V.
But as up to that time the genealogies of the
Hebrews had been registered in the public archives, and those, too,
which were traced back to the proselytes1051
| 1051
Several mss. read ἀρχιπροσηλύτων
for ἄχρι
προσηλύτων,
whence some conjecture that the correct reading should be ἄχρι τῶν
ἀρχιπροσηλύτων,
i.e., back to the “chief proselytes,”—these being, as
it were, patriarchs among the proselytes, like Achior, and those who
joined the Israelites on their flight from Egypt. |
—as, for example, to Achior the
Ammanite, and Ruth the Moabitess, and those who left Egypt along with
the Israelites, and intermarried with them—
Herod, knowing that
the
lineage of the Israelites contributed nothing to him, and goaded by
the consciousness of his ignoble
birth,
burned the registers of their
families. This he did, thinking that he would appear to be of
noble birth, if no one else could trace back his descent by the
public
register to the patriarchs or proselytes, and to that mixed race called
georæ.
1052
| 1052 This
word occurs in the Septuagint version of Ex. xii. 19, and refers to the
strangers who left Egypt along with the Israelites. For
Israel was accompanied by a mixed body, consisting on the one hand of
native Egyptians, who are named αὐτόχθονες
in that passage of Exodus, and by the resident aliens, who are called
γειῶραι. Justin
Martyr has the form γηόραν in Dialogue
with Trypho, ch. cxxii. The root of the term is evidently the
Hebrew רג, “stranger.” |
A few, however, of the studious,
having private records of their own, either by remembering the names or
by getting at them in some other way from the archives,
pride
themselves in preserving the memory of their
noble descent; and among
these happen to be those already mentioned, called
desposyni,
1053
| 1053 The
word δεσπόσυνοι
was employed to indicate the Lord’s relatives, as being His
according to the flesh. The term means literally, “those
who belong to a master,” and thence it was used also to signify
“one’s heirs.” |
on account of
their connection with the
family of the Saviour. And these coming
from Nazara and Cochaba, Judean
villages, to other parts of the
country, set forth the above-named
genealogy1054
| 1054
προειρημένην.
Nicephorus reads προκειμένην. |
as accurately as possible from the Book of
Days.
1055
| 1055
ἐκ τε τῆς
βίβλου τῶν
ἡμερῶν. By this
“Book of Days” Africanus understands those
“day-books” which he has named, a little before this,
ἱδιωτικὰς
ἀπογραφάς.
For among the Jews, most persons setting a high value on their lineage
were in the habit of keeping by them private records of their descent
copied from the public archives, as we see it done also by nobles among
ourselves. Besides, by the insertion of the particle τε, which is found in all our
codices, and also in Nicephorus, it appears that something is wanting
in this passage. Wherefore it seems necessary to supply these
words, καὶ
ἀπὸ μνήμης
ἐς ὅσον
ἐξικνοῦντο,
“and from memory,” etc. Thus at least Rufinus seems
to have read the passage, for he renders it: Ordinem
supradictæ generationis partim memoriter, partim etiam ex dierum
libris, in quantum erat possibile, perdocebant (Migne). |
Whether, then,
the case stand thus or not, no one could
discover a more obvious
explanation, according to my own opinion and that of any sound
judge. And let this suffice us for the matter, although it is not
supported by testimony, because we have nothing more satisfactory or
true to allege upon it. The Gospel, however, in any case states
the truth.
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