The History of Antiquity, Vol. 1 (of 6)

The most marvellous story is that of Lysimachus of Alexandria, who brings down the exodus of the Jews to the eighth century B.C. "At the time of king Bocchoris, unclean and leprous men had come into the temples to beg for food. Hence there was a blight in the land; and Bocchoris received a response from Ammon, that the temples must be purified. The lepers, as if the sun were angry at their existence, were to be plunged into the sea, and the unclean were to be driven out of the land. Hence the lepers were tied to plates of lead, and thrown into the sea; but the unclean were driven out helpless into the desert. These met together in council; in the night they lit fires and lights, and called, fasting, upon the gods to save them. Then a certain Moses advised them to go through the desert till they came to inhabited regions, but at the same time required them to show kindness to no man, to advise every one for the worst, and to destroy all altars and temples upon which they came. The exiles approved, and after many hardships came through the desert to an inhabited land, and after treating the men cruelly, robbing and burning the temples, they established a city Hierosyla (temple-plunder) in Judæa, and afterwards, to lessen the disgrace, the name was slightly altered into Hierosolyma (Jerusalem)."648

Even this narrative was accepted and believed. Tacitus first enumerated the different views of the writers on the origin of the Jews, in order finally to agree in all essential points with the narrative of Lysimachus. "According to the view of some," Tacitus says, "the Jews were descendants of the Ethiopians, whom fear and disinclination compelled, at the time of king Kepheus, to change their dwelling; others say that a horde coming from Assyria gained possession of a part of Egypt, and soon after passed into the neighbouring parts of Syria, and inhabited the Hebrew land and cities." The latter statement obviously confounds the immigration of the Hyksos and the Jews, and makes them a mingled horde of Assyrians, but still is nearest the truth. "Others, again," Tacitus continues, "are of opinion that under the rule of Isis in Egypt, the number of men became too great, and the superfluous multitudes were settled under the leadership of Hierosolymus and Judah in the neighbouring lands. But most authorities agree that under king Bocchoris a contagious disease raged in Egypt, and the oracle of Ammon bade them purify the kingdom and remove the diseased persons out of the land as a race hated by the gods. Hence the unclean were collected and left behind in the desert. Amid their idle lamentations one of the exiles, Moses, warned them that they had no assistance to expect from gods or men, for they were abandoned by both, but they were to trust to him as a heavenly leader by whose assistance they might be rescued from their present calamities. To this they agreed, and in complete ignorance struck out a path at random. The want of water distressed them most, and almost at death's door they sank upon the ground, when a herd of wild asses ran from the pasture to a rock covered with trees. Moses followed them, and found copious streams of water. This saved them, and after a march of six days they came on the seventh day to a region where, when they had expelled the inhabitants, they founded a city and a temple. In order to strengthen the nation and establish his own supremacy, Moses gave them new customs, quite opposed to the usages of the rest of the world. What we consider sacred, they regard as profane; and what is permitted to us is forbidden to them. The image of the animal which had shown them an escape from their wanderings, and put an end to their thirst, they placed in the innermost shrine, after they had slain a ram. in order, as it were, to throw contempt upon Ammon. They abstained from swine's flesh in remembrance of the misery which the leprosy, to which this animal is subject, had once brought upon them. The long hunger which they then endured they still avow by frequent fasts; and as a proof of the fruits once stolen, their bread is unleavened. On the seventh day they rest, because the seventh day brought them to an end of their labours; the seventh year also, induced by their laziness, they have given up to inaction. Others are of opinion that this is done in honour of Saturn, because Saturn completes the highest circle of all the seven stars which rule the fortunes of men, and is of pre-eminent power, and most constellations accomplish their influence and their orbits by the number seven.

"Other abominable customs have come into force owing to their vile corruption. For all the worst of men, despising their hereditary religions, brought money and contributions to them; and because among them stiffnecked belief and ready assistance was to be found, and deadly hatred towards the rest of the world, their power increased. They do not eat with strangers or make marriages with them; and this nation, otherwise most prone to debauchery, abstains from all strange women. They have introduced circumcision in order to distinguish themselves thereby; and those who have adopted their customs follow this practice. The first lesson learnt by their youth is to hate the gods, to despise their country, to disregard parents, children, and brothers. Yet they take considerable care to increase their numbers. It is a sin to slay a kinsman, and the souls of all slain in battle and by execution they consider immortal. Hence they have a lively impulse to beget children, and they hold death in contempt. The custom of burying the dead, instead of burning them, they have borrowed from the Egyptians; on the other hand, the Jews alone worship in the spirit a single deity, while the Egyptians offer prayer to many animals and composite images. They also consider it profane to make any images of God out of perishable material in the form of men, for the deity is the Highest, the Eternal, the Unchangeable and Imperishable. Hence in their cities and temples there are no images. As their priests use the music of flutes and drums, and wear crowns of ivy, and a golden vine was found in the temple, some have thought that they worshipped the conqueror of the East, the god Bacchus. But the rites are widely different. Bacchus inaugurated blithe and merry festivals; but the customs of the Jews are absurd and melancholy.649"

CHAPTER X.

THE HEBREWS IN THE DESERT

The fortunes and achievements of the Israelites after leaving Egypt and escaping the pursuit of the Egyptians, are narrated in the second, third, and fourth books of the Pentateuch in the following manner. From the reed-sea the Israelites marched into the wilderness of Shur, and for three days found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there, because it was bitter. Then Jehovah showed Moses a piece of wood, and he threw it into the water, so that the water became sweet. From Marah they came to Elim, where were twelve wells and seventy palm-trees, and they encamped there by the water. From Elim they came into the wilderness of Sin, and the people murmured against Moses, because there was no food to be found; but at evening Jehovah caused swarms of quails to rise which covered the camp, and in the morning manna had fallen, which lay like hoar frost upon the ground, and the people were allowed to gather manna for six days, but on the seventh they were not allowed to gather it. And Israel set forth from the wilderness of Sin and encamped at Rephidim. There there was no water to drink, and the people were angry with Moses; but Jehovah said to Moses: Take thy staff with which thou didst smite the Nile; thou shalt smite the rock, and the water shall flow forth. And Moses did so before all Israel, and they called the name of the place Massah and Meribah. And Amalek came and strove with Israel in Rephidim, and was smitten down with the edge of the sword. And Jethro, the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, came and advised Moses to choose valiant men for his helpers, as overseers over the people and judges for the matters of smaller moment. And Moses did so.

In the third month after the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites set forth from Rephidim, and came into the desert of Sinai, and encamped over against the mountain. The people were commanded to purify themselves and wash their garments, and Moses forbad any one to approach the mountain. On the third day, when it was morning, there was thunder and lightning, and a thick cloud stood upon the mountain, and there was a mighty sound of trumpets. And all the people heard the thunder and saw the flames and the smoking mountain, and the mountain quaked, and all trembled. But Moses led them to meet Jehovah at the foot of the mountain. And Jehovah came down to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. For forty days and forty nights Moses was on the mountain, and Jehovah revealed to him his laws, and the finger of God wrote them on two stone tables. And Jehovah spoke to Moses out of the darkness, and told him all the ordinances which he should lay upon the people. But the cloud covered the mountain, and the glory of Jehovah was a consuming fire on the top of the mountain.

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people said to Aaron: We know not what has happened to the man who led us out of Egypt; make us a god to go before us. And Aaron said to them: Take off the golden rings which are in the ears of your wives, your daughters, and your sons. They brought him the rings, and he made of them a golden calf, and built an altar before the calf. Then they said: That is the god, who led us out of Egypt; and Aaron caused a festival to be proclaimed to Jehovah, and they brought a thank-offering to the calf, and the people ate and drank and stood up to dance. But when Moses came down from the mountain with the stone tablets in his hand, and heard the singing and shouting, and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger was kindled. He cast the tables out of his hand, and broke them at the foot of the mountain, and took the calf, and burned it with fire, and ground it to dust, and strewed it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it. And Moses came into the entrance of the camp and cried: Come to me, all who belong to Jehovah. Then the descendants of Levi gathered round him. Take everyone his sword at his side, he said to them; go from one gate of the camp to the other, and slay every man his brother, his friend, and his neighbour. And there fell on that day about 3,000 men of the people.

On the next morning Moses said: Ye have sinned a great sin; I will go up to Jehovah, perhaps I can appease him for your sin. And Jehovah said to Moses: Hew two stone tables like the others, and be ready in the morning, and appear before me on the top of the mountain. And Moses was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights, and ate no bread, and drank no water, and he wrote on the tables the ten commandments. Then he came down with the two tables of the law in his hand, and told the people the commandments which Jehovah had given him, and the laws; and the people answered: All that Jehovah has commanded we will do. Then Moses built an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes. And the young men slew burnt-offerings and thank-offerings, and the half of the blood Moses sprinkled on the altar, and with the other half he sprinkled the people, and said: This is the blood of the covenant which Jehovah makes with you over all laws.

Then Moses set up the tent of the assembly for a sanctuary of Jehovah, that He might dwell in their midst, as Jehovah had commanded, with planks of acacia wood on silver feet, and fastened them with silver bars; and on them he placed a cover of woven cloth of byssus, of a purple colour, and over this a second roof of red sheep-skins and seal-skins, and divided the tent by a curtain of blue and red purple, and carmine, and byssus, with cherubs woven upon it. And in the tent behind the second curtain he placed the ark of the law, as Jehovah had commanded, of acacia wood, overlaid with pure gold, and placed the law in the ark. Then Moses made a table of acacia wood, overlaid with pure gold, and placed bowls of pure gold upon it for the drink-offerings, and laid the sacrificial bread upon the table. And he made a candlestick of pure gold, with seven lamps, three on the one side and three on the other side of the candlestick. Then he made the altar of incense of acacia wood, overlaid with gold; and the altar of burnt sacrifice of acacia wood, as Jehovah commanded, and overlaid it with copper; and made the curtains for the court and the poles for the curtains of copper. The Israelites brought what was necessary for the erection and adornment of the shrine, and gave their nose-rings, ear-rings, seals, and ear-drops. And Moses made Aaron and his sons priests, and anointed the altars and all utensils with holy ointment, and sanctified the fire on the altar, and offered burnt-offerings. But two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, brought strange fire before Jehovah; then fire went forth from Jehovah and consumed them, and they died before Him. And the glory of Jehovah filled His habitation, and the cloud covered the tent of assembly; and when the cloud rose, the children of Israel set forth, and by night there was fire in the cloud.

In the second year after the exodus from Egypt, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud rose from the dwelling of the law, and the children of Israel set forth on their march out of the desert of Sinai, from the mountain of Jehovah, and they went three days' journey, and the cloud halted in the wilderness of Paran. And Jehovah bade Moses send men to search out the land of Canaan – one for each tribe from among the leaders. And from Ephraim Moses sent Joshua the son of Nun; and from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. Then the twelve princes set forth at the time of the first grapes, and came to Hebron and to the valley of Eshcol, and there cut a bunch of grapes and a vine, and carried them on a pole between two; and they also took of the pomegranates and the figs. After forty days they returned, and said to the people: The land into which you sent us flows with milk and honey, and these are its fruits. But the people is mighty, and their cities are large and fortified, and Amalek dwells in the land to the south, and the Hittites, and Jebusites, and Amorites dwell on the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and on the side of Jordan. And Caleb said: We will go up and overpower them; but the others said: We cannot go up against that people, for they are mightier than we; and the sons of Israel cried: Why should we fall by the sword, and our wives and children fall into the hand of the enemy; is it not better to return to Egypt? Then Jehovah said to Moses: All those who have murmured against me shall not enter into the land wherein I have lifted up my hand to cause you to dwell. Your bodies shall lie in the desert, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun; and your children shall pasture their flocks in the desert forty years: forty years shall my face be turned from you. And Moses told these words to the children of Israel. But the Israelites ventured to rise up and went to the heights of the mountains on the way towards Atharim. But the Amalekites and Canaanites who dwelt on the mountains came down and smote them, and scattered them as far as Hormah.

And Korah of the tribe of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram of the tribe of Reuben, and two hundred and fifty of the foremost men, heads of families and officers of the community, assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron, and said: Why do ye lift yourselves up against the people? And to Moses they said: Is it not enough that thou hast led us out of Egypt, to slay us in the desert? Wilt thou also make thyself a ruler over us? But the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up. On the next morning the people murmured in the assembly against Moses and Aaron, and said: Ye have slain them. But Jehovah said to Moses: Go out from this company; I will destroy them suddenly. Then the plague began. At Moses' command Aaron took the censer of incense and offered incense to purify the children of Israel; and he stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was stayed. But there died fourteen thousand and seven hundred.

The children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, and Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying: Let us pass through thy land; we will go along the highway, and turn neither to the right hand nor to the left. But Edom went to meet them with mighty hosts and a powerful hand, and Israel retired before him, and went from Kadesh to Mount Hor, and from Mount Hor to the reed-sea. Then the people became impatient on the way, and murmured against Moses, and Jehovah sent the serpents, the saraphs, among the people, and many died. Then the Israelites saw that they had sinned, and Moses prayed for the people and made a serpent of copper, and set it up on a pole, and all who were bitten by the serpents and looked upon the image of copper were saved. From the reed-sea the Israelites went again to the north, towards Oboth and Beer, to the well which the princes dug. Then Israel sang: "Rise up, O fountain, meet him with songs; O well which the princes dug, which the nobles of the people hollowed out with their sceptre and their staves." And from Beer they went to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to Pisgah, which rises over the desert. And Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in his city at Heshbon, gathered all his people and went to meet Israel in the desert, and came towards Jahaz, and strove with Israel. Then Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, laid waste the land, and took the cities. And Israel sang: "Fire went forth from Heshbon, and flames from the city of Sihon; we shot at them, we laid waste the land to Nophah, we burnt it with fire to Medeba." Then the Israelites turned and went up against Og, the king of the Amorites of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth Karnaim, and smote him at Edrei, and his sons and all his people, and his cities were taken, and not a fugitive escaped. From Bashan Israel went southwards, and encamped in the plains of Moab at Shittim; and they began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab, and served Baal Peor. And Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, pierced with his spear Zimri, a captain of the tribe of Simeon, as he lay with a Midianitish woman, and slew both with one thrust through the belly. And Jehovah said to Moses: Go up to Mount Abarim and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel, and when thou hast seen it, thou shalt be gathered to thy people. Take Joshua, the son of Nun, and lay thy hand on him, and place him before Eleazar the priest (the son of Aaron), and before all the people, so that all may obey him; and Eleazar shall inquire of Jehovah for him, and as he commands he shall go out and in. And Moses did as Jehovah commanded. And the sons of Reuben and Gad said to Moses: The land which Jehovah has smitten before Israel is a land for flocks, and thy servants have flocks; and to them, and half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses gave the land of Gilead. And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, over against Jericho, and Jehovah caused him to see the whole land from Gilead to Dan, and from Jericho to Zoar. And there Moses died, a hundred and twenty years old. But his eyes were not dim, nor had his strength forsaken him. The Israelites mourned for Moses thirty days in the plains of Moab, and henceforth there was no prophet in Israel like Moses; and to this day no man knows the grave of Moses.

In those portions which deal with the abode and fortunes of the Hebrews in the desert, the two texts were less closely combined, and the contradictions are more numerous, than in the other parts. The two narratives are interpolated each into the other, and the additions of the reviser are more prominent than elsewhere. An ancient record, embodied in the first text, gives a list of the places where the Israelites pitched their tents between Egypt and the Jordan. The statements do not agree with the narrative in its present condition. In the first text the Midianites manifestly dwell to the east of the Jordan. It represents the Israelites as taking vengeance upon them, because they had seduced Israel to a heathenish ritual; first by the act of Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, whose seed in consequence received "the everlasting covenant of the priesthood," and then by the war which cost the Midianites a vast booty of sheep, oxen, asses, and thousands of prisoners.650 In the Ephraimitic text the Midianites dwell on Sinai; hither Moses fled to the Midianites from Egypt; he married the daughter of the priest of the Midianites, and stands in most friendly relations with them. This text represents the seduction of the Israelites as the work not of the Midianites, but of the Moabites; and subsequently narrates the victories over the Moabites of Heshbon and Bashan. How the first text described the conquest of the land of Gilead we cannot any longer ascertain; that it dealt with the subject is beyond question.651

The setting up of the golden calf at Sinai is inconceivable in the connection in which the narrative places it. While Jehovah's glory is visible on Sinai, and proclaims itself in thunder and lightning, would the people, and Aaron at their head, have required an image of God, and offered prayer to it? When after the death of Solomon the ten tribes founded their independent kingdom Jehovah was worshipped among them in the form of a bull, in contrast to the worship of the kingdom of Judah. To stigmatise this worship, wherein priests of the family which claimed to be derived from Aaron may have taken part from the first, as objectionable, the prophetic revision has interpolated the adoration of the golden calf and the punishment of such idolatry; and from this the second ascent of Sinai by Moses came into the narrative. The account of the saraphs and the setting up of the brazen serpent belongs to the Ephraimitic text.652 At Jerusalem there was a serpent of brass, which was thought to have come down from Moses.653

It was the fixed belief of the Hebrews that it was only by the immediate help of Jehovah that their forefathers had been able to escape the power of Egypt. And this was not the only thing done for their fathers; they had afterwards gained abodes to the east and west of the Jordan, and from the wilderness they had come into a land flowing with milk and honey. Here, also, the help of Jehovah had been shown forth mightily for his people, against the old and powerful cities, and the mountain fortresses of Canaan. Obviously Jehovah had delivered his people out of Egypt, in order to give them this beautiful and rich land for a dwelling. But why had he not at once led them thither? Why did the Israelites remain so long in the miserable wilderness? The Israelites – so the first text explains this delay – received the account of the spies with fear. This cowardly generation, therefore, must die out. We saw above that the Hebrews reckoned the length of a generation at forty years, and so the first text puts the sojourn in the desert at forty years. We shall see below that this period is too short by some decads of years. Moses and Aaron also did not reach Canaan, because, as the first text says, "they sinned against Jehovah at the water of strife, at Kadesh, in the wilderness of Sin," because "they rebelled against his command at the water," an obstinacy which cannot be any longer found in the revised narrative of this occurrence.654 If Joshua and Caleb are exempted from this decree, if they alone reach Canaan, it was certain that Joshua had undertaken and carried out the attack upon Canaan, that Caleb conquered Hebron and subjected the surrounding district; his descendants were living there even in David's time in princely wealth.

In the desert also Jehovah had taken care of his people; he had not allowed them to perish there; he had sent quails and given them manna. Even now long lines of quails pass over the Syrian steppes and the wilderness of Sinai, and in the neighbourhood of Firan, manna, i.e. the juice running from the branches and leaves of the tamarisk, is still gathered.655 Nor had Jehovah allowed water to fail in the midst of the desert. Moses changed a bitter spring into sweet water. The story rests, no doubt, on the name of the spring. Marah means bitter. At another spring of the name of Meribah, i. e. strife (here Jehovah bade the rocks give water), the rebellion of Moses and Aaron is said to have taken place. The well of Beer, which the princes dug, cannot be any other than the well of Beer Elim, i. e. the well of the strong,656 and the song which tradition connects with this place (p. 473) is certainly very old, if not contemporary.