THE
SACRED HISTORY
OF
SULPITIUS SEVERUS
Translated by Alexander Roberts
From: A Select Library of Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series,
Volume 11
New York, 1894
Other version available: text [274K]
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
I ADDRESS myself to give a condensed account of those things which are
set forth in the sacred Scriptures from the beginning of the world and
to tell of them, with distinction of dates and according to[1] their importance, down to period within
our own remembrance. Many who were anxious to become acquainted with
divine things by means of a compendious treatise, have eagerly
entreated me to undertake this work. I, seeking to carry out their
wish, have not spared my labor, and have thus succeeded in comprising
in two short books things which elsewhere filled many volumes. At the
same time, in studying brevity, I have omitted hardly any of the
facts. Moreover, it seemed to me not out of place that, after I had
run through the sacred history down to the crucifixion of Christ, and
the doings of the Apostles, I should add an account of events which
subsequently took place. I am, therefore, to tell of the destruction
of Jerusalem, the persecutions of the Christian people, the times of
peace which followed, and of all things again thrown into confusion by
the intestine dangers of the churches. But I will not shrink from
confessing that, wherever reason required, I have made use of profane
historians to fix dates and preserve the series of events unbroken,
and have taken out of these what was wanting to a complete knowledge
of the facts, that I might both instruct the ignorant and carry
conviction to the learned. Nevertheless, as to those things which I
have condensed from the sacred books, I do not wish so to present
myself as an author to my readers, that they, neglecting the source
from which my materials have been derived, should be satisfied with
what I have written. My aim is that one who is already familiar with
the original should recognize here what he has read there; for all the
mysteries of divine things cannot be brought out except from the
fountain-head itself. I shall now enter upon my narrative.
CHAPTER II.
THE world was created by God nearly six[2] thousand years ago, as we shall set
forth in the course of this book; although those who have entered upon
and published a calculation of the dates, but little agree among
themselves. As, however, this disagreement is due either to the will
of God or to the fault of antiquity, it ought not to be a matter of
censure. After the formation of the world man was created, the male
being named Adam, and the female Eve. Having been placed in Paradise,
they ate of the tree from which they were interdicted, and therefore
were cast forth as exiles into our earth.[3] To them were born Cain and Abel; but
Cain, being an impious man, slew his brother. He had a son called
Enoch, by whom a city was first built,[4] and was called after the name of its
founder. From him Irad, and from him again Mauiahel was descended.
He had a son called Mathusalam, and he, in turn, begat Lamech, by whom
a young man is said to have been slain, without, however, the name of
the slain man being mentioned--a fact which is thought by the wise to
have presaged a future mystery. Adam, then, after the death of his
younger son, begat another son called Seth, when he was now two
hundred and thirty years old: he lived altogether eight hundred and
thirty years. Seth begat Enos, Enos Cainan, Cainan Malaleel, Malaleel
Jared, and Jared Enoch, who on account of his righteousness is said to
have been translated by God. His son was called Mathusalam who begat
Lamech; from whom Noah was descended, remarkable for his
righteousness, and above all other mortals dear and acceptable to God.
When by this time the human race had increased to a great multitude,
certain angels, whose habitation was in heaven, were captivated by the
appearance of some beautiful virgins, and cherished illicit desires
after them, so much so, that filling beneath their own proper nature
and origin, they left the higher regions of which they were
inhabitants, and allied themselves in earthly marriages. These angels
gradually spreading wicked habits, corrupted the human family, and
from their alliance giants are said to have sprung, for the mixture
with them of beings of a different nature, as a matter of course, gave
birth to monsters.
CHAPTER III.
GOD being offended by these things, and especially by the wickedness
of mankind, which had gone beyond measure, had determined to destroy
the whole human race. But he exempted Noah, a righteous man and of
blameless life, from the destined doom. He being warned by God that a
flood was coming upon the earth, built an ark of wood of immense size,
and covered it with pitch so as to render it impervious to water. He
was shut into it along with his wife, and his three sons and his three
daughters-in-law. Pairs of birds also and of the different kinds of
beasts were likewise received into it, while all the rest were cut off
by a flood. Noah then, when he understood that the violence of the
rain had ceased, and that the ark was quietly floating on the deep,
thinking (as really was the case) that the waters were decreasing,
sent forth first a raven for the purpose of enquiring into the matter,
and on its not returning, having settled, as I conjecture, on the dead
bodies, he then sent forth a dove. It, not finding a place of rest,
returned to him and being again sent out, it brought back an olive
leaf, in manifest proof that the tops of the trees were now to be
seen. Then being sent forth a third time, it returned no more, from
which it was understood that the waters had subsided; and Noah
accordingly went out from the ark. This was done, as I reckon, two
thousand two hundred[5] and forty-two
years after the beginning of the world.
CHAPTER IV.
THEN Noah first of all erected an altar to God, and offered sacrifices
from among the birds.[6] Immediately
afterwards he was blessed by God along with his sons, and received a
command that he should not eat blood, or shed the blood of any human
being, because Cain, having no such precept, had stained the first age
of the world. Accordingly, the sons of Noah were alone left in the
then vacant world; for he had three, Shem, Ham, and Japhet. But Ham,
because he had mocked his father when senseless with wine, incurred
his father's curse. His son, Chas by name, begat the giant
Nebroth,[7] by whom the city of Babylon
is said to have been built. Many other towns are related to have
been founded at that time, which I do not here intend to name one by
one. But although the human race was now multiplied, and men occupied
different places and islands, nevertheless all made use of one tongue,
as long as the multitude, afterwards to be scattered through the whole
world, kept itself in one body. These, after the manner of human
nature, formed the design of obtaining a great name by constructing
some great work before they should be separated from one another.
They therefore attempted to build a tower which should reach up to
heaven. But by the ordination of God, in order that the labors of
those engaged in the work might be hindered, they began to speak in a
kind of languages very different from their accustomed form of speech,
while no one understood the others. This led to their being all the
more readily dispersed, because, regarding each other as foreigners,
they were easily induced to separate. And the world was so divided to
the sons of Noah, that Shem occupied the East, Japhet the West, and
Ham the intermediate parts. After this, till the time of Abraham,[8] their genealogy presented nothing very
remarkable or worthy of record.
CHAPTER V.
ABRAHAM, whose father was Thara, was born in the one thousand and
seventeenth year after the deluge. His wife was called Sara, and his
dwelling-place was at first in the country[9] of the Chaldæans. He then dwelt along
with his father at Charræ. Being at this time spoken to by God, he
left his country and his father, and taking with him Lot, the son of
his brother, he came into the country of the Canaanites, and settled
at a place named Sychem. Ere long, owing to the want of corn, he went
into Egypt, and again returned. Lot, owing to the size of the
household, parted from his uncle, that he might take advantage of more
spacious territories in what was then a vacant region, and settled at
Sodom. That town was infamous on account of its inhabitants, males
forcing themselves upon males, and it is said on that account to have
been hateful to God. At that period the kings of the neighboring
peoples were in arms, though previously there had been no[10] war among mankind. But the kings of
Sodom and Gomorrah and of the adjacent territories went forth to
battle against those who were making war upon the regions round about,
and being routed at the first onset, yielded the victory to the
opposite side. Then Sodom was plundered and made a spoil of by the
victorious enemy, while Lot was led into captivity. When Abraham
heard of this, he speedily armed his servants, to the number of three
hundred and eighteen, and, stripping of their spoils and arms the
kings flushed with victory, he put them to flight. Then he was
blessed by Melchisedech the priest, and gave him tithes of the spoil.
He restored the remainder to those from whom it had been taken.
CHAPTER VI.
AT the same time God spoke to Abraham, and promised that his seed was
to be multiplied as the sand of the sea; and that his predicted seed
would live in a land not his own, while his posterity would endure
slavery in a hostile country for four hundred years, but would
afterwards be restored to liberty. Then his name was changed, as well
as that of his wife, by the addition of one letter; so that instead of
Abram[11] he was called Abraham, and,
instead of Sara, she was called Sarra. The mystery involved in this
is by no means trifling, but it is not the part of this work to treat
of it. At the same time, the law of circumcision was enjoined on
Abraham, and he had by a maid-servant a son called Ishmael. Moreover,
when he himself was a hundred years old, and his wife ninety, God
promised that they should have a son Isaac, the Lord having come to
him along with two angels. Then the angels being sent to Sodom, found
Lot sitting in the gate of the city. He supposed them to be human
beings, and welcomed them to share in his hospitality, and provided an
entertainment for them in his house, but the wicked youth of the town
demanded the new arrivals for impure purposes. Lot offered them his
daughters in place of his guests, but they did not accept the offer,
having a desire rather for things forbidden, and then Lot himself was
laid hold of with vile designs. The angels, however, speedily rescued
him from danger, by causing blindness to fall upon the eyes of these
unchaste sinners. Then Lot, being informed by his guests that the
town was to be destroyed, went away from it with his wife and
daughters; but they were commanded not to look back upon it. His
wife, however, not obeying this precept (in accordance with that evil
tendency of human nature which renders it difficult to abstain from
things forbidden), turned back her eyes, and is said to have been at
once changed into a monument. As for Sodom, it was burned to ashes by
fire from heaven. And the daughters of Lot, imagining that the whole
human race had perished, sought a union with their father while he was
intoxicated, and hence sprung the race of Moab and Ammon.
CHAPTER VII.
ALMOST at the same time, when Abraham was now a hundred years old, his
son Isaac was born. Then Sara expelled the maid-servant by whom
Abraham had had a son; and she is said to have dwelt in the desert
along with her son, and defended by the help of God. Not long after
this, God tried the faith of Abraham, and required that his son Isaac
should be sacrificed to him by his father. Abraham did not hesitate
to offer him, and had already laid the lad upon the altar, and was
drawing the sword to slay him, when a voice came from heaven
commanding him to spare the young man; and a ram was found at hand to
be for a victim. When the sacrifice was offered, God spoke to
Abraham, and promised him those things which he had already said he
would bestow. But Sara died in her one hundred and twenty-seventh
year, and her body was, through the care of her husband, buried in
Hebron, a town of the Canaanites, for Abraham was staying in that
place. Then Abraham, seeing that his son Isaac was now of youthful[12] age, for he was, in fact, in his
fortieth year, enjoined his servant to seek a wife for him, but only
from that tribe and territory from which he himself was known to be
descended. He was instructed, however, on finding the girl, to bring
her into the land of the Canaanites, and not to suppose that Isaac
would return into the country of his father for the purpose of
obtaining a wife. In order that the servant might carry out those
instructions zealously, Abraham administered an oath to him, while his
hand rested on the thigh of his master. The servant accordingly set
out for Mesopotamia, and came to the town of Nachor, the brother of
Abraham. He entered into the house of Bathuel, the Syrian, son of
Nachor; and having seen Rebecca, a beautiful virgin, the daughter of
Nachor, he asked for her, and brought her to his master. After this,
Abraham took a wife named Kethurah, who is called in the Chronicles
his concubine, and begat children by her. But he left his possessions
to Isaac, the son of Sara, while, at the same time, he distributed
gifts to those whom he had begotten by his concubines; and thus they
were separated from Isaac. Abraham died after a life of a hundred and
seventy-five years; and his body was laid in the tomb of Sara his
wife.
CHAPTER VIII.
NOW, Rebecca, having long been barren, at length, through the
unceasing prayers of her husband to the Lord, brought forth twins
about twenty years after the time of her marriage. These are said to
have often leaped[13] in the womb of
their mother; and it was announced by the answer of the Lord on this
subject, that two peoples were foretold in these children, and that
the eider would, in rank, be inferior to the younger. Well, the first
that was born, bristling over with hair, was called Esau, while Jacob
was the name given to the younger. At that time, a grievous famine
had taken place. Under the pressure of this necessity, Isaac went to
Gerar, to King Abimelech, having been warned by the Lord not to go
down into Egypt. There he is promised the possession of the whole
land, and is blessed, and having been greatly increased in cattle and
every kind of substance, he is, under the influence of envy, driven
out by the inhabitants. Thus expelled from that region, he sojourned
by the well, known as "the well[14] of the oath." By and by, being
advanced in years, and his eyesight being gone, as he made ready to
bless his son Esau, Jacob through the counsel of his mother, Rebecca,
presented himself to be blessed in the place of his brother. Thus
Jacob is set before his brother as the one to be honored by the
princes and the peoples. Esau, enraged by these occurrences, plotted
the death of his brother. Jacob, owing to the fear thus excited, and
by the advice of his mother, fled into Mesopotamia, having been urged
by his father to take a wife of the house of Laban, Rebecca's brother:
so great was their care, while they dwelt in a strange country, that
their children should marry within their own kindred. Thus Jacob,
setting out for Mesopotamia, is said in sleep to have had a vision of
the Lord; and on that account regarding the place of his dream as
sacred, he took a stone from it; and he vowed that, if he returned in
prosperity, the name[15] of the pillar
should be the "house of the Lord," and that he would devote
to God the tithes of all the possessions he had gained. Then he
betook himself to Laban, his mother's brother, and was kindly received
by him to share in his hospitality as the acknowledged son of his
sister.
CHAPTER IX.
LABAN had two daughters, Leah and Rachel; but Leah had tender eyes,
while Rachel is said to have been beautiful. Jacob, captivated by her
beauty, burned with love for the virgin, and, asking her in marriage
from the father, gave himself up to a servitude of seven years. But
when the time was fulfilled, Leah was foisted upon him, and he was
subjected to another servitude of seven years, after which Rachel was
given him. But we are told that she was long barren, while Leah was
fruitful. Of the sons whom Jacob had by Leah, the following are the
names: Reuben, Symeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, and a daughter
Dinah; while there were born to him by the handmaid of Leah, Gad and
Asher, and by the handmaid of Rachel, Dan and Naphtali. But Rachel,
after she had despaired of offspring, bare Joseph. Then Jacob, being
desirous of returning to his father, when Laban his father-in-law had
given him a portion of the flock as a reward for his service, and
Jacob the son-in-law, thinking him not to be acting justly in that
matter, while he [also] suspected deceit on his part, privately
departed about the thirtieth year after his arrival. Rachel, without
the knowledge of her husband, stole the idols[16] of her father, and on account of this
injury Laban followed his son-in-law, but not finding his idols,
returned, after being reconciled, having straitly charged his
son-in-law not to take other wives in addition to his daughters. Then
Jacob, going on his way, is said to have had a vision of angels and of
the army[17] of the Lord. But, as he
directed his journey past the region of Edom, which his brother Esau
inhabited, suspecting the temper of Esau, be first sent messengers and
gifts to try him. Then he went to meet his brother, but Jacob took
care not to trust him beyond what he could help. On the day before
the brothers were to meet, God, taking a human form, is said to have
wrestled with Jacob. And when he had prevailed with God, still he was
not ignorant that his adversary was no mere mortal; and therefore
begged to be blessed by him. Then his name was changed by God, so
that from Jacob he was called Israel. But when he, in turn, inquired
of God the name of God, he was told that that should not be asked
after because it was wonderful.[18]
Moreover, from that wrestling, the breadth[19] of Jacob's thigh shrank.
ISRAEL, therefore, avoiding the house of his brother, sent forward his
company to Salem, a town of the Shechemites, and there he pitched his
tent on a spot which he had purchased. Emor, a Chorraean prince, was
the ruler of that town. His son Sychem defiled Dinah, the daughter of
Jacob by Leah. Symeon and Levi, the brothers of Dinah, discovering
this, cut off by a stratagem all those of the male sex in the town,
and thus terribly avenged the injury done to their sister. The town
was plundered by the sons of Jacob, and all the spoil carried off.
Jacob is said to have been much displeased with these proceedings.
Soon after being instructed by God, he went to Bethel, and there
erected an altar to God. Then he fixed his tent in a part of the
territory belonging to the tower[20]
Gader. Rachel died in childbirth: the boy she bore was called
Benjamin. Israel died at the age of one hundred and eighty years.
Now, Esau was mighty in wealth, and had taken to himself wives of the
nation of the Canaanites. I do not think that, in a work so concise
as the present, I am called upon to mention his descendants, and, if
any one is curious on the subject, he may turn to the original. After
the death of his father, Jacob stayed on in the place where Isaac had
lived. His other sons occasionally left him along with the flocks,
for the sake of pasturage, but Joseph and the little Benjamin remained
at home. Joseph was much beloved by his father, and on that account
was hated by his brethren. There was this further cause for their
aversion, that by frequent dreams of his it seemed to be indicated
that he would be greater than all of them. Accordingly, having been
sent by his father to inspect the flocks and pay a visit to his
brothers, there seemed to them a fitting opportunity for doing him
harm. For, on seeing their brother, they took counsel to slay him.
But Reuben, whose mind shuddered at the contemplation of such a crime,
opposing their plan, Joseph was let down into a well.[21] Afterwards, by the persuasions of
Judah, they were brought to milder measures, and sold him to
merchants, who were on their way to Egypt. And by them he was
delivered to Petifra, a governor of Pharaoh.
ABOUT this same time, Judah, the son of Jacob, took in marriage
Sava,[22] a woman of Canaan. By her he
had three sons,--Her, Onan, and Sela. Her was allied by
concubinage[23] to Thamar. On his
death, Onan took his brother's wife; and he is related to have been
destroyed by God, because he spilled his seed upon the earth. Then
Thamar, assuming the garb of a harlot, united with her brother-in-law,
and bore him two sons. But when she brought them forth, there was
this remarkable fact, that, when on one of the boys being born, the
midwife had bound his hand with a scarlet thread to indicate which of
them was born first, he, drawing back again into the womb of his
mother, was born[24] the last boy of
the two. The names of Fares and Zarah were given to the children.
But Joseph, being kindly treated by the royal governor who had
obtained him for a sum of money, and having been made manager of his
house and family, had drawn the eyes of his master's wife upon himself
through his remarkable beauty. And as she was madly laboring under
that base passion, she made advances to him oftener than once, and
when he would not yield to her desires, she disgraced him by the
imputation of a false crime, and complained to her husband that he had
made an attempt upon her virtue. Accordingly, Joseph was thrown into
prison. There were in the same place of confinement two of the king's
servants, who made known their dreams to Joseph, and he, interpreting
these as bearing upon the future, declared that one of them would be
put to death, and the other would be pardoned. And so it came to
pass. Well, after the lapse of two years, the king also had a dream.
And when this could not be explained by the wise men among the
Egyptians, that servant of the king who was liberated from prison
informs the king that Joseph was a wonderful interpreter of dreams.
Accordingly, Joseph was brought out of prison, and interpreted to the
king his dream, to this effect, that, for the next seven years, there
would be the greatest fertility in the land; but in those that
followed, famine. The king being alarmed by this terror, and seeing
that there was a divine spirit in Joseph, set him over the department
of food-supply, and made him equal with himself in the government.
Then Joseph, while corn was abundant throughout all Egypt, gathered
together an immense quantity, and, by increasing the number of
granaries, took measures against the future famine. At that time, the
hope and safety of Egypt were placed in him alone. About the same
period, Aseneh bore him two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. He himself,
when he received the chief power from the king, was thirty years old;
for he was sold by his brothers when he was seventeen years of age.
IN the mean time, affairs having been well settled in Egypt to meet
the famine, a grievous want of corn began to distress the world.
Jacob, constrained by this necessity, sent his sons into Egypt,
keeping only Benjamin with himself at home. Joseph, then, being at
the head of affairs, and having complete power over the corn-supplies,
his brothers come to him, and pay the same honor to him as to a king.
He, when he saw them, craftily concealed his recognition of them, and
accused them of having come as enemies, subtly to spy out the land.
But he was annoyed that he did not see among them his brother
Benjamin. Matters, then, are brought to this point, that they
promised he should be present, specially that he might be asked
whether they had entered Egypt for the purpose of spying out the land.
In order to secure the fulfillment of this promise, Symeon was
retained as hostage, while to them corn was given freely.
Accordingly, they returned, bringing Benjamin with them as had been
arranged. Then Joseph made himself known to his brothers to the shame
of these evil-deservers. Thus, he sent them home again, laden with
corn, and presented with many gifts, forewarning them that there were
still five years of famine to come, and advising them to come down
with their father, their children, and their whole connections to
Egypt. So Jacob went down to Egypt, to the great joy of the Egyptians
and of the king himself, while he was tenderly welcomed by his son.
That took place in the hundred and thirtieth year of the life of
Jacob, and one thousand three hundred and sixty years[25] after the deluge. But from the time
when Abraham settled in the land of the Canaanites, to that when
Jacob entered Egypt, there are to be reckoned two hundred and fifteen
years. After this, Jacob, in the seventeenth year of his residence in
Egypt, suffering severely from illness, entreated Joseph to see his
remains placed in the tomb. Then Joseph presented his sons to be
blessed;[26] and when this had been
done, but so that he set the younger before the elder as to the value
of the blessing given, Jacob then blessed all his sons in order. He
died at the age of one hundred and forty-seven years. His funeral was
of a most imposing character, and Joseph laid his remains in the tomb
of his fathers. He continued to treat his brothers with kindness,
although, after the death of their father, they felt alarmed from a
consciousness of the wrong they had done. Joseph himself died in his
one hundred and tenth year.
IT is almost incredible to relate how the Hebrews who had come down
into Egypt so soon increased in numbers, and filled Egypt with their
numerous descendants. But on the death of the king, who kindly
cherished them on account of the services of Joseph, they were kept
down by the government of the succeeding kings. For both the heavy
labor of building cities was laid upon them, and because their
abounding numbers were now feared, lest some day they should secure
their independence by arms, they were compelled by a royal edict to
drown their newly-born male children. And no permission was granted
to evade this cruel order. Well, at that time, the daughter of
Pharaoh found an infant in the river, and caused it to be brought up
as her own son, giving the boy the name of Moses. This Moses, when he
had come to manhood, saw a Hebrew being assaulted by an Egyptian; and,
filled with sorrow at the sight, he delivered his brother from injury,
and killed the Egyptian with a stone. Soon after, fearing punishment
on account of what he had done, he fled into the land of Midian, and,
taking up his abode with Jothor the priest of that district, he
received his daughter Sepphora in marriage, who bore him two sons,
Gersam and Eliezer. At this epoch lived Job, who had acquired both
the knowledge of God and all righteousness simply from the law[27] of nature. He was exceedingly rich,
and on that account all the more illustrious, because he was neither
corrupted by that wealth while it remained entire, nor perverted by it
when it was lost. For, when, through the agency of the devil, he was
stripped of his goods, deprived of his children, and finally covered
in his own person with terrible boils, he could not be broken down, so
as, from impatience of his sufferings, in any way, to commit sin. At
length he obtained the reward of the divine approval, and being
restored to health, he got back doubled all that he had lost.
BUT the Hebrews, oppressed by the multiplied evils of slavery,
directed their complaints to heaven, and cherished the hope of
assistance from God. Then, as Moses was feeding his sheep, suddenly a
bush appeared to him burning, but, what was surprising, the flames did
it no harm. Astonished at such an extraordinary sight, he drew nearer
to the bush, and immediately God spoke to him in words to this effect,
that he was the Lord of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and that he desired
that their descendants, who were kept down under the tyranny of the
Egyptians, should be delivered from their sufferings, and that he,
therefore, should go to the king of Egypt, and present himself as a
leader for restoring them to liberty. When he hesitated, God
strengthened him with power, and imparted to him the gift of working
miracles. Thus Moses, going into Egypt, after he had first performed
miracles in the presence of his own people, and having associated his
brother Aaron with him, went to the king, declaring that he had been
sent by God, and that he now told him in the words of God to let the
Hebrew people go. But the king, affirming that he did not know the
Lord, refused to obey the command addressed to him. And when Moses,
in proof that the orders he issued were from God, changed his rod into
a serpent,[28] and soon after converted
all the water into blood, while he filled the whole land with frogs,
as the Chaldaeans were doing similar things, the king declared that
the wonders performed by Moses were simply due to the arts of magic,
and not to the power of God, until the land was covered with stinging
insects brought over it, when the Chaldaeans confessed that this was
done by the divine majesty. Then the king, constrained by his
sufferings, called to him Moses and Aaron, and gave the people liberty
to depart, provided that the calamity brought upon the kingdom were
removed. But, after the suffering was put an end to, his mind, having
no control over itself returned to its former state, and did not allow
the Israelites to depart, as had been agreed upon. Finally, however,
he was broken down and conquered by the ten plagues which were sent
upon his person and his kingdom.
BUT on the day[29] before the people
went out of Egypt, being as yet unacquainted with dates, they were
instructed by the command of God to acknowledge that month which was
then passing by as the first of all months; and were told that the
sacrifice of the day was to be solemnly and regularly offered in
coming ages, so that, on the fourteenth day of the month, a lamb
without blemish, one year old, should be slain as a victim, and that
the door-posts should be sprinkled with its blood; that its flesh was
wholly to be eaten, but not a bone of it was to be broken; that they
should abstain from what was leavened for seven days, using only
unleavened bread; and that they should hand down the observance to
their posterity. Thus the people went forth rich, both by their own
wealth, and still more by the spoils of Egypt. Their number had grown
from those seventy-five[30] Hebrews,
who had first gone down into Egypt, to six hundred thousand men. Now,
there had elapsed from the time when Abraham first reached the land of
the Canaanites a period of four hundred and thirty years, but from the
deluge a period of five hundred and seventy-five[31] years. Well, as they went forth in
haste, a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night,
marched before them. But since, owing to the fact that the gulf of
the Red Sea lay between, the way led by[32] the land of the Philistines, in order
that an opportunity might not afterwards be offered to the Hebrews,
shrinking from the desert, of returning into Egypt by a well-known
road through a continuous land-journey, by the command of God they
turned aside, and journeyed towards the Red Sea, where they stopped
and pitched their camp. When it was announced to the king that the
Hebrew people, through mistaking the road, had come to have the sea
right before them, and that they had no means of escape since the deep
would prevent them, vexed and furious that so many thousand men should
escape from his kingdom and power, he hastily led forth his army. And
already the arms, and standards, and the lines drawn up in the
widespreading plains were visible, when, as the Hebrews were in a
state of terror, and gazing up to heaven, Moses being so instructed by
God, struck the sea with his rod, and divided it. Thus a road was
opened to the people as on firm land, the waters giving way on both
sides. Nor did the king of Egypt hesitate to follow the Israelites
going forward, for he entered the sea where it had opened; and, as the
waters speedily came together again, he, with all his host, was
destroyed.
THEN Moses, exulting in the safety of his own people, and in the
destruction of the enemy, by such a miracle,[33] sang a song of praise to God, and the
whole multitude, both of males and females, took part in it. But,
after they had entered the desert, and advanced a journey of three
days, want of water distressed them; and, when it was found, it proved
of no use on account of its bitterness. And then for the first time
the stubbornness of the impatient people showed itself, and burst
forth against Moses; when, as instructed by God, he cast some wood
into the waters, and its power was such that it rendered the taste of
the fluid sweet. Thence advancing, the multitude found at Elim twelve
fountains of waters, with seventy palm-trees, and there they encamped.
Again the people, complaining of famine, heaped reproaches upon Moses,
and longed for the slavery of Egypt, accompanied as it was with
abundance to please their appetite, when a flock of quails was
divinely sent, and filled the camp. Besides, on the following day,
those who had gone forth from the camp perceived that the ground was
covered with a sort of pods,[34] the
appearance of which was like a coriander-seed of snowy whiteness, as
we often see the earth in the winter months covered with the
hoar-frost that has been spread over it. Then the people were
informed, through Moses, that this bread had been sent them by the
gift of God; that every one should gather in vessels prepared for the
purpose only so much of it as would be sufficient for each, according
to their number, during one day; but that on the sixth day they should
gather double, because it was not lawful to collect it on the Sabbath.
The people, however, as they were never prone to obedience, did not,
in accordance with human nature, restrain their desires, providing in
their stores not merely for one, but also for the following day. But
that which was thus laid up swarmed with worms, while its fetid odor
was dreadful, yet that which was laid up on the sixth day with a view
to the Sabbath remained quite untainted. The Hebrews made use of this
food for forty years; its taste was very like that of honey; and its
name is handed down as being manna. Moreover, as an abiding
witness to the divine gift, Moses is related to have laid up a full
gomer of it in a golden vessel.
THE people going on from thence, and being again tried with want of
water, hardly restrained themselves from destroying their leader.
Then Moses, under divine orders, striking with his rod the rock at the
place which is called Horeb, brought forth an abundant supply of
water. But when they came to Raphidin, the Amalekites destroyed
numbers of the people by their attacks. Moses, leading out his men to
battle, placed Joshua at the head of the army; and, in company with
Aaron and Hur, was himself simply to be a spectator of the fight,
while, at the same time, for the purpose of praying to the Lord, he
went up to the top of a mountain. But when the armies had met with
doubtful issue, through the prayers of Moses, Joshua slew the enemy
until nightfall. At the same time, Jothor, Moses' father-in-law, with
his daughter Sepphora (who, having been married to Moses, had remained
at home when her husband went into Egypt), and his children, having
learned the things which were being done by Moses, came to him. By
his advice Moses divided the people into various ranks; and, setting
tribunes, centurions, and decurions[35]
over them, thus furnished a mode of discipline and order to posterity.
Jothor then returned to his own country, while the Israelites came on
to Mount Sinai. There Moses was admonished by the Lord that the
people should be sanctified, since they were to hearken to the words
of God; and that was carefully seen to. But when God rested on the
mountain, the air was shaken with the loud sounds of trumpets, and
thick clouds rolled around with frequent flashes of lightning. But
Moses and Aaron were on the top of the mountain beside the Lord, while
the people stood around the bottom of the mountain. Thus a law was
given, manifold and full of the words of God, and frequently repeated;
but if any one is desirous of knowing particulars regarding it, he
must consult the original, as we here only briefly touch upon it.
"There shall not be," said God, "any strange gods among
you, but ye shall worship me alone; thou shalt not make to thee any
idol; thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain; thou shalt do
no work upon the Sabbath; honor thy father and thy mother; thou shalt
not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou
shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor; thou shalt not
covet anything belonging to thy neighbor."
THESE things being said by God, while the trumpets uttered their
voices, the lamps blazed, and smoke covered the mountain, the people
trembled from terror; and begged of Moses that God should speak to him
alone, and that he would report to the people what he thus heard.
Now, the commandments of God to Moses were as follows: A Hebrew
servant purchased with money shall serve six years, and after that he
shall be free; but his ear shall be bored, should he willingly remain
in slavery. Whosoever slays a man shall be put to death; he who does
so unwittingly shall in due form be banished. Whosoever shall beat
his father or his mother, and utter evil sayings against them, shall
suffer death. If any one sell a Hebrew who has been stolen, he shall
be put to death. If any one strike his own man-servant or
maidservant, and he or she die of the blow, he shall be put on his
trial for doing so. If any one cause a woman[36] to miscarry, he shall be put to death.
If any one knock out the eye or the tooth of his servant, that servant
shall receive his liberty in due form. If a bull kill a man, it shall
be stoned; and if its master, knowing the vicious temper of the
animal, did not take precautions in connection with it, he also shall
be stoned, or shall redeem himself by a price as large as the accuser
shall demand. If a bull kill a servant, money to the amount of thirty
double-drachmas shall be paid to his master. If any one does not
cover up a pit which has been dug, and an animal fall into that pit,
he shall pay the price of the animal to its master. If a bull kill
the bull of another man, the animal shall be sold, and the two masters
shall share the price; they shall also divide the animal that has been
killed. But if a master, knowing the vicious temper of the bull, did
not take precautions in connection with it, he shall give up the bull.
If any one steals a calf, he shall restore five; if he steals a sheep,
the penalty shall be fourfold; and if the animals be found alive in
the hands of him who drove them off, he shall restore double. It
shall be lawful to kill a thief by night, but not one by day. If the
cattle of any one has eaten up the corn of another, the master of the
cattle shall restore what has been destroyed. If a deposit
disappears, he, in whose hands it was deposited, shall swear that he
has not been guilty of any deceit. A thief who is caught shall pay
double. An animal given in trust, if devoured by a wild beast, shall
not be made good. If any one defile a virgin not yet betrothed, he
shall bestow a dowry on the girl, and thus take her to wife; but, if
the father of the girl shall refuse to give her in marriage, then the
ravisher shall give her a dowry. If any one shall join himself to a
beast, he shall be put to death. Let him who sacrifices to idols
perish. The widow and orphan are not to be oppressed; the poor debtor
is not to be hardly treated, nor is usury to be demanded: the garment
of the poor is not to be taken as a pledge. A ruler of the people is
not to be evil spoken of. All the first-born are to be offered to
God. Flesh taken from a wild beast is not to be eaten. Agreements to
bear false witness, or for any evil purpose, are not to be made. Thou
shalt not pass by any animal of thine enemy which has strayed, but
shalt bring it back. If you find an animal of your enemy fallen down
under a burden, it will be your duty to raise it up. Thou shall not
slay the innocent and the righteous. Thou shall not justify the
wicked for rewards. Gifts are not to be accepted. A stranger is to
be kindly treated. Work is to be done on six days: rest is to be
taken on the Sabbath. The crops of the seventh year are not to be
reaped, but are to be left for the poor and needy.
MOSES reported these words of God to the people, and placed an altar
of twelve stones at the foot of the mountain. Then he again ascended
the mountain on which the Lord had taken his place, bringing with him
Aaron, Nabad, and seventy of the elders. But these were not able to
look upon the Lord; nevertheless, they saw the place[37] in which God stood, whose form is
related to have been wonderful, and his splendor glorious. Now,
Moses, having been called by God, entered the inner cloud which had
gathered round about God, and is related to have remained there forty
days and forty nights. During this time, he was taught in the words
of God about building the tabernacle and the ark, and about the ritual
of sacrifice-things which I, as they were obviously told at great
length, have not thought proper to be inserted in such a concise work
as the present. But as Moses stayed away a long time, since he spent
forty days in the presence of the Lord, the people, despairing of his
return, compelled Aaron to construct images. Then, out of metals
which had been melted together, there came forth the head of a calf.
The people, unmindful of God, having offered sacrifices to this, and
given themselves up to eating and drinking, God, looking upon these
things, would in his righteous indignation, have destroyed the wicked
people, had he not been entreated by Moses not to do so. But Moses,
on his return, bringing down the two tables of stone which had been
written by the hand of God, and seeing the people devoted to luxury
and sacrilege, broke the tables, thinking the nation unworthy of
having the law of the Lord delivered to them. He then called around
himself the Levites, who had been assailed with many insults, and
commanded them to smite the people with drawn swords. In this onset
twenty-three thousand[38] men are said
to have been slain. Then Moses set up the tabernacle outside the
camp; and, as often as he entered it, the pillar of cloud was observed
to stand before the door; and God spoke, face to face, with Moses.
But when Moses entreated that he might see the Lord in his peculiar
majesty, he was answered that the form of God could not be seen by
mortal eyes; yet it was allowed to see his back parts; and the tables
which Moses had formerly broken were constructed afresh. And Moses is
reported, during this conference with God, to have stayed forty days
with the Lord. Moreover, when he descended from the mountain,
bringing with him the tables, his face shone with so great brightness,
that the people were not able to look upon him. It was arranged,
therefore, that when he was to make known to them the commands of God,
he covered his face with a veil, and thus spoke to the people in the
words of God. In this part of the history an account is given[39] of the tabernacle, and the building of
its inner parts. Which having been finished, the cloud descended from
above, and so overshadowed the tabernacle that it prevented Moses
himself from entering. These are the principal matters contained in
the two books of Genesis and Exodus.
THEN follows the book of Leviticus, in which the precepts bearing upon
sacrifice are set forth; commandments also are added to the law
formerly given; and almost the whole is full of instructions connected
with the priests. If any one wishes to become acquainted with these,
he will obtain fuller information from that source. For we, keeping
within the limits of the work undertaken, touch upon the history only.
The tribe of Levi, then, being set apart for the priesthood, the rest
of the tribes were numbered, and were found to amount to six hundred
and three thousand five hundred persons.[40] When, therefore, the people made use
of the manna for food, as we have related above, even amid so many and
so great kindnesses of God, showing themselves, as ever, ungrateful,
they longed after the worthless viands to which they had been
accustomed in Egypt. Then the Lord brought an enormous supply of
quails into the camp; and as they were eagerly tearing these to
pieces, as soon as their lips touched the flesh, they perished. There
was indeed on that day a great destruction in the camp, so that twenty
and three thousand men are said to have died. Thus the people were
punished by the very food which they desired. Thence the company went
forward, and came to Faran; and Moses was instructed by the Lord that
the land was now near, the possession of which the Lord had promised
them. Spies, accordingly, having been sent into it, they report that
it was a land blessed with all abundance, but that the nations were
powerful, and the towns fortified with immense walls. When this was
made known to the people, fear seized the minds of all; and to such a
pitch of wickedness did they come, that, despising the authority of
Moses, they prepared to appoint for themselves a leader, under whose
guidance they might return to Egypt. Then Joshua and Caleb, who had
been of the number of the spies, rent their garments with tears, and
implored the people not to believe the spies relating such terrors;
for that they themselves had been with them and had found nothing
dreadful in that country; and that it behooved them to trust the
promises of God, that these enemies would rather become their prey
than prove their destruction. But that stiff-necked race, setting
themselves against every good advice, rushed upon them to destroy
them. And the Lord, angry on account of these things, exposed a part
of the people to be slain by the enemy, while the spies were slain for
having excited fear among the people.
THERE followed the revolt of those, who, with Dathan and Abiron as
leaders, endeavored to set themselves up against Moses and Aaron; but
the earth, opening, swallowed them alive. And not long after, a
revolt of the whole people arose against Moses and Aaron, so that they
rushed into the tabernacle, which it was not lawful for any but the
priests to enter. Then truly death mowed them down in heaps; and all
would have perished in a moment, had not the Lord, appeased by the
prayers of Moses, turned aside the disaster. Nevertheless, the number
of those slain amounted to seven hundred and fourteen thousand.[41] And not long after, as had already
often happened, a revolt of the people arose on account of the want of
water. Then Moses, instructed by God to strike the rock with his rod,
with a kind of trial now familiar to him, since he had already done
that before, struck the rock once and again, and thus water flowed out
of it. In regard, however, to this point, Moses is said to have been
reproved by God, that, through want of faith, he did not bring out the
water except by repeated blows; in fact, on account of this
transgression, he did not enter the land promised to him, as I shall
show farther on. Moses, then, moving away from that place, as he was
preparing to lead his company along by the borders of Edom, sent
ambassadors to the king to beg liberty to pass by; for he thought it
right to abstain from war on account of the connection by blood; for
that nation was descended from Esau. But the king despised the
suppliants, and refused them liberty to pass by, being ready to
contend in arms. Then Moses directed his march towards the mountain,
Or, keeping clear of the forbidden road, that he might not furnish any
cause of war between those related by blood, and on that route he
destroyed the king of the nation of the Canaanites. He smote also
Seon the king of the Amorites, and possessed himself of all their
towns: he conquered, too, Basan and Balac. He pitched his camp beyond
Jordan, not far from Jericho. Then a battle took place against the
Midianites, and they were conquered and subdued. Moses died, after he
had ruled the people forty years in the wilderness. But the Hebrews
are said to have remained in the wilderness for so long a time, with
this view, until all those who had not believed the words of God
perished. For, except Joshua and Caleb, not one of those who were
more than twenty years old on leaving Egypt passed over Jordan. That
Moses himself only saw the promised land, and did not reach it, is
ascribed to his sin, because, at that time when he was ordered to
strike the rock, and bring forth water, he doubted, even after so many
proofs of his miraculous power. He died in the one hundred and
twentieth year of his age. Nothing is known concerning the place of
his burial.
AFTER the death of Moses, the chief power passed into the hands of
Joshua the son of Nun, for Moses had appointed him his successor,
being a man very like himself in the good qualities which be
displayed. Now, at the commencement of his rule, he sent messengers
through the camp to instruct the people to make ready supplies of
corn, and announces that they should march on the third day. But the
river Jordan, a very powerful stream, hindered their crossing, because
they did not have a supply of vessels for the occasion, and the stream
could not be crossed by fords, as it was then rushing on in full
flood. He, therefore, orders the ark to be carried forward by the
priests, and that they should take their stand against the current of
the river. On this being done, Jordan is said to have been divided,
and thus the army was led over on dry ground. There was in these
places a town called Jericho, fortified with very strong walls, and
not easy to be taken, either by storm or blockade. But Joshua,
putting his trust in God, did not attack the city either by arms or
force; he simply ordered the ark of God to be carried round the walls,
while the priests walked before the ark, and sounded trumpets. But
when the ark had been carried round seven times, the walls and the
towers fell; and the city was plundered and burnt. Then Joshua is
said to have addressed the Lord, and[42] to have called down a curse upon any
one who should attempt to restore the town which had thus by divine
help been demolished. Next, the army was led against Geth, and an
ambuscade having been placed behind the city, Joshua, pretending fear,
fled before the enemy. On seeing this, those who were in the town,
opening the gates, began to press upon the enemy giving way. Thus,
the men who were in ambush took the city, and all the inhabitants were
slain, without one escaping: the king also was taken, and suffered
capital punishment.
WHEN this became known to the kings of the neighboring nations, they
made a warlike alliance to put down the Hebrews by arms. But the
Gibeonites, a powerful nation with a wealthy city, spontaneously
yielded to the Hebrews, promising to do what they were ordered, and
were received under protection, while they were told to bring in wood
and water. But their surrender had roused the resentment of the kings
of the nearest cities. Accordingly, moving up their troops, they
surround with a blockade their town, which was called Gabaoth. The
townspeople, therefore, in their distress, send messengers to Joshua,
that he would help them in their state of siege. Accordingly, he by a
forced march came upon the enemy at unawares, and many thousands of
them were completely destroyed. When day failed the victors, and it
seemed that night would furnish protection to the vanquished, the
Hebrew general, through the power of his faith, kept off the night,
and the day continued, so that there was no means of escape for the
enemy. Five kings who were taken suffered death. By the same attack,
neighboring cities also were brought under the power of Joshua, and
their kings were cut off. But as it was not my design, studious as I
am of brevity, to follow out all these things in order, I only
carefully observe this, that twenty-nine kingdoms were brought under
the yoke of the Hebrews, and that their territory was distributed
among eleven tribes, to man after man. For to the Levites, who had
been set apart for the priesthood, no portion was given, in order that
they might the more freely serve God. I desire not, in silence, to
pass over the example thus set, but I would earnestly bring it forward
as well worthy of being read by the ministers of the Church. For
these seem to me not only unmindful of this precept, but even utterly
ignorant of it--such a lust for possessing has, in this age, seized,
like an incurable disease, upon their minds. They gape upon
possessions; they cultivate estates; they repose upon gold; they buy
and sell; they study gain by every possible means. And even, if any
of them seem to have a better aim in life, neither possessing nor
trading, still (what is much more disgraceful) remaining inactive,
they look for gifts, and have corrupted the whole glory of life by
their mercenary dispositions, while they present an appearance of
sanctity, as if even that might be made a source of gain. But I have
gone farther than I intended in expressing my loathing and disgust
over the character of our times; and I hasten to return to the subject
in hand. The vanquished territory, then, as I have already said,
having been divided among the tribes, the Hebrews enjoyed profound
peace; their neighbors, being terrified by war, did not venture to
attempt hostilities against those distinguished by so many victories.
At the same period died Joshua in the hundred and tenth year of his
age. I do not express any definite opinion as to the length of time
he ruled: the prevalent view, however, is, that he was at the head of
the Hebrew affairs during twenty-seven years. If this were so, then
three thousand eight hundred and eighty-four years had elapsed from
the beginning of the world to his death.
AFTER the death of Joshua, the people acted without a leader. But a
necessity of making war with the Canaanites having arisen, Judah was
appointed as general in the war. Under his guidance, matters were
successfully conducted: there was the greatest tranquillity both at
home and abroad: the people ruled over the nations which had either
been subdued or received under terms of surrender. Then, as almost
always happens in a time of prosperity, becoming unmindful of morals
and discipline, they began to contract marriages from among the
conquered, and by and by to adopt foreign customs, yea, even in a
sacrilegious manner to offer sacrifice to idols: so pernicious is all
alliance with foreigners. God, foreseeing these things long before,
had, by a wholesome precept enjoined upon the Hebrews to give over the
conquered nations to utter destruction. But the people, through lust
for power, preferred (to their own ruin) to rule over those who were
conquered. Accordingly, when, forsaking God, they worshiped idols,
they were deprived of the divine assistance, and, being vanquished and
subdued by the king of Mesopotamia, they paid the penalty of eight
years' captivity, until, with Gothoniel as their leader, they were
restored to liberty, and enjoyed independence for fifty years. Then
again, corrupted by the evil effect of a lengthened peace, they began
to sacrifice to idols. And speedily did retribution fall upon them
thus sinning. Conquered by Eglon, king of the Moabites, they served
him eighteen years, until, by a divine impulse, Aod slew the enemies'
king by a stratagem, and, gathering together a hasty army, restored
them to liberty by force of arms. The same man ruled the Hebrews in
peace for forty years. To him Semigar succeeded, and he, engaging in
battle with the Philistines,[43]
secured a decisive victory. But again, the king of the Canaanites,
Jabin by name, subdued the Hebrews who were once more serving idols,
and exercised over them a grievous tyranny for twenty years, until
Deborah, a woman, restored them to their former condition. They had
to such a degree lost confidence in their generals, that they were now
protected by means of a woman. But it is worthy of notice, that this
form of deliverance was arranged beforehand, as a type of the Church,
by whose aid captivity to the devil is escaped. The Hebrews were
forty years under this leader or judge. And being again delivered
over to the Midianites for their sins, they were kept under hard rule;
and, being afflicted by the evils of slavery, they implored the divine
help. Thus always when in prosperity they were unmindful of the
kindnesses of heaven, and prayed to idols; but in adversity they cried
to God. Wherefore, as often as I reflect that those people who lay
under so many obligations to the goodness of God, being chastised with
so many disasters when they sinned, and experiencing both the mercy
and the severity of God, yet were by no means rendered better, and
that, though they always obtained pardon for their transgressions, yet
they as constantly sinned again after being pardoned, it can appear
nothing wonderful that Christ when he came was not received by them,
since already, from the beginning, they were found so often rebelling
against the Lord. It is, in fact, far more wonderful that the
clemency of God never failed them when they sinned, if only they
called upon his name.[44]
ACCORDINGLY, when the Midianites, as we have related above, ruled over
them, they turned to the Lord, imploring his wonted tender mercy, and
obtained it. There was then among the Hebrews one Gideon by name, a
righteous man who was dear and acceptable to God. The angel stood by
him as he was returning home from the harvest-field, and said unto
him; "The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." But
he in a humble voice complained that the Lord was not[45] with him, because captivity pressed
sore upon his people, and he remembered with tears the miracles
wrought by the Lord, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt.
Then the angel said, "Go, in this spirit in which you have
spoken, and deliver the people from captivity." But he declared
that he could not, with his[46] feeble
strength, since he was a man of very small importance, undertake such
a heavy task. The angel, however, persisted in urging him not to
doubt that those things could be done which the Lord said. So then,
having offered sacrifice, and overthrown the altar which the
Midianites had consecrated to the image of Baal, he went to his own
people, and pitched his camp near the camp of the enemy. But the
nation of the Amalekites had also joined themselves to the Midianites,
while Gideon had not gathered more than an army of thirty-two thousand
men. But before the battle began, God said to him that this was a
larger number than he wished him to lead forth to the conflict; that,
if he did make use of so many, the Hebrews would, in accordance with
their usual wickedness ascribe the result of the fight, not to God,
but to their own bravery; he should therefore furnish an opportunity
of leaving to those who desired to do so. When this was made known to
the people, twenty and two thousand left the camp. But of the ten
thousand who had remained, Gideon, as instructed by God, did not
retain more than three hundred: the rest he dismissed from the field.
Thus, entering the camp of the enemy in the middle watch of the night,
and having ordered all his men to sound their trumpets, he caused
great terror to the enemy; and no one had courage to resist; but they
made off in a disgraceful flight wherever they could. The Hebrews,
however, meeting them in every direction, cut the fugitives to pieces.
Gideon pursued the kings beyond Jordan, and having captured them, gave
them over to death. In that battle, a hundred and twenty thousand of
the enemy are said to have been slain, and fifteen thousand captured.
Then, by universal consent, a proposal was made to Gideon that he
should be king of the people. But he rejected this proposal, and
preferred rather to live on equal terms with his fellow-citizens than
to be their ruler. Having, therefore, escaped from their captivity,
which had pressed upon the people for seven years, they now enjoyed
peace for a period of forty years.
BUT on the death of Gideon, his son Abimelech, whose mother was a
concubine, having slain his brothers with the concurrence of a
multitude of wicked men, and especially by the help of the chief men
among the Shechemites, took possession of the kingdom. And he, being
harassed by civil strife, while he pressed hard upon his people by
war, attempted to storm a certain tower, into which they, after losing
the town, had betaken themselves by flight. But, as he approached the
place without sufficient caution, he was slain by a stone which a
woman threw, after holding the government for three years. To him
succeeded Thola, who reigned two and twenty years. After him came
Jair; and after he had held the chief place for a like period of
twenty-two years, the people, forsaking God, gave themselves up to
idols. On this account, the Israelites were subdued by the
Philistines and Ammonites, and remained under their power for eighteen
years. At the end of this period, they began to call upon God; but
the divine answer to them was that they should rather invoke the aid
of their images, for that he would no longer extend his mercy to those
who had been so ungrateful. But they with tears confessed their
fault, and implored forgiveness; while, throwing away their idols, and
earnestly calling upon God, they obtained the divine compassion,
though it had been at first refused. Accordingly, under Jephtha as
general, they assembled in great numbers for the purpose of recovering
their liberty by arms, having first sent ambassadors to King Ammon,
begging that, content with his own territories, he should keep from
warring against them. But he, far from declining battle, at once drew
up his army. Then Jephtha, before the signal for battle was given, is
said to have vowed that, if he obtained the victory, the person who
first met him as he returned home, should be offered to God as a
sacrifice. Accordingly, on the enemy being defeated, as Jephtha was
returning home, his daughter met him, having joyfully gone forth with
drums and dances to receive her father as a conqueror. Then Jephtha,
being overwhelmed with sorrow, rent his clothes in his affliction, and
made known to his daughter the stringent obligation of his vow. But
she, with a courage not to be expected from a woman, did not refuse to
die; she only begged that her life might be spared for two months,
that she might before dying have the opportunity of seeing the friends
of her own age. This being done, she willingly returned to her
father, and fulfilled the vow to God. Jephtha held the chief power
for six years. To him Esebon succeeded, and having ruled in
tranquillity for seven years, then died. After him, Elon the
Zebulonite ruled for ten years, and Abdon also for eight years; but,
as their rule was peaceful, they performed nothing which history might
record.
THE Israelites yet again turned to idols; and, being deprived of the
divine protection, were subdued by the Philistines, and paid the
penalty of their unfaithfulness by forty years of captivity. At that
time, Samson is related to have been born. His mother, after being
long barren, had a vision of an angel, and was told to abstain from
wine, and strong drink, and everything unclean; for that she should
bear a son who would be the restorer of liberty to the Israelites, and
their avenger upon their enemies. He, with unshorn locks, is said to
have been possessed of marvelous strength, so much so that he tore to
pieces with his hands a lion which met him in the way. He had a wife
from the Philistines, and when she, in the absence of her husband, had
entered into marriage with another, he, through indignation on account
of his wife being thus taken from him, wrought destruction to her
nation. Trusting in God and his own strength, he openly brought
disaster on those hitherto victors. For, catching three hundred
foxes, he tied burning torches to their tails, and sent them into the
fields of the enemy. It so happened that at the time the harvest was
ripe, and thus the fire easily caught, while the vines and olive-trees
were burnt to ashes. He was thus seen to have avenged the injury done
him in taking away his wife, by a great loss inflicted on the
Philistines. And they, enraged at this disaster, destroyed by fire
the woman who had been the cause of so great a calamity, along with
her house and her father. But Samson, thinking himself as yet but
poorly avenged, ceased not to harass the heathen race with all sorts
of evil devices. Then the Jews, being compelled to it, handed him
over as a prisoner to the Philistines; but, when thus handed over, he
burst his bonds and seizing the jaw-bone[47] of an ass, which chance offered him as
a weapon, he slew a thousand of his enemies. And, as the heat of the
day grew violent, and he began to suffer from thirst, he called upon
God, and water flowed forth from[48]
the bone which he held in his hand.
AT that time Samson ruled over the Hebrews, the Philistines having
been subdued by the prowess of a single individual. They, therefore,
sought his life by stratagem, not daring to assail him openly, and
with this view they bribe his wife (whom he had received after what
has been stated took place) to betray to them wherein the strength of
her husband lay. She attacked him with female blandishments; and,
after he had deceived her, and staved off her purpose for a long time,
she persuaded him to tell that his strength was situated in his hair.
Presently she cut off his hair stealthily while he was asleep, and
thus delivered him up to the Philistines; for although he had often
before been given up to them, they had not been able to hold him fast.
Then they, having put out his eyes, bound him with fetters, and cast
him into prison. But, in course of time, his hair which had been cut
off began to grow again, and his strength to return with it. And now
Samson, conscious of his recovered strength, was only waiting for an
opportunity of righteous revenge. The Philistines had a custom on
their festival days of producing Samson as if to make a public
spectacle of him, while they mocked their illustrious captive.
Accordingly, on a certain day, when they were making a feast in honor
of their idol, they ordered Samson to be exhibited. Now, the temple,
in which all the people and all the princes of the Philistines
feasted, rested on two pillars of remarkable size; and Samson, when
brought out, was placed between these pillars. Then he, having first
called upon the Lord, seized his opportunity, and threw down the
pillars. The whole multitude was overwhelmed in the ruins of the
building, and Samson himself died along with his enemies, not without
having avenged himself upon them, after he had ruled the Hebrews
twenty years. To him Simmichar succeeded, of whom Scripture relates
nothing more than that simple fact. For I do not find that even the
time when his rule came to an end is mentioned, and I see that the
people was for some time without a leader. Accordingly, when civil
war arose against the tribe of Benjamin, Judah was chosen as a
temporary leader in the war. But most of those who have written about
these times note that his rule was only for a single year. On this
account, many pass him by altogether, and place Eli, the priest,
immediately after Samson. We shall leave that point doubtful, as one
not positively ascertained.
ABOUT these times, civil war, as we have said, had broken out; and the
following was the cause of the tumult. A certain Levite was on a
journey along with his concubine, and, constrained by the approach of
night, he took up his abode in the town of Gabaa, which was inhabited
by men of Benjamin. A certain old man having kindly admitted him to
hospitality, the young men of the town surrounded the guest, with the
view of subjecting him to improper treatment. After being much
chidden by the old man, and with difficulty dissuaded from their
purpose, they at length received for their wanton sport the person of
his concubine as a substitute for his own; and they thus spared the
stranger, but abused her through the whole night, and only restored
her on the following day. But she (whether from the injury their vile
conduct had inflicted on her, or from shame, I do not venture to
assert) died on again seeing[49] her
husband. Then the Levite, in testimony of the horrible deed, divided
her members into twelve parts, and distributed them among the twelve
tribes that indignation at such conduct might the more readily be
excited in them all. And when this became known to all of them, the
other eleven tribes entered into a warlike confederacy against
Benjamin. In this war, Judah, as we have said, was the general. But
they had bad success in the first two battles. At length, however, in
the third, the Benjamites were conquered, and cut off to a man; thus
the crime of a few was punished by the destruction of a multitude.
These things also are contained in the Book of Judges: the Books of
Kings follow. But to me who am following the succession of the years,
and the order of the dates, the history does not appear marked by
strict chronological accuracy. For, since after Samson as judge,
there came Semigar, and a little later the history certifies that the
people lived without judges, Eli the priest is related in the Books of
Kings to have also been a judge,[50]
but the Scripture has not stated how many years there were between Eli
and Samson. I see that there was some portion of time between these
two, which is left in obscurity. But, from the day of the death of
Joshua up to the time at which Samson died, there are reckoned four
hundred and eighteen years, and from the beginning of the world, four
thousand three hundred and three. Nevertheless, I am not ignorant
that others differ from this reckoning of ours; but I am at the same
time conscious that I have, not without some care, set forth the order
of events in the successive years (a thing hitherto left in
obscurity), until I have fallen upon these times, concerning which I
confess that I have my doubts. Now I shall go on to what remains.
THE Hebrews, then, as I have narrated above, were living according to
their own will, without any judge or general. Eli was priest; and in
his days Samuel was born. His father's name was Elchana, and his
mother's, Anna. She having long been barren, is said, when she asked
a child from God, to have vowed that, if it were a boy, it should be
dedicated to God. Accordingly, having brought forth a boy, she
delivered him to Eli the priest. By and by, when he had grown up, God
spoke to him. He denounced wrath against Eli the priest on account of
the life of his sons, who had made the priesthood of their father a
means of gain to themselves, and exacted gifts from those who came to
sacrifice; and, although their father is related to have often
reproved them, yet his reproofs were too gentle to serve the purpose
of discipline. Well, the Philistines made an incursion into Judaea,
and were met by the Israelites. But the Hebrews, being beaten,
prepare to renew the contest: they carry the ark of the Lord with them
into battle, and the sons of the priests go forth with it, because he
himself, being burdened with years, and afflicted with blindness,
could not discharge that duty. But, when the ark was brought within
sight of the enemy, terrified as if by the majesty of God's presence,
they were ready to take to flight. But again recovering courage, and
changing their minds (not without a divine impulse), they rush into
battle with their whole strength. The Hebrews were conquered; the ark
was taken; the sons of the priest fell. Eli, when the news of the
calamity was brought to him, being overwhelmed with grief, breathed
his last, after he had held the priesthood for twenty[51] years.
THE Philistines, victorious in this prosperous battle, brought the ark
of God, which had fallen into their hands, into the temple of Dagon in
the town of Azotus. But the image, dedicated to a demon, fell down
when the ark was brought in there; and, on their setting the idol up
again in its place, in the following night it was torn in pieces.
Then mice, springing up throughout all the country, caused by their
venomous bites the death of many thousand persons.[52] The men of Azotus, constrained by
this source of suffering, in order to escape the calamity, removed the
ark to Gath. But the people there being afflicted with the same
evils, conveyed the ark to Ascalon. The inhabitants, however, of that
place, the chief men of the nation having been called together, formed
the design of sending back the ark to the Hebrews. Thus, in
accordance with the opinion of the chiefs, and augurs, and priests, it
was placed upon a cart, and sent back with many gifts. This
remarkable thing then happened, that when they had yoked heifers to
the conveyance, and had retained their calves at home, these cattle
took their course, without any guide, towards Judaea, and showed no
desire of returning, from affection toward their young left behind.
The rulers of the Philistines, who had followed the ark into the
territory of the Hebrews, were so struck by the marvelousness of this
occurrence that they performed a religious service. But the Jews,
when they saw the ark brought back, vied with each other in joyously
rushing forth from the town of Betsamis to meet it, and in hurrying,
exulting, and returning thanks to God. Presently, the Levites, whose
business it was, perform a sacrifice to God, and offer those heifers
which had brought the ark. But the ark could not be kept in the town
which I have named above, and thus severe illness fell by the
appointment of God, upon the whole city. The ark was then transferred
to the town of Cariathiarim,[53] and
there it remained twenty years.
AT this time, Samuel the priest[54]
ruled over the Hebrews; and there being a cessation of all war, the
people lived in peace. But this tranquillity was disturbed by an
invasion of the Philistines, and all ranks were in a state of terror
from their consciousness of guilt. Samuel, having first offered
sacrifice, and trusting in God, led his men out to battle, and the
enemy being routed at the first onset, victory declared for the
Hebrews. But when the fear of the enemy was thus removed, and affairs
were now prosperous and peaceful, the people, changing their views for
the worse, after the manner of the mob, who are always weary of what
they have, and long for things of which they have had no experience,
expressed a desire for the kingly name--a name greatly disliked by
almost all free nations. Yes, with an example of madness certainly
very remarkable, they now preferred to exchange liberty for slavery.
They, therefore, come in great numbers to Samuel, in order that, as he
himself was now an old man, he might make for them a king. But he
endeavored in a useful address, quietly to deter the people from their
insane desire; he set forth the tyranny and haughty rule of kings,
while he extolled liberty, and denounced slavery; finally, he
threatened them with the divine wrath, if they should show themselves
men so corrupt in mind as that, when having God as their king, they
should demand for themselves a king from among men. Having spoken
these and other words of a like nature to no purpose, finding that the
people persisted in the determination, he consulted God. And God,
moved by the madness of that insane nation, replied that nothing was
to be refused to them asking against their own interests.
ACCORDINGLY, Saul, having been first anointed by Samuel with the
sacerdotal oil, was appointed king. He was of the tribe of Benjamin,
and his father's name was Kish. He was modest in mind, and of a
singularly handsome figure, so that the dignity of his person worthily
corresponded to the royal dignity. But in the beginning of his reign,
some portion of the people had revolted from him, refusing to
acknowledge his authority, and had joined themselves to the Ammonites.
Saul, however, energetically wreaked his vengeance on these people;
the enemy were conquered, and pardon was granted to the Hebrews. Then
Saul is said to have been anointed by Samuel a second time. Next, a
bloody war arose by an invasion of the Philistines; and Saul had
appointed Gilgal as the place where his army was to assemble. As they
waited there seven days for Samuel, that he might offer sacrifice to
God, the people gradually dropped away owing to his delay, and the
king, with unlawful presumption, presented a burnt-offering, thus
taking upon him the duty of a priest. For this he was severely
rebuked by Samuel, and acknowledged his sin with a penitence that was
too late. For, as a result of the king's sin, fear had pervaded the
whole army. The camp of the enemy lying at no great distance showed
them how actual the danger was, and no one had the courage to think of
going forth to battle: most had betaken themselves to the marshes.[55] For besides the want of courage on
the part of those who felt that God was alienated from them on account
of the king's sin, the army was in the greatest want of iron weapons;
so much so that nobody, except Saul and Jonathan his son, is said to
have possessed either sword or spear. For the Philistines, as
conquerors in the former wars, had deprived the Hebrews of the use of
arms,[56] and no one had had the power
of forging any weapon of war, or even making any implement for rural
purposes. In these circumstances, Jonathan, with an audacious design,
and with his armor-bearer as his only companion, entered the camp of
the enemy, and having slain about twenty of them, spread a terror
throughout the whole army. And then, through the appointment of God,
betaking themselves to flight, they neither carried out orders nor
kept their ranks, but placed all the hope of safety in flight. Saul,
perceiving this, hastily drew forth his men, and pursuing the
fugitives, obtained a victory. The king is said on that day to have
issued a proclamation that no one should help himself to food until
the enemy were destroyed. But Jonathan, knowing nothing of this
prohibition, found a honey-comb, and, dipping the point of his weapon
in it, ate up the honey. When that became known to the king through
the anger of God which followed, he ordered his son to be put to
death. But by the help of the people, he was saved from destruction.
At that time, Samuel, being instructed by God, went to the king, and
told him in the words of God to make war on the nation of the
Amalekites, who had of old hindered the Hebrews when they were coming
out of Egypt; and the prohibition was added that they should not covet
any of the spoils of the conquered. Accordingly, an army was led into
the territory of the enemy, the king was taken, and the nation
subdued. But Saul, unable to resist the magnitude of the spoil, and
unmindful of the divine injunctions, ordered the booty to be saved and
gathered together.
GOD, displeased with what had been done, spoke to Samuel, saying that
he repented that he had made Saul king. The priest reports what he
had heard to the king. And ere long, being instructed by God, he
anointed David with the royal oil, while be was as yet only a little
boy[57] living under the care of his
father, and acting as a shepherd, while he was accustomed often to
play upon the harp. For this reason, he was taken afterwards by Saul,
and reckoned among the servants of the king. And the Philistines and
Hebrews being at this time hotly engaged in war, as the armies were
stationed opposite to each other, a certain man of the Philistines
named Goliath, a man of marvelous size and strength, passing along the
ranks of his countrymen, cast insults, in the fiercest terms, upon the
enemy, and challenged any one to engage in single combat with him.
Then the king promised a great reward and his daughter in marriage to
any one who should bring home the spoils of that boaster; but no one
out of so great a multitude ventured to make the attempt. In these
circumstances, though still a youth,[58] David offered himself for the contest,
and rejecting the arms by which his yet tender age was weighed down,
simply with a staff and five stones which he had taken, advanced to
the battle. And by the first blow, having discharged one of the
stones from a sling, he overthrew the Philistine; then he cut off the
head of his conquered foe, carried off his spoils, and afterwards laid
up his sword in the temple. In the meanwhile, all the Philistines,
turning to flight, yielded the victory to the Hebrews. But the great
favor shown to David as they were returning from the battle excited
the envy of the king. Fearing, however, that if he put to death one
so beloved by all, that might give rise to hatred against himself and
prove disastrous, he resolved, under an appearance of doing him honor,
to expose him to danger. First then he made him a captain, that he
might be charged with the affairs of war; and next, although he had
promised him his daughter, he broke his word, and gave her to another.
Ere long, a younger daughter of the king, Melchol by name, fell
violently in love with David. Accordingly, Saul sets before David as
the condition of obtaining her in marriage the following proposal:
that if he should bring in a hundred foreskins of the enemy, the royal
maiden would be given him in marriage; for he hoped that the youth,
venturing on so great dangers, would probably perish. But the result
proved very different from what he imagined, for David, according to
the proposal made to him, speedily brought in a hundred foreskins of
the Philistines; and thus he obtained the daughter of the king in
marriage.
THE hatred of the king towards him increased daily, under the
influence of jealousy, for the wicked always persecute the good. He,
therefore, commanded his servants and Jonathan his son, to prepare
snares against his life. But Jonathan had even from the first had a
great regard and affection for David; and therefore the king, being
taken to task by his son, suppressed the cruel order he had given.
But the wicked are not long good. For, when Saul was afflicted by a
spirit of error, and David stood by him, soothing him with the harp
under his trouble, Saul tried to pierce him with a spear, and would
have done so, had not he rapidly evaded the deadly blow. From this
time forth, the king no longer secretly but openly sought to compass
his death; and David no longer trusted himself in his power. He fled,
and first betook himself to Samuel, then to Abimelech, and finally
fled to the king of Moab. By-and-by, under the instructions of the
prophet Gad, he returned into the land of Judah, and there ran in
danger of his life. At that time, Saul slew Abimelech the priest
because he had received David; and when none of the king's servants
ventured to lay hands upon the priest, Doeg, the Syrian, fulfilled the
cruel duty. After that, David made for the desert. Thither Saul also
followed him, but his efforts at his destruction were in vain, for God
protected him. There was a cave in the desert, opening with a vast
recess. David had thrown himself into the inner parts of this cave.
Saul, not knowing that he was there, had gone into it for the purpose
of taking[59] bodily refreshment, and
there, overcome by sleep, he was resting. When David perceived this,
although all urged him to avail himself of the opportunity, he
abstained from slaying the king, and simply took away his mantle.
Presently going out, he addressed the king from a safe position
behind, recounting the services he had done him, how often he had
exposed his life to peril for the sake of the kingdom, and how last of
all, he bad not, on the present occasion, sought to kill him when he
was given over to him by God. Upon hearing these things, Saul
confessed his fault, entreated pardon, shed tears, extolled the piety
of David, and blamed his own wickedness, while he addressed David as
king and son. He was so much changed from his former ferocious
character, that no one could now have thought he would make any
further attempt against his son-in-law. But David, who had
thoroughly[60] tested and known his
evil disposition, did not think it safe to put himself in the power of
the king, and kept himself within the desert. Saul, almost mad with
rage, because he was unable to capture his son-in-law, gave in
marriage to one Faltim his daughter Melchol, who, as we have related
above, had been married to David. David fled to the Philistines.
AT that time Samuel died. Saul, when the Philistines made war upon
him, consulted God, and no answer was returned to him. Then, by means
of a woman whose entrails a spirit of error[61] had filled, he called up and consulted
Samuel. Saul was informed by him that on the following day he with
his sons, being overcome by the Philistines, would fall in the battle.
The Philistines, accordingly, having pitched their camp on the enemy's
territory, drew up their army in battle array on the following day,
David, however, being sent away from the camp, because they did not
believe that he would be faithful to them against his own people. But
the battle taking place, the Hebrews were routed and the sons of the
king fell; Saul, having sunk down from his horse, that he might not be
taken alive by the enemy, fell on his own sword. We do not find any
certain statements as to the length of his reign, unless that he is
said in the Acts of the Apostles to have reigned forty years. As to
this, however, I am inclined to think that Paul, who made the
statement in his preaching, then meant to include also the years of
Samuel under the length of that king's reign.[62] Most of those, however, who have
written about these times, remark that he reigned thirty years. I
can, by no means, agree with this opinion, for at the time when the
ark of God was transferred to the town of Cariathiarim, Saul had not
yet begun to reign, and it is related that the ark was removed by
David the king out of that town after it had been there twenty years.
Therefore, since Saul reigned and died within that period, he must
have held the government only for a very brief space of time. We find
the same obscurity concerning the times of Samuel, who, having been
born under the priesthood of Eli, is related, when very old, to have
fulfilled the duties of a priest. By some, however, who have written
about these times (for the sacred history has recorded almost nothing
about his years),[63] but by most he is
said to have ruled the people seventy years. I have, however been
unable to discover what authority there is for this assumption. Amid
such variety of error, we have followed the account of the
Chronicles,[64] because we think that
it was taken (as said above) from the Acts of the Apostles, and we
repeat that Samuel and Saul together held the government for forty
years.
SAUL having thus been cut off, David, when the news of his death was
brought to him in the land of the Philistines, is related to have
wept, and to have given a marvelous proof of his affection. He then
betook himself to Hebron, a town of Judaea; and, being there again
anointed with the royal oil, received the title of king. But Abenner,
who had been master of the host of King Saul, despised David, and made
Isbaal king, the son of King Saul. Various battles then took place
between the generals of the kings. Abenner was generally routed; yet
in his flight he cut off the brother of Joab, who had the command of
the army on the side of David. Joab, on account of the sorrow he felt
for this, afterwards, when Abenner had surrendered to King David,
ordered him to be murdered, not without regret on the part of the
king, whose honor he had thus tarnished. At the same time, almost all
the older men of the Hebrews conferred on him by public consent the
sovereignty of the whole nation; for during seven years he had reigned
only in Hebron. Thus, he was anointed king for the third time, being
about thirty years of age. He repulsed in successful battles the
Philistines making inroads upon his kingdom. And at that time, he
transferred to Zion the ark of God, which, as I have said above, was
in the town of Cariathiarim. And when he had formed the intention of
building a temple to God, the divine answer was given him to the
effect, that that was reserved for his son. He then conquered the
Philistines in war, subjugated the Moabites, and subdued Syria,
imposing tribute upon it. He brought back with him an enormous amount
of booty in gold and brass. Next, a war arose against the Ammonites
on account of the injury which had been done by their king, Annon.
And when the Syrians again rebelled, having formed a confederacy for
war with the Ammonites, David intrusted the chief command of the war
to Joab, the master of his host, and he himself remained in Jerusalem
far from the scene of strife.
AT this time, he knew in a guilty way Bersabe, a woman of remarkable
beauty. She is said to have been the wife of a certain man called
Uriah, who was then in the camp. David caused him to be slain by
exposing him to the enemy at a dangerous place in the battle. In this
way, he added to the number of his wives the woman who was now free
from the bond of marriage, but who was already pregnant through
adultery. Then David, after being severely reproved by Nathan the
prophet, although he confessed his sin, did not escape the punishment
of God. For he lost in a few days the son who was born from the
clandestine connection, and many terrible things happened in respect
to his house and family. At last his son Absalom lifted impious arms
against his father, with the desire of driving him from the throne.
Joab encountered him in the field of battle, and the king entreated
him to spare the young man when conquered; but he, disregarding this
command, avenged with the sword his parricidal attempts. That victory
is said to have been a mournful one to the king: so great was his
natural affection that he wished even his parricidal son to be
forgiven. This war seemed hardly finished when another arose, under a
certain general called Sabaea, who had stirred up all the wicked to
arms. But the whole commotion was speedily checked by the death of
the leader. David then engaged in several battles against the
Philistines with favorable results; and all being subdued by war, both
foreign and home disturbances having been brought to accord, he
possessed in peace a most flourishing kingdom. Then a sudden desire
seized him of numbering the people, in order to ascertain the strength
of his empire; and accordingly they were numbered by Joab, the master
of the host, and were found to amount to one million three hundred
thousand[65] citizens. David soon
regretted and repented of this proceeding, and implored pardon of God
for having lifted up his thoughts to this, that he should reckon the
power of his kingdom rather by the multitude of his subjects than by
the divine favor. Accordingly, an angel was sent to him to reveal to
him a threefold punishment, and to give him the power of choosing
either one or another. Well, when a famine for three years was set
before him, and flight before his enemies for three months, and a
pestilence for three days, shunning both flight and famine, he made
choice of pestilence, and, almost in a moment of time, seventy
thousand men perished. Then David, beholding the angel by whose right
hand the people were overthrown, implored pardon, and offered himself
singly to punishment instead of all, saying that he deserved
destruction inasmuch as it was he who had sinned. Thus, the
punishment of the people was turned aside; and David built an altar to
God on the spot where he had beheld the angel. After this, having
become infirm through years and illness, he appointed Solomon, who had
been born to him by Bersabe, the wife of Uriah, his successor in the
kingdom. He, having been anointed with the royal oil by Sadoc the
priest, received the title of king, while his father was still alive.
David died, after he had reigned forty years.
SOLOMON in the beginning of his reign surrounded the city with a wall.
To him while asleep God appeared standing by him, and gave him the
choice of whatever things he desired. But he asked that nothing more
than wisdom should be granted him, deeming all other things of little
value. Accordingly, when he arose from sleep; taking his stand before
the sanctuary of God, he gave a proof of the wisdom which had been
bestowed upon him by God. For two women who dwelt in one house,
having given birth to male children at the same time, and one of these
having died in the night three days afterwards, the mother of the dead
child, while the other woman slept, insidiously substituted her child,
and took away the living one. Then there arose an altercation between
them, and the matter was at length brought before the king. As no
witness was forthcoming, it was a difficult matter to give a judgment
between both denying guilt. Then Solomon, in the exercise of his gift
of divine wisdom, ordered the child to be slain and its body to be
divided between the two doubtful claimants. Well, when one of them
acquiesced in this judgment, but the other wished rather to give up
the boy than that he should be cut in pieces, Solomon, concluding from
the feeling displayed by this woman that she was the true mother,
adjudged the child to her. The bystanders could not repress their
admiration at this decision, since he had in such a way brought out
the hidden truth by his sagacity. Accordingly, the kings of the
neighboring nations, out of admiration for his ability and wisdom,
courted his friendship and alliance being prepared to carry out his
commands.
TRUSTING in these resources, Solomon set about erecting a temple of
immense size to God, funds for the purpose having been got together
during three years, and laid the foundation of it about the fourth
year of his reign. This was about the five hundred and eighty-eighth
year after the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, although in the
third Book of Kings the years are reckoned at four hundred and
forty.[66] This is by no means
accurate; for it would have been more likely that, in the order of
dates I have given above, I should perhaps reckon fewer years than
more. But I do not doubt that the truth had been falsified by the
carelessness of copyists, especially since so many ages intervened,
rather than that the sacred[67] writer
erred. In the same way, in the case of this little work of ours, we
believe it will happen that, through the negligence of transcribers,
those things which have been put together, not without care on our
part, should be corrupted. Well, then, Solomon finished his work of
building the temple in the twentieth year from its commencement.
Then, having offered sacrifice in that place, as well as uttered a
prayer, by which he blessed the people and the temple, God spoke to
him, declaring that, if at any time they should sin and forsake God,
their temple should be razed to the ground. We see that this has a
long time ago been fulfilled, and in due time we shall set forth the
connected order of events. In the meantime, Solomon abounded in
wealth, and was, in fact, the richest of all the kings that ever
lived. But, as always takes place in such circumstances, he sunk from
wealth into luxury and vice, forming marriages (in spite of the
prohibition of God) with foreign women, until he had seven hundred
wives, and three hundred concubines. As a consequence, he set up
idols for them, after the manner of their nations, to which they might
offer sacrifice. God, turned away from him by such doings, reproved
him sharply, and made known to him as a punishment, that the greater
part of his kingdom would be taken from his son, and given to a
servant. And that happened accordingly.
FOR, on the death of Solomon in the fortieth year of his reign, Roboam
his son having succeeded to the throne of his father in the sixteenth
year of his age, a portion of the people, taking offense, revolted
from him. For, having asked that the very heavy tribute which Solomon
had imposed upon them might be lessened, he rejected the entreaties of
these suppliants, and thus alienated from him the favor of the whole
people. Accordingly, by universal consent, the government was
bestowed on Jeroboam. He, sprung from a family of middle rank, had
for some time been in the service of Solomon. But when the king found
that the sovereignty of the Hebrews had been promised to him by a
response of the prophet Achia, he had resolved privately to cut him
off. Jeroboam, under the influence of this fear, fled into Egypt, and
there married a wife of the royal family. But, when at length he
heard of the death of Solomon, he returned to his native land, and, by
the wish of the people, as we have said above, he assumed the
government. Two tribes, however, Judah and Benjamin, had remained
under the sway of Roboam; and from these he got ready an army of
thirty thousand men. But when the two hosts advanced, the people were
instructed by the words of God to abstain from fighting, for that
Jeroboam had received the kingdom by divine appointment. Thus the
army disdained the command of the king, and dispersed, while the power
of Jeroboam was increased. But, since Roboam held Jerusalem, where
the people had been accustomed to offer sacrifice to God in the temple
built by Solomon, Jeroboam, fearing lest their religious feelings
might alienate the people from him, resolved to fill their minds with
superstition. Accordingly, he set up one golden calf at Bethel, and
another at Dan, to which the people might offer sacrifice; and,
passing by the tribe of Levi, he appointed priests from among the
people. But censure followed this guilt so hateful to God. Frequent
battles then took place between the kings, and so they retained their
respective kingdoms on doubtful conditions. Roboam died at the close
of the seventeenth year of his reign.
IN his room Abiud his son held the kingdom at Jerusalem for six years,
although he is said in the Chronicles[68] to have reigned three years. Asab his
son succeeded him, being the fifth from David, as he was his
great-great-grandson. He was a pious worshiper of God; for,
destroying the altars and the groves of the idols, he removed the
traces of his father's faithlessness. He formed an alliance with the
king of Syria, and by his help inflicted much loss on the kingdom of
Jeroboam, which was then held by his son, and often, after conquering
the enemy, carried off spoil as the result of victory. After
forty-one years he died, afflicted with disease in his feet. To him
sin of a three-fold kind is ascribed; first, that he trusted too much
to his alliance with the king of Syria; secondly, that he cast into
prison a prophet of God who rebuked him for this; and thirdly, that,
when suffering from disease in his feet, he sought a remedy, not from
God, but from the physicians. In the beginning of his reign died
Jeroboam, king of the ten tribes, and left his throne to his son
Nabath. He, from his wicked works, and, both by his own and his[69] father's doings, hateful to God, did
not possess the kingdom more than two years, and his children, as
being unworthy, were deprived[70] of
the government. He had for his successor Baasa, the son of Achia, and
he proved himself equally estranged from God. He died in the
twenty-sixth year of his reign: and his power passed to Ela his son,
but was not retained more than two years. For Zambri, leader of his
cavalry, killed him at a banquet, and seized the kingdom,--a man
equally odious to God and men. A portion of the people revolted from
him, and the royal power was conferred on one Thamnis. But Zambri
reigned before him seven years, and at the same time with him twelve
years. And, on the death of Asab, Josaphat his son began to reign
over part of the tribe of Judah, a man deservedly famous for his pious
virtues. He lived at peace with Zambri; and he died, after a reign of
twenty-five years.
IN the time of his reign, Ahab, the son of Ambri, was king of the ten
tribes, impious above all against God. For having taken in marriage
Jezebel, the daughter of Basa, king of Sidon, he erected an altar and
groves to the idol Bahal, and slew the prophets of God. At this time,
Elijah the prophet by prayer shut up heaven, that it should not give
any rain to the earth, and revealed that to the king, in order that
he, in his impiety, might know himself to be the cause of the evil.
The waters of heaven, therefore, being restrained, and since the whole
country, burned up by the heat of the sun, did not furnish food either
for man or beast, the prophet had even exposed himself to the side of
perishing from hunger. At that time, when he betook himself to the
desert, he depended for life on the ravens furnishing him with food,
while a neighboring rivulet furnished him with water, until it was
dried up. Then, being instructed by God, he went to the town of
Saraptae, and turned aside to lodge with a widow-woman. And when, in
his hunger, he begged food from her, she complained that she had only
a handful of meal and a little oil, on the consumption of which she
expected death along with her children.[71] But when Elijah promised in the words
of God that neither should the meal lessen in the barrel nor the oil
in the vessel, the woman did not hesitate to believe the prophet
demanding faith, and obtained[72] the
fulfillment of what was promised, since by daily increase as much was
added as was day by day taken away. At the same time, Elijah restored
to life the dead son of the same widow. Then, by the command of God,
he went to the king, and having reproved his impiety, he ordered all
the people to be gathered together to himself. When these had hastily
assembled, the priests of the idols and of the groves to the number of
about four hundred and fifty, were also summoned. Then there arose a
dispute between them, Elijah setting forth the honor of God, while
they upheld their own superstitions. At length they agreed that a
trial should be made to this effect, that if fire sent down from
heaven should consume the slain victim of either of them, that
religion should be accepted as the true one which performed the
miracle. Accordingly, the priests, having slain a calf, began to call
upon the idol Bahal; and, after wasting their invocations to no
purpose, they tacitly acknowledged the helplessness of their God.
Then Elijah mocked them and said, "Cry aloud more vehemently,
lest perchance he sleeps, and that thus you may rouse him from the
slumber in which he is sunk." The wretched men could do nothing
but shudder and mutter to themselves, but still they waited to see
what Elijah would do. Well, he slew a calf and laid it upon the
altar, having first of all filled the sacred place with water; and
then, calling upon the name of the Lord, fire fell from heaven in the
sight of all, and consumed alike the water and the victim. Then truly
the people, casting themselves upon the earth, confessed God and
execrated the idols; while finally, by the command of Elijah, the
impious priests were seized, and, being brought down to the brook,
were there slain. The prophet followed the king as he returned from
that place; but as Jezebel, the wife of the king, was devising means
for taking his life, he retired to a more remote spot. There God
addressed him, telling him that there were still seven thousand men
who had not given themselves up to idols. That was to ELijah a
marvelous statement, for he had supposed that he himself was the only
one who had kept free from impiety.
AT that time, Ahab, king of Samaria, coveted the vineyard of Naboth,
which was adjacent to his own. And as Naboth was unwilling to sell it
to him, he was cut off by the wiles of Jezebel. Thus Ahab got
possession of the vineyard, though he is said at the same time to have
regretted the death of Naboth. Acknowledging his crime, he is related
to have done[73] penance clothed in
sackcloth; and in this way he turned aside threatening punishment.
For the king of Syria with a great army, having formed a military
confederacy with thirty-two kings, entered the territories of Samaria,
and began to besiege the city with its king. The affairs of the
besieged being then in a state of great distress, the Syrian king
offers these conditions in the war,--if they should give up their gold
and silver and women, he would spare their lives. But, with such
iniquitous conditions offered, it seemed better to suffer the greatest
extremities. And now when the safety of all was despaired of, a
prophet sent by God went to the king, encouraged him to go forth to
battle, and when he hesitated, strengthened his confidence in many
ways. Accordingly making a sally, the enemy were routed, and an
abundant store of booty was secured. But, after a year, the Syrian
king returned with recruited strength into Samaria, burning to avenge
the defeat he had received, but was again overthrown. In that battle
one hundred and twenty thousand of the Syrians perished; the king was
pardoned, and his kingdom and former position were granted him. Then
Ahab was reproved by the prophet in the words of God, for having
abused the divine kindness, and spared the enemy delivered up to him.
The Syrian king, therefore, after three years, made war upon the
Hebrews. Against him Ahab, under the advice of some false prophet,
went forth to battle, having spurned the words of Michea the prophet
and cast him into prison, because the prophet had warned him that the
fight would prove disastrous to him. Thus, then, Ahab, being slain in
that battle, left the kingdom to his son Ohozia.
HE being sick in body, and having sent some of his servants to consult
an idol about his recovery, Elijah, as instructed by God, met them in
the way, and, after rebuking them ordered them to inform the king that
his death would follow from that disease. Then the king ordered him
to be seized and brought into his presence, but those who were sent
for this purpose were consumed by fire from heaven. The king died, as
the prophet had predicted. To him there succeeded his brother Joram;
and he held the government for the space of twelve years. But on the
side of the two tribes, Josaphat the king having died, Joram his son
possessed the kingdom for eighteen years. He had the daughter of Ahab
to wife, and proved himself more like his father-in-law than his
father. After him, Ochozias his son obtained the kingdom. During his
reign, Elijah is related to have been taken up to heaven. At the same
time, Elisha his disciple showed himself powerful by working many
miracles, which am all too well known to need any description from my
pen. By him the son of a widow was restored to life, a leper of Syria
was cleansed, at a time of famine abundance of all things was brought
into the city by the enemy having been put to flight, water was
furnished for the use of three armies, and from a little oil the debt
of a woman was paid by the oil being immensely multiplied, and
sufficient means for a livelihood was provided for herself. In his
times, as we have said, Ochozia was king of the two tribes, while
Joram, as we have related above, ruled over the ten; and an alliance
was formed between them. For war was carried on by them with combined
forces both against the Syrians, and against Jeu, who had been
anointed by the prophet as king of the ten tribes; and having gone
forth to battle in company, they both perished in the same fight.
BUT Jeu possessed the kingdom of Joram. After the death of Ochozia in
Judaea, when he had reigned one year, his mother, Gotholiah, seized
the supreme power, having deprived her grandson (whose name was Joas)
of the government, he being at the time but a little child. But the
power thus snatched from him by his grandmother was, after eight
years, restored to him through means of the priests and people, while
his grandmother was driven into exile. He, at the beginning of his
reign, was most devoted to the divine worship, and embellished the
temple at great expense; afterwards, however, being corrupted by the
flattery of the chief men, and unduly honored by them, he incurred
wrath. For Azahel, king of Syria, made war upon him; and, as things
went badly with him, he purchased peace with the gold of the temple.
He did not, however, obtain it; but through resentment for what he had
done he was slain by his own people in the fortieth year of his reign.
He was succeeded by his son Amassia. But, on the side of the ten
tribes, Jeu having died, Joachas his son began to reign, displeasing
to God on account of his wicked works, in punishment of which his
kingdom was ravaged by the Syrians, until, through the mercy of God,
the enemy was driven back, and the inhabitants of the land began to
occupy their former position. Joachas, having ended his days, left
the kingdom to his son Joa. He raised civil war against Amassia, king
of the two tribes; and, having obtained the victory, conveyed much
spoil into his own kingdom. That is related to have occurred to
Amassia as a punishment of his sin, for, having entered as a conqueror
the territories of the Idumaeans, he had adopted the idols of that
nation. He is described as having reigned nine years, so far as I
find it stated in the Books of Kings. But in the Chronicles[74] of Scripture, as well as in the
Chronicles[75] of Eusebius, he is
affirmed to have held the government twenty-nine years; and the mode
of reckoning which may easily be perceived in these Books of Kings
undoubtedly leads to that conclusion. For Jeroboam is said to have
begun to reign as king of the ten tribes in the eighth year of the
reign of Amassia, and to have held the government forty-one years, and
to have at length died in the fourth year of the reign of Ozia, son of
Amassia. By this mode of reckoning, the reign of Amassia is made to
extend over twenty-eight years. Accordingly, we, following out this,
inasmuch as it is our purpose to adhere in this work to the dates in
their proper order, have accepted the authority of the Chronicles.[76]
OZIAS, then, the son of Amassia, succeeded to him. For, on the side
of the ten tribes, Joas, reaching the end of his days, had given place
to his son Jeroboa, and after him, again, his son Zacharias began to
reign. Of these kings, and of all who ruled over Samaria on the side
of the ten tribes, we have not thought it necessary to note the dates,
because, aiming at brevity, we have omitted everything superfluous;
and we have thought that the years should be carefully traced for a
knowledge especially of the times of that portion[77] of the Jews, which being carried into
captivity at a later period than the other, passed through a longer
time as a kingdom. Ozias, then, having obtained the kingdom of Judah,
gave his principal care to knowing the Lord, making great use of
Zachariah the prophet (Isaiah, too, is said to have first prophesied
under this king); and, on this account, he carried on war against his
neighbors with deservedly prosperous results, while he also conquered
the Arabians. And already he had shaken Egypt with the terror of his
name; but, being elated by prosperity, he ventured on what was
forbidden, and offered incense to God, a thing which it was the
established custom for the priests alone to do. Being, then, rebuked
by Azaria the priest, and compelled to leave the sacred place, he
burst out into a rage, but was, when he finally withdrew, covered with
leprosy. Under the influence of this disease he ended his days, after
having reigned fifty-two years. Then the kingdom was given to Joathas
his son; and he is related to have been very pious, and carried on the
government with success: he subdued in war the nation of the
Ammonites, and compelled them to pay tribute. He reigned sixteen
years, and his son Achaz succeeded him.
THE remarkable faith of the Ninevites is related to have been
manifested about these times. That town, rounded of old by Assure,
the son of Sere, was the capital of the kingdom of the Assyrians. It
was then full of a multitude of inhabitants, sustaining one hundred
and twenty thousand men, and abounding in wickedness, as is usually
the case among a vast concourse of people. God, moved by their
sinfulness, commanded the prophet Jonah to go from Judaea, and
denounce destruction upon the city, as Sodom and Gomorrah had of old
been consumed by fire from heaven. But the prophet declined that
office of preaching, not out of contumacy, but from foresight, which
enabled him to behold God reconciled through the repentance of the
people; and he embarked on board a ship which was bound for Tharsus,
in a very different direction. But, after they had gone forth into
the deep, the sailors, constrained by the violence of the sea,
inquired by means of the lot who was the cause of that suffering. And
when the lot fell upon Jonah, he was cast into the sea, to be, as it
were, a sacrifice for stilling the tempest, and he was seized and
swallowed by a whale--a monster of the deep. Cast out three days
afterwards on the shores of the[78]
Ninevites, he preached as he had been commanded, namely that the city
would be destroyed in three[79] days,
as a punishment for the sins of the people. The voice of the prophet
was listened to, not in a hypocritical fashion, as at Sodom of old;
and immediately by the order, and after the example, of the king, the
whole people, and even those infants newly born, are commanded to
abstain from meat and drink: the very beasts of burden in the place,
and animals of different kinds, being forced by hunger and thirst,
presented an appearance of those who lamented along with the human
inhabitants. In this way, the threatened evil was averted. To Jonah,
complaining to God, that his words had not been fulfilled, it was
answered that pardon could never be denied to the penitent.
BUT in Samaria, Zacharia the king, who was very wicked, and whom we
have spoken of above as occupying the throne, was slain by a certain
Sella, who seized the kingdom. He, in turn, perished by the treachery
of Mane, who simply repeated the conduct of his predecessor. Mane
held the government which he had taken from Sella, and left it to his
son Pache. But a certain person of the same name slew Pache, and
seized the kingdom. Ere long being cut off by Osee, he lost the
sovereignty by the same crime by which he had received it. This man,
being ungodly beyond all the kings who had preceded him, brought
punishment upon himself from God, and a perpetual captivity on his
nation. For Salmanasar, king of the Assyrians, made war with him, and
when conquered rendered him tributary. But when, with secret plans,
he was preparing for rebellion, and had asked the king of the
Ethiopians, who then had possession of Egypt for his assistance,
Salmanasar, on discovering that, cast him into prison with fetters
never taken off, while he destroyed the city, and carried off the
whole people into his own kingdom, Assyrians being placed in the
enemy's country to guard it. Hence that district was called Samaria,
because in the language of the Assyrians guards are called
Samaritan.[80] Very many of their
settlers accepted the divine rites of the Jewish religion, while
others remained in the errors of heathenism. In this war, Tobias was
carried into captivity. But on the side of the two tribes, Achaz, who
was displeasing to God on account of his impiety, finding he had
frequently the worst of it in wars with his neighbors, resolved to
worship the gods of the heathen, undoubtedly because by their help his
enemies had proved victorious in frequent battles. He ended his days
with this crime[81] in his wicked mind,
after a reign of sixteen years.
TO him succeeded Ezekias his son, a man very unlike his father in
character. For, in the beginning of his reign, urging the people and
the priests to the worship of God, he discoursed to them in many
words, showing how often, after being chastened by the Lord, they had
obtained mercy, and how the ten tribes, having been at last carried
away into captivity, as had lately happened, were now paying the
penalty of their impiety. He added that their duty was carefully to
be on their guard lest they should deserve to suffer the same things.
Thus, the minds of all being turned to religion, he appointed the
Levites and all the priests to offer sacrifices according to the law,
and arranged that the Passover, which had for a long time been
neglected, should be celebrated. And when the holy day was at hand,
he proclaimed the special day of assembly by messengers sent
throughout all the land, so that, if any had remained in Samaria,
after the removal of the ten tribes, they might gather together for
the sacred observance. Thus, in a very full assemblage, the sacred
day was spent with public rejoicing, and, after a long interval, the
proper religious rites were restored by means of Ezekias. He then
carried on military affairs with the same diligence with which he had
attended to divine things, and defeated the Philistines in frequent
battles; until Sennacherim, king of the Assyrians, made war against
him, having entered his territories with a large army; and then, when
the country had been laid waste without any opposition, he laid siege
to the city. For Ezekias, being inferior in numbers, did not venture
to come to an engagement with him, but kept himself safe within the
walls. The king of Assyria, thundering at the gates, threatened
destruction, and demanded surrender, exclaiming that in vain did
Ezekias put his trust in God, for that he rather had taken up arms by
the appointment of God; and that the conqueror of all nations, as well
as the overthrower of Samaria could not be escaped, unless the king
secured his own safety by a speedy surrender. In this state of
affairs, Ezekias, trusting in God, consulted the prophet Isaiah, and
from his answer he learned that there would be no danger from the
enemy, and that the divine assistance would not fail him. And, in
fact, not long after, Tarraca, king of Ethiopia, invaded the kingdom
of the Assyrians.
BY this news Sennacherim was led to return in order to defend his own
territories, and he gave up the war, at the same time murmuring and
crying out that victory was snatched from him the victor. He also
sent letters to Ezekias, declaring, with many insulting words, that
he, after settling his own affairs, would speedily return for the
destruction of Judæa. But Ezekias, in no wise disturbed by these
threats, is said to have prayed to God that he would not allow the so
great insolence of this man to pass unavenged. Accordingly, in the
same night, an angel attacking the camp of the Assyrians, caused[82] the death of many thousand men. The
king in terror fled to the town of Nineveh, and being there slain by
his sons, met with an end worthy of himself. At the same time,
Ezekias, sick in body, lay suffering from disease. And when Isaiah had
announced to him in the words of the Lord that the end of his life was
at hand, the king is related to have wept; and thus he got fifteen
years added to his life. These coming to an end, he died in the
twenty-ninth year of his reign, and left the kingdom to his son
Manasse. He, degenerating much from his father, forsook God, and took
to the practice of impious worship; and being, as a punishment for
this, delivered into the power of the Assyrians, he was by his
sufferings constrained to acknowledge his error, and exhorted the
people that, forsaking their idols, they should worship God. He
accomplished nothing worthy of special mention, but reigned for
fifty-five years. Then Amos his son obtained the kingdom, but
possessed it only two years. He was the heir of his father's impiety,
and showed himself regardless of God: being entrapped by some
stratagems of his friends, he perished.
THE government then passed to his son Josia. He is related to have
been very pious, and to have attended to divine things with the utmost
care, profiting largely by the aid of the priest Helchia. Having read
a book written with the words of God, and which had been found in the
temple by the priest, in which it was stated that the Hebrew nation
would be destroyed on account of their frequent acts of impiety and
sacrilege, by his pious supplications to God, and constant tears, he
averted the impending overthrow. When he learned through Olda the
prophetess that this favor was granted him, he then with still greater
care set himself to practice the worship of God, inasmuch as he was
now under obligation to the divine goodness. Accordingly, he burned
all the vessels which had by the superstitions of former kings been
consecrated to idols. For to such a height had profane observances
prevailed, that they used to pay divine honors to the sun and moon,
and even erected shrines made of metal to these fancied deities.
Josia reduced these to powder, and also slew the priests of the
profane temples. He did not even spare the tombs of the impious; and
it was observed that thus was fulfilled what had of old been predicted
by the prophet. In the eighteenth year of his reign, the Passover was
celebrated. And about three years afterwards, having gone forth to
battle against Nechao, king of Egypt, who was making war upon the
Assyrians, before the armies properly engaged, he was wounded by an
arrow. And being carried back to the city, he died of that wound,
after he had reigned twenty and one years.
JOACHAS, his son, having t