The History of the Ancient Civilizations. Duncker Max

"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 survives only in the excerpt of Justinus. "The Jews," so we find in this excerpt, "derive their origin from Damascus, the most famous city of Syria. This city took its name from king Damascus, in whose honour the Syrians revered the tomb of his wife Astarte as a temple, and worshipped her as a goddess in the most sacred manner. After Damascus, Azelus reigned, then Adores, then Abraham, and lastly Israhel. Israhel became more famous than his predecessors, for he had ten sons to help him. So he left the nation divided into ten kingdoms to his sons, and called them after the name of Juda, who died after the division, Judæans, and commanded that his memory should be held in honour by all, because his share had profited all the others. The youngest of the brothers was Joseph. The others were afraid of his pre-eminent gifts, and secretly they got him into their power, and sold him to foreign merchants. By these he was carried to Egypt, and as he gave his mind eagerly to the magic arts of the place, he was soon in high estimation even with the king. For he was the most acute expounder of signs and wonders, and first founded the interpretation of dreams. Nothing in divine or human ordinances seemed hidden from him; he even foresaw the unfruitfulness of the land many years before it came. The whole of Egypt would have been destroyed by famine had not the king, at Joseph's suggestion, ordered corn to be laid by for many years previously, and he gave such proofs of his wisdom that his answers seemed to be those of a god and not of a man. His son was Moses, who in addition to the inheritance of his father's wisdom, received also great beauty of person. But at the bidding of an oracle the Egyptians banished him, because they were afflicted with scab and leprosy, with all the diseased persons beyond their borders, so that he might not infect more. Chosen to be leader of the exiles, Moses took from the Egyptians their sacred things. The Egyptians rose to recover them by force of arms, but were compelled to return by storms. Then Moses as he turned towards his old fatherland, Damascus, settled on Mount Syna. As he came there with his people exhausted after seven days' privations in the deserts of Arabia, he consecrated each seventh day a fast for all time. After the manner of the people this day was called Sabbata, because it had put an end to the hunger and wandering. And when they remembered that they had been driven out of Egypt from fear of contamination, they were careful that they should not be hated by the inhabitants from the same causes and had no dealings with them, which rule in time became a strict custom and religious observance. After Moses, his son Arvas became priest of the Egyptian sacred things, and was soon after chosen to be king. Since then it became a custom among the Jews that their priests should be at the same time kings, and their duties as judges, combined with the worship of the god, held the nation uncommonly close together."[647]

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

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

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