THE BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES OF PHILO

TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD LATIN VERSION

BY

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

CHAPTER XXII.

XXII. And it came to pass after these things, when Jesus and all Israel had heard that the children of Ruben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasse which dwelt about Jordan had built them an altar and did offer sacrifices thereon and had made priests for the sanctuary, all the people were troubled above measure and came unto them to Silon. Jos. 22

2. And Jesus and all the elders spake to them saying: What be these works which are done among you, while as yet we are not settled in our land? Are not these the words which Moses spake to you in the wilderness saying: See that when ye enter into the land ye spoil not your doings, and corrupt all the people? And now wherefore is it that our enemies have so much abounded, save because ye do corrupt your ways and have made all this trouble, and therefore will they assemble against us and overcome us.

3. And the children of Ruben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasse said unto Jesus and all the people of Israel: Lo now hath God enlarged the fruit of the womb of men, and hath set up a light that that which is in darkness may see, for he knoweth what is in the secret places of the deep, and with him light abideth. Now the Lord God of our fathers knoweth if any of us or if we ourselves have done this thing in the way of iniquity, but only for our posterity's sake, that their heart be not separated from the Lord our God lest they say to us: Behold now, our brethren which be beyond Jordan have an altar, to make offerings upon it, but we in this place that have no altar, let us depart from the Lord our God, because our God hath set us afar off from his ways, that we should not serve him. Jos. 22:21

4. And then verily spake we among ourselves: Let us make us an altar, that they may have a zeal to seek the Lord. And verily there be some of us that stand by and know that we are your brothers and stand guiltless before your face. Do ye therefore that which is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

5. And Jesus said: Is not the Lord our king mightier than woo sacrifices? And wherefore taught ye not your sons the words of the Lord which ye heard of us? For if your sons had been occupied in the meditation of the law of the Lord, their mind would not have been led aside after a sanctuary made with hands. Or know ye not that when the people were forsaken for a moment in the wilderness when Moses went up to receive the tables, their mind was led astray, and they made themselves idols? And except the mercy of the God of your fathers had kept us, all the synagogues should have become a byword, and all the sins of the people should have been blazed abroad because of your foolishness.

6. Therefore now go and dig down the sanctuaries that ye have builded you, and teach your sons the law, and they shall be meditating therein day and night, that the Lord may be with them for a witness and a judge unto them all the days of their life. And God shall be witness and judge between me and you, and between my heart and your heart, that if ye have done this thing in subtlety it shall be avenged upon you, because you would destroy your brothers: but if ye have done it ignorantly as ye say, God will be merciful unto you for your sons' sake. And all the people answered: Amen, Amen.

7. And Jesus and all the people of Israel offered for them 1,000 rams for a sin-offering (lit. the word of excusing), and prayed for them and sent them away in peace: and they went and destroyed the sanctuary, and fasted and wept, both they and their sons, and prayed and said: O God of our fathers, that knowest before the heart of all men, thou knowest that our ways were not wrought in iniquity in thy sight, neither have we swerved from thy ways, but have served thee all of us, for we are the work of thy hands: now therefore remember thy covenant with the sons of thy servants. Acts 1:24

8. And after that Jesus went up unto Galgala, and reared up the tabernacle of the Lord, and the ark of the covenant and all the vessels thereof, and set it up in Silo, and put there the Demonstration and the Truth (i.e. the Urim and Thummim). And at that time Eleazar the priest which served the altar did teach by the Demonstration all them of the people that came to inquire of the Lord, for thereby it was shown unto them, but in the new sanctuary that was in Galgala, Jesus appointed even unto this day the burnt offerings that were offered by the children of Israel every year.

9. For until the house of the Lord was builded in Jerusalem, and so long as the offerings were made in the new sanctuary, the people were not forbidden to offer therein, because the Truth and the Demonstration revealed all things in Silo. And until the ark was set by Solomon in the sanctuary of the Lord they went on sacrificing there unto that day. But Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest of the Lord ministered in Silo.

THE BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES OF PHILO

TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD LATIN VERSION

BY

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

CHAPTER XXI.

XXI. And when Jesus was become old and well-stricken in years, God said to him: Behold, thou waxest old and well-stricken in days, and the land is become very great, and there is none to divide it (or take it by lot), and it shall be after thy departure this people will mingle with the inhabitants of the land and go astray after other gods, and I shall forsake them as I testified in my word unto Moses; but do thou testify unto them before thou diest. Jos. 23

2. And Jesus said: Thou knowest more than all, O Lord, what moveth the heart of the sea before it rageth, and thou hast tracked out the constellations and numbered the stars, and ordered the rain. Thou knowest the mind of all generations before they be born. And now, Lord, give unto thy people an heart of wisdom and a mind of prudence, and it shall be when thou givest these ordinances unto thine heritage, they shall not sin before thee and thou shall not be wroth with them.

3. Are not these the words which I spake before thee, Lord, when Achar stole of the curse, and the people were delivered up before thee, and I prayed in thy sight and said: Were it not better for us, O Lord, if we had died in the Red Sea, wherein thou drownedst our enemies? or if we had died in the wilderness, like our fathers, than to be delivered into the hand of the Amorites that we should be blotted out for ever?

4. Yet if thy word be about us, no evil shall befall us: for even though our end be removed unto death, thou livest which art before the world and after the world; and whereas a man cannot devise 1 how to put one generation before another, he saith "God hath destroyed his people whom he chose": and behold, we shall be in Hell: yet thou wilt make thy word alive. And now let the fulness of thy mercies have patience with thy people, and choose for thine heritage a man which shall rule over thy people, he and his generation.

5. Was it not for this that our father Jacob spake, saying: A prince shall not depart from Juda, nor a leader from his loins. And now confirm the words spoken aforetime, that the nations of the earth and tribes of the world may learn that thou art everlasting. Gen. 49:10

6. And he said furthermore: O Lord, behold the days shall come and the house of Israel shall be like unto a brooding dove which setteth her young in the nest and will not forsake them nor forget her place. So, also, these shall turn from their deeds and fight against the salvation that shall be born unto them.

7. And Jesus went down from Galgala and built an altar of very great stones, and brought no iron upon them, as Moses had commanded, and set up great stones on mount Gebal, and whitened them and wrote on them the words of the law very plainly: and gathered all the people together and read in their ears all the words of the law. Jos. 8:30

8. And he came down with them and offered upon the altar peace-offerings, and they sang many praises, and lifted up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the tabernacle with timbrels and dances and lutes and harps and psalteries and all instruments of sweet sound.

9. And the priests and Levites were going up before the ark and rejoicing with psalms, and they set the ark before the altar, and lifted up on it yet again peace-offerings very many, and the whole house of Israel sang together with a loud voice saying: Behold, our Lord hath fulfilled that which he spake with our fathers saying: To your, seed will I give a land wherein to dwell, a land flowing with milk and honey. And lo, he hath brought us. into the land of our enemies and hath delivered them broken in heart before us, and he is the God which sent to our fathers in the secret places of souls, saying: Behold, the Lord hath done all that he spake unto us. And now know we of a truth that God hath confirmed all the words of the law which he spake to us in Oreb; and if our heart keep his ways it will be well with us, and with our sons after us.

10. And Jesus blessed them and said: The Lord grant your heart to continue therein (or in him) all the days, and if ye depart not from his name, the covenant of the Lord shall endure with you. And he grant that it be not corrupted, but that the dwelling-place of God be builded among you, as he spake when he sent you into his inheritance with mirth and gladness.

Footnotes

136:1 XXI. 4. And whereas a man cannot devise, etc. There is an antithesis between the short sight of man and the eternal knowledge of God: but either the text is unsound or I fail to understand it, for it seems to me inconsequent as it stands.

THE BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES OF PHILO

TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD LATIN VERSION

BY

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

CHAPTER XX.

XX. And at that time God made his covenant with Jesus the son of Naue which remained of the men that spied out the land: for the lot had fallen upon them that they should not see the land because they spake evil of it, and for this cause that generation died.

2. Then said God unto Jesus the son of Naue: Wherefore mournest thou, and wherefore hopest thou in vain, thinking that Moses shall yet live? Now therefore thou waitest to no purpose, for Moses is dead. Take the garments of his wisdom and put them on thee, and gird thy loins with the girdle of his knowledge, and thou shalt be changed and become another man. Did I not speak for thee unto Moses my servant, saying: "He shall lead my people after thee, and into his hand will I deliver the kings of the Amorites"?

3. And Jesus took the garments of wisdom and put them on, and girded his loins with the girdle of understanding. And it came to pass when he put it on, that his mind was kindled and his spirit stirred up, and he said to the people: Lo, the former generation died in the wilderness because they spake against their God. And, behold now, know, all ye captains, this day that if ye go forth in the ways of your God, your paths shall be made straight.

4. But if ye obey not his voice, and are like your fathers, your works shall be spoiled, and ye yourselves broken, and your name shall perish out of the land, and then where shall be the words which God spake unto your fathers? For even if the heathen say: It may be God hath failed, because he hath not delivered his people, yet whereas they perceive that he hath chosen to himself other peoples, working for them great wonders, they shall understand that the Most Mighty accepteth not persons. But because ye sinned through vanity, therefore he took his power from you and subdued you. And now arise and set Your heart to walk in the ways of your Lord and he shall direct you.

5. 1 And the people said unto him: Lo, this day see we that which Eldad and Modat prophesied in the days of Moses, saying: After that Moses resteth, the captainship of Moses shall be given unto Jesus the son of Naue. And Moses was not envious, but rejoiced when he heard them; and thenceforth all the people believed that thou shouldest lead them, and divide the land unto them in peace: and now also if there be conflict, be strong and do valiantly, for thou only shalt be leader in Israel. Jos. 2

6. And when he heard that, Jesus thought to send spies into Jericho. And he called Cenez and Seenamias his brother, the two sons of Caleph, and spake to them, saying: I and your father were sent of Moses in the wilderness and went up with other ten men: and they returned and spake evil of the lands and melted the heart of the people, and they were scattered and the heart of the people with them. But I and your father only fulfilled the word of the Lord, and lo, we are alive this day. And now will I send you to spy out the land of Jericho. Do like unto your father and ye also shall live. Jos. 14:6

7. And they went up and spied out the city. And when they brought back word, the people went up and besieged the city and burned it with fire. Jos. 5:12

8. And after that Moses was dead, the manna ceased to come down for the children of Israel, and then began they to eat the fruits of the land. And these are the three things which God gave his people for the sake of three persons, that is, the well of the water of Mara for Maria's sake, and the pillar of cloud for Aaron's sake, and the manna for the sake of Moses. And when these three came to an end, those three gifts were taken away from them. 1

9. Now the people and Jesus fought against the Amorites, and when the battle waxed strong against their enemies throughout all the days of Jesus, 30 and 9 kings which dwelt in the land were cut off. And Jesus gave the land by lot to the people, to every tribe according to the lots, according as he had received commandment. Jos. 14:6

10. Then came Caleph unto him and said: Thou knowest how that we two were sent by lot by Moses to go with the spies, and because we fulfilled the word of the Lord, behold we are alive at this day: and now if it be well-pleasing in thy sight, let there be given unto my son Cenez for a portion the territory of the three (or the tribe of the) towers. And Jesus blessed him, and did so.

Footnotes

134:1 XX. 5. The Targum, and a Midrash quoted by Cohn, p. 320, say that Eldad and Medad, according to some, prophesied that Moses should die and Joshua should lead Israel into the Promised Land.
135:1 8. In the same way Cohn cites Midrashim (Seder Olam Rabbah, etc.) which agree exactly with Philo as to the withdrawal of the three heavenly gifts. The Babylonian Talmud (Taanith 1, Rodkinson, p. 22) has the same story.

THE BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES OF PHILO

TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD LATIN VERSION

BY

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

CHAPTER XIX.

XIX. At that time Moses slew the nations, and gave half of the spoils to the people, and he began to declare to them the words of the law which God spake to them in Oreb.

2. And he spake to them, saying: Lo, I sleep with my fathers, and shall go unto my people. But I know that ye will arise and forsake the words that were ordained unto you by me, and God will be wroth with you and forsake you and depart out of your land, and bring against you them that hate you, and they shall have dominion over you, but not unto the end, for he will remember the covenant which he made with your fathers.Dt. 31:27

3. But then both ye and your sons and all your generations after you will arise and seek the day of my death and will say in their heart: Who will give us a shepherd like unto Moses, or such another judge to the children of Israel, to pray for our sins at all times, 1 and to be heard for our iniquities?Dt. 4:26

4. 2 Howbeit, this day I call heaven and earth to witness against you, for the heaven shall hear this and the earth shall take it in with her ears, that God hath revealed the end of the world, that he might covenant with you upon his high places, and hath kindled an everlasting lamp among you. Remember, ye wicked, how that when I spake unto you, ye answered saying: All that God hath said unto us we will hear and do. But if we transgress or corrupt our ways, he shall call a witness against us and cut us off.

5. But know ye that ye did eat the bread of angels 40 years. And now behold I do bless your tribes, before my end come. But ye, know ye my labour wherein I have laboured with you since the day ye came up out of the land of Egypt.

6. And when he had so said, God spake unto him the third time, saying: Behold, thou goest to sleep with thy fathers, and this people will arise and seek me, and will forget my law wherewith I have enlightened them, and I shall forsake their seed for a season.Dt. 32:52, 34:4

7. But unto thee will I show the land before thou die, but thou shall not enter therein in this age, lest thou see the graven images whereby this people will be deceived and led out of the way. I will show thee the place wherein they shall serve me 740 (l. 850) years. And thereafter it shall be delivered into the hand of their enemies, and they shall destroy it, and strangers shall compass it about, and it shall be in that day as it was in the day when I brake the tables of the covenant which I made with thee in Oreb: and when they sinned, that which was written therein vanished away. Now that day was the 17th day of the 4th month.

8. And Moses went up into Mount Oreb, as God had bidden him, and prayed, saying: Behold, I have fulfilled the time of my life, even 120 years. And now I pray thee let thy mercy be with thy people and let thy compassion be continued upon thine heritage, Lord, and thy long-suffering in thy place upon the race of thy choosing, for thou hast loved them more than all.

9. And thou knowest that I was a shepherd of sheep, and when I fed the flock in the desert, I brought them unto thy Mount Oreb, and then first saw I thine angel in fire out of the bush; but thou calledst me out of the bush, and I feared and turned away my face, and thou sentest me unto them, and didst deliver them out of Egypt, and their enemies thou didst sink in the water. And thou gavest them a law and judgements whereby they should live. For what man is he that hath not sinned against thee? How shall thine heritage be established except thou have mercy on them? Or who shall yet be born without sin? Yet wilt thou correct them for a season, but not in anger.1 K. 8:45

10. Then the Lord shewed him the land and all that is therein and said: This is the land which I will give to my people. And he shewed him the place from whence the clouds draw up water to water all the earth, and the place whence the river receiveth his water, and the land of Egypt, and the place of the firmament, from whence the holy land only drinketh. 1 He shewed him also the place from whence it rained manna for the people, and even unto the paths of paradise. And he shewed him the measures of the sanctuary, and the number of the offerings, and the sign whereby men shall interpret (lit. begin to look; upon) the heaven, and said: These are the things which were forbidden to the sons of men because they sinned.Dt. 34:1

11. And now, thy rod wherewith the signs were wrought shall be for a witness between me and my people. And when they sin I shall be wroth with them and remember my rod, and spare them according to my mercy, and thy rod shall be in my sight for a remembrance all the days, 1 and shall be like unto the bow wherein I made a covenant with Noe when he came out of the ark, saying: I will set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign between me and men that the water of a flood be no more upon the earth.

12. But thee will I take hence and give thee sleep 2 with thy fathers and give thee rest in thy slumber, and bury thee in peace, and all the angels shall lament for thee, and the hosts of heaven shall be sorrowful. But there shall not any, of angels or men, know thy sepulchre wherein thou art to be buried, but thou shalt rest therein until I visit the world, and raise thee up and thy fathers out of the earth [of Egypt] 3 wherein ye shall sleep, and ye shall come together and dwell in an immortal habitation that is not subject unto time.

13. But this heaven shall be in my sight as a fleeting cloud, and like yesterday when it is past, and it shall be when I draw near to visit the world, I will command the years and charge the times, and they shall be shortened, and the stars shall be hastened, and the light of the sun make speed to set, neither shall the light of the moon endure, because I will hasten to raise up you that sleep, that in the place of sanctification which I shewed thee, all they that can live may dwell therein.

14. And Moses said: If I may ask yet one thing of thee, O Lord, according to the multitude of thy mercy, be not wroth with me. And shew me what measure of time hath passed by and what remaineth.

15. And the Lord said to him: An instant, the topmost part of a hand, 1 the fulness of a moment, 2 and the drop of a cup. And time hath fulfilled all. For 4 have passed by, and 2 remain. 3 Dt. 34:6

16. And Moses when he heard was filled with under standing, and his likeness was changed gloriously: and he died in glory according to the mouth of the Lord, and he buried him as he had promised him, and the angels lamented at his death, and lightnings and torches and arrows went before him with one accord. And on that day the hymn of the hosts was not said because of the departure of Moses. Neither was there any day like unto it since the Lord made man upon earth, neither shall there be any such for ever, that he should make the hymn of the angels to cease because of a man; for he loved him greatly; and he buried him with his own hands on an high place of the earth, and in the light of the whole world.

Footnotes

127:1 XIX. 3. to pray for our sins at all times. cf. Assumption of Moses, 11:11, 11:17; 12:3.
127:2 4. DCCXL. years of the MSS. should, as Dr. Cohn suggests, be changed to DCCCL. From the death of Moses to the building of the first temple 440 years are reckoned, and from thence to its destruction 410. The Seder Olam Rabbah XI. reckons seventeen Jubilees (850 years) from the entrance into the Holy Land to the Captivity (Cohn, p. 327, note).
129:1 10. the place of the firmament from whence the holy land only drinketh. cf. Babylonian Talmud Taanith I (tr. Rodkinson, p. 24). "The land of Israel is watered by the Lord himself, while the rest of the world is watered by a messenger. . . The land of Israel is watered by rain, while the rest of the world is watered by the residue remaining in the clouds."
130:1 11. The rod of Moses is to be transported to heaven and to become a sign like the rainbow. Perhaps the Milky Way is meant. No such tradition is cited in Mr. I. Abrahams' interesting paper on "The Rod of Moses," in Papers read before the Jews' College Literary Society (1887, p. 28), nor in Daehnhardt's Natursagen, nor in other sources which I have consulted.
130:2 12. give thee sleep. Dormificabo R., which must be preferred, I think, to glorificabo of AP.
130:3 the earth [of Egypt]. The word Aegypti is certainly intrusive, written mechanically after excitabo te, etc., de terra.
131:1 Lit.: Here is honey, a great summit.
131:2 15. The corrupt words istic mel apex magnus I emend into stigma et apex manus, cf. 4 Esdr. 4:48-50; 6:9, 6:10. The fulness of a moment: momenti plenitudo. Perhaps this renders ρηοπῆσ πλήρωμα, that which fills the scale of the balance and causes it to sink.
131:3 four and a half have passed and two and a half remain (cf. 4 Esdr. 14:11). The total, seven, agrees with that in the Vision of Kenaz (XXVI I 1. 8), "men shall dwell in the world VII. (i.e. 7000) years." The calculation in the present passage ought to mean that 4500 years are past and 2500 remain: but no other authority seems to place the death of Moses so late as AM. 4500. The Assumption of Moses puts it in 2500, the Hebrew in 2706, the LXX in 3859, Jubilees in 2450.

There is a certain plausibility in the following view: 4 stands for 45, and 2 for 25: the 45 and 25 consist of weeks of years. Then 45 = 3150, and 25 = 1750: total 4900, or 7 X 700, a good mystical number. Only it disagrees with the 7000 of XXVIII. 8. With that passage in view, I think we must take it that 4 = 4500, and 2 2500, the unit being 100 years.

The Assumption of Moses (10:11) says that from the death of Moses "to the advent of Messiah there will be 250 times," which is superficially like 2. The "times" here are commonly taken to mean weeks of years, making 1750. But if we could take each "time" to be ten years, then 250 times would be 2500 years or fifty jubilees, and we should only have to alter bis millesimus et quingentesimus (I:2) to quater (IIII.) millesimus, etc., to bring it into exact agreement with Philo! Perhaps this method of dealing with authorities may find more favour with others than it does with me.

I think it quite possible that the unexplained verse in Apoc. Bar. 28:2, "and the measure and reckoning of that time are two parts weeks (or two parts a week), of seven weeks" may contain the same calculation, the week being 1000 years, and "two parts a week" being corrupt for 2 weeks. But if so we should have to assume that the writer of Apoc. Bar. had not allowed for the difference in date between Moses and Baruch--some 850 years. I do not think that such an inadvertence is quite out of the question.

Another possibility is that our author, in making his calculation, has in mind not so much the date of Moses, as that at which he is himself writing.

Taking the texts as they stand, the calculation, and the whole account of the death of Moses, show that Philo quite disregards the Assumption, though he may very likely have read it. When I came across the passage as a separate extract in a MS. and published it, in 1893, I spent much space in trying to prove that it was actually part of the Assumption. The view neither was nor deserved to be accepted.