the sacred tent in Shiloh. 2Afterward Samuel was a prophet, then by God\u2019s will Saul was chosen as king by Samuel and, after he ruled for twenty-one years, died.
\n3Then David, the latter\u2019s son, came to power and subdued the Syrians who lived along the Euphrates river and Commagene, the Assyrians who were in Galadene, and the Phoenicians. He fought against the Idumeans, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Itureans, the Nabateans, and the Nabdeans. 4Then he marched against Souron, king of Tyre and Phoenicia whom he forced to pay tribute to the Jews, but he struck a friendship treaty with Vaphres the Egyptian king. 5Since David wanted to build a temple for God, he asked God to show him a place for the altar. An angel appeared to him standing over the place where the altar was to be dedicated in Jerusalem, yet commanded him not to dedicate the temple because he was defiled with human blood and had campaigned for many years. 6The name of the angel was Dianathan. He commanded him to entrust the construction to his son but to take care of the materials that pertained to the construction: gold, silver, bronze, stones, cypress and cedar wood. 7When David heard these things, he commissioned ships to be built in Elana, a city of Arabia, and sent miners to the Ophir, located in the Red Sea, that has gold mines. The miners transported the gold from there to Judea.
\n8After David had ruled for forty years, he handed the reign over to Solomon, his son, who was twelve years of age, in the presence of Eli the high priest and the twelve tribes. He also handed over to him the gold, silver, bronze, stones, and cypress and cedar wood. When he died and Solomon had become king, he wrote to Vaphres, the king of Egypt, the letter copied below:<\/p>\n
9.31.1Letter of Solomon<\/p>\n
King Solomon to Vaphres, king of Egypt, friend of my father, greetings.<\/p>\n
Know that I have received the kingdom from David my father\u2014through the agency of the Most High God\u2014who ordered me to build a temple for God who created heaven and earth and, at the same time, to write to you to send me from among your people those who can assist me until I have completed everything as needed, just as it was ordered.<\/p>\n
9.32.1Letter of Vaphres, A Copy<\/p>\n
King Vaphres to Solomon, the great king, greetings.<\/p>\n
As I read your letter, I rejoiced greatly and celebrated a magnificent holiday\u2014both I and all of my army\u2014that you had received the kingdom from a man who was good and approved by so great a God. Now concerning the matters that you wrote to me, [more particularly] concerning our people, I am sending you 80,000 and indicating clearly the number who come from specific locales: from the nome of Sethroitic 10,000; from the Mendesian and Sebennytic nomes 20,000 [each]; from the Bousiritic, Leontopolitan, and Athribitic nomes 10,000 each. Be thoughtful about what they need and any other concerns for them to remain in good order and so that they can return home as soon as they have completed their service.<\/p>\n
9.33.1Letter of Solomon<\/p>\n
King Solomon to Souron, king of Tyre, Sidon, and Phoenicia, and friend of my father, greetings.<\/p>\n
Know that I have received the kingdom from David my father\u2014through the agency of the Most High God\u2014who ordered me to build a temple for God who created heaven and earth and, at the same time, to write to you to send me from among your people those who can assist us until we have completed the service of God, just as I have been ordered. I have also written to Galilee, Samaria, Moab, Ammon, and Gilead to supply their needs from their countries: ten thousand cors of wheat each month\u2014a cor is six artabai\u2014and ten thousand cors of wine\u2014a cor of wine is ten measures. Olive oil and the rest will be supplied to them from Judea. Beef for meat consumption will be supplied from Arabia.<\/p>\n
9.34.1Letter of Souron<\/p>\n
Souron to Solomon, the great king, greetings.<\/p>\n
Blessed be God, who created heaven and earth, who chose a good man from a good man. When I read your letter, I rejoiced greatly and blessed God that you had received the kingdom. 2Now concerning the matters that you wrote to me, (more particularly) concerning our people, I am sending you 80,000 Tyrians and Phoenicians. I am also sending you a master builder, a Tyrian man with a Judean mother from the tribe of Dan. You may ask him about anything under heaven that relates to architecture, he will guide you and do it. 3Concerning the needs of the youth who are being sent to you, you will do well to enjoin the governors in each place to supply the things they need.<\/p>\n
4When Solomon, with his father\u2019s friends in retinue, had traveled to the mountains of Lebanon with the Sidonians and Tyrians, he transported the wood that had been cut in advance by his father by sea to Joppa and from there by foot to Jerusalem. He began to build the temple of God when he was thirteen years of age. The nations that have already been mentioned and the twelve tribes of the Jews did the work. One tribe per month furnished the 160,000 with everything they needed.
\nHe laid out the foundations of the sanctuary at sixty cubits in length and sixty cubits in width, but the width of the building and its foundations were ten cubits. For this is what Nathan, the prophet of God, had commanded him. 5He built by alternating a course of stone and a bonding of cypress wood, securing the two courses with bronze dovetails that weighed a talent each. After he had built (the structure) in this way, he paneled the inside with cedar and cypress wood so that the stone building was not visible. He plated the inside of the sanctuary with gold by casting five cubit gold panels and nailing them with silver nails that were a talent in weight, like a breast in shape, and four in number. 6In this way he plated it with gold from floor to ceiling. He made the ceiling out of gold coffered work, but made the roof of bronze from bronze roof tiles by first smelting the bronze and then pouring it (into molds). He made two bronze pillars and covered them with pure gold a finger in thickness. 7The pillars were equal in height with the sanctuary and the circumference of each pillar was ten cubits. He set them up, one on the right side of the house and one on the left. He made ten golden lampstands, each weighing ten talents, that he based on the model Moses set up in the Tent of Testimony. 8He stood them up on each side of the sacred precinct: some on the right and others on the left. He made seventy golden lamps so that seven would burn on each lampstand. He also built the gates of the temple, decorated them with gold and silver, and covered them with coffered cedar and cypress. 9He also made a stoa in the northern part of the temple and supported it with forty-eight bronze pillars. He constructed a bronze laver twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and five cubits high. He made a brim on it that extended out one cubit beyond the base for the priests to stand on in order to wash their feet and clean their hands. He also made twelve bases for the altar of cast metal with reliefs that were the height of a man. He set them in the back under the laver, on the right side of the altar. 10He made a bronze base two cubits in height near the laver so that the king could stand on it when he prayed so that he could be seen by the Jewish people. He built the altar twenty-five cubits by twenty cubits by twelve cubits in height. 11He made two bronze rings built like a chain and set them on mechanisms that towered above the sanctuary twenty cubits in height and cast a shadow over the entire temple. He hung on each net four hundred bronze bells that each weighed a talent. He made all the nets so that the bells would ring and scare away the birds so that they would not sit on the temple and build nests in the coffered work of the gates and stoa and pollute the temple with their dung.
\n12He surrounded Jerusalem the city with walls, towers, and ditches. He built a palace for himself. 13At first the shrine was called \u201cSolomon\u2019s temple,\u201d but later by corruption the city was named Jerusalem from the temple, but is correspondingly called by the Greeks Hierosolyma.
\n14When he had completed the temple and had enclosed the city with walls, he went to Shiloh and offered a sacrifice to God, a thousand oxen as whole burnt offerings. He then took the tent, the altar, and the vessels that Moses had made, brought them to Jerusalem, and placed them in the house of God. 15He deposited the ark, the golden altar, the lampstand, the table, and the other vessels there, just as the prophet commanded him. 16He brought an enormous offering to God: 2,000 sheep and 3,500 calves. All the gold that covered the two pillars and sanctuary amounted to 4,600,000 talents. For the nails and the remainder of the decorations of silver it took 1,232 talents. The amount of bronze for the pillar, laver, and stoa amounted to 18,050 talents. 17Solomon sent back the Egyptians and the Phoenicians, each to his own place. He gave each ten shekels of gold\u2014the talent is a shekel. To the king of Egypt, Vaphres, he sent 10,000 measures of olive oil, 1,000 artabae of dates, one hundred jugs of honey, and spices. 18For Souron, he sent to Tyre the gold pillar that is set up in Tyre in the temple of Zeus.<\/p>\n
Fragment 3 (Praep. ev. 9.34.20)<\/p>\n
Eupolemus says that Solomon made 1,000 gold shields, each of which was 500 gold [shekels in weight]. He lived 52 years, of which he ruled 40 years in peace.<\/p>\n
Fragment 4 (Praep. ev. 9.39.2\u20135)<\/p>\n
9.39.2Then Jonacheim [ruled]. During his reign Jeremiah the prophet prophesied. He had been sent by God to check the Jews who were sacrificing to a gold idol whose name was Baal. 3He disclosed the misfortune that was about to come on them. Jonacheim set out to burn him alive. He said that with these pieces of wood they would cook for the Babylonians and as captives would dig the ditches of the Tigres and Euphrates. 4When the king of the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar, heard the things that had been foretold by Jeremiah he urged Astibares, the king of the Medes, to campaign with him. 5Having summoned the Babylonians and Medes, he gathered 180,000 foot-soldiers, 120,000 cavalry, and 10,000 chariots for foot-soldiers. He first sacked Samaria, Galilee, Scythopolis, and the Jews living in Gilead. Then he took Jerusalem and took the king of the Jews, Jonacheim, captive. He chose to send the gold, silver, and bronze in the temple to Babylon, except for the ark and the tablets in it that Jeremiah acquired.<\/p>\n
Fragment 5 (Strom. 1.21.141.4\u20135)<\/p>\n
1.21.141.4In addition, Eupolemus says in a similar work that all the years from Adam until the fifth year of the reign of Demetrius, the twelfth year that Ptolemy was king of Egypt, were altogether 5,149. 1.21.141.5From the time that Moses led the Jews out of Egypt to the previously mentioned time was altogether 2,580 years. (From this time until the consuls in Rome, Gnaeus Domitius and Asinius, there were in all 120 years.)<\/p>\n
Pseudo-Eupolemus<\/p>\n
Gregory E. Sterling<\/p>\n
A 1st-century BCE Roman savant, Alexander Polyhistor, collected a number of works on the Jewish people. Four centuries later, Eusebius, the Christian bishop of Caesarea, used Polyhistor\u2019s collection as a major source for his apologetic work Preparation for the Gospel. Eusebius indicates that Polyhistor had attributed his first three fragments to Eupolemus, Artapanus, and some anonymous authors respectively. The fragments attributed to Eupolemus and some anonymous authors overlap enough that they must have come from the same work, here called fragments 1 and 2.
\nFragment 1 relates five episodes in Abraham\u2019s life. The first is his geographical and chronological setting in Babylon, where he excelled in astrology. The second summarizes his migration to Phoenicia, where he passed his specialized astrological knowledge on to the Phoenicians (Gen. 12:1\u20139). The third summarizes the unusual story of Gen. 14, in which Abraham rescued Lot and on his return was entertained by Melchizedek at the temple on Mount Gerizim. The fourth recapitulates the marriage of Sarah to Pharaoh when Abraham entered Egypt (Gen. 12:10\u201320). The fifth is extrabiblical and details Abraham\u2019s contributions to the Egyptian priests at Heliopolis. The account concludes with a genealogical account about the discovery of astrology.
\nFragment 2 relates the contents of episode 1 and mentions the movements of Abraham to Phoenicia and Egypt in episodes 2 and 4.
\nThe relationship between the two fragments is debated. They share the same basic contents and relate them in the same order, but they differ in a number of details. For example, in fragment 1, the giants are dispersed by God following their construction of the tower of Babel, while in fragment 2, the gods destroy all of them through the flood except Belus, who escapes and builds the tower of Babel. The differences in the events, the theistic perspectives, and the punishments meted out to the giants are all noteworthy. How should we explain the similarities and dissimilarities? Is fragment 1 part of the history of Eupolemus and fragment 2 the work of Polyhistor? Or did Alexander Polyhistor incorrectly place fragment 1 among the authentic fragments of Eupolemus and then compose a summary that he attributed to anonymous authors (frag. 2)?<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
The relationship between the two fragments raises the question of authorship. The most important evidence for the identity of the author of fragment 1 is the geographical orientation of the material. In the third episode, Abraham is entertained \u201cat the temple of Gerizim.\u201d Given the significance of Mount Gerizim for the Samaritans, its mention raises the possibility that the author was a Samaritan. A second hint may point in the same direction: the author has a distinct preference for Phoenicia over Egypt. Abraham initially travels to Phoenicia (episode 2). He remains there longer than in the biblical text since the fragment repositions Gen. 14 (episode 3) before Gen. 12:10\u201320 (episode 4). When Abraham finally arrives in Egypt, the author makes the dependence of the Egyptians on the Babylonians clear, both in direct statements and in the genealogy that he constructs, in which the Ethiopians and Egyptians descend from the Phoenicians (episode 5).
\nThe preference given to the area controlled by the Seleucids rather than the Ptolemies combined with the explicit reference to Mount Gerizim suggests that our author was a Samaritan\u2014rather than a Jew\u2014who lived in the Seleucid empire prior to the destruction of the Samaritan temple in 129\u2013128 BCE (Ant. 13.254\u201356), although the limited scope and nature of our evidence can only make this a reasonable possibility. It may be that the reference to the temple led Polyhistor to associate the work of this Samaritan author with the work of Eupolemus, who emphasized the Jerusalem Temple. Hence we will call the author Pseudo-Eupolemus.
\nSince fragment 2 is a summary that has noteworthy differences from fragment 1, it was likely the work of an epitomist who altered some of the content in the process of abridging the work. If Polyhistor was the epitomist, then a period of time must have elapsed between his writing of fragment 1 and fragment 2; otherwise it would be hard to explain why he did not note that both came from the same work. If, on the other hand, an earlier epitomist had already summarized the work of Pseudo-Eupolemus, then Polyhistor simply took over the summary. While it is impossible to be certain, the latter is more likely, given Polyhistor\u2019s general care with works that he summarized.<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
Pseudo-Eupolemus offers a universal perspective on Israel\u2019s ancestral traditions. Unlike Eupolemus, who presents Moses as the first wise person, Pseudo-Eupolemus champions Abraham, broadening the origins of Israel. The author constructs a genealogical tree that identifies the ancestors of Israel with Greek gods (so that Enoch = Atlas). By identifying Greek gods with Hebrew heroes, our author has both demythologized the Greek pantheon and built a bridge between the two cultures. The author is a witness to the creative ways in which Samaritans and Jews found to form identities within the Hellenistic world. Similarly, the author draws from an eclectic mix of traditions or sources ranging from Berossus, the Babylonian priest who wrote an account of Babylonia, to Genesis Apocryphon, the Aramaic midrash on Genesis found at Qumran.
\nIn all of these ways, the author moves ancient Hebrew traditions away from the narrow confines of ancient Palestine to the broader Mediterranean basin. He not only traces Abraham\u2019s movements through the entire Fertile Crescent, but joins the East to the West genealogically and positions Abrahamic\/Samaritan traditions at the forefront of the spread of culture. The author thus combines a sense of nationalism and universalism in what we may call particular universalism.<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
Pseudo-Eupolemus was one of a number of Jewish\/Samaritan Hellenistic writers whose works have only been preserved in fragments. It is important to read the fragments of other such authors to find overlapping themes and treatments. In particular, it is worth reading the fragments of Theodotus, another 2nd-century BCE author preserved by Polyhistor, whose epic retelling of Gen. 34 centers on Shechem, an orientation that may point to a Samaritan provenance. It would also be worth reading other ancient accounts of Abraham, especially the presentations in The Genesis Apocryphon; Artapanus, frag. 1; Philo\u2019s On the Life of Abraham; and Josephus\u2019s Jewish Antiquities (1.148\u2013256).
\nThe fragments of Pseudo-Eupolemus belong to a tradition of ancient historiography that I have called apologetic historiography. It is the Eastern tradition that Josephus set out in his historiographical excursus in Ag. Ap. 1.6\u201356 that may be defined as \u201cthe story of a subpeople in an extended prose narrative written by a member of the group who follows the group\u2019s own traditions but Hellenizes them in an effort to establish the identity of the group within the setting of the larger world.\u201d<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READINGS<\/p>\n
Doran, Robert. \u201cPseudo-Eupolemus.\u201d In The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James Charlesworth, 2 vols., esp. 2:873\u201388. New York: Doubleday, 1985.
\nFreudenthal, J. Alexander Polyhistor und die von ihm erhaltenen Reste j\u00fcdischer und samaritanischer Geschichtswerke, esp. 82\u2013103. Hellenistische Studied, 1\u20132. Breslau: H. Skutsch, 1875.
\nGruen, Erich S. Hellenism and Heritage: The Reinvention of Jewish Tradition, esp. 146\u201353. Hellenistic Culture and Society 30. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
\nHolladay, Carl R. Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors. Vol. 1: The Historians, esp. 157\u201387. SBL Texts and Translations 20 \/ SBL Pseudepigrapha Series 10. Chico CA: Scholars Press, 1983.
\nSterling, Gregory E. Historiography & Self-definition: Josephos, Luke-Acts and Apologetic Historiography, esp. 187\u2013206. NovTSup 64. Leiden: Brill, 1992. Reprint, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2005.
\nWacholder, Ben Zion. \u201cPseudo-Eupolemus\u2019s Two Greek Fragments on the Life of Abraham.\u201d HUCA 34 (1963): 83\u2013113.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. Eupolemus: A Study of Judaeo-Greek Literature, esp. 104\u20136, 135, 205\u20136, 287\u201393. Monographs of the Hebrew Union College 3. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1974.
\nWalter, Nikolaus. Fragmente j\u00fcdisch-hellenistischer Historiker, esp. 137\u201343. J\u00fcdische Schriften aus hellenistisch-r\u00f6mischer Zeit I.2. G\u00fctersloh: Gerd Mohn, 1980.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
Fragment 1 (Praep. ev. 9.17.2\u20139)<\/p>\n
Episode 1: Abraham the Astrologer
\n9.17.2Eupolemus in his Concerning the Jews in Assyria says that the city of Babylon was first founded by those who were saved from the flood. They were the giants and built the tower whose story has been told. 3When this tower collapsed by the action of God, the giants were dispersed throughout the whole earth. In the tenth generation, he says, in Camarine, a city of Babylon that some call the city of Ur\u2014it means \u201cthe city of the Chaldeans\u201d\u2014[or] in the thirteenth generation, Abraham was born. He surpassed all in nobility and wisdom and, what is more, discovered both astrology and Chaldean science. Because he rushed headfirst toward piety, he was well-pleasing to God.<\/p>\n
Episode 2: Abraham\u2019s Migration to Phoenica
\n4He, by God\u2019s commands, came to Phoenicia and lived there. Because he taught the Phoenicians about the movements of the sun, moon, and all the other celestial bodies, he was well-pleasing to their king.<\/p>\n
Episode 3: Abraham Rescues Lot
\nLater the Armenians marched against the Phoenicians. After they conquered the Phoenicians and took his nephew captive, Abraham with his household servants came to the rescue, gained control of the captors, and captured the enemies\u2019 children and wives. 5When ambassadors approached him so that he would release the captives after he had received payment, he preferred not to trample upon those in bad fortune, but to return the spoils after he had received food for his young men. He was entertained by the city at the temple of Gerizim\u2014that means \u201cmountain of the Most High.\u201d 6He received gifts from Melchizedek who was a priest of God and king.<\/p>\n
Episode 4: Abraham Migrates to Egypt and Recovers Sarah from Pharaoh
\nWhen a famine occurred, Abraham left for Egypt with all his house and resided there. The king of Egypt married his wife since he [Abraham] said that she was his sister. 7He related at length that he was unable to have intimate relations with her and that his people and house were perishing. When he summoned his diviners, they told him that the woman was not a widow. In this way, the king of Egypt learned that she was Abraham\u2019s wife and returned her to her husband.<\/p>\n
Episode 5: Abraham Instructs the Egyptian Priests at Heliopolis
\n8While Abraham lived in Heliopolis with the Egyptian priests, he taught them many new things: he introduced them to astrology and other things, claiming that the Babylonians and he had discovered these things, although he traced their [original] discovery back to Enoch\u2014he was the first to discover astrology, not the Egyptians. 9For the Babylonians claim that Belus was the first, who is also known as Cronus. From this one came Belus and Ham. The latter fathered Canaan, the father of the Phoenicians. From Canaan came a son, Cush who is known as Asbolus by the Greeks, the father of the Ethiopians, the brother of Mizraim, the father of the Egyptians. The Greeks claim that Atlas discovered astrology. Atlas and Enoch are the same person. Enoch had a son, Methuselah who came to know everything through the agency of angels and, in this way, we came to know [about these things].<\/p>\n
Fragment 2 (Praep. ev. 9.18.2)<\/p>\n
In anonymous sources we discover that Abraham traces his ancestry back to the giants. While they resided in Babylonia, they were destroyed by the gods for their impiety. One of them, Belus, escaped death, took up residence in Babylon, built a tower, and lived in it. It was named Belus after the Belus who built it. After Abraham had been educated in the science of astrology, he went first to Phoenicia and taught the Phoenicians astrology, and later came to Egypt.<\/p>\n
Pseudo-Hecataeus, \u201cOn the Jews\u201d<\/p>\n
Bezalel Bar-Kochva<\/p>\n
In Against Apion (1.183\u2013205 and 2.43) Josephus presents a number of fragments and testimonia from a treatise named \u201cOn the Jews,\u201d attributed to Hecataeus of Abdera. Hecataeus (ca. 300 BCE), the father of \u201cscientific ethnography,\u201d was renowned for his great ethnographical work on Egypt, into which he included a rather reserved excursus on the Jewish people (Diodorus, Bib. hist. 40.3.1\u20138). The passages in Josephus, however, describe in a panegyric manner what is claimed to be the history of the Jews in the Persian and early Hellenistic periods, as well as a description of the Jerusalem Temple and the main characteristics of the Jews. The passages (and the treatise) were not alluded to by any other author in antiquity, save for Philo of Byblos (who may have been acquainted with the original treatise) and Eusebius (PE ix.4.2\u20139), who only quoted Josephus.<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
Philo of Byblos (1st\u20132nd century CE) was the first to doubt the ascription of the treatise to Hecataeus (ap. Origen, C. Cels. I. 15). The question of authenticity was raised again in the 17th century and has gained momentum in the last two centuries. A close examination of the surviving material shows that almost all the statements and pieces of information are anachronistic, contradict the information at our disposal, or cannot be attributed to Hecataeus. This also renders redundant the suggestion that Josephus used a Jewish adaptation of Hecataeus.
\nThe anachronisms, as well as other features of the treatise, lead to the conclusion that it was written toward the end of the 2nd century BCE (early in the reign of Alexander Jannaeus) by an Egyptian Jew, who belonged to the \u201cmoderate conservative\u201d stream of the various groups of Alexandrian Jewry. This stream strictly adhered to the Torah precepts and to the use of the Hebrew Torah in the religious service and education, strongly rejecting allegorical methods for interpreting the Scripture. Although they were well versed in the Greek language and literature, these Jews seem to have avoided the study of philosophy and reading mythological literature, adopting a Greek curriculum of their own. With a keen interest and constant link with the Land of Judea, they identified themselves with Jews of the Holy Land rather than with their country of residence. The treatise can be regarded as a disguised manifesto of the \u201cmoderate conservatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
The writer\u2019s main purpose seems to have been to legitimize and justify the continuation of Jewish residence in Egypt (implicitly prohibited by the Torah; see Deut. 17:16, 28:68) at a time when the Jewish state was beginning to flourish. The religious legitimation is provided by attributing the initiative for the Jewish settlement in Egypt to the high priest in Jerusalem. This recalls the Letter of Aristeas, in which fictitious authorization by the Jerusalem high priest of the Greek translation of the Torah legitimizes this controversial move. Pseudo-Hecataeus politically justifies settlement in Egypt by indicating that the impetus for settling there was to create a strong and prosperous Egyptian Jewish community, one deeply involved in the political, economic, and especially military life of the Ptolemaic Empire, in order to enable Diaspora Jews to exert their influence on behalf of their kindred in the Holy Land. This explanation has drawn its inspiration from certain historical episodes in which the lobbying power of Egyptian Jews was indeed successful in helping the Hasmonean state, in one instance, at the beginning of Alexander Jannaeus\u2019s reign, even saving it from reoccupation (102\u2013101 BCE; see Josephus, Ant. 13.285\u201387, 353\u201355).<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Bar-Kochva, B. Pseudo-Hecataeus: \u201c \u2018On Abraham and the Egyptians\u2019 ascribed to Hecataeus.\u2019 \u201d Tarbitz 70 (2001): 327\u201352.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. Pseudo-Hecataeus: \u201cOn the Jews.\u201d Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. The Image of the Jews in Greek Literature: The Hellenistic Period, 90\u2013130. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.
\nDoran, R. \u201cPseudo-Hecataeus.\u201d In The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by J. H. Charlesworth, 2.905\u201319. New York: Doubleday, 1985.
\nHolladay, C. R. Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors, 1.277\u2013335. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1983.
\nSch\u00fcrer, E. The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ, revised and edited by G. Vermes, F. Millar, and M. Goodman, 3\/1.671\u201377. Edinburgh: Clark, 1986.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
Against Apion 1.183\u2013205<\/p>\n
183However, Hecataeus of Abdera, a philosopher and at the same time [a man] most competent in practical matters, having flourished at the time of King Alexander and being associated with Ptolemy son of Lagus, [referred to the Jews] not incidentally, but wrote a book on the Jews themselves, from which I want to present the highlights of some of the things said. 184And first of all I shall establish the date. He mentions the battle of Ptolemy against Demetrius near Gaza. That [battle] took place in the 11th year after Alexander\u2019s death, in the 117th Olympiad, as Castor narrates. 185For under the head of that Olympiad he says: \u201cIn this Olympiad Ptolemy son of Lagus defeated Demetrius son of Antigonus who was called Poliorcetes.\u201d And all agree that Alexander died in the 114th Olympiad. It is therefore clear that our nation was flourishing at his (Ptolemy\u2019s) time as well as in that of Alexander.
\n186Moreover, Hecataeus goes on to say this: \u201cAfter the battle at Gaza Ptolemy became master of the places in Syria; and many of the men, hearing of his kindness and humanity (philanthr\u014dpia) wished to accompany him to Egypt and take part in the affairs [of the kingdom].\u201d 187\u201cOne of them,\u201d he (Hecataeus) says, \u201cwas Hezekiah, high priest of the Jews, a man at the age of around 66, highly thought of by his compatriots and not unintelligent in his mind and, moreover, an able speaker and experienced, if indeed anyone was, in [\u2026 and] the affairs.\u201d 188\u201cAlthough,\u201d he (Hecataeus) says: \u201call the Jewish priests who receive the tithe of the produce and administer public matters number at most about 1,500.\u201d 189And again, referring to the above-mentioned man: \u201cThis man,\u201d he says, \u201chaving obtained this authority [and?] being well acquainted with us, assembled some of his men and read to them the whole advantage [scroll?]. For he possessed in writing their settling and constitution.\u201d
\n190Then Hecataeus in turn explains how we regard the laws, that we prefer to suffer everything in order not to transgress against them and [that] we consider it as virtuous. 191\u201cSo for example,\u201d he says, \u201call being insulted by their neighbors and by those who came into [the country], and being frequently abused by the Persian kings and satraps, they could not be persuaded to change their way of thinking, but being exposed because of [their adherence to] them (the laws), they faced tortures and the most horrible deaths rather than deny their ancestral [laws].\u201d
\n192He provided not a few proofs for the resolute mind with regard to the laws. For he says that once when Alexander was in Babylon and proposed to clear away the ruined Temple of Bel and ordered all the soldiers alike to carry the rubble, only the Jews did not apply themselves to [it], but submitted to many floggings and paid heavy penalties, until the king agreed to grant them indemnity. 193He says yet further: \u201cThey destroyed all the temples and altars constructed by those coming to the land against them, for some of which they paid a fine to the satraps and for others they obtained forgiveness.\u201d And he adds that it is just to admire them for these [actions]. 194And he also relates how our nation became overpopulated. \u201cThe Persians,\u201d he says, \u201chad formerly deported many tens of thousands of them to Babylon, and after Alexander\u2019s death, no less immigrated to Egypt and Phoenicia because of the turbulence in Syria.\u201d
\n195And this man himself also recorded the size of the land in which we live and its beauty. He says: \u201cThey possess almost 300 myriads [3,000,000] of arourae of the best and most fertile land for all products. Such is the extent of Judea.\u201d 196Indeed he thus also relates that we inhabit Jerusalem, that city, the most beautiful and the greatest, from time immemorial, and the same [man relates] thus about the great number of people and the building of the Temple.
\n197\u201cThere are many fortresses of the Jews throughout the country, as well as villages, but only one fortified city, of about 50 stadia [in] circumference, which is inhabited by about 12 myriads [120,000] of people, and is called by them Jerusalem. 198There is there, nearly in the center of the city, a stone wall, 5 plethora long and 100 cubits wide, having double gates inside which there is a square altar, not of hewn, but of collected, unwrought stones, so constructed: 20 cubits long and 10 cubits high, and beside it a great edifice where there is an altar and a lampstand, both covered with gold and weighing two talents. 199Upon these there is a light that is never extinguished night and day. And there are no statues, nor any votive offerings, and absolutely no plants, resembling neither a grove nor anything similar. And the priests pass their time night and day in it purifying themselves by certain [rituals] of purification and entirely abstaining from wine in the Temple.\u201d
\n200And he further testifies that they served as soldiers under King Alexander and afterward under his successors. And the [actions] performed by a Jewish man, which he witnessed after he was on an expedition, I shall cite as well. 201Now he says thus: \u201cAnyway when I was marching to the Red Sea, a certain Mosollamus was accompanying us, together with the rest of the Jewish cavalrymen who served us as an advance force. [Mosollamus was] a man with a robust mind and, as agreed by all, the best archer among Greeks and barbarians. 202So that man, when many went to and fro along the road, and a certain seer was watching the flight of the birds, and he (the seer) requested all of them to abstain [from all actions], asked why there were halting. 203The seer having pointed out the bird to him, and saying that if it (the bird) stays there, it is expedient for all to wait still longer, and if it rises and flies ahead, to advance, but if [it flies] behind, to withdraw at once. He [Mosollamus], after keeping silence and drawing his bow, shot and, hitting the bird, killed [it]. 204When the seer and some others became irritated and called down curses upon him, he (Mosollamus) said: \u2018Why are you raving, [you] wretches?\u2019 Then, taking the bird in his hands he said: \u2018How, then, could this [bird], which did not provide for its own safety, say anything sound about our march? For had it been able to know the future, it would not have come to this place fearing that Mosollamus the Jew would draw his bow and kill it.\u2019 \u201d
\n205But this should suffice concerning the evidence of Hecataeus. To those who want to learn more, the book is readily available.<\/p>\n
Josephus, Against Apion 2.43<\/p>\n
For he [Alexander the Great] honored our nation, as Hecataeus says about us, that because of the fairness and loyalty shown to him by the Jews, he annexed the land of Samaria to them free of tribute [aphorolog\u0113ton].<\/p>\n
Theodotus, \u201cOn the Jews\u201d<\/p>\n
Howard Jacobson<\/p>\n
Theodotus\u2019s Greek epic poem, apparently called \u201cOn the Jews,\u201d has survived in only 47 lines, with additional comments about the contexts of the fragments by the compiler. Of the eight fragments, seven clearly deal with Shechem and the events surrounding Jacob and his children with respect to that city. The remaining fragment (frag. 3) very likely provides background material for that story. If this is a representative sampling, then it would appear that Theodotus\u2019s epic was entirely focused on one particular brief episode in Genesis (chap. 34), even though its title suggests something more.<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
Theodotus\u2019s fragments come to us, like most Hellenistic Jewish verse, in Alexander Polyhistor\u2019s compilation, quoted by Eusebius. There is no good internal or external evidence for his dates, so the best we can do is put him before Alexander Polyhistor, that is, before the mid-1st century BCE. As for his place, again no good evidence exists, but the writing of a Greek hexameter poem in the Homeric mode by a Jew (if such he was) would suggest Alexandria.
\nWe know nothing about the man Theodotus. Scholars have long debated if he was a Jew or a Samaritan. Many think the latter, for two main reasons: (1) the attentiveness of the author to Shechem, which appears to be the central focus of what still exists of the poem, and (2) the explicit designation of Shechem as \u201choly city.\u201d The latter argument is not as strong as it has often seemed, because the use of the adjective \u201choly\u201d is a Homeric convention and so may have no significance. Second, there is no reason to think that a Jew could not have called Shechem a \u201choly city\u201d if that is what Samaritans called it. How often we hear a Christian saying \u201cthe holy city of Mecca\u201d in spite of the fact that, for the speaker, the city is not necessarily holy. The arguments on the other side seem stronger. Polyhistor, at any rate, thought the poem was \u201cOn the Jews\u201d and it is a lot more likely that a work on that topic was written by a Jew than by a Samaritan. In addition, the Samaritans (i.e., the inhabitants of Shechem) are depicted rather nastily in our fragments (especially frags. 2 and 7), more likely reflecting the views of a Jew than a Samaritan (though some argue that a Hellenistic Samaritan would have sympathized with the biblical sons of Jacob rather than with the aboriginal inhabitants of Shechem).<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, we have no evidence for any subsequent influence of Theodotus\u2019s work, either on Jewish or Christian authors. This could be very different if we had more than a meager 47 verses extant. In any event, even these are enough to show us how deeply the Jews of the time were embedded in Greek culture.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READINGS<\/p>\n
Bull, R. J. \u201cA Note on Theodotus\u2019 Description of Shechem.\u201d Harvard Theological Review 60 (1967): 221\u201327.
\nDaise, M. \u201cSamaritans, Seleucids, and the Epic of Theodotus.\u201d JSP 17 (1998): 25\u201351.
\nFeldman, L. H. \u201cPhilo, Pseudo-Philo, Josephus, and Theodotus on the Rape of Dinah.\u201d JQR 94 (2004): 253\u201377.
\nHolladay, C. R. Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors, 2.51\u2013204. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989.
\nHorst, P. W. van der. \u201cTheodotus.\u201d In Mikra: Text, Translation, Reading, and Interpretation of the Hebrew Bible, edited by M. J. Mulder, 526\u201328. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988.
\nLudwich, A. De Theodoti Carmine Graeco-Iudaico. Regimontii: Hartungiana, 1899.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
Fragment 1 (9.22.1)<\/p>\n
1It was fertile, browsed by goats and well watered.
\n2Nor was it a long journey to go from the fields to the city.
\n3The people did not ever work dense thickets.
\n4From the city one could see quite close two mighty mountains,
\n5full of grass and woods. Between them
\n6is cut a narrow path. On the other side
\n7is visible watered Shechem, a holy city,
\n8built down below at the foot of the mountain. Around it a smooth wall
\n9ran at the foot, a defensive barrier on high.<\/p>\n
Fragment 2 (9.22.2)<\/p>\n
10Let us tell the story from the point when Jacob came to the broad city
\n11of Shechem. Hamor ruled over his kinsmen,
\n12together with his son Shechem, very unyielding men.<\/p>\n
Fragment 3 (9.22.3)<\/p>\n
13Jacob came to pasture-rich Syria and left behind
\n14the broad waters of the roaring Euphrates River.
\n15He had come there after fleeing the harsh rebuke
\n16of his brother. Laban gladly received him into his home.
\n17He was his cousin and was then
\n18the sole ruler of Syria, being of distinguished lineage.
\n19Laban consented and promised his youngest daughter in marriage to Jacob.
\n20But he did not at all intend that this would come about.
\n21Rather, he wove a plot and delivered Leah,
\n22his older daughter, to the man\u2019s bed. Still, he did not
\n23deceive Jacob, who detected the deception
\n24and took the other daughter. He married both of them, his kin.
\n25To him were born 11 wise sons and a daughter Dinah,
\n26who had a beautiful appearance, an admirable figure and a blameless heart.<\/p>\n
Fragment 4 (9.22.6)<\/p>\n
27For it is not lawful for the Hebrews
\n28to take sons-in-law or daughters-in-law from elsewhere into their homes,
\n29but only the person who professes to be of the same race.<\/p>\n
Fragment 5 (9.22.7)<\/p>\n
30Now God himself, when he brought the noble Abraham out of his ancestral land,
\n31called to him from heaven and told the man to strip the flesh from his foreskin,
\n32together with all his household.
\n33And so he did.
\n34This is unchangeable, since God himself so ordered.<\/p>\n
Fragment 6 (9.22.9)<\/p>\n
35For I am well aware of an oracle of God.
\n36He once said that he would grant 10 tribes to the children of Abraham.<\/p>\n
Fragment 7 (9.22.9)<\/p>\n
37God did mislead the inhabitants of Shechem. For they did not honor
\n38anyone who came to them, whether wicked or good. Nor did they make just verdicts
\n39or judgments in their city.
\n40Their customary behavior was deadly.<\/p>\n
Fragment 8 (9.22.11)<\/p>\n
41So then did Simeon rush against Hamor
\n42and struck him in the head. He grabbed his neck with his left hand,
\n43but let it go while it was still gasping, for another task had arisen.
\n44In the meantime, Levi the wild and mighty grabbed Shechem\u2019s hair
\n45while the latter was clutching his knees and raging unspeakably.
\n46He ran him through the collarbone and his sharp sword entered
\n47his innards by way of the breastbone. Straightway, the spirit left his body.<\/p>\n
Philo, the Epic Poet<\/p>\n
Harold W. Attridge<\/p>\n
Fragments of an epic poem, On Jerusalem, written in the classic meter of dactylic hexameter, celebrate the story of Abraham and the physical wonders of Jerusalem. The poem was probably written in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE by a Jewish author steeped in the new international culture of the Hellenistic world. The vocabulary and style of the work reflect the tastes of the literary culture of Alexandria in this period and show the degree to which Jews were becoming part of that dominant culture. At the time, learned poetry in the epic meter of Homer and Hesiod flourished. The prolific poet Callimachus, head of the library at Alexandria in the early 3rd century, composed a learned epic, Hecale, on an obscure figure of Greek mythology. In the same period Aratus\u2019s Phaenomena put into hexameters the new astronomical learning of the period. Toward the end of the 3rd century, Apollonius of Rhodes composed his Argonautica, recounting the story of Jason, his Argonauts, and the quest for the golden fleece. That a Jewish author with Greek learning would attempt something similar is not surprising. The most striking feature of the poem is the dramatic evocation of the mysterious story of the Akedah (Genesis 22) to ground the sanctity of the city. A biblical story is here reworked in a new international literary idiom, celebrating Jewish tradition with sophisticated style.<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
Nothing is known of the author of the poem. He is not to be confused with the Alexandrian philosopher and interpreter of the Bible, Philo, active in the 1st century CE. The epic poet must have lived at least a century before the philosopher, perhaps even earlier. His elaborate poetic vocabulary, evident even in the brief fragments that survive, suggests a level of learning to be expected in a major cultural center such as Alexandria. The fragments of Philo\u2019s poetic work illustrate the degree of appropriation of Greek culture by some Jews in the Hellenistic period who used Greek forms to celebrate their heritage.
\nThe fragments of this poem were preserved by Alexander Polyhistor, a Greek scholar (ca. 105\u2013135) originally brought to Rome as slave taken captive in the Mithridatic War. His extensive explorations of philosophy, geography, and history, of which only fragments remain, earned him the name \u201cPolyhistor.\u201d In the mid-1st century BCE Alexander composed a work about the new eastern peoples brought under Roman domination by Pompey. Eusebius, the Christian historian and bishop of the 4th century, later cited those fragments in his Preparation for the Gospel, Book 9.<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
The first two closely connected fragments (Eusebius, Praep. ev. 9.20.1) describe the Akedah, or Binding of Isaac, recounted in Gen. 22. The location of the fragment in a work on Jerusalem attests the identification of Mt. Moriah with the Temple Mount in this period.
\nA third fragment (Eusebius, Praep. ev. 9.24.1) mentions the patriarchs, culminating in Joseph. Although the context is lost, the poem probably presented Jerusalem as a central feature in the promises to the ancestors of Israel. The poem thus fills a gap in the stories of Genesis, where Jerusalem does not appear as one of the cities in the land of Canaan visited by the patriarchs.
\nThree final fragments (Eusebius, Praep. ev. 9.37.1\u20133) describe physical features of the city, particularly its waterworks.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Collins, John J. Between Athens and Jerusalem: Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Diaspora, 54\u201357. Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 2000.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. \u201cSpells Pleasing to God: The Binding of Isaac in Philo the Epic Poet.\u201d In Jewish Cult and Hellenistic Culture: Essays on the Jewish Encounter with Hellenism and Roman Rule, 99\u2013111. JSJ Sup 100. Leiden: Brill, 2005.
\nGutman, Yehoshua. \u201cPhilo the Epic Poet.\u201d ScrHier, 1:39\u201363. Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1954.
\nHolladay, Carl. Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors: Poets, 205\u201399. Vol 2. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
Fragments 1 and 2 (from Eusebius, Praep. ev. 9.20.1)<\/p>\n
Eusebius introduces the poetic fragment by saying, \u201cPhilo speaks on this subject in the first book of his work On Jerusalem\u201d:<\/p>\n
1.1 A thousand times have I heard in the ancient laws how once
\n2 (when you achieved something)
\n3 marvelous with the bonds\u2019 knot, O far-famed Abraham,
\n4 resplendently did your God-beloved prayers abound in
\n5 wondrous counsels. For when you left the beauteous garden
\n6 of dread plants, the praiseworthy thunderer quenched the pyre
\n7 and made his promise immortal. From that time forth
\n8 the offspring of that awesome born one have won far-hymned praise
\nAnd so forth, to which he adds after a short while.
\n2.1 as mortal hand readied the sword
\n2 with resolve, and crackling (wood) was gathered at the side,
\n3 he brought into his hands a horned ram.<\/p>\n
Fragment 3 (from Eusebius, Praep. ev. 9.24.1)<\/p>\n
Eusebius introduces the next fragment by remarking, \u201cPhilo, too, corroborates the sacred Scriptures in the first book of his work On Jerusalem, saying\u201d:<\/p>\n
3.1 For them the Most High,
\n2 great LORD of all created a most blessed spot,
\n3 even from of old, yea from the days of Abraham and Isaac
\n4 and Jacob, rich in children, from whom was Joseph, who was
\n5 interpreter of dreams for the scepter bearer on Egypt\u2019s throne,
\n6 revolving time\u2019s secrets with the flood of fate.<\/p>\n
Fragments 4 to 6 (from Eusebius, Praep. ev. 9.37.1\u20133)<\/p>\n
Eusebius writes, \u201cPhilo in his work On Jerusalem, says that there is a fountain and that it is dry in winter and full in summer. In his first book he says\u201d<\/p>\n
4.1 Above the swimmers is the most wondrous sight, another
\n2 pool. Its sound, with that of the ruler\u2019s baths, fills
\n3 the deep channel of the stream as it exits.
\nAnd so forth, to which he adds, farther along, remarks concerning the filling
\n5.1 For the stream, gleaming on high, fed by moist
\n2 rains, rolls joyously under the neighboring towers,
\n3 and the dry and dusty soil on the plain
\n4 shows the fountain\u2019s far-seen, marvelous deeds, the wonders of the nations
\nand so forth. Then he goes on as follows concerning the high priest\u2019s fountain and the way it empties out:
\n6.1 And on high do pipes pour out from channels
\n2 through the earth.<\/p>\n
Ezekiel, the Tragedian<\/p>\n
Howard Jacobson<\/p>\n
Ezekiel\u2019s Exagoge is a Greek play written after the model of the great classical tragedies of 5th-century BCE Athens. If there was a genre called \u201cJewish Greek tragedy,\u201d then it is the only example that we know of from the ancient world. We have fragments amounting to 269 lines, but we do not know how long the entire play actually was. What we do have breaks down neatly into five episodes: (1) A prologue speech delivered by Moses describes Jewish life in Egypt, his own life from birth to flight from Egypt, and his meeting the daughters of Raguel. (2) Some events at Midian, including a dream of Moses and an interpretation by Raguel, his father-in-law. (3) God appears to Moses at the burning bush and instructs him. (4) An Egyptian survivor reports on the destruction of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. (5) A Jewish scout reports on the discovery of a good camping site in the desert.
\nThe Exagoge\u2019s five episodes, or acts, are in accord with the Hellenistic \u201crule.\u201d Indeed, it is the only Greek tragedy we know to follow this rule! In addition, the play repeatedly breaks the so-called Aristotelian unities of time and place and clearly is operating under a very different set of dramatic assumptions than did the 5th-century tragedians.<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
There is no significant doubt that the Exagoge was written by a Greek Jew living in Alexandria, the center of hellenized Jewish life in the ancient world. As for the date of the work, we can say with certainty that the play was written between circa 280 BCE and circa 50 BCE. But a good case can be made for limiting the dates to 200\u2013100 BCE, based on the absence of any mention of the Land of Israel and the relationship of Alexandrian Jews to Greeks and Egyptians. Most of the extant fragments have reached us via quotations by the church father Eusebius, who himself tells us that he was taking his quotations from the 1st-century BCE scholar Alexander Polyhistor. No manuscripts of the play survive.
\nWe have no idea who Ezekiel was. But we can say that he was a Jew who knew both his Bible (in Greek) and exegetical traditions on the Bible. He was also highly familiar with Greek tragedy and shows significant knowledge of the plays of all three major 5th-century BCE tragedians (Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides).<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
Both on the Greek side and on the Jewish one, the Exagoge is a work of major importance. Its fragments represent the most extensive remains of any Hellenistic tragedy\u2014or indeed tragedian\u2014and so Ezekiel becomes our most significant source of evidence for Hellenistic tragedy. For the student of Jewish literary history and thought, Ezekiel is one of our most important sources for the Hellenistic period in the Diaspora. In addition, he is one of our earliest sources of biblical exegesis and in some cases provides pieces of exegesis that do not show up again until much later Rabbinic midrashic collections. There is some evidence that Philo and Josephus made use of the Exagoge, but other clear-cut evidence for its influence on either Jewish or Christian literature is lacking.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Fornaro, P. La voce fuori scena. Turin: Giapichelli, 1982.
\nHeath, J. \u201cEzekiel Tragicus and Hellenistic Visuality: The Phoenix at Elim.\u201d Journal of Theological Studies 57 (2006): 23\u201341.
\nHolladay, C. R. Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors, 2.301\u2013529. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989.
\nHorst, P. W. van der. \u201cSome Notes on the Exagoge of Ezekiel.\u201d Mnemosyne 37 (1984): 354\u201375.
\nJacobson, H. The Exagoge of Ezekiel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. \u201cMysticism and Apocalyptic in Ezekiel\u2019s Exagoge.\u201d Illinois Classical Studies 6 (1981): 272\u201393.
\nWinston, D. \u201cNew Light on an Old Drama.\u201d Judaism 35 (1986): 109\u201313.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
1Moses: When Jacob left Canaan
\nhe came to Egypt with seventy
\nsouls and fathered a great
\npeople that has suffered and been oppressed.
\n5Till this day we have been ill-treated
\nby evil men and a powerful regime.
\nFor king Pharaoh, when he saw our people increasing in number,<\/p>\n
devised many plans against us.
\nHe afflicted us with brickwork
\n10and the hard labor of construction
\nand he had turreted cities built by our ill-fated men.
\nThen he ordered that the Hebrew
\nmale children be cast into the deep-flowing river.
\nMy mother hid me for three months
\n15(so she told me). But when she could no longer escape detection,
\nshe dressed me and exposed me
\nby the bank of the river in the thick and overgrown marsh.<\/p>\n
My sister Mariam stood guard nearby.
\nThen the princess with her maidservants
\n20came down to bathe.
\nWhen she saw me, she took me up and recognized that I was a Hebrew.
\nMy sister Mariam then ran up to her and spoke,
\n\u201cShall I get a nursemaid for this child
\n25from the Hebrews?\u201d The princess urged her on.
\nMariam went to fetch our mother who presently appeared<\/p>\n
and took me in her arms.
\nThe princess said to her, \u201cWoman, nurse this child
\nand I shall pay your wages.\u201d
\n30She then named me Moses, because
\nshe had taken me from the watery river-bank.<\/p>\n
When my infancy had passed,
\nmy mother brought me to the princess\u2019 palace,
\nafter telling me all about
\n35my lineage and God\u2019s gifts.
\nAccordingly, for the period of my youth, the princess
\ngave me royal upbringing and education, as if I were her own son.
\nBut when I grew into an adult,
\n40I went forth from the royal palace
\nat my spirit\u2019s urging, to see the deeds and devices wrought by the king.<\/p>\n
First, I saw two men fighting,
\none a Hebrew, the other an Egyptian.
\nI saw that we were alone, no one else was present.
\n45So I rescued my kinsman and slew the other.
\nThen I buried him in the sand so that
\nno one else should notice and disclose the killing.
\nOn the morrow I again saw two men
\nfighting, this time men of the same race.
\n50I addressed one, \u201cWhy are you striking a weaker man?\u201d<\/p>\n
He answered, \u201cWho made you our judge
\nand overseer? Or are you going to kill me,
\nas you killed the man yesterday?\u201d In fear
\nI thought, \u201cHow has this become known?\u201d
\n55The news quickly reached the king
\nand he sought to take my life.
\nWhen I heard this I left the country
\nand have now in wandering come to this foreign land.<\/p>\n
59Here are seven maidens coming.<\/p>\n
60Sepphora: Stranger, this land is called Libya.
\nIt is inhabited by tribes of various peoples,
\nEthiopians, black men. One man is the ruler of the land:
\nhe is both king and general.
\nHe rules the state, judges the people,
\n65and is priest. This man is my father and theirs.<\/p>\n
66Chum: Sepphora, you must reveal this.
\nSepphora: My father has given me as spouse to this stranger.<\/p>\n
68Moses: I had a vision of a great throne on the top of Mount Sinai
\nand it reached till the folds of heaven.
\n70A noble man was sitting on it,
\nwith a crown and a large sceptre in his
\nleft hand. He beckoned to me with his right hand,
\nso I approached and stood before the throne.
\nHe gave me the sceptre and instructed me to sit
\n75on the great throne. Then he gave me the royal crown<\/p>\n
and got up from the throne.
\nI beheld the whole earth all around and saw
\nbeneath the earth and above the heavens.
\nA multitude of stars fell before my knees
\n80and I counted them all.
\nThey paraded past me like a battalion of men.
\nThen I awoke from my sleep in fear.<\/p>\n
83Raguel: My friend, this is a good sign from God.
\nMay I live to see the day when these things are fulfilled.
\n85You will establish a great throne,
\nbecome a judge and leader of men.
\nAs for your vision of the whole earth,
\nthe world below and that above the heavens\u2014
\nthis signifies that you will see what it is, what has been and what shall be.<\/p>\n
90Moses: Ha, what is this portent from the bush,
\nmiraculous and hard to believe?
\nthe bush has suddenly burst into furious flame,
\nyet all its foliage stays green and fresh.
\nWhat is going on? I shall approach and examine this
\n95great miracle. For it is hard to believe.
\nGod: Halt, great sir. Moses, do not come near,
\nuntil you have removed your shoes from your feet.
\nFor the ground on which you are standing is holy.
\nThe voice of God rings out to you from the bush.
\n100Have courage, my child, and hear my words\u2014
\nfor that you, a mortal, should see my face is impossible.
\nBut you may hear those words of mine
\nthat I have come to speak to you.
\nI am the God of your \u201cpatriarchs\u201d (as you call them),
\n105Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
\nI have called them to mind, them and my gifts,
\nand so I have come to save my people, the Hebrews.<\/p>\n
For I have seen my servants\u2019 suffering and distress.
\nNow go, and report my words
\n110to all the Hebrews and
\nthen to the king my instructions to you,
\nthat you lead my people from the land.
\nMoses: I am not articulate. My tongue is
\nneither skilled at speech nor fluent. I cannot
\n115address the king.
\nGod: I shall soon send your brother Aaron
\nand you will tell him everything I have spoken.
\nHe will speak before the king.
\nYou shall converse with me, Aaron will receive my instructions from you.<\/p>\n
120God: What is that in your hands? Speak quickly.
\nMoses: A rod wherewith to chastise beasts and men.
\nGod: Throw it on the ground and withdraw quickly.
\nFor it shall turn into a fearsome snake and you will marvel at it.
\nMoses: There, I have thrown it down. Oh Master, be merciful.
\n125How dreadful, how monstrous. Have pity on me.
\nI shudder at the sight, my limbs tremble.
\nGod: Have no fear. Reach out your hand and seize its
\ntail. It shall turn back into a rod.
\nNow put your hand into your bosom and withdraw it.
\n130Moses: There, I\u2019ve done it. It\u2019s become like snow.
\nGod: Put it back into your bosom and it shall be as it was before.<\/p>\n
132God: With this rod you shall work all kinds of plagues.
\nFirst, the river, all the springs
\nand pools will flow blood.
\n135I shall bring a multitude of frogs and lice upon the land.
\nThereafter, I will sprinkle on them ashes from a furnace
\nand fierce sores will erupt on their bodies.
\nFlies will come and torment many
\nof the Egyptians. Afterward there will come in its turn
\n140a pestilence and all who possess hard hearts will die.
\nThen I will make the heavens violent: hail mixed
\nwith fire will descend and lay men dead.
\nCrops and animals will be destroyed.
\nI will bring darkness for three whole days
\n145and will send locusts which will destroy
\nall the remaining crops and the young shoots.
\nAnd after this I shall slay the firstborn children.
\nThus, I shall bring to an end the arrogance of this evil people.
\nKing Pharaoh shall suffer none of the plagues I have described,
\n150until he sees his firstborn son a corpse.
\nThen in fear he will quickly send forth the people.
\nFurther, you will speak the following to the whole Hebrew people:
\n\u201cThis month is for you the beginning of your years.
\nIn this month I shall bring the people into another land,
\n155as I promised the patriarchs of the Hebrew race.\u201d
\nTell the whole people that they should
\nsacrifice the Pesach to God this month on the day of the full moon,
\nbefore nightfall, and should daub the door with the blood,
\nso that my dread messenger will pass them by.
\n160During the night you shall eat the roasted meat.
\nThen the king will drive the whole people out in haste.
\nBut when you are about to leave, I will make the Egyptians
\nwell-disposed to you and each of your women will receive from
\nher neighbor\u2019s vessels and raiment of all kinds,
\n165gold, silver and garments, so that
\nthe Egyptians shall render payment for the all the work the Jews have done.
\nWhen you reach your own land,
\nsince you will have had a journey of seven days
\nfrom that morning on which you left Egypt,
\n170you shall, for seven days a year,
\neat unleavened bread, and you shall worship God,
\nsacrificing to Him the firstborn male animals,
\nthe offspring that the young mothers first bear and that open first their mothers\u2019 wombs.<\/p>\n
175On the tenth day of this month let the Hebrew men take
\nfor their families unblemished lambs or calves
\nand keep them until the fourteenth day. Then at evening
\nyou shall make the sacrifice and eat it all, including the innards, roasted.]
\n180In this fashion you should eat it, all girded up,
\nwith your shoes on your feet and your
\nwalking sticks in your hands. For the king will order
\nthat you be banished from the land in haste.
\nBut every man shall be summoned. And after you have sacrificed,
\n185take a handful of hyssop,
\ndip it in the blood and touch it to the two doorposts,
\nso that death will pass the Hebrews by.
\nthis festival you shall keep for the LORD,
\nseven days of unleavened bread. No leaven shall be eaten.
\n190For you shall receive release from these evils
\nand God grants you this month departure from Egypt.
\nThis month is the beginning of months and eras.<\/p>\n
Egyptian Messenger: For when king Pharaoh went forth with this multitude of men
\nfrom his palace, with armed soldiers,
\n195all his cavalry, four-horsed chariots,
\nsoldiers on the flank and soldiers in the front ranks,
\nthere was an awesome host of men drawn up in battle formation.
\nThere were infantry in the middle and phalangists,
\nbut space was left for the chariots to pass through.
\n200On the left the horsemen were stationed,
\non the right were other Egyptians.
\nI inquired as to the total number of the army:
\nit came to one million men.
\nWhen my army overtook the Hebrews,
\n205they were lying in groups by
\nthe shore of the Red Sea.
\nThe men, worn out, were giving food to
\ntheir children and wives.
\nFlocks and household utensils were all around.
\n210They themselves were all unarmed
\nand on seeing us cried out tearfully
\ntoward the heaven and their
\nancestral God. There was a great turmoil among the men.
\nWe in contrast were delighted.
\n215We pitched our camp opposite them\u2014
\nthe place is called Beelzephon.
\nSince the sun was on the verge of setting,
\nwe waited, desiring a morning battle:
\nwe were confident in our numbers and our fearsome weapons.
\n220Then, divine wonders and portents began
\nto occur. A large pillar,
\nlooking like a cloud, suddenly appeared and took up a
\nposition between our camp and that of the Hebrews.
\nThen their leader Moses took
\n225the staff of God with which he had previously wrought the
\nprodigies and plagues against Egypt and
\nstriking the surface of the Red Sea he split it
\nin two. All of them rushed energetically and
\nswiftly through the sea\u2019s pathway.
\n230We entered the path quickly,
\non their track. We hastened forward, but encountered night.
\nSuddenly, the wheels of the chariots
\nwould not turn, as if they were bound fast.
\nFrom the heavens came a great flash, as if
\n235of a fire. It seemed that
\nGod was helping them. When they had reached
\nthe other side, a large wave surged
\naround us. One man, on seeing this, cried out:
\n\u201cLet us run back home and flee the power of the Supreme One.
\n240For He is helping them, but is wreaking
\nour destruction.\u201d Then the path was washed away
\nand the army perished.<\/p>\n
Scout: Great Moses, take note of the
\nplace we have discovered, by that airy valley.
\n245It is over there, as, I think, you can see.
\nFrom there a light flashed out
\nat night, some sort of sign, a pillar of fire.
\nThere we discovered a shady meadow
\nand springs of water. The spot is lush and abundant.
\n250Twelve springs issue forth from one rock,
\nthere are many strong and fruitful palm trees,
\nseventy in all. And there is grassland with water round about,
\nforage for our animals.<\/p>\n
We saw something else too, a strange and remarkable creature,
\n255such as no man has ever seen before.
\nHe was about twice the size of an eagle
\nand had multicolored wings.
\nHis breast was purplish
\nand his legs red. From his neck
\n260saffron tresses hung beautifully.
\nHis head was like that of a cock.
\nHe gazed all around with his yellow eye
\nwhich looked like a seed.
\nHe had the most wonderful voice.
\n265Indeed, it seemed that he was the king of all the birds.
\nFor all of them
\nfollowed behind him in fear.
\nHe strode in front, like an exultant bull,
\nlifting his foot in swift step.<\/p>\n
Pseudo-Orpheus<\/p>\n
David E. Aune<\/p>\n
Orpheus was a legendary poet in Greek myth endowed with the gift of enchanting song. Two famous stories about Orpheus were circulated in the ancient world. One story narrates his unsuccessful attempt to bring his lost love, Eurydice, back from the dead by charming Hades with his music. The other relates his rescue of Jason and the Argonauts from the bewitching Sirens by countering their magical singing with his own more powerful song. Eventually, Orpheus was credited with several types of cryptic poetry, including oracles, healing songs, theogonies (accounts of the origins of the gods), and initiatory rites (rituals used to induct volunteers into semiprivate pagan religious sects).
\nPseudo-Orpheus (also called the Jewish Orphica, the Pseudo-orphic fragments, and the Testament of Orpheus) is a short hexameter revelatory poem supposedly spoken by Orpheus to his son or disciple Musaeus, in which he finally recognizes the error of polytheism and informs Musaeus about the nature of the one true God.<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
The text known as the Jewish Orphica was freely revised by a series of anonymous author-editors from as early as the late 3rd century BCE until possibly as late as the 4th century CE. As a result, the Jewish Orphica has survived in a number of versions or recensions. Of these, scholars have identified four main recensions, normally referred to as A, B, C, and D, with each one slightly longer than its predecessor. The shortest and probably the most original form of the text is found in recension A (21 lines), written no earlier than the 3rd century BCE, probably by a Hellenistic Jewish author. Recension B (31 lines), which includes some material on Abraham (lines 27\u201331), is an expanded version of A, clearly written by a Hellenistic Jewish author-editor in the 2nd century BCE. Recension C (41 lines), which adds some material about Moses (lines 2, 41\u201342), is probably a revised version of Recension B, written by yet another Hellenistic Jewish author-editor, probably by the mid-2nd century BCE. Finally, Recension D (46 lines) seems to be a reworked version of recension C by a Christian author, writing as late as the 4th century CE, who reproduces nearly all of Recension C, frequently changing the wording and adding several lines referring to the incarnation of Jesus (lines 17\u201320).
\nRecension C was cited in a commentary on the Pentateuch by the first Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, Aristobulus of Alexandria (ca. 160 BCE). Aristobulus thought that many great Greek philosophers\u2014he included the legendary Orpheus in their ranks, along with Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato\u2014were dependent for their ideas about God on the Torah. Believing that Orpheus had actually written the Orphic poem he cited in his commentary, he titled it Hieros Logos, or \u201cSacred Word,\u201d a phrase indicating its dependence on the Torah, the ultimate Sacred Word. Later, the Christian historian Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. 260\u2013340 CE) quoted the same version of Jewish Orphica in his lengthy work Preparation for the Gospel (13.12.5), attributing it to the commentary by Aristobulus.<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
Many fragments of Orphic poetry survive in quotations in Greek writers beginning with Plato (427\u2013347 BCE). Orpheus occasionally appears in Jewish art, such as the frescoes in the amazingly well-preserved 3rd-century CE synagogue at Dura Europos, a Roman border city on the banks of the Euphrates in what is now Syria.<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
The translation that follows is based on the Greek text of Recension C.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Collins, John J. Between Athens and Jerusalem: Jewish Identity in the Hellenistic Diaspora. New York: Crossroad, 1983.
\nFeldman, Louis, and Reinhold Meyer, eds. Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans: Primary Readings. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996.
\nGeorgi, Dieter. The Opponents of Paul in Second Corinthians. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986.
\nGrant, Robert M. God and the One God. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986.
\nGuthrie, W. K. C. Orpheus and Greek Religion: A Study of the Orphic Movement. London: Methuen, 1935. Reprint, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
\nHolladay, Carl. Fragments from Hellenistic Jewish Authors. Vol. 4: Orphica. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1996.
\nLafarque, M. \u201cOrphica: A New Translation and Introduction.\u201d In The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James H. Charlesworth, 2:795\u2013801. Garden City: Doubleday, 1985.
\nLaks, Andr\u00e9, and Glenn W. Most. Studies on the Derveni Papyrus. Oxford: Clarendon, 1997.
\nMras, Karl. Eusebius Werke, Achter Band: Die Praeparatio Evangelica, part 2. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1956, 191\u201394.
\nSch\u00fcrer, Emil. The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 BC\u2013AD 135), revised by Geza Vermes, Fergus Mill, and Martin Goodman, 3.1:659\u201367. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1986.
\nWest, M. L. The Orphic Poems. Oxford: Clarendon, 1983.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
Recension C<\/p>\n
1I will speak to those to whom it is permitted; shut the doors, you uninitiated ones, 2you who avoid both the laws of the righteous ones laid down by God 3for all at one time. But listen, child of the light-bearing Moon, 4aMusaeus, for I am about to proclaim the truth.
\n4bLet not what formerly 5appeared in your heart rob you of life itself. 6But pay attention to the divine Logos, and attend to it, 7ruling that intelligent organ, the heart. And set out ably 8on the course, looking only to the Immortal One who has formed the cosmos.
\n9An ancient saying provides information about Him: 10\u201cHe is one, of Himself self-generated, and by Him are all things completed,\u201d 11and among them He himself goes about and none of those 12with mortal souls sees Him, but He is seen with the mind. 13And He himself from good things does not make evil for mortal 14men, yet discord and hatred accompany him. 15With war and plague and tearful suffering. 16And there is no other. But you would easily understand all things. 17If you would see Him. Before then, here upon the earth 18my child, I will show you, when I see His 19footprints and the powerful hand of the mighty God. 20But Him I do not see; for all around Him a cloud has been set. 21For me, yet it stands tenfold for other people.
\n22For no one among mortals could see the ruler of men, 23except a certain unique person, by descent a branch of the 24Chaldean people, for he was learned in following the path of the sun 25and the movement of the sphere as it rotates around the earth, 26in circles regularly, each on its own axis. 27And the winds He guides around the air and streams 28of water. And He reveals a meteor of flame produced by His might.
\n29And He Himself is established over the great heaven 30on a golden throne, and earth lies under His feet. 31and around the ends of the ocean His right hand 32He stretches, and the foundation of the mountains trembles within violently.
\n33And it is not possible to endure His mighty force. But in every way 34He is heavenly, and completes all things on earth. 35Since He controls their beginning as well as their middle and end. 36As a word of the ancients, as one born in the underbrush proclaimed 37he received teaching from God in the two tablets of the law.
\n38To reveal any more to you is not permitted. My limbs tremble. 39By thought from above He governs over everything in orderly fashion. 40O child, be close to Him in your mind
\n41And do not abandon this divine message, but rather preserve it in your heart.<\/p>\n
Pseudo-Philo, On Samson and On Jonah<\/p>\n
Gohar Muradyan and Aram Topchyan<\/p>\n
The homilies On Samson and On Jonah are rhetorically embellished literary elaborations or paraphrases of two compact biblical stories. On Samson, drawn from Judg. 13\u201314, tells of Samson\u2019s birth (about the half of the homily describes its circumstances); his youth and killing of the lion; his marriage with a Philistine woman; his famous riddle; and the murder of 30 Philistines (Judg. 13\u201314). On Jonah is the story of the disobedient prophet Jonah, who tried to ignore God\u2019s command and escape from God, narrated in the short book of Jonah.
\nThe main theme of On Samson, declared in 2:2, is \u201cwhat Samson did thanks to his strength,\u201d while chapter 1 is a kind of a preamble, telling briefly how Samson lost his strength in the episode with Delilah (Judg. 16:4\u201319). The preamble to On Jonah, in which various craftsmen\u2014and among them, God\u2014are deemed more valuable than their instruments, resembles a rhetorical exercise.<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
The two homilies were written in Greek: the biblical text underlying them is the Septuagint (LXX). Therefore, in some cases (On Jonah 27:3; On Samson 1:5; 15:3; 29:4; 22:2; 27:3; 30:5) the author\u2019s biblical citations deviate from the Hebrew Bible and are identical with the the Armenian version of the LXX. Only in one case (On Samson 41:3) does the biblical quote come from the Hebrew Bible and its content deviates from the LXX. The homilies survive in an old Armenian translation, in about a dozen manuscripts, the oldest of which were copied in the latter half of the 13th century. In most of these manuscripts, they are transmitted as part of the Philonic corpus; thus, in Armenian (and maybe already in Greek) tradition these homilies were ascribed to Philo of Alexandria. In fact, On Samson and On Jonah seem to have been translated from Greek by the same person who translated Philo\u2019s works (probably in the late 5th century); this is apparent from his style, which literally imitates certain linguistic features of Greek.
\nAucher, the first editor of the homilies, published them as genuine works of Philo of Alexandria. He provided the text with a parallel Latin translation. Hans Lewy, a later editor, entitled his book The Pseudo-Philonic De Jona, thus calling into question the assumption of Philonic authorship. Indeed, Philo is not likely to have written the homilies: the approaches of Philo and Pseudo-Philo to the biblical text are quite different. Philo sequentially cites short biblical passages and gives their literal or allegorical interpretation (or both), whereas Pseudo-Philo has composed rhetorically embellished literary versions of biblical stories.
\nFolker Siegert, who has thoroughly studied the two homilies, mentions no allusions to specific facts or to datable sources, except for the completion of the LXX translation in the early 2nd century BCE; this suggests that the homilies may have been written between this time and the 4th century CE, when Greek oratory flourished in Jewish synagogues. In On Samson the biblical story is transferred from a rural to an urban environment whose milieu is suggestive of a city in the Greek-speaking world during the Roman period, in particular, Alexandria. An Alexandrian setting for the text\u2019s composition also comports with these homilies having been transmitted together with Philo\u2019s writings.<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
Siegert regards the art of preaching on sacred texts as an innovation of the Greek-speaking synagogue that was later taken over by Christianity. Before Aucher\u2019s publication of these homilies, no text of this genre\u2014i.e. any speech on a biblical text given during the synagogue liturgy\u2014was known, and previously this art was attested only by indirect witnesses. A simple and archaic worldview characterizes these sermons, and they contain no philosophical reasoning. As for the rhetorical arrangement of the material, it is sophisticated and displays a finely honed skill in psychological analysis.
\nIn Siegert\u2019s view, these texts are actual speeches delivered before a synagogue audience, not written compositions: it was a common practice in antiquity to declaim long, improvised speeches. These works belong to the genre of epideictic oratory, that is, they are panegyrics or encomia on Jewish heroes. The pomposity of florid and exuberant \u201cAsianic\u201d oratory is obvious throughout the text. Thus, the sermons are specimens of \u201centertainment,\u201d with, of course, theological content: the main topic of On Jonah is \u201cGod\u2019s philanthropy\u201d and of On Samson, \u201cthe fair Jew.\u201d Along with the stylistic affinity of the two homilies, Siegert notes many differences in their content and ideology; but this does not prevent him from supposing that the works might belong to the same author. Being a good orator, Pseudo-Philo was able to elaborate on his subject matter, although sometimes this leads him to quite contradictory conclusions. Furthermore, according to Siegert the sermons contain no direct references to the Law of Moses, which could explain why Christians have preserved such sermons rather many others that would have been nearer to the Rabbinic Midrash. But the textual absence of the Mosaic Law does not militate against a Jewish origin or against the sermons having been taken seriously by the Jewish community. Its absence in On Jonah can be explained by the sermon\u2019s relationship to the afternoon reading on the Day of Atonement (Meg. 31a), which had a universal message: the story of the Ninevites\u2019 repentance gave this day a meaning that is valid for all mankind. The biblical text of On Samson was the afternoon reading associated with Num. 4:21\u20137:89 and belonged to the Sabbath, when the Torah was present, and the preacher\u2019s goal was to entertain the synagogue audience until sunset.
\nOn Samson and On Jonah were not only an integral part of the Armenian Corpus Philonicum but were also incorporated by Armenian commentators on Philo (from the 13th century onward) in one of the seven \u201ccycles\u201d or \u201cseries\u201d of class lectures on Philonic writings. This cycle was called \u201cExodus\u201d; it included Questions and Answers on Exodus 1\u20132; On the Special Laws 1.79\u201381, 131\u201361, 285\u2013345; 3.1\u20137; On the Decalogue; Spec. Laws 3.8\u201363; and On Samson, On Jonah, and On God (De Deo). This series contains the interpretation of moral norms given in the form of the written Law not to all people but to a few righteous persons. According to an Armenian scholar, the triad On Samson\u2014On Jonah\u2014On God represents the two highest virtues, namely piety and philanthropy in their relation to the creative and the lordly potencies of the Almighty.<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
In elaborating the biblical episodes, Pseudo-Philo uses various literary devices from the arsenal of rhetorical composition. He turns the laconic account of biblical events into detailed descriptions\u2014for example, in the account of Samson tearing the lion (On Samson 27:8\u201310). He supplies his descriptions with elaborate interpretations; for example, in On Samson, his explanation of the angel\u2019s likeness to God (On Samson 9:6\u20137); in On Jonah, his excursus on the possibility of deceiving humans and the impossibility of deceiving God when casting lots (On Jonah 11:6\u20138). At times Pseudo-Philo addresses his interpretations to an imaginary opponent (On Samson 26:1\u20137); to \u201cone of the audience\u201d (On Samson 35:1\u20136) or to \u201ca listener\u201d (On Samson 38:1\u20137).
\nAmong the typical rhetorical devices the author employs are comparisons: God is compared with a doctor (On Samson 7:1; On Jonah 2:1); the barrenness of Samson\u2019s parents and their relations with the angel are compared with the story of Sarah and Abraham (On Samson 7:2\u20133; 14:3\u20138); Jonah\u2019s tempest is compared with fire (On Jonah 8:3\u20134). Pseudo-Philo also uses metaphor; for example, Jonah is a \u201crock\u201d (On Jonah 7:4); his release from the belly of the fish is \u201cchildbirth,\u201d and the fish carrying him inside is \u201cpregnancy\u201d (On Jonah 25:7\u20138). Long or short speeches are put in the mouths of the characters, for example, Samson\u2019s speech at his wedding (On Samson 30:1\u20138); God\u2019s command to Jonah (On Jonah 4\u20135); and Jonah\u2019s prayer in the belly of the fish (On Jonah 19\u201326). Similarly, Pseudo-Philo elaborates on the shorter remarks of the biblical characters, making them into real speeches; for example, Jonah\u2019s proclamation to the Ninevites (On Jonah 27:1\u20135). Pseudo-Philo also poses rhetorical questions (e.g., On Samson 34:1; 39:2, 5; On Jonah 3:1; 4:5); uses emotional appeals to the characters (On Samson 31:1; On Jonah 17:2); and addresses the audience (On Samson 10:1; 35:1; On Jonah 15:1). He presents a controversy surrounding a specific question, refers to contradictory opinions, and offers arguments against the position unacceptable to him (On Samson 23\u201324). He cites examples from Scripture to corroborate his view on a particular question (concerning patriarchs receiving various spirits: On Samson 25:2\u20134).
\nThe LXX is sometimes cited literally, but there are also examples of paraphrase. This too is characteristic of the rhetorical method of writing. For instance, \u201cA man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very awesome\u201d (Judg. 13:6) is paraphrased as: \u201cBut I saw (\u2026) the venerable dignity and appearance of an angelic image with a shining and majestic countenance. I could learn from no one [but] from him what I saw, and I conjectured about his nature and his dwelling place. By his grandeur, he looked like a man of God and by the lucent brilliancy of his face, like a citizen of heaven, as if wearing the rays of a luminary\u201d (On Samson 8:3\u20135). Pseudo-Philo also invents a new episode (the second assembly of the Ninevites [On Jonah 39]) and changes some details of the original stories (e.g., while in the LXX the sailors throw Jonah into the sea, here he jumps himself [On Jonah 14:3], perhaps to achieve a more dramatic effect).<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Kennedy, G. The Art of Persuasion in Greece. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1974.
\nLewy, H., The Pseudo-Philonic De Jona, Pt. 1: The Armenian Text with a Critical Introduction. London: Christophers, 1936.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. \u201cHomily and Panegyrical Sermon.\u201d In Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period (330 BC\u2013AD 400), edited by Stanley E. Porter, 421\u201343. Leiden: Brill 1997.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. \u201cHellenistic Jewish Midrash, 1: Beginnings.\u201d In Encyclopedia of Midrash. Biblical Interpretation in Formative Judaism, edited by J. Neusner and A. Avery-Peck, 1:199\u2013220. Leiden: Brill, 2005. And \u201cHellenistic Jewish Midrash, 3: Developed Non-Allegorical Forms.\u201d In Neusner and Avery-Peck, Encyclopedia of Midrash, 1:232\u201350.
\nLewy, H., and J. de Roulet, trans. Pseudo-Philon: Pr\u00e9dications synagogales, traduction, notes et commentaire par avec la collaboration de J. J. Aubert et N. Cochand (Sources Chr\u00e9tiennes, 435). Paris: Cerf, 1999.
\nSiegert, F., trans. Drei hellenistisch-j\u00fcdische Predigten. Vol. 1: \u00dcbersetzung aus dem Armenischen und sprachliche Erl\u00e4uterungen. Vol. 2: Kommentar. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 20, 61. T\u00fcbingen: Mohr, 1980, 1992.
\nTerian, A. Philonis Alexandrini De Animalibus. The Armenian Text with an Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Studies in Hellenistic Judaism 1. Chico: Scholars Press, 1981.
\nVardazarjan, O. S. Filon Aleksandri\u012dski\u012d v vosprijatii armjanskogo srednevekovjja [The Perception of Philo of Alexandria in Medieval Armenia]. Yerevan: Lusabats\u2019, 2006.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION OF ON SAMSON<\/p>\n
Chapter 1<\/p>\n
(1) Now, after being pulled out from the vortex of ductility he was inundated with, and sank into the deep of, voluptuousness; he could no more look upward, but had himself wholly turned into lust. (2) As if reproached by a judge, he was forced by the woman to tell the truth. (3) For the woman, having erected the lust as a cross and having nailed upon it the desires like straps, hung him who was caught by them. (4) Now, when she had hung high and unnerved him with gentle and flattering words, penetrating into the viscera of the young man together with the torture of desire, he was unable to abstain from lust (which would be easy to do through prudence), and he started to reveal the ineffable secret and said: \u201cNo razor must come upon my head.\u201d (5) And the woman impudently made him sleep upon her knees and called for a barber; having at first shaven off chastity from him, she shaved off his strength as well. (6) And alongside the barber there was also an intelligible haircutter, the Devil, who together with the locks cut off his strength too and made him one of the sinful men.<\/p>\n
Chapter 2<\/p>\n
(1) While one needs strength to perform great deeds, wisdom is necessary for us to narrate the story of miracle working. (2) Since Samson got strength to accomplish great deeds, let us ask for wisdom from the One who had given him that power, in order to set wisely before the listeners what Samson did, thanks to his strength. (3) For if in our account we turn out to be ignorant and careless about the veracity of the deeds, we shall not exhaust Samson\u2019s strength but shall blaspheme the grace of God.<\/p>\n
Chapter 3<\/p>\n
(1) In each of His wondrous acts, God demonstrates some other miracle: He shows might, announces philanthropy, reveals supremacy, teaches magnanimity, mentions the blessings kept for the delight of the righteous, or foretells the condemnation awaiting sinners. (2) Now, since God displays through Samson all His benevolence and humaneness, He made this evident by giving him divine gifts already before his birth. (3) For if he were pleasing to the living God [only] after being born, his strength would doubtlessly be a reward for just deeds. (4) But since what had been recently seeded was concealed in his mother\u2019s pregnancy, therefore the gift from above came into being before the birth of its receiver, so the grace and the philanthropic reward were not for just deeds.<\/p>\n
Chapter 4<\/p>\n
(1) Once again God demonstrated His power by granting him strength overcoming that of everyone. (2) And He clearly manifested the might of His activity by giving him superiority over the Philistines. (3) For is it not obvious that those who defeat peoples that serve alien gods also defeat their supreme assistants together with them? (4) And [Samson\u2019s] endowments were irresistible and irrefutable; one can learn this from the gifts that God granted to him. (5) However, in the following way God also showed his discretion: as long as he fully complied with the commands, God too kept in full the gifts [given] to him, but when he disobeyed the commandment, God did not leave the gifts to Samson but imposed a punishment on him for his transgressions. (6) Then He returns again to His love for humans but does not grant all the gifts to him, for it would be unfair to crown the defeated one. (7) Therefore, God provides just a drop of grace, so that, with His utmost humaneness, He should ultimately nullify the death sentence and prevent His gifts from complete extinguishment. (8) But in order not to digress from the subject that we have in mind and not to waste words for other purposes, let us revert to what we have promised and to the beginning of the events.<\/p>\n
Chapter 5<\/p>\n
(1) Samson\u2019s parents, having lived with each other for a long time and having sought for a fruit of their union, did not find it. (2) For the soil of the woman\u2019s field turned out to be sterile and was perplexed:receiving the seed, it did not grow a fruit. (3) Just as the dryness and infertility of this earth needs the visitation of God and a flow of waters over it, likewise when a woman\u2019s soil rejects her fruit, she is in need of the divine spring and grace. (4) While \u0430 good and efficient observer, such as a skillful plowman, eradicates whatever impedes growth and makes [the soil] prolific and flat for the sower, the divine grace grants to nature the perfection of the seed itself.<\/p>\n
Chapter 6<\/p>\n
(1) Now, since the philanthropic God saw that the human nature was impotent, He dispatched an angel, as if a bringer of good news to annunciate [the birth] of a child to the barren woman, but actually to command [her] nature with unseen power to accept what had not been sown yet. (2) For I think that in this way He ordered the man to be born and to become a gift of the voice of God and the angel\u2019s service, especially because he was going to carry out the commands of God. (3) Now, in order that the God of everyone should not take an alien into service, He grants him from above to those who did not find, so that the parents should receive a piece of news about the one to be born. (4) And now He confers upon the parents, as upon the instruments of childbirth, the glory of childbearing. (5) And this was not something insignificant: to cleanse the infamy of childlessness by the birth of an offspring, and He Himself, as the Artisan, provided the piece of news about the child for the salvation of the whole people.<\/p>\n
Chapter 7<\/p>\n
(1) And this is surprising to me, for just as the doctors who practice medicine for people with knowledge rather than with art examine the condition of sick bodies, in order to give the salutary remedy to the patients in measured portions, likewise God cures the illnesses of those whose souls have fallen sick, offering them not simple and artless healing. (2) But why in the case of the barren Sarah it was Abraham who heard the announcement of the child\u2019s birth, whereas here it was the woman who received the messenger of the good tidings? (3) For there the husband was readier than the wife to believe the annunciation, while here Manoah\u2019s wife was readier to believe.<\/p>\n
Chapter 8<\/p>\n
(1) The angel, having annunciated the good news to the woman and having ordered her to beware of drunkenness, withdrew, impregnating the soul with good hope before the womb. (2) And when her husband came back, the woman told him about the visit of God and the vision of the angel, saying she did not know who had appeared to her and in what place he lived. (3) \u201cBut I saw,\u201d she said, \u201cthe venerable dignity and appearance of an angelic image with a shining and majestic countenance. (4) I could learn from no one [but] from him what I saw, and I conjectured about his nature and his dwelling place. (5) By his grandeur, he looked like a man of God and by the lucent brilliancy of his face, like a citizen of heaven, as if wearing the rays of a luminary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 9<\/p>\n
(1) When Manoah heard this, exulted in his soul at the expectation of the child, and admired with his ears the impressive solemnity of the message, he ardently called the angel to come again, wishing to see and hear the messenger himself. (2) And God, having forestalled the prayer, gave a command, and once again [the angel] appeared to the woman as she sat in the sown land. (3) This too was a sign of the truth, for her land was also seeded (at which the seed of the external land hinted). (4) Then, borrowing some speed from the outstripping angel and adding it to her own run, the woman raced with a bird\u2019s swiftness and reached her husband; meanwhile the angel, quick and traversing the air and speedier than the sun and the moon, waited for the woman\u2019s husband. (5) Indeed, God had sown in him so much meekness and His love for human beings. (6) And this is not surprising: for if man was made according to the image of the divine face, a much greater share of the likeness to God was given to the angels\u2019 faces. (7) For the closer they dwell to God, the more is their resemblance to His image.<\/p>\n
Chapter 10<\/p>\n
(1) But I have dragged my homily out, O beloved ones, praising [the angels], since a praise of them is an encomium to the Godhead. (2) For he who eulogizes the nicely adapted appearance admires more the living nature itself, from which the art, having extracted its likeness, has created a copy of the image. (3) However, though we have praised exceedingly [the angels\u2019] appearance, [their] face does not bear the archetypal beauty.<\/p>\n
Chapter 11<\/p>\n
(1) Now that God\u2019s love for humans, the angel\u2019s docility, the woman\u2019s willingness, and the husband\u2019s obedience have been demonstrated (and they all were together: He who gave the order and those who received the order), once again I admire the modest and proficient behavior of the angel. (2) For he did not show up the second time in his first appearance and presented himself to Manoah not as he had appeared to the woman. (3) He came and stood before the sight of human eyes not as the halo of the sun, which strikes with its rays those who look at it; here he was seen to Manoah in a moderate appearance, artfully, as I have said, and favorably to the affair. (4) For when there were a promise, a gift, and the one who was to get them, it was necessary to assume greatness comparable with the gift, so that [the woman] would receive great faith from a great one. (5) Whereas when there was just a simple talk and a clear commandment, no awesome appearance was needed for the words said; otherwise fright would cause inattention to the commandment. (6) Moreover, it seems to me that the angel\u2019s appearance was divided into two natures, so that both the wife and the husband could see him according to their abilities. (7) And I call Scripture to witness that he appeared so to both. (8) For when the woman described the nature of the one who appeared, she said: \u201cA man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel.\u201d (9) And what about Manoah? It says: \u201cManoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 12<\/p>\n
(1) If so, the shining countenance and the tremendous greatness [signified] the wife\u2019s awareness, while the simple appearance and the humble countenance, the husband\u2019s ignorance (for the humble one remained humble even when he told the great thing: he who was first dispatched to the woman). (2) And just as a king\u2019s guardian brings good news about a victory over enemies, likewise the angel brought good tidings to the woman about the remission of the barren nature. (3) Thus, first [appearing] to the woman and then for the second time being called by the husband, he did not behave arrogantly and, moreover, did what was unfitting for him: he waited without hesitation. (4) And then, when the husband came there and turned out to be unworthy of his glory, and even very disdainfully asked him who he was and from where, and \u201cdid you make this advent for the first time or, according to the woman\u2019s request, for the second time?\u201d he neither accused Manoah\u2019s audacious boldness nor avoided the many questions, but started to instruct the one who questioned him as follows.<\/p>\n
Chapter 13<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cHe who is now before you was also seen by your wife; I have come to give you good news about a gift. (2) For the Supporter of everyone in trouble (the only One who can relieve hardship and give commands to nature), having seen your marriage infertile due to the obstinacy of nature, dispatched me for two purposes: to open the closed doors of nature and fulfill the wish of the child-loving souls. (3) Now what must those who receive a gift as a reward give in reward for the gift? (4) They must obey the commandment of the Blessed One, namely, the mother has to keep away from tippling and the offspring, from a razor. (5) For the woman should be awake and sober when she bears the one destined for great deeds, and the man should [be sure] that nothing hurts the child who is to be the head of the people. (6) And he must wear the hair as a sign of multitudes, since he will have accumulated the strength of all in his body. (7) Now the head of the people has to remain blameless and unhurt: the sign of a mass shall not be cut. (8) For if this remains so, the multitude of people will be like one body: the tower protected by the one who is to be born will remain undefeated and not demolished. (9) But if the descendant\u2019s head is corrupted or the hair is cut, the masses\u2019 strength will fall, because the man was its repository.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 14<\/p>\n
(1) Hearing this, Manoah showed gratitude to the one who promised, assured the angel that he was going to observe the commandment, and invited him to dinner. (2) Looking at this, one will be surprised at the differences between just men, for indeed there is a long way both from the minor to the medium and from the medium to the extremely righteous. (3) For why did Abraham invite the angels to dinner before he got the promise, while Manoah, after receiving it? (4) For Manoah invited him in reward for the gift; he got first and then granted, whereas Abraham set the table before them as a sign of hospitality; he gave first and then received. (5) The offers of both were good but incomparable, because one welcomed the guest thanks to what he got, while the other, thanks to his character. (6) For this reason, in the case of Abraham they entered his tent and pretended to eat of his meal. (7) But one might ask: if they withdrew without eating the meal, how was the food placed before them consumed? (8) Since the angels were full of fire, by means of fire they made the food look consumed.<\/p>\n
Chapter 15<\/p>\n
(1) The angel refused Manoah\u2019s invitation and advised him to change the hospitality offered to him into hospitality to God. (2) Accepting the advice to sacrifice to God and wishing to honor the angel as well, Manoah asked: \u201cWhat is your name, so that we can at least keep it in our memory?\u201d (3) And he, once again giving him to understand that his honor was God\u2019s and, regarding a praise of God as his honor, said: \u201cWhy do you seek after my name? It is wonderful.\u201d O divine conversations in heaven, where the prophet teaches the LORD\u2019s wisdom to the hosts of angels!<\/p>\n
Chapter 16<\/p>\n
(1) He did not say, \u201cIt is Michael,\u201d nor, \u201cGabriel,\u201d nor, \u201cThe mighty one spoke,\u201d in order not to misappropriate the divine name. (2) What did he say? \u201cIt is wonderful\u201d; thus, the angel evidently glorifies [his name] by changing it from time to time according to the needs of the inferior [humans]. (3) Secondly, to demonstrate his loyalty once more, the angel said it was inappropriate to mention the name of the Great and Supreme One; by altering the name, he showed his honor obscurely and gave occasion to comprehension. (4) And when one attempts to comprehend the changing name, the comprehension ends in the glorification of God. (5) And what permanently exists in the glory of God is that He and His kingdom are always unchangeably present for the worshipers.<\/p>\n
Chapter 17<\/p>\n
(1) Now after this he prepared a sacrifice, and the angel waited until the gift of the sacrifice was offered to God. (2) Then together with the offering he ascended the chariot of the Honored One in its movement toward heaven, being taken aloft by the flame of the offering. (3) For the angel had both to demonstrate his rank to Manoah and to divide the miracle between the beginning and the end. (4) And he separated himself into two natures: when he appeared to the wife, he looked awesome at the beginning, and the husband saw his terrible image at the end. (5) So that by his appearance he could persuade the wife to acknowledge the beginning of the event and then could make the husband believe in its accomplishment by the offering and represent the vision as a pledge of the forthcoming wonder.<\/p>\n
Chapter 18<\/p>\n
(1) As soon as Manoah placed on a rock what was needed for the offering, the angel touched it with the apex of his scepter and it suddenly blazed up. (2) And when Manoah saw the offering inflamed in this manner, the angel ascending with the flame and leading the sacrifice to heaven, the admiration of his face turned into awe. (3) This also happened in his virtuous soul, for he was aware of what Scripture says: \u201cNo one shall see me and live.\u201d (4) Now, supposing to have seen the God of all, he thought his life had become lifeless, whereas the woman, when she felt he was scared, heartened him wisely and courageously as follows. (5) \u201cDid this vision,\u201d she said, \u201cmean evil, husband, and was that good thing for a wicked man? If one were condemned to death, his offering would not be accepted. (6) Even for a wicked man it is desirable to see a good vision, and if the Philanthropist has been benevolent to us by the vision itself and by accepting our offering, for what purpose would He condemn the one who honored Him and from whom He accepted the offering as a token and guarantee of his salvation?\u201d (7) A new wonder could be seen: how the husband was full of fear, while the wife of courage, and how he who should have consoled and emboldened the fearful wife was himself afraid and needed consolation, whereas the wife, who should have received a remedy against fright, emboldened the frightened one with words as if with a medicine! (8) Somebody said not vainly that different spirits live inside the visible appearance: a man may have a female soul, and a soul fitting a man may wear a female image.<\/p>\n
Chapter 19<\/p>\n
(1) Since the wife received the good tidings, the husband was persuaded, the angel withdrew, and the offering reached its supernal destination; the woman, having got all this help, bore for him Samson, the rescuer of the suffering people and the memory of the praised bravery of his life. (2) Though looking like others, Samson was far more remarkable in what he was compared with them: the spirit served him as a soul, and his body was more invulnerable and blameless than a diamond. (3) As those who narrate about him witness, it was robust and insensitive to the strike of any iron: a blow to him returned to the giver, and he who struck was himself stricken. (4) However, Samson was watched by the spirit, in order that, so to say, he should not make war against anyone but also should not concede the desired victory to a tyrant. (5) For Samson was unreachable to those who tried to strike him: no arrow of the enemies could wound him, and he resisted those who wished his defeat, turning their evil intent against themselves.<\/p>\n
Chapter 20<\/p>\n
(1) There is a saying that envy usually follows great men, and just as their way of life is perfect, the recorded deeds ascribed to them are [also] perfect. (2) But the feeble nature of humanity seems not to bear the greatness of the grace of God; therefore, although at that time the brave Samson had got a powerful soul and a strong body, he was reproached by the spirit for being weak and more effeminate than fleshly desires.<\/p>\n
Chapter 21<\/p>\n
(1) For when his strength matured and both the healthy vigor of the body and the desire of the soul fully developed within the same period, at that time, I think, his anima wanted coitus with a woman (because his body had become excessively robust). (2) In his full-grown strength, a part of which was for insemination, he wished to sow some seed in the ground, so that his offspring would become the advocate of paternal power, being poured with the seed as an offering. (3) Therefore, neither are boys fit for this affair, since they are immature, nor elders, since they have lost their strength, but Samson was at the right age. (4) And the full-blown flower on his face was like the most beautiful flowers of fields and gardens; it was produced by the bold, pleasant, and nice play of smile in his eyes while the sun\u2019s rays colored his cheeks. (5) This was not like the beauty blooming on girls and women but like that appearing from the deeds of heroes, who in their toil acquire a tan from the supporting sun. (6) The shape of his brows resembled the outline of the moon at the time when the crescent is not yet filled from inside to become a full sphere.<\/p>\n
Chapter 22<\/p>\n
(1) Before his face, charming like the halo of the sun, a Philistine woman cropped up, and the woman had a perfect female constitution. (2) And he turned his sight toward the alien country like one hunted and bound by a vision. (3) For when his eyes perceived the yielding prey, and the continuing vision fed the desire, it inflicted a wound upon the soul inside him. (4) The wounded soul was deprived of pious thoughts and changed the nice color of shyness into impudence.<\/p>\n
Chapter 23<\/p>\n
(1) Some sages say he was afire with passion for a Philistine by the will of God, so that it would become a way for him to harm the Philistines, but others say that the Godhead does not wish to save by lawlessness. (2) For He had the power to fulfill both things: to make him enter into a lawful marriage and to punish the Philistines justly, but since Samson chose the wrong path to the alien woman voluntarily, the Almighty God turned Samson\u2019s sin into the punishment of the Philistines.<\/p>\n
Chapter 24<\/p>\n
(1) However others, due to incomplete understanding and inability to comprehend the divine power and Scripture to their own advantage, transform Samson\u2019s sin into an accusation of the spirit; for, they say, he sinned while possessing the spirit. (2) But those who dare say this deserve a double penalty from God; for they have voluntarily blasphemed Scripture and, not knowing the truth, have interpreted maliciously what is good, and have disparaged Scripture. (3) For if he had got the spirit of justice or sagacity, their accusation would be fair, but he had the spirit of strength: what [else could he do]? (4) Justice, not strength could prevent the sin, but Samson had not got this spirit together with the latter; why, disregarding the man, you reproach the spirit of strength, requiring acts of justice from him? (5) For the accused spirit could rightfully answer: \u201cWe are various gifts under the reign of the Good and Great One; the nature of each gift is separate, and the grace of each blessing is measured. (6) For to one the spirit of wisdom is sent, to another one, of knowledge and understanding, to a third one, of strength and might, and to a fourth one, of the fear of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 25<\/p>\n
(1) Now if the man had got the gifts of all the spirits, he would have to be sinless, but when he had got [only] a drop of grace from the source and the great sea, how could he find the whole, having received just one of the parts? (2) Let us persuade by examples that this is so: our forefather Abraham got the spirit of justice and showed himself to be full of goodness, for he believed the Living One. (3) Joseph got [the spirit] of chastity, proving that his body was full of it to her who gave occasion for this, and defeating the fleshly desire. (4) Simeon and Levi got the spirit of jealousy and displayed it by killing the Shechemites; Judah got [the spirit] of just judgment and demonstrated it when judging his daughter-in-law. (5) Samson had [the spirit] of strength, and he most perfectly gave evidence of it by his deeds. (6) Now if that spirit had proved to be weak before those who were powerful, it would deserve accusation (for it was expected to manifest strength using Samson as a tool), but if the spirit had remained strong as a gift, and it were other machinations that defeated Samson, why should we make an unfounded accusation against the spirit?<\/p>\n
Chapter 26<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cYes,\u201d [the opponent] says, \u201cbut when Samson sinned, the spirit should have withdrawn, in order not to assist the sinner.\u201d (2) Where, then, could one look for the fulfillment of the divine promise? Are you not the most sworn enemies of the Holy Scripture? (3) For the child\u2019s parents had been given the promise of power\u2014God had sent, and the angel had conveyed it\u2014but he was overcome by the lust for the woman before demonstrating strength by his deeds. (4) Now if the spirit of strength had withdrawn because of Samson\u2019s lust, the promise would have been lost. (5) And do they not sharpen their tongues against the Godhead Himself by saying that Scripture tells a lie, because Samson did not receive the spirit of strength, so the grace is mentioned baselessly (for if he had got it, we would have clearly seen that in his deeds)? (6) Thus, the slander of the impious is found everywhere, but Scripture cannot be slandered and will not surrender to artful words; it speaks with pious and unsophisticated people. (7) This was an apologetic answer concerning the spirit; now let us return to Samson and the divine story.<\/p>\n
Chapter 27<\/p>\n
(1) Thus, he was in the prime of life, and youth was blossoming on his body, and he was a treasure, stronger than a man. (2) Endowed with bodily strength, he traveled with his parents; and the town where Samson went with his parents was called Timnath. (3) When going there, Samson deviated from the path and entered a vineyard; rejoicing at the scene of fruitfulness, he saw a young lion sitting under bunches of grapes. (4) He attacked and roused it, as if intending to wrestle with a pup, not a lion cub. (5) And the fight was worth watching: the mane on the young lion\u2019s neck was the sign of its power while Samson\u2019s vigorous age was clearly seen on his face. (6) When they clung close together, the lion (for irrational animals are furious, whereas rational men, if virtuous, are stronger), as if catching a usual prey, opened its jaws to snap at the prey and assailed with its abdomen pulled in. (7) But just as brave fighters find in enemies\u2019 arrogant fearlessness a motive for their cleaving strike, likewise the brave fighter Samson defeated the young lion thanks to its effrontery. (8) For the valiant man saw the jaws (which are the lion\u2019s weapon in every case) open, and since they were open toward two sides, he put his hands on each [of them]: the left hand held the lower jaw and the right hand, the young lion\u2019s nose and lip. (9) Exerting force against it, Samson opened [the jaws] wider and pressed more and more until he tore the beast in two. (10) When he tore the beast, the rupture passed through the neck, and since there was hardly any way for the rupture to continue, it stopped at the lion\u2019s abdomen. (11) In order to make this known, Scripture says: \u201cAnd he tore him as he would have torn a kid, and he had nothing in his hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 28<\/p>\n
(1) Thus, Samson split the lion, left it dead on the ground and went back to join his parents. (2) He did not think his deed was something wonderful, so he even did not let his parents know. (3) After such an exploit, Samson remained quiet and silent; he was not wounded, did not show fear by the color of his face, did not give away the feat by his soul\u2019s confusion, and did not hint at the labor by his tired body. (4) As if having done nothing, he kept silent in calm restraint, and his complexion was fitting to his courage. (5) It seems to me that, endowed with the spirit of strength and resplendent with divine gifts, he was already thinking over the future riddle of the lion and wanted to conceal how he had invented the puzzle.<\/p>\n
Chapter 29<\/p>\n
(1) After his return, he had a wish to see the lion [again]; coming to the same place, he saw the young lion swarming with bees. (2) For the bees, having noticed the jaws in the form of a hollow and having found a cavity like [those] on rocks in the beast\u2019s abdomen, had penetrated inside through the young lion\u2019s jaws and had made a honeycomb there. (3) And seeing the splendor of the bees\u2019 organized work, he created a riddle more splendid than the honeycombs. (4) For taking \u201cfood out of the one who eats\u201d and getting \u201choney out of the strong one,\u201d he composed, as it became evident, the riddle and proposed it at the wedding feast in the following way:<\/p>\n
Chapter 30<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cO men who honor this wedding! Since it is appropriate on this occasion to gladden not only the body with food but also the soul with speeches, I shall offer at this feast a riddle to you who are here. (2) It is not about a myth but hints at the truth; and since what I will say is true, let a penalty be imposed on the proposer of the riddle, if the listeners turn out to be cleverer by solving it. (3) On the contrary, let him gain profit if, having invented this, by one riddle he achieves triumph over [many] minds. (4) For not only the riddle by itself is commendable and the conditions of this bet make it more significant, but also the listeners, urged by the profit, will examine the saying more diligently, and because of the fear of loss the proposer will find double pleasure after the victory. (5) Now listen what will be the winner\u2019s profit and the loser\u2019s loss: thirty of you will consider the riddle, whereas I alone will propose it. (6) If I surpass your number by ability, each of you as a penalty will owe a garment to me, the winner, but if you solve the obscure and unknown riddle, it will be my debt to give the same to each of your bodies. (7) For if each of you is defeated, he will pay one penalty according to the bet, to dress one body, whereas I will be condemned to adorn many, i.e., each body of the winning party. (8) Now think what this riddle means: \u2018Out of the eater came food, and out of the strong came sweetness.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 31<\/p>\n
(1) O Samson, you disputed well! [You endowed] the first [part] with the strength of the second, and you put forward the weak [part] together with the strong. (2) For it is easy to solve \u201cOut of the eater came food,\u201d since goats and sheep eat, and out of these eaters comes food, that is, milk. (3) But \u201cout of the strong came sweetness\u201d is unsolvable, and [this was done] very wisely and artfully: having proposed to the audience the first, easy one beforehand, he then entangled its easiness with the difficulty of the second, so that the easy one tempts them into a trap and the strong one as if keeps the deceived men in it. (4) For you offered the riddle as proof of not only your strength but also wisdom.<\/p>\n
Chapter 32<\/p>\n
(1) Hearing these words, those who had come to Samson\u2019s wedding for joy undertook to solve the riddle and accepted the offer of the bet before they could really take in the riddle and truly perceive its depth. (2) For being trapped between two evils, [vain] hope and drunkenness, they took the bet more hastily, because drunkenness did not permit them to grasp the matter first and consider it carefully, while the hope had already won and granted the victory to them before thought. (3) For every man by nature expects something good and goes ahead stubbornly, in order that the hope wins, especially those who deluge their mind with drinks. (4) For being attacked by animal desires, the mind becomes waste and drunkenness sinks it. (5) Then the entire reckless animality of the heart, as if after being drawn into an abyss, rises toward reason; and it wakes, rushing to a decision in this animal manner and so strictly confined within the organs.<\/p>\n
Chapter 33<\/p>\n
(1) However, Samson did not manage to entrap [them]: a woman interfered and vehemently broke the snare set by him. (2) She entangled the hunter in her net and let the chased ones free, shattering the trap. (3) Such is, O Samson, a Philistine [woman]: ready for carnal unity at any rate and pretending to love faithfully, but her soul fights against the one with whom the body copulates, spreading her genes among races. (4) Her body is peaceful but her soul is seditious; moreover, she does nothing for peace but everything for war. (5) For she does not allow anybody to survive and plots against him whom she should protect. (6) She lays a delusive plot, so that one, by accepting what seems to be useful, takes concealed mortal fruits. (7) In a similar way poison is mixed with dishes: the art of cookery deceives, but those who take the poison become proof of the same woman\u2019s evil deed.<\/p>\n
Chapter 34<\/p>\n
(1) Did you see the craftiness of the mind? Did you lose, Samson, the victory because of a woman? (2) Henceforth, be attentive, do not stumble over a second stone and fall, or rather, do not hit the same stone again and do not ignore what you have learnt from nature! (3) Please, be more careful and steadier in the future: the female race, O Samson, is horrible and irresistible; it can enervate and subdue a valiant man, defeat his physical strength by seducing his soul with desire. (4) Only for them it is easy to capture the race of strong men, for they fight not with weapons and not with heroic bravery, but their face is the weapon, their speech is the sword, and their caress and cajolery is the fire. (5) The strangest thing is that when we make peace with them, they win; we can overcome them again, if we are displeased with something, but if we deem them timid and obedient, we are defeated. (6) Moreover, even though they strike and pierce more quickly than all arrows, they cannot strike the one who does not wish it. (7) For their arrows remain ineffective and idle if we ourselves do not excite and arouse them against us. (8) How? The female face came into being as something splendid, but it is a useless weapon when it is laid aside. (9) If you simply bypass it, you go unharmed, but if you confront it and aim with your face at hers in order to win the woman\u2019s face with yours, she will plot and direct her bowstring against you, so that, defeated by her weapon, you will have it stuck in your heart. (10) Thus, there exist useless weapons and idle swords, but we use them against ourselves, becoming their targets.<\/p>\n
Chapter 35<\/p>\n
(1) And let no one of the audience deem culpable and blame me for not controlling myself or being audacious beyond measure. (2) For I lingered in this homily writing not to do favor to Samson; moreover, the purpose of what I say is not to present the imprudent man as prudent, but first to reproach the Philistines and show their guileful character and second to make this work useful to us. (3) For the vices of the ancestors are a guarantee of the decent prudence of the descendants, since life is one, human nature is the same, snares are all alike, and everyone\u2019s vices are similar. (4) Speaking on such things is purposeful, and though our words concern one who was in the beginning, they are of use for the descendants destined to live with the same illusions. (5) They will find in this speech an antidote, a remedy against the deadly poison. (6) Now, since we were going to tell the story of the riddle, but the amazement at the foreign woman interfered with the discussion and interrupted the narrative, let us go back to where we digressed.<\/p>\n
Chapter 36<\/p>\n
(1) In the morning the wine bibbers, having sobered up from the wine and pondering over the wisdom of the riddle, did not find an answer. (2) They decided that it was the wisest of the riddles and unintelligible to them, because its great wisdom seemed to be unsolvable. (3) The three days which they had requested and the sleepless nights passed, and on the fourth day they fled to claim shelter from Samson\u2019s wife. (4) And this was a true confession of defeat and seeking after an impudent and shameful victory. (5) How? They went to the woman and made a demand: \u201cWoman, we are your city, parents, and home country. (6) The land that you see and your possessions are entirely adjacent to ours, but you united with a stranger, just by agreement and affinity! (7) Now, of so many parts do not give respect to only one, and let your love for the stranger not be steadier than your love for your parents. (8) Samson has offered a riddle to us, and we are struggling against him for property: one riddle is fraught both with laborious trial and the harm of defeat. (9) Since the glory will be common, let us triumph over the stranger, because the dishonor of defeat too will be common: if we, all the citizens, are put to shame, you will also get a part of disgrace.<\/p>\n
Chapter 37<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cDo not crown the stranger instead of your parents; do not honor your husband by our dishonor; and if you see Samson\u2019s face shining and joyous, do not wish to see your parents\u2019 faces sad and depressed. (2) But if you do not want to accept what we say and prefer to support your husband, you will suffer the whole damage, and we will sustain no loss at all. (3) For if you are only concerned about his repute, we will pay the price of the bet from your paternal property and will impose on you the death penalty for your disobedience. (4) Thus, losing nothing, we will even get something, for the price will be exacted from your property, and the grief of our defeat will be compensated by your death.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 38<\/p>\n
(1) A listener would perhaps say: \u201cIf they uttered such threats against the girl, it is unfair to reproach her for preferring her own benefit over that of others.\u201d (2) But read Scripture carefully, and you who now scold those blaming the woman will become the woman\u2019s opponent. (3) For the people who had been proposed the riddle were for three days continually busy with seeking answer to it, and only after the third day they changed their minds and turned to her. (4) She had tempted Samson from the first day on, had pressed him before being pressed by others, and had asked a favor for herself before being asked a favor by others. (5) Thus, her artful plot against Samson was not by necessity, but she rather undertook the task due to her nature. (6) Though we all are doubtful about the matter in question, it is certain that the evil craftiness of the woman in getting the answer was nothing but abuse. (7) Moreover, she was ready to do the favor if she were asked; and when they made the demand, her wickedness grew so as to hatch the plot, to deceive Samson, and to crown the uncircumcised.<\/p>\n
Chapter 39<\/p>\n
(1) Now, in order not to let the story without witness, and to reproach the woman\u2019s knavish deceit as promised, I shall call Scripture itself to witness. (2) Think: what did the Philistines ask the woman and when? What did the woman want and when did she begin to ask it? (3) Accordingly, let us first refer to the Philistines: \u201cAnd they could not in three days tell what the riddle was \u2026 they said to Samson\u2019s wife, \u2018Entice your husband \u2026\u2019 \u201d (4) If it was after the third day, on the fourth, that they asked her to entice Samson; she should have started to entice at that time. (5) But what did she do and when did she begin to entice? Let us listen to Scripture itself, which states: \u201cAnd she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted.\u201d (6) If so, the first three were the days of her own wickedness, and the other four, of the entreaty. (7) Therefore, we should conclude that she who started plotting before the threats betrayed her husband without any pressure.<\/p>\n
Chapter 40<\/p>\n
(1) What shall I say? You, impious, vile woman! You desired to hear the riddle not to enjoy its composition and not to learn something clever from your husband, but to betray its author and to take the crown away from him who invented it wisely! (2) Were you not ashamed of the nuptial torches, did you not look at the nuptial crown as the symbol of marriage? (3) You did not take compassion on your husband and did not respect the table, but it was in your honor that Samson offered the banquet! (4) You destroyed the marriage before the feast was finished and betrayed your husband before you took off the nuptial crown. (5) Your bride bed became hostile to the one who made it, and you turned the wedding songs into lament. (6) That is why you did not keep your bride bed after seven days, as usually happens after weddings, but dissolved your marriage.<\/p>\n
Chapter 41<\/p>\n
(1) When the plot proved stronger, and the winner was to lose while the losers were to win, they undertook to solve the riddle. (2) To pay back Samson in full, they stood together and answered: \u201cWhat is sweeter than honey and what is stronger than a lion?\u201d (3) When Samson heard this and [understood] where the plot came from, he said: \u201cThe riddle is solved, men, but the victory belongs to the woman, not to men, for \u2018if you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 42<\/p>\n
(1) What wisdom, once again, and what a wonderful second riddle! They would be unable to apprehend it properly if the words did not clearly show their deed. (2) What do you mean, Samson? \u201cIf you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.\u201d (3) What does this hint at? As it seems to me, this is even beyond our understanding, though we, Samson\u2019s fellow tribesmen, are expected to comprehend his riddles, while to the Philistines they are incomprehensible. (4) Since we do not examine such things to devise plots like them, but we make this research to give thanks to God and keep the memory of wisdom, prompt us, the inquirers: why do you mention the heifer and what is a plowing heifer? (5) We see the heifer not plowed but plowing: why do you call plower the one who was plowed? (6) Very well, O sage, you revealed what had happened in secret! For the female heifer, being among the Philistines, was \u201cplowed\u201d with force and in a hasty assault: \u201cEntice your husband,\u201d but she plowed you. (7) This is so well and artfully expressed by you! For they rushed violently, hurrying \u201cto plow with my heifer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 43<\/p>\n
(1) He gave them such an answer and, in order to win by depriving them of the victory, he paid the price of the bet in an uncommon way. (2) Since this foreign tribe was one, he killed their distant relatives and dressed the nearer ones. (3) And those who should have been black robed on the occasion of the slaughter were clothed by him splendidly from the victims\u2019 possessions. (4) As if of two blood brothers only one was clothed, but he disrobed that innocent one to dress the winner. (5) However, this was not in vain, and he did not kill them madly: let no one accuse the sage! (6) He did it out of pity for the woman who had been menaced by the Philistines; they had compelled her to betray Samson and had threatened to burn the woman\u2019s house. (7) When they won, the house was saved from arson, so he lit a fire among the Philistines with his sword not to allow them to gain the victory.<\/p>\n
Chapter 44<\/p>\n
(1) He acted so both for justice and according to the will of the divine Scripture, because Scripture clearly says somewhere: \u201cHe who digs a pit shall fall into it.\u201d (2) I am surprised at the just Samson: no less at his riddles than at his heroism. (3) For he who slew thirty brave men but took their lives so masterfully that did not even spoil their garments with the bloodshed would certainly be able to ruin a house of those who had threatened with ruin. (4) He could have used their unfair victory as an excuse for the slaughter, but if he had done so, he would seem to be afraid of losing the stakes and would violate the rule of the bet.<\/p>\n
Chapter 45<\/p>\n
(1) When the sage realized how to avoid losses and meet his obligation to the bettors, he took the price of the bet from others\u2019 property and paid what was required by the bet, so to say, without losses. (2) Although those who had won by deception deserved a harsher punishment, it was inappropriate for the beaten one to revenge himself on the winners at that time, at the moment of his defeat. (3) Vanquished, he paid the price in order to take revenge at the right time; this is how Samson behaved: having given them what he owed, having done what was due, and having implicitly complied with the bet, he subsequently found the way to wreak vengeance on the offenders. (4) He did no wrong at the time of the bet and was not blamed for not keeping his word; nor did he afterward forgive them, gaining ill repute as a coward but, as befitted a wise and equally just man, he gave without a loss and was not deemed greedy and thankless when he seized others\u2019 possessions. (5) He neither did wrong to provoke vengeance, nor took revenge when he was maltreated, but lingered for a while.<\/p>\n
Chapter 46<\/p>\n
(1) It is typical of inspired men to wait for the events to occur, because with their spirit they see everything beforehand. (2) So when the time came, he wreaked proper vengeance upon the Philistines and after that defeated the wrongdoers. (3) For though he was strong enough to defeat them, it was in due time that he realized how to do so rightly. (4) Since nothing he had chosen was of worth and fitting his morals, it was necessary to consign to oblivion the nuptial bed and the wedding, and to take arms against the men who still wore those garments, the signs of his marriage. (5) And since all the Philistines exceed one another in ungrateful character, it was inappropriate for the just man to be associated with such ungratefulness.<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION OF ON JONAH<\/p>\n
Chapter 1<\/p>\n
(1) Some of those who read the prophets are amazed at what is useful to people and some admire their prophecy. (2) However, I also praise those who praise, because I notice them too; and what is more important than anything else is to praise the inspired prophets: this is as preferable to what has been chosen as the citharist singer [is preferable] to the cithara, the craftsman to the house, the helmsman to the boat, and the one who grants his mighty skill to an object, to the instrument of any craft. (3) For just as the body\u2019s utility is nothing if it has no moving soul, likewise the craftsman\u2019s, if he does not accept the intellect moving [him] toward crafts. (4) Therefore, I regard the Legislation as a ship carpentered from on high; the Pilot of all is seated upon it, rightly steering this world toward the salvation of everyone; and He steers serviceably, administering all affairs, wherever they occur.<\/p>\n
Chapter 2<\/p>\n
(1) Now, He who steers all the cities, saw from on high that Nineveh had gone into a dissolute way of life; He is also the cause of the cities, so as a good doctor He sought after the right medicine for the city\u2019s illness, in order to stop the spread of the illness and to outstrip the menace by His help. (2) And this medicine had a reputation contradicting salvation, for wishing to keep alive and protect the city, He dispatched a prophet, threatening it with ruin\u2014correctly, I think, and [in this way] teaching [us] the genuine craft of the doctors (as the most skillful of them [do]; they promise to keep the sick alive and set them upright by curing with fire and water). (3) Thus the Allwise, who is the only Savior, having proclaimed death and devastation, builds the favor of salvation.<\/p>\n
Chapter 3<\/p>\n
(1) And the Philanthropist seeks after an associate for their salvation: a man out of many, who is one of them and is regarded as [His] companion; not because He did not know the future (for who gave knowledge to the prophets?), but in order to make the second [deed] more miraculous than the first. (2) Furthermore, He entrusted the salvation of the souls only [to Jonah], dispatching a human for the salvation of humans; He first cured him, reproaching the doctor, for just as they were unhealthy by their way of life, likewise the prophet was incapable of having the knowledge from God, hoping to escape from an inescapable God.<\/p>\n
Chapter 4<\/p>\n
(1) Now, the LORD approached him, as He used to do before, and said the following: \u201cYou see, O prophet, the city of Nineveh, to which I have abundantly granted whatever makes inhabitants happy. (2) You see the well-growing cereals, the land sprouting better than any other land, exulting in fecundity thanks to the mild and sweet air surrounding it; they can grumble neither at the coldness of air, nor at frequent downpours, nor at the sun [as if it is] hotter than nature itself. (3) Now why do they not give me due thanks? Are words of appreciation a great reward that I demand for so many blessings? (4) They have become so thankless as not only to deny gratitude but also to disregard their Gratifier. (5) Why do they need the sky to be luciferous, the clouds to rain, the soil to bear fruit, the trees to bud, the moon to give light, and the sun to shine with its rays for their ungrateful souls? (6) I think that, having received these things, they have made them futile: they did not see the world with their eyes to acknowledge the Craftsman; they turned a deaf ear to the piety of words; and they even moved their tongue to mention me, the Godhead, with malice.<\/p>\n
Chapter 5<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cIf they had compensated for the wickedness against me by righteousness toward one another, perhaps they would be forgiven; but by the malignancy toward themselves, the humans, they have surpassed the malignancy toward God. (2) Just as time has divided them into age groups (into elders, [adult] men, and youths), likewise the sins are different in accordance with their ages. (3) For their youths hunt after carnal pleasure; those who are perfectly sturdy among men use that strength for banditry; and the women differing from one another in appearance adorn themselves to entrap [men]. (4) The deeds of the gray-haired among them, too, are unbearable: since time has deprived them of strength and taken away their beauty, in recompense for the deprivation it has given them reason; they nurture and grow it to harm, equipping themselves for tricks against each other. (5) If they are neither grateful to me nor pleasant to one another, they are a burden for the elements on which they are nourished with thoughtless conduct. (6) Now, what do I want, O prophet? Proclaim destruction to the city: that a very painful death will come upon it, so that in the meantime they should not live in delight with any expectation for the future!<\/p>\n
Chapter 6<\/p>\n
(1) When the prophet heard this, he recalled his art (that is to say, prophecy) and saw the city unharmed even after the proclamation; and as if he was not the servant of God but had received the prophecy by himself, he fled from the city to which he was commanded to go. (2) He was frivolous enough, hoping to escape from the Creator of all; but the Overseer of everyone allowed him, who hoped to escape from God, [to do so,] in order to reproach the prophet, to demonstrate His power, and to make the proclamation to the city more persuasive, so that the city to which death was to be proclaimed should avoid danger and survive. (3) And since it was impossible for him to escape from the Overseer of all, he did not succeed but, being deprived of the knowledge of the future, he fled to cast himself into the bare and open sea.<\/p>\n
Chapter 7<\/p>\n
(1) Since he was walking near the sea in confusion, he came across a ship of war and, stretching his hand toward the sailors, said: \u201cO sailors, where are you going? Where are you steering your boat? In order to help me too, take me aboard!\u201d (2) As they named the city and agreed, he was taken on board the ship\u2014the one who was going to stir up the sea and endanger the sailors. (3) For the prophet, the herald [sent] to the city, on account of the prophecy appeared amid a storm and billows when he boarded the ship. (4) They took into the ship and carried a rock\u2014the one who bore the proclamation, and they turned the navigation against themselves; instead of steering the ship upon the waves, [they had] the waves surging and rolling upon it. (5) Seeking, as I think, complete oblivion, he left the deck of the ship and descended into the belly; and with sadness in his heart, he surrendered himself to oblivion. (6) And when the sea no longer possessed the one who had shipped out, it prayed and was scared; but the elements, better than any servant, roused the sea over the prophet and were against the salvation of the fugitive, because he did not wish to be humane toward the Ninevites.<\/p>\n
Chapter 8<\/p>\n
(1) Now, the steersman left the helm, and the sailors, the other equipment, and they stretched their hands in prayer; however, neither the tempest ceased by their prayer nor the ship rested, but the roar of the waves loudened and the blast of the winds strengthened\u2014they competed with each other in killing the sailors. (2) The surges were covering the ship, and the winds were sweeping off those on the ship before it would sink; and perhaps there was nothing surprising, because the heat of the tempest was inside the ship and aroused a hot wind over the sea. (3) Why did the tempest not die down? For I think that when a conflagration envelops a forest, it increases and cannot be extinguished, but if someone takes away the wood of the forest, the fire, being extinguished, will vanish. (4) Likewise, when the prophet was there, the heat of the tempest inflamed, but when he was away, this was a sign of peace.<\/p>\n
Chapter 9<\/p>\n
(1) But the captain, who was watching the sea and to whom the control of the ship was entrusted, in this great agitation felt that someone was asleep; for the sound of the snore of his nostrils turned out to be his enemy, as it happens to those sunk into deep torpor. (2) For I think that when the mouth is closed and the senses are impeded, the breath passing through the nostrils is pressed, and since there is also a pressure inside the narrow and subtle tubes when they are overfilled with the breath, they wheeze. (3) The tubes are accustomed to doing so, but the prophet snored not so much for a natural reason as due to the punishment imposed [on him] for the reproof of sinners. (4) Now, the captain approached him and said: \u201cDo you sleep lightheartedly, O man? Has deep sleep captured you so that you do not wake up from the splash of the waves and from the turbulence of the sea? (5) Arise, dispel your sleep and pray to your God! Do you not see those who were sailing safely before you got on board the ship, and that they have been at peril since you have boarded? (6) Do you not see the sea springing higher than the air, and that turbulence has seized our ship? Why are you idle while all the others are busy? (7) If you wish to be content with our labor, you have to entrust your life to others\u2019 care, but by your negligent laziness we too will perish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 10<\/p>\n
(1) And the prophet woke up and ascended to the deck of the ship; he saw the cloud of the tempest, the ebullition of the waves, the force of the winds, the wail of the men, and the crying of the children\u2014within a short space of time, the souls of all had been seized by death. (2) Looking around from above as if from a high seat, he saw a multitude of misfortunes and surmised that the sea was disturbed by his sins, which from then on he did not try to forget and conceal, thinking that only he was in danger; he saw everyone [suffering] and was consoled. (3) For human beings are accustomed to enduring pain more easily when many people are involved; this creates equality, and each one derives a consoling remedy for his pain from the misfortunes of others.<\/p>\n
Chapter 11<\/p>\n
(1) But the leaders of the crew saw that the prayers were hindered by sins, and they conducted an investigation into each deed; having demanded from the others accounts on the faults of their behavior, they turned to the prophet: approaching him, they made an inquiry about his life. (2) \u201cWho are you,\u201d they asked, \u201cand from where have you come to us? What are the intentions of your heart? What grudge do you hold in your soul? (3) What is the mode of your life? You are small in stature but a burden for the boat, and we are afraid that with the load of your deeds you are going to sink the ship!\u201d (4) This is what the captain and all the others asked, but the prophet told them only what was for his benefit; and, guessing at what would be harmful, he kept silent. (5) He called himself a servant of the LORD but said nothing about his disregard of God\u2019s command and his flight. (6) But the only Infallible One gave [them] the entire human wisdom to clearly unmask him, for because of the turmoil on the ship and the sailors\u2019 inquiry, a question arose; because of that question, lots were cast, and because of the lot the one disguised from the human beings was discovered and bound. (7) And this [happened] quite expectedly, for when the judges were humans, he thievishly defeated the reason of the judges, but when God became the Supreme Judge, he was no longer able to lie. (8) What does this mean? By means of lots, God judges in favor of righteous men, for during an open [vote] everyone is free to rise or to raise his hand, whereas during a secret [casting of lots] one has no free will and [God] unmasks him by secret means.<\/p>\n
Chapter 12<\/p>\n
(1) Now, when God judged the man and unmasked him by the lot, the seamen in their turn handed him over to his Judge, who was to punish him; according to what Scripture says: \u201cWhat shall we do to you, that the sea may calm down for us? (2) For you are the cause of the tempest, the lot blames you! However, O man, we are neither thirsty for a death nor, as some congenital savages, wish to see how someone is slaughtered; we just want to get rid of this misfortune that surrounds us from all sides. (3) Now, if there is a chance for us and for you to come on shore, if our ship can be rescued and we can survive, no one will crave to take a human life that harms nobody, but if by saving your life we will have to die, then for us the salvation of many is preferable to one man\u2019s death. (4) The overcast sky above us, the desired land, and the deep are our witnesses, and the sea element that brought this tempest upon us is also a witness. (5) Look at the necessaries of the [passengers] threatened by this tempest; we are throwing them out of this ship not because of our piratical or inhumane habits and not because we are averse to [others\u2019] luggage; we have to escape from hostile hands, so [the impending danger of] the ship\u2019s terrible and miserable death is the essential thing, not the luggage. (6) O strange man, our ship cannot carry you\u2014go to some other vessel, whichever you want; may you be saved after leaving this ship and bring luck to the other ship where you go, because for us your presence was unfortunate! (7) Perhaps an abyssal angel or a speechless great fish will take care of your soul; thus, neither will you be reproached for the destruction of our ship nor will we be accused for the death of your soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 13<\/p>\n
(1) They demanded answer from the man; and the pupil of the philanthropic God, who was not granted life through others\u2019 salvation, was to grant [life to others] through his death. (2) Hearing the philanthropic voice from the philanthropic mouth [of God], he spoke to the supplicants who desired life. (3) \u201cSince you have appointed me as the judge of your lives, my judgment will not be to your disadvantage; for although I seem to be a judge, I have assumed the duty of an accused person. (4) For if you did not expect the judgment from me, I would be able to freely benefit from others\u2019 loss, but since in this peril you have entrusted the verdict to your adversary, I will justify your confidence to my last breath.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 14<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cWhy, prophet, why are you slow? Why do you repel your salvation? Make yourself die and, falling into a trap, you will defeat it! (2) Since you were unable to obtain life, it is time to erect by your death an obelisk of humaneness on this vessel and to show yourself as a righteous prophet, for it was you who deserted from the righteous prophecy!\u201d (3) Saying so while they were in the open sea, he threw himself into the wavy deep.<\/p>\n
Chapter 15<\/p>\n
(1) This suffering, O righteous men, was pitiful, for the man undertook to save [others]; compelled by necessity and forced by the lot, by God, and by the [other] humans, he sentenced himself to death and, in his anxiety for others\u2019 rescue, disregarded his own salvation. (2) Hence, one should admire the philanthropy of the LORD, for though the prophet was worthy of punishment because he had fled from his mission, and though death had surrounded him from all sides, it was he who made the decision, and those who voluntarily condemned him had to confess their sin. (3) Thus, the Philanthropist wished not only to have pity on the pitiful man but also to prepare him for his future service. (4) First having imprisoned the prophet in an unavoidable calamity, He then did him good, so that he should learn philanthropy from the beneficence of God, and so that he who had survived thanks to philanthropy should no longer be unwilling to assist the Ninevites.<\/p>\n
Chapter 16<\/p>\n
(1) Now, having healed both illnesses and having taught the man that no one should regard God as unaware or be an obstacle to His love for human beings, He supplied him with a vessel: a huge fish swimming there, which he considered to be a killing beast, but it was the salvation and the guard of salvation; and while the prophet was swimming, the huge fish drew him inside like breath and conceived him alive in its belly.<\/p>\n
Chapter 17<\/p>\n
(1) The belly of the huge fish became the house of the drowning prophet, its eyes the mirror of the external visible things, and the movement of its flippers similar to a king\u2019s chariot. (2) O prophet, you were given great honor when you moved at a chariot\u2019s speed, just as when the huge fish swam toward you! Did any ruler ever have an opportunity to look as deep into the world\u2019s abyss as you? (3) Invisible things have become visible to you! To whom among humans were the ends of the earth seen as clearly as to you, and [to whom] was the abyss of the sea shown as a view? (4) For whom else have the crafts ever rendered such a perfect machine possible, so that you are there and observe everything, but no one sees you, the observer?<\/p>\n
Chapter 18<\/p>\n
(1) Now, since the prophet was seemingly sheltered in the belly of the huge fish but was actually protected by the Arm of God, he prayed [while he was], as we have said, inside the huge fish and subjugated the beast\u2019s mouth to his prayer. (2) And one could see the huge fish turned into an amazing newly made defender of the prophet\u2019s salvation; it opened its mouth to let the prayer out, it lent [him] its tongue for the pronunciation of words. (3) Touched by the prophet as a musical instrument, [it played] a melody by the musician\u2019s fingers.<\/p>\n
Chapter 19<\/p>\n
(1) The prayer of the supplicant was as follows: \u201cIf you wanted me to experience intense suffering, I realize that the extent of my sin implies an even harsher punishment. (2) But since you wished me to sin up to here, only until this point of retribution, I am now accepting from you the beginning of charity, so that I should not be cast away from your eyes, though I am far from the eyes of all, and so that you should not put my mouth to silence, though it is [now] silent for everyone. (3) I contemplate you with the eyes of my heart; I ardently move my tongue (since you have allowed me to use it freely) to defend myself. (4) For you listen to those who have committed sins; when supplicants are permitted to see the sovereign and their gifts are accepted, this is the first [sign] of mercy upon them. (5) As to me, I am not only granted the right to speak but also [allowed] to justify myself for the salvation of my soul. (6) For if you wanted to kill [me,] the condemned man, [what would be] mightier than this beast? (7) Or if you wanted to put me in a grave, what would be deeper than the abyss of the sea? If the whole world above were to fall down, it could be placed in this grave.<\/p>\n
Chapter 20<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cConsequently, I myself have hindered my salvation, but since the Judge is philanthropic, He generously granted me actual, not just seeming, salvation, thus demonstrating His profound love for human beings (even though He was merciful to me not without punishment). (2) Now, having exposed me to all this, you are going to be lenient like a sovereign! (3) First I saw the sea raging against me and the ship submerging because of me, then the judgment of those who were on board the ship with me: they were making a decision on my salvation; then the accusation of the lot and the expulsion of my body as a useless vessel; after that, the attack of this enormous beast, which was able to kill by frightening before devouring me. (4) But these sufferings are among the visible things, while the confinement in this narrow place is invisible to all human beings except for the one who has suffered and bears witness to it. (5) For who will see the man that has sunk into this huge fish, who will have pity on someone invisible, and who will seize and pull the sunken one out of this beast\u2019s mouth by thrusting his hand inside?<\/p>\n
Chapter 21<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cFor I, who have escaped from the land to the sea, from the sea to the ship, and from the ship into the empty belly of this huge fish, had failed and approved myself a fugitive even before the flight. (2) For I would not be able to hide from the stars and to find food, and because I was to be taken to this place; and while I am in this narrow space, my misfortune has become a fable and the suffering of the prophet has turned into a legend. (3) For does this not seem to be a fable or a legend? As if I am in a vaulted cavity, confined within iron walls, under a copper ceiling, and though I am motionless, the whole world is seen to me. (4) The life of this huge fish has become mine; thinking I am food, the beast has let me in to use its faculties, for I now offer prayer through its mouth, I see through its eyes, I move by its flippers, and being imprisoned in this beast I am delighted rather than shocked. (5) I see the world as if in a mirror, and I see the benevolence toward me more clearly than in a mirror.<\/p>\n
Chapter 22<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cFor wishing to instruct me only by fear, you have placed me in a secure place and you have cleaved and opened for me the figure of the huge fish to make the exterior visible; its wrath is like a protective device against those creatures [that would seem] nightmares in the dark to everyone. (2) I must praise you for two things: I have escaped from the teeth of the huge fish that carries me, and I am safe from the menace coming from all the other beasts. (3) Now, pay heed to the prayer of the two of us: to this tool of our voice, which pronounces the prayer on our behalf; retrieve me from this gloomy prison and let this huge fish feed in freedom, or else I too will not have sufficient food, for the fish is unable to eat because of us.<\/p>\n
Chapter 23<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cI know that I have disregarded your command and incited the severest of penitents\u2019 punishments, but I have been taught a lesson and have become humble. (2) I have learned not to escape from the eyes that see all and whose sight embraces everything, and not to ignore and forget divine words. (3) I will obey your might, so that this is recorded in the Holy Scripture for those who will read about me, the fugitive prophet hosted by this ship-prison, the huge fish. (4) Let the ears of humans learn about your saving hand and your mouth consoling sinners, about the refuge given to fugitives and your humaneness toward those who should read this. (5) You have many punishments, but it is your humanity that arrives; you chastise the sinners with a judge\u2019s wrath but you take care of them with kingly love.<\/p>\n
Chapter 24<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cWho among us, having comprehended that one cannot escape from God, will think about flight? Who, after my distressful sinking into the huge fish and after I have avoided the beast\u2019s fury and safely returned back, will [not] believe that the most luminous one among all fed the man without air, with the help of the huge fish whose wrath He had tamed and softened? (2) For He feeds with air both the terrestrial [beings] on the earth and the aquatic [animals] in the sea, and He satisfies the need of our nostrils for breath by means of the winds.<\/p>\n
Chapter 25<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cYour humanity toward Noah in the first age is well known; for dissolving the whole world in water and inundating those nurtured on the earth, you did not destroy wisdom and with great skill kept the man intact amid the torrents; you gave him the ark as a ship and established your providence upon it as a steersman, so that those who survive should become the beginning of the second age. (2) The unjust fire is a memorial to the second [age] of the patriarchs who defeated the Babylonian tyrants with piety. (3) And since in the present age the King adds new miracles to the old ones, [humans,] having received these miracles, will gain even stronger confidence in [His] deeds. (4) And since man defeated fire, no one will ask how the just [Jonah] remained unaffected by the blasts amid the universal tempest, how the sea was split so that the Jews could cross it, and how the righteous men played with beasts. (5) They will see me, the witness to these things, who fancied his second birth in sleep, they will entrust their lives to me and find the ideal of truth; having seen this instance, they will rely on you in everything. (6) For if one can open the innards of a beast and keep alive its living spirit separated from the body, why should He not keep unharmed that which was made from the earth and was given back to the earth in pledge? (7) This is incredible childbirth, for no one else is present here and no doctor controls the life-giving process; it is vivified inside [the fish] with the help of your Holy Hand and will be accomplished through us, for there is no obstacle to your power herein. (8) Thus, the huge fish\u2019s pregnancy with me shows how natural labor takes place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 26<\/p>\n
(1) So much he prayed, and his prayer aroused the pity of God; the huge fish was able to relax, for it was commanded to vomit Jonah out on the dry land. (2) When he had seen the world after the second birth and had worshiped God, he undertook his main mission. (3) I think that just as a wild horse frequently rears before it is forcefully tamed (for it is unwilling to accept the bridle), likewise the prophet became humble and calm after many wanderings and after having understood that God, to whom his words were addressed, is inescapable. (4) He not only hastened but [it was] as if [he] himself was transformed into the message; he turned the three-day journey into one day\u2019s simple task with the sole concern of imparting the message from the voice of God to the Ninevites, so that the time determined for [curing] the Ninevites\u2019 illness should not be sluggishly wasted on the journey. (5) Soaked in sweat, in a hurry and in complete obedience, he reached the people.<\/p>\n
Chapter 27<\/p>\n
(1) He stood at a high spot and proclaimed: \u201cO men, inhabitants of this place, remove the bridal canopies from your rooms, take off the bridegrooms\u2019 wreaths, cast away the diadems, and mourn not for the dead but for the living! (2) The LORD of all has limited the duration of your life: three days is your determined time in this city; you are not ignorant of the reason, for you yourselves are aware, but I shall proclaim it to you. (3) You do not acknowledge God, you do not give thanks to God for His gifts, you trample on your oaths, you buy justice, you pervert the judges with bribes, you offend poverty, you worship ill-gotten wealth, you seek after lawless fleshly pleasures, you defile marriage, you disgrace the beauty of virgins, you wish to show womanhood in men, you cancel betrothals and abduct others\u2019 brides, you think that you teach lawful things but you inflame unlawful fire. (4) You oppress the living, you rob corpses, you repudiate debts and demand what you have lent to no one: instead of taking your just punishment in the first case, you scheme undeserved penalties in the second. (5) No thoughts on your part are free from spite: whatever you say, whatever you do, and whatever you teach to others is spiteful!\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 28<\/p>\n
(1) When the Ninevites heard these words from the prophet, they expressed agreement with his persistent message. (2) They prudently believed the prophet, for though he had not been in the city, he told them about their deeds; therefore, they also believed his prophecy. (3) If he was able to speak about deeds that he had never seen, with the same gift of foresight he could also predict forthcoming events. (4) So the Ninevites summoned men and women, elders and princes, servants, kings, and lords, and mixing the dignities of all at the same place in one sorrowful assembly, they announced the following:<\/p>\n
Chapter 29<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cAs righteous men, O citizens, you have the experience of acknowledging rulers and venerating the Judge before the death sentence is imposed upon you. (2) For the veneration of a king by his servants before the death sentence shows the fidelity of the venerating souls, whereas the praise offered after a threat makes an impression of deceit and flattery rather than of love. (3) For [the prophet] seemed only to venerate and not, as we are doing now, seek [God\u2019s] goodwill to cure his soul. (4) However, he too is mortal, one of those that obey the laws of kings (he who proclaimed the death sentence to our city), so we should venerate the Judge, thereby showing the fidelity of the venerating souls. (5) Nothing should hinder our prayer to the Teacher, for [His messenger] is not able to annul the validity of the Law, or else he would himself be the Lawmaker and the LORD of rulers.<\/p>\n
Chapter 30<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cLet us pray, dear friends, to God, the LORD of all, for no law can sap the strength of our supplication; let us plead with the LORD of the Law! (2) For though secondary rulers execute sinners and the laws applied everywhere are for the condemnation of wrongdoers, they do not fulfill their own will but carry out the king\u2019s order. (3) If this is so, we can supplicate until the Great King wishes to save the supplicants; we do not struggle against others\u2019 will, because everyone depends on the will of the King.<\/p>\n
Chapter 31<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cNow, let us think: what have we disregarded that should be done according to the will of God? (2) For we have found someone who knows our way of life and has spoken correctly about it; how must we behave to please God? Let us simply look at what is going on here among us, and we will find the answer. (3) For if one has deviated from his former conduct, he will see something opposite to it, which is the reason for the death sentence, and he can eliminate the threat. (4) Now, O men, what can encourage us more than to find the truth?<\/p>\n
Chapter 32<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cFirst of all, we have received from God the gift of possessing human nature; but having been born so, we envied animals, and having been created as rational beings, we adopted the character of the irrational animals. (2) For just as they acknowledge only food and do not know their feeder, likewise we, enjoying the fruits of the fields, do not acknowledge the Fruit bearer. (3) Nevertheless, God granted to us by His generous hand not only what we need for food but also things for joy and amusement; and He required nothing in return, until now leaving us carefree. (4) Nor did He wish, when we turned out to be like animals, to treat us in the same way as we treat animals. (5) For when we put food before animals, we require service from them, and if the reared one renders no benefit to the feeder, the food of the animal is regarded as a loss to the feeder. (6) For having granted not only the gift of food but also the gift of life to us, before now He fed this city that rendered no benefit to the Feeder. (7) Tell me, what was His benefit? Which father has edified his sons since the days of our forefathers? (8) Who at the time of his wedding has shown gratitude? At whose birth have thanks been given to the Creator for the child\u2019s beauty? And on what altar has God been glorified?<\/p>\n
Chapter 33<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cPerhaps we should not say this, because one cannot know God, and it is impossible to see the Incorruptible with corruptible eyes; for He who is invisible has invisible glory. (2) However, though at times God takes our incapacity into consideration, at other times He grants His wonderful knowledge to us; remaining unseen in His glory, He has given us eyes to see His [deeds]. (3) He has given us the elements of the world\u2014the heavens, the sun, the moon, the morning star, the harmonious order of numerous stars\u2014so that although we do not see the Craftsman himself, we can recognize Him through these skillfully made things. (4) Has God not clearly shown himself by putting the sky upon the air and by setting it upon some invisible pillars? Does the sun not clearly reveal the Charioteer? (5) When it has a moderate nature, it is driven by someone\u2019s invisible hand over the whole world; as to its burning nature, [God] has enclosed it inside the disc and sprinkles with the rays those that need warmth. (6) The rays of God the Craftsman fill and surround the unsurround\u0430ble disc; He stretches those rays around the world, and they manifest God and the [work of His] art hung high in the air.<\/p>\n
Chapter 34<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cAnd if this were not sufficient evidence, we could fix our eyes on another thing produced day after day by God. (2) What is this night star that starts to conceive as if from the air and steadily bears in itself the wisdom of the Craftsman? (3) It accepts the measured daily wax and then again accepts the wane, so that it should neither excessively wax and emit superfluous rays nor wane and appear too late, but so that it mixes the firstborn rays with the later ones and is reborn at the time of death. (4) Then the moon\u2019s giving way to the sun is the sign of the change from night to day, from days to seasons [as well as the sign of] the division of the seasons into months, the months into days, the days into hours, and, again, [of the change] from daytime to the equal nighttime. (5) Everything is determined by time, rules, and measures: the temper of the sea, when sailors navigate on it according to the motion of the stars, the replenishment of the rivers from above or the gift of the fonts springing from below, the vegetation of the fields, and the fruitfulness of the trees. (6) Thus, no useful things grow uselessly, and, when fading, they make way for others to be born. Does all this not reveal the LORD?<\/p>\n
Chapter 35<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cAs to us, we have demonstrated only human appearance but not intellect; having got reason for our knowledge and honor, we turned that honor from the LORD into shame. (2) Having seen such a great world, we did not recognize the Creator; and, having seen such a perfect ship, we did not recognize the Pilot. (3) Therefore, since we have just learnt about the philanthropy of God, let us at least acknowledge that we know Him, so that, being saved by His love for humans, we can gain salvation and so that we can enjoy one thing: that our souls are given good praise for repentance. (4) Since the mortal message proclaimed to this city was just, let us in reply do our best to proclaim a salutary message. (5) And what is salutary? Announce a fast and offer prayers to Goodness! (6) For if we understand the threat, He who has sent it to us will by no means simply yield to anger due to His profound love for humans: despite His severity toward sinners, He is merciful to supplicants.<\/p>\n
Chapter 36<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cAnd if nobody is brave enough to raise his hands in prayer, because everyone is ashamed of his conduct, we should impel the prophet himself to intercede for us. (2) Let us say to the proclaimer: \u2018If you are a servant of God, allow us to use your voice, manifest your prophetic gift generously, without envy and jealousy. (3) Pray as a partner of our life, so that we are saved thanks to your partnership and this city remains impregnable and unharmed thanks to your arrival; be a stronghold for our city and protective armor for its citizens!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 37<\/p>\n
(1) After saying this, they dismissed the people, and all of them made their way home, and everyone renounced his dignity, and the renouncement was as follows: (2) The king replaced the throne of his power with sackcloth; the judges put down the [scepter], the symbol of edification and their authority; the masters granted freedom to their slaves; the elders scattered ashes over their gray hair; and the old women pulled out their hair. (3) The bridal canopies were removed from rooms, the wedding candles and torches were quenched, laments and mourning were heard instead of songs; the virgins grieved over their ruined hopes, the youngsters, over [the loss of] their youth, and the children uttered senseless sounds about death unknown to them. (4) And the motif of their lament was: \u201cWho knows if God may yet be moved by entreaties?\u201d (5) They were imbued with such humbleness and such orderly souls, as Scripture says, that thanks to the prayer [God] even became the Guardian of their domestic animals and judged [them too] according to the supplication. (6) And the animals rightly survived (although they had not been accomplices in the human crimes, because they are not demanded to have reason and intellect or to understand men\u2019s intentions, they were part of the Ninevites\u2019 illness, and the destruction of the city would certainly involve them too). (7) Now, the animals prayed in a human way, for they were expected to share the punishment; they stood before [men] in prayer.<\/p>\n
Chapter 38<\/p>\n
(1) And why should we speak about the insensibility of the animals? At that time even human nature changed, for the fathers no longer took tender care of their children, nor the wives of their husbands, nor the servants of their masters; having rejected their own sons, they also drove the animals out from their cribs. (2) They not only abstained from amusements but even banished from their sight the women to whom they were attached. (3) One could neither see a properly set table, nor a throne, nor pleated garments, nor desirable gold, but for everybody the ground was bed, amusement and delight, throne, and household goods. (4) Then thinking that by these means they would either gain the love of the Philanthropic LORD or provoke His proclaimed punishment for their sins, they put on their costly clothing: should the announced prophecy win, it will be their burial dress; should the LORD\u2019s humanity grant life to the supplicants, they will feast dressed in fitting garments. (5) This is what happened, for the death sentence was voided; they unexpectedly saw themselves [alive], and everyone gave thanks to God.<\/p>\n
Chapter 39<\/p>\n
(1) They summoned a second assembly and entrusted the words of gratitude to elders. (2) The latter came forward and spoke as follows (meanwhile, the people dared do nothing, for they were still depressed and sad): \u201cAs for us, dear friends, we were in fact dead: deservedly punished, we were fallen together with the city. (3) However, we are still alive thanks to the humanity of the LORD. (4) If so, it is appropriate to render thanks for our survival to Him from whom we have received life as a part of His grace. (4) When a man buys a slave, he receives the gift of physical service in recompense for the expense; would it not be flagrant wickedness not to devote our souls to the One who brought us from death to life? (5) No master grants to the slave the time of his service; nor does a master, having received a part of the slave\u2019s service for his needs, grant the other part to him, whereas the LORD of all has presented the [whole] time of life to us. (6) Thus our conduct must be pleasing to Him; we ourselves are His witnesses, for if He fed us with such great care while we were impious and ignorant of Him, with how many gifts will He honor us now when we are pious and confess [to Him]?\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 40<\/p>\n
(1) This was the situation: nobly and very faithfully, they took care of requiting the favor with piety. (2) Meanwhile the prophet, having proclaimed the message to the Ninevites, did not stay in the city; nor did he go far from the territory of the city, but he fled from the men to await the disaster from a distance and tried to find a steady observatory. (3) His seat was under a shed covered with colocynth branches: a well-shaded and comfortable place for him. (4) But while he expected to see the city turned into ashes, he saw it wearing a crown. (5) Here, as if an exchange of emotions took place, the Ninevites were filled with the prophet\u2019s joy, while the Ninevites\u2019 sadness and grief passed on to the prophet. (6) For the salvation of the city could not gladden to the same extent as the nonfulfillment of the proclamation irritated him. (7) Now, watching the Ninevites, seeing their dances, hearing the accompaniment of flutes and the clapping of hands, he shed tears and said:<\/p>\n
Chapter 41<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cThis is why I fled; it was not an attempt to escape from the all-seeing eye but to protect my good name and honor! (2) I understood that [God] was not sending the death sentence for killing and that in fact He was not going to ruin but to build. (3) I knew that God makes His peace with those who pray: He does not tolerate tears and does not stand the mourning of sufferers. (4) He changes the gloomy expression of His face and grants, [thanks] to the words of prayer, deliverance from death.<\/p>\n
Chapter 42<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cI fled to proclaim not only the humanity of God on the earth but also His might on the sea: how I was carried seated in a belly as if on a coach; how I had the hostile and killer fish as the guard of my body; and how, sitting amid this grave danger as a careless observer and becoming the coachman of the huge fish, due to my punishment I reached the bottom of the sea to have its clear and perfect view! (2) With my tiny eyes, I saw the abyss: the rocks that have taken root amid the waves, the light that gushes forth for the enjoyment of the marine animals, the agitation of the waves, the playfulness of the aquatics, and the various forms of animals. (3) After fleeing from this human world, I received a new, different one instead: I became a swimmer among the aquatic animals; I was fed in the deep like a marine beast; I inhaled wet, not dry, air to survive; I drew breath from the fish\u2019s windpipe; I danced with the playful beasts and moved along with swimmers. (4) How many times I emerged and floated on the surface of the sea to watch the world with the fish\u2019s eyes as something strange and new, and how many times I was thrown by the sea into the middle of the abyss, reaching the bottom and amusing myself with a wrestle against the beast! (5) How the bottom of the sea was below the abyss, shaking the place and forcing the door of the deep to open and allow the whole water to flow abundantly! (6) Leviathan blocked up the torrent with its body and held its scales against the leaks; fearlessly seated like a winner, it let as much[of the] stream gush upward as its body would permit. (7) And [I saw] not only this but also whence the unknown rivers are born and whence streams spout as springs; where those sources are always consumed and why potable water mixes with salt. (8) [I saw] how terrible the sea monsters\u2019 appearance is and how it resembles that of the terrestrials, [the former] having got four times more savage nature; how sometimes they are amiable and friendly but sometimes show teeth to one another\u2014I saw all this during my wanderings.<\/p>\n
Chapter 43<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cFor me the following things, too, are amazing: how does the solid and firm load remain on the sea, the fluid nature not dissolving it? (2) How has the ocean surrounded the earth from outside, enclosing it like a wall, preventing the savage creatures that are said to live beyond it from passing to our land, flowing around the earth but not turning the dry land into sea? (3) And the most wonderful thing is that the Godhead reduced the clashes of perturbation among us, fixing a limit for everyone, imprisoning violence, moderating what is superfluous, encircling the matter by the seashore, and granting a steady abode to all perplexed wanderers. (4) I fled to witness to all this, I chose to be persecuted to see these things, even though I was going to be reproached and accused by God.<\/p>\n
Chapter 44<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cYou fled, O divine person; having now revived, speak! You fled from God; what place devoid of God were you going to find? (2) Have you not read in the Law: \u2018My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens\u2019? (3) If you had passed beyond the earth and gone out of the firmament, would you even then be able to hide from the Creator of these things? (4) Indeed it is impossible to overstep the human limits or to escape anywhere from the all-seeing eye. (5) Just as a real and good hunter, knowing whom he is hunting, confuses the prey and plays with it, [as if] allowing the chased animal to flee but turning its flight into nonflight and catching it in a snare after the run, likewise the Hunter of humans, even after the long sea journey, brought the runaway onto the earth, and he was hunted by the trap of prophecy!<\/p>\n
Chapter 45<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cNot in vain I became the messenger of everyone, not in vain I flew by the fish\u2019s flippers; I took my trip in full view of everybody, but, having fled, I knew that everyone is in agreement with God, and I did not intend to teach how to escape from God. (2) For will one flee from God, if he cannot cross the borders of the sea? Can one be disobedient to God who subdues the waves of the sea? (3) Will he reject the divine commandment, [when] even the marine Leviathan has obeyed the commandment of God? Will anyone not wish to save the city of humans, when even the beast did not refuse to preserve the world in its shape, guarding the torrents caused by the abyss and [its] quaking bottom? (4) Would the prophet not be willing toward humans?\u201d In this fashion the prophet was mourning.<\/p>\n
Chapter 46<\/p>\n
(1) Now, the Savior of all, having saved the Ninevites from death with his medical art, also came to the prophet to see his illness. (2) \u201cWhy are you sad, prophet? The sorrow of your face reveals the sadness of your soul, and your appearance exposes your mood. (3) Although it is a longstanding concern that has harmed your soul, now is the time to get rid of the old sadness and to not wear a new grief. (4) Do you not see that those who, due to their former ignorance, deprived me of thanks, after [your] second birth, the proclamation, and [their] revival, give praise only to me? (5) Why do you not exult at the change in their conduct, and why are you not with them in their thanksgiving? (6) If you lament over the piety of humans, you are unjust; if you envy the salvation of those spared, you are inhumane; but if you are displeased with the falsity of the prophecy, this accusation, prophet, concerns me and not you. (7) You proclaimed not what you wished but what you were entrusted with; it is me, the Autocrat, who issued the threat to them. (8) I possess the power to apply or change laws and to annul a death sentence; having sent the proclamation with veracity, I then transformed it into philanthropy.<\/p>\n
Chapter 47<\/p>\n
(1) The body is unable to go beyond its determined boundaries, because if it oversteps them, others will lose the ownership of their place. (2) Is every creature not lawfully given a separate and individual space (though all the borders are a sign of one Lordship)? (3) When one changes his borders, as we have just said, on what territory does he trespass or which owner does he deprive of space? (4) For he who is there from the beginning knows well his land, while he who enters it later from elsewhere is an occupant. (5) This is so, but here there were two estates belonging to one LORD: the truthfulness of the proclamation and the salvation of the Ninevites; I preferred to be thanked for the salvation of the city and not to be praised for the truthfulness of the proclamation.<\/p>\n
Chapter 48<\/p>\n
(1) You might disagree, prophet, and say: \u2018Why did you put me to shame and move my tongue for a lie, why did you win honor through my disgrace?\u2019 (2) You wanted to say these words, but I shall persuade you, prophet, that I not only saved those who were endangered (for that was my purpose) but also did not put you to shame in doing this. (3) Just read your proclamation and I shall show you that it is valid: \u2018Another three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown\u2019; is this not what you proclaimed? (4) Now if [the city] did not convert and change its wicked conduct into righteousness after I had used your message, you would really be regarded as a liar. (5) But if your proclamation meant conversion and those who got the message changed, why do you vainly suffer for the accomplishment of the message? (6) \u2018Their city,\u2019 you would say, \u2018was not overthrown, nor the houses and the walls\u2019; but their hearts and character piously changed, and what was expected to be destroyed became stronger, because I am not eager to demolish stones and buildings. (7) For it would be easier to make a change by ruining walls (they also fall, being overcome by enemies\u2019 and warriors\u2019 weapons), whereas it is the Divine Hand that can lead and turn the soul from wickedness toward piety.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapter 49<\/p>\n
(1) But perhaps because he would not be persuaded by these words and give up his obstinacy, the LORD ruined the shed, bared the colocynth, and made the prophet lament in tears. (2) While he was mourning over the plant, [God] appeared and spoke to him: \u201cIs this colocynth dear to you, prophet? So is the human race to me. (3) The colocynth shaded your head, having grown upward from inside [the ground] and having spread from above; man too adorns the God-given virtue, drawing words of piety from inside. (4) You wanted the Divine Power to preserve the humidity of this country, so that the colocynth should not wither and shed its leaves. (5) As for me, must I not prevent the souls from withering so that the bodies should not putrefy? (6) You wanted the Divine Power to be pitiless, but judge by considering your own emotions; why do you sympathize with this plant? (7) The colocynth is dear to you, because you need its shadow; the density of the leaves was natural, and the shadow of the properly arranged branches was perfect. (8) And this was by itself, for you cannot say, prophet, that the colocynth was produced by your labor, nor can you claim to have kept night watches over the plant. (8) But you cannot bear seeing the nakedness of the once-thriving and blooming colocynth; the first night brought the plant but the second destroyed it. (9) Now, though you did not plant or water this colocynth and did not skillfully make a fence around it (you just erected reeds to form a booth, so that the colocynth covers and shades you\u2014this much you labored on the plant), but simply found it ready for pleasure, you are not indifferent to the loss of what gladdened you. (10) Would it be right, prophet, not to have compassion on the city: not on plants but on prudent men?<\/p>\n
Chapter 50<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cSince you wanted to make known the greatest Philanthropist, should I have appeared to be inhumane toward humans when you are humane toward inanimate things, [trying] to save them humanly? (2) Do you not think how many children I gave to parents? How many babies, thanks to me, called their parents father and mother? (3) How many women I easily kept alive, granting them the pains of childbirth? How many [children] did not perish, as if surrounded with a fence of reeds? (4) The colocynth produced for your individual care was outwardly like a fortress, while on the inside it provided you with the quietness of a cool house. (5) Having previously looked at this plant with paternal compassion, I felt pity and changed the death of the condemned into the pleasure of the pregnant, to make their city populous. (6) Shall I lay waste this province and command to destroy this city of men, when you could not even stand the ruin of a shed?<\/p>\n
Chapter 51<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cAsk a tiller (for having fled from the city, you are now in countryside) whether anyone is ruthless toward cultivated and fruit-bearing plants, whether anyone sets his axe to useful trees, whether anyone holds back from rearing a plant, so that it takes root, or can easily extirpate something that has been planted with labor. (2) Will he not at least make every effort to prevent nature from withering edible plants? Will he not restore the strength of those plants and revive them by careful treatment? (3) For the more they fade from external harm, the more the cultivator labors to nourish them; the plants regain their vigor, and infertility turns into fertility. (4) Do you not see how the tillers water dried plants, either slightly furrowing the soil, so that the stream runs freely, or digging a hole around a tree, so that the water that has reached there through effort gathers in it and warms? (5) Do you not see how they skillfully stake the branches creeping up or bending to the ground with reeds, so that the props lift up the weight of the fruits, and how they engraft useful plants? (6) Why do they do this? To prevent [damage], so that their labor should not be in vain.<\/p>\n
Chapter 52<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cNow, if the tillers, not wasting the fruits of their labor, keep them unharmed, shall I waste the Ninevites, thereby wasting the proclamation to them? (2) They are now at the advantage of following good habits; having refused to respect the true Savior [in the past], they now wish to honor Him before He becomes an exterminator. (3) Why, then, should they not be granted salvation through the mitigation of the death sentence by the Judge? (4) I think this is what happens to the cultivator (and I shall persuade you by his very example): having [vainly] expected crop from a tree, he hurries to cut it, but seeing newborn leaf buds, he keeps the tree alive for the sake of fruits. (5) This is fair enough! While trees are cut because of their uselessness, they are spared thanks to fertility. (6) The Ninevites too were once infertile in piety; they did not know the fruit of Divine Justice and gave the honor of the Creator to this world. (7) But now they do not give thanks to the fruits of labor and do not worship the heating elements, but they confess to honor the Fruit giver instead of the fruits and have started to worship the Craftsman instead of the world.<\/p>\n
Chapter 53<\/p>\n
(1) \u201cHow can I keep unchanged the announced death sentence for those who have changed their character? (2) Although for the impious behavior of humans we sent a pitiless message, for the present righteous conduct we should send them humane words. (3) Just as for the former way of life they deserved a cruel proclamation, likewise for their repentance, on the contrary, they are worthy of humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Biblical Interpretations of Philo<\/p>\n
Questions and Answers on Genesis and Exodus<\/p>\n
Aram Topchyan and Gohar Muradyan<\/p>\n
Philo of Alexandria\u2019s love for the Bible, which he knew in its Greek version, the Septuagint (LXX), is most explicitly expressed in his two treatises: Questions and Answers on Genesis (QG, in four books) and Questions and Answers on Exodus (QE, in two books). His verse-by-verse exegesis in these treatises resembles Hellenistic commentaries on the Homeric poems; the question- and-answer method he uses here may also have been practiced in the Alexandrian synagogues. The Questions and Answers on Genesis and Exodus (hereafter Questions) were probably written before Philo\u2019s other exegetical commentaries; they have even been regarded as preliminary notes containing material for later fundamental works.
\nThe treatises are structured as a series of questions dealing with sequential citations from the Bible, in the form of \u201cWhat is [the meaning of] xxx?\u201d or \u201cWhy [does it say] yyy?\u201d; the answers range from several lines to several pages. The two treatises contain a total of 646 questions and answers.
\nTwo main methods of interpretation occur: literal and allegorical. In a limited number of cases Philo explicitly labels the type of exegesis he is going to give, literal or according to the metaphorical sense. While literal exegesis prevails here to a greater extent than in Philo\u2019s other writings, allegorical interpretation seems to be more important for him (e.g., QG 2.79; 3.8; 4.145, 196 contain explicit remarks about the superiority of allegorical exegesis). Such exegesis was common in traditional Judaism, whereas allegorical interpretation belonged to the world of Hellenism, and there is no contradiction between them in Philo\u2019s works.
\nDetailed study of Philo\u2019s exegetical method in the Questions reveals a wide use of literal interpretation, but also a tendency for presenting various options. Furthermore, his contradictory comments on the same biblical notions and personages characterize his exegesis in the Questions as \u201chighly atomistic, looking at the problem of the single text and not aiming at systematics.\u201d Nevertheless, it is possible to point to some constant allegories found throughout the Questions, such as, \u201cMan is the mind and woman is the senses,\u201d \u201cGod has created two kinds of man: the earthly one and the heavenly one,\u201d \u201cparadise is the allegory of wisdom,\u201d \u201cthe four rivers of paradise are the symbols of four human virtues,\u201d and so on.
\nPhilo attempted to combine the sophisticated language and conceptions of Greek philosophy with the Mosaic Law, which was an unquestioned authority for him. He believed that both philosophy and the Law were granted to man by God, and that the sublime essence and complicated allegory of the divine revelation was to be deciphered with the help of philosophy. In this approach, Philo founded a new intellectual sphere: rational theology. And his works had a significant influence on both Neoplatonists and the Christian theologians who were becoming widespread in the Near East. Armenia was among the countries where Philo\u2019s treatises extensively circulated, so it is not surprising that some of them have come down to us only in old Armenian translations.<\/p>\n
Authorship and History<\/p>\n
The two treatises survive in a late 5th-century Armenian translation from Greek and as a series of Greek fragments cited in works of later authors; there is also a Latin version of the second half of the fourth book of QG.
\nThe Armenian Questions was published only once (in 1826), on the basis of five manuscripts found in the Mechitarist library of San Lazaro in Venice. Ralf Marcus produced the well-known English translation of the Armenian text with the parallel Greek frag-ments. A new critical edition on a wider manuscript basis and in comparison with all the surviving Greek fragments known today would result in a better text, cleared of many obviously corrupt readings.
\nThe Armenian versions of the Questions represent the so-called Hellenizing School of Armenian translation, which originated in the late 5th or early 6th century. Typical of those translations is a high degree of literalism in rendering the word order, syntax, and other grammatical features of the Greek originals. The common practice was to create new Armenian words for Greek compounds, even in cases when there already existed Armenian equivalents for them. This method has been characterized as \u201cservile\u201d or \u201cwooden,\u201d and the Hellenizing Armenian, as \u201cartificial.\u201d However, the extreme literalness of the translations of the Hellenizing School have been highly appreciated for their text-critical importance and are often irreplaceable for the study and publication of Greek originals.
\nMany grammatical and lexical features typical of the Hellenizing School can be found in the Armenian versions of Philo\u2019s works. Among them are the so-called doublets, that is, the rendering of one Greek word by two or more Armenian words. This method was used in many other texts, but doublets occur especially frequently in the Armenian translations of Philo.<\/p>\n
Significance<\/p>\n
The Questions contain both explicit and implicit references to a prior interpretive tradition. Tobin has shown how, for example, Philo\u2019s distinction between the tangible (earthly) man and the intelligible (heavenly) man is based on pre-Philonic interpreters. In addition, Philo makes occasional references to Homer or the Greek poets and Greek mythology (e.g., in his commentary on the giants of Gen. 6, at QG 1.92) and often makes direct reference or explicit allusions to Plato in explicating the spiritual\/philosophical sense of the legislator\u2019s (i.e., Moses\u2019s) prose on the creation of the cosmos (cf. QG 1.6).
\nMarcus draws interesting parallels between the exegetical methods of Philo, the Rabbis, and the church fathers. He defines three subtypes of Philo\u2019s allegorical exegesis, namely, physical (cosmological or theological), ethical or psychological, and mystical. He characterizes Philo\u2019s twofold (literal and allegorical) interpretation as the forerunner of the fourfold method used by Rabbinic and patristic commentators. Marcus compares the literal exegesis with the literal or historical interpretation of the church fathers and with the peshat of the Rabbis. Philo\u2019s physical interpretation corresponds to the allegorical interpretation of the church fathers and the remez of the Rabbis; his ethical interpretation is comparable with the moral interpretation of the church fathers and the derash of the Rabbis; while his mystical exegesis corresponds to the anagogical interpretation of the church fathers and to the sod of the Rabbis.
\nMarcus presumes that the book divisions of Philo\u2019s Questions could have initially corresponded to the sedarim of the Babylonian lectionary system. That is to say, each book covered a Pentateuchal portion of about the same length as a weekly lesson in the Babylonian annual cycle of 54 sedarim. Royse has demonstrated in detail that those weekly sections, or parshiyot, fit the structure of the Questions, and it is possible that Philo simply followed the lectionary divisions of the Bible.
\nMedieval Armenian literature was strongly influenced by Philo, as can be seen by the vast number of commentaries written on his works. The Armenian Philonic corpus seems to have been steady, at least from the 13th century on, although commentators knew that Philo had written much more than the limited number of treatises rendered into Armenian. The stylistic influence of those translations on Armenian authors was quite significant too.<\/p>\n
GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n
The Armenian versions of Philo, in particular, of the Questions, are often quite difficult to understand, and this has led to scribal corruptions in the course of copying manuscripts. It is possible to decipher some but not all of the obscure passages. Aucher\u2019s Latin translation and Marcus\u2019s excellent English translation have been extremely helpful to our work. Nevertheless, in our translation of the selected parts of the Questions we have revised some of Aucher\u2019s and especially Marcus\u2019s interpretations, mentioning the most important cases in the notes. Our goal was to translate the texts into English as literally as possible so that readers will have a clear idea of what is written in the old Armenian original. As a result, the text reads awkwardly at times and often does not follow conventional rules of word usage and grammar.
\nAs in Marcus\u2019s edition, an ellipsis in parentheses (\u2026) indicates that the preceding or the following part of the chapter is irrelevant and we have not translated it. We have added words in square brackets that are absent from the original to make the context clearer.<\/p>\n
SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n
Harris, J. R. Fragments of Philo Judaeus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1886.
\nHay, D. M., ed. Both Literal and Allegorical: Studies in Philo of Alexandria\u2019s Questions and Answers on Genesis and Exodus. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991.
\nMarcus, R. \u201cAn Armenian-Greek Index to Philo\u2019s Quaestiones and De Vita Contemplativa.\u201d JAOS 53 (1933): 251\u201382.
\nMercier, C. Philo: Quaestiones et solutiones in Genesim I et II e versione armeniaca. Les \u0153uvres de Philon d\u2019Alexandrie 34A. Paris: Cerf, 1979.
\nMercier, C., and F. Petit. Philo: Quaestiones et solutiones in Genesim III\u2013IV\u2013V\u2013VI e versione armeniaca: Compl\u00e9ment de l\u2019ancienne version latine. Les \u0153uvres de Philon d\u2019Alexandrie 34B. Paris: Cerf, 1984.
\nPhilo, with an English Translation. Edited and translated by F. H. Colson, G. H. Whitaker, and R. Marcus. Loeb Classical Library. 12 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1929\u201362.
\nSandmel, S. Philo of Alexandria: An Introduction. New York: Clarendon, 1979.
\nTerian. Philonis Alexandrini De Animalibus: The Armenian Text with an Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Studies in Hellenistic Judaism 1. Chico CA: Scholars Press, 1981.
\nVardazaryan, O. \u201cThe \u2018Armenian Philo\u2019: A Remnant of an Unknown Tradition.\u201d In Studies on the Ancient Armenian Version of Philo\u2019s Works (Studies in Philo of Alexandria) 6, ed. S. Mancini Lombardi and Paola Pontini, 191\u2013216. Leiden: Brill, 2011.<\/p>\n
Questions and Answers on Genesis<\/p>\n
TRANSLATION<\/p>\n
1.4.1Who is the \u201cformed man,\u201d and how does the one \u201cin the image\u201d differ [from him]?
\n2The \u201cformed man\u201d is the tangible man and the likeness of the intelligible model, whereas the one \u201cin the image,\u201d intelligible but incorporeal, is outwardly the likeness of the prototype, and he is the image of the primordial seal. 3And he is the Word of God, the very beginning, the prototypal idea, the first measurer of everything. 4Therefore, the formable one was shaped as if by a potter from dust and earth with regard to the body, and he received a spirit when God blew life into his face, and the blend of his nature was a combination of the corruptible and the incorruptible. 5But the one \u201cin the image\u201d is incorruptible and unmixed, from an invisible nature, simple and luminous.
\n1.5.1Why is he said to have blown life into his face?
\n2First, because the face precedes the body; for the rest was like a base, and the face was established on it like a statue. 3And sensation is the source for the animate kind, and sensation is in the face. 4Second, man has accepted not only a part of the anima but also that of the rational anima, and the head is the temple of the mind, as some have said.
\n1.6.1Why is God said to have planted paradise and for whom, and what is paradise?
\n2\u201cParadise\u201d literally needs no explanation, for it is a dense place abounding with all sorts of trees. 3But symbolically it is wisdom, divine and human knowledge, also of their causes. 4For following the creation of the world, it was suitable to constitute the meditative life, so that, by the vision of the world and the things in it, the exaltation of the Father, too, could be achieved. 5For it would be impossible to see what is in nature and to exalt the Creator of all things without wisdom, the ideas of which the Creator planted like trees in the ruling leader: the rational soul. 6And the tree of life in the middle is knowledge, not only of the external things, but also of the greatest and highest cause of all beings. 7For the one who can accept a clear appearance of it will be fortunate and happy, truly immortal. 8And wisdom came into being after this world, because paradise appeared after the Creation in order to praise, as poets say about the chorus of Muses, the Creator and his work: the Creator, for being the greatest and the best of causes, and the world, for being the fairest of the things, as Plato said.
\n1.12.1What is the river that issued from Eden, by which paradise is watered, and [from which] four rivers are divided: the Pishon, and the Gihon, and the Tigris, and the Euphrates?
\n2The sources of the Dkghat and the Aratsani are said to spring from the Armenian mountains, and neither paradise nor the two other sources of the river are there. 3Now, paradise is perhaps somewhere far from the land of our habitation, and it has a river flowing under the ground, which fills many and great streams, so that, flooding, they send [water] to other recipient streams, becoming wider. 4And since these are pressed by the whirlpool of waves, the force inside them erupts outward, both in the Armenian mountains and elsewhere. 5And these are the seeming sources, rather the spurts of the rivers, or actually the seeming sources, because the divine Scripture is true in everything about the four rivers; for the beginning is a river, not a source. 6Now, perhaps things in this passage are allegorized, and the four rivers are a symbol of four virtues: of prudence, called Pishon with regard to sparing, and of temperance, Gihon, because it works toward food and drinks and influences what is in the abdomen and below the abdomen: lust, and this is earthly; and of courage, Dglat, because it controls the passion that rages in us: wrath; and of justice, Aratsani, because at nothing else are human thoughts more jubilant and joyful than at justice.
\n1.14.1Why does he place the man in paradise for two things, \u201cto till it and tend it\u201d? For paradise needed neither tilling, because everything was perfect as planted by God, nor a keeper, for who was going to do it harm?
\n2These are the two things that a husbandman has to take into account and fulfill: tilling the field and protecting whatever is in it, because it can be destroyed either by sloth or by harming. 3As to paradise, though it needed none of these things, nevertheless the one who took control and care of it, the first man, had to be in every way an example for the cultivators regarding what should be done. 4And since [paradise] was abounding with everything, it was right to leave to the husbandman the concern for it: the work of digging round, nourishing, hoeing, spading it up, making ditches, watering. 5And protection, though there was no other man, at least from beasts and often from air and water: to irrigate it with abundant water when there is dry wind, and to stop excessive [water] by changing its current when it is raining.
\n1.20.1Why does he bring all the beasts to the man to give names to them?
\n2The great bewilderment of those engaged in philosophy was resolved by declaring that names are by giving and not by nature. 3For to every one a correct name was given, naturally fitting, by sound judgment. 4This was a job of a learned man outstanding in prudence: the giving of names was completely proper to the one not only wise but also the first earth-born. 5Because it was necessary for the leader of humankind and the king of all the earth-born to obtain this great honor as well. 6So that, since he was the first to see the beasts and the first to deserve ruling over all, he would also become the first proposer and inventor of names. 7For it would have been futile and silly to leave them nameless so that they could be given a name from someone younger, to the disrespect and dissolution of the elder one\u2019s honor and glory. 8But in this case, one should think that the giving of names was so well aimed that immediately after the name was given and the beast heard it, it was struck by the appearance of the pronounced name as by something familiar and relevant.
\n1.21.1Why does it say, \u201cHe brought the beasts to the man to see what he would call them\u201d? For God is never in doubt.
\n2Being in doubt is really alien to the divine power; 3in fact it appeared that he was not in doubt. 3But since he had given a mind to the first earth-born and virtuous man, according to which [the man], becoming wise, was innately able to reason, as a leader and ruler he urged [his] prot\u00e9g\u00e9 to display himself and observed the best fruits of his soul. 4And again, obviously, through him in us, too, [God] forms everything as voluntary and makes ashamed those who say that everything is by necessity. 5Or since humans were going to make use of the animals therefore he ordered the man the giving of their names.
\n1.23.1What is, \u201cFor Adam no fitting helper was found\u201d?
\n2All things assisted and cooperated with the head of humankind: the earth, the rivers, and the sea, the air, the light, and the sky. 3All sorts of fruits and plants, too, cooperated with him, and the herds of cattle and beasts, which were not fierce toward him. 4But indeed none of these was a fitting helper to him, for they were not humans. 5Now, [God] deemed it right to show a human assistant and companion for the man, having perfect similarity in body and soul.
\n1.24.1What is, \u201cAnd [God] cast a deep sleep upon the man and made him sleep\u201d?
\n2How does sleep happen? Having lost their way, philosophers were puzzled, whereas the prophet clearly explained the issue. 3For sleep by itself is a trance, not the kind related to madness, but to relaxation of the senses and retirement of reason. 4For then the senses are apart from the sensitive, and the mind is apart from the senses: it keeps quiet, neither drawn by the nerves nor supplying them with motion. 5The senses, having interrupted activity due to the separation from the sensitive, motionless and idle, have remained weakened.
\n1.25.1What is the rib that he took from the earth-born man, and why does he fashion the rib into a woman?
\n2The literal sense is clear, for as one meaning of \u201cside,\u201d it is said to be a half of the whole, as both man and woman, parts of nature, are equal for the harmony of one species called human. 3As to the metaphorical sense, man symbolically means mind, and one of his ribs is the capacity of sensation, and sensation, more variable than reason, should be woman. 4And fortitude and strength some call rib, whence a strong athlete, a fighter, is called \u201chaving sturdy ribs.\u201d 5Now, the legislator says that woman is from man\u2019s side, implying that a female is a half of a male\u2019s body. 6Witnesses to this are the constitution of the body, the common parts, the motions, the capacities, and the courage and boldness of the soul. 7For everything [in man] is seen in double proportion; insomuch as man\u2019s form compared with that of woman is more perfect and double, half the time was needed for him, 40 days, whereas twice as much, 80 days, was needed for the imperfect woman, so to say, \u201cman\u2019s half part.\u201d 8So that, while nature was doubling the time, man\u2019s traits changed into those of woman. 9For whose\u2014I mean man\u2019s\u2014nature of the body and soul is in double proportion, his modeling and formation is in half proportion, and whose\u2014woman\u2019s\u2014nature of the body and constitution is in half proportion, her formation and modeling is in double.
\n1.32.1Did the serpent speak in a human way?
\nFirst, it seems that in the beginning of the creation of the world other animals, too, were not deprived of the ability of speech, but man\u2019s voice had an advantage [over theirs], being clearer and more definite. 2Second, when God is about to work wonders he changes the natures that are below. 3Third, since our souls are full of many sins, they are deaf to any speech other than one or a second language, that which is by habit. 4But the souls of the first, being clean and free of evil, were sharpened in every way to perceive all sounds. 5Indeed, [such] senses are no more, because we have obtained a distorted and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
the sacred tent in Shiloh. 2Afterward Samuel was a prophet, then by God\u2019s will Saul was chosen as king by Samuel and, after he ruled for twenty-one years, died. 3Then David, the latter\u2019s son, came to power and subdued the Syrians who lived along the Euphrates river and Commagene, the Assyrians who were in Galadene, … <\/p>\n