government; and had the same mother with his brother Jehoiakim, but was
a despiser of justice and of his duty, for truly those of the same age
with him were wicked about him, and the whole multitude did what unjust
and insolent things they pleased; for which reason the prophet Jeremiah
came often to him, and protested to him, and insisted, that he must
leave off his impieties and transgressions, and take care of what was
right, and neither give ear to the rulers, [among whom were wicked men,]
nor give credit to their false prophets, who deluded them, as if the
king of Babylon would make no more war against them, and as if the
Egyptians would make war against him, and conquer him, since what they
said was not true, and the events would not prove such [as they
expected]. Now as to Zedekiah himself, while he heard the prophet speak,
he believed him, and agreed to every thing as true, and supposed it was
for his advantage; but then his friends perverted him, and dissuaded him
from what the prophet advised, and obliged him to do what they pleased.
Ezekiel also foretold in Babylon what calamities were coming upon the
people, which when he heard, he sent accounts of them unto Jerusalem.
But Zedekiah did not believe their prophecies, for the reason following:
It happened that the two prophets agreed with one another in what they
said as in all other things, that the city should be taken, and Zedekiah
himself should be taken captive; but Ezekiel disagreed with him, and
said that Zedekiah should not see Babylon, while Jeremiah said to him,
that the king of Babylon should carry him away thither in bonds....
3. Now when Zedekiah had preserved the league of mutual assistance he
had made with the Babylonians for eight years, he brake it, and revolted
to the Egyptians, in hopes, by their assistance, of overcoming the
Babylonians. When the king of Babylon knew this, he made war against
him: he laid his country waste, and took his fortified towns, and came
to the city Jerusalem itself to besiege it. But when the king of Egypt
heard what circumstances Zedekiah his ally was in, he took a great army
with him, and came into Judea, as if he would raise the siege; upon
which the king of Babylon departed from Jerusalem, and met the
Egyptians, and joined battle with them, and beat them; and when he had
put them to flight, he pursued them, and drove them out of all Syria.
Now as soon as the king of Babylon was departed from Jerusalem, the
false prophets deceived Zedekiah, and said that the king of Babylon
would not any more make war against him or his people, nor remove them
out of their own country into Babylon; and that those then in captivity
would return, with all those vessels of the temple of which the king of
Babylon had despoiled that temple. But Jeremiah came among them, and
prophesied what contradicted those predictions, and what proved to be
true, that they did ill, and deluded the king; that the Egyptians would
be of no advantage to them, but that the king of Babylon would renew the
war against Jerusalem, and besiege it again, and would destroy the
people by famine, and carry away those that remained into captivity, and
would take away what they had as spoils, and would carry off those
riches that were in the temple; nay, that, besides this, he would burn
it, and utterly overthrow the city, and that they should serve him and
his posterity seventy years; that then the Persians and the Medes should
put an end to their servitude, and overthrow the Babylonians; "and that
we shall be dismissed, and return to this land, and rebuild the temple,
and restore Jerusalem." When Jeremiah said this, the greater part
believed him; but the rulers, and those that were wicked, despised him,
as one disordered in his senses. Now he had resolved to go elsewhere, to
his own country, which was called Anathoth, and was twenty furlongs
distant from Jerusalem; 12 and as he was going, one of the rulers met
him, and seized upon him, and accused him falsely, as though he were
going as a deserter to the Babylonians; but Jeremiah said that he
accused him falsely, and added, that he was only going to his own
country; but the other would not believe him, but seized upon him, and
led him away to the rulers, and laid an accusation against him, under
whom he endured all sorts of torments and tortures, and was reserved to
be punished; and this was the condition he was in for some time, while
he suffered what I have already described unjustly.
4. Now in the ninth year of the reign of Zedekiah, on the tenth day of
the tenth month, the king of Babylon made a second expedition against
Jerusalem, and lay before it eighteen months, and besieged it with the
utmost application. There came upon them also two of the greatest
calamities at the same time that Jerusalem was besieged, a famine and a
pestilential distemper, and made great havoc of them. And though the
prophet Jeremiah was in prison, he did not rest, but cried out, and
proclaimed aloud, and exhorted the multitude to open their gates, and
admit the king of Babylon, for that if they did so, they should be
preserved, and their whole families; but if they did not so, they should
be destroyed; and he foretold, that if any one staid in the city, he
should certainly perish by one of these ways,—either be consumed by the
famine, or slain by the enemy's sword; but that if he would flee to the
enemy, he should escape death. Yet did not these rulers who heard
believe him, even when they were in the midst of their sore calamities;
but they came to the king, and in their anger informed him what Jeremiah
had said, and accused him, and complained of the prophet as of a madman,
and one that disheartened their minds, and by the denunciation of
miseries weakened the alacrity of the multitude, who were otherwise
ready to expose themselves to dangers for him, and for their country,
while he, in a way of threatening, warned them to flee to the enemy, and
told them that the city should certainly be taken, and be utterly
destroyed.
5. But for the king himself, he was not at all irritated against
Jeremiah, such was his gentle and righteous disposition; yet, that he
might not be engaged in a quarrel with those rulers at such a time, by
opposing what they intended, he let them do with the prophet whatsoever
they would; whereupon, when the king had granted them such a permission,
they presently came into the prison, and took him, and let him down with
a cord into a pit full of mire, that he might be suffocated, and die of
himself. So he stood up to the neck in the mire which was all about him,
and so continued; but there was one of the king's servants, who was in
esteem with him, an Ethiopian by descent, who told the king what a state
the prophet was in, and said that his friends and his rulers had done
evil in putting the prophet into the mire, and by that means contriving
against him that he should suffer a death more bitter than that by his
bonds only. When the king heard this, he repented of his having
delivered up the prophet to the rulers, and bid the Ethiopian take
thirty men of the king's guards, and cords with them, and whatsoever
else they understood to be necessary for the prophet's preservation, and
to draw him up immediately. So the Ethiopian took the men he was ordered
to take, and drew up the prophet out of the mire, and left him at
liberty [in the prison].
6. But when the king had sent to call him privately, and inquired what
he could say to him from God, which might be suitable to his present
circumstances, and desired him to inform him of it, Jeremiah replied,
that he had somewhat to say; but he said withal, he should not be
believed, nor, if he admonished them, should be hearkened to; "for,"
said he, "thy friends have determined to destroy me, as though I had
been guilty of some wickedness; and where are now those men who deceived
us, and said that the king of Babylon would not come and fight against
us any more? but I am afraid now to speak the truth, lest thou shouldst
condemn me to die." And when the king had assured him upon oath, that he
would neither himself put him to death, nor deliver him up to the
rulers, he became bold upon that assurance that was given him, and gave
him this advice: That he should deliver the city up to the Babylonians;
and he said that it was God who prophesied this by him, that [he must do
so] if he would be preserved, and escape out of the danger he was in,
and that then neither should the city fall to the ground, nor should the
temple be burned; but that [if he disobeyed] he would be the cause of
these miseries coming upon the citizens, and of the calamity that would
befall his whole house. When the king heard this, he said that he would
willingly do what he persuaded him to, and what he declared would be to
his advantage, but that he was afraid of those of his own country that
had fallen away to the Babylonians, lest he should be accused by them to
the king of Babylon, and be punished. But the prophet encouraged him,
and said he had no cause to fear such punishment, for that he should not
have the experience of any misfortune, if he would deliver all up to the
Babylonians, neither himself, nor his children, nor his wives, and that
the temple should then continue unhurt. So when Jeremiah had said this,
the king let him go, and charged him to betray what they had resolved on
to none of the citizens, nor to tell any of these matters to any of the
rulers, if they should have learned that he had been sent for, and
should inquire of him what it was that he was sent for, and what he had
said to him; but to pretend to them that he besought him that he might
not be kept in bonds and in prison. And indeed he said so to them; for
they came to the prophet, and asked him what advice it was that he came
to give the king relating to them. And thus I have finished what
concerns this matter.
CHAPTER 8. How The King Of Babylon Took Jerusalem And Burnt The Temple
And Removed The People Of Jerusalem And Zedekiah To Babylon. As Also,
Who They Were That Had Succeeded In The High Priesthood Under The Kings.
1. Now the king of Babylon was very intent and earnest upon the siege of
Jerusalem; and he erected towers upon great banks of earth, and from
them repelled those that stood upon the walls; he also made a great
number of such banks round about the whole city, whose height was equal
to those walls. However, those that were within bore the siege with
courage and alacrity, for they were not discouraged, either by the
famine, or by the pestilential distemper, but were of cheerful minds in
the prosecution of the war, although those miseries within oppressed
them also, and they did not suffer themselves to be terrified, either by
the contrivances of the enemy, or by their engines of war, but contrived
still different engines to oppose all the other withal, till indeed
there seemed to be an entire struggle between the Babylonians and the
people of Jerusalem, which had the greater sagacity and skill; the
former party supposing they should be thereby too hard for the other,
for the destruction of the city; the latter placing their hopes of
deliverance in nothing else but in persevering in such inventions in
opposition to the other, as might demonstrate the enemy's engines were
useless to them. And this siege they endured for eighteen months, until
they were destroyed by the famine, and by the darts which the enemy
threw at them from the towers.
2. Now the city was taken on the ninth day of the fourth month, in the
eleventh year of the reign of Zedekiah. They were indeed only generals
of the king of Babylon, to whom Nebuchadnezzar committed the care of the
siege, for he abode himself in the city of Riblah. The names of these
generals who ravaged and subdued Jerusalem, if any one desire to know
them, were these: Nergal Sharezer, Samgar Nebo, Rabsaris, Sorsechim, and
Rabmag. And when the city was taken about midnight, and the enemy's
generals were entered into the temple, and when Zedekiah was sensible of
it, he took his wives, and his children, and his captains, and his
friends, and with them fled out of the city, through the fortified
ditch, and through the desert; and when certain of the deserters had
informed the Babylonians of this, at break of day, they made haste to
pursue after Zedekiah, and overtook him not far from Jericho, and
encompassed him about. But for those friends and captains of Zedekiah
who had fled out of the city with him, when they saw their enemies near
them, they left him, and dispersed themselves, some one way, and some
another, and every one resolved to save himself; so the enemy took
Zedekiah alive, when he was deserted by all but a few, with his children
and his wives, and brought him to the king. When he was come,
Nebuchadnezzar began to call him a wicked wretch, and a covenant-
breaker, and one that had forgotten his former words, when he promised
to keep the country for him. He also reproached him for his ingratitude,
that when he had received the kingdom from him, who had taken it from
Jehoiachin, and given it to him, he had made use of the power he gave
him against him that gave it; "but," said he, "God is great, who hated
that conduct of thine, and hath brought thee under us." And when he had
used these words to Zedekiah, he commanded his sons and his friends to
be slain, while Zedekiah and the rest of the captains looked on; after
which he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him, and carried him to
Babylon. And these things happened to him, 13 as Jeremiah and Ezekiel
had foretold to him, that he should be caught, and brought before the
king of Babylon, and should speak to him face to face, and should see
his eyes with his own eyes; and thus far did Jeremiah prophesy. But he
was also made blind, and brought to Babylon, but did not see it,
according to the prediction of Ezekiel.
3. We have said thus much, because it was sufficient to show the nature
of God to such as are ignorant of it, that it is various, and acts many
different ways, and that all events happen after a regular manner, in
their proper season, and that it foretells what must come to pass. It is
also sufficient to show the ignorance and incredulity of men, whereby
they are not permitted to foresee any thing that is future, and are,
without any guard, exposed to calamities, so that it is impossible for
them to avoid the experience of those calamities.
4. And after this manner have the kings of David's race ended their
lives, being in number twenty-one, until the last king, who all together
reigned five hundred and fourteen years, and six months, and ten days;
of whom Saul, who was their first king, retained the government twenty
years, though he was not of the same tribe with the rest.
5. And now it was that the king of Babylon sent Nebuzaradan, the general
of his army, to Jerusalem, to pillage the temple, who had it also in
command to burn it and the royal palace, and to lay the city even with
the ground, and to transplant the people into Babylon. Accordingly, he
came to Jerusalem in the eleventh year of king Zedekiah, and pillaged
the temple, and carried out the vessels of God, both gold and silver,
and particularly that large laver which Solomon dedicated, as also the
pillars of brass, and their chapiters, with the golden tables and the
candlesticks; and when he had carried these off, he set fire to the
temple in the fifth month, the first day of the month, in the eleventh
year of the reign of Zedekiah, and in the eighteenth year of
Nebuchadnezzar: he also burnt the palace, and overthrew the city. Now
the temple was burnt four hundred and seventy years, six months, and ten
days after it was built. It was then one thousand and sixty-two years,
six months, and ten days from the departure out of Egypt; and from the
deluge to the destruction of the temple, the whole interval was one
thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven years, six months, and ten days;
but from the generation of Adam, until this befell the temple, there
were three thousand five hundred and thirteen years, six months, and ten
days; so great was the number of years hereto belonging. And what
actions were done during these years we have particularly related. But
the general of the Babylonian king now overthrew the city to the very
foundations, and removed all the people, and took for prisoners the high
priest Seraiah, and Zephaniah the priest that was next to him, and the
rulers that guarded the temple, who were three in number, and the eunuch
who was over the armed men, and seven friends of Zedekiah, and his
scribe, and sixty other rulers; all which, together with the vessels
which they had pillaged, he carried to the king of Babylon to Riblah, a
city of Syria. So the king commanded the heads of the high priest and of
the rulers to be cut off there; but he himself led all the captives and
Zedekiah to Babylon. He also led Josedek the high priest away bound. He
was the son of Seraiah the high priest, whom the king of Babylon had
slain in Riblah, a city of Syria, as we just now related.
6. And now, because we have enumerated the succession of the kings, and
who they were, and how long they reigned, I think it necessary to set
down the names of the high priests, and who they were that succeeded one
another in the high priesthood under the Kings. The first high priest
then at the temple which Solomon built was Zadok; after him his son
Achimas received that dignity; after Achimas was Azarias; his son was
Joram, and Joram's son was Isus; after him was Axioramus; his son was
Phidens, and Phideas's son was Sudeas, and Sudeas's son was Juelus, and
Juelus's son was Jotham, and Jotham's son was Urias, and Urias's son was
Nerias, and Nerias's son was Odeas, and his son was Sallumus, and
Sallumus's son was Elcias, and his son [was Azarias, and his son] was
Sareas, 14 and his son was Josedec, who was carried captive to Babylon.
All these received the high priesthood by succession, the sons from
their father.
7. When the king was come to Babylon, he kept Zedekiah in prison until
he died, and buried him magnificently, and dedicated the vessels he had
pillaged out of the temple of Jerusalem to his own gods, and planted the
people in the country of Babylon, but freed the high priest from his
bonds.
CHAPTER 9. How Nebuzaradan Set Gedaliah Over The Jews That Were Left In
Judea Which Gedaliah Was A Little Afterward Slain By Ishmael; And How
Johanan After Ishmael Was Driven Away Went Down Into Egypt With The
People Which People Nebuchadnezzar When He Made An Expedition Against
The Egyptians Took Captive And Brought Them Away To Babylon.
1. Now the general of the army, Nebuzaradan, when he had carried the
people of the Jews into captivity, left the poor, and those that had
deserted, in the country, and made one, whose name was Gedaliah, the son
of Ahikam, a person of a noble family, their governor; which Gedaliah
was of a gentle and righteous disposition. He also commanded them that
they should cultivate the ground, and pay an appointed tribute to the
king. He also took Jeremiah the prophet out of prison, and would have
persuaded him to go along with him to Babylon, for that he had been
enjoined by the king to supply him with whatsoever he wanted; and if he
did not like to do so, he desired him to inform him where he resolved to
dwell, that he might signify the same to the king. But the prophet had
no mind to follow him, nor to dwell any where else, but would gladly
live in the ruins of his country, and in the miserable remains of it.
When the general understood what his purpose was, he enjoined Gedaliah,
whom he left behind, to take all possible care of him, and to supply him
with whatsoever he wanted. So when he had given him rich presents, he
dismissed him. Accordingly, Jeremiah abode in a city of that country,
which was called Mispah; and desired of Nebuzaradan that he would set at
liberty his disciple Baruch, the son of Neriah, one of a very eminent
family, and exceeding skillful in the language of his country.
2. When Nebuzaradan had done thus, he made haste to Babylon. But as to
those that fled away during the siege of Jerusalem, and had been
scattered over the country, when they heard that the Babylonians were
gone away, and had left a remnant in the land of Jerusalem, and those
such as were to cultivate the same, they came together from all parts to
Gedaliah to Mispah. Now the rulers that were over them were Johanan, the
son of Kareah, and Jezaniah, and Seraiah, and others beside them. Now
there was of the royal family one Ishmael, a wicked man, and very
crafty, who, during the siege of Jerusalem, fled to Baalis, the king of
the Ammonites, and abode with him during that time; and Gedaliah
persuaded them, now they were there, to stay with him, and to have no
fear of the Babylonians, for that if they would cultivate the country,
they should suffer no harm. This he assured them of by oath; and said
that they should have him for their patron, and that if any disturbance
should arise, they should find him ready to defend them. He also advised
them to dwell in any city, as every one of them pleased; and that they
would send men along with his own servants, and rebuild their houses
upon the old foundations, and dwell there; and he admonished them
beforehand, that they should make preparation, while the season lasted,
of corn, and wine, and oil, that they might have whereon to feed during
the winter. When he had thus discoursed to them, he dismissed them, that
every one might dwell in what place of the country he pleased.
3. Now when this report was spread abroad as far as the nations that
bordered on Judea, that Gedaliah kindly entertained those that came to
him, after they had fled away, upon this [only] condition, that they
should pay tribute to the king of Babylon, they also came readily to
Gedaliah, and inhabited the country. And when Johanan, and the rulers
that were with him, observed the country, and the humanity of Gedaliah,
they were exceedingly in love with him, and told him that Baalis, the
king of the Ammonites, had sent Ishmael to kill him by treachery, and
secretly, that he might have the dominion over the Israelites, as being
of the royal family; and they said that he might deliver himself from
this treacherous design, if he would give them leave to slay Ishmael,
and nobody should know it, for they told him they were afraid that, when
he was killed by the other, the entire ruin of the remaining strength of
the Israelites would ensue. But he professed that he did not believe
what they said, when they told him of such a treacherous design, in a
man that had been well treated by him; because it was not probable that
one who, under such a want of all things, had failed of nothing that was
necessary for him, should be found so wicked and ungrateful towards his
benefactor, that when it would be an instance of wickedness in him not
to save him, had he been treacherously assaulted by others, to endeavor,
and that earnestly, to kill him with his own hands: that, however, if he
ought to suppose this information to be true, it was better for himself
to be slain by the other, than to destroy a man who fled to him for
refuge, and intrusted his own safety to him, and committed himself to
his disposal.
4. So Johanan, and the rulers that were with him, not being able to
persuade Gedaliah, went away. But after the interval of thirty days was
over, Ishmael came again to Gedaliah, to the city Mispah, and ten men
with him; and when he had feasted Ishmael, and those that were with him,
in a splendid manner at his table, and had given them presents, he
became disordered in drink, while he endeavored to be very merry with
them; and when Ishmael saw him in that case, and that he was drowned in
his cups to the degree of insensibility, and fallen asleep, he rose up
on a sudden, with his ten friends, and slew Gedaliah, and those that
were with him at the feast; and when he had slain them, he went out by
night, and slew all the Jews that were in the city, and those soldiers
also which were left therein by the Babylonians. But the next day
fourscore men came out of the country with presents to Gedaliah, none of
them knowing what had befallen him; when Ishmael saw them, he invited
them in to Gedaliah, and when they were come in, he shut up the court,
and slew them, and cast their dead bodies down into a certain deep pit,
that they might not be seen; but of these fourscore men Ishmael spared
those that entreated him not to kill them, till they had delivered up to
him what riches they had concealed in the fields, consisting of their
furniture, and garments, and corn: but he took captive the people that
were in Mispah, with their wives and children; among whom were the
daughters of king Zedekiah, whom Nebuzaradan, the general of the army of
Babylon, had left with Gedaliah. And when he had done this, he came to
the king of the Ammonites.
5. But when Johanan and the rulers with him heard of what was done at
Mispah by Ishmael, and of the death of Gedaliah, they had indignation at
it, and every one of them took his own armed men, and came suddenly to
fight with Ishmael, and overtook him at the fountain in Hebron. And when
those that were carried away captives by Ishmael saw Johanan and the
rulers, they were very glad, and looked upon them as coming to their
assistance; so they left him that had carried them captives, and came
over to Johanan: then Ishmael, with eight men, fled to the king of the
Ammonites; but Johanan took those whom he had rescued out of the hands
of Ishmael, and the eunuchs, and their wives and children, and came to a
certain place called Mandra, and there they abode that day, for they had
determined to remove from thence and go into Egypt, out of fear, lest
the Babylonians should slay them, in case they continued in the country,
and that out of anger at the slaughter of Gedaliah, who had been by them
set over it for governor.
6. Now while they were under this deliberation, Johanan, the son of
Kareah, and the rulers that were with him, came to Jeremiah the prophet,
and desired that he would pray to God, that because they were at an
utter loss about what they ought to do, he would discover it to them,
and they sware that they would do whatsoever Jeremiah should say to
them. And when the prophet said he would be their intercessor with God,
it came to pass, that after ten days God appeared to him, and said that
he should inform Johanan, and the other rulers, and all the people, that
he would be with them while they continued in that country, and take
care of them, and keep them from being hurt by the Babylonians, of whom
they were afraid; but that he would desert them if they went into Egypt,
and, out of this wrath against them, would inflict the same punishments
upon them which they knew their brethren had already endured. So when
the prophet had informed Johanan and the people that God had foretold
these things, he was not believed, when he said that God commanded them
to continue in the country; but they imagined that he said so to gratify
Baruch, his own disciple, and belied God, and that he persuaded them to
stay there, that they might be destroyed by the Babylonians.
Accordingly, both the people and Johanan disobeyed the counsel of God,
which he gave them by the prophet, and removed into Egypt, and carried
Jeremiah and Barnch along with him.
7. And when they were there, God signified to the prophet that the king
of Babylon was about making an expedition against the Egyptians, and
commanded him to foretell to the people that Egypt should be taken, and
the king of Babylon should slay some of them and, should take others
captive, and bring them to Babylon; which things came to pass
accordingly; for on the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem,
which was the twenty-third of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, he made an
expedition against Celesyria; and when he had possessed himself of it,
he made war against the Ammonites and Moabites; and when he had brought
all these nations under subjection, he fell upon Egypt, in order to
overthrow it; and he slew the king that then reigned 15 and set up
another; and he took those Jews that were there captives, and led them
away to Babylon. And such was the end of the nation of the Hebrews, as
it hath been delivered down to us, it having twice gone beyond
Euphrates; for the people of the ten tribes were carried out of Samaria
by the Assyrians, in the days of king Hoshea; after which the people of
the two tribes that remained after Jerusalem was taken [were carried
away] by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon and Chaldea. Now as to
Shalmanezer, he removed the Israelites out of their country, and placed
therein the nation of the Cutheans, who had formerly belonged to the
inner parts of Persia and Media, but were then called Samaritans, by
taking the name of the country to which they were removed; but the king
of Babylon, who brought out the two tribes, 16 placed no other nation in
their country, by which means all Judea and Jerusalem, and the temple,
continued to be a desert for seventy years; but the entire interval of
time which passed from the captivity of the Israelites, to the carrying
away of the two tribes, proved to be a hundred and thirty years, six
months, and ten days.
CHAPTER 10. Concerning Daniel And What Befell Him At Babylon.
1. But now Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took some of the most noble
of the Jews that were children, and the kinsmen of Zedekiah their king,
such as were remarkable for the beauty of their bodies, and the
comeliness of their countenances, and delivered them into the hands of
tutors, and to the improvement to be made by them. He also made some of
them to be eunuchs; which course he took also with those of other
nations whom he had taken in the flower of their age, and afforded them
their diet from his own table, and had them instructed in the institutes
of the country, and taught the learning of the Chaldeans; and they had
now exercised themselves sufficiently in that wisdom which he had
ordered they should apply themselves to. Now among these there were four
of the family of Zedekiah, of most excellent dispositions, one of whom
was called Daniel, another was called Ananias, another Misael, and the
fourth Azarias; and the king of Babylon changed their names, and
commanded that they should make use of other names. Daniel he called
Baltasar; Ananias, Shadrach; Misael, Meshach; and Azarias, Abednego.
These the king had in esteem, and continued to love, because of the very
excellent temper they were of, and because of their application to
learning, and the profess they had made in wisdom.
2. Now Daniel and his kinsmen had resolved to use a severe diet, and to
abstain from those kinds of food which came from the king's table, and
entirely to forbear to eat of all living creatures. So he came to
Ashpenaz, who was that eunuch to whom the care of them was committed, 17
and desired him to take and spend what was brought for them from the
king, but to give them pulse and dates for their food, and any thing
else, besides the flesh of living creatures, that he pleased, for that
their inclinations were to that sort of food, and that they despised the
other. He replied, that he was ready to serve them in what they desired,
but he suspected that they would be discovered by the king, from their
meagre bodies, and the alteration of their countenances, because it
could not be avoided but their bodies and colors must be changed with
their diet, especially while they would be clearly discovered by the
finer appearance of the other children, who would fare better, and thus
they should bring him into danger, and occasion him to be punished; yet
did they persuade Arioch, who was thus fearful, to give them what food
they desired for ten days, by way of trial; and in case the habit of
their bodies were not altered, to go on in the same way, as expecting
that they should not be hurt thereby afterwards; but if he saw them look
meagre, and worse than the rest, he should reduce them to their former
diet. Now when it appeared that they were so far from becoming worse by
the use of this food, that they grew plumper and fuller in body than the
rest, insomuch that he thought those who fed on what came from the
king's table seemed less plump and full, while those that were with
Daniel looked as if they had lived in plenty, and in all sorts of
luxury. Arioch, from that time, securely took himself what the king sent
every day from his supper, according to custom, to the children, but
gave them the forementioned diet, while they had their souls in some
measure more pure, and less burdened, and so fitter for learning, and
had their bodies in better tune for hard labor; for they neither had the
former oppressed and heavy with variety of meats, nor were the other
effeminate on the same account; so they readily understood all the
learning that was among the Hebrews, and among the Chaldeans, as
especially did Daniel, who being already sufficiently skillful in
wisdom, was very busy about the interpretation of dreams; and God
manifested himself to him.
3. Now two years after the destruction of Egypt, king Nebuchadnezzar saw
a wonderful dream, the accomplishment of which God showed him in his
sleep; but when he arose out of his bed, he forgot the accomplishment.
So he sent for the Chaldeans and magicians, and the prophets, and told
them that he had seen a dream, and informed them that he had forgotten
the accomplishment of what he had seen, and he enjoined them to tell him
both what the dream was, and what was its signification; and they said
that this was a thing impossible to be discovered by men; but they
promised him, that if he would explain to them what dream he had seen,
they would tell him its signification. Hereupon he threatened to put
them to death, unless they told him his dream; and he gave command to
have them all put to death, since they confessed they could not do what
they were commanded to do. Now when Daniel heard that the king had given
a command, that all the wise men should be put to death, and that among
them himself and his three kinsmen were in danger, he went to Arioch,
who was captain of the king's guards, and desired to know of him what
was the reason why the king had given command that all the wise men, and
Chaldeans, and magicians should be slain. So when he had learned that
the king had had a dream, and had forgotten it, and that when they were
enjoined to inform the king of it, they had said they could not do it,
and had thereby provoked him to anger, he desired of Arioch that he
would go in to the king, and desire respite for the magicians for one
night, and to put off their slaughter so long, for that he hoped within
that time to obtain, by prayer to God, the knowledge of the dream.
Accordingly, Arioch informed the king of what Daniel desired. So the
king bid them delay the slaughter of the magicians till he knew what
Daniel's promise would come to; but the young man retired to his own
house, with his kinsmen, and besought God that whole night to discover
the dream, and thereby deliver the magicians and Chaldeans, with whom
they were themselves to perish, from the king's anger, by enabling him
to declare his vision, and to make manifest what the king had seen the
night before in his sleep, but had forgotten it. Accordingly, God, out
of pity to those that were in danger, and out of regard to the wisdom of
Daniel, made known to him the dream and its interpretation, that so the
king might understand by him its signification also. When Daniel had
obtained this knowledge from God, he arose very joyful, and told it his
brethren, and made them glad, and to hope well that they should now
preserve their lives, of which they despaired before, and had their
minds full of nothing but the thoughts of dying. So when he had with
them returned thanks to God, who had commiserated their youth, when it
was day he came to Arioch, and desired him to bring him to the king,
because he would discover to him that dream which he had seen the night
before.
4. When Daniel was come in to the king, he excused himself first, that
he did not pretend to be wiser than the other Chaldeans and magicians,
when, upon their entire inability to discover his dream, he was
undertaking to inform him of it; for this was not by his own skill, or
on account of his having better cultivated his understanding than the
rest; but he said, "God hath had pity upon us, when we were in danger of
death, and when I prayed for the life of myself, and of those of my own
nation, hath made manifest to me both the dream, and the interpretation
thereof; for I was not less concerned for thy glory than for the sorrow
that we were by thee condemned to die, while thou didst so unjustly
command men, both good and excellent in themselves, to be put to death,
when thou enjoinedst them to do what was entirely above the reach of
human wisdom, and requiredst of them what was only the work of God.
Wherefore, as thou in thy sleep wast solicitous concerning those that
should succeed thee in the government of the whole world, God was
desirous to show thee all those that should reign after thee, and to
that end exhibited to thee the following dream: Thou seemedst to see a
great image standing before thee, the head of which proved to be of
gold, the shoulders and arms of silver, and the belly and the thighs of
brass, but the legs and the feet of iron; after which thou sawest a
stone broken off from a mountain, which fell upon the image, and threw
it down, and brake it to pieces, and did not permit any part of it to
remain whole; but the gold, the silver, the brass, and the iron, became
smaller than meal, which, upon the blast of a violent wind, was by force
carried away, and scattered abroad, but the stone did increase to such a
degree, that the whole earth beneath it seemed to be filled therewith.
This is the dream which thou sawest, and its interpretation is as
follows: The head of gold denotes thee, and the kings of Babylon that
have been before thee; but the two hands and arms signify this, that
your government shall be dissolved by two kings; but another king that
shall come from the west, armed with brass, shall destroy that
government; and another government, that shall be like unto iron, shall
put an end to the power of the former, and shall have dominion over all
the earth, on account of the nature of iron, which is stronger than that
of gold, of silver, and of brass." Daniel did also declare the meaning
of the stone to the king 18 but I do not think proper to relate it,
since I have only undertaken to describe things past or things present,
but not things that are future; yet if any one be so very desirous of
knowing truth, as not to wave such points of curiosity, and cannot curb
his inclination for understanding the uncertainties of futurity, and
whether they will happen or not, let him be diligent in reading the book
of Daniel, which he will find among the sacred writings.
5. When Nebuchadnezzar heard this, and recollected his dream, he was
astonished at the nature of Daniel, and fell upon his knee; and saluted
Daniel in the manner that men worship God, and gave command that he
should be sacrificed to as a god. And this was not all, for he also
imposed the name, of his own god upon him, [Baltasar,] and made him and
his kinsmen rulers of his whole kingdom; which kinsmen of his happened
to fall into great danger by the envy and malice [of their enemies]; for
they offended the king upon the occasion following: he made an image of
gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and its breadth six cubits, and set
it in the great plain of Babylon; and when he was going to dedicate the
image, he invited the principal men out of all the earth that was under
his dominions, and commanded them, in the first place, that when they
should hear the sound of the trumpet, they should then fall down and
worship the image; and he threatened, that those who did not so, should
be cast into a fiery furnace. When therefore all the rest, upon the
hearing of the sound of the trumpet, worshipped the image, they relate
that Daniel's kinsmen did not do it, because they would not transgress
the laws of their country. So these men were convicted, and cast
immediately into the fire, but were saved by Divine Providence, and
after a surprising manner escaped death, for the fire did not touch
them; and I suppose that it touched them not, as if it reasoned with
itself, that they were cast into it without any fault of theirs, and
that therefore it was too weak to burn the young men when they were in
it. This was done by the power of God, who made their bodies so far
superior to the fire, that it could not consume them. This it was which
recommended them to the king as righteous men, and men beloved of God,
on which account they continued in great esteem with him.
6. A little after this the king saw in his sleep again another vision;
how he should fall from his dominion, and feed among the wild beasts,
and that when he halt lived in this manner in the desert for seven
years, 19 he should recover his dominion again. When he had seen this
dream, he called the magicians together again, and inquired of them
about it, and desired them to tell him what it signified; but when none
of them could find out the meaning of the dream, nor discover it to the
king, Daniel was the only person that explained it; and as he foretold,
so it came to pass; for after he had continued in the wilderness the
forementioned interval of time, while no one durst attempt to seize his
kingdom during those seven years, he prayed to God that he might recover
his kingdom, and he returned to it. But let no one blame me for writing
down every thing of this nature, as I find it in our ancient books; for
as to that matter, I have plainly assured those that think me defective
in any such point, or complain of my management, and have told them in
the beginning of this history, that I intended to do no more than
translate the Hebrew books into the Greek language, and promised them to
explain those facts, without adding any thing to them of my own, or
taking any thing away from there.
CHAPTER 11. Concerning Nebuchadnezzar And His Successors And How Their
Government Was Dissolved By The Persians; And What Things Befell Daniel
In Media; And What Prophecies He Delivered There.
1. Now when king Nebuchadnezzar had reigned forty-three years, 20 he
ended his life. He was an active man, and more fortunate than the kings
that were before him. Now Berosus makes mention of his actions in the
third book of his Chaldaic History, where he says thus: "When his father
Nebuchodonosor [Nabopollassar] heard that the governor whom he had set
over Egypt, and the places about Coelesyria and Phoenicia, had revolted
from him, while he was not himself able any longer to undergo the
hardships [of war], he committed to his son Nebuchadnezzar, who was
still but a youth, some parts of his army, and sent them against him. So
when Nebuchadnezzar had given battle, and fought with the rebel, he beat
him, and reduced the country from under his subjection, and made it a
branch of his own kingdom; but about that time it happened that his
father Nebuchodonosor [Nabopollassar] fell ill, and ended his life in
the city Babylon, when he had reigned twenty-one years; 21 and when he
was made sensible, as he was in a little time, that his father
Nebuchodonosor [Nabopollassar] was dead, and having settled the affairs
of Egypt, and the other countries, as also those that concerned the
captive Jews, and Phoenicians, and Syrians, and those of the Egyptian
nations; and having committed the conveyance of them to Babylon to
certain of his friends, together with the gross of his army, and the
rest of their ammunition and provisions, he went himself hastily,
accompanied with a few others, over the desert, and came to Babylon. So
he took upon him the management of public affairs, and of the kingdom
which had been kept for him by one that was the principal of the
Chaldeans, and he received the entire dominions of his father, and
appointed, that when the captives came, they should be placed as
colonies, in the most proper places of Babylonia; but then he adorned
the temple of Belus, and the rest of the temples, in a magnificent
manner, with the spoils he had taken in the war. He also added another
city to that which was there of old, and rebuilt it, that such as would
besiege it hereafter might no more turn the course of the river, and
thereby attack the city itself. He therefore built three walls round
about the inner city, and three others about that which was the outer,
and this he did with burnt brick. And after he had, after a becoming
manner, walled the city, and adorned its gates gloriously, he built
another palace before his father's palace, but so that they joined to
it; to describe whose vast height and immense riches it would perhaps be
too much for me to attempt; yet as large and lofty as they were, they
were completed in fifteen days. 22 He also erected elevated places for
walking, of stone, and made it resemble mountains, and built it so that
it might be planted with all sorts of trees. He also erected what was
called a pensile paradise, because his wife was desirous to have things
like her own country, she having been bred up in the palaces of Media."
Megasthenes also, in his fourth book of his Accounts of India, makes
mention of these things, and thereby endeavors to show that this king
[Nebuchadnezzar] exceeded Hercules in fortitude, and in the greatness of
his actions; for he saith that he conquered a great part of Libya and
Iberia. Diocles also, in the second book of his Accounts of Persia,
mentions this king; as does Philostrates in his Accounts both of India
and of Phoenicia, say, that this king besieged Tyre thirteen years,
while at the same time Ethbaal reigned at Tyre. These are all the
histories that I have met with concerning this king.
2. But now, after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Evil-Merodach his son
succeeded in the kingdom, who immediately set Jeconiah at liberty, and
esteemed him among his most intimate friends. He also gave him many
presents, and made him honorable above the rest of the kings that were
in Babylon; for his father had not kept his faith with Jeconiah, when he
voluntarily delivered up himself to him, with his wives and children,
and his whole kindred, for the sake of his country, that it might not be
taken by siege, and utterly destroyed, as we said before. When Evil-
Merodach was dead, after a reign of eighteen years, Niglissar his son
took the government, and retained it forty years, and then ended his
life; and after him the succession in the kingdom came to his son
Labosordacus, who continued in it in all but nine months; and when he
was dead, it came to Baltasar, 23 who by the Babylonians was called
Naboandelus; against him did Cyrus, the king of Persia, and Darius, the
king of Media, make war; and when he was besieged in Babylon, there
happened a wonderful and prodigious vision. He was sat down at supper in
a large room, and there were a great many vessels of silver, such as
were made for royal entertainments, and he had with him his concubines
and his friends; whereupon he came to a resolution, and commanded that
those vessels of God which Nebuchadnezzar had plundered out of
Jerusalem, and had not made use of, but had put them into his own
temple, should be brought out of that temple. He also grew so haughty as
to proceed to use them in the midst of his cups, drinking out of them,
and blaspheming against God. In the mean time, he saw a hand proceed out
of the wall, and writing upon the wall certain syllables; at which
sight, being disturbed, he called the magicians and Chaldeans together,
and all that sort of men that are among these barbarians, and were able
to interpret signs and dreams, that they might explain the writing to
him. But when the magicians said they could discover nothing, nor did
understand it, the king was in great disorder of mind, and under great
trouble at this surprising accident; so he caused it to be proclaimed
through all the country, and promised, that to him who could explain the
writing, and give the signification couched therein, he would give him a
golden chain for his neck, and leave to wear a purple garment, as did
the kings of Chaldea, and would bestow on him the third part of his own
dominions. When this proclamation was made, the magicians ran together
more earnestly, and were very ambitious to find out the importance of
the writing, but still hesitated about it as much as before. Now when
the king's grandmother saw him cast down at this accident, 24 she began
to encourage him, and to say, that there was a certain captive who came
from Judea, a Jew by birth, but brought away thence by Nebuchadnezzar
when he had destroyed Jerusalem, whose name was Daniel, a wise man, and
one of great sagacity in finding out what was impossible for others to
discover, and what was known to God alone, who brought to light and
answered such questions to Nebuchadnezzar as no one else was able to
answer when they were consulted. She therefore desired that he would
send for him, and inquire of him concerning the writing, and to condemn
the unskilfulness of those that could not find their meaning, and this,
although what God signified thereby should be of a melancholy nature.
3. When Baltasar heard this, he called for Daniel; and when he had
discoursed to him what he had learned concerning him and his wisdom, and
how a Divine Spirit was with him, and that he alone was fully capable of
finding out what others would never have thought of, he desired him to
declare to him what this writing meant; that if he did so, he would give
him leave to wear purple, and to put a chain of gold about his neck, and
would bestow on him the third part of his dominion, as an honorary
reward for his wisdom, that thereby he might become illustrious to those
who saw him, and who inquired upon what occasion he obtained such
honors. But Daniel desired that he would keep his gifts to himself; for
what is the effect of wisdom and of Divine revelation admits of no
gifts, and bestows its advantages on petitioners freely; but that still
he would explain the writing to him; which denoted that he should soon
die, and this because he had not learnt to honor God, and not to admit
things above human nature, by what punishments his progenitor had
undergone for the injuries he had offered to God; and because he had
quite forgotten how Nebuchadnezzar was removed to feed among wild beasts
for his impieties, and did not recover his former life among men and his
kingdom, but upon God's mercy to him, after many supplications and
prayers; who did thereupon praise God all the days of his life, as one
of almighty power, and who takes care of mankind. [He also put him in
mind] how he had greatly blasphemed against God, and had made use of his
vessels amongst his concubines; that therefore God saw this, and was
angry with him, and declared by this writing beforehand what a sad
conclusion of his life he should come to. And he explained the writing
thus: "MANEH. This, if it be expounded in the Greek language, may
signify a Number, because God hath numbered so long a time for thy life,
and for thy government, and that there remains but a small portion.
THEKEL This signifies a weight, and means that God hath weighed thy
kingdom in a balance, and finds it going down already.—PHARES. This
also, in the Greek tongue, denotes a fragment. God will therefore break
thy kingdom in pieces, and divide it among the Medes and Persians."
4. When Daniel had told the king that the writing upon the wall
signified these events, Baltasar was in great sorrow and affliction, as
was to be expected, when the interpretation was so heavy upon him.
However, he did not refuse what he had promised Daniel, although he were
become a foreteller of misfortunes to him, but bestowed it all upon him;
as reasoning thus, that what he was to reward was peculiar to himself,
and to fate, and did not belong to the prophet, but that it was the part
of a good and a just man to give what he had promised, although the
events were of a melancholy nature. Accordingly, the king determined so
to do. Now, after a little while, both himself and the city were taken
by Cyrus, the king of Persia, who fought against him; for it was
Baltasar, under whom Babylon was taken, when he had reigned seventeen
years. And this is the end of the posterity of king Nebuchadnezzar, as
history informs us; but when Babylon was taken by Darius, and when he,
with his kinsman Cyrus, had put an end to the dominion of the
Babylonians, he was sixty-two years old. He was the son of Astyages, and
had another name among the Greeks. Moreover, he took Daniel the prophet,
and carried him with him into Media, and honored him very greatly, and
kept him with him; for he was one of the three presidents whom he set
over his three hundred and sixty provinces, for into so many did Darius
part them.
5. However, while Daniel was in so great dignity, and in so great favor
with Darius, and was alone intrusted with every thing by him, a having
somewhat divine in him, he was envied by the rest; for those that see
others in greater honor than themselves with kings envy them; and when
those that were grieved at the great favor Daniel was in with Darius
sought for an occasion against him, he afforded them no occasion at all,
for he was above all the temptations of money, and despised bribery, and
esteemed it a very base thing to take any thing by way of reward, even
when it might be justly given him; he afforded those that envied him not
the least handle for an accusation. So when they could find nothing for
which they might calumniate him to the king, nothing that was shameful
or reproachful, and thereby deprive him of the honor he was in with him,
they sought for some other method whereby they might destroy him. When
therefore they saw that Daniel prayed to God three times a day, they
thought they had gotten an occasion by which they might ruin him; so
they came to Darius and told him that the princes and governors had
thought proper to allow the multitude a relaxation for thirty days, that
no one might offer a petition or prayer either to himself or to the
gods, but that, "he who shall transgress this decree shall be east into
the den of lions, and there perish."
6. Whereupon the king, not being acquainted with their wicked design,
nor suspecting that it was a contrivance of theirs against Daniel, said
he was pleased with this decree of theirs, and he promised to confirm
what they desired; he also published an edict to promulgate to the
people that decree which the princes had made. Accordingly, all the rest
took care not to transgress those injunctions, and rested in quiet; but
Daniel had no regard to them, but, as he was wont, he stood and prayed
to God in the sight of them all; but the princes having met with the
occasion they so earnestly sought to find against Daniel, came presently
to the king, and accused him, that Daniel was the only person that
transgressed the decree, while not one of the rest durst pray to their
gods. This discovery they made, not because of his impiety, but because
they had watched him, and observed him out of envy; for supposing that
Darius did thus out of a greater kindness to him than they expected, and
that he was ready to grant him pardon for this contempt of his
injunctions, and envying this very pardon to Daniel, they did not become
more honorable to him, but desired he might be cast into the den of
lions according to the law. So Darius, hoping that God would deliver
him, and that he would undergo nothing that was terrible by the wild
beasts, bid him bear this accident cheerfully. And when he was cast into
the den, he put his seal to the stone that lay upon the mouth of the
den, and went his way, but he passed all the night without food and
without sleep, being in great distress for Daniel; but when it was day,
he got up, and came to the den, and found the seal entire, which he had
left the stone sealed withal; he also opened the seal, and cried out,
and called to Daniel, and asked him if he were alive. And as soon as he
heard the king's voice, and said that he had suffered no harm, the king
gave order that he should be drawn up out of the den. Now when his
enemies saw that Daniel had suffered nothing which was terrible, they
would not own that he was preserved by God, and by his providence; but
they said that the lions had been filled full with food, and on that
account it was, as they supposed, that the lions would not touch Daniel,
nor come to him; and this they alleged to the king. But the king, out of
an abhorrence of their wickedness, gave order that they should throw in
a great deal of flesh to the lions; and when they had filled themselves,
he gave further order that Daniel's enemies should be cast into the den,
that he might learn whether the lions, now they were full, would touch
them or not. And it appeared plain to Darius, after the princes had been
cast to the wild beasts, that it was God who preserved Daniel 25 for the
lions spared none of them, but tore them all to pieces, as if they had
been very hungry, and wanted food. I suppose therefore it was not their
hunger, which had been a little before satisfied with abundance of
flesh, but the wickedness of these men, that provoked them [to destroy
the princes]; for if it so please God, that wickedness might, by even
those irrational creatures, be esteemed a plain foundation for their
punishment.
7. When therefore those that had intended thus to destroy Daniel by
treachery were themselves destroyed, king Darius sent [letters] over all
the country, and praised that God whom Daniel worshipped, and said that
he was the only true God, and had all power. He had also Daniel in very
great esteem, and made him the principal of his friends. Now when Daniel
was become so illustrious and famous, on account of the opinion men had
that he was beloved of God, he built a tower at Ecbatana, in Media: it
was a most elegant building, and wonderfully made, and it is still
remaining, and preserved to this day; and to such as see it, it appears
to have been lately built, and to have been no older than that very day
when any one looks upon it, it is so fresh 26 flourishing, and
beautiful, and no way grown old in so long time; for buildings suffer
the same as men do, they grow old as well as they, and by numbers of
years their strength is dissolved, and their beauty withered. Now they
bury the kings of Media, of Persia, and Parthia in this tower to this
day, and he who was entrusted with the care of it was a Jewish priest;
which thing is also observed to this day. But it is fit to give an
account of what this man did, which is most admirable to hear, for he
was so happy as to have strange revelations made to him, and those as to
one of the greatest of the prophets, insomuch, that while he was alive
he had the esteem and applause both of the kings and of the multitude;
and now he is dead, he retains a remembrance that will never fail, for
the several books that he wrote and left behind him are still read by us
till this time; and from them we believe that Daniel conversed with God;
for he did not only prophesy of future events, as did the other
prophets, but he also determined the time of their accomplishment. And
while prophets used to foretell misfortunes, and on that account were
disagreeable both to the kings and to the multitude, Daniel was to them
a prophet of good things, and this to such a degree, that by the
agreeable nature of his predictions, he procured the goodwill of all
men; and by the accomplishment of them, he procured the belief of their
truth, and the opinion of [a sort of] divinity for himself, among the
multitude. He also wrote and left behind him what made manifest the
accuracy and undeniable veracity of his predictions; for he saith, that
when he was in Susa, the metropolis of Persia, and went out into the
field with his companions, there was, on the sudden, a motion and
concussion of the earth, and that he was left alone by himself, his
friends fleeing away from him, and that he was disturbed, and fell on
his face, and on his two hands, and that a certain person touched him,
and, at the same time, bid him rise, and see what would befall his
countrymen after many generations. He also related, that when he stood
up, he was shown a great ram, with many horns growing out of his head,
and that the last was higher than the rest: that after this he looked to
the west, and saw a he-goat carried through the air from that quarter;
that he rushed upon the ram with violence, and smote him twice with his
horns, and overthrew him to the ground, and trampled upon him: that
afterward he saw a very great horn growing out of the head of the he-
goat, and that when it was broken off, four horns grew up that were
exposed to each of the four winds, and he wrote that out of them arose
another lesser horn, which, as he said, waxed great; and that God showed
to him that it should fight against his nation, and take their city by
force, and bring the temple worship to confusion, and forbid the
sacrifices to be offered for one thousand two hundred and ninety-six
days. Daniel wrote that he saw these visions in the Plain of Susa; and
he hath informed us that God interpreted the appearance of this vision
after the following manner: He said that the ram signified the kingdoms
of the Medes and Persians, and the horns those kings that were to reign
in them; and that the last horn signified the last king, and that he
should exceed all the kings in riches and glory: that the he-goat
signified that one should come and reign from the Greeks, who should
twice fight with the Persian, and overcome him in battle, and should
receive his entire dominion: that by the great horn which sprang out of
the forehead of the he-goat was meant the first king; and that the
springing up of four horns upon its falling off, and the conversion of
every one of them to the four quarters of the earth, signified the
successors that should arise after the death of the first king, and the
partition of the kingdom among them, and that they should be neither his
children, nor of his kindred, that should reign over the habitable earth
for many years; and that from among them there should arise a certain
king that should overcome our nation and their laws, and should take
away their political government, and should spoil the temple, and forbid
the sacrifices to be offered for three years' time. And indeed it so
came to pass, that our nation suffered these things under Antiochus
Epiphanes, according to Daniel's vision, and what he wrote many years
before they came to pass. In the very same manner Daniel also wrote
concerning the Roman government, and that our country should be made
desolate by them. All these things did this man leave in writing, as God
had showed them to him, insomuch that such as read his prophecies, and
see how they have been fulfilled, would wonder at the honor wherewith
God honored Daniel; and may thence discover how the Epicureans are in an
error, who cast Providence out of human life, and do not believe that
God takes care of the affairs of the world, nor that the universe is
governed and continued in being by that blessed and immortal nature, but
say that the world is carried along of its own accord, without a ruler
and a curator; which, were it destitute of a guide to conduct it, as
they imagine, it would be like ships without pilots, which we see
drowned by the winds, or like chariots without drivers, which are
overturned; so would the world be dashed to pieces by its being carried
without a Providence, and so perish, and come to nought. So that, by the
forementioned predictions of Daniel, those men seem to me very much to
err from the truth, who determine that God exercises no providence over
human affairs; for if that were the case, that the world went on by
mechanical necessity, we should not see that all things would come to
pass according to his prophecy. Now as to myself, I have so described
these matters as I have found them and read them; but if any one is
inclined to another opinion about them, let him enjoy his different
sentiments without any blame from me.
FOOTNOTES
1 (return) [ This title of great king, both in our Bibles, 2 Kings
18:19; Isaiah 36:4, and here in Josephus, is the very same that
Herodotus gives this Sennacherib, as Spanheim takes notice on this
place.]
2 (return) [ What Josephus says here, how Isaiah the prophet assured
Hezekiah that "at this time he should not be besieged by the king of
Assyria; that for the future he might be secure of being not at all
disturbed by him; and that [afterward] the people might go on peaceably,
and without fear, with their husbandry and other affairs," is more
distinct in our other copies, both of the Kings and of Isaiah, and
deserves very great consideration. The words are these: "This shall be a
sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself, and
the second year that which springeth of the same; and in the third year
sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof," 2
Kings 19:29; Isaiah 37:30; which seem to me plainly to design a Sabbatic
year, a year of jubilee next after it, and the succeeding usual labors
and fruits of them on the third and following years.]
3 (return) [ That this terrible calamity of the slaughter of the 185,000
Assyrians is here delivered in the words of Berosus the Chaldean, and
that it was certainly and frequently foretold by the Jewish prophets,
and that it was certainly and undeniably accomplished, see Authent. Rec.
part II. p. 858. We are here to take notice, that these two sons of
Sennacherib, that ran away into Armenia, became the heads of two famous
families there, the Arzerunii and the Genunii; of which see the
particular histories in Moses Chorenensis, p. 60.]
4 (return) [ Josephus, and all our copies, place the sickness of
Hezekiah after the destruction of Sennacherib's army, because it appears
to have been after his first assault, as he was going into Arabia and
Egypt, where he pushed his conquests as far as they would go, and in
order to despatch his story altogether; yet does no copy but this of
Josephus say it was after that destruction, but only that it happened in
those days, or about that time of Hezekiah's life. Nor will the fifteen
years' prolongation of his life after his sickness, allow that sickness
to have been later than the former part of the fifteenth year of his
reign, since chronology does not allow him in all above twenty-nine
years and a few months; whereas the first assault of Sennacherib was on
the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, but the destruction of Sennacherib's
army was not till his eighteenth year.]
5 (return) [ As to this regress of the shadow, either upon a sun-dial,
or the steps of the royal palace built by Ahaz, whether it were
physically done by the real miraculous revolution of the earth in its
diurnal motion backward from east to west for a while, and its return
again to its old natural revolution from west to east; or whether it
were not apparent only, and performed by an aerial phosphorus, which
imitated the sun's motion backward, while a cloud hid the real sun;
cannot now be determined. Philosophers and astronomers will naturally
incline to the latter hypothesis. However, it must be noted, that
Josephus seems to have understood it otherwise than we generally do,
that the shadow was accelerated as much at first forward as it was made
to go backward afterward, and so the day was neither longer nor shorter
than usual; which, it must be confessed agrees best of all to astronomy,
whose eclipses, older than the time were observed at the same times of
the day as if this miracle had never happened. After all, this wonderful
signal was not, it seems, peculiar to Judea, but either seen, or at
least heard of, at Babylon also, as appears by 2 Chronicles 32:31, where
we learn that the Babylonian ambassadors were sent to Hezekiah, among
other things, to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land.]
6 (return) [ This expression of Josephus, that the Medes, upon this
destruction of the Assyrian army, "overthrew" the Assyrian empire, seems
to be too strong; for although they immediately cast off the Assrian
yoke, and set up Deioces, a king of their own, yet it was some time
before the Medes and Babylonians overthrew Nineveh, and some generations
ere the Medes and Persians under Cyaxares and Cyrus overthrew the
Assyrian or Babylonian empire, and took Babylon.]
7 (return) [ It is hard to reconcile the account in the Second Book of
Kings [Footnote ch. 23:11: with this account in Josephus, and to
translate this passage truly in Josephus, whose copies are supposed to
be here imperfect. However, the general sense of both seems to be this:
That there were certain chariots, with their horses, dedicated to the
idol of the sun, or to Moloch; which idol might be carried about in
procession, and worshipped by the people; which chariots were now "taken
away," as Josephus says, or, as the Book of Kings says, "burnt with
fire, by Josiah."]
8 (return) [ This is a remarkable passage of chronology in Josephus,
that about the latter end of the reign of Josiah, the Medes and
Babylonians overthrew the empire of the Assyrians; or, in the words of
Tobit's continuator, that "before Tobias died, he heard of the
destruction of Nineveh, which was taken by Nebuchodonosor the
Babylonian, and Assuerus the Mede," Tob. 14:15. See Dean Prideaux's
Connexion, at the year 612.]
9 (return) [ This battle is justly esteemed the very same that Herodotus
[B. II. sect. 156: mentions, when he says, that "Necao joined battle
with the Syrians [or Jews] at Magdolum, [Megiddo,] and beat them," as
Dr. Hudson here observes.]
10 (return) [ Whether Josephus, from 2 Chronicles 35:25, here means the
book of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, still extant, which chiefly
belongs to the destruction of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, or to any
other like melancholy poem now lost, but extant in the days of Josephus,
belonging peculiarly to Josiah, cannot now be determined.]
11 (return) [ This ancient city Hamath, which is joined with Arpad, or
Aradus, and with Damascus, 2 Kings 18:34; Isaiah 36:19; Jeremiah 49:23,
cities of Syria and Phoenicia, near the borders of Judea, was also
itself evidently near the same borders, though long ago utterly
destroyed.]
12 (return) [ Josephus says here that Jeremiah prophesied not only of
the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity, and this under the
Persians and Medes, as in our other copies; but of cause they did not
both say the same thing as to this circumstance, he disbelieved what
they both appeared to agree in, and condemned them as not speaking truth
therein, although all the things foretold him did come to pass according
to their prophecies, as we shall show upon a fitter opportunity their
rebuilding the temple, and even the city Jerusalem, which do not appear
in our copies under his name. See the note on Antiq. B. XI. ch. 1. sect.
3.]
13 (return) [ This observation of Josephus about the seeming
disagreement of Jeremiah, ch. 32:4, and 34:3, and Ezekiel 12:13, but
real agreement at last, concerning the fate of Zedekiah, is very true
and very remarkable. See ch. 7. sect. 2. Nor is it at all unlikely that
the courtiers and false prophets might make use of this seeming
contradiction to dissuade Zedekiah from believing either of those
prophets, as Josephus here intimates he was dissuaded thereby.]
14 (return) [ I have here inserted in brackets this high priest Azarias,
though he be omitted in all Josephus's copies, out of the Jewish
chronicle, Seder Olam, of how little authority soever I generally esteem
such late Rabbinical historians, because we know from Josephus himself,
that the number of the high priests belonging to this interval was
eighteen, Antiq. B. XX. ch. 10., whereas his copies have here but
seventeen. Of this character of Baruch, the son of Neriah, and the
genuineness of his book, that stands now in our Apocrypha, and that it
is really a canonical book, and an appendix to Jeremiah, see Authent.
Rec. Part I. p. 1—11.]
15 (return) [ Herodotus says, this king of Egypt [Pharaoh Hophra, or
Apries] was slain by the Egyptians, as Jeremiah foretold his slaughter
by his enemies, Jeremiah 44:29, 30, and that as a sign of the
destruction of Egypt [by Nebuchadnezzar]. Josephus says, this king was
slain by Nebuchadnezzar himself.]
16 (return) [ We see here that Judea was left in a manner desolate after
the captivity of the two tribes and was not I with foreign colonies,
perhaps as an indication of Providence that the Jews were to repeople it
without opposition themselves. I also esteem the latter and present
desolate condition of the same country, without being repeopled by
foreign colonies, to be a like indication, that the same Jews are
hereafter to repeople it again themselves, at their so long expected
future restoration.]
17 (return) [ That Daniel was made one of these eunuchs of which Isaiah
prophesied, Isaiah 39:7, and the three children his companions also,
seems to me plain, both here in Josephus, and in our copies of Daniel,
Daniel 1:3, 6-11, 18, although it must be granted that some married
persons, that had children, were sometimes called eunuchs, in a general
acceptation for courtiers, on account that so many of the ancient
courtiers were real eunuchs. See Genesis 39:1.]
18 (return) [ Of this most remarkable passage in Josephus concerning the
"stone cut out of the mountain, and destroying the image," which he
would not explain, but intimated to be a prophecy of futurity, and
probably not safe for him to explain, as belonging to the destruction of
the Roman empire by Jesus Christ, the true Messiah of the Jews, take the
words of Hayercamp, ch. 10. sect. 4: "Nor is this to be wondered at,
that he would not now meddle with things future, for he had no mind to
provoke the Romans, by speaking of the destruction of that city which
they called the Eternal City."]
19 (return) [ Since Josephus here explains the seven prophetic times
which were to pass over Nebuchadnezzar [Daniel 4:16: to be seven years,
we thence learn how he most probably must have understood those other
parallel phrases, of "a time, times, and a half," Antiq. B. VII. ch.
25., of so many prophetic years also, though he withal lets us know, by
his hint at the interpretation of the seventy weeks, as belonging to the
fourth monarchy, and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in the
days of Josephus, ch. 2. sect. 7, that he did not think those years to
be bare years, but rather days for years; by which reckoning, and by
which alone, could seventy weeks, or four hundred and ninety days, reach
to the age of Josephus. But as to the truth of those seven years'
banishment of Nebuchadnezzar from men, and his living so long among the
beasts, the very small remains we have any where else of this
Nebuchadnezzar prevent our expectation of any other full account of it.
So far we knew by Ptolemy's canon, a contemporary record, as well as by
Josephus presently, that he reigned in all forty-three years, that is,
eight years after we meet with any account of his actions; one of the
last of which was the thirteen years' siege of Tyre, Antiq. B. XI. ch.
11., where yet the Old Latin has but three years and ten months: yet
were his actions before so remarkable, both in sacred and profane
authors, that a vacuity of eight years at the least, at the latter end
of his reign, must be allowed to agree very well with Daniel's accounts;
that after a seven years' brutal life, he might return to his reason,
and to the exercise of his royal authority, for one whole year at least
before his death.]
20 (return) [ These forty-three years for the duration of the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar are, as I have just now observed, the very same number in
Ptolemy's canon. Moses Chorenensis does also confirm this captivity of
the Jews under Nebuchadnezzar, and adds, what is very remarkable, that
sale of those Jews that were carried by him into captivity got away into
Armenia, and raised the great family of the Bagratide there.]
21 (return) [ These twenty-one years here ascribed to one named
Naboulassar, in the first book against Apion, or to Nabopollassar, the
father of the great Nebuchadnezzar, are also the very same with those
given him in Ptolemy's canon. And note here, that what Dr. Prideaux
says, at the year, that Nebuchadnezzar must have been a common name of
other kings of Babylon, besides the great Nebuchadnezzar himself is a
groundless mistake of some modern chronologers rely, and destitute of
all proper original authority.]
22 (return) [ These fifteen days for finishing such vast buildings at
Babylon, in Josephus's copy of Berosus, would seem too absurd to be
supposed to be the true number, were it not for the same testimony
extant also in the first book against Apion, sect. 19, with the same
number. It thence indeed appears that Josephus's copy of Berosus had
this small number, but that it is the true number I still doubt.
Josephus assures us, that the walls of so much a smaller city as
Jerusalem were two years and four months in building by Nehemiah, who
yet hastened the work all he could, Antiq. B. XI. ch. 5. sect. 8. I
should think one hundred and fifteen days, or a year and fifteen days,
much more proportionable to so great a work.]
23 (return) [ It is here remarkable that Josephus, without the knowledge
of Ptolemy's canon, should call the same king whom he himself here [Bar.
i. 11, and Daniel 5:1, 2, 9, 12, 22, 29, 39: styles Beltazar, or
Belshazzar, from the Babylonian god Bel, Naboandelus also; and in the
first book against Apion, sect. 19, vol. iii., from the same citation
out of Berosus, Nabonnedon, from the Babylonian god Nabo or Nebo. This
last is not remote from the original pronunciation itself in Ptolemy's
canon, Nabonadius; for both the place of this king in that canon, as the
last of the Assyrian or Babylonian kings, and the number of years of his
reign, seventeen, the same in both demonstrate that it is one and the
same king that is meant by them all. It is also worth noting, that
Josephus knew that Darius, the partner of Cyrus, was the son of
Astyages, and was called by another name among the Greeks, though it
does not appear he knew what that name was, as having never seen the
best history of this period, which is Xenophon's. But then what
Josephus's present copies say presently, sect. 4, that it was only
within no long time after the hand-writing on the wall that Baltasar was
slain, does not so well agree with our copies of Daniel, which say it
was the same night, Daniel 5:30.]
24 (return) [ This grandmother, or mother of Baltasar, the queen dowager
of Babylon, [for she is distinguished from his queen, Daniel 5:10, 13,]
seems to have been the famous Nitocris, who fortified Babylon against
the Medes and Persians, and, in all probability governed under Baltasar,
who seems to be a weak and effeminate prince.]
25 (return) [ It is no way improbable that Daniel's enemies might
suggest this reason to the king why the lions did not meddle with him
and that they might suspect the king's kindness to Daniel had procured
these lions to be so filled beforehand, and that thence it was that he
encouraged Daniel to submit to this experiment, in hopes of coming off
safe; and that this was the true reason of making so terrible an
experiment upon those his enemies, and all their families, Daniel 6:21,
though our other copies do not directly take notice of it.]
26 (return) [ What Josephus here says, that the stones of the sepulchers
of the kings of Persia at this tower, or those perhaps of the same sort
that are now commonly called the ruins of Persepolis, continued so
entire and unaltered in his days, as if they were lately put there, "I
[says Reland] here can show to be true, as to those stones of the
Persian mansoleum, which Com. Brunius brake off and gave me." He
ascribed this to the hardness of the stones, which scarcely yields to
iron tools, and proves frequently too hard for cutting by the chisel,
but oftentimes breaks it to pieces.]
BOOK XI. Containing The Interval Of Two Hundred And Fifty-Three Years
And Five Months.—From The First Of Cyrus To The Death Of Alexander The
Great.
CHAPTER 1. How Cyrus, King Of The Persians, Delivered The Jews Out Of
Babylon And Suffered Them To Return To Their Own Country And To Build
Their Temple, For Which Work He Gave Them Money.
1. In the first year of the reign of Cyrus 1 which was the seventieth
from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into
Babylon, God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor
people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet,
before the destruction of the city, that after they had served
Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, and after they had undergone that
servitude seventy years, he would restore them again to the land of
their fathers, and they should build their temple, and enjoy their
ancient prosperity. And these things God did afford them; for he stirred
up the mind of Cyrus, and made him write this throughout all Asia: "Thus
saith Cyrus the king: Since God Almighty hath appointed me to be king of
the habitable earth, I believe that he is that God which the nation of
the Israelites worship; for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets,
and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of
Judea."
2. This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left
behind him of his prophecies; for this prophet said that God had spoken
thus to him in a secret vision: "My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have
appointed to be king over many and great nations, send back my people to
their own land, and build my temple." This was foretold by Isaiah one
hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly,
when Cyrus read this, and admired the Divine power, an earnest desire
and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written; so he
called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said to them,
that he gave them leave to go back to their own country, and to rebuild
their city Jerusalem, 2 and the temple of God, for that he would be
their assistant, and that he would write to the rulers and governors
that were in the neighborhood of their country of Judea, that they
should contribute to them gold and silver for the building of the
temple, and besides that, beasts for their sacrifices.
3. When Cyrus had said this to the Israelites, the rulers of the two
tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites and priests, went in
haste to Jerusalem; yet did many of them stay at Babylon, as not willing
to leave their possessions; and when they were come thither, all the
king's friends assisted them, and brought in, for the building of the
temple, some gold, and some silver, and some a great many cattle and
horses. So they performed their vows to God, and offered the sacrifices
that had been accustomed of old time; I mean this upon the rebuilding of
their city, and the revival of the ancient practices relating to their
worship. Cyrus also sent back to them the vessels of God which king
Nebuchadnezzar had pillaged out of the temple, and had carried to
Babylon. So he committed these things to Mithridates, the treasurer, to
be sent away, with an order to give them to Sanabassar, that he might
keep them till the temple was built; and when it was finished, he might
deliver them to the priests and rulers of the multitude, in order to
their being restored to the temple. Cyrus also sent an epistle to the
governors that were in Syria, the contents whereof here follow:
"King Cyrus To Sisinnes And Sathrabuzanes Sendeth Greeting.
"I have given leave to as many of the Jews that dwell in my country as
please to return to their own country, and to rebuild their city, and to
build the temple of God at Jerusalem on the same place where it was
before. I have also sent my treasurer Mithridates, and Zorobabel, the
governor of the Jews, that they may lay the foundations of the temple,
and may build it sixty cubits high, and of the same latitude, making
three edifices of polished stones, and one of the wood of the country,
and the same order extends to the altar whereon they offer sacrifices to
God. I require also that the expenses for these things may be given out
of my revenues. Moreover, I have also sent the vessels which king
Nebuchadnezzar pillaged out of the temple, and have given them to
Mithridates the treasurer, and to Zorobabel the governor of the Jews,
that they may have them carried to Jerusalem, and may restore them to
the temple of God. Now their number is as follows: Fifty chargers of
gold, and five hundred of silver; forty Thericlean cups of gold, and
five hundred of silver; fifty basons of gold, and five hundred of
silver; thirty vessels for pouring [the drink-offerings], and three
hundred of silver; thirty vials of gold, and two thousand four hundred
of silver; with a thousand other large vessels. 3 I permit them to have
the same honor which they were used to have from their forefathers, as
also for their small cattle, and for wine and oil, two hundred and five
thousand and five hundred drachmae; and for wheat flour, twenty thousand
and five hundred artabae; and I give order that these expenses shall be
given them out of the tributes due from Samaria. The priests shall also
offer these sacrifices according to the laws of Moses in Jerusalem; and
when they offer them, they shall pray to God for the preservation of the
king and of his family, that the kingdom of Persia may continue. But my
will is, that those who disobey these injunctions, and make them void,
shall be hung upon a cross, and their substance brought into the king's
treasury." And such was the import of this epistle. Now the number of
those that came out of captivity to Jerusalem, were forty-two thousand
four hundred and sixty-two.
CHAPTER 2. How Upon The Death Of Cyrus The Jews Were Hindered In
Building Of The Temple By The Cutheans, And The Neighboring Governors;
And How Cambyses Entirely Forbade The Jews To Do Any Such Thing.
1. When the foundations of the temple were laying, and when the Jews
were very zealous about building it, the neighboring nations, and
especially the Cutheans, whom Shalmanezer, king of Assyria, had brought
out of Persia and Media, and had planted in Samaria, when he carried the
people of Israel captives, besought the governors, and those that had
the care of such affairs, that they would interrupt the Jews, both in
the rebuilding of their city, and in the building of their temple. Now
as these men were corrupted by them with money, they sold the Cutheans
their interest for rendering this building a slow and a careless work,
for Cyrus, who was busy about other wars, knew nothing of all this; and
it so happened, that when he had led his army against the Massagetae, he
ended his life. 4 But when Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, had taken the
kingdom, the governors in Syria, and Phoenicia, and in the countries of
Ammon, and Moab, and Samaria, wrote an epistle to Cambyses; whose
contents were as follow: "To our lord Cambyses. We thy servants,
Rathumus the historiographer, and Semellius the scribe, and the rest
that are thy judges in Syria and Phoenicia, send greeting. It is fit, O
king, that thou shouldst know that those Jews which were carried to
Babylon are come into our country, and are building that rebellious and
wicked city, and its market-places, and setting up its walls, and
raising up the temple; know therefore, that when these things are
finished, they will not be willing to pay tribute, nor will they submit
to thy commands, but will resist kings, and will choose rather to rule
over others than be ruled over themselves. We therefore thought it
proper to write to thee, O king, while the works about the temple are
going on so fast, and not to overlook this matter, that thou mayst
search into the books of thy fathers, for thou wilt find in them that
the Jews have been rebels, and enemies to kings, as hath their city been
also, which, for that reason, hath been till now laid waste. We thought
proper also to inform thee of this matter, because thou mayst otherwise
perhaps be ignorant of it, that if this city be once inhabited and be
entirely encompassed with walls, thou wilt be excluded from thy passage
to Celesyria and Phoenicia."
2. When Cambyses had read the epistle, being naturally wicked, he was
irritated at what they told him, and wrote back to them as follows:
"Cambyses the king, to Rathumus the historiographer, to Beeltethmus, to
Semellius the scribe, and the rest that are in commission, and dwelling
in Samaria and Phoenicia, after this manner: I have read the epistle
that was sent from you; and I gave order that the books of my
forefathers should be searched into, and it is there found that this
city hath always been an enemy to kings, and its inhabitants have raised
seditions and wars. We also are sensible that their kings have been
powerful and tyrannical, and have exacted tribute of Celesyria and
Phoenicia. Wherefore I gave order, that the Jews shall not be permitted
to build that city, lest such mischief as they used to bring upon kings
be greatly augmented." When this epistle was read, Rathumus, and
Semellius the scribe, and their associates, got suddenly on horseback,
and made haste to Jerusalem; they also brought a great company with
them, and forbade the Jews to build the city and the temple.
Accordingly, these works were hindered from going on till the second
year of the reign of Darius, for nine years more; for Cambyses reigned
six years, and within that time overthrew Egypt, and when he was come
back, he died at Damascus.
CHAPTER 3. How After The Death Of Cambyses And The Slaughter Of The Magi
But Under The Reign Of Darius, Zorobabel Was Superior To The Rest In The
Solution Of Problems And Thereby Obtained This Favor Of The King, That
The Temple Should Be Built.
1. After the slaughter of the Magi, who, upon the death of Cambyses,
attained the government of the Persians for a year, those families which
were called the seven families of the Persians appointed Darius, the son
of Hystaspes, to be their king. Now he, while he was a private man, had
made a vow to God, that if he came to be king, he would send all the
vessels of God that were in Babylon to the temple at Jerusalem. Now it
so fell out, that about this time Zorobabel, who had been made governor
of the Jews that had been in captivity, came to Darius, from Jerusalem;
for there had been an old friendship between him and the king. He was
also, with two others, thought worthy to be guard of the king's body;
and obtained that honor which he hoped for.
2. Now, in the first year of the king's reign, Darius feasted those that
were about him, and those born in his house, with the rulers of the
Medes, and princes of the Persians, and the toparchs of India and
Ethiopia, and the generals of the armies of his hundred and twenty-seven
provinces. But when they had eaten and drunk to satiety, and abundantly,
they every one departed to go to bed at their own houses, and Darius the
king went to bed; but after he had rested a little part of the night, he
awaked, and not being able to sleep any more, he fell into conversation
with the three guards of his body, and promised, that to him who should
make an oration about points that he should inquire of, such as should
be most agreeable to truth, and to the dictates of wisdom, he would
grant it as a reward of his victory, to put on a purple garment, and to
drink in cups of gold, and to sleep upon gold, and to have a chariot
with bridles of gold, and a head tire of fine linen, and a chain of gold
about his neck, and to sit next to himself, on account of his wisdom;
"and," says he, "he shall be called my cousin." Now when he had promised
to give them these gifts, he asked the first of them, "Whether wine was
not the strongest?"—the second, "Whether kings were not such?"—and the
third, "Whether women were not such? or whether truth was not the
strongest of all?" When he had proposed that they should make their
inquiries about these problems, he went to rest; but in the morning he
sent for his great men, his princes, and toparchs of Persia and Media,
and set himself down in the place where he used to give audience, and
bid each of the guards of his body to declare what they thought proper
concerning the proposed questions, in the hearing of them all.
3. Accordingly, the first of them began to speak of the strength of
wine, and demonstrated it thus: "When," said he, "I am to give my
opinion of wine, O you men, I find that it exceeds every thing, by the
following indications: It deceives the mind of those that drink it, and
reduces that of the king to the same state with that of the orphan, and
he who stands in need of a tutor; and erects that of the slave to the
boldness of him that is free; and that of the needy becomes like that of
the rich man, for it changes and renews the souls of men when it gets
into them; and it quenches the sorrow of those that are under
calamities, and makes men forget the debts they owe to others, and makes
them think themselves to be of all men the richest; it makes them talk
of no small things, but of talents, and such other names as become
wealthy men only; nay more, it makes them insensible of their
commanders, and of their kings, and takes away the remembrance of their
friends and companions, for it arms men even against those that are
dearest to them, and makes them appear the greatest strangers to them;
and when they are become sober, and they have slept out their wine in
the night, they arise without knowing any thing they have done in their
cups. I take these for signs of power, and by them discover that wine is
the strongest and most insuperable of all things."
4. As soon as the first had given the forementioned demonstrations of
the strength of wine, he left off; and the next to him began to speak
about the strength of a king, and demonstrated that it was the strongest
of all, and more powerful than any thing else that appears to have any
force or wisdom. He began his demonstration after the following manner;
and said, "They are men who govern all things; they force the earth and
the sea to become profitable to them in what they desire, and over these
men do kings rule, and over them they have authority. Now those who rule
over that animal which is of all the strongest and most powerful, must
needs deserve to be esteemed insuperable in power and force. For
example, when these kings command their subjects to make wars, and
undergo dangers, they are hearkened to; and when they send them against
their enemies, their power is so great that they are obeyed. They
command men to level mountains, and to pull down walls and towers; nay,
when they are commanded to be killed and to kill, they submit to it,
that they may not appear to transgress the king's commands; and when
they have conquered, they bring what they have gained in the war to the
king. Those also who are not soldiers, but cultivate the ground, and
plough it, and when, after they have endured the labor and all the
inconveniences of such works of husbandry, they have reaped and gathered
in their fruits, they bring tributes to the king; and whatsoever it is
which the king says or commands, it is done of necessity, and that
without any delay, while he in the mean time is satiated with all sorts
of food and pleasures, and sleeps in quiet. He is guarded by such as
watch, and such as are, as it were, fixed down to the place through
fear; for no one dares leave him, even when he is asleep, nor does any
one go away and take care of his own affairs; but he esteems this one
thing the only work of necessity, to guard the king, and accordingly to
this he wholly addicts himself. How then can it be otherwise, but that
it must appear that the king exceeds all in strength, while so great a
multitude obeys his injunctions?"
5. Now when this man had held his peace, the third of them, who was
Zorobabel, began to instruct them about women, and about truth, who said
thus: "Wine is strong, as is the king also, whom all men obey, but women
are superior to them in power; for it was a woman that brought the king
into the world; and for those that plant the vines and make the wine,
they are women who bear them, and bring them up: nor indeed is there any
thing which we do not receive from them; for these women weave garments
for us, and our household affairs are by their means taken care of, and
preserved in safety; nor can we live separate from women. And when we
have gotten a great deal of gold and silver, and any other thing that is
of great value, and deserving regard, and see a beautiful woman, we
leave all these things, and with open mouth fix our eyes upon her
countenance, and are willing to forsake what we have, that we may enjoy
her beauty, and procure it to ourselves. We also leave father, and
mother, and the earth that nourishes us, and frequently forget our
dearest friends, for the sake of women; nay, we are so hardy as to lay
down our lives for them. But what will chiefly make you take notice of
the strength of women is this that follows: Do not we take pains, and
endure a great deal of trouble, and that both by land and sea, and when
we have procured somewhat as the fruit of our labors, do not we bring
them to the women, as to our mistresses, and bestow them upon them? Nay,
I once saw the king, who is lord of so many people, smitten on the face
by Apame, the daughter of Rabsases Themasius, his concubine, and his
diadem taken away from him, and put upon her own head, while he bore it
patiently; and when she smiled he smiled, and when she was angry he was
sad; and according to the change of her passions, he flattered his wife,
and drew her to reconciliation by the great humiliation of himself to
her, if at any time he saw her displeased at him."
6. And when the princes and rulers looked one upon another, he began to
speak about truth; and he said, "I have already demonstrated how
powerful women are; but both these women themselves, and the king
himself, are weaker than truth; for although the earth be large, and the
heaven high, and the course of the sun swift, yet are all these moved
according to the will of God, who is true and righteous, for which cause
we also ought to esteem truth to be the strongest of all things, and
that what is unrighteous is of no force against it. Moreover, all things
else that have any strength are mortal and short-lived, but truth is a
thing that is immortal and eternal. It affords us not indeed such a
beauty as will wither away by time, nor such riches as may be taken away
by fortune, but righteous rules and laws. It distinguishes them from
injustice, and puts what is unrighteous to rebuke." 5
7. So when Zorobabel had left off his discourse about truth, and the
multitude had cried out aloud that he had spoken the most wisely, and
that it was truth alone that had immutable strength, and such as never
would wax old, the king commanded that he should ask for somewhat over
and above what he had promised, for that he would give it him because of
his wisdom, and that prudence wherein he exceeded the rest; "and thou
shalt sit with me," said the king, "and shalt be called my cousin." When
he had said this, Zorobabel put him in mind of the vow he had made in
case he should ever have the kingdom. Now this vow was, "to rebuild
Jerusalem, and to build therein the temple of God; as also to restore
the vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had pillaged, and carried to Babylon.
And this," said he, "is that request which thou now permittest me to
make, on account that I have been judged to be wise and understanding."
8. So the king was pleased with what he had said, and arose and kissed
him; and wrote to the toparchs and governors, and enjoined them to
conduct Zorobabel and those that were going with him to build the
temple. He also sent letters to those rulers that were in Syria and
Phoenicia to cut down and carry cedar trees from Lebanon to Jerusalem,
and to assist him in building the city. He also wrote to them, that all
the captives who should go to Judea should be free; and he prohibited
his deputies and governors to lay any king's taxes upon the Jews; he
also permitted that they should have all that land which they could
possess themselves of without tributes. He also enjoined the Idumeans
and Samaritans, and the inhabitants of Celesyria, to restore those
villages which they had taken from the Jews; and that, besides all this,
fifty talents should be given them for the building of the temple. He
also permitted them to offer their appointed sacrifices, and that
whatsoever the high priest and the priests wanted, and those sacred
garments wherein they used to worship God, should be made at his own
charges; and that the musical instruments which the Levites used in
singing hymns to God should be given them. Moreover, he charged them,
that portions of land should be given to those that guarded the city and
the temple, as also a determinate sum of money every year for their
maintenance; and withal he sent the vessels. And all that Cyrus intended
to do before him relating to the restoration of Jerusalem, Darius also
ordained should be done accordingly.
9. Now when Zorobabel had obtained these grants from the king, he went
out of the palace, and looking up to heaven, he began to return thanks
to God for the wisdom he had given him, and the victory he had gained
thereby, even in the presence of Darius himself; for, said he, "I had
not been thought worthy of these advantages, O Lord, unless thou hadst
been favorable to me." When therefore he had returned these thanks to
God for the present circumstances he was in, and had prayed to him to
afford him the like favor for the time to come, he came to Babylon, and
brought the good news to his countrymen of what grants he had procured
for them from the king; who, when they heard the same, gave thanks also
to God that he restored the land of their forefathers to them again. So
they betook themselves to drinking and eating, and for seven days they
continued feasting, and kept a festival, for the rebuilding and
restoration of their country: after this they chose themselves rulers,
who should go up to Jerusalem, out of the tribes of their forefathers,
with their wives, and children, and cattle, who traveled to Jerusalem
with joy and pleasure, under the conduct of those whom Darius sent along
with them, and making a noise with songs, and pipes, and cymbals. The
rest of the Jewish multitude also besides accompanied them with
rejoicing.
10. And thus did these men go, a certain and determinate number out of
every family, though I do not think it proper to recite particularly the
names of those families, that I may not take off the mind of my readers
from the connexion of the historical facts, and make it hard for them to
follow the coherence of my narrations; but the sum of those that went
up, above the age of twelve years, of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin,
was four hundred and sixty-two myriads and eight thousand 6 the Levites
were seventy-four; the number of the women and children mixed together
was forty thousand seven hundred and forty-two; and besides these, there
were singers of the Levites one hundred and twenty-eight, and porters
one hundred and ten, and of the sacred ministers three hundred and
ninety-two; there were also others besides these, who said they were of
the Israelites, but were not able to show their genealogies, six hundred
and sixty-two: some there were also who were expelled out of the number
and honor of the priests, as having married wives whose genealogies they
could not produce, nor were they found in the genealogies of the Levites
and priests; they were about five hundred and twenty-five: the multitude
also of servants that followed those that went up to Jerusalem were
seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; the singing men and
singing women were two hundred and forty-five; the camels were four
hundred and thirty-five; the beasts used to the yoke were five thousand
five hundred and twenty-five; and the governors of all this multitude
thus numbered were Zorobabel, the son of Salathiel, of the posterity of
David, and of the tribe of Judah; and Jeshua, the son of Josedek the
high priest; and besides these there were Mordecai and Serebeus, who
were distinguished from the multitude, and were rulers, who also
contributed a hundred pounds of gold, and five thousand of silver. By
this means therefore the priests and the Levites, and a certain part of
the entire people of the Jews that were in Babylon, came and dwelt in
Jerusalem; but the rest of the multitude returned every one to their own
countries.
CHAPTER 4. How The Temple Was Built While The Cutheans Endeavored In
Vain To Obstruct The Work.
1. Now in the seventh month after they were departed out of Babylon,
both Jeshua the high priest, and Zorobabel the governor, sent messengers
every way round about, and gathered those that were in the country
together to Jerusalem universally, who came very gladly thither. He then
built the altar on the same place it had formerly been built, that they
might offer the appointed sacrifices upon it to God, according to the
laws of Moses. But while they did this, they did not please the
neighboring nations, who all of them bare an ill-will to them. They also
celebrated the feast of tabernacles at that time, as the legislator had
ordained concerning it; and after they offered sacrifices, and what were
called the daily sacrifices, and the oblations proper for the Sabbaths,
and for all the holy festivals. Those also that had made vows performed
them, and offered their sacrifices from the first day of the seventh
month. They also began to build the temple, and gave a great deal of
money to the masons and to the carpenters, and what was necessary for
the maintenance of the workmen. The Sidonians also were very willing and
ready to bring the cedar trees from Libanus, to bind them together, and
to make a united float of them, and to bring them to the port of Joppa,
for that was what Cyrus had commanded at first, and what was now done at
the command of Darius.
2. In the second year of their coming to Jerusalem, as the Jews were
there in the second month, the building of the temple went on apace; and
when they had laid its foundations on the first day of the second month
of that second year, they set, as overseers of the work, such Levites as
were full twenty years old; and Jeshua and his sons and brethren, and
Codmiel the brother of Judas, the son of Aminadab, with his sons; and
the temple, by the great diligence of those that had the care of it, was
finished sooner than any one would have expected. And when the temple
was finished, the priests, adorned with their accustomed garments, stood
with their trumpets, while the Levites, and the sons of Asaph, stood and
sung hymns to God, according as David first of all appointed them to
bless God. Now the priests and Levites, and the elder part of the
families, recollecting with themselves how much greater and more
sumptuous the old temple had been, seeing that now made how much
inferior it was, on account of their poverty, to that which had been
built of old, considered with themselves how much their happy state was
sunk below what it had been of old, as well as their temple. Hereupon
they were disconsolate, and not able to contain their grief, and
proceeded so far as to lament and shed tears on those accounts; but the
people in general were contented with their present condition; and
because they were allowed to build them a temple, they desired no more,
and neither regarded nor remembered, nor indeed at all tormented
themselves with the comparison of that and the former temple, as if this
were below their expectations; but the wailing of the old men and of the
priests, on account of the deficiency of this temple, in their opinion,
if compared with that which had been demolished, overcame the sounds of
the trumpets and the rejoicing of the people.
3. But when the Samaritans, who were still enemies to the tribes of
Judah and Benjamin, heard the sound of the trumpets, they came running
together, and desired to know what was the occasion of this tumult; and
when they perceived that it was from the Jews, who had been carried
captive to Babylon, and were rebuilding their temple, they came to
Zorobabel and to Jeshua, and to the heads of the families, and desired
that they would give them leave to build the temple with them, and to be
partners with them in building it; for they said, "We worship their God,
and especially pray to him, and are desirous of their religious
settlement, and this ever since Shalmanezer, the king of Assyria,
transplanted us out of Cuthah and Media to this place." When they said
thus, Zorobabel and Jeshua the high priest, and the heads of the
families of the Israelites, replied to them, that it was impossible for
them to permit them to be their partners, whilst they [only] had been
appointed to build that temple at first by Cyrus, and now by Darius,
although it was indeed lawful for them to come and worship there if they
pleased, and that they could allow them nothing but that in common with
them, which was common to them with all other men, to come to their
temple and worship God there.
4. When the Cuthearts heard this, for the Samaritans have that
appellation, they had indignation at it, and persuaded the nations of
Syria to desire of the governors, in the same manner as they had done
formerly in the days of Cyrus, and again in the days of Cambyses
afterwards, to put a stop to the building of the temple, and to endeavor
to delay and protract the Jews in their zeal about it. Now at this time
Sisinnes, the governor of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, with
certain others, came up to Jerusalem, and asked the rulers of the Jews,
by whose grant it was that they built the temple in this manner, since
it was more like to a citadel than a temple? and for what reason it was
that they built cloisters and walls, and those strong ones too, about
the city? To which Zorobabel and Jeshua the high priest replied, that
they were the servants of God Almighty; that this temple was built for
him by a king of theirs, that lived in great prosperity, and one that
exceeded all men in virtue; and that it continued a long time, but that
because of their fathers' impiety towards God, Nebuchadnezzar, king of
the Babylonians and of the Chaldeans, took their city by force, and
destroyed it, and pillaged the temple, and burnt it down, and
transplanted the people whom he had made captives, and removed them to
Babylon; that Cyrus, who, after him, was king of Babylonia and Persia,
wrote to them to build the temple, and committed the gifts and vessels,
and whatsoever Nebuchadnezzar had carried out of it, to Zorobabel, and
Mithridates the treasurer; and gave order to have them carried to
Jerusalem, and to have them restored to their own temple, when it was
built; for he had sent to them to have that done speedily, and commanded
Sanabassar to go up to Jerusalem, and to take care of the building of
the temple; who, upon receiving that epistle from Cyrus, came, and
immediately laid its foundations; "and although it hath been in building
from that time to this, it hath not yet been finished, by reason of the
malignity of our enemies. If therefore you have a mind, and think it
proper, write this account to Darius, that when he hath consulted the
records of the kings, he may find that we have told you nothing that is
false about this matter."
5. When Zorobabel and the high priest had made this answer, Sisinnes,
and those that were with him, did not resolve to hinder the building,
until they had informed king Darius of all this. So they immediately
wrote to him about these affairs; but as the Jews were now under terror,
and afraid lest the king should change his resolutions as to the
building of Jerusalem and of the temple, there were two prophets at that
time among them, Haggai and Zechariah, who encouraged them, and bid them
be of good cheer, and to suspect no discouragement from the Persians,
for that God foretold this to them. So, in dependence on those prophets,
they applied themselves earnestly to building, and did not intermit one
day.
6. Now Darius, when the Samaritans had written to him, and in their
epistle had accused the Jews, how they fortified the city, and built the
temple more like to a citadel than to a temple; and said, that their
doings were not expedient for the king's affairs; and besides, they
showed the epistle of Cambyses, wherein he forbade them to build the
temple: and when Darius thereby understood that the restoration of
Jerusalem was not expedient for his affairs, and when he had read the
epistle that was brought him from Sisinnes, and those that were with
him, he gave order that what concerned these matters should be sought
for among the royal records. Whereupon a book was found at Ecbatana, in
the tower that was in Media, wherein was written as follows: "Cyrus the
king, in the first year of his reign, commanded that the temple should
be built in Jerusalem; and the altar in height threescore cubits, and
its breadth of the same, with three edifices of polished stone, and one
edifice of stone of their own country; and he ordained that the expenses
of it should be paid out of the king's revenue. He also commanded that
the vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had pillaged [out of the temple], and
had carried to Babylon, should be restored to the people of Jerusalem;
and that the care of these things should belong to Sanabassar, the
governor and president of Syria and Phoenicia, and his associates, that
they may not meddle with that place, but may permit the servants of God,
the Jews and their rulers, to build the temple. He also ordained that
they should assist them in the work; and that they should pay to the
Jews, out of the tribute of the country where they were governors, on
account of the sacrifices, bulls, and rams, and lambs, and kids of the
goats, and fine flour, and oil, and wine, and all other things that the
priests should suggest to them; and that they should pray for the
preservation of the king, and of the Persians; and that for such as
transgressed any of these orders thus sent to them, he commanded that
they should be caught, and hung upon a cross, and their substance
confiscated to the king's use. He also prayed to God against them, that
if any one attempted to hinder the building of the temple, God would
strike him dead, and thereby restrain his wickedness."
7. When Darius had found this book among the records of Cyrus, he wrote
an answer to Sisinnes and his associates, whose contents were these:
"King Darius to Sisinnes the governor, and to Sathrabuzanes, sendeth
greeting. Having found a copy of this epistle among the records of
Cyrus, I have sent it you; and I will that all things be done as is
therein written. Fare ye well." So when Sisinnes, and those that were
with him, understood the intention of the king, they resolved to follow
his directions entirely for the time to come. So they forwarded the
sacred works, and assisted the elders of the Jews, and the princes of
the Sanhedrim; and the structure of the temple was with great diligence
brought to a conclusion, by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah,
according to God's commands, and by the injunctions of Cyrus and Darius
the kings. Now the temple was built in seven years' time. And in the
ninth year of the reign of Darius, on the twenty-third day of the
twelfth month, which is by us called Adar, but by the Macedonians
Dystrus, the priests, and Levites, and the other multitude of the
Israelites, offered sacrifices, as the renovation of their former
prosperity after their captivity, and because they had now the temple
rebuilt, a hundred bulls, two hundred rains, four hundred lambs, and
twelve kids of the goats, according to the number of their tribes, [for
so many are the tribes of the Israelites,] and this last for the sins of
every tribe. The priests also and the Levites set the porters at every
gate, according to the laws of Moses. The Jews also built the cloisters
of the inner temple that were round about the temple itself.
8. And as the feast of unleavened bread was at hand, in the first month,
which, according to the Macedonians, is called Xanthicus, but according
to us Nisan, all the people ran together out of the villages to the
city, and celebrated the festival, having purified themselves, with
their wives and children, according to the law of their country; and
they offered the sacrifice which was called the Passover, on the
fourteenth day of the same month, and feasted seven days, and spared for
no cost, but offered whole burnt-offerings to God, and performed
sacrifices of thanksgiving, because God had led them again to the land
of their fathers, and to the laws thereto belonging, and had rendered
the mind of the king of Persia favorable to them. So these men offered
the largest sacrifices on these accounts, and used great magnificence in
the worship of God, and dwelt in Jerusalem, and made use of a form of
government that was aristocratical, but mixed with an oligarchy, for the
high priests were at the head of their affairs, until the posterity of
the Asamoneans set up kingly government; for before their captivity, and
the dissolution of their polity, they at first had kingly government
from Saul and David for five hundred and thirty- two years, six months,
and ten days; but before those kings, such rulers governed them as were
called judges and monarchs. Under this form of government they continued
for more than five hundred years after the death of Moses, and of Joshua
their commander. And this is the account I had to give of the Jews who
had been carried into captivity, but were delivered from it in the times
of Cyrus and Darius.