All this time Zepho did not leave off urging Agnias to invade Egypt,
and he succeeded finally in persuading the king to consider his wish,
and a great army was equipped against Egypt and the sons of Jacob.
Among the shield- bearers was Balaam, the fifteen year old son of Beor,
a wise youth and an adept in magic, and the king bade him acquaint him
with the issue of the war upon which they were entering. Balaam took
wax and moulded the figures of men, to represent the army of Agnias and
the army of the Egyptians, and he plunged them into magic water and let
them swim, and it appeared that the African army was subdued by the
Egyptians. Agnias accordingly gave up the campaign, and Zepho, seeing
that his sovereign could not be persuaded into war with the sons of
Jacob, fled the country and betook himself to Kittim.
The people of Kittim received him with great honors, and they offered
him much money to stay with them and conduct their wars. It happened
once while Zepho was in the mountains of Koptiziah, where the
inhabitants of Kittim had taken refuge before the troops of the African
king, that he had to go on a search for an ox that had strayed away,
and he discovered a cave the opening of which was barred by a great
stone. He shivered the stone in pieces, and entering the cave he saw an
animal formed like a man above and a he-goat below, and he killed the
strange beast, which was in the very act of devouring his lost ox.
There was great rejoicing among the people of Kittim, for the monster
had long been doing havoc among their cattle, and in gratitude they set
aside one day of the year, which they called by Zepho's name, in honor
of their liberator, and all the people brought him presents and offered
sacrifices to him.
At this time it came to pass that Yaniah, the wife of King Agnias, fell
into a grievous sickness, and the physicians ascribed her illness to
the climate, and to the water of Africa, to which she, a native of the
land of Kittim, could not get accustomed, because she had been in the
habit of using the water of the river Forma, which her forefathers had
drawn to her house through a conduit. Agnias sent to the land of Kittim
and had some of the water of the Forma brought to Africa. Finding it
much lighter than the water of his own country, he built a huge canal
from the land of Kittim. to Africa, and the queen henceforth had all
the Forma water she needed. Besides, he took earth and stone from
Kittim, and built a palace for Yaniah, and she recovered from her
illness.
Meantime Zepho had won a decisive victory over the African troops that
had made an incursion into the land of Kittim, and the people chose him
as king. His first undertaking was a campaign against the sons of Tubal
and the Islands of the Sea, and again he was successful, he subdued
them completely. On his return, the people built a great palace for
Zepho, and they renewed his kingship, and he continued until his death
to reign as king of Kittim and of Italy.
During the first thirteen years of his reign, the Africans made no
attempt to disturb the peace of Kittim, but then they invaded the land,
only to be severely repulsed by Zepho, who pursued the troops up to the
very borders of Africa, and Agnias the king was in such consternation
that he did not venture to make reprisals for some time. When he
finally made a second attempt, his troops were annihilated by Zepho
down to the very last man. Now Agnias, in despair, assembled all the
inhabitants of Africa, as numerous as the sand on the sea-shore, and he
united his great host with the army of his brother Lucus, and thus he
made his third attempt upon Zepho and the people of the land of Kittim.
Alarmed, Zepho wrote to his brethren in Seir, and entreated their king
Hadad to send him aid. But the people of Seir had concluded an alliance
with Agnias as far back as under their first king Bela, and they
refused Zepho's request, and the king of Kittim had to face the host of
eight hundred thousand men mustered by Agnias with his little band of
three thousand. Then the people of Kittim spake to their king Zepho,
saying: "Pray for us unto the God of thy ancestors. Peradventure He may
deliver us from the hand of Agnias and his army, for we have heard that
He is a great God, and He delivers all that trust in Him." Zepho prayed
unto the Lord, saying: "O Lord, God of Abraham and Isaac, my fathers,
this day may it be made known that Thou art a true God, and all the
gods of the nations are vain and useless. Remember now this day unto me
Thy covenant with Abraham our father, which our ancestors related unto
us, and do graciously with me this day for the sake of Abraham and
Isaac, our fathers, and save me and the sons of Kittim from the hand of
the king of Africa, who hath come against us for battle."
God gave ear unto Zepho's prayer, and in the first day's battle
one-half of the African army fell. Agnias forthwith dispatched a decree
to his country, ordering, on penalty of death and confiscation of
property, that all the males of the land, including boys that bad
passed their tenth year, were to join the army and fight against the
people of Kittim. In spite of these new accessions, three hundred
thousand strong, Agnias was beaten again by Zepho in the second battle.
The African general Sosipater having fallen slain, the troops broke
into flight, at their head Agnias with Lucus the brother and Asdrubal
the son of Agnias. After this dire defeat the Africans made no further
attempt to disturb the peace of Kittim, and their incursions ceased
forever.
In spite of the great victory that Zepho had won with the help of God,
the king of Kittim walked in the idolatrous ways of the people whom he
ruled, and in the ways of the sons of Esau, for, as saith the proverb
of the ancients, "Out of the wicked cometh forth wickedness," and Zepho
was not other than the rest of the sons of Esau.
The severe defeat inflicted upon Agnias drove Balaam from Africa to
Kittim, and he was received with great honors by Zepho, who welcomed
him on account of his deep wisdom.
Now Zepho thought the time had arrived for him to carry out his plan of
vengeance against the posterity of Jacob, all the more as in the
meantime Joseph had died, and also his brethren and the valiant men of
Pharaoh had passed away. He was joined in the enterprise by Hadad, the
king of Edom, and by the nations of the East and the Ishmaelites. The
allied army was so vast that the space it covered as it stood in rank
and file was equal to a three days' journey. It formed in battle array
in the Valley of Pathros, and it was met by three hundred thousand
Egyptians and one hundred and fifty Israelites from Goshen. But the
Egyptians did not trust the Israelites, they feared their defection to
the sons of Esau and Ishmael. They therefore made an agreement with
them that the Israelites were not to come to the help of the Egyptians
until it appeared that the enemy were getting the upper hand
Zepho, who had a high opinion of Balaam's ability, desired him to use
his magic arts and find out what would be the outcome of the war, but
Balaam's knowledge failed him, he could not satisfy the king's wish.
The Egyptians got the worst of the first encounter between the two
hostile armies, but the aspect of things changed as soon as they
summoned the Israelites to aid them. The Israelites prayed to God to
support them with His help, and the Lord heard their prayer. Then they
threw themselves upon Zepho and his allies, and after they had cut down
several thousand men, such dismay and confusion took hold of the enemy
that they fled hastily, pursued by the Israelites as far as the
boundary of the country. The Egyptians, instead of coming to the
assistance of the Israelites, had taken to flight, leaving the small
band of their allies to dispose of the huge host of their adversaries.
Embittered by such treatment, the Israelites slew as many as two
hundred Egyptians, under the pretext that they thought they belonged to
the enemy.[425]