THE BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES OF PHILO

TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD LATIN VERSION

BY

M. R. JAMES, LITT.D., F.B.A.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

XXXVIII. (Then did Jair judge Israel 22 years.) The same built a sanctuary to Baal, and led the people astray saying: Every man that sacrificeth not unto Baal shall die. And when all the people sacrificed, seven men only would not sacrifice whose names are these: Dephal, Abiesdrel, Getalibal, Selumi, Assur, Jonadali, Memihel. Jud. 10:3

2. The same answered and said unto Jair: Behold, we remember the precepts which they that were before us commanded us, and Debbora our mother, saying: Take heed that ye turn not away your heart to the right hand or to the left, but attend unto the law of the Lord day and night. Now therefore why dost thou corrupt the people of the Lord and deceive them, saying: Baal is God, let us worship him? And now if he be God as thou sayest, let him speak as a God, and then we will sacrifice unto him.

3. And Jair 1 said: Burn them with fire, for they have blasphemed Baal. And his servants took them to burn them with fire. And when they cast them upon the fire there went forth Nathaniel, the angel which is over fire, and quenched the fire and burned up the servants of Jair: but the seven men he made to escape, so that no man of the people saw them, for he had smitten the people with blindness.

4. And when Jair came to the place (or it came to the place of Jair) he also was burned. But before he burned him, the angel of the Lord said unto him: Hear the word of the Lord before thou diest. Thus saith the Lord: I raised thee up out of the land of Egypt, and appointed thee ruler over my peoples. But thou hast risen and corrupted my covenant, and hast led them astray, and hast sought to burn my servants in the flame, because they reproved thee, which though they be burned with corruptible fire, yet now are they quickened with living fire and are delivered. But thou shalt die, saith the Lord, and in the fire wherein thou shalt die, therein shalt thou have thy dwelling. And thereafter he burned him, and came even unto the pillar of Baal and overthrew it, and burned up Baal with the people that stood by, even 1000 men.

Footnotes

187:1 XXXVIII. it is not clear why Jair is selected for the part of an apostate and idolatrous judge. The story of the Three Children (Dan. 3), and perhaps also those of the Maccabaean martyrs, have been in the writer's mind.

THE BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES OF PHILO

TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD LATIN VERSION

BY

M. R. JAMES, LITT.D., F.B.A.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

XXXVII. And he had a son by a concubine whose name was Abimelech; the same slew all his brethren, desiring to be ruler over the people.

Jud. 9:5

[A leaf gone.]

2. 2 Then all the trees of the field came together unto the fig-tree and said: Come, reign over us. And the fig-tree said: Was I indeed born in the kingdom or in the rulership over the trees? or was I planted to that and that I should reign over you? And therefore even as I cannot reign over you, neither shall Abimelech obtain continuance in his rulership. After that the trees came together unto the vine and said: Come, reign over us. And the vine said: I was planted to give unto men the sweetness of wine, and I am preserved by rendering unto them my fruit. But like as I cannot reign over you, so shall the blood of Abimelech be required at your hand. And after that the trees came unto the apple and said: Come, reign over us. And he said: It was commanded me to yield unto men a fruit of sweet savour. Therefore I cannot reign over you, and Abimelech shall die by stones. Jud. 9:7

3. Then came the trees unto the bramble and said: Come, reign over us. And the bramble said: When the thorn was born, truth did shine forth in the semblance of a thorn. And when our first father was condemned to death, the earth was condemned to bring forth thorns and thistles. And when the truth enlightened Moses, it was by a thorn bush that it enlightened him. Now therefore it shall be that by me the truth shall be heard of you. Now if ye have spoken in sincerity unto the bramble that it should in truth reign over you, sit ye under the shadow of it: but if with dissembling, then let fire go forth and devour and consume the trees of the field. For the apple-tree was made for the chastisers, and the fig-tree was made for the people, and the vine[yard] was made for them that were before us.

4. And now shall the bramble be unto you even as Abimelech, which slew his brethren with wrong, and desireth to rule over you. If Abimelech be worthy of them (or Let Abimelech be a fire unto them) whom he desireth to rule, let him be as the bramble which was made to rebuke the foolish among the people. And there went forth fire out of the bramble and devoured the trees that are in the field.

5. After that Abimelech ruled over the people for one year and six months, and he died hard by a certain tower, whence a woman cast down upon him the half of a millstone. Jud. 9:10

[A gap of uncertain length in the text.]

Footnotes

185:2 XXXVII. 2 seq. This adaptation of the parable of Jotham is singularly inept as it stands: possibly the lost beginning of it may have made it more plausible: possibly it may contain plays upon Hebrew words which I do not detect. Two sentences in it are particularly obscure: (1) Nascente spina, ueritas in specie praelucebat. Can there be here an allusion to Ps. 84 (85):12, ἀλήθεια ἐκ τῆσ γῆσ ἀνέτειλε? (2) quia malus facta est in castigatores, et ficus facta est in populum, et uinea jacta est in praecessores. Ought we to render facta est by "stands for" or "represents"?

THE BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES OF PHILO

TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD LATIN VERSION

BY

M. R. JAMES, LITT.D., F.B.A.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

XXXVI. And Gedeon took 300 men and departed and came unto the uttermost part of the camp of Madian, and he heard every man speaking to his neighbour and saying: Ye shall sec a confusion above reckoning, of the sword of Gedeon, coming upon us, for God hath delivered into his hands the camp of the Madianites, and he will begin to make an end of us, even the mother with the children, because our sins are filled up, even as also our gods have shewed us and we believed them not. And now arise, let us succour our souls and fly. Jud. 7:11

2. And when Gedeon heard these words, immediately he was clothed with the spirit of the Lord, and, being endued with power, he said unto the 300 men: Arise and let every one of you gird on his sword, for the Madianites are delivered into our hands. And the men went down with him, and he drew near and began to fight. And they blew the trumpet and cried out together and said: The sword of the Lord is upon us. And they slew of the Madianites about 120,000 men, and the residue of the Madianites fled. Jud. 7:20

3. And after these things Gedeon came and gathered the people of Israel together and said unto them: Behold, the Lord sent me to fight your battle, and I went according as he commanded me. And now I ask one petition of you: turn not away your face; and let every man of you give me the golden armlets which ye have on your hands. And Gedeon spread out a coat, and every man cast upon it their armlets, and they were all weighed, and the weight of them was found to be 12 talents (or 12,000 shekels). And Gedeon took them., and of them he made idols and worshipped them. Jud. 8:24

4. And God said: One way is verilyappointed, 1 that I should not rebuke Gedeon in his lifetime, even because when he destroyed the sanctuary of Baal, then all men said: Let Baal avenge himself. Now, therefore, if I chastise him for that he hath done evil against me, ye will say: It was not God that chastised him, but Baal, because he sinned aforetime against him. Therefore now shall Gedeon die in a good old age, that they may not have whereof to speak. But after that Gedeon is dead I will punish him once, because he hath transgressed against me. And Gedeon died in a good old age and was buried in his own city.

Footnotes

185:1 XXXVI. 4. One way is verily appointed: Una uia posita est, ut. I understand this to mean: "This at least is clear," but others may be able to suggest a better interpretation.

THE BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES OF PHILO

TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD LATIN VERSION

BY

M. R. JAMES, LITT.D., F.B.A.

CHAPTER XXXV.

XXXV. Now Gedeon was the son of Joath, the most mighty man among all his brethren. And when it was the time of summer, he came to the

mountain, having sheaves with him, to thresh them there, and escape from the Madianites that pressed upon him. And the angel of the Lord met him, and said unto him: Whence comest thou and where is thine entering in. Jud. 6:11

2. He said to him: Why askest thou me whence I come? for straitness encompasseth me, for Israel is fallen into affliction, and they are verily delivered into the hands of the Madianites. And where are the wonders which our fathers have told us, saying: The Lord chose Israel alone before all the peoples of the earth? Lo, now he hath delivered us up, and hath forgotten the promises which he made to our fathers. For we should have chosen rather to be delivered unto death once for all, than that his people should be punished thus time after time.

3. And the angel of the Lord said unto him: It is not for nothing that ye are delivered up, but your own inventions have brought these things upon you, for like as ye have forsaken the promises which ye received of the Lord, these evils are come upon you, and ye have not been mindful of the commandments of God, which they commanded you that were before you. Therefore are ye come into the displeasure of your God. But he will have mercy upon you, as no man hath mercy, even upon the race of Israel, and that not for your sakes, but because of them that are fallen asleep.

4. And now come, I will send thee, and thou shalt deliver Israel out of the hand of the Madianites. For thus saith the Lord: Though Israel be not righteous, yet because the Madianites are sinners, therefore, knowing the iniquity of my people, I will forgive them, and after that I will rebuke them for that they have done evil, but upon the Madianites I will be avenged presently.

Jud. 6:15

5. And Gedeon said: Who am I and what is my father's house, that I should go against the Madianites to battle? And the angel said unto him: Peradventure thou thinkest that as is man's way so is the way of God. For men look upon the glory of the world and upon riches, but God looketh upon that which is upright and good, and upon meekness. Now therefore go, gird up thy loins, and the Lord shall be with thee, for thee hath he chosen to take vengeance of his enemies, like as, behold, he hath bidden thee.

Gen. 18:30

6. And Gedeon said to him: Let not my Lord be wroth if I speak a word. Behold, Moses, the first of all the prophets, besought the Lord for a sign, and it was given him. But who am I, except the Lord that hath chosen me give me a sign that I may know that I go aright. And the angel of the Lord said unto him: Run and take for me water out of the pit yonder and pour it upon this rock, and I will give thee a sign. And he went and took it as he commanded him.

7. And the angel said unto him: Before thou pour the water upon the rock, ask what thou wouldst have it to become, either blood, or fire, or that it appear not at all. And Gedeon said: Let it become half of it blood and half fire. And Gedeon poured out the water upon the rock, and it came to pass when he had poured it out, that the half part became flame, and the half part blood, and they were mingled together, that is, the fire and the blood, yet the blood did not quench the fire, neither did the fire consume the blood. And when Gedeon saw that, he asked for yet.other signs, and they were given him. Are not these written in the book of the Judges?

Jud. 6:21