The History of Antiquity (Vol. 1-6). Duncker Max

1322 to 1302 B.C. Hence the exodus of the Hebrews must be placed in this period, about the year 1320 B.C.[641] The immigration into the land of Goshen, we found that we might place about the year 1550 B.C. (p. 433). Hence they dwelt there about 230 years, and this lapse of time corresponds pretty closely to the eight generations which the table of the leader under whom the Hebrews afterwards conquered Canaan gave for the sojourn in Egypt (p. 431). When the Hebrews, after retiring from Egypt, wished to give up the peninsula of Sinai, and settle themselves in the east of Jordan, they besought "the king of Edom," according to the second text, for a free passage through his country. The first text knows and mentions eight kings who had ruled over Edom "before kings ruled over Israel." As the monarchy was established in Israel about the year 1050 B.C. (see below), eight generations would carry us two centuries beyond the date of Saul, king of Israel, if this list could be regarded as historical, but the two first names in it seem of a mythical rather than a historical kind.[642]

The oldest accounts of western writers of the fortunes of the Hebrews date from the time of the successors of Alexander of Macedon. They were founded partly on accounts of the Egyptians, and partly on accounts of the Hebrews themselves. The narrative of Hecataeus of Abdera, who was in Egypt in the time of Ptolemy I., and wrote an Egyptian history, gives us the most unprejudiced account, composed from the widest point of view, and connects the emigration of the Hebrews, whom he does not consider Egyptians, with the supposed emigration from Egypt to Greece. "Once, when a pestilence had broken out in Egypt, the cause of the visitation was generally ascribed to the anger of the gods. As many strangers of various extraction dwelt in Egypt, and observed different customs in religion and sacrifice, it came to pass that the hereditary worship of the gods was being given up in Egypt. The Egyptians, therefore, were of opinion that they would obtain no alleviation of the evil unless they removed the people of foreign extraction. When they were driven out, the noblest and bravest part of them, as some say, under noble and renowned leaders, Danaus and Cadmus, came to Hellas; but the great bulk of them migrated into the land, not far removed from Egypt, which is now called Judæa, and was at that time without inhabitants. These emigrants were led by Moses, who was the most distinguished among them for wisdom and bravery. When he had settled in the land he built several cities, among them Jerusalem, which is now the most famous. He also built the most celebrated temples, taught the worship of the God, and the ritual, and arranged the constitution, and gave laws. He divided the people into twelve tribes, because this number is the most complete, and corresponds to the number of the months which make up the year. The most handsome men, who could also at the same time guide the united people best, he made priests, and arranged that they should concern themselves with all that was sacred, the religious worship and the sacrifices, and at the same time he made them judges in the most important matters, and put into their hands the preservation of the laws and customs. He erected no images of the gods, because he did not believe that God had the form of men; he rather believed that the heaven which surrounds the earth was alone god and lord of all things. The sacrifices, too, and manner of life he arranged unlike those of other people; owing to their own banishment, he introduced among them a misanthropic and inhospitable life. At the end of his laws is written: This Moses has heard from God, and tells it to the Jews. This lawgiver also made provision for war, and compelled the young men to exercise themselves in strength and manliness, and the endurance of privations. He undertook campaigns against the neighbouring nations, and divided the conquered land by lot, and gave to the priests larger lots than to the rest. But no one was permitted to trade with his lot, in order that none might from avarice buy up the lots and drive away the more needy (by this is meant no doubt the Hebrew year of Jubilee). He forced the people also to bring up their children, and as it was possible to do this with little cost, the tribes of the Jews were always numerous. About their marriages and their burials he laid down quite different laws from those in use among other nations."[643]

When Antiochus Sidetes besieged Jerusalem in the year 134 B.C., and began to treat with the city, the greater part of the counsellors of the king (so Diodorus tells us) were of opinion that the Jews ought to be destroyed, for of all nations they were the only one who had no community with others, and contracted no marriages with them, and regarded them all as enemies. Their forefathers had been banished out of the whole of Egypt as godless men, and abhorred of heaven. At that time all who had white leprosy, and scales upon the body, were collected as being under a curse and sent over the border in order to purify the land. The expelled persons had then gathered together and formed the nation of the Jews; they had taken the districts round about Jerusalem, and propagated their hatred of mankind. Hence they had adopted wholly different laws from others. They were not to eat with strangers at one table, or bear them any friendly feeling. When Antiochus Epiphanes conquered the Jews (167 B.C.), he went into the innermost shrine of the temple, which only the priests might enter, and there he found the stone image of a man with a long beard, who was riding on an ass with a book in his hand. This statue he took for an image of Moses, who had founded Jerusalem, gathered the people together, and given the wicked and misanthropic laws.[644]

Strabo remarks that southern Syria "was inhabited by mixed tribes of Egyptian, Arabian, and Phenician origin, but the prevailing legend of the temple at Jerusalem called the ancestors of the Jews Egyptians. For Moses, one of the Egyptian priests, who occupied a part of this land, and was dissatisfied with his condition, removed from that country, and many who worshipped the deity emigrated with him, and Moses told them and taught that the Egyptians were not right in representing the divinity as a wild or domesticated animal, nor the Libyans, nor were the Hellenes wise in giving gods the form of men. For only the One was God which surrounds us all and the earth and the sea, and who was called Uranus and Cosmos, and the nature of things. How could any reasoning creature venture to make an image which should truly represent this nature? All making of images must be cast aside, a sacred place must be marked off, and a temple erected, and prayers offered without any image. In order to have fortunate dreams it was needful to sleep in the sanctuary, and those who were wise and lived with justice could always expect signs and gifts from God. By such doctrines Moses convinced not a few men of reason, and led them to the place where Jerusalem now is. He easily obtained possession of the land, because it was not sufficiently valuable for anyone to fight vigorously for it. It is rocky, and the district round the city is without water. At the same time he pretended to take it for the sake of the sanctity of the place, and the deity for whom he sought a dwelling, and established such a ritual and such sacrificial customs, that the worshippers were not compelled to undergo great expense, or vex themselves by any ecstasies, contortions of the body, or vile occupation. As this was well received, Moses established no unimportant dominion, for those who dwelt round about were induced by his speeches and promises to join him. But at a later time superstitious and even tyrannical men acquired the priesthood, and from superstition the abstinences from food, circumcision, and mutilation and other things of the kind became law, and are observed even to this day. The capricious nature of the ruling power ended in robbery, for the insurgents plundered the land. But those who were with the rulers subjugated even the border territories, and conquered a good deal of Syria and Phœnicia. Yet the fortress, which, instead of treating it as a place of confinement they worshipped as a temple, retained a certain dignity."[645]

Better acquainted with the traditions of the Hebrews, Nicolaus of Damascus tells us that Abraham came with an army out of Chaldæa, which lies beyond Babylon, and ruled over Damascus. Not long after he again set out from this place with his people, and established himself in the land which was then called Chananæa, and afterwards Judæa. Here he dwelt and his numerous posterity. "The name of Abraham is still praised in the region of Damascus, and a village is pointed out which is called Abraham's dwelling, after him."[646] This account, of which the continuation in the writings of Nicolaus is lost, was used, as it seems, by Trogus Pompeius. His account