
mortal. And although there be those that say it was so contrived on
purpose by Chorea, that Caius should not be killed at one blow, but should
be punished more severely by a multitude of wounds; yet does this story
appear to me incredible, because the fear men are under in such actions
does not allow them to use their reason. And if Cherea was of that mind, I
esteem him the greatest of all fools, in pleasing himself in his spite
against Caius, rather than immediately procuring safety to himself and to
his confederates from the dangers they were in, because there might many
things still happen for helping Caius’s escape, if he had not already
given up the ghost; for certainly Cherea would have regard, not so much to
the punishment of Caius, as to the affliction himself and his friends were
in, while it was in his power, after such success, to keep silent, and to
escape the wrath of Caius’s defenders, and not to leave it to uncertainty
whether he should gain the end he aimed at or not, and after an
unreasonable manner to act as if he had a mind to ruin himself, and lose
the opportunity that lay before him. But every body may guess as he please
about this matter. However, Caius was staggered with the pain that the
blow gave him; for the stroke of the sword falling in the middle, between
the shoulder and the neck, was hindered by the first bone of the breast
from proceeding any further. Nor did he either cry out, [in such
astonishment was he,] nor did he call out for any of his friends; whether
it were that he had no confidence in them, or that his mind was otherwise
disordered, but he groaned under the pain he endured, and presently went
forward and fled; when Cornelius Sabinus, who was already prepared in his
mind so to do, thrust him down upon his knee, where many of them stood
round about him, and struck him with their swords; and they cried out, and
encouraged one another all at once to strike him again; but all agree that
Aquila gave him the finishing stroke, which directly killed him. But one
may justly ascribe this act to Cherea; for although many concurred in the
act itself, yet was he the first contriver of it, and began long before
all the rest to prepare for it, and was the first man that boldly spake of
it to the rest; and upon their admission of what he said about it, he got
the dispersed conspirators together; he prepared every thing after a
prudent manner, and by suggesting good advice, showed himself far superior
to the rest, and made obliging speeches to them, insomuch that he even
compelled them all to go on, who otherwise had not courage enough for that
purpose; and when opportunity served to use his sword in hand, he appeared
first of all ready so to do, and gave the first blow in this virtuous
slaughter; he also brought Caius easily into the power of the rest, and
almost killed him himself, insomuch that it is but just to ascribe all
that the rest did to the advice, and bravery, and labors of the hands of
Cherea.
15. Thus did Caius come to his end, and lay dead, by the many wounds which
had been given him. Now Cherea and his associates, upon Caius’s slaughter,
saw that it was impossible for them to save themselves, if they should all
go the same way, partly on account of the astonishment they were under;
for it was no small danger they had incurred by killing an emperor, who
was honored and loved by the madness of the people, especially when the
soldiers were likely to make a bloody inquiry after his murderers. The
passages also were narrow wherein the work was done, which were also
crowded with a great multitude of Caius’s attendants, and of such of the
soldiers as were of the emperor’s guard that day; whence it was that they
went by other ways, and came to the house of Germanicus, the father of
Caius, whom they had now killed [which house adjoined to the palace; for
while the edifice was one, it was built in its several parts by those
particular persons who had been emperors, and those parts bare the names
of those that built them or the name of him who had begun to build its
parts]. So they got away from the insults of the multitude, and then were
for the present out of danger, that is, so long as the misfortune which
had overtaken the emperor was not known. The Germans were the first who
perceived that Caius was slain. These Germans were Caius’s guard, and
carried the name of the country whence they were chosen, and composed the
Celtic legion. The men of that country are naturally passionate, which is
commonly the temper of some other of the barbarous nations also, as being
not used to consider much about what they do; they are of robust bodies
and fall upon their enemies as soon as ever they are attacked by them; and
which way soever they go, they perform great exploits. When, therefore,
these German guards understood that Caius was slain, they were very sorry
for it, because they did not use their reason in judging about public
affairs, but measured all by the advantages themselves received, Caius
being beloved by them because of the money he gave them, by which he had
purchased their kindness to him; so they drew their swords, and Sabinus
led them on. He was one of the tribunes, not by the means of the virtuous
actions of his progenitors, for he had been a gladiator, but he had
obtained that post in the army by his having a robust body. So these
Germans marched along the houses in quest of Cæsar’s murderers, and cut
Asprenas to pieces, because he was the first man they fell upon, and whose
garment it was that the blood of the sacrifices stained, as I have said
already, and which foretold that this his meeting the soldiers would not
be for his good. Then did Norbanus meet them, who was one of the principal
nobility of and could show many generals of armies among his ancestors;
but they paid no regard to his dignity; yet was he of such great strength,
that he wrested the sword of the first of those that assaulted him out of
his hands, and appeared plainly not to be willing to die without a
struggle for his life, until he was surrounded by a great number of
assailants, and died by the multitude of the wounds which they gave him.
The third man was Anteius, a senator, and a few others with him. He did
not meet with these Germans by chance, as the rest did before, but came to
show his hatred to Caius, and because he loved to see Caius lie dead with
his own eyes, and took a pleasure in that sight; for Caius had banished
Anteius’s father, who was of the same name with himself, and being not
satisfied with that, he sent out his soldiers, and slew him; so he was
come to rejoice at the sight of him, now he was dead. But as the house was
now all in a tumult, when he was aiming to hide himself, he could not
escape that accurate search which the Germans made, while they barbarously
slew those that were guilty, and those that were not guilty, and this
equally also. And thus were these [three] persons slain.
16. But when the rumor that Caius was slain reached the theater, they were
astonished at it, and could not believe it; even some that entertained his
destruction with great pleasure, and were more desirous of its happening
than almost any other faction that could come to them, were under such a
fear, that they could not believe it. There were also those who greatly
distrusted it, because they were unwilling that any such thing should come
to Caius, nor could believe it, though it were ever so true, because they
thought no man could possibly so much power as to kill Caius. These were
the women, and the children, and the slaves, and some of the soldiery.
This last sort had taken his pay, and in a manner tyrannized with him, and
had abused the best of the citizens, in being subservient to his unjust
commands, in order to gain honors and advantages to themselves; but for
the women and the youth, they had been inveigled with shows, and the
fighting of the gladiators, and certain distributions of flesh-meat among
them, which things them pretense were designed for the pleasing of
multitude, but in reality to satiate the barbarous cruelty and madness of
Caius. The slaves also were sorry, because they were by Caius allowed to
accuse and to despise their masters, and they could have recourse to his
assistance when they had unjustly affronted them; for he was very easy in
believing them against their masters, even when they the city, accused
them falsely; and if they would discover what money their masters had,
they might soon obtain both riches and liberty, as the rewards of their
accusations, because the reward of these informers was the eighth 6
part of the criminal’s substance. As to the nobles, although the report
appeared credible to some of them, either because they knew of the plot
beforehand, or because they wished it might be true; however, they
concealed not only the joy they had at the relation of it, but that they
had heard any thing at all about it. These last acted so out of the fear
they had, that if the report proved false, they should be punished, for
having so soon let men know their minds. But those that knew Caius was
dead, because they were partners with the conspirators, they concealed all
still more cautiously, as not knowing one another’s minds; and fearing
lest they should speak of it to some of those to whom the continuance of
tyranny was advantageous; and if Caius should prove to be alive, they
might be informed against, and punished. And another report went about,
that although Caius had been wounded indeed, yet was not he dead, but
alive still, and under the physician’s hands. Nor was any one looked upon
by another as faithful enough to be trusted, and to whom any one would
open his mind; for he was either a friend to Caius, and therefore
suspected to favor his tyranny, or he was one that hated him, who
therefore might be suspected to deserve the less credit, because of his
ill-will to him. Nay, it was said by some [and this indeed it was that
deprived the nobility of their hopes, and made them sad] that Caius was in
a condition to despise the dangers he had been in, and took no care of
healing his wounds, but was gotten away into the market- place, and,
bloody as he was, was making an harangue to the people. And these were the
conjectural reports of those that were so unreasonable as to endeavor to
raise tumults, which they turned different ways, according to the opinions
of the bearers. Yet did they not leave their seats, for fear of being
accused, if they should go out before the rest; for they should not be
sentenced according to the real intention with which they went out, but
according to the supposals of the accusers and of the judges.
17. But now a multitude of Germans had surrounded the theater with their
swords drawn: all the spectators looked for nothing but death, and at
every one coming in a fear seized upon them, as if they were to be cut in
pieces immediately; and in great distress they were, as neither having
courage enough to go out of the theater, nor believing themselves safe
from dangers if they tarried there. And when the Germans came upon them,
the cry was so great, that the theater rang again with the entreaties of
the spectators to the soldiers, pleading that they were entirely ignorant
of every thing that related to such seditious contrivances, and that if
there were any sedition raised, they knew nothing of it; they therefore
begged that they would spare them, and not punish those that had not the
least hand in such bold crimes as belonged to other persons, while they
neglected to search after such as had really done whatsoever it be that
hath been done. Thus did these people appeal to God, and deplore their
infelicity with shedding of tears, and beating their faces, and said every
thing that the most imminent danger and the utmost concern for their lives
could dictate to them. This brake the fury of the soldiers, and made them
repent of what they minded to do to the spectators, which would have been
the greatest instance of cruelty. And so it appeared to even these
savages, when they had once fixed the heads of those that were slain with
Asprenas upon the altar; at which sight the spectators were sorely
afflicted, both upon the consideration of the dignity of the persons, and
out of a commiseration of their sufferings; nay, indeed, they were almost
in as great disorder at the prospect of the danger themselves were in,
seeing it was still uncertain whether they should entirely escape the like
calamity. Whence it was that such as thoroughly and justly hated Caius
could yet no way enjoy the pleasure of his death, because they were
themselves in jeopardy of perishing together with him; nor had they
hitherto any firm assurance of surviving.
18. There was at this time one Euaristus Arruntius, a public crier in the
market, and therefore of a strong and audible voice, who vied in wealth
with the richest of the Romans, and was able to do what he pleased in the
city, both then and afterward. This man put himself into the most mournful
habit he could, although he had a greater hatred against Caius than any
one else; his fear and his wise contrivance to gain his safety taught him
so to do, and prevailed over his present pleasure; so he put on such a
mournful dress as he would have done had he lost his dearest friends in
the world; this man came into the theater, and informed them of the death
of Caius, and by this means put an end to that state of ignorance the men
had been in. Arruntius also went round about the pillars, and called out
to the Germans, as did the tribunes with him, bidding them put up their
swords, and telling them that Caius was dead. And this proclamation it was
plainly which saved those that were collected together in the theater, and
all the rest who any way met the Germans; for while they had hopes that
Caius had still any breath in him, they abstained from no sort of
mischief; and such an abundant kindness they still had for Caius, that
they would willingly have prevented the plot against him, and procured his
escape from so sad a misfortune, at the expense of their own lives. But
they now left off the warm zeal they had to punish his enemies, now they
were fully satisfied that Caius was dead, because it was now in vain for
them to show their zeal and kindness to him, when he who should reward
them was perished. They were also afraid that they should be punished by
the senate, if they should go on in doing such injuries; that is, in case
the authority of the supreme governor should revert to them. And thus at
length a stop was put, though not without difficulty, to that rage which
possessed the Germans on account of Caius’s death.
19. But Cherea was so much afraid for Minucianus, lest he should light
upon the Germans now they were in their fury, that he went and spoke to
every one of the soldiers, and prayed them to take care of his
preservation, and made himself great inquiry about him, lest he should
have been slain. And for Clement, he let Minucianus go when he was brought
to him, and, with many other of the senators, affirmed the action was
right, and commended the virtue of those that contrived it, and had
courage enough to execute it; and said that “tyrants do indeed please
themselves and look big for a while, upon having the power to act
unjustly; but do not however go happily out of the world, because they are
hated by the virtuous; and that Caius, together with all his unhappiness,
was become a conspirator against himself, before these other men who
attacked him did so; and by becoming intolerable, in setting aside the
wise provision the laws had made, taught his dearest friends to treat him
as an enemy; insomuch that although in common discourse these conspirators
were those that slew Caius, yet that, in reality, he lies now dead as
perishing by his own self.”
20. Now by this time the people in the theatre were arisen from their
seats, and those that were within made a very great disturbance; the cause
of which was this, that the spectators were too hasty in getting away.
There was also one Aleyon, a physician, who hurried away, as if to cure
those that were wounded, and under that pretense he sent those that were
with him to fetch what things were necessary for the healing of those
wounded persons, but in reality to get them clear of the present dangers
they were in. Now the senate, during this interval, had met, and the
people also assembled together in the accustomed form, and were both
employed in searching after the murderers of Caius. The people did it very
zealously, but the senate in appearance only; for there was present
Valerius of Asia, one that had been consul; this man went to the people,
as they were in disorder, and very uneasy that they could not yet discover
who they were that had murdered the emperor; he was then earnestly asked
by them all who it was that had done it. He replied, “I wish I had been
the man.” The consuls 7 also published an edict, wherein
they accused Caius, and gave order to the people then got together, and to
the soldiers, to go home; and gave the people hopes of the abatement of
the oppressions they lay under; and promised the soldiers, if they lay
quiet as they used to do, and would not go abroad to do mischief unjustly,
that they would bestow rewards upon them; for there was reason to fear
lest the city might suffer harm by their wild and ungovernable behavior,
if they should once betake themselves to spoil the citizens, or plunder
the temples. And now the whole multitude of the senators were assembled
together, and especially those that had conspired to take away the life of
Caius, who put on at this time an air of great assurance, and appeared
with great magnanimity, as if the administration of the public affairs
were already devolved upon them.
CHAPTER 2. How The Senators Determined To Restore The Democracy; But The
Soldiers Were For Preserving The Monarchy, Concerning The Slaughter Of
Caius’s Wife And Daughter. A Character Of Caius’s Morals.
1. When the public affairs were in this posture, Claudius was on the
sudden hurried away out of his house; for the soldiers had a meeting
together; and when they had debated about what was to be done, they saw
that a democracy was incapable of managing such a vast weight of public
affairs; and that if it should be set up, it would not be for their
advantage; and in case any one of those already in the government should
obtain the supreme power, it would in all respects be to their grief, if
they were not assisting to him in this advancement; that it would
therefore be right for them, while the public affairs were unsettled, to
choose Claudius emperor, who was uncle to the deceased Caius, and of a
superior dignity and worth to every one of those that were assembled
together in the senate, both on account of the virtues of his ancestors,
and of the learning he had acquired in his education; and who, if once
settled in the empire, would reward them according to their deserts, and
bestow largesses upon them. These were their consultations, and they
executed the same immediately. Claudius was therefore seized upon suddenly
by the soldiery. But Cneas Sentins Saturninus, although he understood that
Claudius was seized, and that he intended to claim the government,
unwillingly indeed in appearance, but in reality by his own free consent,
stood up in the senate, and, without being dismayed, made an exhortatory
oration to them, and such a one indeed as was fit for men of freedom and
generosity, and spake thus:
2. “Although it be a thing incredible, O Romans! because of the great
length of time, that so unexpected an event hath happened, yet are we now
in possession of liberty. How long indeed this will last is uncertain, and
lies at the disposal of the gods, whose grant it is; yet such it is as is
sufficient to make us rejoice, and be happy for the present, although we
may soon be deprived of it; for one hour is sufficient to those that are
exercised in virtue, wherein we may live with a mind accountable only to
ourselves, in our own country, now free, and governed by such laws as this
country once flourished under. As for myself, I cannot remember our former
time of liberty, as being born after it was gone; but I am beyond measure
filled with joy at the thoughts of our present freedom. I also esteem
those that were born and bred up in that our former liberty happy men, and
that those men are worthy of no less esteem than the gods themselves who
have given us a taste of it in this age; and I heartily wish that this
quiet enjoyment of it, which we have at present, might continue to all
ages. However, this single day may suffice for our youth, as well as for
us that are in years. It will seem an age to our old men, if they might
die during its happy duration: it may also be for the instruction of the
younger sort, what kind of virtue those men, from whose loins we are
derived, were exercised in. As for ourselves, our business is, during the
space of time, to live virtuously, than which nothing can be more to our
advantage; which course of virtue it is alone that can preserve our
liberty; for as to our ancient state, I have heard of it by the relations
of others; but as to our later state, during my lifetime, I have known it
by experience, and learned thereby what mischiefs tyrannies have brought
upon this commonwealth, discouraging all virtue, and depriving persons of
magnanimity of their liberty, and proving the teachers of flattery and
slavish fear, because it leaves the public administration not to be
governed by wise laws, but by the humor of those that govern. For since
Julius Cæsar took it into his head to dissolve our democracy, and, by
overbearing the regular system of our laws, to bring disorders into our
administration, and to get above right and justice, and to be a slave to
his own inclinations, there is no kind of misery but what hath tended to
the subversion of this city; while all those that have succeeded him have
striven one with another to overthrow the ancient laws of their country,
and have left it destitute of such citizens as were of generous
principles, because they thought it tended to their safety to have vicious
men to converse withal, and not only to break the spirits of those that
were best esteemed for their virtue, but to resolve upon their utter
destruction. Of all which emperors, who have been many in number, and who
laid upon us insufferable hardships during the times of their government,
this Caius, who hath been slain today, hath brought more terrible
calamities upon us than did all the rest, not only by exercising his
ungoverned rage upon his fellow citizens, but also upon his kindred and
friends, and alike upon all others, and by inflicting still greater
miseries upon them, as punishments, which they never deserved, he being
equally furious against men and against the gods. For tyrants are not
content to gain their sweet pleasure, and this by acting injuriously, and
in the vexation they bring both upon men’s estates and their wives; but
they look upon that to be their principal advantage, when they can utterly
overthrow the entire families of their enemies; while all lovers of
liberty are the enemies of tyranny. Nor can those that patiently endure
what miseries they bring on them gain their friendship; for as they are
conscious of the abundant mischiefs they have brought on these men, and
how magnanimously they have borne their hard fortunes, they cannot but be
sensible what evils they have done, and thence only depend on security
from what they are suspicious of, if it may be in their power to take them
quite out of the world. Since, then, we are now gotten clear of such great
misfortunes, and are only accountable to one another, [which form of
government affords us the best assurance of our present concord, and
promises us the best security from evil designs, and will be most for our
own glory in settling the city in good order,] you ought, every one of you
in particular, to make provision for his own, and in general for the
public utility: or, on the contrary, they may declare their dissent to
such things as have been proposed, and this without any hazard of danger
to come upon them, because they have now no lord set over them, who,
without fear of punishment, could do mischief to the city, and had an
uncontrollable power to take off those that freely declared their
opinions. Nor has any thing so much contributed to this increase of
tyranny of late as sloth, and a timorous forbearance of contradicting the
emperor’s will; while men had an over-great inclination to the sweetness
of peace, and had learned to live like slaves; and as many of us as either
heard of intolerable calamities that happened at a distance from us, or
saw the miseries that were near us, out of the dread of dying virtuously,
endured a death joined with the utmost infamy. We ought, then, in the
first place, to decree the greatest honors we are able to those that have
taken off the tyrant, especially to Cherea Cassius; for this one man, with
the assistance of the gods, hath, by his counsel and by his actions, been
the procurer of our liberty. Nor ought we to forget him now we have
recovered our liberty, who, under the foregoing tyranny, took counsel
beforehand, and beforehand hazarded himself for our liberties; but ought
to decree him proper honors, and thereby freely declare that he from the
beginning acted with our approbation. And certainly it is a very excellent
thing, and what becomes free-men, to requite their benefactors, as this
man hath been a benefactor to us all, though not at all like Cassius and
Brutus, who slew Caius Julius [Cæsar]; for those men laid the foundations
of sedition and civil wars in our city; but this man, together with his
slaughter of the tyrant, hath set our city free from all those sad
miseries which arose from the tyranny.” 8
3. And this was the purport of Sentius’s oration, 9 which was
received with pleasure by the senators, and by as many of the equestrian
order as were present. And now one Trebellius Maximus rose up hastily, and
took off Sentius’s finger a ring, which had a stone, with the image of
Caius engraven upon it, and which, in his zeal in speaking, and his
earnestness in doing what he was about, as it was supposed, he had
forgotten to take off himself. This sculpture was broken immediately. But
as it was now far in the night, Cherea demanded of the consuls the
watchword, who gave him this word, Liberty. These facts were the subjects
of admiration to themselves, and almost incredible; for it was a hundred
years since the democracy had been laid aside, when this giving the
watchword returned to the consuls; for before the city was subject to
tyrants, they were the commanders of the soldiers. But when Cherea had
received that watchword, he delivered it to those who were on the senate’s
side, which were four regiments, who esteemed the government without
emperors to be preferable to tyranny. So these went away with their
tribunes. The people also now departed very joyful, full of hope and of
courage, as having recovered their former democracy, and were no longer
under an emperor; and Cherea was in very great esteem with them.
4. And now Cherea was very uneasy that Caius’s daughter and wife were
still alive, and that all his family did not perish with him, since
whosoever was left of them must be left for the ruin of the city and of
the laws. Moreover, in order to finish this matter with the utmost zeal,
and in order to satisfy his hatred of Caius, he sent Julius Lupus, one of
the tribunes, to kill Caius’s wife and daughter. They proposed this office
to Lupus as to a kinsman of Clement, that he might be so far a partaker of
this murder of the tyrant, and might rejoice in the virtue of having
assisted his fellow citizens, and that he might appear to have been a
partaker with those that were first in their designs against him. Yet did
this action appear to some of the conspirators to be too cruel, as to this
using such severity to a woman, because Caius did more indulge his own
ill-nature than use her advice in all that he did; from which ill-nature
it was that the city was in so desperate a condition with the miseries
that were brought on it, and the flower of the city was destroyed. But
others accused her of giving her consent to these things; nay, they
ascribed all that Caius had done to her as the cause of it, and said she
had given a potion to Caius, which had made him obnoxious to her, and had
tied him down to love her by such evil methods; insomuch that she, having
rendered him distracted, was become the author of all the mischiefs that
had befallen the Romans, and that habitable world which was subject to
them. So that at length it was determined that she must die; nor could
those of the contrary opinion at all prevail to have her saved; and Lupus
was sent accordingly. Nor was there any delay made in executing what he
went about, but he was subservient to those that sent him on the first
opportunity, as desirous to be no way blameable in what might be done for
the advantage of the people. So when he was come into the palace, he found
Cesonia, who was Caius’s wife, lying by her husband’s dead body, which
also lay down on the ground, and destitute of all such things as the law
allows to the dead, and all over herself besmeared with the blood of her
husband’s wounds, and bewailing the great affliction she was under, her
daughter lying by her also; and nothing else was heard in these her
circumstances but her complaint of Caius, as if he had not regarded what
she had often told him of beforehand; which words of hers were taken in a
different sense even at that time, and are now esteemed equally ambiguous
by those that hear of them, and are still interpreted according to the
different inclinations of people. Now some said that the words denoted
that she had advised him to leave off his mad behavior and his barbarous
cruelty to the citizens, and to govern the public with moderation and
virtue, lest he should perish by the same way, upon their using him as he
had used them. But some said, that as certain words had passed concerning
the conspirators, she desired Caius to make no delay, but immediately to
put them all to death, and this whether they were guilty or not, and that
thereby he would be out of the fear of any danger; and that this was what
she reproached him for, when she advised him so to do, but he was too slow
and tender in the matter. And this was what Cesonia said, and what the
opinions of men were about it. But when she saw Lupus approach, she showed
him Caius’s dead body, and persuaded him to come nearer, with lamentation
and tears; and as she perceived that Lupus was in disorder, and approached
her in order to execute some design disagreeable to himself, she was well
aware for what purpose he came, and stretched out her naked throat, and
that very cheerfully to him, bewailing her case, like one that utterly
despaired of her life, and bidding him not to boggle at finishing the
tragedy they had resolved upon relating to her. So she boldly received her
death’s wound at the hand of Lupus, as did the daughter after her. So
Lupus made haste to inform Cherea of what he had done.
5. This was the end of Caius, after he had reigned four years, within four
months. He was, even before he came to be emperor, ill-natured, and one
that had arrived at the utmost pitch of wickedness; a slave to his
pleasures, and a lover of calumny; greatly affected by every terrible
accident, and on that account of a very murderous disposition where he
durst show it. He enjoyed his exorbitant power to this only purpose, to
injure those who least deserved it, with unreasonable insolence and got
his wealth by murder and injustice. He labored to appear above regarding
either what was divine or agreeable to the laws, but was a slave to the
commendations of the populace; and whatsoever the laws determined to be
shameful, and punished, that he esteemed more honorable than what was
virtuous. He was unmindful of his friends, how intimate soever, and though
they were persons of the highest character; and if he was once angry at
any of them, he would inflict punishment upon them on the smallest
occasions, and esteemed every man that endeavored to lead a virtuous life
his enemy. And whatsoever he commanded, he would not admit of any
contradiction to his inclinations; whence it was that he had criminal
conversation with his own sister; 10 from
which occasion chiefly it was also that a bitter hatred first sprang up
against him among the citizens, that sort of incest not having been known
of a long time; and so this provoked men to distrust him, and to hate him
that was guilty of it. And for any great or royal work that he ever did,
which might be for the present and for future ages, nobody can name any
such, but only the haven that he made about Rhegium and Sicily, for the
reception of the ships that brought corn from Egypt; which was indeed a
work without dispute very great in itself, and of very great advantage to
the navigation. Yet was not this work brought to perfection by him, but
was the one half of it left imperfect, by reason of his want of
application to it; the cause of which was this, that he employed his
studies about useless matters, and that by spending his money upon such
pleasures as concerned no one’s benefit but his own, he could not exert
his liberality in things that were undeniably of great consequence.
Otherwise he was an excellent orator, and thoroughly acquainted with the
Greek tongue, as well as with his own country or Roman language. He was
also able, off-hand and readily, to give answers to compositions made by
others, of considerable length and accuracy. He was also more skillful in
persuading others to very great things than any one else, and this from a
natural affability of temper, which had been improved by much exercise and
pains-taking; for as he was the grandson 11 of the
brother of Tiberius, whose successor he was, this was a strong inducement
to his acquiring of learning, because Tiberius aspired after the highest
pitch of that sort of reputation; and Caius aspired after the like glory
for eloquence, being induced thereto by the letters of his kinsman and his
emperor. He was also among the first rank of his own citizens. But the
advantages he received from his learning did not countervail the mischief
he brought upon himself in the exercise of his authority; so difficult it
is for those to obtain the virtue that is necessary for a wise man, who
have the absolute power to do what they please without control. At the
first he got himself such friends as were in all respects the most worthy,
and was greatly beloved by them, while he imitated their zealous
application to the learning and to the glorious actions of the best men;
but when he became insolent towards them, they laid aside the kindness
they had for him, and began to hate him; from which hatred came that plot
which they raised against him, and wherein he perished.
CHAPTER 3. How Claudius Was Seized Upon And Brought Out Of His House And
Brought To The Camp; And How The Senate Sent An Embassage To Him.
1. Now Claudius, as I said before, went out of that way along which Caius
was gone; and as the family was in a mighty disorder upon the sad accident
of the murder of Caius, he was in great distress how to save himself, and
was found to have hidden himself in a certain narrow place, though he had
no other occasion for suspicion of any dangers, besides the dignity of his
birth; for while he was a private man, he behaved himself with moderation,
and was contented with his present fortune, applying himself to learning,
and especially to that of the Greeks, and keeping himself entirely clear
from every thing that might bring on any disturbance. But as at this time
the multitude were under a consternation, and the whole palace was full of
the soldiers’ madness, and the very emperor’s guards seemed under the like
fear and disorder with private persons, the band called pretorian, which
was the purest part of the army, was in consultation what was to be done
at this juncture. Now all those that were at this consultation had little
regard to the punishment Caius had suffered, because he justly deserved
such his fortune; but they were rather considering their own
circumstances, how they might take the best care of themselves, especially
while the Germans were busy in punishing the murderers of Caius; which yet
was rather done to gratify their own savage temper, than for the good of
the public; all which things disturbed Claudius, who was afraid of his own
safety, and this particularly because he saw the heads of Asprenas and his
partners carried about. His station had been on a certain elevated place,
whither a few steps led him, and whither he had retired in the dark by
himself. But when Gratus, who was one of the soldiers that belonged to the
palace, saw him, but did not well know by his countenance who he was,
because it was dark, though he could well judge that it was a man who was
privately there on some design, he came nearer to him; and when Claudius
desired that he would retire, he discovered who he was, and owned him to
be Claudius. So he said to his followers, “This is a Germanicus; 12
come on, let us choose him for our emperor.” But when Claudius saw they
were making preparations for taking him away by force, and was afraid they
would kill him, as they had killed Caius, he besought them to spare him,
putting them in mind how quietly he had demeaned himself, and that he was
unacquainted with what had been done. Hereupon Gratus smiled upon him, and
took him by the right hand, and said, “Leave off, sir, these low thoughts
of saving yourself, while you ought to have greater thoughts, even of
obtaining the empire, which the gods, out of their concern for the
habitable world, by taking Caius out of the way, commit to thy virtuous
conduct. Go to, therefore, and accept of the throne of thy ancestors.” So
they took him up and carried him, because he was not then able to go on
foot, such was his dread and his joy at what was told him.
2. Now there was already gathered together about Gratus a great number of
the guards; and when they saw Claudius carried off, they looked with a sad
countenance, as supposing that he was carried to execution for the
mischiefs that had been lately done; while yet they thought him a man who
never meddled with public affairs all his life long, and one that had met
with no contemptible dangers under the reign of Caius; and some of them
thought it reasonable that the consuls should take cognizance of these
matters; and as still more and more of the soldiery got together, the
crowd about him ran away, and Claudius could hardly go on, his body was
then so weak; and those who carried his sedan, upon an inquiry that was
made about his being carried off, ran away and saved themselves, as
despairing of their Lord’s preservation. But when they were come into the
large court of the palace, [which, as the report goes about it, was
inhabited first of all the parts of the city of Rome,] and had just
reached the public treasury, many more soldiers came about him, as glad to
see Claudius’s face, and thought it exceeding right to make him emperor,
on account of their kindness for Germanicus, who was his brother, and had
left behind him a vast reputation among all that were acquainted with him.
They reflected also on the covetous temper of the leading men of the
senate, and what great errors they had been guilty of when the senate had
the government formerly; they also considered the impossibility of such an
undertaking, as also what dangers they should be in, if the government
should come to a single person, and that such a one should possess it as
they had no hand in advancing, and not to Claudius, who would take it as
their grant, and as gained by their good-will to him, and would remember
the favors they had done him, and would make them a sufficient recompense
for the same.
3. These were the discourses the soldiers had one with another by
themselves, and they communicated them to all such as came in to them. Now
those that inquired about this matter willingly embraced the invitation
that was made them to join with the rest; so they carried Claudius into
the camp, crowding about him as his guard, and encompassing him about, one
chairman still succeeding another, that their vehement endeavors might not
be hindered. But as to the populace and senators, they disagreed in their
opinions. The latter were very desirous to recover their former dignity,
and were zealous to get clear of the slavery that had been brought on them
by the injurious treatment of the tyrants, which the present opportunity
afforded them; but for the people, who were envious against them, and knew
that the emperors were capable of curbing their covetous temper, and were
a refuge from them, they were very glad that Claudius had been seized
upon, and brought to them, and thought that if Claudius were made emperor,
he would prevent a civil war, such as there was in the days of Pompey. But
when the senate knew that Claudius was brought into the camp by the
soldiers, they sent to him those of their body which had the best
character for their virtues, that they might inform him that he ought to
do nothing by violence, in order to gain the government; that he who was a
single person, one either already or hereafter to be a member of their
body, ought to yield to the senate, which consisted of so great a number;
that he ought to let the law take place in the disposal of all that
related to the public order, and to remember how greatly the former
tyrants had afflicted their city, and what dangers both he and they had
escaped under Caius; and that he ought not to hate the heavy burden of
tyranny, when the injury is done by others, while he did himself willfully
treat his country after a mad and insolent manner; that if he would comply
with them, and demonstrate that his firm resolution was to live quietly
and virtuously, he would have the greatest honors decreed to him that a
free people could bestow; and by subjecting himself to the law, would
obtain this branch of commendation, that he acted like a man of virtue,
both as a ruler and a subject; but that if he would act foolishly, and
learn no wisdom by Caius’s death, they would not permit him to go on; that
a great part of the army was got together for them, with plenty of
weapons, and a great number of slaves, which they could make use of; that
good hope was a great matter in such cases, as was also good fortune; and
that the gods would never assist any others but those that undertook to
act with virtue and goodness, who can be no other than such as fight for
the liberty of their country.
4. Now these ambassadors, Veranius and Brocchus, who were both of them
tribunes of the people, made this speech to Claudius; and falling down
upon their knees, they begged of him that he would not throw the city into
wars and misfortunes; but when they saw what a multitude of soldiers
encompassed and guarded Claudius, and that the forces that were with the
consuls were, in comparison of them, perfectly inconsiderable, they added,
that if he did desire the government, he should accept of it as given by
the senate; that he would prosper better, and be happier, if he came to
it, not by the injustice, but by the good-will of those that would bestow
it upon him.
CHAPTER 4. What Things King Agrippa Did For Claudius; And How Claudius
When He Had Taken The Government Commanded The Murderers Of Caius To Be
Slain.
1. Now Claudius, though he was sensible after what an insolent manner the
senate had sent to him yet did he, according to their advice, behave
himself for the present with moderation; but not so far that he could not
recover himself out of his fright; so he was encouraged [to claim the
government] partly by the boldness of the soldiers, and partly by the
persuasion of king Agrippa, who exhorted him not to let such a dominion
slip out of his hands, when it came thus to him of its own accord. Now
this Agrippa, with relation to Caius, did what became one that had been so
much honored by him; for he embraced Caius’s body after he was dead, and
laid it upon a bed, and covered it as well as he could, and went out to
the guards, and told them that Caius was still alive; but he said that
they should call for physicians, since he was very ill of his wounds. But
when he had learned that Claudius was carried away violently by the
soldiers, he rushed through the crowd to him, and when he found that he
was in disorder, and ready to resign up the government to the senate, he
encouraged him, and desired him to keep the government; but when he had
said this to Claudius, he retired home. And upon the senate’s sending for
him, he anointed his head with ointment, as if he had lately accompanied
with his wife, and had dismissed her, and then came to them: he also asked
of the senators what Claudius did; who told him the present state of
affairs, and then asked his opinion about the settlement of the public. He
told them in words that he was ready to lose his life for the honor of the
senate, but desired them to consider what was for their advantage, without
any regard to what was most agreeable to them; for that those who grasp at
government will stand in need of weapons and soldiers to guard them,
unless they will set up without any preparation for it, and so fall into
danger. And when the senate replied that they would bring in weapons in
abundance, and money, and that as to an army, a part of it was already
collected together for them, and they would raise a larger one by giving
the slaves their liberty,—Agrippa made answer, “O senators! may you
be able to compass what you have a mind to; yet will I immediately tell
you my thoughts, because they tend to your preservation. Take notice,
then, that the army which will fight for Claudius hath been long exercised
in warlike affairs; but our army will be no better than a rude multitude
of raw men, and those such as have been unexpectedly made free from
slavery, and ungovernable; we must then fight against those that are
skillful in war, with men who know not so much as how to draw their
swords. So that my opinion is, that we should send some persons to
Claudius, to persuade him to lay down the government; and I am ready to be
one of your ambassadors.”
2. Upon this speech of Agrippa, the senate complied with him, and he was
sent among others, and privately informed Claudius of the disorder the
senate was in, and gave him instructions to answer them in a somewhat
commanding strain, and as one invested with dignity and authority.
Accordingly, Claudius said to the ambassadors, that he did not wonder the
senate had no mind to have an emperor over them, because they had been
harassed by the barbarity of those that had formerly been at the head of
their affairs; but that they should taste of an equitable government under
him, and moderate times, while he should only be their ruler in name, but
the authority should be equally common to them all; and since he had
passed through many and various scenes of life before their eyes, it would
be good for them not to distrust him. So the ambassadors, upon their
hearing this his answer, were dismissed. But Claudius discoursed with the
army which was there gathered together, who took oaths that they would
persist in their fidelity to him; Upon which he gave the guards every man
five thousand 13 drachmae a-piece, and a
proportionable quantity to their captains, and promised to give the same
to the rest of the armies wheresoever they were.
3. And now the consuls called the senate together into the temple of
Jupiter the Conqueror, while it was still night; but some of those
senators concealed themselves in the city, being uncertain what to do,
upon the hearing of this summons; and some of them went out of the city to
their own farms, as foreseeing whither the public affairs were going, and
despairing of liberty; nay, these supposed it much better for them to be
slaves without danger to themselves, and to live a lazy and inactive life,
than by claiming the dignity of their forefathers, to run the hazard of
their own safety. However, a hundred and no more were gotten together; and
as they were in consultation about the present posture of affairs, a
sudden clamor was made by the soldiers that were on their side, desiring
that the senate would choose them an emperor, and not bring the government
into ruin by setting up a multitude of rulers. So they fully declared
themselves to be for the giving the government not to all, but to one; but
they gave the senate leave to look out for a person worthy to be set over
them, insomuch that now the affairs of the senate were much worse than
before, because they had not only failed in the recovery of their liberty,
which they boasted themselves of, but were in dread of Claudius also. Yet
were there those that hankered after the government, both on account of
the dignity of their families and that accruing to them by their
marriages; for Marcus Minucianus was illustrious, both by his own
nobility, and by his having married Julia, the sister of Caius, who
accordingly was very ready to claim the government, although the consuls
discouraged him, and made one delay after another in proposing it: that
Minucianus also, who was one of Caius’s murderers, restrained Valerius of
Asia from thinking of such things; and a prodigious slaughter there had
been, if leave had been given to these men to set up for themselves, and
oppose Claudius. There were also a considerable number of gladiators
besides, and of those soldiers who kept watch by night in the city, and
rowers of ships, who all ran into the camp; insomuch that, of those who
put in for the government, some left off their pretensions in order to
spare the city, and others out of fear for their own persons.
4. But as soon as ever it was day, Cherea, and those that were with him,
came into the senate, and attempted to make speeches to the soldiers.
However, the multitude of those soldiers, when they saw that they were
making signals for silence with their hands, and were ready to begin to
speak to them, grew tumultuous, and would not let them speak at all,
because they were all zealous to be under a monarchy; and they demanded of
the senate one for their ruler, as not enduring any longer delays: but the
senate hesitated about either their own governing, or how they should
themselves be governed, while the soldiers would not admit them to govern,
and the murderers of Caius would not permit the soldiers to dictate to
them. When they were in these circumstances, Cherea was not able to
contain the anger he had, and promised, that if they desired an emperor,
he would give them one, if any one would bring him the watchword from
Eutychus. Now this Eutychus was charioteer of the green-band faction,
styled Prasine, and a great friend of Caius, who used to harass the
soldiery with building stables for the horses, and spent his time in
ignominious labors, which occasioned Cherea to reproach them with him, and
to abuse them with much other scurrilous language; and told them he would
bring them the head of Claudius; and that it was an amazing thing, that,
after their former madness, they should commit their government to a fool.
Yet were not they moved with his words, but drew their swords, and took up
their ensigns, and went to Claudius, to join in taking the oath of
fidelity to him. So the senate were left without any body to defend them,
and the very consuls differed nothing from private persons. They were also
under consternation and sorrow, men not knowing what would become of them,
because Claudius was very angry at them; so they fell a reproaching one
another, and repented of what they had done. At which juncture Sabinus,
one of Caius’s murderers, threatened that he would sooner come into the
midst of them and kill himself, than consent to make Claudius emperor, and
see slavery returning upon them; he also abused Cherea for loving his life
too well, while he who was the first in his contempt of Caius, could think
it a good thin to live, when, even by all that they had done for the
recovery of their liberty, they found it impossible to do it. But Cherea
said he had no manner of doubt upon him about killing himself; that yet he
would first sound the intentions of Claudius before he did it.
5. These were the debates [about the senate]; but in the camp every body
was crowding on all sides to pay their court to Claudius; and the other
consul, Quintus Pomponhis, was reproached by the soldiery, as having
rather exhorted the senate to recover their liberty; whereupon they drew
their swords, and were going to assault him, and they had done it, if
Claudius had not hindered them, who snatched the consul out of the danger
he was in, and set him by him. But he did not receive that part of the
senate which was with Quintus in the like honorable manner; nay, some of
them received blows, and were thrust away as they came to salute Claudius;
nay, Aponius went away wounded, and they were all in danger. However, king
Agrippa went up to Claudius, and desired he would treat the senators more
gently; for if any mischief should come to the senate, he would have no
others over whom to rule. Claudius complied with him, and called the
senate together into the palace, and was carried thither himself through
the city, while the soldiery conducted him, though this was to the great
vexation of the multitude; for Cherea and Sabinus, two of Caius’s
murderers, went in the fore-front of them, in an open manner, while
Pollio, whom Claudius, a little before, had made captain of his guards,
had sent them an epistolary edict, to forbid them to appear in public.
Then did Claudius, upon his coming to the palace, get his friends
together, and desired their suffrages about Cherea. They said that the
work he had done was a glorious one; but they accused him that he did it of
perfidiousness, and thought it just to inflict the punishment [of death]
upon him, to discountenance such actions for the time to come. So Cherea
was led to his execution, and Lupus and many other Romans with him. Now it
is reported that Cherea bore this calamity courageously; and this not only
by the firmness of his own behavior under it, but by the reproaches he
laid upon Lupus, who fell into tears; for when Lupus laid his garment
aside, and complained of the cold 14 he
said, that cold was never hurtful to Lupus [i.e. a wolf] And as a great
many men went along with them to see the sight, when Cherea came to the
place, he asked the soldier who was to be their executioner, whether this
office was what he was used to, or whether this was the first time of his
using his sword in that manner, and desired him to bring him that very
sword with which he himself slew Caius. 15 So he
was happily killed at one stroke. But Lupus did not meet with such good
fortune in going out of the world, since he was timorous, and had many
blows leveled at his neck, because he did not stretch it out boldly [as he
ought to have done].
6. Now, a few days after this, as the Parental solemnities were just at
hand, the Roman multitude made their usual oblations to their several
ghosts, and put portions into the fire in honor of Cherea, and besought
him to be merciful to them, and not continue his anger against them for
their ingratitude. And this was the end of the life that Cherea came to.
But for Sabinus, although Claudius not only set him at liberty, but gave
him leave to retain his former command in the army, yet did he think it
would be unjust in him to fail of performing his obligations to his fellow
confederates; so he fell upon his sword, and killed himself, the wound
reaching up to the very hilt of the sword.
CHAPTER 5. How Claudius Restored To Agrippa His Grandfathers Kingdoms And
Augmented His Dominions; And How He Published An Edict In Behalf.
1. Now when Claudius had taken out of the way all those soldiers whom he
suspected, which he did immediately, he published an edict, and therein
confirmed that kingdom to Agrippa which Caius had given him, and therein
commended the king highly. He also made all addition to it of all that
country over which Herod, who was his grandfather, had reigned, that is,
Judea and Samaria; and this he restored to him as due to his family. But
for Abila 16 of Lysanias, and all that lay
at Mount Libanus, he bestowed them upon him, as out of his own
territories. He also made a league with this Agrippa, confirmed by oaths,
in the middle of the forum, in the city of Rome: he also took away from
Antiochus that kingdom which he was possessed of, but gave him a certain
part of Cilicia and Commagena: he also set Alexander Lysimachus, the
alabarch, at liberty, who had been his old friend, and steward to his
mother Antonia, but had been imprisoned by Caius, whose son [Marcus]
married Bernice, the daughter of Agrippa. But when Marcus, Alexander’s
son, was dead, who had married her when she was a virgin, Agrippa gave her
in marriage to his brother Herod, and begged for him of Claudius the
kingdom of Chalcis.
2. Now about this time there was a sedition between the Jews and the
Greeks, at the city of Alexandria; for when Caius was dead, the nation of
the Jews, which had been very much mortified under the reign of Caius, and
reduced to very great distress by the people of Alexandria, recovered
itself, and immediately took up their arms to fight for themselves. So
Claudius sent an order to the president of Egypt to quiet that tumult; he
also sent an edict, at the requests of king Agrippa and king Herod, both
to Alexandria and to Syria, whose contents were as follows: “Tiberius
Claudius Cæsar Augustus Germanicus, high priest, and tribune of the
people, ordains thus: Since I am assured that the Jews of Alexandria,
called Alexandrians, have been joint inhabitants in the earliest times
with the Alexandrians, and have obtained from their kings equal privileges
with them, as is evident by the public records that are in their
possession, and the edicts themselves; and that after Alexandria had been
subjected to our empire by Augustus, their rights and privileges have been
preserved by those presidents who have at divers times been sent thither;
and that no dispute had been raised about those rights and privileges,
even when Aquila was governor of Alexandria; and that when the Jewish
ethnarch was dead, Augustus did not prohibit the making such ethnarchs, as
willing that all men should be so subject [to the Romans] as to continue
in the observation of their own customs, and not be forced to transgress
the ancient rules of their own country religion; but that, in the time of
Caius, the Alexandrians became insolent towards the Jews that were among
them, which Caius, out of his great madness and want of understanding,
reduced the nation of the Jews very low, because they would not transgress
the religious worship of their country, and call him a god: I will
therefore that the nation of the Jews be not deprived of their rights and
privileges, on account of the madness of Caius; but that those rights and
privileges which they formerly enjoyed be preserved to them, and that they
may continue in their own customs. And I charge both parties to take very
great care that no troubles may arise after the promulgation of this
edict.”
3. And such were the contents of this edict on behalf of the Jews that was
sent to Alexandria. But the edict that was sent into the other parts of
the habitable earth was this which follows: “Tiberius Claudius Cæsar
Augustus Germanicus, high priest, tribune of the people, chosen consul the
second time, ordains thus: Upon the petition of king Agrippa and king
Herod, who are persons very dear to me, that I would grant the same rights
and privileges should be preserved to the Jews which are in all the Roman
empire, which I have granted to those of Alexandria, I very willingly
comply therewith; and this grant I make not only for the sake of the
petitioners, but as judging those Jews for whom I have been petitioned
worthy of such a favor, on account of their fidelity and friendship to the
Romans. I think it also very just that no Grecian city should be deprived
of such rights and privileges, since they were preserved to them under the
great Augustus. It will therefore be fit to permit the Jews, who are in
all the world under us, to keep their ancient customs without being
hindered so to do. And I do charge them also to use this my kindness to
them with moderation, and not to show a contempt of the superstitious
observances of other nations, but to keep their own laws only. And I will
that this decree of mine be engraven on tables by the magistrates of the
cities, and colonies, and municipal places, both those within Italy and
those without it, both kings and governors, by the means of the
ambassadors, and to have them exposed to the public for full thirty days,
in such a place whence it may plainly be read from the ground.” 17
CHAPTER 6. What Things Were Done By Agrippa At Jerusalem When He Was
Returned Back Into Judea; And What It Was That Petronius Wrote To The
Inhabitants Of Doris, In Behalf.
1. Now Claudius Cæsar, by these decrees of his which were sent to
Alexandria, and to all the habitable earth, made known what opinion he had
of the Jews. So he soon sent Agrippa away to take his kingdom, now he was
advanced to a more illustrious dignity than before, and sent letters to
the presidents and procurators of the provinces that they should treat him
very kindly. Accordingly, he returned in haste, as was likely he would,
now he returned in much greater prosperity than he had before. He also
came to Jerusalem, and offered all the sacrifices that belonged to him,
and omitted nothing which the law required; 18 on
which account he ordained that many of the Nazarites should have their
heads shorn. And for the golden chain which had been given him by Caius,
of equal weight with that iron chain wherewith his royal hands had been
bound, he hung it up within the limits of the temple, over the treasury,
19
that it might be a memorial of the severe fate he had lain under, and a
testimony of his change for the better; that it might be a demonstration
how the greatest prosperity may have a fall, and that God sometimes raises
up what is fallen down: for this chain thus dedicated afforded a document
to all men, that king Agrippa had been once bound in a chain for a small
cause, but recovered his former dignity again; and a little while
afterward got out of his bonds, and was advanced to be a more illustrious
king than he was before. Whence men may understand that all that partake
of human nature, how great soever they are, may fall; and that those that
fall may gain their former illustrious dignity again.
2. And when Agrippa had entirely finished all the duties of the Divine
worship, he removed Theophilus, the son of Ananus, from the high
priesthood, and bestowed that honor of his on Simon the son of Boethus,
whose name was also Cantheras whose daughter king Herod married, as I have
related above. Simon, therefore, had the [high] priesthood with his
brethren, and with his father, in like manner as the sons of Simon, the
son of Onias, who were three, had it formerly under the government of the
Macedonians, as we have related in a former book.
3. When the king had settled the high priesthood after this manner, he
returned the kindness which the inhabitants of Jerusalem had showed him;
for he released them from the tax upon houses, every one of which paid it
before, thinking it a good thing to requite the tender affection of those
that loved him. He also made Silas the general of his forces, as a man who
had partaken with him in many of his troubles. But after a very little
while the young men of Doris, preferring a rash attempt before piety, and
being naturally bold and insolent, carried a statue of Cæsar into a
synagogue of the Jews, and erected it there. This procedure of theirs
greatly provoked Agrippa; for it plainly tended to the dissolution of the
laws of his country. So he came without delay to Publius Petronius, who
was then president of Syria, and accused the people of Doris. Nor did he
less resent what was done than did Agrippa; for he judged it a piece of
impiety to transgress the laws that regulate the actions of men. So he
wrote the following letter to the people of Doris in an angry strain:
“Publius Petronius, the president under Tiberius Claudius Cæsar Augustus
Germanicus, to the magistrates of Doris, ordains as follows: Since some of
you have had the boldness, or madness rather, after the edict of Claudius
Cæsar Augustus Germanicus was published, for permitting the Jews to
observe the laws of their country, not to obey the same, but have acted in
entire opposition thereto, as forbidding the Jews to assemble together in
the synagogue, by removing Cæsar’s statue, and setting it up therein, and
thereby have offended not only the Jews, but the emperor himself, whose
statue is more commodiously placed in his own temple than in a foreign
one, where is the place of assembling together; while it is but a part of
natural justice, that every one should have the power over the place
belonging peculiarly to themselves, according to the determination of
Cæsar,—to say nothing of my own determination, which it would be
ridiculous to mention after the emperor’s edict, which gives the Jews
leave to make use of their own customs, as also gives order that they
enjoy equally the rights of citizens with the Greeks themselves,—I
therefore ordain that Proculus Vitellius, the centurion, bring those men
to me, who, contrary to Augustus’s edict, have been so insolent as to do
this thing, at which those very men, who appear to be of principal
reputation among them, have an indignation also, and allege for
themselves, ‘that it was not done with their consent, but by the violence
of the multitude, that they may give an account of what hath been done. I
also exhort the principal magistrates among them, unless they have a mind
to have this action esteemed to be done with their consent, to inform the
centurion of those that were guilty of it, and take care that no handle be
hence taken for raising a sedition or quarrel among them; which those seem
to me to treat after who encourage such doings; while both I myself, and
king Agrippa, for whom I have the highest honor, have nothing more under
our care, than that the nation of the Jews may have no occasion given them
of getting together, under the pretense of avenging themselves, and become
tumultuous. And that it may be more publicly known what Augustus hath
resolved about this whole matter, I have subjoined those edicts which he
hath lately caused to be published at Alexandria, and which, although they
may be well known to all, yet did king Agrippa, for whom I have the
highest honor, read them at that time before my tribunal, and pleaded that
the Jews ought not to be deprived of those rights which Augustus hath
granted them. I therefore charge you, that you do not, for the time to
come, seek for any occasion of sedition or disturbance, but that every one
be allowed to follow their own religious customs.”
4. Thus did Petronius take care of this matter, that such a breach of the
law might be corrected, and that no such thing might be attempted
afterwards against the Jews. And now king Agrippa took the [high]
priesthood away from Simon Cantheras, and put Jonathan, the son of Ananus,
into it again, and owned that he was more worthy of that dignity than the
other. But this was not a thing acceptable to him, to recover that his
former dignity. So he refused it, and said, “O king! I rejoice in the
honor that thou hast for me, and take it kindly that thou wouldst give me
such a dignity of thy own inclinations, although God hath judged that I am
not at all worthy of the high priesthood. I am satisfied with having once
put on the sacred garments; for I then put them on after a more holy
manner than I should now receive them again. But if thou desirest that a
person more worthy than myself should have this honorable employment, give
me leave to name thee such a one. I have a brother that is pure from all
sin against God, and of all offenses against thyself; I recommend him to
thee, as one that is fit for this dignity.” So the king was pleased with
these words of his, and passed by Jonathan, and, according to his
brother’s desire, bestowed the high priesthood upon Matthias. Nor was it
long before Marcus succeeded Petronius, as president of Syria.
CHAPTER 7. Concerning Silas And On What Account It Was That King Agrippa
Was Angry At Him. How Agrippa Began To Encompass Jerusalem With A Wall;
And What Benefits He Bestowed On The Inhabitants Of Berytus.
1. Now Silas, the general of the king’s horse, because he had been
faithful to him under all his misfortunes, and had never refused to be a
partaker with him in any of his dangers, but had oftentimes undergone the
most hazardous dangers for him, was full of assurance, and thought he
might expect a sort of equality with the king, on account of the firmness
of the friendship he had showed to him. Accordingly, he would no where let
the king sit as his superior, and took the like liberty in speaking to him
upon all occasions, till he became troublesome to the king, when they were
merry together, extolling himself beyond measure, and oft putting the king
in mind of the severity of fortune he had undergone, that he might, by way
of ostentation, demonstrate What zeal he had showed in his service; and
was continually harping upon this string, what pains he had taken for him,
and much enlarged still upon that subject. The repetition of this so
frequently seemed to reproach the king, insomuch that he took this
ungovernable liberty of talking very ill at his hands. For the
commemoration of times when men have been under ignominy, is by no means
agreeable to them; and he is a very silly man who is perpetually relating
to a person what kindness he had done him. At last, therefore, Silas had
so thoroughly provoked the king’s indignation, that he acted rather out of
passion than good consideration, and did not only turn Silas out of his
place, as general of his horse, but sent him in bonds into his own
country. But the edge of his anger wore off by length of time, and made
room for more just reasonings as to his judgment about this man; and he
considered how many labors he had undergone for his sake. So when Agrippa
was solemnizing his birth-day, and he gave festival entertainments to all
his subjects, he sent for Silas on the sudden to be his guest. But as he
was a very frank man, he thought he had now a just handle given him to be
angry; which he could not conceal from those that came for him, but said
to them, “What honor is this the king invites me to, which I conclude will
soon be over? For the king hath not let me keep those original marks of
the good-will I bore him, which I once had from him; but he hath plundered
me, and that unjustly also. Does he think that I can leave off that
liberty of speech, which, upon the consciousness of my deserts, I shall
use more loudly than before, and shall relate how many misfortunes I have
been delivered from; how many labors I have undergone for him, whereby I
procured him deliverance and respect; as a reward for which I have borne
the hardships of bonds and a dark prison? I shall never forget this usage.
Nay, perhaps, my very soul, when it is departed out of the body, will not
forget the glorious actions I did on his account.” This was the clamor he
made, and he ordered the messengers to tell it to the king. So he
perceived that Silas was incurable in his folly, and still suffered him to
lie in prison.
2. As for the walls of Jerusalem, that were adjoining to the new city
[Bezetha], he repaired them at the expense of the public, and built them
wider in breadth, and higher in altitude; and he had made them too strong
for all human power to demolish, unless Marcus, the then president of
Syria, had by letter informed Claudius Cæsar of what he was doing. And
when Claudius had some suspicion of attempts for innovation, he sent to
Agrippa to leave off the building of those walls presently. So he obeyed,
as not thinking it proper to contradict Claudius.
3. Now this king was by nature very beneficent and liberal in his gifts,
and very ambitious to oblige people with such large donations; and he made
himself very illustrious by the many chargeable presents he made them. He
took delight in giving, and rejoiced in living with good reputation. He
was not at all like that Herod who reigned before him; for that Herod was
ill-natured, and severe in his punishments, and had no mercy on them that
he hated; and every one perceived that he was more friendly to the Greeks
than to the Jews; for he adorned foreign cities with large presents in
money; with building them baths and theatres besides; nay, in some of
those places he erected temples, and porticoes in others; but he did not
vouchsafe to raise one of the least edifices in any Jewish city, or make
them any donation that was worth mentioning. But Agrippa’s temper was
mild, and equally liberal to all men. He was humane to foreigners, and
made them sensible of his liberality. He was in like manner rather of a
gentle and compassionate temper. Accordingly, he loved to live continually
at Jerusalem, and was exactly careful in the observance of the laws of his
country. He therefore kept himself entirely pure; nor did any day pass
over his head without its appointed sacrifice.
4. However, there was a certain mall of the Jewish nation at Jerusalem,
who appeared to be very accurate in the knowledge of the law. His name was
Simon. This man got together an assembly, while the king was absent at
Cæsarea, and had the insolence to accuse him as not living holily, and
that he might justly be excluded out of the temple, since it belonged only
to native Jews. But the general of Agrippa’s army informed him that Simon
had made such a speech to the people. So the king sent for him; and as he
was sitting in the theater, he bid him sit down by him, and said to him
with a low and gentle voice, “What is there done in this place that is
contrary to the law?” But he had nothing to say for himself, but begged
his pardon. So the king was more easily reconciled to him than one could
have imagined, as esteeming mildness a better quality in a king than
anger, and knowing that moderation is more becoming in great men than
passion. So he made Simon a small present, and dismissed him.
5. Now as Agrippa was a great builder in many places, he paid a peculiar
regard to the people of Berytus; for he erected a theater for them,
superior to many others of that sort, both in Sumptuousness and elegance,
as also an amphitheater, built at vast expenses; and besides these, he
built them baths and porticoes, and spared for no costs in any of his
edifices, to render them both handsome and large. He also spent a great
deal upon their dedication, and exhibited shows upon them, and brought
thither musicians of all sorts, and such as made the most delightful music
of the greatest variety. He also showed his magnificence upon the theater,
in his great number of gladiators; and there it was that he exhibited the
several antagonists, in order to please the spectators; no fewer indeed
than seven hundred men to fight with seven hundred other men 20
and allotted all the malefactors he had for this exercise, that both the
malefactors might receive their punishment, and that this operation of war
might be a recreation in peace. And thus were these criminals all
destroyed at once.
CHAPTER 8. What Other Acts Were Done By Agrippa Until His Death; And After
What Manner He Died.
1. When Agrippa had finished what I have above related at Berytus, he
removed to Tiberias, a city of Galilee. Now he was in great esteem among
other kings. Accordingly there came to him Antiochus, king of Commalena,
Sampsigeratnus, king of Emesa, and Cotys, who was king of the Lesser
Armenia, and Polemo, who was king of Pontus, as also Herod his brother,
who was king of Chalcis. All these he treated with agreeable
entertainments, and after an obliging manner, and so as to exhibit the
greatness of his mind, and so as to appear worthy of those respects which
the kings paid to him, by coming thus to see him. However, while these
kings staid with him, Marcus, the president of Syria, came thither. So the
king, in order to preserve the respect that was due to the Romans, went
out of the city to meet him, as far as seven furlongs. But this proved to
be the beginning of a difference between him and Marcus; for he took with
him in his chariot those other kings as his assessors. But Marcus had a
suspicion what the meaning could be of so great a friendship of these
kings one with another, and did not think so close an agreement of so many
potentates to be for the interest of the Romans. He therefore sent some of
his domestics to every one of them, and enjoined them to go their ways
home without further delay. This was very ill taken by Agrippa, who after
that became his enemy. And now he took the high priesthood away from
Matthias, and made Elioneus, the son of Cantheras, high priest in his
stead.
2. Now when Agrippa had reigned three years over all Judea, he came to the
city Cæsarea, which was formerly called Strato’s Tower; and there he
exhibited shows in honor of Cæsar, upon his being informed that there was
a certain festival celebrated to make vows for his safety. At which
festival a great multitude was gotten together of the principal persons,
and such as were of dignity through his province. On the second day of
which shows he put on a garment made wholly of silver, and of a contexture
truly wonderful, and came into the theater early in the morning; at which
time the silver of his garment being illuminated by the fresh reflection
of the sun’s rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner, and was so
resplendent as to spread a horror over those that looked intently upon
him; and presently his flatterers cried out, one from one place, and
another from another, [though not for his good,] that he was a god; and
they added, “Be thou merciful to us; for although we have hitherto
reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as
superior to mortal nature.” Upon this the king did neither rebuke them,
nor reject their impious flattery. But as he presently afterward looked
up, he saw an owl 21 sitting on a certain rope over
his head, and immediately understood that this bird was the messenger of
ill tidings, as it had once been the messenger of good tidings to him; and
fell into the deepest sorrow. A severe pain also arose in his belly, and
began in a most violent manner. He therefore looked upon his friends, and
said, “I, whom you call a god, am commanded presently to depart this life;
while Providence thus reproves the lying words you just now said to me;
and I, who was by you called immortal, am immediately to be hurried away
by death. But I am bound to accept of what Providence allots, as it
pleases God; for we have by no means lived ill, but in a splendid and
happy manner.” When he said this, his pain was become violent. Accordingly
he was carried into the palace, and the rumor went abroad every where,
that he would certainly die in a little time. But the multitude presently
sat in sackcloth, with their wives and children, after the law of their
country, and besought God for the king’s recovery. All places were also
full of mourning and lamentation. Now the king rested in a high chamber,
and as he saw them below lying prostrate on the ground, he could not
himself forbear weeping. And when he had been quite worn out by the pain
in his belly for five days, he departed this life, being in the
fifty-fourth year of his age, and in the seventh year of his reign; for he
reigned four years under Caius Cæsar, three of them were over Philip’s
tetrarchy only, and on the fourth he had that of Herod added to it; and he
reigned, besides those, three years under the reign of Claudius Cæsar; in
which time he reigned over the forementioned countries, and also had Judea
added to them, as well as Samaria and Cæsarea. The revenues that he
received out of them were very great, no less than twelve millions of
drachmae. 22 Yet did he borrow great sums
from others; for he was so very liberal that his expenses exceeded his
incomes, and his generosity was boundless. 23
3. But before the multitude were made acquainted with Agrippa’s being
expired, Herod the king of Chalcis, and Helcias the master of his horse,
and the king’s friend, sent Aristo, one of the king’s most faithful
servants, and slew Silas, who had been their enemy, as if it had been done
by the king’s own command.
CHAPTER 9. What Things Were Done After The Death Of Agrippa; And How
Claudius, On Account Of The Youth And Unskilfulness Of Agrippa, Junior,
Sent Cuspius Fadus To Be Procurator Of Judea, And Of The Entire Kingdom.
1. And thus did king Agrippa depart this life. But he left behind him a
son, Agrippa by name, a youth in the seventeenth year of his age, and
three daughters; one of which, Bernice, was married to Herod, his father’s
brother, and was sixteen years old; the other two, Mariamne and Drusilla,
were still virgins; the former was ten years old, and Drusilla six. Now
these his daughters were thus espoused by their father; Marlatone to
Julius Archelaus Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus, the son of Chelcias; and
Drusilla to the king of Commagena. But when it was known that Agrippa was
departed this life, the inhabitants of Cæsarea and of Sebaste forgot the
kindnesses he had bestowed on them, and acted the part of the bitterest
enemies; for they cast such reproaches upon the deceased as are not fit to
be spoken of; and so many of them as were then soldiers, which were a
great number, went to his house, and hastily carried off the statues 24
of this king’s daughters, and all at once carried them into the
brothel-houses, and when they had set them on the tops of those houses,
they abused them to the utmost of their power, and did such things to them
as are too indecent to be related. They also laid themselves down in
public places, and celebrated general feastings, with garlands on their
heads, and with ointments and libations to Charon, and drinking to one
another for joy that the king was expired. Nay, they were not only
unmindful of Agrippa, who had extended his liberality to them in
abundance, but of his grandfather Herod also, who had himself rebuilt
their cities, and had raised them havens and temples at vast expenses.
2. Now Agrippa, the son of the deceased, was at Rome, and brought up with
Claudius Cæsar. And when Cæsar was informed that Agrippa was dead, and
that the inhabitants of Sebaste and Cæsarea had abused him, he was sorry
for the first news, and was displeased with the ingratitude of those
cities. He was therefore disposed to send Agrippa, junior, away presently
to succeed his father in the kingdom, and was willing to confirm him in it
by his oath. But those freed-men and friends of his, who had the greatest
authority with him, dissuaded him from it, and said that it was a
dangerous experiment to permit so large a kingdom to come under the
government of so very young a man, and one hardly yet arrived at years of
discretion, who would not be able to take sufficient care of its
administration; while the weight of a kingdom is heavy enough to a grown
man. So Cæsar thought what they said to be reasonable. Accordingly he
sent Cuspins Fadus to be procurator of Judea, and of the entire kingdom,
and paid that respect to the deceased as not to introduce Marcus, who had
been at variance with him, into his kingdom. But he determined, in the
first place, to send orders to Fadus, that he should chastise the
inhabitants of Cæsarea and Sebaste for those abuses they had offered to
him that was deceased, and their madness towards his daughters that were
still alive; and that he should remove that body of soldiers that were at
Cæsarea and Sebaste, with the five regiments, into Pontus, that they might
do their military duty there; and that he should choose an equal number of
soldiers out of the Roman legions that were in Syria, to supply their
place. Yet were not those that had such orders actually removed; for by
sending ambassadors to Claudius, they mollified him, and got leave to
abide in Judea still; and these were the very men that became the source
of very great calamities to the Jews in after-times, and sowed the seeds
of that war which began under Florus; whence it was that when Vespasian
had subdued the country, he removed them out of his province, as we shall
relate hereafter.
FOOTNOTES
1 (return)
[ In this and the three
next chapters we have, I think, a larger and more distinct account of the
slaughter of Caius, and the succession of Claudius, than we have of any
such ancient facts whatsoever elsewhere. Some of the occasions of which
probably were, Josephus’s bitter hatred against tyranny, and the pleasure
he took in giving the history of the slaughter of such a barbarous tyrant
as was this Caius Caligula, as also the deliverance his own nation had by
that slaughter, of which he speaks sect. 2, together with the great
intimacy he had with Agrippa, junior, whose father was deeply concerned in
the advancement of Claudius, upon the death of Caius; from which Agrippa,
junior, Josephus might be fully informed Of his history.]
2 (return)
[ Called Caligula by the
Romans.]
3 (return)
[ Just such a voice as this
is related to be came, and from an unknown original also, to the famous
Polycarp, as he was going to martyrdom, bidding him “play the man;” as the
church of Smyrna assures us in their account of that his martyrdom, sect.
9.]
4 (return)
[ Here Josephus supposes
that it was Augustus, and not Julius Cæsar, who first changed the Roman
commonwealth into a monarchy; for these shows were in honor of Augustus,
as we shall learn in the next section.]
5 (return)
[ Suetonius says Caius was
slain about the seventh hour of the day, the ninth. The series of the
narration favors Josephus.]
6 (return)
[ The rewards proposed by
the Roman laws to informers was sometimes an eighth part as Spanheim
assures us, from the criminal’s goods, as here, and sometimes a fourth
part.]
7 (return)
[ These consuls are named
in the War of the Jews, B. II. ch. 11. sect; 1, Sentius Saturninus and
Pomponius Secundus, as Spanheim notes here. The speech of the former of
them is set down in the next chapter, sect. 2.]
8 (return)
[ In this oration of
Sentius Saturninus, we may see the great value virtuous men put upon
public liberty, and the sad misery they underwent, while they were
tyrannized over by such emperors as Caius. See Josephus’s own short but
pithy reflection at the end of the chapter: “So difficult,” says he, “it
is for those to obtain the virtue that is necessary to a wise man, who
have the absolute power to do what they please without control.”]
9 (return)
[ Hence we learn that, in
the opinion of Saturninus, the sovereign authority of the consuls and
senate had been taken away just a hundred years before the death of Caius,
A.D. 41, or in the sixtieth year before the Christian saga, when the first
triumvirate began under Cæsar, Pompey, and Crassus.]
10 (return)
[ Spanheim here notes
from Suetonius, that the name of Caius’s sister with whom he was guilty of
incest, was Drusilla and that Suetonius adds, he was guilty of the same
crime with all his sisters also. He notes further, that Suetonius omits
the mention of the haven for ships, which our author esteems the only
public work for the good of the present and future ages which Caius left
behind him, though in an imperfect condition.]
11 (return)
[ This Caius was the son
of that excellent person Germanicus, who was the son of Drusus, the
brother of Tiberius the emperor. The first place Claudius came to was
inhabited, and called Herincure, as Spanheim here informs us from
Suetonius, in Claud. ch. 10.
12 (return)
[ How Claudius, another
son of Drusus, which Drusus was the father of Germanicus, could be here
himself called Germanicus, Suetonius informs us, when he assures us that,
by a decree of the senate, the surname of Germanicus was bestowed upon
Drusus, and his posterity also.—In Claud. ch. 1.]
13 (return)
[ This number of drachmae
to be distributed to each private soldier, five thousand drachmae, equal
to twenty thousand sesterces, or one hundred and sixty-one pounds
sterling, seems much too large, and directly contradicts Suetonius, ch.
10., who makes them in all but fifteen sesterces, or two shillings and
four pence. Yet might Josephus have this number from Agrippa, junior,
though I doubt the thousands, or at least the hundreds, have been added by
the transcribers, of which we have had several examples already in
Josephus.]
14 (return)
[ This piercing cold here
complained of by Lupus agrees well to the time of the year when Claudius
began his reign; it being for certain about the months of November,
December, or January, and most probably a few days after January the
twenty-fourth, and a few days before the Roman Parentalia.]
15 (return)
[ It is both here and
elsewhere very remarkable, that the murders of the vilest tyrants, who yet
highly deserved to die, when those murderers were under oaths, or other
the like obligations of fidelity to them, were usually revenged, and the
murderers were cut off themselves, and that after a remarkable manner; and
this sometimes, as in the present case, by those very persons who were not
sorry for such murders, but got kingdoms by them. The examples are very
numerous, both in sacred and profane histories, and seem generally
indications of Divine vengeance on such murderers. Nor is it unworthy of
remark, that such murderers of tyrants do it usually on such ill
principles, in such a cruel manner, and as ready to involve the innocent
with the guilty, which was the case here, ch. 1. sect. 14, and ch. 2.
sect. 4, as justly deserved the Divine vengeance upon them. Which seems to
have been the case of Jehu also, when, besides the house of Ahab, for
whose slaughter he had a commission from God, without any such commission,
any justice or commiseration, he killed Ahab’s great men, and
acquaintance, and priests, and forty-two of the kindred of Ahaziah, 2
Kings 10:11-14. See Hosea 1:4. I do not mean here to condemn Ehud or
Judith, or the like executioners of God’s vengeance on those wicked
tyrants who had unjustly oppressed God’s own people under their theocracy;
who, as they appear still to have had no selfish designs nor intentions to
slay the innocent, so had they still a Divine commission, or a Divine
impulse, which was their commission for what they did, Judges 3:15, 19,
20; Judith 9:2; Test. Levi. sect. 5, in Authent. Rec. p. 312. See also
page 432.]
16 (return)
[ Here St. Luke is in
some measure confirmed, when he reforms us, ch. 3:1, that Lysanias was
some time before tetrarch of Abilene, whose capital was Abila; as he is
further confirmed by Ptolemy, the great geographer, which Spanheim here
observes, when he calls that city Abila of Lysanias. See the note on B.
XVII. ch. 11. sect. 4; and Prid. at the years 36 and 22. I esteem this
principality to have belonged to the land of Canaan originally, to have
been the burying-place of Abel, and referred to as such, Matthew 23:35;
Luke 11:51. See Authent. Rec. Part. II. p. 883—885.]
17 (return)
[ This form was so known
and frequent among the Romans, as Dr. Hudson here tells us from the great
Selden, that it used to be thus represented at the bottom of their edicts
by the initial letters only, U. D. P. R. L. P, Unde De Plano Recte Lege
Possit; “Whence it may be plainly read from the ground.”]
18 (return)
[ Josephus shows, both
here and ch. 7. sect. 3, that he had a much greater opinion of king
Agrippa I. than Simon the learned Rabbi, than the people of Cæsarea and
Sebaste, ch. 7. sect. 4; and ch. 9. sect. 1; and indeed than his double-
dealing between the senate and Claudius, ch. 4. sect. 2, than his
slaughter of James the brother of John, and his imprisonment of Peter, or
his vain-glorious behavior before he died, both in Acts 12:13; and here,
ch. 4. sect. 1, will justify or allow. Josephus’s character was probably
taken from his son Agrippa, junior.]
19 (return)
[ This treasury-chamber
seems to have been the very same in which our Savior taught, and where the
people offered their charity money for the repairs or other uses of the
temple, Mark 12:41, etc.; Luke 22:1; John 8:20.]
20 (return)
[ A strange number of
condemned criminals to be under the sentence of death at once; no fewer,
it seems, than one thousand four hundred!]
21 (return)
[ We have a mighty cry
made here by some critics, as the great Eusebius had on purpose falsified
this account of Josephus, so as to make it agree with the parallel account
in the Acts of the Apostles, because the present copies of his citation of
it, Hist. Eceles. B. II. ch. 10., omit the words an owl—on a certain
rope, which Josephus’s present copies retain, and only have the
explicatory word or angel; as if he meant that angel of the Lord which St.
Luke mentions as smiting Herod, Acts 12:23, and not that owl which
Josephus called an angel or messenger, formerly of good, but now of bad
news, to Agrippa. This accusation is a somewhat strange one in the case of
the great Eusebius, who is known to have so accurately and faithfully
produced a vast number of other ancient records, and particularly not a
few out of our Josephus also, without any suspicion of prevarication. Now,
not to allege how uncertain we are whether Josephus’s and Eusebius’s
copies of the fourth century were just like the present in this clause,
which we have no distinct evidence of, the following words, preserved
still in Eusebius, will not admit of any such exposition: “This [bird]
[says Eusebius] Agrippa presently perceived to be the cause of ill
fortune, as it was once of good fortune, to him;” which can only belong to
that bird, the owl, which as it had formerly foreboded his happy
deliverance from imprisonment, Antiq. B. XVIII. ch. 6. sect. 7, so was it
then foretold to prove afterward the unhappy forerunner of his death in
five days’ time. If the improper words signifying cause, be changed for
Josephus’s proper word angel or messenger, and the foregoing words, be
inserted, Esuebius’s text will truly represent that in Josephus. Had this
imperfection been in some heathen author that was in good esteem with our
modern critics, they would have readily corrected these as barely errors
in the copies; but being in an ancient Christian writer, not so well
relished by many of those critics, nothing will serve but the ill-grounded
supposal of willful corruption and prevarication.]
22 (return)
[ This sum of twelve
millions of drachmae, which is equal to three millions of shekels, i.e. at
2s. 10d. a shekel, equal to four hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds
sterling, was Agrippa the Great’s yearly income, or about three quarters
of his grandfather Herod’s income; he having abated the tax upon houses at
Jerusalem, ch. 6. sect. 3, and was not so tyrannical as Herod had been to
the Jews. See the note on Antiq. B. XVII. ch. 11. sect. 4. A large sum
this! but not, it seems, sufficient for his extravagant expenses.]
23 (return)
[ Reland takes notice
here, not improperly, that Josephus omits the reconciliation of this Herod
Agrippa to the Tyrians and Sidoninus, by the means of Blastus the king’s
chamberlain, mentioned Acts 12:20. Nor is there any history in the world
so complete, as to omit nothing that other historians take notice of,
unless the one be taken out of the other, and accommodated to it.]
24 (return)
[ Photius, who made an
extract out of this section, says they were not the statues or images, but
the ladies themselves, who were thus basely abused by the soldiers.]
BOOK XX. Containing The Interval Of Twenty-Two Years.—From
Fadus The Procurator To Florus.
CHAPTER 1. A Sedition Of The Philadelphians Against The Jews; And Also
Concerning The Vestments Of The High Priest.
1. Upon the death of king Agrippa, which we have related in the foregoing
book, Claudius Cæsar sent Cassius Longinus as successor to Marcus, out of
regard to the memory of king Agrippa, who had often desired of him by
letters, while he was alive, that he would not suffer Marcus to be any
longer president of Syria. But Fadus, as soon as he was come procurator
into Judea, found quarrelsome doings between the Jews that dwelt in Perea,
and the people of Philadelphia, about their borders, at a village called
Mia, that was filled with men of a warlike temper; for the Jews of Perea
had taken up arms without the consent of their principal men, and had
destroyed many of the Philadelphians. When Fadus was informed of this
procedure, it provoked him very much that they had not left the
determination of the matter to him, if they thought that the
Philadelphians had done them any wrong, but had rashly taken up arms
against them. So he seized upon three of their principal men, who were
also the causes of this sedition, and ordered them to be bound, and
afterwards had one of them slain, whose name was Hannibal; and he banished
the other two, Areram and Eleazar. Tholomy also, the arch robber, was,
after some time, brought to him bound, and slain, but not till he had done
a world of mischief to Idumea and the Arabians. And indeed, from that
time, Judea was cleared of robberies by the care and providence of Fadus.
He also at this time sent for the high priests and the principal citizens
of Jerusalem, and this at the command of the emperor, and admonished them
that they should lay up the long garment and the sacred vestment, which it
is customary for nobody but the high priest to wear, in the tower of
Antonia, that it might be under the power of the Romans, as it had been
formerly. Now the Jews durst not contradict what he had said, but desired
Fadus, however, and Longinus, [which last was come to Jerusalem, and had
brought a great army with him, out of a fear that the [rigid] injunctions
of Fadus should force the Jews to rebel,] that they might, in the first
place, have leave to send ambassadors to Cæsar, to petition him that they
may have the holy vestments under their own power; and that, in the next
place, they would tarry till they knew what answer Claudius would give to
that their request. So they replied, that they would give them leave to
send their ambassadors, provided they would give them their sons as
pledges [for their peaceable behavior]. And when they had agreed so to do,
and had given them the pledges they desired, the ambassadors were sent
accordingly. But when, upon their coming to Rome, Agrippa, junior, the son
of the deceased, understood the reason why they came, [for he dwelt with
Claudius Cæsar, as we said before,] he besought Cæsar to grant the Jews
their request about the holy vestments, and to send a message to Fadus
accordingly.
2. Hereupon Claudius called for the ambassadors; and told them that he
granted their request; and bade them to return their thanks to Agrippa for
this favor, which had been bestowed on them upon his entreaty. And besides
these answers of his, he sent the following letter by them: “Claudius
Cæsar Germanicus, tribune of the people the fifth time, and designed
consul the fourth time, and imperator the tenth time, the father of his
country, to the magistrates, senate, and people, and the whole nation of
the Jews, sendeth greeting. Upon the presentation of your ambassadors to
me by Agrippa, my friend, whom I have brought up, and have now with me,
and who is a person of very great piety, who are come to give me thanks
for the care I have taken of your nation, and to entreat me, in an earnest
and obliging manner, that they may have the holy vestments, with the crown
belonging to them, under their power,—I grant their request, as that
excellent person Vitellius, who is very dear to me, had done before me.
And I have complied with your desire, in the first place, out of regard to
that piety which I profess, and because I would have every one worship God
according to the laws of their own country; and this I do also because I
shall hereby highly gratify king Herod, and Agrippa, junior, whose sacred
regards to me, and earnest good-will to you, I am well acquainted with,
and with whom I have the greatest friendship, and whom I highly esteem,
and look on as persons of the best character. Now I have written about
these affairs to Cuspius Fadus, my procurator. The names of those that
brought me your letter are Cornelius, the son of Cero, Trypho, the son of
Theudio, Dorotheus, the son of Nathaniel, and John, the son of Jotre. This
letter is dated before the fourth of the calends of July, when Ruffis and
Pompeius Sylvanus are consuls.”
3. Herod also, the brother of the deceased Agrippa, who was then possessed
of the royal authority over Chalcis, petitioned Claudius Cæsar for the
authority over the temple, and the money of the sacred treasure, and the
choice of the high priests, and obtained all that he petitioned for. So
that after that time this authority continued among all his descendants
till the end of the war 1 Accordingly, Herod removed the
last high priest, called Cimtheras, and bestowed that dignity on his
successor Joseph, the son of Cantos.
CHAPTER 2. How Helena The Queen Of Adiabene And Her Son Izates, Embraced
The Jewish Religion; And How Helena Supplied The Poor With Corn, When
There Was A Great Famine At Jerusalem.
1. About this time it was that Helena, queen of Adiabene, and her son
Izates, changed their course of life, and embraced the Jewish customs, and
this on the occasion following: Monobazus, the king of Adiabene, who had
also the name of Bazeus, fell in love with his sister Helena, and took her
to be his wife, and begat her with child. But as he was in bed with her
one night, he laid his hand upon his wife’s belly, and fell asleep, and
seemed to hear a voice, which bid him take his hand off his wife’s belly,
and not hurt the infant that was therein, which, by God’s providence,
would be safely born, and have a happy end. This voice put him into
disorder; so he awaked immediately, and told the story to his wife; and
when his son was born, he called him Izates. He had indeed Monobazus, his
elder brother, by Helena also, as he had other sons by other wives
besides. Yet did he openly place all his affections on this his only
begotten 2 son Izates, which was the origin
of that envy which his other brethren, by the same father, bore to him;
while on this account they hated him more and more, and were all under
great affliction that their father should prefer Izates before them. Now
although their father was very sensible of these their passions, yet did
he forgive them, as not indulging those passions out of an ill
disposition, but out of a desire each of them had to be beloved by their
father. However, he sent Izates, with many presents, to Abennerig, the
king of Charax- Spasini, and that out of the great dread he was in about
him, lest he should come to some misfortune by the hatred his brethren
bore him; and he committed his son’s preservation to him. Upon which
Abennerig gladly received the young man, and had a great affection for
him, and married him to his own daughter, whose name was Samacha: he also
bestowed a country upon him, from which he received large revenues.
2. But when Monobazus was grown old, and saw that he had but a little time
to live, he had a mind to come to the sight of his son before he died. So
he sent for him, and embraced him after the most affectionate manner, and
bestowed on him the country called Carra; it was a soil that bare amomum
in great plenty: there are also in it the remains of that ark, wherein it
is related that Noah escaped the deluge, and where they are still shown to
such as are desirous to see them. 3
Accordingly, Izates abode in that country until his father’s death. But
the very day that Monobazus died, queen Helena sent for all the grandees,
and governors of the kingdom, and for those that had the armies committed
to their command; and when they were come, she made the following speech
to them: “I believe you are not unacquainted that my husband was desirous
Izates should succeed him in the government, and thought him worthy so to
do. However, I wait your determination; for happy is he who receives a
kingdom, not from a single person only, but from the willing suffrages of
a great many.” This she said, in order to try those that were invited, and
to discover their sentiments. Upon the hearing of which, they first of all
paid their homage to the queen, as their custom was, and then they said
that they confirmed the king’s determination, and would submit to it; and
they rejoiced that Izates’s father had preferred him before the rest of
his brethren, as being agreeable to all their wishes: but that they were
desirous first of all to slay his brethren and kinsmen, that so the
government might come securely to Izates; because if they were once
destroyed, all that fear would be over which might arise from their hatred
and envy to him. Helena replied to this, that she returned them her thanks
for their kindness to herself and to Izates; but desired that they would
however defer the execution of this slaughter of Izates’s brethren till he
should be there himself, and give his approbation to it. So since these
men had not prevailed with her, when they advised her to slay them, they
exhorted her at least to keep them in bonds till he should come, and that
for their own security; they also gave her counsel to set up some one whom
she could put the greatest trust in, as a governor of the kingdom in the
mean time. So queen Helena complied with this counsel of theirs, and set
up Monobazus, the eldest son, to be king, and put the diadem upon his
head, and gave him his father’s ring, with its signet; as also the
ornament which they call Sampser, and exhorted him to administer the
affairs of the kingdom till his brother should come; who came suddenly
upon hearing that his father was dead, and succeeded his brother
Monobazus, who resigned up the government to him.
3. Now, during the time Izates abode at Charax-Spasini, a certain Jewish
merchant, whose name was Ananias, got among the women that belonged to the
king, and taught them to worship God according to the Jewish religion. He,
moreover, by their means, became known to Izates, and persuaded him, in
like manner, to embrace that religion; he also, at the earnest entreaty of
Izates, accompanied him when he was sent for by his father to come to
Adiabene; it also happened that Helena, about the same time, was
instructed by a certain other Jew and went over to them. But when Izates
had taken the kingdom, and was come to Adiabene, and there saw his
brethren and other kinsmen in bonds, he was displeased at it; and as he
thought it an instance of impiety either to slay or imprison them, but
still thought it a hazardous thing for to let them have their liberty,
with the remembrance of the injuries that had been offered them, he sent
some of them and their children for hostages to Rome, to Claudius Cæsar,
and sent the others to Artabanus, the king of Parthia, with the like
intentions.
4. And when he perceived that his mother was highly pleased with the
Jewish customs, he made haste to change, and to embrace them entirely; and
as he supposed that he could not be thoroughly a Jew unless he were
circumcised, he was ready to have it done. But when his mother understood
what he was about, she endeavored to hinder him from doing it, and said to
him that this thing would bring him into danger; and that, as he was a
king, he would thereby bring himself into great odium among his subjects,
when they should understand that he was so fond of rites that were to them
strange and foreign; and that they would never bear to be ruled over by a
Jew. This it was that she said to him, and for the present persuaded him
to forbear. And when he had related what she had said to Ananias, he
confirmed what his mother had said; and when he had also threatened to
leave him, unless he complied with him, he went away from him, and said
that he was afraid lest such an action being once become public to all, he
should himself be in danger of punishment for having been the occasion of
it, and having been the king’s instructor in actions that were of ill
reputation; and he said that he might worship God without being
circumcised, even though he did resolve to follow the Jewish law entirely,
which worship of God was of a superior nature to circumcision. He added,
that God would forgive him, though he did not perform the operation, while
it was omitted out of necessity, and for fear of his subjects. So the king
at that time complied with these persuasions of Ananias. But afterwards,
as he had not quite left off his desire of doing this thing, a certain
other Jew that came out of Galilee, whose name was Eleazar, and who was
esteemed very skillful in the learning of his country, persuaded him to do
the thing; for as he entered into his palace to salute him, and found him
reading the law of Moses, he said to him, “Thou dost not consider, O king!
that thou unjustly breakest the principal of those laws, and art injurious
to God himself, [by omitting to be circumcised]; for thou oughtest not
only to read them, but chiefly to practice what they enjoin thee. How long
wilt thou continue uncircumcised? But if thou hast not yet read the law
about circumcision, and dost not know how great impiety thou art guilty of
by neglecting it, read it now.” When the king had heard what he said, he
delayed the thing no longer, but retired to another room, and sent for a
surgeon, and did what he was commanded to do. He then sent for his mother,
and Ananias his tutor, and informed them that he had done the thing; upon
which they were presently struck with astonishment and fear, and that to a
great degree, lest the thing should be openly discovered and censured, and
the king should hazard the loss of his kingdom, while his subjects would
not bear to be governed by a man who was so zealous in another religion;
and lest they should themselves run some hazard, because they would be
supposed the occasion of his so doing. But it was God himself who hindered
what they feared from taking effect; for he preserved both Izates himself
and his sons when they fell into many dangers, and procured their
deliverance when it seemed to be impossible, and demonstrated thereby that
the fruit of piety does not perish as to those that have regard to him,
and fix their faith upon him only. 4 But these
events we shall relate hereafter.
5. But as to Helena, the king’s mother, when she saw that the affairs of
Izates’s kingdom were in peace, and that her son was a happy man, and
admired among all men, and even among foreigners, by the means of God’s
providence over him, she had a mind to go to the city of Jerusalem, in
order to worship at that temple of God which was so very famous among all
men, and to offer her thank-offerings there. So she desired her son to
give her leave to go thither; upon which he gave his consent to what she
desired very willingly, and made great preparations for her dismission,
and gave her a great deal of money, and she went down to the city
Jerusalem, her son conducting her on her journey a great way. Now her
coming was of very great advantage to the people of Jerusalem; for whereas
a famine did oppress them at that time, and many people died for want of
what was necessary to procure food withal, queen Helena sent some of her
servants to Alexandria with money to buy a great quantity of corn, and
others of them to Cyprus, to bring a cargo of dried figs. And as soon as
they were come back, and had brought those provisions, which was done very
quickly, she distributed food to those that were in want of it, and left a
most excellent memorial behind her of this benefaction, which she bestowed
on our whole nation. And when her son Izates was informed of this famine,
5
he sent great sums of money to the principal men in Jerusalem. However,
what favors this queen and king conferred upon our city Jerusalem shall be
further related hereafter.
CHAPTER 3. How Artabanus, the King of Parthia out of Fear of the Secret
Contrivances of His Subjects Against Him, Went to Izates, and Was By Him
Reinstated in His Government; as Also How Bardanes His Son Denounced War
Against Izates.
1. But now Artabanus, king of the Parthians perceiving that the governors
of the provinces had framed a plot against him, did not think it safe for
him to continue among them; but resolved to go to Izates, in hopes of
finding some way for his preservation by his means, and, if possible, for
his return to his own dominions. So he came to Izates, and brought a
thousand of his kindred and servants with him, and met him upon the road,
while he well knew Izates, but Izates did not know him. When Artabanus
stood near him, and, in the first place, worshipped him, according to the
custom, he then said to him, “O king! do not thou overlook me thy servant,
nor do thou proudly reject the suit I make thee; for as I am reduced to a
low estate, by the change of fortune, and of a king am become a private
man, I stand in need of thy assistance. Have regard, therefore, unto the
uncertainty of fortune, and esteem the care thou shalt take of me to be
taken of thyself also; for if I be neglected, and my subjects go off
unpunished, many other subjects will become the more insolent towards
other kings also.” And this speech Artabanus made with tears in his eyes,
and with a dejected countenance. Now as soon as Izates heard Artabanus’s
name, and saw him stand as a supplicant before him, he leaped down from
his horse immediately, and said to him, “Take courage, O king! nor be
disturbed at thy present calamity, as if it were incurable; for the change
of thy sad condition shall be sudden; for thou shalt find me to be more
thy friend and thy assistant than thy hopes can promise thee; for I will
either re-establish thee in the kingdom of Parthia, or lose my own.”
2. When he had said this, he set Artabanus upon his horse, and followed
him on foot, in honor of a king whom he owned as greater than himself;
which, when Artabanus saw, he was very uneasy at it, and sware by his
present fortune and honor that he would get down from his horse, unless
Izates would get upon his horse again, and go before him. So he complied
with his desire, and leaped upon his horse; and when he had brought him to
his royal palace, he showed him all sorts of respect when they sat
together, and he gave him the upper place at festivals also, as regarding
not his present fortune, but his former dignity, and that upon this
consideration also, that the changes of fortune are common to all men. He
also wrote to the Parthians, to persuade them to receive Artabanus again;
and gave them his right hand and his faith, that he should forget what was
past and done, and that he would undertake for this as a mediator between
them. Now the Parthians did not themselves refuse to receive him again,
but pleaded that it was not now in their power so to do, because they had
committed the government to another person, who had accepted of it, and
whose name was Cinnamus; and that they were afraid lest a civil war should
arise on this account. When Cinnamus understood their intentions, he wrote
to Artabanus himself, for he had been brought up by him, and was of a
nature good and gentle also, and desired him to put confidence in him, and
to come and take his own dominions again. Accordingly, Artabanus trusted
him, and returned home; when Cinnamus met him, worshipped him, and saluted
him as a king, and took the diadem off his own head, and put it on the
head of Artabanus.
3. And thus was Artahanus restored to his kingdom again by the means of
Izates, when he had lost it by the means of the grandees of the kingdom.
Nor was he unmindful of the benefits he had conferred upon him, but
rewarded him with such honors as were of the greatest esteem among them;
for he gave him leave to wear his tiara upright, 6 and to
sleep upon a golden bed, which are privileges and marks of honor peculiar
to the kings of Parthia. He also cut off a large and fruitful country from
the king of Armenia, and bestowed it upon him. The name of the country is
Nisibis, wherein the Macedonians had formerly built that city which they
called Antioch of Mygodonia. And these were the honors that were paid
Izates by the king of the Parthians.
4. But in no long time Artabanus died, and left his kingdom to his son
Bardanes. Now this Bardanes came to Izates, and would have persuaded him
to join him with his army, and to assist him in the war he was preparing
to make with the Romans; but he could not prevail with him. For Izates so
well knew the strength and good fortune of the Romans, that he took
Bardanes to attempt what was impossible to be done; and having besides
sent his sons, five in number, and they but young also, to learn
accurately the language of our nation, together with our learning, as well
as he had sent his mother to worship at our temple, as I have said
already, was the more backward to a compliance; and restrained Bardanes,
telling him perpetually of the great armies and famous actions of the
Romans, and thought thereby to terrify him, and desired thereby to hinder
him from that expedition. But the Parthian king was provoked at this his
behavior, and denounced war immediately against Izates. Yet did he gain no
advantage by this war, because God cut off all his hopes therein; for the
Parthians perceiving Bardanes’s intentions, and how he had determined to
make war with the Romans, slew him, and gave his kingdom to his brother
Gotarzes. He also, in no long time, perished by a plot made against him,
and Vologases, his brother, succeeded him, who committed two of his
provinces to two of his brothers by the same father; that of the Medes to
the elder, Pacorus; and Armenia to the younger, Tiridates.
CHAPTER 4. How Izates Was Betrayed By His Own Subjects, And Fought Against
By The Arabians And How Izates, By The Providence Of God, Was Delivered
Out Of Their Hands.
1. Now when the king’s brother, Monobazus, and his other kindred, saw how
Izates, by his piety to God, was become greatly esteemed by all men, they
also had a desire to leave the religion of their country, and to embrace
the customs of the Jews; but that act of theirs was discovered by Izates’s
subjects. Whereupon the grandees were much displeased, and could not
contain their anger at them; but had an intention, when they should find a
proper opportunity, to inflict a punishment upon them. Accordingly, they
wrote to Abia, king of the Arabians, and promised him great sums of money,
if he would make an expedition against their king; and they further
promised him, that, on the first onset, they would desert their king,
because they were desirous to punish him, by reason of the hatred he had
to their religious worship; then they obliged themselves, by oaths, to be
faithful to each other, and desired that he would make haste in this
design. The king of Arabia complied with their desires, and brought a
great army into the field, and marched against Izates; and, in the
beginning of the first onset, and before they came to a close fight, those
grandees, as if they had a panic terror upon them, all deserted Izates, as
they had agreed to do, and, turning their backs upon their enemies, ran
away. Yet was not Izates dismayed at this; but when he understood that the
grandees had betrayed him, he also retired into his camp, and made inquiry
into the matter; and as soon as he knew who they were that made this
conspiracy with the king of Arabia, he cut off those that were found
guilty; and renewing the fight on the next day, he slew the greatest part
of his enemies, and forced all the rest to betake themselves to flight. He
also pursued their king, and drove him into a fortress called Arsamus, and
following on the siege vigorously, he took that fortress. And when he had
plundered it of all the prey that was in it, which was not small, he
returned to Adiabene; yet did not he take Abia alive, because, when he
found himself encompassed on every side, he slew himself.
2. But although the grandees of Adiabene had failed in their first
attempt, as being delivered up by God into their king’s hands, yet would
they not even then be quiet, but wrote again to Vologases, who was then
king of Parthia, and desired that he would kill Izates, and set over them
some other potentate, who should be of a Parthian family; for they said
that they hated their own king for abrogating the laws of their
forefathers, and embracing foreign customs. When the king of Parthia heard
this, he boldly made war upon Izates; and as he had no just pretense for
this war, he sent to him, and demanded back those honorable privileges
which had been bestowed on him by his father, and threatened, on his
refusal, to make war upon him. Upon hearing of this, Izates was under no
small trouble of mind, as thinking it would be a reproach upon him to
appear to resign those privileges that had been bestowed upon him out of
cowardice; yet because he knew, that though the king of Parthia should
receive back those honors, yet would he not be quiet, he resolved to
commit himself to God, his Protector, in the present danger he was in of
his life; and as he esteemed him to be his principal assistant, he
intrusted his children and his wives to a very strong fortress, and laid
up his corn in his citadels, and set the hay and the grass on fire. And
when he had thus put things in order, as well as he could, he awaited the
coming of the enemy. And when the king of Parthia was come, with a great
army of footmen and horsemen, which he did sooner than was expected, [for
he marched in great haste,] and had cast up a bank at the river that
parted Adiabene from Media,—Izates also pitched his camp not far
off, having with him six thousand horsemen. But there came a messenger to
Izates, sent by the king of Parthia, who told him how large his dominions
were, as reaching from the river Euphrates to Bactria, and enumerated that
king’s subjects; he also threatened him that he should be punished, as a
person ungrateful to his lords; and said that the God whom he worshipped
could not deliver him out of the king’s hands. When the messenger had
delivered this his message, Izates replied that he knew the king of
Parthia’s power was much greater than his own; but that he knew also that
God was much more powerful than all men. And when he had returned him this
answer, he betook himself to make supplication to God, and threw himself
upon the ground, and put ashes upon his head, in testimony of his
confusion, and fasted, together with his wives and children. 7
Then he called upon God, and said, “O Lord and Governor, if I have not in
vain committed myself to thy goodness, but have justly determined that
thou only art the Lord and principal of all beings, come now to my
assistance, and defend me from my enemies, not only on my own account, but
on account of their insolent behavior with regard to thy power, while they
have not feared to lift up their proud and arrogant tongue against thee.”
Thus did he lament and bemoan himself, with tears in his eyes; whereupon
God heard his prayer. And immediately that very night Vologases received
letters, the contents of which were these, that a great band of Dahe and
Sacse, despising him, now he was gone so long a journey from home, had
made an expedition, and laid Parthia waste; so that he [was forced to]
retire back, without doing any thing. And thus it was that Izates escaped
the threatenings of the Parthians, by the providence of God.
3. It was not long ere Izates died, when he had completed fifty-five years
of his life, and had ruled his kingdom twenty-four years. He left behind
him twenty-four sons and twenty-four daughters. However, he gave order
that his brother Monobazus should succeed in the government, thereby
requiting him, because, while he was himself absent after their father’s
death, he had faithfully preserved the government for him. But when
Helena, his mother, heard of her son’s death, she was in great heaviness,
as was but natural, upon her loss of such a most dutiful son; yet was it a
comfort to her that she heard the succession came to her eldest son.
Accordingly, she went to him in haste; and when she was come into
Adiabene, she did not long outlive her son Izates. But Monobazus sent her
bones, as well as those of Izates, his brother, to Jerusalem, and gave
order that they should be buried at the pyramids 8 which
their mother had erected; they were three in number, and distant no more
than three furlongs from the city Jerusalem. But for the actions of
Monobazus the king, which he did during the rest of his life, we will
relate them hereafter.
CHAPTER 5. Concerning Theudas And The Sons Of Judas The Galilean; As Also
What Calamity Fell Upon The Jews On The Day Of The Passover.
1. Now it came to pass, while Fadus was procurator of Judea, that a
certain magician, whose name was Theudas, 9 persuaded
a great part of the people to take their effects with them, and follow him
to the river Jordan; for he told them he was a prophet, and that he would,
by his own command, divide the river, and afford them an easy passage over
it; and many were deluded by his words. However, Fadus did not permit them
to make any advantage of his wild attempt, but sent a troop of horsemen
out against them; who, falling upon them unexpectedly, slew many of them,
and took many of them alive. They also took Theudas alive, and cut off his
head, and carried it to Jerusalem. This was what befell the Jews in the
time of Cuspius Fadus’s government.
2. Then came Tiberius Alexander as successor to Fadus; he was the son of
Alexander the alabarch of Alexandria, which Alexander was a principal
person among all his contemporaries, both for his family and wealth: he
was also more eminent for his piety than this his son Alexander, for he
did not continue in the religion of his country. Under these procurators
that great famine happened in Judea, in which queen Helena bought corn in
Egypt at a great expense, and distributed it to those that were in want,
as I have related already. And besides this, the sons of Judas of Galilee
were now slain; I mean of that Judas who caused the people to revolt, when
Cyrenius came to take an account of the estates of the Jews, as we have
showed in a foregoing book. The names of those sons were James and Simon,
whom Alexander commanded to be crucified. But now Herod, king of Chalcis,
removed Joseph, the son of Camydus, from the high priesthood, and made
Ananias, the son of Nebedeu, his successor. And now it was that Cumanus
came as successor to Tiberius Alexander; as also that Herod, brother of
Agrippa the great king, departed this life, in the eighth year of the
reign of Claudius Cæsar. He left behind him three sons; Aristobulus, whom
he had by his first wife, with Bernicianus, and Hyrcanus, both whom he had
by Bernice his brother’s daughter. But Claudius Cæsar bestowed his
dominions on Agrippa, junior.
3. Now while the Jewish affairs were under the administration of Cumanus,
there happened a great tumult at the city of Jerusalem, and many of the
Jews perished therein. But I shall first explain the occasion whence it
was derived. When that feast which is called the passover was at hand, at
which time our custom is to use unleavened bread, and a great multitude
was gathered together from all parts to that feast, Cumanus was afraid
lest some attempt of innovation should then be made by them; so he ordered
that one regiment of the army should take their arms, and stand in the
temple cloisters, to repress any attempts of innovation, if perchance any
such should begin; and this was no more than what the former procurators
of Judea did at such festivals. But on the fourth day of the feast, a
certain soldier let down his breeches, and exposed his privy members to
the multitude, which put those that saw him into a furious rage, and made
them cry out that this impious action was not done to approach them, but
God himself; nay, some of them reproached Cumanus, and pretended that the
soldier was set on by him, which, when Cumanus heard, he was also himself
not a little provoked at such reproaches laid upon him; yet did he exhort
them to leave off such seditious attempts, and not to raise a tumult at
the festival. But when he could not induce them to be quiet for they still
went on in their reproaches to him, he gave order that the whole army
should take their entire armor, and come to Antonia, which was a fortress,
as we have said already, which overlooked the temple; but when the
multitude saw the soldiers there, they were affrighted at them, and ran
away hastily; but as the passages out were but narrow, and as they thought
their enemies followed them, they were crowded together in their flight,
and a great number were pressed to death in those narrow passages; nor
indeed was the number fewer than twenty thousand that perished in this
tumult. So instead of a festival, they had at last a mournful day of it;
and they all of them forgot their prayers and sacrifices, and betook
themselves to lamentation and weeping; so great an affliction did the
impudent obsceneness of a single soldier bring upon them. 10
4. Now before this their first mourning was over, another mischief befell
them also; for some of those that raised the foregoing tumult, when they
were traveling along the public road, about a hundred furlongs from the
city, robbed Stephanus, a servant of Cæsar, as he was journeying, and
plundered him of all that he had with him; which things when Cumanus
heard of, he sent soldiers immediately, and ordered them to plunder the
neighboring villages, and to bring the most eminent persons among them in
bonds to him. Now as this devastation was making, one of the soldiers
seized the laws of Moses that lay in one of those villages, and brought
them out before the eyes of all present, and tore them to pieces; and this
was done with reproachful language, and much scurrility; which things when
the Jews heard of, they ran together, and that in great numbers, and came
down to Cæsarea, where Cumanus then was, and besought him that he would
avenge, not themselves, but God himself, whose laws had been affronted;
for that they could not bear to live any longer, if the laws of their
forefathers must be affronted after this manner. Accordingly Cumanus, out
of fear lest the multitude should go into a sedition, and by the advice of
his friends also, took care that the soldier who had offered the affront
to the laws should be beheaded, and thereby put a stop to the sedition
which was ready to be kindled a second time.
CHAPTER 6. How There Happened A Quarrel Between The Jews And The
Samaritans; And How Claudius Put An End To Their Differences.
1. Now there arose a quarrel between the Samaritans and the Jews on the
occasion following: It was the custom of the Galileans, when they came to
the holy city at the festivals, to take their journeys through the country
of the Samaritans; 11 and at this time there lay, in
the road they took, a village that was called Ginea, which was situated in
the limits of Samaria and the great plain, where certain persons thereto
belonging fought with the Galileans, and killed a great many of them. But
when the principal of the Galileans were informed of what had been done,
they came to Cumanus, and desired him to avenge the murder of those that
were killed; but he was induced by the Samaritans, with money, to do
nothing in the matter; upon which the Galileans were much displeased, and
persuaded the multitude of the Jews to betake themselves to arms, and to
regain their liberty, saying that slavery was in itself a bitter thing,
but that when it was joined with direct injuries, it was perfectly
intolerable, And when their principal men endeavored to pacify them, and
promised to endeavor to persuade Cumanus to avenge those that were
killed, they would not hearken to them, but took their weapons, and
entreated the assistance of Eleazar, the son of Dineus, a robber, who had
many years made his abode in the mountains, with which assistance they
plundered many villages of the Samaritans. When Cumanus heard of this
action of theirs, he took the band of Sebaste, with four regiments of
footmen, and armed the Samaritans, and marched out against the Jews, and
caught them, and slew many of them, and took a great number of them alive;
whereupon those that were the most eminent persons at Jerusalem, and that
both in regard to the respect that was paid them, and the families they
were of, as soon as they saw to what a height things were gone, put on
sackcloth, and heaped ashes upon their heads, and by all possible means
besought the seditious, and persuaded them that they would set before
their eyes the utter subversion of their country, the conflagration of
their temple, and the slavery of themselves, their wives, and children, 12
which would be the consequences of what they were doing; and would alter
their minds, would cast away their weapons, and for the future be quiet,
and return to their own homes. These persuasions of theirs prevailed upon
them. So the people dispersed themselves, and the robbers went away again
to their places of strength; and after this time all Judea was overrun
with robberies.
2. But the principal of the Samaritans went to Ummidius Quadratus, the
president of Syria, who at that time was at Tyre, and accused the Jews of
setting their villages on fire, and plundering them; and said withal, that
they were not so much displeased at what they had suffered, as they were
at the contempt thereby showed the Romans; while if they had received any
injury, they ought to have made them the judges of what had been done, and
not presently to make such devastation, as if they had not the Romans for
their governors; on which account they came to him, in order to obtain
that vengeance they wanted. This was the accusation which the Samaritans
brought against the Jews. But the Jews affirmed that the Samaritans were
the authors of this tumult and fighting, and that, in the first place,
Cumanus had been corrupted by their gifts, and passed over the murder of
those that were slain in silence;—which allegations when Quadratus
heard, he put off the hearing of the cause, and promised that he would
give sentence when he should come into Judea, and should have a more exact
knowledge of the truth of that matter. So these men went away without
success. Yet was it not long ere Quadratus came to Samaria, where, upon
hearing the cause, he supposed that the Samaritans were the authors of
that disturbance. But when he was informed that certain of the Jews were
making innovations, he ordered those to be crucified whom Cumanus had
taken captives. From whence he came to a certain village called Lydda,
which was not less than a city in largeness, and there heard the Samaritan
cause a second time before his tribunal, and there learned from a certain
Samaritan that one of the chief of the Jews, whose name was Dortus, and
some other innovators with him, four in number, persuaded the multitude to
a revolt from the Romans; whom Quadratus ordered to be put to death: but
still he sent away Ananias the high priest, and Ananus the commander [of
the temple], in bonds to Rome, to give an account of what they had done to
Claudius Cæsar. He also ordered the principal men, both of the Samaritans
and of the Jews, as also Cumanus the procurator, and Celer the tribune, to
go to Italy to the emperor, that he might hear their cause, and determine
their differences one with another. But he came again to the city of
Jerusalem, out of his fear that the multitude of the Jews should attempt
some innovations; but he found the city in a peaceable state, and
celebrating one of the usual festivals of their country to God. So he
believed that they would not attempt any innovations, and left them at the
celebration of the festival, and returned to Antioch.
3. Now Cumanus, and the principal of the Samaritans, who were sent to
Rome, had a day appointed them by the emperor whereon they were to have
pleaded their cause about the quarrels they had one with another. But now
Cæsar’s freed-men and his friends were very zealous on the behalf of
Cumanus and the Samaritans; and they had prevailed over the Jews, unless
Agrippa, junior, who was then at Rome, had seen the principal of the Jews
hard set, and had earnestly entreated Agrippina, the emperor’s wife, to
persuade her husband to hear the cause, so as was agreeable to his
justice, and to condemn those to be punished who were really the authors
of this revolt from the Roman government:—whereupon Claudius was so
well disposed beforehand, that when he had heard the cause, and found that
the Samaritans had been the ringleaders in those mischievous doings, he
gave order that those who came up to him should be slain, and that
Cumanus should be banished. He also gave order that Celer the tribune
should be carried back to Jerusalem, and should be drawn through the city
in the sight of all the people, and then should be slain.
CHAPTER 7. Felix Is Made Procurator Of Judea; As Also Concerning Agrippa,
Junior And His Sisters.
1. So Claudius sent Felix, the brother of Pallas, to take care of the
affairs of Judea; and when he had already completed the twelfth year of
his reign, he bestowed upon Agrippa the tetrarchy of Philip and Batanea,
and added thereto Trachonites, with Abila; which last had been the
tetrarchy of Lysanias; but he took from him Chalcis, when he had been
governor thereof four years. And when Agrippa had received these countries
as the gift of Cæsar, he gave his sister Drusilla in marriage to Azizus,
king of Emesa, upon his consent to be circumcised; for Epiphanes, the son
of king Antiochus, had refused to marry her, because, after he had
promised her father formerly to come over to the Jewish religion, he would
not now perform that promise. He also gave Mariamne in marriage to
Archelaus, the son of Helcias, to whom she had formerly been betrothed by
Agrippa her father; from which marriage was derived a daughter, whose name
was Bernice.
2. But for the marriage of Drusilla with Azizus, it was in no long time
afterward dissolved upon the following occasion: While Felix was
procurator of Judea, he saw this Drusilla, and fell in love with her; for
she did indeed exceed all other women in beauty; and he sent to her a
person whose name was Simon 13 one of
his friends; a Jew he was, and by birth a Cypriot, and one who pretended
to be a magician, and endeavored to persuade her to forsake her present
husband, and marry him; and promised, that if she would not refuse him, he
would make her a happy woman. Accordingly she acted ill, and because she
was desirous to avoid her sister Bernice’s envy, for she was very ill
treated by her on account of her beauty, was prevailed upon to transgress
the laws of her forefathers, and to marry Felix; and when he had had a son
by her, he named him Agrippa. But after what manner that young man, with
his wife, perished at the conflagration of the mountain Vesuvius, 14
in the days of Titus Cæsar, shall be related hereafter. 15
3. But as for Bernice, she lived a widow a long while after the death of
Herod [king of Chalcis], who was both her husband and her uncle; but when
the report went that she had criminal conversation with her brother,
[Agrippa, junior,] she persuaded Poleme, who was king of Cilicia, to be
circumcised, and to marry her, as supposing that by this means she should
prove those calumnies upon her to be false; and Poleme was prevailed upon,
and that chiefly on account of her riches. Yet did not this matrimony
endure long; but Bernice left Poleme, and, as was said, with impure
intentions. So he forsook at once this matrimony, and the Jewish religion;
and, at the same time, Mariamne put away Archelaus, and was married to
Demetrius, the principal man among the Alexandrian Jews, both for his
family and his wealth; and indeed he was then their alabarch. So she named
her son whom she had by him Agrippinus. But of all these particulars we
shall hereafter treat more exactly. 16
CHAPTER 8. After What Manner Upon The Death Of Claudius, Nero Succeeded In
The Government; As Also What Barbarous Things He Did. Concerning The
Robbers, Murderers And Impostors, That Arose While Felix And Festus Were
Procurators Of Judea.
1. Now Claudius Cæsar died when he had reigned thirteen years, eight
months, and twenty days; 17 and a report went about that
he was poisoned by his wife Agrippina. Her father was Germanicus, the
brother of Cæsar. Her husband was Domitius Aenobarbus, one of the most
illustrious persons that was in the city of Rome; after whose death, and
her long continuance in widowhood, Claudius took her to wife. She brought
along with her a son, Domtitus, of the same name with his father. He had
before this slain his wife Messalina, out of jealousy, by whom he had his
children Britannicus and Octavia; their eldest sister was Antonia, whom he
had by Pelina his first wife. He also married Octavia to Nero; for that
was the name that Cæsar gave him afterward, upon his adopting him for his
son.
2. But now Agrippina was afraid, lest, when Britannicus should come to
man’s estate, he should succeed his father in the government, and desired
to seize upon the principality beforehand for her own son [Nero]; upon
which the report went that she thence compassed the death of Claudius.
Accordingly, she sent Burrhus, the general of the army, immediately, and
with him the tribunes, and such also of the freed-men as were of the
greatest authority, to bring Nero away into the camp, and to salute him
emperor. And when Nero had thus obtained the government, he got
Britannicus to be so poisoned, that the multitude should not perceive it;
although he publicly put his own mother to death not long afterward,
making her this requital, not only for being born of her, but for bringing
it so about by her contrivances that he obtained the Roman empire. He also
slew Octavia his own wife, and many other illustrious persons, under this
pretense, that they plotted against him.
3. But I omit any further discourse about these affairs; for there have
been a great many who have composed the history of Nero; some of which
have departed from the truth of facts out of favor, as having received
benefits from him; while others, out of hatred to him, and the great
ill-will which they bare him, have so impudently raved against him with
their lies, that they justly deserve to be condemned. Nor do I wonder at
such as have told lies of Nero, since they have not in their writings
preserved the truth of history as to those facts that were earlier than
his time, even when the actors could have no way incurred their hatred,
since those writers lived a long time after them. But as to those that
have no regard to truth, they may write as they please; for in that they
take delight: but as to ourselves, who have made truth our direct aim, we
shall briefly touch upon what only belongs remotely to this undertaking,
but shall relate what hath happened to us Jews with great accuracy, and
shall not grudge our pains in giving an account both of the calamities we
have suffered, and of the crimes we have been guilty of. I will now
therefore return to the relation of our own affairs.
4. For in the first year of the reign of Nero, upon the death of Azizus,
king of Emesa, Soemus, his brother, succeeded in his kingdom, and
Aristobulus, the son of Herod, king of Chalcis, was intrusted by Nero with
the government of the Lesser Armenia. Cæsar also bestowed on Agrippa a
certain part of Galilee, Tiberias, and Tarichae, 18 and
ordered them to submit to his jurisdiction. He gave him also Julias, a
city of Perea, with fourteen villages that lay about it.
5. Now as for the affairs of the Jews, they grew worse and worse
continually, for the country was again filled with robbers and impostors,
who deluded the multitude. Yet did Felix catch and put to death many of
those impostors every day, together with the robbers. He also caught
Eleazar, the son of Dineas, who had gotten together a company of robbers;
and this he did by treachery; for he gave him assurance that he should
suffer no harm, and thereby persuaded him to come to him; but when he
came, he bound him, and sent him to Rome. Felix also bore an ill-will to
Jonathan, the high priest, because he frequently gave him admonitions
about governing the Jewish affairs better than he did, lest he should
himself have complaints made of him by the multitude, since he it was who
had desired Cæsar to send him as procurator of Judea. So Felix contrived
a method whereby he might get rid of him, now he was become so continually
troublesome to him; for such continual admonitions are grievous to those
who are disposed to act unjustly. Wherefore Felix persuaded one of
Jonathan’s most faithful friends, a citizen of Jerusalem, whose name was
Doras, to bring the robbers upon Jonathan, in order to kill him; and this
he did by promising to give him a great deal of money for so doing. Doras
complied with the proposal, and contrived matters so, that the robbers
might murder him after the following manner: Certain of those robbers went
up to the city, as if they were going to worship God, while they had
daggers under their garments, and by thus mingling themselves among the
multitude they slew Jonathan 19 and as
this murder was never avenged, the robbers went up with the greatest
security at the festivals after this time; and having weapons concealed in
like manner as before, and mingling themselves among the multitude, they
slew certain of their own enemies, and were subservient to other men for
money; and slew others, not only in remote parts of the city, but in the
temple itself also; for they had the boldness to murder men there, without
thinking of the impiety of which they were guilty. And this seems to me to
have been the reason why God, out of his hatred of these men’s wickedness,
rejected our city; and as for the temple, he no longer esteemed it
sufficiently pure for him to inhabit therein, but brought the Romans upon
us, and threw a fire upon the city to purge it; and brought upon us, our
wives, and children, slavery, as desirous to make us wiser by our
calamities.
6. These works, that were done by the robbers, filled the city with all
sorts of impiety. And now these impostors and deceivers persuaded the
multitude to follow them into the wilderness, and pretended that they
would exhibit manifest wonders and signs, that should be performed by the
providence of God. And many that were prevailed on by them suffered the
punishments of their folly; for Felix brought them back, and then punished
them. Moreover, there came out of Egypt 20 about
this time to Jerusalem one that said he was a prophet, and advised the
multitude of the common people to go along with him to the Mount of
Olives, as it was called, which lay over against the city, and at the
distance of five furlongs. He said further, that he would show them from
hence how, at his command, the walls of Jerusalem would fall down; and he
promised them that he would procure them an entrance into the city through
those walls, when they were fallen down. Now when Felix was informed of
these things, he ordered his soldiers to take their weapons, and came
against them with a great number of horsemen and footmen from Jerusalem,
and attacked the Egyptian and the people that were with him. He also slew
four hundred of them, and took two hundred alive. But the Egyptian himself
escaped out of the fight, but did not appear any more. And again the
robbers stirred up the people to make war with the Romans, and said they
ought not to obey them at all; and when any persons would not comply with
them, they set fire to their villages, and plundered them.
7. And now it was that a great sedition arose between the Jews that
inhabited Cæsarea, and the Syrians who dwelt there also, concerning their
equal right to the privileges belonging to citizens; for the Jews claimed
the pre-eminence, because Herod their king was the builder of Cæsarea, and
because he was by birth a Jew. Now the Syrians did not deny what was
alleged about Herod; but they said that Cæsarea was formerly called
Strato’s Tower, and that then there was not one Jewish inhabitant. When
the presidents of that country heard of these disorders, they caught the
authors of them on both sides, and tormented them with stripes, and by
that means put a stop to the disturbance for a time. But the Jewish
citizens depending on their wealth, and on that account despising the
Syrians, reproached them again, and hoped to provoke them by such
reproaches. However, the Syrians, though they were inferior in wealth, yet
valuing themselves highly on this account, that the greatest part of the
Roman soldiers that were there were either of Cæsarea or Sebaste, they
also for some time used reproachful language to the Jews also; and thus it
was, till at length they came to throwing stones at one another, and
several were wounded, and fell on both sides, though still the Jews were
the conquerors. But when Felix saw that this quarrel was become a kind of
war, he came upon them on the sudden, and desired the Jews to desist; and
when they refused so to do, he armed his soldiers, and sent them out upon
them, and slew many of them, and took more of them alive, and permitted
his soldiers to plunder some of the houses of the citizens, which were
full of riches. Now those Jews that were more moderate, and of principal
dignity among them, were afraid of themselves, and desired of Felix that
he would sound a retreat to his soldiers, and spare them for the future,
and afford them room for repentance for what they had done; and Felix was
prevailed upon to do so.
8. About this time king Agrippa gave the high priesthood to Ismael, who
was the son of Fabi. And now arose a sedition between the high priests and
the principal men of the multitude of Jerusalem; each of which got them a
company of the boldest sort of men, and of those that loved innovations
about them, and became leaders to them; and when they struggled together,
they did it by casting reproachful words against one another, and by
throwing stones also. And there was nobody to reprove them; but these
disorders were done after a licentious manner in the city, as if it had no
government over it. And such was the impudence 21 and
boldness that had seized on the high priests, that they had the hardiness
to send their servants into the threshing-floors, to take away those
tithes that were due to the priests, insomuch that it so fell out that the
poorest sort of the priests died for want. To this degree did the violence
of the seditious prevail over all right and justice.
9. Now when Porcius Festus was sent as successor to Felix by Nero, the
principal of the Jewish inhabitants of Cæsarea went up to Rome to accuse
Felix; and he had certainly been brought to punishment, unless Nero had
yielded to the importunate solicitations of his brother Pallas, who was at
that time had in the greatest honor by him. Two of the principal Syrians
in Cæsarea persuaded Burrhus, who was Nero’s tutor, and secretary for his
Greek epistles, by giving him a great sum of money, to disannul that
equality of the Jewish privileges of citizens which they hitherto enjoyed.
So Burrhus, by his solicitations, obtained leave of the emperor that an
epistle should be written to that purpose. This epistle became the
occasion of the following miseries that befell our nation; for when the
Jews of Cæsarea were informed of the contents of this epistle to the
Syrians, they were more disorderly than before, till a war was kindled.
10. Upon Festus’s coming into Judea, it happened that Judea was afflicted
by the robbers, while all the villages were set on fire, and plundered by
them. And then it was that the sicarii, as they were called, who were
robbers, grew numerous. They made use of small swords, not much different
in length from the Persian acinacae, but somewhat crooked, and like the
Roman sicae, [or sickles,] as they were called; and from these weapons
these robbers got their denomination; and with these weapons they slew a
great many; for they mingled themselves among the multitude at their
festivals, when they were come up in crowds from all parts to the city to
worship God, as we said before, and easily slew those that they had a mind
to slay. They also came frequently upon the villages belonging to their
enemies, with their weapons, and plundered them, and set them on fire. So
Festus sent forces, both horsemen and footmen, to fall upon those that had
been seduced by a certain impostor, who promised them deliverance and
freedom from the miseries they were under, if they would but follow him as
far as the wilderness. Accordingly, those forces that were sent destroyed
both him that had deluded them, and those that were his followers also.
11. About the same time king Agrippa built himself a very large
dining-room in the royal palace at Jerusalem, near to the portico. Now
this palace had been erected of old by the children of Asamoneus and was
situate upon an elevation, and afforded a most delightful prospect to
those that had a mind to take a view of the city, which prospect was
desired by the king; and there he could lie down, and eat, and thence
observe what was done in the temple; which thing, when the chief men of
Jerusalem saw they were very much displeased at it; for it was not
agreeable to the institutions of our country or law that what was done in
the temple should be viewed by others, especially what belonged to the
sacrifices. They therefore erected a wall upon the uppermost building
which belonged to the inner court of the temple towards the west, which
wall when it was built, did not only intercept the prospect of the
dining-room in the palace, but also of the western cloisters that belonged
to the outer court of the temple also, where it was that the Romans kept
guards for the temple at the festivals. At these doings both king Agrippa,
and principally Festus the procurator, were much displeased; and Festus
ordered them to pull the wall down again: but the Jews petitioned him to
give them leave to send an embassage about this matter to Nero; for they
said they could not endure to live if any part of the temple should be
demolished; and when Festus had given them leave so to do, they sent ten
of their principal men to Nero, as also Ismael the high priest, and
Helcias, the keeper of the sacred treasure. And when Nero had heard what
they had to say, he not only forgave 22 them
what they had already done, but also gave them leave to let the wall they
had built stand. This was granted them in order to gratify Poppea, Nero’s
wife, who was a religious woman, and had requested these favors of Nero,
and who gave order to the ten ambassadors to go their way home; but
retained Helcias and Ismael as hostages with herself. As soon as the king
heard this news, he gave the high priesthood to Joseph, who was called
Cabi, the son of Simon, formerly high priest.
CHAPTER 9. Concerning Albinus Under Whose Procuratorship James Was Slain;
As Also What Edifices Were Built By Agrippa.
1. And now Cæsar, upon hearing the death of Festus, sent Albinus into
Judea, as procurator. But the king deprived Joseph of the high priesthood,
and bestowed the succession to that dignity on the son of Ananus, who was
also himself called Ananus. Now the report goes that this eldest Ananus
proved a most fortunate man; for he had five sons who had all performed
the office of a high priest to God, and who had himself enjoyed that
dignity a long time formerly, which had never happened to any other of our
high priests. But this younger Ananus, who, as we have told you already,
took the high priesthood, was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent;
he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, 23 who
are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews, as we
have already observed; when, therefore, Ananus was of this disposition, he
thought he had now a proper opportunity [to exercise his authority].
Festus was now dead, and Albinus was but upon the road; so he assembled
the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who
was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, [or, some of his
companions]; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers
of the law, he delivered them to be stoned: but as for those who seemed
the most equitable of the citizens, and such as were the most uneasy at
the breach of the laws, they disliked what was done; they also sent to the
king [Agrippa], desiring him to send to Ananus that he should act so no
more, for that what he had already done was not to be justified; nay, some
of them went also to meet Albinus, as he was upon his journey from
Alexandria, and informed him that it was not lawful for Ananus to assemble
a sanhedrim without his consent. 24
Whereupon Albinus complied with what they said, and wrote in anger to
Ananus, and threatened that he would bring him to punishment for what he
had done; on which king Agrippa took the high priesthood from him, when he
had ruled but three months, and made Jesus, the son of Damneus, high
priest.
2. Now as soon as Albinus was come to the city of Jerusalem, he used all
his endeavors and care that the country might be kept in peace, and this
by destroying many of the Sicarii. But as for the high priest, Ananias 25
he increased in glory every day, and this to a great degree, and had
obtained the favor and esteem of the citizens in a signal manner; for he
was a great hoarder up of money: he therefore cultivated the friendship of
Albinus, and of the high priest [Jesus], by making them presents; he also
had servants who were very wicked, who joined themselves to the boldest
sort of the people, and went to the thrashing-floors, and took away the
tithes that belonged to the priests by violence, and did not refrain from
beating such as would not give these tithes to them. So the other high
priests acted in the like manner, as did those his servants, without any
one being able to prohibit them; so that [some of the] priests, that of
old were wont to be supported with those tithes, died for want of food.
3. But now the Sicarii went into the city by night, just before the
festival, which was now at hand, and took the scribe belonging to the
governor of the temple, whose name was Eleazar, who was the son of Ananus
[Ananias] the high priest, and bound him, and carried him away with them;
after which they sent to Ananias, and said that they would send the scribe
to him, if he would persuade Albinus to release ten of those prisoners
which he had caught of their party; so Ananias was plainly forced to
persuade Albinus, and gained his request of him. This was the beginning of
greater calamities; for the robbers perpetually contrived to catch some of
Ananias’s servants; and when they had taken them alive, they would not let
them go, till they thereby recovered some of their own Sicarii. And as
they were again become no small number, they grew bold, and were a great
affliction to the whole country.
4. About this time it was that king Agrippa built Cæsarea Philippi larger
than it was before, and, in honor of Nero, named it Neronlas. And when he
had built a theater at Berytus, with vast expenses, he bestowed on them
shows, to be exhibited every year, and spent therein many ten thousand
[drachmae]; he also gave the people a largess of corn, and distributed oil
among them, and adorned the entire city with statues of his own donation,
and with original images made by ancient hands; nay, he almost transferred
all that was most ornamental in his own kingdom thither. This made him
more than ordinarily hated by his subjects, because he took those things
away that belonged to them to adorn a foreign city. And now Jesus, the son
of Gamaliel, became the successor of Jesus, the son of Damneus, in the
high priesthood, which the king had taken from the other; on which account
a sedition arose between the high priests, with regard to one another; for
they got together bodies of the boldest sort of the people, and frequently
came, from reproaches, to throwing of stones at each other. But Ananias
was too hard for the rest, by his riches, which enabled him to gain those
that were most ready to receive. Costobarus also, and Saulus, did
themselves get together a multitude of wicked wretches, and this because
they were of the royal family; and so they obtained favor among them,
because of their kindred to Agrippa; but still they used violence with the
people, and were very ready to plunder those that were weaker than
themselves. And from that time it principally came to pass that our city
was greatly disordered, and that all things grew worse and worse among us.
5. But when Albinus heard that Gessius Florus was coming to succeed him,
he was desirous to appear to do somewhat that might be grateful to the
people of Jerusalem; so he brought out all those prisoners who seemed to
him to be most plainly worthy of death, and ordered them to be put to
death accordingly. But as to those who had been put into prison on some
trifling occasions, he took money of them, and dismissed them; by which
means the prisons were indeed emptied, but the country was filled with
robbers.
6. Now as many of the Levites, 26 which
is a tribe of ours, as were singers of hymns, persuaded the king to
assemble a sanhedrim, and to give them leave to wear linen garments, as
well as the priests for they said that this would be a work worthy the
times of his government, that he might have a memorial of such a novelty,
as being his doing. Nor did they fail of obtaining their desire; for the
king, with the suffrages of those that came into the sanhedrim, granted
the singers of hymns this privilege, that they might lay aside their
former garments, and wear such a linen one as they desired; and as a part
of this tribe ministered in the temple, he also permitted them to learn
those hymns as they had besought him for. Now all this was contrary to the
laws of our country, which, whenever they have been transgressed, we have
never been able to avoid the punishment of such transgressions.
7. And now it was that the temple was finished. So when the people saw
that the workmen were unemployed, who were above eighteen thousand and
that they, receiving no wages, were in want because they had earned their
bread by their labors about the temple; and while they were unwilling to
keep by them the treasures that were there deposited, out of fear of
[their being carried away by] the Romans; and while they had a regard to
the making provision for the workmen; they had a mind to expend these
treasures upon them; for if any one of them did but labor for a single
hour, he received his pay immediately; so they persuaded him to rebuild
the eastern cloisters. These cloisters belonged to the outer court, and
were situated in a deep valley, and had walls that reached four hundred
cubits [in length], and were built of square and very white stones, the
length of each of which stones was twenty cubits, and their height six
cubits. This was the work of king Solomon, 27 who
first of all built the entire temple. But king Agrippa, who had the care
of the temple committed to him by Claudius Cæsar, considering that it is
easy to demolish any building, but hard to build it up again, and that it
was particularly hard to do it to these cloisters, which would require a
considerable time, and great sums of money, he denied the petitioners
their request about that matter; but he did not obstruct them when they
desired the city might be paved with white stone. He also deprived Jesus,
the son of Gamaliel, of the high priesthood, and gave it to Matthias, the
son of Theophilus, under whom the Jews’ war with the Romans took its
beginning.
CHAPTER 10. An Enumeration Of The High Priests.
1. And now I think it proper and agreeable to this history to give an
account of our high priests; how they began, who those are which are
capable of that dignity, and how many of them there had been at the end of
the war. In the first place, therefore, history informs us that Aaron, the
brother of Moses, officiated to God as a high priest, and that, after his
death, his sons succeeded him immediately; and that this dignity hath been
continued down from them all to their posterity. Whence it is a custom of
our country, that no one should take the high priesthood of God but he who
is of the blood of Aaron, while every one that is of another stock, though
he were a king, can never obtain that high priesthood. Accordingly, the
number of all the high priests from Aaron, of whom we have spoken already,
as of the first of them, until Phanas, who was made high priest during the
war by the seditious, was eighty-three; of whom thirteen officiated as
high priests in the wilderness, from the days of Moses, while the
tabernacle was standing, until the people came into Judea, when king
Solomon erected the temple to God; for at the first they held the high
priesthood till the end of their life, although afterward they had
successors while they were alive. Now these thirteen, who were the
descendants of two of the sons of Aaron, received this dignity by
succession, one after another; for their form of government was an
aristocracy, and after that a monarchy, and in the third place the
government was regal. Now the number of years during the rule of these
thirteen, from the day when our fathers departed out of Egypt, under Moses
their leader, until the building of that temple which king Solomon erected
at Jerusalem, were six hundred and twelve. After those thirteen high
priests, eighteen took the high priesthood at Jerusalem, one in succession
to another, from the days of king Solomon, until Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, made an expedition against that city, and burnt the temple, and
removed our nation into Babylon, and then took Josadek, the high priest,
captive; the times of these high priests were four hundred and sixty-six
years, six months, and ten days, while the Jews were still under the regal
government. But after the term of seventy years’ captivity under the
Babylonians, Cyrus, king of Persia, sent the Jews from Babylon to their
own land again, and gave them leave to rebuild their temple; at which time
Jesus, the son of Josadek, took the high priesthood over the captives when
they were returned home. Now he and his posterity, who were in all
fifteen, until king Antiochus Eupator, were under a democratical
government for four hundred and fourteen years; and then the forementioned
Antiochus, and Lysias the general of his army, deprived Onias, who was
also called Menelaus, of the high priesthood, and slew him at Berea; and
driving away the son [of Onias the third], put Jaeimus into the place of
the high priest, one that was indeed of the stock of Aaron, but not of
that family of Onias. On which account Onias, who was the nephew of Onias
that was dead, and bore the same name with his father, came into Egypt,
and got into the friendship of Ptolemy Philometor, and Cleopatra his wife,
and persuaded them to make him the high priest of that temple which he
built to God in the prefecture of Heliopolis, and this in imitation of
that at Jerusalem; but as for that temple which was built in Egypt, we
have spoken of it frequently already. Now when Jacimus had retained the
priesthood three years, he died, and there was no one that succeeded him,
but the city continued seven years without a high priest. But then the
posterity of the sons of Asamoneus, who had the government of the nation
conferred upon them, when they had beaten the Macedonians in war,
appointed Jonathan to be their high priest, who ruled over them seven
years. And when he had been slain by the treacherous contrivance of
Trypho, as we have related some where, Simon his brother took the high
priesthood; and when he was destroyed at a feast by the treachery of his
son-in-law, his own son, whose name was Hyrcanus, succeeded him, after he
had held the high priesthood one year longer than his brother. This
Hyrcanus enjoyed that dignity thirty years, and died an old man, leaving
the succession to Judas, who was also called Aristobulus, whose brother
Alexander was his heir; which Judas died of a sore distemper, after he had
kept the priesthood, together with the royal authority; for this Judas was
the first that put on his head a diadem for one year. And when Alexander
had been both king and high priest twenty-seven years, he departed this
life, and permitted his wife Alexandra to appoint him that should be high
priest; so she gave the high priesthood to Hyrcanus, but retained the
kingdom herself nine years, and then departed this life. The like duration
[and no longer] did her son Hyrcanus enjoy the high priesthood; for after
her death his brother Aristobulus fought against him, and beat him, and
deprived him of his principality; and he did himself both reign, and
perform the office of high priest to God. But when he had reigned three
years, and as many months, Pompey came upon him, and not only took the
city of Jerusalem by force, but put him and his children in bonds, and
sent them to Rome. He also restored the high priesthood to Hyrcanus, and
made him governor of the nation, but forbade him to wear a diadem. This
Hyrcanus ruled, besides his first nine years, twenty-four years more, when
Barzapharnes and Pacorus, the generals of the Parthians, passed over
Euphrates, and fought with Hyrcanus, and took him alive, and made
Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, king; and when he had reigned three
years and three months, Sosius and Herod besieged him, and took him, when
Antony had him brought to Antioch, and slain there. Herod was then made
king by the Romans, but did no longer appoint high priests out of the
family of Asamoneus; but made certain men to be so that were of no eminent
families, but barely of those that were priests, excepting that he gave
that dignity to Aristobulus; for when he had made this Aristobulus, the
grandson of that Hyrcanus who was then taken by the Parthians, and had
taken his sister Mariarmne to wife, he thereby aimed to win the good-will
of the people, who had a kind remembrance of Hyrcanus [his grandfather].
Yet did he afterward, out of his fear lest they should all bend their
inclinations to Aristobulus, put him to death, and that by contriving how
to have him suffocated as he was swimming at Jericho, as we have already
related that matter; but after this man he never intrusted the priesthood
to the posterity of the sons of Asamoneus. Archelaus also, Herod’s son,
did like his father in the appointment of the high priests, as did the
Romans also, who took the government over the Jews into their hands
afterward. Accordingly, the number of the high priests, from the days of
Herod until the day when Titus took the temple and the City, and burnt
them, were in all twenty-eight; the time also that belonged to them was a
hundred and seven years. Some of these were the political governors of the
people under the reign of Herod, and under the reign of Archelaus his son,
although, after their death, the government became an aristocracy, and the
high priests were intrusted with a dominion over the nation. And thus much
may suffice to be said concerning our high priests.
CHAPTER 11. Concerning Florus The Procurator, Who Necessitated The Jews To
Take Up Arms Against The Romans. The Conclusion.
1. Now Gessius Florus, who was sent as successor to Albinus by Nero,
filled Judea with abundance of miseries. He was by birth of the city of
Clazomene, and brought along with him his wife Cleopatra, [by whose
friendship with Poppea, Nero’s wife, he obtained this government,] who was
no way different from him in wickedness. This Florus was so wicked, and so
violent in the use of his authority, that the Jews took Albinus to have
been [comparatively] their benefactor; so excessive were the mischiefs
that he brought upon them. For Albinus concealed his wickedness, and was
careful that it might not be discovered to all men; but Gessius Florus, as
though he had been sent on purpose to show his crimes to every body, made
a pompous ostentation of them to our nation, as never omitting any sort of
violence, nor any unjust sort of punishment; for he was not to be moved by
pity, and never was satisfied with any degree of gain that came in his
way; nor had he any more regard to great than to small acquisitions, but
became a partner with the robbers themselves. For a great many fell then
into that practice without fear, as having him for their security, and
depending on him, that he would save them harmless in their particular
robberies; so that there were no bounds set to the nation’s miseries; but
the unhappy Jews, when they were not able to bear the devastations which
the robbers made among them, were all under a necessity of leaving their
own habitations, and of flying away, as hoping to dwell more easily any
where else in the world among foreigners [than in their own country]. And
what need I say any more upon this head? since it was this Florus who
necessitated us to take up arms against the Romans, while we thought it
better to be destroyed at once, than by little and little. Now this war
began in the second year of the government of Florus, and the twelfth year
of the reign of Nero. But then what actions we were forced to do, or what
miseries we were enabled to suffer, may be accurately known by such as
will peruse those books which I have written about the Jewish war.
2. I shall now, therefore, make an end here of my Antiquities; after the
conclusion of which events, I began to write that account of the war; and
these Antiquities contain what hath been delivered down to us from the
original creation of man, until the twelfth year of the reign of Nero, as
to what hath befallen the Jews, as well in Egypt as in Syria and in
Palestine, and what we have suffered from the Assyrians and Babylonians,
and what afflictions the Persians and Macedonians, and after them the
Romans, have brought upon us; for I think I may say that I have composed
this history with sufficient accuracy in all things. I have attempted to
enumerate those high priests that we have had during the interval of two
thousand years; I have also carried down the succession of our kings, and
related their actions, and political administration, without
[considerable] errors, as also the power of our monarchs; and all
according to what is written in our sacred books; for this it was that I
promised to do in the beginning of this history. And I am so bold as to
say, now I have so completely perfected the work I proposed to myself to
do, that no other person, whether he were a Jew or foreigner, had he ever
so great an inclination to it, could so accurately deliver these accounts
to the Greeks as is done in these books. For those of my own nation freely
acknowledge that I far exceed them in the learning belonging to Jews; I
have also taken a great deal of pains to obtain the learning of the
Greeks, and understand the elements of the Greek language, although I have
so long accustomed myself to speak our own tongue, that I cannot pronounce
Greek with sufficient exactness; for our nation does not encourage those
that learn the languages of many nations, and so adorn their discourses
with the smoothness of their periods; because they look upon this sort of
accomplishment as common, not only to all sorts of free-men, but to as
many of the servants as please to learn them. But they give him the
testimony of being a wise man who is fully acquainted with our laws, and
is able to interpret their meaning; on which account, as there have been
many who have done their endeavors with great patience to obtain this
learning, there have yet hardly been so many as two or three that have
succeeded therein, who were immediately well rewarded for their pains.
3. And now it will not be perhaps an invidious thing, if I treat briefly
of my own family, and of the actions of my own life 28
while there are still living such as can either prove what I say to be
false, or can attest that it is true; with which accounts I shall put an
end to these Antiquities, which are contained in twenty books, and sixty
thousand verses. And if God permit me, I will briefly run over this war 29,
and to add what befell them further to that very day, the 13th of
Domitian, or A.D. 03, is not, that I have observed, taken distinct notice
of by any one; nor do we ever again, with what befell us therein to this
very day, which is the thirteenth year of the reign of Cæsar Domitian,
and the fifty-sixth year of my own life. I have also an intention to write
three books concerning our Jewish opinions about God and his essence, and
about our laws; why, according to them, some things are permitted us to
do, and others are prohibited.
FOOTNOTES
1 (return)
[ Here is some error in the
copies, or mistake in Josephus; for the power of appointing high priests,
alter Herod king of Chalcis was dead, and Agrippa, junior, was made king
of Chalcis in his room, belonged to him; and he exercised the same all
along till Jerusalem was destroyed, as Josephus elsewhere informs us, ch.
8. sect., 11; ch. 9. sect. 1, 4, 6, 7.]
2 (return)
[ Josephus here uses the
word monogene, an only begotten son, for no other than one best beloved,
as does both the Old and New Testament, I mean where there were one or
more sons besides, Genesis 22:2; Hebrew 11:17. See the note on B. I. ch.
13. sect. 1.]
3 (return)
[ It is here very
remarkable, that the remains of Noah’s ark were believed to be still in
being in the days of Josephus. See the note on B. I. ch. 3. sect. 5.]
4 (return)
[ Josephus is very full and
express in these three chapters, 3., 4., and 5., in observing how
carefully Divine Providence preserved this Izates, king of Adiabene, and
his sons, while he did what he thought was his bounden duty,
notwithstanding the strongest political motives to the contrary.]
5 (return)
[ This further account of
the benefactions of Izates and Helena to the Jerusalem Jews which Josephus
here promises is, I think, no where performed by him in his present works.
But of this terrible famine itself in Judea, take Dr. Hudson’s note here:—”This
[ says he ] is that famine foretold by Agabus, Acts 11:28, which happened
when Claudius was consul the fourth time; and not that other which
happened when Claudius was consul the second time, and Cesina was his
colleague, as Scaliger says upon Eusebius, p. 174.” Now when Josephus had
said a little afterward, ch. 5. sect. 2, that “Tiberius Alexander
succeeded Cuspius Fadus as procurator,” he immediately subjoins, that”
under these procurators there happened a great famine in Judea.” Whence it
is plain that this famine continued for many years, on account of its
duration under these two procurators. Now Fadus was not sent into Judea
till after the death of king Agrippa, i.e. towards the latter end of the
4th year of Claudius; so that this famine foretold by Agabus happened upon
the 5th, 6th, and 7th years of Claudius, as says Valesius on Euseb. II.
12. Of this famine also, and queen Helena’s supplies, and her monument,
see Moses Churenensis, p. 144, 145, where it is observed in the notes that
Pausanias mentions that her monument also.]
6 (return)
[ This privilege of wearing
the tiara upright, or with the tip of the cone erect, is known to have
been of old peculiar to great kings, from Xenophon and others, as Dr.
Hudson observes here.]
7 (return)
[ This conduct of Izates is
a sign that he was become either a Jew, or an Ebionite Christian, who
indeed differed not much from proper Jews. See ch. 6. sect. 1. However,
his supplications were heard, and he was providentially delivered from
that imminent danger he was in.]
8 (return)
[ These pyramids or
pillars, erected by Helena, queen of Adiabene, near Jerusalem, three in
number, are mentioned by Eusebius, in his Eccles. Hist. B. II. ch. 12, for
which Dr. Hudson refers us to Valesius’s notes upon that place.—They
are also mentioned by Pausanias, as hath been already noted, ch. 2. sect.
6. Reland guesses that that now called Absalom’s Pillar may be one of
them.]
9 (return)
[ This Theudas, who arose
under Fadus the procurator, about A.D. 45 or 46, could not be that Thendas
who arose in the days of the taxing, under Cyrenius, or about A.D. 7, Acts
v. 36, 37. Who that earlier Theudas was, see the note on B. XVII. ch. 10.
sect. 5.]
10 (return)
[ This and many more
tumults and seditions which arose at the Jewish festivals, in Josephus,
illustrate the cautious procedure of the Jewish governors, when they said,
Matthew 26:5, “Let us not take Jesus on the feast-day, lest there be an up
roar among the people;” as Reland well observes on tins place. Josephus
also takes notice of the same thing, Of the War, B. I. ch. 4. sect. 3.]
11 (return)
[ This constant passage
of the Galileans through the country of Samaria, as they went to Judea and
Jerusalem, illustrates several passages in the Gospels to the same
purpose, as Dr. Hudson rightly observes. See Luke 17:11; John 4:4. See
also Josephus in his own Life, sect. 52, where that journey is determined
to three days.]
12 (return)
[ Our Savior had foretold
that the Jews’ rejection of his gospel would bring upon them, among other
miseries, these three, which they themselves here show they expected would
be the consequences of their present tumults and seditions: the utter
subversion of their country, the conflagration of their temple, and the
slavery of themselves, their wives, and children See Luke 21:6-24.]
13 (return)
[ This Simon, a friend of
Felix, a Jew, born in Cyprus, though he pretended to be a magician, and
seems to have been wicked enough, could hardly be that famous Simon the
magician, in the Acts of the Apostles, 8:9, etc., as some are ready to
suppose. This Simon mentioned in the Acts was not properly a Jew, but a
Samaritan, of the town of Gittae, in the country of Samaria, as the
Apostolical Constitutions, VI. 7, the Recognitions of Clement, II. 6, and
Justin Martyr, himself born in the country of Samaria, Apology, I. 34,
inform us. He was also the author, not of any ancient Jewish, but of the
first Gentile heresies, as the forementioned authors assure us. So I
suppose him a different person from the other. I mean this only upon the
hypothesis that Josephus was not misinformed as to his being a Cypriot
Jew; for otherwise the time, the name, the profession, and the wickedness
of them both would strongly incline one to believe them the very same. As
to that Drusilla, the sister of Agrippa, junior, as Josephus informs us
here, and a Jewess, as St. Luke informs us, Acts 24:24, whom this Simon
mentioned by Josephus persuaded to leave her former husband, Azizus, king
of Emesa, a proselyte of justice, and to marry Felix, the heathen
procurator of Judea, Tacitus, Hist. V. 9, supposes her to be a heathen;
and the grand-daughter of Antonius and Cleopatra, contrary both to St.
Luke and Josephus. Now Tacitus lived somewhat too remote, both as to time
and place, to be compared with either of those Jewish writers, in a matter
concerning the Jews in Judea in their own days, and concerning a sister of
Agrippa, junior, with which Agrippa Josephus was himself so well
acquainted. It is probable that Tacitus may say true, when he informs us
that this Felix [who had in all three wives, or queens, as Suetonius in
Claudius, sect. 28, assures us] did once marry such a grandchild of
Antonius and Cleopatra; and finding the name of one of them to have been
Drusilla, he mistook her for that other wife, whose name he did not know.]
14 (return)
[ This eruption of
Vesuvius was one of the greatest we have in history. See Bianchini’s
curious and important observations on this Vesuvius, and its seven several
great eruptions, with their remains vitrified, and still existing, in so
many different strata under ground, till the diggers came to the
antediluvian waters, with their proportionable interstices, implying the
deluge to have been above two thousand five hundred years before the
Christian era, according to our exactest chronology.]
15 (return)
[ This is now wanting.]
16 (return)
[ This also is now
wanting.]
17 (return)
[ This duration of the
reign of Claudius agrees with Dio, as Dr. Hudson here remarks; as he also
remarks that Nero’s name, which was at first L. Domitius Aenobarbus, after
Claudius had adopted him was Nero Claudius Cæsar Drusus Germanicus. This
Soleus as [own Life, sect. 11, as also] by Dio Cassius and Taeims, as Dr.
Hudson informs us.]
18 (return)
[ This agrees with
Josephus’s frequent accounts elsewhere in his own Life, that Tibetans, and
Taricheae, and Gamala were under this Agrippa, junior, till Justus, the
son of Pistus, seized for the Jews, upon the breaking out of the war.]
19 (return)
[ This treacherous and
barbarous murder of the good high priest Jonathan, by the contrivance of
this wicked procurator, Felix, was the immediate occasion of the ensuing
murders by the Sicarii or ruffians, and one great cause of the following
horrid cruelties and miseries of the Jewish nation, as Josephus here
supposes; whose excellent reflection on the gross wickedness of that
nation, as the direct cause of their terrible destruction, is well worthy
the attention of every Jewish and of every Christian reader. And since we
are soon coming to the catalogue of the Jewish high priests, it may not be
amiss, with Reland, to insert this Jonathan among them, and to transcribe
his particular catalogue of the last twenty-eight high priests, taken out
of Josephus, and begin with Ananelus, who was made by Herod the Great. See
Antiq. B. XV. ch. 2. sect. 4, and the note there. 1. Ananelus. 2.
Aristobulus. 3. Jesus, the son of Fabus. 4. Simon, the son of Boethus. 5.
Marthias, the son of Theophiltu. 6. Joazar, the son of Boethus. 7.
Eleazar, the son of Boethus. 8. Jesus, the son of Sic. 9. [Annas, or]
Ananus, the son of Seth. 10. Ismael, the son of Fabus. 11. Eleazar, the
son of Ananus. 12. Simon, the son of Camithus. 13. Josephus Caiaphas, the
son-in-law to Ananus. 14. Jonathan, the son of Ananus. 15. Theophilus, his
brother, and son of Ananus. 16. Simon, the son of Boethus. 17. Matthias,
the brother of Jonathan, and son of Ananus. 18. Aljoneus. 19. Josephus,
the son of Camydus. 20. Ananias, the son of Nebedeus. 21. Jonathas. 22.
Ismael, the son of Fabi. 23. Joseph Cabi, the son of Simon. 24. Ananus,
the son of Artanus. 25. Jesus, the son of Damnetas. 26. Jesus, the son of
Gamaliel. 27. Matthias, the son of Theophilus. 28. Phannias, the son of
Samuel. As for Ananus and Joseph Caiaphas, here mentioned about the middle
of this catalogue, they are no other than those Annas and Caiaphas so
often mentioned in the four Gospels; and that Ananias, the son of
Nebedeus, was that high priest before whom St. Paul pleaded his own cause,
Acts 24.]
20 (return)
[ Of these Jewish
impostors and false prophets, with many other circumstances and miseries
of the Jews, till their utter destruction, foretold by our Savior, see
Lit. Accompl. of Proph. p. 58-75. Of this Egyptian impostor, and the
number of his followers, in Josephus, see Acts 21:38.]
21 (return)
[ The wickedness here was
very peculiar and extraordinary, that the high priests should so oppress
their brethren the priests, as to starve the poorest of them to death. See
the like presently, ch. 9. sect. 2. Such fatal crimes are covetousness and
tyranny in the clergy, as well as in the laity, in all ages.]
22 (return)
[ We have here one
eminent example of Nero’s mildness and goodness in his government towards
the Jews, during the first five years of his reign, so famous in
antiquity; we have perhaps another in Josephus’s own Life, sect. 3; and a
third, though of a very different nature here, in sect. 9, just before.
However, both the generous acts of kindness were obtained of Nero by his
queen Poppea, who was a religious lady, and perhaps privately a Jewish
proselyte, and so were not owing entirely to Nero’s own goodness.]
23 (return)
[ It hence evidently
appears that Sadducees might be high priests in the days of Josephus, and
that these Sadducees were usually very severe and inexorable judges, while
the Pharisees were much milder, and more merciful, as appears by Reland’s
instances in his note on this place, and on Josephus’s Life, sect. 31, and
those taken from the New Testament, from Josephus himself, and from the
Rabbins; nor do we meet with any Sadducees later than this high priest in
all Josephus.]
24 (return)
[ Of this condemnation of
James the Just, and its causes, as also that he did not die till long
afterwards, see Prim. Christ. Revived, vol. III. ch. 43-46. The sanhedrim
condemned our Savior, but could not put him to death without the
approbation of the Roman procurator; nor could therefore Ananias and his
sanhedrim do more here, since they never had Albinus’s approbation for the
putting this James to death.]
25 (return)
[ This Ananias was not
the son of Nebedeus, as I take it, but he who was called Annas or Ananus
the elder, the ninth in the catalogue, and who had been esteemed high
priest for a long time; and, besides Caiaphas, his son-in-law, had five of
his own sons high priests after him, which were those of numbers 11, 14,
15, 17, 24, in the foregoing catalogue. Nor ought we to pass slightly over
what Josephus here says of Annas, or Ananias, that he was high priest a
long time before his children were so; he was the son of Seth, and is set
down first for high priest in the foregoing catalogue, under number 9. He
was made by Quirinus, and continued till Ismael, the 10th in number, for
about twenty-three years, which long duration of his high priesthood,
joined to the successions of his son-in-law, and five children of his own,
made him a sort of perpetual high priest, and was perhaps the occasion
that former high priests kept their titles ever afterwards; for I believe
it is hardly met with be fore him.]
26 (return)
[ This insolent petition
of some of the Levites, to wear the sacerdotal garments when they sung
hymns to God in the temple, was very probably owing to the great
depression and contempt the haughty high priests had now brought their
brethren the priests into; of which see ch. 8. sect. 8, and ch. 9, sect.
2.]
27 (return)
[ Of these cloisters of
Solomon, see the description of the temple, ch. 13. They seem, by
Josephus’s words, to have been built from the bottom of the valley.]
28 (return)
[ See the Life at the
beginning of the volume.]
29 (return)
[ What Josephus here
declares his intention to do, if God permitted, to give the public again
an abridgement of the Jewish War hear of it elsewhere, whether he
performed what he now intended or not. Some of the reasons of this design
of his might possibly be, his observation of the many errors he had been
guilty of in the two first of those seven books of the War, which were
written when he was comparatively young, and less acquainted with the
Jewish antiquities than he now was, and in which abridgement we might have
hoped to find those many passages which himself, as well as those several
passages which others refer to, as written by him, but which are not
extant in his present works. However, since many of his own references to
what he had written elsewhere, as well as most of his own errors, belong
to such early times as could not well come into this abridgement of the
Jewish War; and since none of those that quote things not now extant in
his works, including himself as well as others, ever cite any such
abridgement; I am forced rather to suppose that he never did publish any
such work at all; I mean, as distinct from his own Life, written by
himself, for an appendix to these Antiquities, and this at least seven
years after these Antiquities were finished. Nor indeed does it appear to
me that Josephus ever published that other work here mentioned, as
intended by him for the public also: I mean the three or four books
concerning God and his essence, and concerning the Jewish laws; why,
according to them, some things were permitted the Jews, and others
prohibited; which last seems to be the same work which Josephus had also
promised, if God permitted, at the conclusion of his preface to these
Antiquities; nor do I suppose that he ever published any of them. The
death of all his friends at court, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, and the
coming of those he had no acquaintance with to the crown, I mean Nerva and
Trajan, together with his removal from Rome to Judea, with what followed
it, might easily interrupt such his intentions, and prevent his
publication of those works.]