Antiquities of the Jews — Book 4, Chapter 8

1. When forty years were completed, within thirty days, Moses gathered
the congregation together near Jordan, where the city Abila now stands,
a place full of palm-trees; and all the people being come together, he
spake thus to them:—

2. "O you Israelites and fellow soldiers, who have been partners with me
in this long and uneasy journey; since it is now the will of God, and
the course of old age, at a hundred and twenty, requires it that I
should depart out of this life; and since God has forbidden me to be a
patron or an assistant to you in what remains to be done beyond Jordan;
I thought it reasonable not to leave off my endeavors even now for your
happiness, but to do my utmost to procure for you the eternal enjoyment
of good things, and a memorial for myself, when you shall be in the
fruition of great plenty and prosperity. Come, therefore, let me suggest
to you by what means you may be happy, and may leave an eternal
prosperous possession thereof to your children after you, and then let
me thus go out of the world; and I cannot but deserve to be believed by
you, both on account of the great things I have already done for you,
and because, when souls are about to leave the body, they speak with the
sincerest freedom. O children of Israel! there is but one source of
happiness for all mankind, the favor of God 15 for he alone is able to
give good things to those that deserve them, and to deprive those of
them that sin against him; towards whom, if you behave yourselves
according to his will, and according to what I, who well understand his
mind, do exhort you to, you will both be esteemed blessed, and will be
admired by all men; and will never come into misfortunes, nor cease to
be happy: you will then preserve the possession of the good things you
already have, and will quickly obtain those that you are at present in
want of,—only do you be obedient to those whom God would have you to
follow. Nor do you prefer any other constitution of government before
the laws now given you; neither do you disregard that way of Divine
worship which you now have, nor change it for any other form: and if you
do this, you will be the most courageous of all men, in undergoing the
fatigues of war, and will not be easily conquered by any of your
enemies; for while God is present with you to assist you, it is to be
expected that you will be able to despise the opposition of all mankind;
and great rewards of virtue are proposed for you, if you preserve that
virtue through your whole lives. Virtue itself is indeed the principal
and the first reward, and after that it bestows abundance of others; so
that your exercise of virtue towards other men will make your own lives
happy, and render you more glorious than foreigners can be, and procure
you an undisputed reputation with posterity. These blessings you will be
able to obtain, in case you hearken to and observe those laws which, by
Divine revelation, I have ordained for you; that is, in case you withal
meditate upon the wisdom that is in them. I am going from you myself,
rejoicing in the good things you enjoy; and I recommend you to the wise
conduct of your law, to the becoming order of your polity, and to the
virtues of your commanders, who will take care of what is for your
advantage. And that God, who has been till now your Leader, and by whose
goodwill I have myself been useful to you, will not put a period now to
his providence over you, but as long as you desire to have him your
Protector in your pursuits after virtue, so long will you enjoy his care
over you. Your high priest also Eleazar, as well as Joshua, with the
senate, and chief of your tribes, will go before you, and suggest the
best advices to you; by following which advices you will continue to be
happy: to whom do you give ear without reluctance, as sensible that all
such as know well how to be governed, will also know how to govern, if
they be promoted to that authority themselves. And do not you esteem
liberty to consist in opposing such directions as your governors think
fit to give you for your practice,—as at present indeed you place your
liberty in nothing else but abusing your benefactors; which error if you
can avoid for the time to come, your affairs will be in a better
condition than they have hitherto been. Nor do you ever indulge such a
degree of passion in these matters, as you have oftentimes done when you
have been very angry at me; for you know that I have been oftener in
danger of death from you than from our enemies. What I now put you in
mind of, is not done in order to reproach you; for I do not think it
proper, now I am going out of the world, to bring this to your
remembrance, in order to leave you offended at me, since, at the time
when I underwent those hardships from you, I was not angry at you; but I
do it in order to make you wiser hereafter, and to teach you that this
will be for your security; I mean, that you never be injurious to those
that preside over you, even when you are become rich, as you will be to
a great degree when you have passed over Jordan, and are in possession
of the land of Canaan. Since, when you shall have once proceeded so far
by your wealth, as to a contempt and disregard of virtue, you will also
forfeit the favor of God; and when you have made him your enemy, you
will be beaten in war, and will have the land which you possess taken
away again from you by your enemies, and this with great reproaches upon
your conduct. You will be scattered over the whole world, and will, as
slaves, entirely fill both sea and land; and when once you have had the
experience of what I now say, you will repent, and remember the laws you
have broken, when it is too late. Whence I would advise you, if you
intend to preserve these laws, to leave none of your enemies alive when
you have conquered them, but to look upon it as for your advantage to
destroy them all, lest, if you permit them to live, you taste of their
manners, and thereby corrupt your own proper institutions. I also do
further exhort you, to overthrow their altars, and their groves, and
whatsoever temples they have among them, and to burn all such, their
nation, and their very memory with fire; for by this means alone the
safety of your own happy constitution can be firmly secured to you. And
in order to prevent your ignorance of virtue, and the degeneracy of your
nature into vice, I have also ordained you laws, by Divine suggestion,
and a form of government, which are so good, that if you regularly
observe them, you will be esteemed of all men the most happy."

3. When he had spoken thus, he gave them the laws and the constitution
of government written in a book. Upon which the people fell into tears,
and appeared already touched with the sense that they should have a
great want of their conductor, because they remembered what a number of
dangers he had passed through, and what care he had taken of their
preservation: they desponded about what would come upon them after he
was dead, and thought they should never have another governor like him;
and feared that God would then take less care of them when Moses was
gone, who used to intercede for them. They also repented of what they
had said to him in the wilderness when they were angry, and were in
grief on those accounts, insomuch that the whole body of the people fell
into tears with such bitterness, that it was past the power of words to
comfort them in their affliction. However, Moses gave them some
consolation; and by calling them off the thought how worthy he was of
their weeping for him, he exhorted them to keep to that form of
government he had given them; and then the congregation was dissolved at
that time.

4. Accordingly, I shall now first describe this form of government which
was agreeable to the dignity and virtue of Moses; and shall thereby
inform those that read these Antiquities, what our original settlements
were, and shall then proceed to the remaining histories. Now those
settlements are all still in writing, as he left them; and we shall add
nothing by way of ornament, nor any thing besides what Moses left us;
only we shall so far innovate, as to digest the several kinds of laws
into a regular system; for they were by him left in writing as they were
accidentally scattered in their delivery, and as he upon inquiry had
learned them of God. On which account I have thought it necessary to
premise this observation beforehand, lest any of my own countrymen
should blame me, as having been guilty of an offense herein. Now part of
our constitution will include the laws that belong to our political
state. As for those laws which Moses left concerning our common
conversation and intercourse one with another, I have reserved that for
a discourse concerning our manner of life, and the occasions of those
laws; which I propose to myself, with God's assistance, to write, after
I have finished the work I am now upon.

5. When you have possessed yourselves of the land of Canaan, and have
leisure to enjoy the good things of it, and when you have afterward
determined to build cities, if you will do what is pleasing to God, you
will have a secure state of happiness. Let there be then one city of the
land of Canaan, and this situate in the most agreeable place for its
goodness, and very eminent in itself, and let it be that which God shall
choose for himself by prophetic revelation. Let there also be one temple
therein, and one altar, not reared of hewn stones, but of such as you
gather together at random; which stones, when they are whited over with
mortar, will have a handsome appearance, and be beautiful to the sight.
Let the ascent to it be not by steps 16 but by an acclivity of raised
earth. And let there be neither an altar nor a temple in any other city;
for God is but one, and the nation of the Hebrews is but one.

6. He that blasphemeth God, let him be stoned; and let him hang upon a
tree all that day, and then let him be buried in an ignominious and
obscure manner.

7. Let those that live as remote as the bounds of the land which the
Hebrews shall possess, come to that city where the temple shall be, and
this three times in a year, that they may give thanks to God for his
former benefits, and may entreat him for those they shall want
hereafter; and let them, by this means, maintain a friendly
correspondence with one another by such meetings and feastings together,
for it is a good thing for those that are of the same stock, and under
the same institution of laws, not to be unacquainted with each other;
which acquaintance will be maintained by thus conversing together, and
by seeing and talking with one another, and so renewing the memorials of
this union; for if they do not thus converse together continually, they
will appear like mere strangers to one another.

8. Let there be taken out of your fruits a tenth, besides that which you
have allotted to give to the priests and Levites. This you may indeed
sell in the country, but it is to be used in those feasts and sacrifices
that are to be celebrated in the holy city; for it is fit that you
should enjoy those fruits of the earth which God gives you to possess,
so as may be to the honor of the donor.

9. You are not to offer sacrifices out of the hire of a woman who is a
harlot 17 for the Deity is not pleased with any thing that arises from
such abuses of nature; of which sort none can be worse than this
prostitution of the body. In like manner no one may take the price of
the covering of a bitch, either of one that is used in hunting, or in
keeping of sheep, and thence sacrifice to God.

10. Let no one blaspheme those gods which other cities esteem such; 18
nor may any one steal what belongs to strange temples, nor take away the
gifts that are dedicated to any god.

11. Let not any one of you wear a garment made of woolen and linen, for
that is appointed to be for the priests alone.

12. When the multitude are assembled together unto the holy city for
sacrificing every seventh year, at the feast of tabernacles, let the
high priest stand upon a high desk, whence he may be heard, and let him
read the laws to all the people; and let neither the women nor the
children be hindered from hearing, no, nor the servants neither; for it
is a good thing that those laws should be engraven in their souls, and
preserved in their memories, that so it may not be possible to blot them
out; for by this means they will not be guilty of sin, when they cannot
plead ignorance of what the laws have enjoined them. The laws also will
have a greater authority among them, as foretelling what they will
suffer if they break them; and imprinting in their souls by this hearing
what they command them to do, that so there may always be within their
minds that intention of the laws which they have despised and broken,
and have thereby been the causes of their own mischief. Let the children
also learn the laws, as the first thing they are taught, which will be
the best thing they can be taught, and will be the cause of their future
felicity.

13. Let every one commemorate before God the benefits which he bestowed
upon them at their deliverance out of the land of Egypt, and this twice
every day, both when the day begins and when the hour of sleep comes on,
gratitude being in its own nature a just thing, and serving not only by
way of return for past, but also by way of invitation of future favors.
They are also to inscribe the principal blessings they have received
from God upon their doors, and show the same remembrance of them upon
their arms; as also they are to bear on their forehead and their arm
those wonders which declare the power of God, and his good-will towards
them, that God's readiness to bless them may appear every where
conspicuous about them. 19

14. Let there be seven men to judge in every city, 20 and these such as
have been before most zealous in the exercise of virtue and
righteousness. Let every judge have two officers allotted him out of the
tribe of Levi. Let those that are chosen to judge in the several cities
be had in great honor; and let none be permitted to revile any others
when these are present, nor to carry themselves in an insolent manner to
them; it being natural that reverence towards those in high offices
among men should procure men's fear and reverence towards God. Let those
that judge be permitted to determine according as they think to be
right, unless any one can show that they have taken bribes, to the
perversion of justice, or can allege any other accusation against them,
whereby it may appear that they have passed an unjust sentence; for it
is not fit that causes should be openly determined out of regard to
gain, or to the dignity of the suitors, but that the judges should
esteem what is right before all other things, otherwise God will by that
means be despised, and esteemed inferior to those, the dread of whose
power has occasioned the unjust sentence; for justice is the power of
God. He therefore that gratifies those in great dignity, supposes them
more potent than God himself. But if these judges be unable to give a
just sentence about the causes that come before them, [which case is not
unfrequent in human affairs,] let them send the cause undetermined to
the holy city, and there let the high priest, the prophet, and the
sanhedrim, determine as it shall seem good to them.

15. But let not a single witness be credited, but three, or two at the
least, and those such whose testimony is confirmed by their good lives.
But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity
and boldness of their sex 21 Nor let servants be admitted to give
testimony, on account of the ignobility of their soul; since it is
probable that they may not speak truth, either out of hope of gain, or
fear of punishment. But if any one be believed to have borne false
witness, let him, when he is convicted, suffer all the very same
punishments which he against whom he bore witness was to have suffered.

16. If a murder be committed in any place, and he that did it be not
found, nor is there any suspicion upon one as if he had hated the man,
and so had killed him, let there be a very diligent inquiry made after
the man, and rewards proposed to any one who will discover him; but if
still no information can be procured, let the magistrates and senate of
those cities that lie near the place in which the murder was committed,
assemble together, and measure the distance from the place where the
dead body lies; then let the magistrates of the nearest city thereto
purchase a heifer, and bring it to a valley, and to a place therein
where there is no land ploughed or trees planted, and let them cut the
sinews of the heifer; then the priests and Levites, and the senate of
that city, shall take water and wash their hands over the head of the
heifer; and they shall openly declare that their hands are innocent of
this murder, and that they have neither done it themselves, nor been
assisting to any that did it. They shall also beseech God to be merciful
to them, that no such horrid act may any more be done in that land.

17. Aristocracy, and the way of living under it, is the best
constitution: and may you never have any inclination to any other form
of government; and may you always love that form, and have the laws for
your governors, and govern all your actions according to them; for you
need no supreme governor but God. But if you shall desire a king, let
him be one of your own nation; let him be always careful of justice and
other virtues perpetually; let him submit to the laws, and esteem God's
commands to be his highest wisdom; but let him do nothing without the
high priest and the votes of the senators: let him not have a great
number of wives, nor pursue after abundance of riches, nor a multitude
of horses, whereby he may grow too proud to submit to the laws. And if
he affect any such things, let him be restrained, lest he become so
potent that his state be inconsistent with your welfare.

18. Let it not be esteemed lawful to remove boundaries, neither our own,
nor of those with whom we are at peace. Have a care you do not take
those landmarks away which are, as it were, a divine and unshaken
limitation of rights made by God himself, to last for ever; since this
going beyond limits, and gaining ground upon others, is the occasion of
wars and seditions; for those that remove boundaries are not far off an
attempt to subvert the laws.

19. He that plants a piece of land, the trees of which produce fruits
before the fourth year, is not to bring thence any first-fruits to God,
nor is he to make use of that fruit himself, for it is not produced in
its proper season; for when nature has a force put upon her at an
unseasonable time, the fruit is not proper for God, nor for the master's
use; but let the owner gather all that is grown on the fourth year, for
then it is in its proper season. And let him that has gathered it carry
it to the holy city, and spend that, together with the tithe of his
other fruits, in feasting with his friends, with the orphans, and the
widows. But on the fifth year the fruit is his own, and he may use it as
he pleases.

20. You are not to sow with seed a piece of land which is planted with
vines, for it is enough that it supply nourishment to that plant, and be
not harassed by ploughing also. You are to plough your land with oxen,
and not to oblige other animals to come under the same yoke with them;
but to till your land with those beasts that are of the same kind with
each other. The seeds are also to be pure, and without mixture, and not
to be compounded of two or three sorts, since nature does not rejoice in
the union of things that are not in their own nature alike; nor are you
to permit beasts of different kinds to gender together, for there is
reason to fear that this unnatural abuse may extend from beasts of
different kinds to men, though it takes its first rise from evil
practices about such smaller things. Nor is any thing to be allowed, by
imitation whereof any degree of subversion may creep into the
constitution. Nor do the laws neglect small matters, but provide that
even those may be managed after an unblamable manner.

21. Let not those that reap, and gather in the corn that is reaped,
gather in the gleanings also; but let them rather leave some handfuls
for those that are in want of the necessaries of life, that it may be a
support and a supply to them, in order to their subsistence. In like
manner when they gather their grapes, let them leave some smaller
bunches for the poor, and let them pass over some of the fruits of the
olive-trees, when they gather them, and leave them to be partaken of by
those that have none of their own; for the advantage arising from the
exact collection of all, will not be so considerable to the owners as
will arise from the gratitude of the poor. And God will provide that the
land shall more willingly produce what shall be for the nourishment of
its fruits, in case you do not merely take care of your own advantage,
but have regard to the support of others also. Nor are you to muzzle the
mouths of the oxen when they tread the ears of corn in the thrashing-
floor; for it is not just to restrain our fellow-laboring animals, and
those that work in order to its production, of this fruit of their
labors. Nor are you to prohibit those that pass by at the time when your
fruits are ripe to touch them, but to give them leave to fill themselves
full of what you have; and this whether they be of your own country or
strangers,—as being glad of the opportunity of giving them some part of
your fruits when they are ripe; but let it not be esteemed lawful for
them to carry any away. Nor let those that gather the grapes, and carry
them to the wine-presses, restrain those whom they meet from eating of
them; for it is unjust, out of envy, to hinder those that desire it, to
partake of the good things that come into the world according to God's
will, and this while the season is at the height, and is hastening away
as it pleases God. Nay, if some, out of bashfulness, are unwilling to
touch these fruits, let them be encouraged to take of them [I mean,
those that are Israelites] as if they were themselves the owners and
lords, on account of the kindred there is between them. Nay, let them
desire men that come from other countries, to partake of these tokens of
friendship which God has given in their proper season; for that is not
to be deemed as idly spent, which any one out of kindness communicates
to another, since God bestows plenty of good things on men, not only for
themselves to reap the advantage, but also to give to others in a way of
generosity; and he is desirous, by this means, to make known to others
his peculiar kindness to the people of Israel, and how freely he
communicates happiness to them, while they abundantly communicate out of
their great superfluities to even these foreigners also. But for him
that acts contrary to this law, let him be beaten with forty stripes
save one 22 by the public executioner; let him undergo this punishment,
which is a most ignominious one for a free-man, and this because he was
such a slave to gain as to lay a blot upon his dignity; for it is proper
for you who have had the experience of the afflictions in Egypt, and of
those in the wilderness, to make provision for those that are in the
like circumstances; and while you have now obtained plenty yourselves,
through the mercy and providence of God, to distribute of the same
plenty, by the like sympathy, to such as stand in need of it.

22. Besides those two tithes, which I have already said you are to pay
every year, the one for the Levites, the other for the festivals, you
are to bring every third year a third tithe to be distributed to those
that want; 23 to women also that are widows, and to children that are
orphans. But as to the ripe fruits, let them carry that which is ripe
first of all into the temple; and when they have blessed God for that
land which bare them, and which he had given them for a possession, when
they have also offered those sacrifices which the law has commanded them
to bring, let them give the first-fruits to the priests. But when any
one hath done this, and hath brought the tithe of all that he hath,
together with those first-fruits that are for the Levites, and for the
festivals, and when he is about to go home, let him stand before the
holy house, and return thanks to God, that he hath delivered them from
the injurious treatment they had in Egypt, and hath given them a good
land, and a large, and lets them enjoy the fruits thereof; and when he
hath openly testified that he hath fully paid the tithes [and other
dues] according to the laws of Moses, let him entreat God that he will
be ever merciful and gracious to him, and continue so to be to all the
Hebrews, both by preserving the good things which he hath already given
them, and by adding what it is still in his power to bestow upon them.

23. Let the Hebrews marry, at the age fit for it, virgins that are free,
and born of good parents. And he that does not marry a virgin, let him
not corrupt another man's wife, and marry her, nor grieve her former
husband. Nor let free men marry slaves, although their affections should
strongly bias any of them so to do; for it is decent, and for the
dignity of the persons themselves, to govern those their affections. And
further, no one ought to marry a harlot, whose matrimonial oblations,
arising from the prostitution of her body, God will not receive; for by
these means the dispositions of the children will be liberal and
virtuous; I mean, when they are not born of base parents, and of the
lustful conjunction of such as marry women that are not free. If any one
has been espoused to a woman as to a virgin, and does not afterward find
her so to be, let him bring his action, and accuse her, and let him make
use of such indications 24 to prove his accusation as he is furnished
withal; and let the father or the brother of the damsel, or some one
that is after them nearest of kin to her, defend her If the damsel
obtain a sentence in her favor, that she had not been guilty, let her
live with her husband that accused her; and let him not have any further
power at all to put her away, unless she give him very great occasions
of suspicion, and such as can be no way contradicted. But for him that
brings an accusation and calumny against his wife in an impudent and
rash manner, let him be punished by receiving forty stripes save one,
and let him pay fifty shekels to her father: but if the damsel be
convicted, as having been corrupted, and is one of the common people,
let her be stoned, because she did not preserve her virginity till she
were lawfully married; but if she were the daughter of a priest, let her
be burnt alive. If any one has two wives, and if he greatly respect and
be kind to one of them, either out of his affection to her, or for her
beauty, or for some other reason, while the other is of less esteem with
him; and if the son of her that is beloved be the younger by birth than
another born of the other wife, but endeavors to obtain the right of
primogeniture from his father's kindness to his mother, and would
thereby obtain a double portion of his father's substance, for that
double portion is what I have allotted him in the laws,—let not this be
permitted; for it is unjust that he who is the elder by birth should be
deprived of what is due to him, on the father's disposition of his
estate, because his mother was not equally regarded by him. He that hath
corrupted a damsel espoused to another man, in case he had her consent,
let both him and her be put to death, for they are both equally guilty;
the man, because he persuaded the woman willingly to submit to a most
impure action, and to prefer it to lawful wedlock; the woman, because
she was persuaded to yield herself to be corrupted, either for pleasure
or for gain. However, if a man light on a woman when she is alone, and
forces her, where nobody was present to come to her assistance, let him
only be put to death. Let him that hath corrupted a virgin not yet
espoused marry her; but if the father of the damsel be not willing that
she should be his wife, let him pay fifty shekels as the price of her
prostitution. He that desires to be divorced from his wife for any cause
25 whatsoever, [and many such causes happen among men,] let him in
writing give assurance that he will never use her as his wife any more;
for by this means she may be at liberty to marry another husband,
although before this bill of divorce be given, she is not to be
permitted so to do: but if she be misused by him also, or if, when he is
dead, her first husband would marry her again, it shall not be lawful
for her to return to him. If a woman's husband die, and leave her
without children, let his brother marry her, and let him call the son
that is born to him by his brother's name, and educate him as the heir
of his inheritance, for this procedure will be for the benefit of the
public, because thereby families will not fail, and the estate will
continue among the kindred; and this will be for the solace of wives
under their affliction, that they are to be married to the next relation
of their former husbands. But if the brother will not marry her, let the
woman come before the senate, and protest openly that this brother will
not admit her for his wife, but will injure the memory of his deceased
brother, while she is willing to continue in the family, and to bear him
children. And when the senate have inquired of him for what reason it is
that he is averse to this marriage, whether he gives a bad or a good
reason, the matter must come to this issue, That the woman shall loose
the sandals of the brother, and shall spit in his face, and say, He
deserves this reproachful treatment from her, as having injured the
memory of the deceased. And then let him go away out of the senate, and
bear this reproach upon him all his life long; and let her marry to whom
she pleases, of such as seek her in marriage. But now, if any man take
captive, either a virgin, or one that hath been married, 26 and has a
mind to marry her, let him not be allowed to bring her to bed to him, or
to live with her as his wife, before she hath her head shaven, and hath
put on her mourning habit, and lamented her relations and friends that
were slain in the battle, that by this means she may give vent to her
sorrow for them, and after that may betake herself to feasting and
matrimony; for it is good for him that takes a woman, in order to have
children by her, to be complaisant to her inclinations, and not merely
to pursue his own pleasure, while he hath no regard to what is agreeable
to her. But when thirty days are past, as the time of mourning, for so
many are sufficient to prudent persons for lamenting the dearest
friends, then let them proceed to the marriage; but in case when he hath
satisfied his lust, he be too proud to retain her for his wife, let him
not have it in his power to make her a slave, but let her go away
whither she pleases, and have that privilege of a free woman.

24. As to those young men that despise their parents, and do not pay
them honor, but offer them affronts, either because they are ashamed of
them or think themselves wiser than they,—in the first place, let their
parents admonish them in words, [for they are by nature of authority
sufficient for becoming their judges,] and let them say thus to
them:—That they cohabited together, not for the sake of pleasure, nor
for the augmentation of their riches, by joining both their stocks
together, but that they might have children to take care of them in
their old age, and might by them have what they then should want. And
say further to him, "That when thou wast born, we took thee up with
gladness, and gave God the greatest thanks for thee, and brought time up
with great care, and spared for nothing that appeared useful for thy
preservation, and for thy instruction in what was most excellent. And
now, since it is reasonable to forgive the sins of those that are young,
let it suffice thee to have given so many indications Of thy contempt of
us; reform thyself, and act more wisely for the time to come;
considering that God is displeased with those that are insolent towards
their parents, because he is himself the Father of the whole race of
mankind, and seems to bear part of that dishonor which falls upon those
that have the same name, when they do not meet with dire returns from
their children. And on such the law inflicts inexorable punishment; of
which punishment mayst thou never have the experience." Now if the
insolence of young men be thus cured, let them escape the reproach which
their former errors deserved; for by this means the lawgiver will appear
to be good, and parents happy, while they never behold either a son or a
daughter brought to punishment. But if it happen that these words and
instructions, conveyed by them in order to reclaim the man, appear to be
useless, then the offender renders the laws implacable enemies to the
insolence he has offered his parents; let him therefore be brought forth
27 by these very parents out of the city, with a multitude following
him, and there let him be stoned; and when he has continued there for
one whole day, that all the people may see him, let him be buried in the
night. And thus it is that we bury all whom the laws condemn to die,
upon any account whatsoever. Let our enemies that fall in battle be also
buried; nor let any one dead body lie above the ground, or suffer a
punishment beyond what justice requires.

25. Let no one lend to any one of the Hebrews upon usury, neither usury
of what is eaten or what is drunken, for it is not just to make
advantage of the misfortunes of one of thy own countrymen; but when thou
hast been assistant to his necessities, think it thy gain if thou
obtainest their gratitude to thee; and withal that reward which will
come to thee from God, for thy humanity towards him.

26. Those who have borrowed either silver or any sort of fruits, whether
dry or wet, [I mean this, when the Jewish affairs shall, by the blessing
of God, be to their own mind,] let the borrowers bring them again, and
restore them with pleasure to those who lent them, laying them up, as it
were, in their own treasuries, and justly expecting to receive them
thence, if they shall want them again. But if they be without shame, and
do not restore it, let not the lender go to the borrower's house, and
take a pledge himself, before judgment be given concerning it; but let
him require the pledge, and let the debtor bring it of himself, without
the least opposition to him that comes upon him under the protection of
the law. And if he that gave the pledge be rich, let the creditor retain
it till what he lent be paid him again; but if he be poor, let him that
takes it return it before the going down of the sun, especially if the
pledge be a garment, that the debtor may have it for a covering in his
sleep, God himself naturally showing mercy to the poor. It is also not
lawful to take a millstone, nor any utensil thereto belonging, for a
pledge, that the debtor, may not be deprived of instruments to get their
food withal, and lest they be undone by their necessity.

27. Let death be the punishment for stealing a man; but he that hath
purloined gold or silver, let him pay double. If any one kill a man that
is stealing something out of his house, let him be esteemed guiltless,
although the man were only breaking in at the wall. Let him that hath
stolen cattle pay fourfold what is lost, excepting the case of an ox,
for which let the thief pay fivefold. Let him that is so poor that he
cannot pay what mulet is laid upon him, be his servant to whom he was
adjudged to pay it.

28. If any one be sold to one of his own nation, let him serve him six
years, and on the seventh let him go free. But if he have a son by a
woman servant in his purchaser's house, and if, on account of his good-
will to his master, and his natural affection to his wife and children,
he will be his servant still, let him be set free only at the coming of
the year of jubilee, which is the fiftieth year, and let him then take
away with him his children and wife, and let them be free also.

29. If any one find gold or silver on the road, let him inquire after
him that lost it, and make proclamation of the place where he found it,
and then restore it to him again, as not thinking it right to make his
own profit by the loss of another. And the same rule is to be observed
in cattle found to have wandered away into a lonely place. If the owner
be not presently discovered, let him that is the finder keep it with
himself, and appeal to God that he has not purloined what belongs to
another.

30. It is not lawful to pass by any beast that is in distress, when in a
storm it is fallen down in the mire, but to endeavor to preserve it, as
having a sympathy with it in its pain.

31. It is also a duty to show the roads to those who do not know them,
and not to esteem it a matter for sport, when we hinder others'
advantages, by setting them in a wrong way.

32. In like manner, let no one revile a person blind or dumb.

33. If men strive together, and there be no instrument of iron, let him
that is smitten be avenged immediately, by inflicting the same
punishment on him that smote him: but if when he is carried home he lie
sick many days, and then die, let him that smote him not escape
punishment; but if he that is smitten escape death, and yet be at great
expense for his cure, the smiter shall pay for all that has been
expended during the time of his sickness, and for all that he has paid
the physician. He that kicks a woman with child, so that the woman
miscarry, 28 let him pay a fine in money, as the judges shall determine,
as having diminished the multitude by the destruction of what was in her
womb; and let money also be given the woman's husband by him that kicked
her; but if she die of the stroke, let him also be put to death, the law
judging it equitable that life should go for life.

34. Let no one of the Israelites keep any poison 29 that may cause
death, or any other harm; but if he be caught with it, let him be put to
death, and suffer the very same mischief that he would have brought upon
them for whom the poison was prepared.

35. He that maimeth any one, let him undergo the like himself, and be
deprived of the same member of which he hath deprived the other, unless
he that is maimed will accept of money instead of it 30 for the law
makes the sufferer the judge of the value of what he hath suffered, and
permits him to estimate it, unless he will be more severe.

36. Let him that is the owner of an ox which pusheth with his horn, kill
him: but if he pushes and gores any one in the thrashing-floor, let him
be put to death by stoning, and let him not be thought fit for food: but
if his owner be convicted as having known what his nature was, and hath
not kept him up, let him also be put to death, as being the occasion of
the ox's having killed a man. But if the ox have killed a man-servant,
or a maid-servant, let him be stoned; and let the owner of the ox pay
thirty shekels 31 to the master of him that was slain; but if it be an
ox that is thus smitten and killed, let both the oxen, that which smote
the other and that which was killed, be sold, and let the owners of them
divide their price between them.

37. Let those that dig a well or a pit be careful to lay planks over
them, and so keep them shut up, not in order to hinder any persons from
drawing water, but that there may be no danger of falling into them. But
if any one's beast fall into such a well or pit thus digged, and not
shut up, and perish, let the owner pay its price to the owner of the
beast. Let there be a battlement round the tops of your houses instead
of a wall, that may prevent any persons from rolling down and perishing.

38. Let him that has received any thing in trust for another, take care
to keep it as a sacred and divine thing; and let no one invent any
contrivance whereby to deprive him that hath intrusted it with him of
the same, and this whether he be a man or a woman; no, not although he
or she were to gain an immense sum of gold, and this where he cannot be
convicted of it by any body; for it is fit that a man's own conscience,
which knows what he hath, should in all cases oblige him to do well. Let
this conscience be his witness, and make him always act so as may
procure him commendation from others; but let him chiefly have regard to
God, from whom no wicked man can lie concealed: but if he in whom the
trust was reposed, without any deceit of his own, lose what he was
intrusted withal, let him come before the seven judges, and swear by God
that nothing hath been lost willingly, or with a wicked intention, and
that he hath not made use of any part thereof, and so let him depart
without blame; but if he hath made use of the least part of what was
committed to him, and it be lost, let him be condemned to repay all that
he had received. After the same manner as in these trusts it is to be,
if any one defraud those that undergo bodily labor for him. And let it
be always remembered, that we are not to defraud a poor man of his
wages, as being sensible that God has allotted these wages to him
instead of land and other possessions; nay, this payment is not at all
to be delayed, but to be made that very day, since God is not willing to
deprive the laborer of the immediate use of what he hath labored for.

39. You are not to punish children for the faults of their parents, but
on account of their own virtue rather to vouchsafe them commiseration,
because they were born of wicked parents, than hatred, because they were
born of bad ones. Nor indeed ought we to impute the sin of children to
their fathers, while young persons indulge themselves in many practices
different from what they have been instructed in, and this by their
proud refusal of such instruction.

40. Let those that have made themselves eunuchs be had in detestation;
and do you avoid any conversation with them who have deprived themselves
of their manhood, and of that fruit of generation which God has given to
men for the increase of their kind: let such be driven away, as if they
had killed their children, since they beforehand have lost what should
procure them; for evident it is, that while their soul is become
effeminate, they have withal transfused that effeminacy to their body
also. In like manner do you treat all that is of a monstrous nature when
it is looked on; nor is it lawful to geld men or any other animals. 32

41. Let this be the constitution of your political laws in time of
peace, and God will be so merciful as to preserve this excellent
settlement free from disturbance: and may that time never come which may
innovate any thing, and change it for the contrary. But since it must
needs happen that mankind fall into troubles and dangers, either
undesignedly or intentionally, come let us make a few constitutions
concerning them, that so being apprised beforehand what ought to be
done, you may have salutary counsels ready when you want them, and may
not then be obliged to go to seek what is to be done, and so be
unprovided, and fall into dangerous circumstances. May you be a
laborious people, and exercise your souls in virtuous actions, and
thereby possess and inherit the land without wars; while neither any
foreigners make war upon it, and so afflict you, nor any internal
sedition seize upon it, whereby you may do things that are contrary to
your fathers, and so lose the laws which they have established. And may
you continue in the observation of those laws which God hath approved
of, and hath delivered to you. Let all sort of warlike operations,
whether they befall you now in your own time, or hereafter in the times
of your posterity, be done out of your own borders: but when you are
about to go to war, send embassages and heralds to those who are your
voluntary enemies, for it is a right thing to make use of words to them
before you come to your weapons of war; and assure them thereby, that
although you have a numerous army, with horses and weapons, and, above
these, a God merciful to you, and ready to assist you, you do however
desire them not to compel you to fight against them, nor to take from
them what they have, which will indeed be our gain, but what they will
have no reason to wish we should take to ourselves. And if they hearken
to you, it will be proper for you to keep peace with them; but if they
trust in their own strength, as superior to yours, and will not do you
justice, lead your army against them, making use of God as your supreme
Commander, but ordaining for a lieutenant under him one that is of the
greatest courage among you; for these different commanders, besides
their being an obstacle to actions that are to be done on the sudden,
are a disadvantage to those that make use of them. Lead an army pure,
and of chosen men, composed of all such as have extraordinary strength
of body and hardiness of soul; but do you send away the timorous part,
lest they run away in the time of action, and so afford an advantage to
your enemies. Do you also give leave to those that have lately built
them houses, and have not yet lived in them a year's time; and to those
that have planted them vineyards, and have not yet been partakers of
their fruits,—to continue in their own country; as well as those also
who have betrothed, or lately married them wives, lest they have such an
affection for these things that they be too sparing of their lives, and,
by reserving themselves for these enjoyments, they become voluntary
cowards, on account of their wives.

42. When you have pitched your camp, take care that you do nothing that
is cruel. And when you are engaged in a siege; and want timber for the
making of warlike engines, do not you render the land naked by cutting
down trees that bear fruit, but spare them, as considering that they
were made for the benefit of men; and that if they could speak, they
would have a just plea against you, because, though they are not
occasions of the war, they are unjustly treated, and suffer in it, and
would, if they were able, remove themselves into another land. When you
have beaten your enemies in battle, slay those that have fought against
you; but preserve the others alive, that they may pay you tribute,
excepting the nation of the Canaanites; for as to that people, you must
entirely destroy them.

43, Take care, especially in your battles, that no woman use the habit
of a man, nor man the garment of a woman.

44. This was the form of political government which was left us by
Moses. Moreover, he had already delivered laws in writing 33 in the
fortieth year [after they came out of Egypt], concerning which we will
discourse in another book. But now on the following days [for he called
them to assemble continually] he delivered blessings to them, and curses
upon those that should not live according to the laws, but should
transgress the duties that were determined for them to observe. After
this, he read to them a poetic song, which was composed in hexameter
verse, and left it to them in the holy book: it contained a prediction
of what was to come to pass afterward; agreeably whereto all things have
happened all along, and do still happen to us; and wherein he has not at
all deviated from the truth. Accordingly, he delivered these books to
the priest, 34 with the ark; into which he also put the ten
commandments, written on two tables. He delivered to them the tabernacle
also, and exhorted the people, that when they had conquered the land,
and were settled in it, they should not forget the injuries of the
Amalekites, but make war against them, and inflict punishment upon them
for what mischief they did them when they were in the wilderness; and
that when they had got possession of the land of the Canaanites, and
when they had destroyed the whole multitude of its inhabitants, as they
ought to do, they should erect an altar that should face the rising sun,
not far from the city of Shechem, between the two mountains, that of
Gerizzim, situate on the right hand, and that called Ebal, on the left;
and that the army should be so divided, that six tribes should stand
upon each of the two mountains, and with them the Levites and the
priests. And that first, those that were upon Mount Gerizzim should pray
for the best blessings upon those who were diligent about the worship of
God, and the observation of his laws, and who did not reject what Moses
had said to them; while the other wished them all manner of happiness
also; and when these last put up the like prayers, the former praised
them. After this, curses were denounced upon those that should
transgress those laws, they, answering one another alternately, by way
of confirmation of what had been said. Moses also wrote their blessings
and their curses, that they might learn them so thoroughly, that they
might never be forgotten by length of time. And when he was ready to
die, he wrote these blessings and curses upon the altar, on each side of
it; where he says also the people stood, and then sacrificed and offered
burnt-offerings, though after that day they never offered upon it any
other sacrifice, for it was not lawful so to do. These are the
constitutions of Moses; and the Hebrew nation still live according to
them.

45. On the next day, Moses called the people together, with the women
and children, to a congregation, so as the very slaves were present
also, that they might engage themselves to the observation of these laws
by oath; and that, duly considering the meaning of God in them, they
might not, either for favor of their kindred, or out of fear of any one,
or indeed for any motive whatsoever, think any thing ought to be
preferred to these laws, and so might transgress them. That in case any
one of their own blood, or any city, should attempt to confound or
dissolve their constitution of government, they should take vengeance
upon them, both all in general, and each person in particular; and when
they had conquered them, should overturn their city to the very
foundations, and, if possible, should not leave the least footsteps of
such madness: but that if they were not able to take such vengeance,
they should still demonstrate that what was done was contrary to their
wills. So the multitude bound themselves by oath so to do.

46. Moses taught them also by what means their sacrifices might be the
most acceptable to God; and how they should go forth to war, making use
of the stones [in the high priest's breastplate] for their direction, 35
as I have before signified. Joshua also prophesied while Moses was
present. And when Moses had recapitulated whatsoever he had done for the
preservation of the people, both in their wars and in peace, and had
composed them a body of laws, and procured them an excellent form of
government, he foretold, as God had declared to him that if they
transgressed that institution for the worship of God, they should
experience the following miseries:—Their land should be full of weapons
of war from their enemies, and their cities should be overthrown, and
their temple should be burnt that they should be sold for slaves, to
such men as would have no pity on them in their afflictions; that they
would then repent, when that repentance would no way profit them under
their sufferings. "Yet," said he, "will that God who founded your
nation, restore your cities to your citizens, with their temple also;
and you shall lose these advantages not once only, but often."

47. Now when Moses had encouraged Joshua to lead out the army against
the Canaanites, by telling him that God would assist him in all his
undertakings, and had blessed the whole multitude, he said, "Since I am
going to my forefathers, and God has determined that this should be the
day of my departure to them, I return him thanks while I am still alive
and present with you, for that providence he hath exercised over you,
which hath not only delivered us from the miseries we lay under, but
hath bestowed a state of prosperity upon us; as also, that he hath
assisted me in the pains I took, and in all the contrivances I had in my
care about you, in order to better your condition, and hath on all
occasions showed himself favorable to us; or rather he it was who first
conducted our affairs, and brought them to a happy conclusion, by making
use of me as a vicarious general under him, and as a minister in those
matters wherein he was willing to do you good: on which account I think
it proper to bless that Divine Power which will take care of you for the
time to come, and this in order to repay that debt which I owe him, and
to leave behind me a memorial that we are obliged to worship and honor
him, and to keep those laws which are the most excellent gift of all
those he hath already bestowed upon us, or which, if he continue
favorable to us, he will bestow upon us hereafter. Certainly a human
legislator is a terrible enemy when his laws are affronted, and are made
to no purpose. And may you never experience that displeasure of God
which will be the consequence of the neglect of these his laws, which
he, who is your Creator, hath given you."

48. When Moses had spoken thus at the end of his life, and had foretold
what would befall to every one of their tribes 36 afterward, with the
addition of a blessing to them, the multitude fell into tears, insomuch
that even the women, by beating their breasts, made manifest the deep
concern they had when he was about to die. The children also lamented
still more, as not able to contain their grief; and thereby declared,
that even at their age they were sensible of his virtue and mighty
deeds; and truly there seemed to be a strife betwixt the young and the
old who should most grieve for him. The old grieved because they knew
what a careful protector they were to be deprived of, and so lamented
their future state; but the young grieved, not only for that, but also
because it so happened that they were to be left by him before they had
well tasted of his virtue. Now one may make a guess at the excess of
this sorrow and lamentation of the multitude, from what happened to the
legislator himself; for although he was always persuaded that he ought
not to be cast down at the approach of death, since the undergoing it
was agreeable to the will of God and the law of nature, yet what the
people did so overbore him, that he wept himself. Now as he went thence
to the place where he was to vanish out of their sight, they all
followed after him weeping; but Moses beckoned with his hand to those
that were remote from him, and bade them stay behind in quiet, while he
exhorted those that were near to him that they would not render his
departure so lamentable. Whereupon they thought they ought to grant him
that favor, to let him depart according as he himself desired; so they
restrained themselves, though weeping still towards one another. All
those who accompanied him were the senate, and Eleazar the high priest,
and Joshua their commander. Now as soon as they were come to the
mountain called Abarim, [which is a very high mountain, situate over
against Jericho, and one that affords, to such as are upon it, a
prospect of the greatest part of the excellent land of Canaan,] he
dismissed the senate; and as he was going to embrace Eleazar and Joshua,
and was still discoursing with them, a cloud stood over him on the
sudden, and he disappeared in a certain valley, although he wrote in the
holy books that he died, which was done out of fear, lest they should
venture to say that, because of his extraordinary virtue, he went to
God.

49. Now Moses lived in all one hundred and twenty years; a third part of
which time, abating one month, he was the people's ruler; and he died on
the last month of the year, which is called by the Macedonians Dystrus,
but by us Adar, on the first day of the month. He was one that exceeded
all men that ever were in understanding, and made the best use of what
that understanding suggested to him. He had a very graceful way of
speaking and addressing himself to the multitude; and as to his other
qualifications, he had such a full command of his passions, as if he
hardly had any such in his soul, and only knew them by their names, as
rather perceiving them in other men than in himself. He was also such a
general of an army as is seldom seen, as well as such a prophet as was
never known, and this to such a degree, that whatsoever he pronounced,
you would think you heard the voice of God himself. So the people
mourned for him thirty days: nor did ever any grief so deeply affect the
Hebrews as did this upon the death of Moses: nor were those that had
experienced his conduct the only persons that desired him, but those
also that perused the laws he left behind him had a strong desire after
him, and by them gathered the extraordinary virtue he was master of. And
this shall suffice for the declaration of the manner of the death of
Moses.

FOOTNOTES:

1 (return) [ Reland here takes notice, that although our Bibles say
little or nothing of these riches of Corah, yet that both the Jews and
Mahommedans, as well as Josephus, are full of it.]

2 (return) [ It appears here, and from the Samaritan Pentateuch, and, in
effect, from the psalmist, as also from the Apostolical Constitutions,
from Clement's First Epistle to the Corinthians, from Ignatius's Epistle
to the Magnesians, and from Eusebius, that Corah was not swallowed up
with the Reubenites, but burned with the Levites of his own tribe. See
Essay on the Old Testament, p. 64, 65.]

3 (return) [ Concerning these twelve rods of the twelve tribes of
Israel, see St. Clement's account, much larger than that in our Bibles,
1 Epist. sect. 45; as is Josephus's present account in measure larger
also.]

4 (return) [ Grotius, on Numbers 6:18, takes notice that the Greeks
also, aswell as the Jews, sometimes consecrated the hair of their heads
to the gods.]

5 (return) [ Josephus here uses this phrase, "when the fortieth year was
completed," for when it was begun; as does St. Luke when the day of
Pentecost was completed," Acts 2:1.]

6 (return) [ Whether Miriam died, as Josephus's. Greek copies imply, on
the first day of the month, may be doubted, because the Latin copies say
it was on the tenth, and so say the Jewish calendars also, as Dr.
Bernard assures us. It is said her sepulcher is still extant near Petra,
the old capital city of Arabia Petraea, at this day; as also that of
Aaron, not far off.]

7 (return) [ What Josephus here remarks is well worth our remark in this
place also; viz. that the Israelites were never to meddle with the
Moabites, or Ammonites, or any other people, but those belonging to the
land of Canaan, and the countries of Sihon and Og beyond Jordan, as far
as the desert and Euphrates, and that therefore no other people had
reason to fear the conquests of the Israelites; but that those countries
given them by God were their proper and peculiar portion among the
nations, and that all who endeavored to dispossess them might ever be
justly destroyed by them.]

8 (return) [ Note that Josephus never supposes Balaam to be an idolater,
nor to seek idolatrous enchantments, or to prophesy falsely, but to be
no other than an ill-disposed prophet of the true God; and intimates
that God's answer the second time, permitting him to go, was ironical,
and on design that he deceived [which sort of deception, by way of
punishment for former crimes, Josephus never scruples to admit, as ever
esteeming such wicked men justly and providentially deceived]. But
perhaps we had better keep here close to the text which says Numbers
23:20, 21, that God only permitted Balaam to go along with the
ambassadors, in case they came and called him, or positively insisted on
his going along with them, on any terms; whereas Balaam seems out of
impatience to have risen up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and
rather to have called them, than staid for their calling him, so zealous
does he seem to have been for his reward of divination, his wages of
unrighteousness, Numbers 23:7, 17, 18, 37; 2 Peter 2:15; Jude 5, 11;
which reward or wages the truly religious prophets of God never required
nor accepted, as our Josephus justly takes notice in the cases of
Samuel, Antiq. B. V. ch. 4. sect. 1, and Daniel, Antiq. B. X. ch. 11.
sect. 3. See also Genesis 14:22, 23; 2 Kings 5:15, 16, 26, 27; and Acts
8;17-24.]

9 (return) [ Whether Josephus had in his copy but two attempts of Balaam
in all to curse Israel; or whether by this his twice offering sacrifice,
he meant twice besides that first time already mentioned, which yet is
not very probable; cannot now be certainly determined. In the mean time,
all other copies have three such attempts of Balaam to curse them in the
present history.]

10 (return) [ Such a large and distinct account of this perversion of
the Israelites by the Midianite women, of which our other copies give us
but short intimations, Numbers 31:16 2 Peter 2:15; Jude 11; Revelation
2:14, is preserved, as Reland informs us, in the Samaritan Chronicle, in
Philo, and in other writings of the Jews, as well as here by Josephus.]

11 (return) [ This grand maxim, That God's people of Israel could never
be hurt nor destroyed, but by drawing them to sin against God, appears
to be true, by the entire history of that people, both in the Bible and
in Josephus; and is often taken notice of in them both. See in
particular a most remarkable Ammonite testimony to this purpose, Judith
5:5-21.]

12 (return) [ What Josephus here puts into the mouths of these Midianite
women, who came to entice the Israelites to lewdness and idolatry, viz.
that their worship of the God of Israel, in opposition to their idol
gods, implied their living according to the holy laws which the true God
had given them by Moses, in opposition to those impure laws which were
observed under their false gods, well deserves our consideration; and
gives us a substantial reason for the great concern that was ever shown
under the law of Moses to preserve the Israelites from idolatry, and in
the worship of the true God; it being of no less consequence than,
Whether God's people should be governed by the holy laws of the true
God, or by the impure laws derived from demons, under the pagan
idolatry.]

13 (return) [ The mistake in all Josephus's copies, Greek and Latin
which have here fourteen thousand instead of twenty-four thousand, is so
flagrant, that our very learned editors, Bernard and Hudson, have put
the latter number directly into the text. I choose rather to put it in
brackets.]

14 (return) [ The slaughter of all the Midianite women that had
prostituted themselves to the lewd Israelites, and the preservation of
those that had not been guilty therein; the last of which were no fewer
than thirty-two thousand, both here and Numbers 31:15-17, 35, 40, 46,
and both by the particular command of God; are highly remarkable, and
show that, even in nations otherwise for their wickedness doomed to
destruction, the innocent were sometimes particularly and providentially
taken care of, and delivered from that destruction; which directly
implies, that it was the wickedness of the nations of Canaan, and
nothing else, that occasioned their excision. See Genesis 15;16; 1
Samuel 15:18, 33; Apost. Constit. B. VIII. ch. 12. p. 402. In the first
of which places, the reason of the delay of the punishment of the
Amorites is given, because "their iniquity was not yet full." In the
secured, Saul is ordered to go and "destroy the sinners, the
Amalekites;" plainly implying that they were therefore to be destroyed,
because they were sinners, and not otherwise. In the third, the reason
is given why king Agag was not to be spared, viz. because of his former
cruelty: "As thy sword hath made the [Hebrew] women childless, so shall
thy mother be made childless among women by the Hebrews." In the last
place, the apostles, or their amanuensis Clement, gave this reason for
the necessity of the coming of Christ, that "men had formerly perverted
both the positive law, and that of nature; and had cast out of their
mind the memory of the Flood, the burning of Sodom, the plagues of the
Egyptians, and the slaughter of the inhabitants of Palestine," as signs
of the most amazing impenitence and insensibility, under the punishments
of horrid wickedness.]

15 (return) [ Josephus here, in this one sentence, sums up his notion of
Moses's very long and very serious exhortations in the book of
Deuteronomy; and his words are so true, and of such importance, that
they deserve to be had in constant remembrance.]

16 (return) [ This law, both here and Exodus 20:25, 26, of not going up
to God's altar by ladder-steps, but on an acclivity, seems not to have
belonged to the altar of the tabernacle, which was in all but three
cubits high, Exodus 27:4; nor to that of Ezekiel, which was expressly to
be gone up to by steps, ch. 43:17; but rather to occasional altars of
any considerable altitude and largeness; as also probably to Solomon's
altar, to which it is here applied by Josephus, as well as to that in
Zorobabel's and Herod's temple, which were, I think, all ten cubits
high. See 2 Chronicles 4:1, and Antiq. B. VIII. ch. 3. sect. 7. The
reason why these temples, and these only, were to have this ascent on an
acclivity, and not by steps, is obvious, that before the invention of
stairs, such as we now use, decency could not be otherwise provided for
in the loose garments which the priests wore, as the law required. See
Lamy of the Tabernacle and Temple, p. 444.]

17 (return) [ The hire of public or secret harlots was given to Venus in
Syria, as Lucian informs us, p. 878; and against some such vile practice
of the old idolaters this law seems to have been made.]

18 (return) [ The Apostolical Constitutions, B. II. ch. 26. sect. 31,
expound this law of Moses, Exodus 22. 28, "Thou shalt not revile or
blaspheme the gods," or magistrates, which is a much more probable
exposition than this of Josephus, of heathen gillis, as here, and
against Apion, B. II. ch. 3. sect. 31. What book of the law was thus
publicly read, see the note on Antiq. B. X. ch. 5. sect. 5, and 1 Esd.
9:8-55.]

19 (return) [ Whether these phylacteries, and other Jewish memorials of
the law here mentioned by Josephus, and by Muses, [besides the fringes
on the borders of their garments, Numbers 15:37,] were literally meant
by God, I much question. That they have been long observed by the
Pharisees and Rabbinical Jews is certain; however, the Karaites, who
receive not the unwritten traditions of the elders, but keep close to
the written law, with Jerome and Grotius, think they were not literally
to be understood; as Bernard and Reland here take notice. Nor indeed do
I remember that, either in the ancienter books of the Old Testament, or
in the books we call Apocrypha, there are any signs of such literal
observations appearing among the Jews, though their real or mystical
signification, i.e. the constant remembrance and observation of the laws
of God by Moses, be frequently inculcated in all the sacred writings.]

20 (return) [ Here, as well as elsewhere, sect. 38, of his Life, sect.
14, and of the War, B. II. ch. 20. sect. 5, are but seven judges
appointed for small cities, instead of twenty-three in the modern
Rabbins; which modern Rabbis are always but of very little authority in
comparison of our Josephus.]

21 (return) [ I have never observed elsewhere, that in the Jewish
government women were not admitted as legal witnesses in courts of
justice. None of our copies of the Pentateuch say a word of it. It is
very probable, however, that this was the exposition of the scribes and
Pharisees, and the practice of the Jews in the days of Josephus.]

22 (return) [ This penalty of "forty stripes save one," here mentioned,
and sect. 23, was five times inflicted on St. Paul himself by the Jews,
2 Corinthians 11:24]

23 (return) [ Josephus's plain and express interpretation of this law of
Moses, Deuteronomy 14:28, 29; 26:12, etc., that the Jews were bound
every third year to pay three tithes, that to the Levites, that for
sacrifices at Jerusalem, and this for the indigent, the widow, and the
orphans, is fully confirmed by the practice of good old Tobit, even when
he was a captive in Assyria, against the opinions of the Rabbins, Tobit
1:6-8.]

24 (return) [ These tokens of virginity, as the Hebrew and Septuagint
style them, Deuteronomy 22:15, 17, 20, seem to me very different from
what our later interpreters suppose. They appear rather to have been
such close linen garments as were never put off virgins, after, a
certain age, till they were married, but before witnesses, and which,
while they were entire, were certain evidences of such virginity. See
these, Antiq. B. VII. ch. 8. sect. 1; 2 Samuel 13:18; Isaiah 6:1
Josephus here determines nothing what were these particular tokens of
virginity or of corruption: perhaps he thought he could not easily
describe them to the heathens, without saying what they might have
thought a breach of modesty; which seeming breach of modesty laws cannot
always wholly avoid.]

25 (return) [ These words of Josephus are very like those of the
Pharisees to our Savior upon this very subject, Matthew 19:3, "Is it
lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?"]

26 (return) [ Here it is supposed that this captive's husband, if she
were before a married woman, was dead before, or rather was slain in
this very battle, otherwise it would have been adultery in him that
married her.]

27 (return) [ See Herod the Great insisting on the execution of this
law, with relation to two of his own sons, before the judges at Berytus,
Antiq. B. XVI. ch. 11. sect. 2.]

28 (return) [ Philo and others appear to have understood this law,
Exodus 21:22, 23, better than Josephus, who seems to allow, that though
the infant in the mother's womb, even after the mother were quick, and
so the infant had a rational soul, were killed by the stroke upon the
mother, yet if the mother escaped, the offender should only be fined,
and not put to death; while the law seems rather to mean, that if the
infant in that case be killed, though the mother escape, the offender
must be put to death, and not only when the mother is killed, as
Josephus understood it. It seems this was the exposition of the
Pharisees in the days of Josephus.]

29 (return) [ What we render a witch, according to our modern notions of
witchcraft, Exodus 22:15, Philo and Josephus understood of a poisoner,
or one who attempted by secret and unlawful drugs or philtra, to take
away the senses or the lives of men.]

30 (return) [ This permission of redeeming this penalty with money is
not in our copies, Exodus 21:24, 25; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy
19:21.]

31 (return) [ We may here note, that thirty shekels, the price our
Savior was sold for by Judas to the Jews, Matthew 26:15, and 27;3, was
the old value of a bought servant or slave among that people.]

32 (return) [ This law against castration, even of brutes, is said to be
so rigorous elsewhere, as to inflict death on him that does it which
seems only a Pharisaical interpretation in the days of Josephus of that
law, Leviticus 21:20, and 22:24: only we may hence observe, that the
Jews could then have no oxen which are gelded, but only bulls and cows,
in Judea.]

33 (return) [ These laws seem to be those above-mentioned, sect, 4, of
this chapter.]

34 (return) [ What laws were now delivered to the priests, see the note
on Antiq. B. III. ch. 1. sect. 7.]

35 (return) [ Of the exact place where this altar was to be built,
whether nearer Mount Gerizzim or Mount Ebal, according to Josephus, see
Essay on the Old Testament, p. 168—171. Dr. Bernard well observes here,
how unfortunate this neglect of consulting the Urim was to Joshua
himself, in the case of the Gibeonites, who put a trick upon him, and
ensnared him, together with the rest of the Jewish rulers, with a solemn
oath to preserve them, contrary to his commission to extirpate all the
Canaanites, root and branch; which oath he and the other rulers never
durst break. See Scripture Politics, p. 55, 56; and this snare they were
brought into because they "did not ask counsel at the mouth of the
Lord," Joshua 9:14.]

36 (return) [ Since Josephus assures us here, as is most naturally to be
supposed, and as the Septuagint gives the text, Deuteronomy 33:6, that
Moses blessed every one of the tribes of Israel, it is evident that
Simeon was not omitted in his copy, as it unhappily now is, both in our
Hebrew and Samaritan copies.]