Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Chapter XXI.—The Jewish Institutions and Laws of Far Higher Antiquity Than the Philosophy of the Greeks.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter XXI.—The Jewish Institutions and Laws of Far Higher Antiquity Than the Philosophy of the Greeks.
On the plagiarizing of the dogmas of the philosophers
from the Hebrews, we shall treat a little afterwards. But first, as
due order demands, we must now speak of the epoch of Moses, by which the
philosophy of the Hebrews will be demonstrated beyond all contradiction to
be the most ancient of all wisdom. This has been discussed with accuracy
by Tatian in his book To the Greeks, and by Cassian in the first
book of his Exegetics. Nevertheless our commentary demands that
we too should run over what has been said on the point. Apion, then, the
grammarian, surnamed Pleistonices, in the fourth book of The Egyptian
Histories, although of so hostile a disposition towards the Hebrews,
being by race an Egyptian, as to compose a work against the Jews, when
referring to Amosis king of the Egyptians, and his exploits, adduces, as a
witness, Ptolemy of Mendes. And his remarks are to the following effect:
Amosis, who lived in the time of the Argive Inachus, overthrew Athyria, as
Ptolemy of Mendes relates in his Chronology. Now this Ptolemy was a
priest; and setting forth the deeds of the Egyptian kings in three entire
books, he says, that the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, under the conduct
of Moses, took place while Amosis was king of Egypt. Whence it is seen
that Moses flourished in the time of Inachus. And of the Hellenic states,
the most ancient is the Argolic, I mean that which took its rise from
Inachus, as Dionysius of Halicarnassus teaches in his Times. And
younger by forty generations than it was Attica, founded by Cecrops,
who was an aboriginal of double race, as Tatian expressly says; and
Arcadia, founded by Pelasgus, younger too by nine generations; and he,
too, is said to have been an aboriginal. And more recent than this last
by fifty-two generations, was Pthiotis, founded by Deucalion. And from
the time of Inachus to the Trojan war twenty generations or more are
reckoned; let us say, four hundred years and more. And if Ctesias
says that the Assyrian power is many years older than the Greek,
the exodus of Moses from Egypt will appear to have taken place in the
forty-second year of the Assyrian empire,2031
| 2031 The deficiencies of the text in this place have
been supplied from Eusebius’s Chronicles. | in
the thirty-second year of the reign of Belochus, in the time of Amosis
the Egyptian, and of Inachus the Argive. And in Greece, in the time
of Phoroneus, who succeeded Inachus, the flood of Ogyges occurred;
and monarchy subsisted in Sicyon first in the person of Ægialeus,
then of Europs, then of Telches; in Crete, in the person of Cres. For
Acusilaus says that Phoroneus was the first man. Whence, too, the
author of Phoronis said that he was “the father of mortal
men.” Thence Plato in the Timœus, following Acusilaus,
writes: “And wishing to draw them out into a discussion respecting
antiquities, he2032
| 2032 i.e.,
Solon, in his conversation with the Egyptian priests. |
said that he ventured to speak of the most remote antiquities of this
city2033
| 2033 πόλει,
“city,” is not in Plato. | respecting
Phoroneus, called the first man, and Niobe, and what happened
after the deluge.” And in the time of Phorbus lived
Actæus, from whom is derived Actaia, Attica; and in the
time of Triopas lived Prometheus, and Atlas, and Epimetheus,
and Cecrops of double race, and Ino. And in the time of Crotopus
occurred the burning of Phaëthon, and the deluge2034
of Deucalion; and in the time of Sthenelus, the reign of Amphictyon, and
the arrival of Danaus in the Peloponnesus; and trader Dardanus happened
the building of Dardania, whom, says Homer,
“First cloud-compelling Zeus begat,”—
and the transmigration from Crete
into Phœnicia. And in the time of Lynceus took place the abduction
of Proserpine, and the dedication of the sacred enclosure in Eleusis,
and the husbandry of Triptolemus, and the arrival of Cadmus in Thebes,
and the reign of Minos. And in the time of Prœtus the war of Eumolpus
with the Athenians took place; and in the time of Acrisius, the removal
of Pelops from Phrygia, the arrival of Ion at Athens; and the second
Cecrops appeared, and the exploits of Perseus and Dionysus took place,
and Orpheus and Musæus lived. And in the eighteenth year of the
reign of Agamemnon, Troy was taken, in the first year of the reign of
Demophon the son of Theseus at Athens, on the twelfth day
of the month Thargelion, as Dionysius
the Argive says; but Ægias and Dercylus, in the third book, say that
it was on the eighth day of the last division of the month Panemus;
Hellanicus says that it was on the twelfth of the month Thargelion;
and some of the authors of the Attica say that it was on the
eighth of the last division of the month in the last year of Menestheus,
at full moon.
“It was midnight,”
says the author of the Little
Iliad,
“And the moon shone clear.”
Others say, it took place on the
same day of Scirophorion. But Theseus, the rival of Hercules, is older
by a generation than the Trojan war. Accordingly Tlepolemus, a son of
Hercules, is mentioned by Homer, as having served at Troy.
Moses, then, is shown to have preceded the
deification of Dionysus six hundred and four years, if he was deified
in the thirty-second year of the reign of Perseus, as Apollodorus says
in his Chronology. From Bacchus to Hercules and the chiefs that
sailed with Jason in the ship Argo, are comprised sixty-three years.
Æsculapius and the Dioscuri sailed with them, as Apollonius Rhodius
testifies in his Argonautics. And from the reign of Hercules,
in Argos, to the deification of Hercules and of Æsculapius, are
comprised thirty-eight years, according to Apollodorus the chronologist;
from this to the deification of Castor and Pollux, fifty-three years. And
at this time Troy was taken. And if we may believe the poet Hesiod,
let us hear him:—
“Then to Jove, Maia, Atlas’ daughter, bore renowned Hermes,
Herald of the immortals, having ascended the sacred couch.
And Semele, the daughter of Cadmus, too, bore an illustrious son,
Dionysus, the joy-inspiring, when
she mingled with him in love.”2035
Cadmus, the father of Semele, came to Thebes
in the time of Lynceus, and was the inventor of the Greek
letters. Triopas was a contemporary of Isis, in the seventh
generation from Inachus. And Isis, who is the same as Io, is so
called, it is said, from her going (ἰέναι) roaming
over the whole earth. Her, Istrus, in his work on the migration of the
Egyptians, calls the daughter of Prometheus. Prometheus lived in the
time of Triopas, in the seventh generation after Moses. So that Moses
appears to have flourished even before the birth of men, according
to the chronology of the Greeks. Leon, who treated of the Egyptian
divinities, says that Isis by the Greeks was called Ceres, who lived in
the time of Lynceus, in the eleventh generation after Moses. And Apis
the king of Argos built Memphis, as Aristippus says in the first book
of the Arcadica. And Aristeas the Argive says that he was named
Serapis, and that it is he that the Egyptians worship. And Nymphodorus
of Amphipolis, in the third book of the Institutions of Asia,
says that the bull Apis, dead and laid in a coffin (σορός),
was deposited in the temple of the god (δαίμονος)
there worshipped, and thence was called Soroapis, and afterwards Serapis
by the custom of the natives. And Apis is third after Inachus. Further,
Latona lived in the time of Tityus. “For he dragged Latona,
the radiant consort of Zeus.” Now Tityus was contemporary with
Tantalus. Rightly, therefore, the Bœotian Pindar writes, “And
in time was Apollo born;” and no wonder when he is found along
with Hercules, serving Admetus “for a long year.” Zethus
and Amphion, the inventors of music, lived about the age of Cadmus. And
should one assert that Phemonoe was the first who sang oracles in verse
to Acrisius, let him know that twenty-seven years after Phemonoe, lived
Orpheus, and Musæus, and Linus the teacher of Hercules. And Homer
and Hesiod are much more recent than the Trojan war; and after them the
legislators among the Greeks are far more recent, Lycurgus and Solon, and
the seven wise men, and Pherecydes of Syros, and Pythagoras the great,
who lived later, about the Olympiads, as we have shown. We have also
demonstrated Moses to be more ancient, not only than those called poets
and wise men among the Greeks, but than the most of their deities. Nor he
alone, but the Sibyl also is more ancient than Orpheus. For it is said,
that respecting her appellation and her oracular utterances there are
several accounts; that being a Phrygian, she was called Artemis; and
that on her arrival at Delphi, she sang—
“O Delphians, ministers of far-darting Apollo,
I come to declare the mind of
Ægis-bearing Zeus,
Enraged as I am at my own brother Apollo.”
There is another also, an
Erythræan, called Herophile. These are mentioned by Heraclides of
Pontus in his work On Oracles. I pass over the Egyptian Sibyl,
and the Italian, who inhabited the Carmentale in Rome, whose son was
Evander, who built the temple of Pan in Rome, called the Lupercal.
It is worth our while, having reached this point, to
examine the dates of the other prophets among the Hebrews who succeeded
Moses. After the close of Moses’s life, Joshua succeeded to the
leadership of the people, and he, after warring for sixty-five years,
rested in the good land other five-and-twenty. As the book of Joshua
relates, the above mentioned man was the successor of Moses twenty-seven
years. Then the Hebrews having sinned, were delivered to Chusachar2036
king of Mesopotamia for eight years, as the
book of Judges mentions. But
having afterwards besought the
Lord, they receive for leader Gothoniel,2037
the younger brother of Caleb,
of the tribe of Judah, who, having slain the king of Mesopotamia, ruled
over the people forty years in succession. And having again sinned,
they were delivered into the hands of Æglom2038
king of the Moabites for eighteen
years. But on their repentance, Aod,2039
a man who had equal use of both hands,
of the tribe of Ephraim, was their leader for eighty years. It was he
that despatched Æglom. On the death of Aod, and on their sinning again,
they were delivered into the hand of Jabim2040
king of Canaan twenty years. After
him Deborah the wife of Lapidoth, of the tribe of Ephraim, prophesied;
and Ozias the son of Rhiesu was high priest. At her instance Barak the
son of Bener,2041
of the tribe of Naphtali, commanding the army,
having joined battle with Sisera, Jabim’s commander-in-chief,
conquered him. And after that Deborah ruled, judging the people forty
years. On her death, the people having again sinned, were delivered into
the hands of the Midianites seven years. After these events, Gideon,
of the tribe of Manasseh, the son of Joas, having fought with his three
hundred men, and killed a hundred and twenty thousand, ruled forty years;
after whom the son of Ahimelech, three years. He was succeeded by Boleas,
the son of Bedan, the son of Charran,2042
| 2042 Sic. Θωλεᾶς
may be the right reading instead of Βωλεᾶς.
But Judg. x. 1 says Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo. |
of the tribe of Ephraim, who ruled twenty-three years. After whom,
the people having sinned again, were delivered to the Ammonites
eighteen years; and on their repentance were commanded by Jephtha the
Gileadite, of the tribe of Manasseh; and he ruled six years. After
whom, Abatthan2043
of Bethlehem, of the tribe of Juda, ruled
seven years. Then Ebron2044
| 2044
Not mentioned in Scripture. | the Zebulonite, eight
years. Then Eglom of Ephraim, eight years. Some add to the seven
years of Abatthan the eight of Ebrom.2045
And after him, the people
having again transgressed, came under the power of the foreigners,
the Philistines, for forty years. But on their returning [to God], they
were led by Samson, of the tribe of Dan, who conquered the foreigners in
battle. He ruled twenty years. And after him, there being no governor,
Eli the priest judged the people for forty years. He was succeeded by
Samuel the prophet; contemporaneously with whom Saul reigned, who held
sway for twenty-seven years. He anointed David. Samuel died two years
before Saul, while Abimelech was high priest. He anointed Saul as king,
who was the first that bore regal sway over Israel after the judges; the
whole duration of whom, down to Saul, was four hundred and sixty-three
years and seven months.
Then in the first book of Kings there are twenty
years of Saul, during which he reigned after he was renovated. And
after the death of Saul, David the son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah,
reigned next in Hebron, forty years, as is contained in the second book
of Kings. And Abiathar the son of Abimelech, of the kindred of Eli,
was high priest. In his time Gad and Nathan prophesied. From Joshua
the son of Nun, then, till David received the kingdom, there intervene,
according to some, four hundred and fifty years. But, as the chronology
set forth shows, five hundred and twenty-three years and seven months
are comprehended till the death of David.
And after this Solomon the son of David reigned
forty years. Under him Nathan continued to prophesy, who also exhorted him
respecting the building of the temple. Achias of Shilo also prophesied.
And both the kings, David and Solomon, were prophets. And Sadoc the high
priest was the first who ministered in the temple which Solomon built,
being the eighth from Aaron, the first high priest. From Moses, then,
to the age of Solomon, as some say, are five hundred and ninety-five
years, and as others, five hundred and seventy-six.
And if you count, along with the four hundred and
fifty years from Joshua to David, the forty years of the rule of Moses,
and the other eighty years of Moses’s life previous to the exodus
of the Hebrews from Egypt, you will make up the sum in all of six hundred
and ten years. But our chronology will run more correctly, if to the
five hundred and twenty-three years and seven months till the death of
David, you add the hundred and twenty years of Moses and the forty years
of Solomon. For you will make up in all, down to the death of Solomon,
six hundred and eighty-three years and seven months.
Hiram gave his daughter to Solomon about the time of
the arrival of Menelaus in Phœnicia, after the capture of Troy, as is
said by Menander of Pergamus, and Lætus in The Phœnicia.
And after Solomon, Roboam his son reigned for seventeen years; and
Abimelech the son of Sadoc was high priest. In his reign, the kingdom
being divided, Jeroboam, of the tribe of Ephraim, the servant of Solomon,
reigned in Samaria; and Achias the Shilonite continued to prophesy;
also Samæas the son of Amame, and he who came from Judah to
Jeroboam,2046
| 2046 See 1 Kings
xiii. 1, 2. The text has ἐπι
῾Ροβοάμ, which, if retained,
must be translated “in the reign of Roboam.” But Jeroboam
was probably the original reading. | and prophesied against
the altar. After him his son
Abijam, twenty-three years; and
likewise his son Asaman.2047
The last, in his old age, was diseased in his feet;
and in his reign prophesied Jehu the son of Ananias.
After him Jehosaphat his son reigned twenty-five
years.2048
| 2048 So Lowth corrects
the text, which has five. | In his reign prophesied Elias
the Thesbite, and Michæas the son of Jebla, and Abdias the son of
Ananias. And in the time of Michæas there was also the false prophet
Zedekias, the son of Chonaan. These were followed by the reign of Joram
the son of Jehosaphat, for eight years; during whose time prophesied
Elias; and after Elias, Elisæus the son of Saphat. In his reign
the people in Samaria ate doves’ dung and their own children. The
period of Jehosaphat extends from the close of the third book of Kings
to the fourth. And in the reign of Joram, Elias was translated, and
Elisæus the son of Saphat commenced prophesying, and prophesied
for six years, being forty years old.
Then Ochozias reigned a year. In his
time Elisæus continued to prophesy, and along with him
Adadonæus.2049
| 2049
Supposed to be “son of Oded” or “Adad,”
i.e., Azarias. | After him the mother of Ozias,2050
Gotholia,2051
reigned eight2052
| 2052 She was slain in the seventh year of her
reign. | years, having slain the children of her brother.2053
| 2053 Not of her brother, but of
her son Ahaziah, all of whom she slew except Joash. | For she
was of the family of Ahab. But the sister of Ozias, Josabæa, stole
Joas the son of Ozias, and invested him afterwards with the kingdom. And
in the time of this Gotholia, Elisæus was still prophesying. And
after her reigned, as I said before, Joash, rescued by Josabæa the
wife of Jodæ the high priest, and lived in all forty years.
There are comprised, then, from Solomon to the death
of Elisæus the prophet, as some say, one hundred and five years;
according to others, one hundred and two; and, as the chronology before
us shows, from the reign of Solomon an hundred and eighty-one.
Now from the Trojan war to the birth of Homer,
according to Philochorus, a hundred and eighty years elapsed; and he was
posterior to the Ionic migration. But Aristarchus, in the Archilochian
Memoirs, says that he lived during the Ionic migration, which took
place a hundred and twenty years after the siege of Troy. But Apollodorus
alleges it was an hundred and twenty years after the Ionic migration,
while Agesilaus son of Doryssæus was king of the Lacedæmonians:
so that he brings Lycurgus the legislator, while still a young man,
near him. Euthymenes, in the Chronicles, says that he flourished
contemporaneously with Hesiod, in the time of Acastus, and was born
in Chios about the four hundredth year after the capture of Troy. And
Archimachus, in the third book of his Eubœan History, is of
this opinion. So that both he and Hesiod were later than Elisæus, the
prophet. And if you choose to follow the grammarian Crates, and say that
Homer was born about the time of the expedition of the Heraclidæ,
eighty years after the taking of Troy, he will be found to be later
again than Solomon, in whose days occurred the arrival of Menelaus in
Phœnicia, as was said above. Eratosthenes says that Homer’s
age was two hundred years after the capture of Troy. Further, Theopompus,
in the forty-third book of the Philippics, relates that Homer was
born five hundred years after the war at Troy. And Euphorion, in his
book about the Aleuades, maintains that he was born in the time
of Gyges, who began to reign in the eighteenth Olympiad, who, also he
says, was the first that was called tyrant (τύραννος).
Sosibius Lacon, again, in his Record of Dates, brings Homer down to
the eighth year of the reign of Charillus the son of Polydectus. Charillus
reigned for sixty-four years, after whom the son of Nicander reigned
thirty-nine years. In his thirty-fourth year it is said that the first
Olympiad was instituted; so that Homer was ninety years before the
introduction of the Olympic games.
After Joas, Amasias his son reigned as his successor
thirty-nine years. He in like manner was succeeded by his son Ozias, who
reigned for fifty-two years, and died a leper. And in his time prophesied
Amos, and Isaiah his son,2054
| 2054
Clement is wrong in asserting that Amos the prophet was the father of
Isaiah. The names are written differently in Hebrew, though the same in
Greek. | and Hosea the son of Beeri, and Jonas the son of Amathi,
who was of Geth-chober, who preached to the Ninevites, and passed through
the whale’s belly.
Then Jonathan the son of Ozias reigned for sixteen
years. In his time Esaias still prophesied, and Hosea, and Michæas
the Morasthite, and Joel the son of Bethuel.
Next in succession was his son Ahaz, who reigned for
sixteen years. In his time, in the fifteenth year, Israel was carried
away to Babylon. And Salmanasar the king of the Assyrians carried away
the people of Samaria into the country of the Medes and to Babylon.
Again Ahaz was succeeded by Osee,2055
who reigned
for eight years. Then followed Hezekiah, for twenty-nine years. For his
sanctity, when he had approached his end, God, by Isaiah, allowed him
to live for other fifteen years, giving as a sign the going back of the
sun. Up to his times Esaias, Hosea, and Micah continued prophesying.
And these are said to have lived after the age
of Lycurgus, the legislator of
the Lacedæmonians. For Dieuchidas, in the fourth book of the
Megarics, places the era of Lycurgus about the two hundred and
ninetieth year after the capture of Troy.
After Hezekiah, his son Manasses reigned for
fifty-five years. Then his son Amos for two years. After him reigned
his son Josias, distinguished for his observance of the law, for
thirty-one years. He “laid the carcases of men upon the carcases
of the idols,” as is written in the book of Leviticus.2056
In his reign, in the eighteenth year, the passover was celebrated, not
having been kept from the days of Samuel in the intervening period.2057
Then Chelkias the priest, the father of the prophet Jeremiah,
having fallen in with the book of the law, that had been laid
up in the temple, read it and died.2058
And in his days
Olda2059
prohesied, and Sophonias,2060
and Jeremiah. And in the days of Jeremiah was
Ananias the son of Azor,2061
| 2061
ὀ
Ἰωσίου, the reading of the
text, is probably corrupt. | the false prophet. He2062
having
disobeyed Jeremiah the prophet, was slain by Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt
at the river Euphrates, having encountered the latter, who was marching
on the Assyrians.
Josiah was succeeded by Jechoniah, called
also Joachas,2063
| 2063
ὀ
καὶ Ἰωάχας,
instead of which the text has καὶ
Ἰωάχας. | his son,
who reigned three months and ten days. Necho king of Egypt bound him
and led him to Egypt, after making his brother Joachim king in his
stead, who continued his tributary for eleven years. After him his
namesake2064
| 2064 The names,
however, were not the same. The name of the latter was Jehoiachin. The
former in Hebrew was written יהויקים,
the latter יהויכין.
By copyists they were often confounded, as here by Clement. |
Joakim reigned for three months. Then Zedekiah reigned
for eleven years; and up to his time Jeremiah continued to
prophesy. Along with him Ezekiel2065
| 2065 Lowth suplies Ἰεζεκιήλ,
which is wanting in the text. | the son of Buzi, and
Urias2066
the son of Samæus,
and Ambacum2067
prophesied. Here end the Hebrew kings.
There are then from the birth of Moses till this
captivity nine hundred and seventy-two years; but according to strict
chronological accuracy, one thousand and eighty-five, six months, ten
days. From the reign of David to the captivity by the Chaldeans, four
hundred and fifty-two years and six months; but as the accuracy we have
observed in reference to dates makes out, four hundred and eighty-two
and six months ten days.
And in the twelfth year of the reign of Zedekiah,
forty years before the supremacy of the Persians, Nebuchodonosor made
war against the Phœnicians and the Jews, as Berosus asserts in his
Chaldæan Histories. And Joabas,2068
writing about the Assyrians,
acknowledges that he had received the history from Berosus, and testifies
to his accuracy. Nebuchodonosor, therefore, having put out the eyes of
Zedekiah, took him away to Babylon, and transported the whole people
(the captivity lasted seventy years), with the exception of a few who
fled to Egypt.
Jeremiah and Ambacum were still prophesying in the
time of Zedekiah. In the fifth year of his reign Ezekiel prophesied at
Babylon; after him Nahum, then Daniel. After him, again, Haggai and
Zechariah prophesied in the time of Darius the First for two years;
and then the angel among the twelve.2069
| 2069 Malachi, my angel or messenger. [Again, p. 331,
infra.] | After Haggai and Zechariah, Nehemiah, the
chief cup-bearer of Artaxerxes, the son of Acheli the Israelite, built
the city of Jerusalem and restored the temple. During the captivity
lived Esther and Mordecai, whose book is still extant, as also that
of the Maccabees. During this captivity Mishael, Ananias, and Azarias,
refusing to worship the image, and being thrown into a furnace of fire,
were saved by the appearance of an angel. At that time, on account of
the serpent,2070
| 2070 On account of
killing the serpent, as is related in the apocryphal book, “Bel and
the Dragon, or Serpent.” | Daniel was thrown into the den
of lions; but being preserved through the providence of God by Ambacub,
he is restored on the seventh day. At this period, too, occurred the
sign of Jona; and Tobias, through the assistance of the angel Raphael,
married Sarah, the demon having killed her seven first suitors; and after
the marriage of Tobias, his father Tobit recovered his sight. At that
time Zorobabel, having by his wisdom overcome his opponents, and obtained
leave from Darius for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, returned with Esdras to
his native land; and by him the redemption of the people and the revisal
and restoration of the inspired oracles were effected; and the passover
of deliverance celebrated, and marriage with aliens dissolved.
Cyrus had, by proclamation, previously enjoined
the restoration of the Hebrews. And his promise being accomplished in
the time of Darius, the feast of the dedication was held, as also the
feast of tabernacles.
There were in all, taking in the duration of the
captivity down to the restoration of the people, from the birth of
Moses, one thousand one hundred and fifty-five years, six months, and
ten days; and from the reign of David, according to some, four hundred
and fifty-two;
more correctly, five hundred and
seventy-two years, six months, and ten days.
From the captivity at Babylon, which took place
in the time of Jeremiah the prophet, was fulfilled what was spoken
by Daniel the prophet as follows: “Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression,
and to seal sins, and to wipe out and make reconciliation for iniquity,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal the vision and
the prophet, and to anoint the Holy of Holies. Know therefore, and
understand, that from the going forth of the word commanding an answer
to be given, and Jerusalem to be built, to Christ the Prince, are seven
weeks and sixty-two weeks; and the street shall be again built, and the
wall; and the times shall be expended. And after the sixty-two weeks
the anointing shall be overthrown, and judgment shall not be in him;
and he shall destroy the city and the sanctuary along with the coming
Prince. And they shall be destroyed in a flood, and to the end of the
war shall be cut off by desolations. And he shall confirm the covenant
with many for one week; and in the middle of the week the sacrifice
and oblation shall be taken away; and in the holy place shall be the
abomination of desolations, and until the consummation of time shall
the consummation be assigned for desolation. And in the midst of the
week shall he make the incense of sacrifice cease, and of the wing
of destruction, even till the consummation, like the destruction of
the oblation.”2071
That the temple accordingly was built in seven
weeks, is evident; for it is written in Esdras. And thus Christ became
King of the Jews, reigning in Jerusalem in the fulfilment of the seven
weeks. And in the sixty and two weeks the whole of Judæa was quiet,
and without wars. And Christ our Lord, “the Holy of Holies,”
having come and fulfilled the vision and the prophecy, was anointed in
His flesh by the Holy Spirit of His Father. In those “sixty and two
weeks,” as the prophet said, and “in the one week,”
was He Lord. The half of the week Nero held sway, and in the holy city
Jerusalem placed the abomination; and in the half of the week he was
taken away, and Otho, and Galba, and Vitellius. And Vespasian rose
to the supreme power, and destroyed Jerusalem, and desolated the holy
place. And that such are the facts of the case, is clear to him that is
able to understand, as the prophet said.
On the completion, then, of the eleventh year,
in the beginning of the following, in the reign of Joachim, occurred
the carrying away captive to Babylon by Nabuchodonosor the king,
in the seventh year of his reign over the Assyrians, in the second
year of the reign of Vaphres over the Egyptians, in the archonship of
Philip at Athens, in the first year of the forty-eighth Olympiad. The
captivity lasted for seventy years, and ended in the second year of
Darius Hystaspes, who had become king of the Persians, Assyrians,
and Egyptians; in whose reign, as I said above, Haggai and Zechariah
and the angel of the twelve prophesied. And the high priest was Joshua
the son of Josedec. And in the second year of the reign of Darius, who,
Herodotus says, destroyed the power of the Magi, Zorobabel the son of
Salathiel was despatched to raise and adorn the temple at Jerusalem.
The times of the Persians are accordingly summed up
thus: Cyrus reigned thirty years; Cambyses, nineteen; Darius, forty-six;
Xerxes, twenty-six; Artaxerxes, forty-one; Darius, eight; Artaxerxes,
forty-two; Ochus or Arses, three. The sum total of the years of the
Persian monarchy is two hundred and thirty-five years.
Alexander of Macedon, having despatched this Darius,
during this period, began to reign. Similarly, therefore, the times of
the Macedonian kings are thus computed: Alexander, eighteen years; Ptolemy
the son of Lagus, forty years; Ptolemy Philadelphus, twenty-seven years;
then Euergetes, five-and-twenty years; then Philopator, seventeen years;
then Epiphanes, four-and-twenty years; he was succeeded by Philometer,
who reigned five-and-thirty years; after him Physcon, twenty-nine years;
then Lathurus, thirty-six years; then he that was surnamed Dionysus,
twenty-nine years; and last Cleopatra reigned twenty-two years. And
after her was the reign of the Cappadocians for eighteen days.
Accordingly the period embraced by the Macedonian
kings is, in all, three hundred and twelve years and eighteen days.
Therefore those who prophesied in the time of
Darius Hystaspes, about the second year of his reign,—Haggai,
and Zechariah, and the angel of the twelve, who prophesied about the
first year of the forty-eighth Olympiad,—are demonstrated to be
older than Pythagoras, who is said to have lived in the sixty-second
Olympiad, and than Thales, the oldest of the wise men of the Greeks, who
lived about the fiftieth Olympiad. Those wise men that are classed with
Thales were then contemporaneous, as Andron says in the Tripos. For
Heraclitus being posterior to Pythagoras, mentions him in his book. Whence
indisputably the first Olympiad, which was demonstrated to be four hundred
and seven years later than the Trojan war, is found to be prior to the
age of the above-mentioned prophets, together with those called the seven
wise men. Accordingly it is easy to perceive that Solomon, who lived in
the time of Menelaus (who was during the Trojan war), was earlier by
many years than the wise men among the Greeks. And how
many years Moses preceded him we showed, in what we said above. And
Alexander, surnamed Polyhistor, in his work on the Jews, has transcribed
some letters of Solomon to Vaphres king of Egypt, and to the king
of the Phœnicians at Tyre, and theirs to Solomon; in which it is
shown that Vaphres sent eighty thousand Egyptian men to him for the
building of the temple, and the other as many, along with a Tyrian
artificer, the son of a Jewish mother, of the tribe of Dan,2072
as is there written,
of the name of Hyperon.2073
| 2073 Hiram or Huram was his
name (1 Kings vii. 13; 40). Clement seems to have mistaken the words
ὑπὲρ
ὦν occuring in the epistle referred to for
a proper name. | Further, Onomacritus the Athenian, who is
said to have been the author of the poems ascribed to Orpheus, is
ascertained to have lived in the reign of the Pisistratidæ, about the
fiftieth Olympiad. And Orpheus, who sailed with Hercules, was the pupil
of Musæus. Amphion precedes the Trojan war by two generations. And
Demodocus and Phemius were posterior to the capture of Troy; for they
were famed for playing on the lyre, the former among the
Phæacians, and the latter among the suitors. And the
Oracles ascribed to Musæus are said to be the production
of Onomacritus, and the Crateres of Orpheus the production
of Zopyrus of Heraclea, and The Descent to Hades that of
Prodicus of Samos. Ion of Chios relates in the
Triagmi,2074
| 2074
Such, according to Harpocration, was the title of this
work. In the text it is called Τριγράμμοι.
Suidas calls it Τριασμοί. |
that Pythagoras ascribed certain works [of his own] to Orpheus. Epigenes,
in his book respecting The Poetry attributed to Orpheus, says
that The Descent to Hades and the Sacred Discourse were
the production of Cecrops the Pythagorean; and the Peplus and
the Physics of Brontinus. Some also make Terpander out ancient.
Hellanicus, accordingly, relates that he lived in the time of Midas:
but Phanias, who places Lesches the Lesbian before Terpander, makes
Terpander younger than Archilochus, and relates that Lesches contended
with Arctinus, and gained the victory. Xanthus the Lydian says that
he lived about the eighteenth Olympiad; as also Dionysius says that
Thasus was built about the fifteenth Olympiad: so that it is clear
that Archilochus2075
| 2075 The
passage seems incomplete. The bearing of the date of the building
of Thasos on the determination of the age of Archilochus, may be,
that it was built by Telesiclus his son. | was already known
after the twentieth Olympiad. He accordingly relates the destruction
of Magnetes as having recently taken place. Simonides is assigned to
the time of Archilochus. Callinus is not much older; for Archilochus
refers to Magnetes as destroyed, while the latter refers to it as
flourishing. Eumelus of Corinth being older, is said to have met Archias,
who founded Syracuse.
We were induced to mention these things, because
the poets of the epic cycle are placed amongst those of most remote
antiquity. Already, too, among the Greeks, many diviners are said to have
made their appearance, as the Bacides, one a Bœotian, the other
an Arcadian, who uttered many predictions to many. By the counsel of
Amphiletus the Athenian,2076
| 2076
Called so because he sojourned at Athens. His birthplace was
Acarnania. | who showed the time for the onset, Pisistratus,
too, strengthened his government. For we may pass over in silence Cometes
of Crete, Cinyras of Cyprus, Admetus the Thessalian, Aristæas the
Cyrenian, Amphiaraus the Athenian, Timoxeus2077
| 2077 Another reading is Τιμόθεος;
Sylburgius conjectures Τιμόξενος. |
the Corcyræan, Demænetus the Phocian, Epigenes the
Thespian, Nicias the Carystian, Aristo the Thessalian, Dionysius the
Carthaginian, Cleophon the Corinthian, Hippo the daughter of Chiro,
and Bœo, and Manto, and the host of Sibyls, the Samian, the
Colophonian, the Cumæan, the Erythræan, the Pythian,2078
| 2078 The text has Φυτώ, which
Sylburgius conjectures has been changed from Πυθώ. | the
Taraxandrian, the Macetian, the Thessalian, and the Thesprotian. And
Calchas again, and Mopsus, who lived during the Trojan war. Mopsus,
however, was older, having sailed along with the Argonants. And it is said
that Battus the Cyrenian composed what is called the Divination
of Mopsus. Dorotheus in the first Pandect relates that Mopsus
was the disciple of Alcyon and Corone. And Pythagoras the Great always
applied his mind to prognostication, and Abaris the Hyperborean, and
Aristæas the Proconnesian, and Epimenides the Cretan, who came to
Sparta, and Zoroaster the Mede, and Empedocles of Agrigentum, and Phormion
the Lacedæmonian; Polyaratus, too, of Thasus, and Empedotimus of
Syracuse; and in addition to these, Socrates the Athenian in particular.
“For,” he says in the Theages, “I am attended
by a supernatural intimation, which has been assigned me from a child by
divine appointment. This is a voice which, when it comes, prevents what
I am about to do, but exhorts never.”2079
| 2079 Plato’s Theages, xi. p. 128. |
And Execestus, the tyrant of the Phocians, wore two enchanted rings,
and by the sound which they uttered one against the other determined
the proper times for actions. But he died, nevertheless, treacherously
murdered, although warned beforehand by the sound, as Aristotle says in
the Polity of the Phocians.
Of those, too, who at one time lived as men among the
Egyptians, but were constituted gods by human opinion, were Hermes the
Theban, and Asclepius of Memphis; Tireseus and Manto, again, at Thebes,
as Euripides says. Helenus, too, and Laocoön, and Œnone,
and Crenus in
Ilium. For Crenus, one of the
Heraclidæ, is said to
have been a noted prophet. Another was Jamus in Elis, from whom came
the Jamidæ; and Polyidus at Argos and Megara, who is mentioned by the
tragedy. Why enumerate Telemus, who, being a prophet of the Cyclops,
predicted to Polyphemus the events of Ulysses’ wandering; or
Onomacritus at Athens; or Amphiaraus, who campaigned with the seven at
Thebes, and is reported to be a generation older than the capture of
Troy; or Theoclymenus in Cephalonia, or Telmisus in Caria, or Galeus
in Sicily?
There are others, too, besides these: Idmon, who
was with the Argonauts, Phemonoe of Delphi, Mopsus the son of Apollo
and Manto in Pamphylia, and Amphilochus the son of Amphiaraus in
Cilicia, Alcmæon among the Acarnanians, Anias in Delos, Aristander of
Telmessus, who was along with Alexander. Philochorus also relates in
the first book of the work, On Divination, that Orpheus was a
seer. And Theopompus, and Ephorus, and Timæus, write of a seer called
Orthagoras; as the Samian Pythocles in the fourth book of The
Italics writes of Caius Julius Nepos.
But some of these “thieves and robbers,” as
the Scripture says, predicted for the most part from observation and
probabilities, as physicians and soothsayers judge from natural signs;
and others were excited by demons, or were disturbed by waters, and
fumigations, and air of a peculiar kind. But among the Hebrews the
prophets were moved by the power and inspiration of God. Before the
law, Adam spoke prophetically in respect to the woman, and the naming
of the creatures; Noah preached repentance;2080
| 2080 [Not to be lightly passed
over. This whole paragraph is of value. Noah is the eighth
preacher (2 Pet. ii. 5) of righteousness.] | Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob gave many clear utterances respecting future and present things.
Contemporaneous with the law, Moses and Aaron; and after these
prophesied Jesus the son of Nave, Samuel, Gad, Nathan, Achias,
Samæas,
Jehu, Elias, Michæas, Abdiu, Elisæus, Abbadonai, Amos, Esaias, Osee,
Jonas, Joel, Jeremias, Sophonias the son of Buzi, Ezekiel, Urias,
Ambacum, Naum, Daniel, Misael, who wrote the syllogisms, Aggai,
Zacharias, and the angel among the twelve. These are, in all,
five-and-thirty prophets. And of women (for these too prophesied),
Sara, and Rebecca, and Mariam, and Debbora, and Olda, i.e., Huldah.
Then within the same period John prophesied
till the baptism of salvation;2081
| 2081 [The baptism of Jesus as distinguished from the
baptism of repetance. John is clearly recognised, here, as of the old
dispensation. John iv. 1.] | and after the birth of Christ,
Anna and Simeon.2082
For Zacaharias, John’s father, is
said in the Gospels to have prophesied before his son. Let us then draw
up the chronology of the Greeks from Moses.
From the birth of Moses to the exodus of the Jews from
Egypt, eighty years; and the period down to his death, other forty
years. The exodus took place in the time of Inachus, before the
wandering of Sothis,2083
| 2083 i.e., of Io, the daughter of
Inachus. | Moses having gone forth from Egypt three
hundred and forty-five years before. From the rule of Moses, and from
Inachus to the flood of Deucalion, I mean the second inundation, and to
the conflagration of Phaethon, which events happened in the time of
Crotopus, forty generations are enumerated (three generations being
reckoned for a century). From the flood to the conflagration of Ida,
and the discovery of iron, and the Idæan Dactyls, are seventy-three
years, according to Thrasyllus; and from the conflagration of Ida to
the rape of Ganymede, sixty-five years. From this to the expedition of
Perseus, when Glaucus established the Isthmian games in honour of
Melicerta, fifteen years; and from the expedition of Perseus to the
building of Troy, thirty-four years. From this to the voyage of the
Argo, sixty-four years. From this to Theseus and the Minotaur,
thirty-two years; then to the seven at Thebes, ten years. And to the
Olympic contest, which Hercules instituted in honour of Pelops, three
years; and to the expedition of the Amazons against Athens, and the rape
of Helen by Theseus, nine years. From this to the deification of
Hercules, eleven years; then to the rape of Helen by Alexander, four
years. From the taking of Troy to the descent of Æneas and the
founding of Lavinium, ten years; and to the government of Ascanius,
eight years; and to the descent of the Heraclidæ, sixty-one years; and
to the Olympiad of Iphitus, three hundred and thirty-eight years.
Eratosthenes thus sets down the dates: “From the capture of Troy
to the descent of the Heraclidæ, eighty years. From this to the
founding of Ionia, sixty years; and the period following to the
protectorate of Lycurgus, a hundred and fifty-nine years; and to the
first year of the first Olympiad, a hundred and eight years. From which
Olympiad to the invasion of Xerxes, two hundred and ninety-seven years;
from which to the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, forty-eight
years; and to its close, and the defeat of the Athenians, twenty-seven
years; and to the battle at Leuctra, thirty-four years; after which to
the death of Philip, thirty-five years. And after this to the decease
of Alexander, twelve years.”
Again, from the first Olympiad, some say, to the
building of Rome, are comprehended
twenty-four years; and after this to the expulsion
of the kings,2084
| 2084 For Βαβυλῶνος,
Βασιλἐων
has been substituted. In an old chronologist, as quoted by Clement
elsewhere, the latter occurs; and the date of the expulsion of the
kings harmonizes with the number of years here given, which that of the
destruction of Babylon does not. | when consuls were created,
about two hundred and forty-three years. And from the taking of Babylon
to the death of Alexander, a hundred and eighty-six years. From this
to the victory of Augustus, when Antony killed himself at Alexandria,
two hundred and ninety-four years, when Augustus was made consul for the
fourth time. And from this time to the games which Domitian instituted
at Rome, are a hundred and fourteen years; and from the first games to
the death of Commodus, a hundred and eleven years.
There are some that from Cecrops to Alexander of Macedon
reckon a thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight years; and from
Demophon, a thousand two hundred and fifty; and from the taking of Troy
to the expedition of the Heraclidæ, a hundred and twenty or a hundred
and eighty years. From this to the archonship of Evænetus at Athens,
in whose time Alexander is said to have marched into Asia, according to
Phanias, are seven hundred and fifty years; according to Ephorus, seven
hundred and thirty-five; according to Timæus and Clitarchus, eight
hundred and twenty; according to Eratosthenes, seven hundred and
seventy-four. As also Duris, from the taking of Troy to the march of
Alexander into Asia, a thousand years; and from that to the archonship
of Hegesias, in whose time Alexander died eleven years. From this date
to the reign of Germanicus Claudius Cæsar, three hundred and
sixty-five years. From which time the years summed up to the death of
Commodus are manifest.
After the Grecian period, and in accordance with the
dates, as computed by the barbarians, very large intervals are to be
assigned.
From Adam to the deluge are comprised two thousand one hundred and
forty-eight years, four days. From Shem to Abraham, a thousand two
hundred and fifty years. From Isaac to the division of the land, six
hundred and sixteen years. Then from the judges to Samuel, four hundred
and sixty-three years, seven months. And after the judges there were
five hundred and seventy-two years, six months, ten days of kings.
After which periods, there were two hundred and thirty-five years of
the Persian monarchy. Then of the Macedonian, till the death of Antony,
three hundred and twelve years and eighteen days. After which time,
the empire of the Romans, till the death of Commodus, lasted for two
hundred and twenty-two years.
Then, from the seventy years’ captivity, and the
restoration of the people into their own land to the captivity in the
time of Vespasian, are comprised four hundred and ten years. Finally,
from Vespasian to the death of Commodus, there are ascertained to be
one hundred and twenty-one years, six months, and twenty-four days.
Demetrius, in his book, On the Kings in Judæa, says
that the tribes of Juda, Benjamin, and Levi were not taken captive by
Sennacherim; but that there were from this captivity to the last, which
Nabuchodonosor made out of Jerusalem, a hundred and twenty-eight years
and six months; and from the time that the ten tribes were carried captive
from Samaria till Ptolemy the Fourth, were five hundred and seventy-three
years, nine months; and from the time that the captivity from Jerusalem
took place, three hundred and thirty-eight years and three months.
Philo himself set down the kings differently from Demetrius.
Besides, Eupolemus, in a similar work, says that all the years from
Adam to the fifth year of Ptolemy Demetrius, who reigned twelve years
in Egypt, when added, amount to five thousand a hundred and forty-nine;
and from the time that Moses brought out the Jews from Egypt to the
above-mentioned date, there are, in all, two thousand five hundred and
eighty years. And from this time till the consulship in Rome of Caius
Domitian and Casian, a hundred and twenty years are computed.
Euphorus and many other historians say that there are seventy-five
nations and tongues, in consequence of hearing the statement made by
Moses: “All the souls that sprang from Jacob, which went down into
Egypt, were seventy-five.”2085
According to the true reckoning, there appear to be
seventy-two generic dialects, as our Scriptures hand down. The rest
of the vulgar tongues are formed by the blending of two, or three, or
more dialects. A dialect is a mode of speech which exhibits a character
peculiar to a locality, or a mode of speech which exhibits a character
peculiar or common to a race. The Greeks say, that among them are five
dialects—the Attic, Ionic, Doric, Æolic, and the fifth the Common;
and that the languages of the barbarians, which are innumerable, are
not called dialects, but tongues.
Plato attributes a dialect also to the gods, forming
this conjecture mainly from dreams and oracles, and especially from
demoniacs, who do not speak their own language or dialect, but that of
the demons who have taken possession of them. He thinks also that the
irrational creatures have dialects, which those that belong to
the same genus understand.2086
| 2086
[This assent to Plato’s whim, on the part of our author, is
suggestive.] | Accordingly, when an elephant falls into the
mud and bellows out any other one that is at hand, on seeing what
has happened, shortly turns, and brings with him a herd of elephants,
and saves the one that has fallen in. It is said also in Libya, that a
scorpion, if it does not succeed in stinging a man, goes away and returns
with several more; and that, hanging on one to the other like a chain
they make in this way the attempt to succeed in their cunning design.
The irrational creatures do not make use
of an obscure intimation, or hint their meaning by assuming
a particular attitude, but, as I think, by a dialect of their
own.2087
| 2087 [This assent to
Plato’s whim, on the part of our author, is suggestive.] |
And some others say, that if a fish which has been taken escape
by breaking the line, no fish of the same kind will be caught
in the same place that day. But the first and generic barbarous
dialects have terms by nature, since also men confess that prayers
uttered in a barbarian tongue are more powerful. And Plato, in the
Cratylus, when wishing to interpret πῦρ (fire),
says that it is a barbaric term. He testifies, accordingly, that the
Phrygians use this term with a slight deviation.
And nothing, in my opinion, after these details, need
stand in the way of stating the periods of the Roman emperors, in order
to the demonstration of the Saviour’s birth. Augustus,
forty-three years; Tiberius, twenty-two years; Caius, four years;
Claudius, fourteen years; Nero, fourteen years; Galba, one year;
Vespasian, ten years; Titus, three years; Domitian, fifteen years;
Nerva, one year; Trajan, nineteen years; Adrian, twenty-one years;
Antoninus, twenty-one years; likewise again, Antoninus and Commodus,
thirty-two. In all, from Augustus to Commodus, are two hundred and
twenty-two years; and from Adam to the death of Commodus, five thousand
seven hundred and eighty-four years, two months, twelve days.
Some set down the dates of the Roman emperors
thus:—
Caius Julius Cæsar, three years, four months, five
days; after him Augustus reigned forty-six years, four months, one day.
Then Tiberius, twenty-six years, six months, nineteen days. He was
succeeded by Caius Cæsar, who reigned three years, ten months, eight
days; and he by Claudius for thirteen years, eight months, twenty-eight
days. Nero reigned thirteen years, eight months, twenty-eight days;
Galba, seven months and six days; Otho, five months, one day;
Vitellius, seven months, one day; Vespasian, eleven years, eleven
months, twenty-two days; Titus, two years, two months; Domitian,
fifteen years, eight months, five days; Nerva, one year, four months,
ten days; Trajan, nineteen years, seven months, ten days; Adrian,
twenty years, ten months, twenty-eight days. Antoninus, twenty-two
years, three months, and seven days; Marcus Aurelius Antoninus,
nineteen years, eleven days; Commodus, twelve years, nine months,
fourteen days.
From Julius Cæsar, therefore, to the death
of Commodus, are two hundred and thirty-six years, six months. And
the whole from Romulus, who founded Rome, till the death of Commodus,
amounts to nine hundred and fifty-three years, six months. And our Lord
was born in the twenty-eighth year, when first the census was ordered
to be taken in the reign of Augustus. And to prove that this is true,
it is written in the Gospel by Luke as follows: “And in the
fifteenth year, in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, the word of the
Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias.” And again in the same
book: “And Jesus was coming to His baptism, being about thirty
years old,”2088
and so on. And that it was necessary for Him
to preach only a year, this also is written:2089
| 2089 [A fair parallel to the amazing traditional statement
of Irenæus, and his objection to this very idea, vol. i. p. 391, this
series. Isa. lxi. 1, 2.] | “He hath sent Me to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord.” This
both the prophet spake, and the Gospel. Accordingly, in fifteen years
of Tiberius and fifteen years of Augustus; so were completed the thirty
years till the time He suffered. And from the time that He suffered till
the destruction of Jerusalem are forty-two years and three months; and
from the destruction of Jerusalem to the death of Commodus, a hundred and
twenty-eight years, ten months, and three days. From the birth of Christ,
therefore, to the death of Commodus are, in all, a hundred and ninety-four
years, one month, thirteen days. And there are those who have determined
not only the year of our Lord’s birth, but also the day; and they
say that it took place in the twenty-eighth year of Augustus, and in the
twenty-fifth day of Pachon. And the followers of Basilides hold the day
of his baptism as a festival, spending the night before in readings.
And they say that it was the fifteenth year of Tiberius
Cæsar, the fifteenth day of the month Tubi; and some that it was the
eleventh of the same month. And treating of His passion, with very
great accuracy, some say that it took place in the sixteenth year of
Tiberius, on the twenty-fifth of Phamenoth; and others the twenty-fifth
of Pharmuthi and others say that on the nineteenth of Pharmuthi the
Saviour suffered. Further, others say that He was born on the
twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth of Pharmuthi.2090
| 2090 [Mosheim, Christ. of First Three Cent., i. 432;
and Josephus, Antiquities, ii. 14.] |
We have still to add to our chronology the
following,—I mean the days which
Daniel indicates from the desolation of Jerusalem, the seven years and
seven months of the reign of Vespasian. For the two years are added to
the seventeen months and eighteen days of Otho, and Galba, and Vitellius;
and the result is three years and six months, which is “the half of
the week,” as Daniel the prophet said. For he said that there were
two thousand three hundred days from the time that the abomination of Nero
stood in the holy city, till its destruction. For thus the declaration,
which is subjoined, shows: “How long shall be the vision, the
sacrifice taken away, the abomination of desolation, which is given, and
the power and the holy place shall be trodden under foot? And he said to
him, Till the evening and morning, two thousand three hundred days, and
the holy place shall be taken away.”2091
These two thousand three hundred days, then, make six
years four months, during the half of which Nero held sway, and it was
half a week; and for a half, Vespasian with Otho, Galba, and Vitellius
reigned. And on this account Daniel says, “Blessed is he that
cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five
days.”2092
For up to these days was war, and after them it
ceased. And this number is demonstrated from a subsequent chapter, which
is as follows: “And from the time of the change of continuation,
and of the giving of the abomination of desolation, there shall be a
thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and
cometh to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.”2093
Flavius Josephus the Jew, who composed the history of
the Jews, computing the periods, says that from Moses to David were
five hundred and eighty-five years; from David to the second year of
Vespasian, a thousand one hundred and seventy-nine; then from that to
the tenth year of Antoninus, seventy-seven. So that from Moses to the
tenth year of Antoninus there are, in all, two thousand one hundred and
thirty-three years.
Of others, counting from Inachus and Moses to the death
of Commodus, some say there were three thousand one hundred and
forty-two years; and others, two thousand eight hundred and thirty-one
years.
And in the Gospel according to Matthew, the
genealogy which begins with Abraham is continued down to Mary the mother
of the Lord. “For,” it is said,2094
“from Abraham to David
are fourteen generations; and from David to the carrying away into Babylon
are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon till
Christ are likewise other fourteen generations,”—three
mystic intervals completed in six weeks.2095
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
