Praeparatio Evangelica 9 part 3/4

And when no one obeyed, Chenephres reproached Chanethothes, the one most favored and addressed by him; and he, having been reproached, promised to carry out the attack once he should find the occasion.

And about this time, when Merris died, Chenephres commanded Moses and Chanethothes to carry the body away and bury it in the regions beyond Egypt, supposing that Moses would be killed by Chanethothes.

And as they journeyed, one of those who knew of the plot against Moses revealed it to him; and he, being on his guard, buried Merris, and named the river and the city upon it Meroe. And this Merris was honored by the natives no less than Isis.

And Aaron, the brother of Moses, having learned of the plot, advised his brother to flee to Arabia; and he, persuaded, sailed across the Nile from Memphis and departed for Arabia.

And Chanethothes, learning of Moses' flight, lay in wait to kill him; and when he saw him coming, he drew his blade against him, but Moses, acting first, seized his hand, and drawing his own sword, slew Chanethothes.

And he escaped to Arabia, and lived with Raguel, the ruler of those regions, having taken his daughter to wife; and Raguel wished to make war upon the Egyptians, desiring to restore Moses to power, and to establish the dominion for his daughter and son-in-law; but Moses prevented it, having regard for his own kinsfolk. And Raguel, being thus hindered from making war, commanded the Arabs to plunder Egypt.

And about the same time Chenephres, the first of all men to be afflicted with elephantiasis, died of it; and he fell into this affliction because he had ordered the Jews to wear linen garments and not to clothe themselves in wool, so that, being conspicuous, they might be punished by him.

And Moses prayed to God to put an end at last to the sufferings of his people. And while he was making his supplication, suddenly, he says, fire was kindled out of the ground, and it burned, though there was neither timber nor any other kind of fuel in the place. And Moses, afraid at what had happened, fled; but a divine voice told him to march against Egypt, and, having rescued the Jews, to lead them back to their ancestral homeland.

And he, taking courage, resolved to bring a hostile force against the Egyptians. First he went to his brother Aaron; and the king of the Egyptians, learning of Moses' arrival, summoned him, and asked for what purpose he had come; and he said that the Master of the whole world had commanded him to release the Jews.

And the king, having heard this, shut him up in prison. But when night came on, all the doors of the prison were opened of their own accord, and of the guards some died, others were overcome and paralyzed by sleep, and their weapons were broken.

And Moses, going out, came to the palace; and finding the doors open, he entered, and there too, the guards being overcome, he woke the king. And the king, astounded at what had happened, mockingly commanded Moses to tell the name of the god who had sent him.

And Moses, bending close to his ear, told it to him; and the king, upon hearing it, fell down speechless, but being held up by Moses, he came back to life.

And he wrote the name on a tablet and sealed it up; and of the priests, the one who scorned what was written on the tablet departed this life in convulsions.

And the king told him to perform some sign for him; and Moses, casting down the staff he held, made it into a serpent; and when all were terrified, he took hold of its tail and lifted it up, and made it a staff again.

Then, going forward a little, he struck the Nile with the staff; and the river, becoming swollen, flooded the whole of Egypt; and from that time onward its annual flooding began. And the gathered water putrefied and destroyed the river creatures, and the people were perishing from thirst.

And the king, when these wonders had taken place, said that after a month he would release the people, if Moses restored the river; and Moses, again striking the water with the staff, checked the flood.

And when this had come to pass, the king summoned the priests beyond Memphis, and told them he would kill them and raze their temples if they too did not perform some wonder. And they then, by certain magical arts and incantations, made a serpent and changed the color of the river.

And the king, having grown arrogant over what had happened, tormented the Jews with every kind of punishment and torture. But Moses, seeing this, performed other signs also, and striking the ground with the staff, he sent forth a certain winged creature that ravaged the Egyptians, so that all their bodies broke out in sores. And since the physicians were unable to heal those who suffered, the Jews thus obtained relief once again.

And again Moses, by means of the staff, sent forth frogs, and besides these, locusts and gnats. And on account of this, the Egyptians dedicate the staff in every temple, and likewise to Isis also, because the earth is Isis, since when struck with the staff it sent forth these wonders.

And since the king was still senseless, Moses brought about hail and earthquakes during the night, so that those fleeing the earthquake were killed by the hail, while those avoiding the hail were destroyed by the earthquakes. And at that time all the houses collapsed, and most of the temples as well.

At last, having fallen into such calamities, the king released the Jews; and they, having borrowed from the Egyptians many drinking vessels, no small amount of clothing, and a vast quantity of other treasure besides, crossed the rivers along Arabia, and having traversed a considerable distance, arrived at the Red Sea on the third day.

Now the people of Memphis say that Moses, being experienced in the region, watched for the ebb-tide and led the multitude across the sea on dry ground. But the people of Heliopolis say that the king pursued after them with a great force, together also with the consecrated animals, because the Jews were carrying off with them the property they had borrowed from the Egyptians.

And a divine voice came to Moses, telling him to strike the sea with the staff and to divide it. And Moses, having heard, touched the water with the staff, and thus the stream was divided, and the host proceeded along a dry path.

But when the Egyptians had gone in after them and were pursuing, he says that fire blazed forth in front of them, and that the sea again flooded over the path; and that the Egyptians were all destroyed by the fire and the flood together. And the Jews, having escaped the danger, spent forty years in the wilderness, God raining down for them a grain-like meal, resembling millet, similar in color to snow. And he says that Moses was tall, ruddy, grey-haired, long-haired, and of dignified bearing. And he did these things when he was about eighty-nine years old.

Concerning Moses being exposed by his mother in the marsh, and being taken up and raised by the daughter of the king, Ezekiel too, the writer of tragedies, gives an account, taking up the narrative from the beginning, from those who came with Jacob into Egypt to Joseph. He speaks thus, introducing Moses as saying: 'From the time when Jacob, leaving the land of Canaan, came down into Egypt with seventy souls in his company, and begot a great people, faring ill and afflicted, oppressed up to this very time by evil men and by the hand of tyranny -- for Pharaoh the king, seeing our race grown exceedingly numerous, devised many a scheme of guile against us, afflicting men with brick-making and the burdens of building, and raising up towers for cities, for the sake of these ill-fated people. Then he proclaimed to the race of the Hebrews that they should cast their male children into the deep-flowing river. Then my mother who bore me hid me for three months, as she used to tell. But not escaping notice, she set me out secretly, having wrapped an adornment about me, at the edge of the river, into a thick, overgrown marsh. And Miriam my sister watched nearby. And then the daughter of the king came down together with her handmaids to bathe, to freshen her young skin; and seeing me at once, she took me up, and knew I was a Hebrew. And my sister Miriam ran up to the princess and said this: \'Do you wish that I quickly find you a nurse for this child, from among the Hebrews?\' And she urged the girl on; and she went and told our mother, and quickly our mother herself came and took me into her arms. And the king's daughter said, \'Woman, nurse this child, and I will pay you your wage.\' And she named me Moses, because she had taken me up from the wet banks of the river.' After these things, Ezekiel adds further remarks concerning these matters in the tragedy, introducing Moses as saying: 'But when the time of my infancy had passed, my mother brought me to the palace of the princess, having recounted everything, and having told me of my ancestral race and of the gifts of God. Now for as long as we had the time of childhood, she granted me everything with royal upbringing and instruction, as though I were her own offspring. But when the fullness of days had come, I went forth from the royal house -- for my spirit urged me on to the affairs and doings of the king. And I saw first two men fighting with their hands, the one a Hebrew by birth, the other an Egyptian; and seeing that the place was deserted and no one present, I rescued my brother, and I slew the other, and hid him in the sand, so that no one else might see us and expose the murder. But on the next day, seeing again two men, kinsmen of each other in particular, trampling one another, I said, \'Why do you strike one weaker than yourself?\' And he said to us, \'Who appointed you judge or overseer here? Will you kill me, as you did the man yesterday?\' And I, being afraid, said, \'How has this become known?\' And he quickly reported all these things to the king; and Pharaoh sought to take my life. And I, hearing this, removed myself out of the way, and now I wander in a foreign land.' Then concerning the daughters of Raguel he proceeds thus: 'And I see these here, seven maidens.' And when he asked them who the maidens were, Sepphora says: 'The whole land, stranger, is called Libya, and it is inhabited by tribes of every race, black Ethiopian men; and there is one ruler of the land, both tyrant and sole commander of the army. And the priest, who is my father and theirs, rules over this city and judges the people.' Then, after going through the matter of the watering of the flocks, he proceeds to speak of the marriage of Sepphora, introducing Sepphora and Choum speaking in dialogue: Sepphora: 'Nevertheless, you must declare this, Sepphora.' Choum: 'My father gave me to this stranger as his wife.'

Demetrius, concerning the slaying of the Egyptian and the disagreement with the one who informed of the death, gave an account similar to that of the writer of the sacred book. He relates that Moses fled to Midian, and there dwelt together with Sepphora, the daughter of Jothor, who was, so far as one may conjecture from the names, descended from those born of Keturah, of the family of Abraham -- from Jezan, who was born to Abraham by Keturah. And from Jezan was born Dadan, and from Dadan, Raguel; and from Raguel, Jothor and Abab; and from Jothor, Sepphora, whom Moses married.

And the generations agree as well: for Moses is the seventh generation from Abraham, and Sepphora the sixth. For while Isaac -- from whom Moses is descended -- was already dwelling together with his wife, Abraham, being one hundred and forty years old, married Keturah, and by her begot, as a second line, Isaar; but Isaac begot his son when he was a hundred years old. So that Isaar was born forty-two years later, and it is from him that Sepphora's line is traced.

There is therefore nothing inconsistent in Moses and Sepphora having lived in the same period. And they dwelt in the city of Midian, which was named after one of the sons of Abraham; for he says that Abraham sent his sons eastward to dwell there. And for this reason also, at Hazeroth, Aaron and Miriam said that Moses had married an Ethiopian woman.

Ezekiel also speaks of these matters in the Exagoge, having further included the dream that was seen by Moses and interpreted by his father-in-law. And Moses himself speaks in dialogue with his father-in-law somewhat as follows:

'I dreamed that at the summit of Mount Sinai there was a great throne, reaching to the very folds of heaven, on which sat a noble man, wearing a diadem, and holding a great scepter, especially in his left hand. And he beckoned to me with his right hand, and I stood before the throne. He handed the scepter to me, and bade me sit upon the great throne; and he gave me the royal diadem, and himself departed from the throne. And I looked upon the whole circle of the earth, both beneath the earth and above the heaven, and a multitude of stars fell down at my knees, and I numbered them all, and they passed before me like a host of mortals. Then, seized with fear, I rose up out of my sleep.'

And his father-in-law thus interprets the dream: 'O stranger, God has signified to you a good thing. May I live to see it when these things come to pass for you! Indeed, you shall raise up some great throne, and you yourself shall be a judge and leader of men. And as for beholding the whole inhabited world, and the things beneath and above the heaven of God -- you shall see the things that are, the things that have been before, and the things that shall come after.'

Concerning the burning bush and his mission to Pharaoh, he again introduces Moses conversing with God in dialogue. Moses says: 'Ah! What is this sign to me from the bush, a portent and a thing beyond mortals' belief? Suddenly the bush burns with much fire, yet all its green growth remains unconsumed. What then? I will go forward and behold this exceedingly great portent; for it brings no credibility to men.'

Then God speaks to him: 'Hold back, O most excellent one, do not approach, Moses, before you loose the bond of your feet; for the ground on which you stand is holy. And it is the divine word that shines forth to you from the bush. Take courage, O child, and hear my words; for it is impossible for one who is mortal to look upon my face, but it is permitted to you to hear my words, for the sake of which I have come. I am the God of your forefathers of whom you speak -- of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob the third. Remembering them, and still remembering my gifts, I am here to save my people, the Hebrews, having seen the affliction and toil of my servants. But go, and declare, by my words, first to all the Hebrews together, and then to the king, the things appointed by me, that you may lead my people out from this land.'

Then, a little further on, in the exchange, Moses himself says: 'I am not naturally eloquent, but my tongue is hard to understand, halting in speech, so that my words could not be effective before the king.'

Then to this God answers him: 'Send quickly for Aaron your brother, to whom you shall tell everything that has been spoken by me, and he himself shall speak before the king -- you on our behalf, and he receiving the words from you.'

Concerning the staff and the other wonders, he has spoken thus in dialogue: God: 'What is that you hold in your hands? Say quickly.' Moses: 'A staff, chastiser of four-footed beasts and of men.' God: 'Cast it to the ground, and step back quickly; for it shall become a fearsome serpent, such as to cause amazement.' Moses: 'Behold, it is cast down; Master, be merciful! How fearsome, how monstrous it is! Have pity on me -- I shudder at the sight, and the limbs of my body tremble.' God: 'Fear nothing; stretch out your hand and take hold of its tail, and it shall become a staff again, just as it was. Now put your hand into your bosom, and draw it out again.' Moses: 'Behold, it is done as commanded; it has become like snow.' God: 'Put it into your bosom again, and it shall be as it was.'

To these he adds, after certain things said by him in between: 'Ezekiel too says this in like manner in the Exagoge, introducing God speaking concerning the signs, as follows: With this rod you shall work all manner of evils. First the river shall run with blood, and all the springs, the gathering-places of the waters; and I will cast upon the land a multitude of frogs and gnats. Then I will scatter furnace-ash, and grievous sores shall burst forth upon mortals. And the dog-fly shall come and shall afflict many of the Egyptians. And after this there shall again be a pestilence, and those who have a hardened heart shall die. I will make the sky bitter; hail together with fire shall now fall and shall lay mortals dead. The crops shall perish, and the bodies of the four-footed beasts; I will bring darkness for three whole days, and I will send locusts, and they shall devour all the food that remains, and the green shoot of the crop. Upon all these I will slay the firstborn children of mortals, and I will put an end to the insolence of wicked men. But Pharaoh the king will be persuaded by nothing that I say, except that he will have his own firstborn son a corpse; and then, in fear, he will quickly send the people away. In addition to these things you shall say to all the Hebrews together: This month is for you the first of the year; in it I will lead the people out into another land, into which I promised the fathers of the Hebrew race. And you shall tell all the people that on the fourteenth of the month I speak of, having sacrificed the Passover to God on the night before, they are to touch the doorposts with blood, so that the dread angel may pass over the sign. And you shall feast that night on roasted meat. In haste the king will drive out the whole multitude. And when you are about to depart, I will give the people favor: woman shall receive from woman vessels, and all the adornment that a person wears, gold and silver and garments, so that in return for what they suffered they may render mortals their due. And when you come into your own land -- since from that dawn on which you fled, journeying from Egypt a road of seven days -- for that same number of days each year you shall eat unleavened bread, and shall serve God, sacrificing to God the firstborn of your flocks, whatever male young the dams first bring forth, opening the wombs of their mothers.'

And again, concerning this same feast, he says that Ezekiel, treating it more precisely, spoke thus, in the person of the men of the Hebrews: 'Of this month, taking on the tenth day sheep and unblemished calves of the herd, according to families; and let it be kept until the fourteenth shines forth; and sacrificing toward evening, you shall eat all these things roasted together with the entrails, girded about, shod with sandals on your feet, and holding a staff in your hand. For in haste the king will command that all be driven out of the land, and everyone will be summoned. And when you sacrifice, taking a bunch of hyssop in your hands, dip it in the blood, and touch the two doorposts, so that death may pass by, away from the Hebrews. This feast you shall keep to the Lord for seven days as unleavened bread, and leaven shall not be eaten; for you shall be delivered from these evils, and God grants the going forth in this month; and this is the beginning of months and of years.'

Again, after other matters, he adds: 'And Ezekiel too, in the drama entitled the Exagoge, introducing a messenger who tells of the plight of the Hebrews and the destruction of the Egyptians, speaks thus: For when king Pharaoh set out from his house with this multitude, together with countless arms, with every kind of horse and four-horsed chariots, and commanders and lieutenants together, there was a fearsome host of men drawn up in array -- footmen in the middle, and men of the phalanx keeping open lanes for the chariots to run through; and he arranged the cavalry, some on the left, and on the right all the rest of the Egyptian army. And I asked the whole number of the host: it was a hundred myriads of a goodly army. But when our army encountered the Hebrews, some of them, encamped near the shore of the Red Sea, were gathered together; some were giving food to their infant children and likewise to their wives, being weary with toil; and there was much livestock, and the baggage of their households; and they themselves, all unarmed for battle, when they saw us, raised a tearful cry, and stretched out together toward heaven, to the God of their fathers. There was a great multitude of men, and for our part joy possessed us all. Then, below them, we pitched our camp, at a place men call Baal-zephon. And when the Titan sun drew near its setting, we held back, wishing to fight at dawn, trusting in our forces and our fearsome weapons. Then wonders of the gods, marvelous to see, began. And suddenly a great cloudy pillar was set up on the ground, a great pillar, between our camp and that of the Hebrews. And then their leader Moses, taking the rod of God -- with which he had before wrought evil signs and wonders against Egypt -- struck the back of the Red Sea and split the depth of the sea in two; and they all rushed swiftly along the salty path. And we set out upon it in haste, in pursuit of their track; hastening to the rescue, we came upon them by night; but suddenly the wheels of the chariots would not turn, but stuck fast as though bound. And from heaven a great light, like fire, appeared to us; as one might guess, God was present as their helper. And when they were already across the sea, a great wave came surging near us; and someone, seeing it, cried aloud: 'Let us flee homeward, before the hand of the Most High; for to them he is a helper, but for us, wretched as we are, he works destruction.' And the channel of the Red Sea closed together again and destroyed the army.'

And again, shortly after: 'From there they journeyed three days, as Demetrius himself says, and in agreement with him the sacred book. And not finding sweet water there, but bitter, when God told him to cast a certain piece of wood into the spring, the water became sweet. And from there they came to Elim, and found there twelve springs of water and seventy palm trunks.' Concerning these things, and the bird that appeared, Ezekiel in the Exagoge introduces someone speaking to Moses about the palm trees and the twelve springs, as follows:

'Most mighty Moses, attend: what a place we have found, close by this fair-breezed glen! For it is there, as you too, I think, can see for yourself. From that place a light shone forth over it, in the night, as a sign, like a pillar of fire. Here we found a shaded meadow and flowing springs of water; a rich, deep region, drawing up twelve springs from a single rock; and there are many sturdy, fruit-bearing palm trunks, seventy in number, and there has grown up well-watered green pasture as fodder for the flocks.' Then, further on, he describes the bird that appeared: 'And besides these we saw another strange creature, marvelous, such as no one has ever yet seen. For in length it was nearly twice that of an eagle, with wings and colors of many hues. Its breast appeared purple, its legs the color of red ochre, and about its neck it was arrayed with saffron-colored down. Its head was like that of a tame cock, and it looked about with a round eye the color of amber; its pupil appeared like a berry. Its voice was the most splendid of all. It appeared to be king of all the birds, as one could perceive; for all the winged creatures together sped along behind it in fear, while it went ahead, exulting like a bull, advancing with a swift stride of its foot.' And shortly after: 'But someone might ask how the Israelites, having gone out unarmed, came to have weapons. For they had said that they were going out on a three days' journey, and after sacrificing would return again. It appears, then, that those who were not overwhelmed by the sea had their weapons made use of.'

Eupolemus says, in a certain work concerning the prophecy of Elijah, that Moses prophesied for forty years; then Joshua, the son of Nun, for thirty years; and that he lived one hundred and ten years, and pitched the sacred tabernacle in Shiloh.

After these things, Samuel became a prophet. Then, by the will of God, Saul was chosen as king through Samuel, and having reigned twenty-one years, he died.

Then David, his son, held the sovereignty; he subdued the Syrians dwelling by the river Euphrates, and Commagene, and the Assyrians and Phoenicians in Galadene. He also made war against the Idumeans, the Ammanites, the Moabites, the Itureans, the Nabateans, and the Nabdeans.

And again he made war upon Souron, king of Tyre and Phoenicia, whom he compelled to pay tribute to the Jews; and with Vaphres, king of the Egyptians, he made a treaty of friendship.

And David, wishing to build a temple for God, asked God to show him the place for the altar. And then an angel appeared to him, standing above the place where the altar was to be set up in Jerusalem, and commanded him not to build the temple himself, because he was defiled with human blood and had waged war for many years.

And his name was Nathan; and this one instructed him that he should entrust the building to his son; and that he himself should prepare what pertained to the construction -- gold, silver, bronze, stones, cypress wood and cedar wood.

And David, having heard this, built ships at Ailana, a city of Arabia, and sent miners to the island of Urphe, situated in the Red Sea, which had gold mines; and the miners brought the gold from there to Judea.

And David, having reigned forty years, handed over the kingdom to his son Solomon, who was twelve years old, in the presence of Eli the high priest and the twelve tribal chiefs, and handed over to him the gold, silver, bronze, stone, and cypress and cedar wood. And he himself died, and Solomon reigned, and wrote to Vaphres, king of Egypt, the letter recorded below.

King Solomon, to Vaphres, king of Egypt, his father's friend, greetings. Know that I have received the kingdom from my father David, through the will of God most great, who has also commanded me to build a temple to God, who created heaven and earth; at the same time I write to you to send me some of your peoples, who shall assist me until I complete everything as is needed, just as has been commanded.

King Vaphres, to Solomon, the great king, greetings. As soon as I read the letter from you, I rejoiced exceedingly, and I and all my forces kept a splendid day, because you have received the kingdom from a good man, one approved by so great a God. Concerning what you write to me about the peoples among us, I have sent you eighty thousand, whose numbers, and the places from which they come, I have made clear to you: from the Sebrithite nome, ten thousand; from the Mendesian and Sebennytic, twenty thousand; from the Busirite, Leontopolite, and Athribite, ten thousand each. Take care also of what is necessary for them, and of other matters, so that good order may be kept, and that when they have finished the task they may be restored to their own land.

King Solomon, to Souron, king of Tyre and Sidon and Phoenicia, his father's friend, greetings. Know that I have received the kingdom from my father David, through the will of God most great, who has also commanded me to build a temple to God, who created heaven and earth; at the same time I write to you also, to send me some of your peoples, who shall assist us until we complete the work required for God, just as has been commanded to me. I have also written to Galilee, Samaria, Moab, Ammon, and Gilead, that the necessary provisions be supplied to them from that region each month: ten thousand kors of wheat -- a kor being six artabas; and ten thousand kors of wine -- a kor of wine being ten measures. Oil and other things shall be supplied to them from Judea, and cattle for meat from Arabia.

Souron, to Solomon, the great king, greetings. Blessed be God, who created heaven and earth, who has chosen a good man from a good man. As soon as I read the letter from you, I rejoiced exceedingly, and I blessed God because you have received the kingdom.

Concerning what you write to me about the peoples among us, I have sent you eighty thousand Tyrians and Phoenicians; and I have sent you as master-builder a Tyrian man, whose mother is a Jewess, of the tribe of David. Concerning whatever you may ask him, of all things under heaven, as well as of architecture, he will instruct you and will carry it out.