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| Chapter XXIII.—Prophets More Ancient Than Greek Writers.
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Chapter XXIII.—Prophets More Ancient Than Greek Writers.
So then let what has been said suffice for the
testimony of the Phœnicians and Egyptians, and for the account of
our chronology given by the writers Manetho the Egyptian, and Menander
the Ephesian, and also Josephus, who wrote the Jewish war, which they
waged with the Romans. For from these very old records it is proved that
the writings of the rest are more recent than the writings given to
us through Moses, yes, and than the subsequent prophets. For the last
of the prophets, who was called Zechariah, was contemporary with the
reign of Darius. But even the lawgivers themselves are all found to have
legislated subsequently to that period. For if one were to mention Solon
the Athenian, he lived in the days of the kings Cyrus and Darius, in the
time of the prophet Zechariah first mentioned, who was by many years the
last of the prophets.685
| 685
But the meaning here is obscure in the original. Malachi was much later
than Zechariah. | Or if you mention the lawgivers Lycurgus,
or Draco, or Minos, Josephus tells us in his writings that the sacred
books take precedence of them in antiquity, since even before the reign
of Jupiter over the Cretans, and before the Trojan war, the writings
of the divine law which has been given to us through Moses were in
existence. And that we may give a more accurate exhibition of eras and
dates, we will, God helping us, now give an account not only of the
dates after the deluge, but also of those before it, so as to reckon
the whole number of all the years, as far as possible; tracing up to the
very beginning of the creation of the world, which Moses the servant of
God recorded through the Holy Spirit. For having first spoken of what
concerned the creation and genesis of the world, and of the first man,
and all that happened after in the order of events, he signified also the
years that elapsed before the deluge. And I pray for favour from the only
God, that I may accurately speak the whole truth according to His will,
that you and every one who reads this work may be guided by His truth
and favour. I will then begin first with the recorded genealogies, and
I begin my narration with the first man.686
| 686 [Usher, in his Annals, honours our author as
the father of Christian chronology, p. 3. Paris, 1673.] | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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