they were gone a great way without any harm, and that no obstacle or difficulty fell in their journey, they made haste to pursue them, hoping that the sea would be calm for them also. They put their horses foremost, and went down themselves into the sea. Now the Hebrews, while these were putting on their armour, and therein spending their time, were beforehand with them, and escaped them, and got first over to the land on the other side without any hurt. Whence the others were encouraged, and more courageously pursued them, as hoping no harm would come to them neither; but the Egyptians were not aware that they went into a road made for the Hebrews, and not for others; that this road was made for the deliverance of those in danger, but not for those that were earnest to make use of it for the other's destruction. As soon, therefore, as ever the whole Egyptian army was within it, the sea flowed to its own place, and came down with a torrent raised by storms of wind,* and encompassed the Egyptians. Showers of rain also came down from the sky, and dreadful thunders and lightning, with flashes of fire. Thunderbolts also were darted upon them. Nor was there any thing which uses to be sent by God upon men, as indications of his wrath, which did not happen at this time, for, a dark and dismal night oppressed them. And thus did all these men perish, so that there was not one man left to be a messenger of this calamity to the rest of the Egyptians. 4. But the Hebrews were not able to contain themselves for joy at their wonderful deliverance, and destruction of their enemies; now indeed supposing themselves firmly delivered, when those that would have forced them into slavery were destroyed, and when they found they had God so evidently for their protector. And now these Hebrews having escaped the danger they were in, after this manner; and besides that seeing their enemies punished in such a way as is never recorded of any other men whomsoever, were all the night employed in singing of hymns, and in mirth.* Moses also * Of these storms of wind, thunder, and lightning, at this drowning of Pharaoh's army, almost wanting in our copies of Exodus, but fully extant in that of David, Psalm lxxii. 16-18, and in that of Josephus here, see Essay on the old Test. append. p. 154, 155. What some have here objected against this passage of the Israelites over the Red Sea, in this one night, from the common maps, viz. that the sea being here about 30 miles broad, so great an army could not pass over it in so short a time, is a great mistake. Mons. Thevenot, an authentic eye-witness, informs us, that this sea, for about 5 days journey, is no where more than about eight or nine miles over-cross, and in one place but four or five miles, according to Dr. Lisle's map, which is made from the best travellers themselves, and not copied from others. What has composed a song unto God, containing his praises, and a thanksgiving for his kindness, in hexameter verse.* 5. As for myself, I have delivered every part of this history as I found it in the sacred books; nor let any one wonder at the strangeness of the narration, if a way were discovered to those men of old time, who were free from the wickedness of the modern ages, whether it happened by the will of God, or whether it happened of its own accord; while, for the sake of those that accompanied Alexander king of Macedonia, who yet lived comparatively but a little while ago, the Pamphylian sea retired and afforded them a passage through itself, when they had no other way to go; I mean, when it was the will of God to destroy the monarchy of the Persians and this is confessed to be true by all that have written about the actions of Alexander. But as to these events, let every one determine as he pleases.† been farther objected against this passage of the Israelites, and drowning of the Egyptians, being miraculous also, viz. that Moses might carry the Israelites over at a low tide, without any miracle, while yet the Egyptians, not knowing the tide so well as he, might be drowned upon the return of the tide, is a strange story indeed! That Moses, who never had lived there, should know the quantity and time of the flux and reflux of the Red Sea better than the Egyptians themselves, in its neighbourhood! yet does Artabanus, an ancient heathen historian, inform us, that this was what the more ignorant Menophites, who lived at a great distance, pretended; though he confesses that the more learned Heliopolitans, who lived much nearer, owned the destruction of the Egyptians, and the deliverance of the Israelites, to have been miraculous. And de Castro, a mathematician, who surveyed this sea with great exactness, informs us, that there is no great flux or reflux in this part of the Red Sea to give a colour to this hypothesis; nay, that the elevation of the tide there is little above half the height of a man. See Essay on the Old Test. append. p. 239, 240. So vain and groundless are these and the like evasions and subterfuges of our modern sceptics and believers and so certainly do tho. rough inquiries and authentic evidence disprove and confute such eva. sions and subterfuges upon all occasions. *What that hexameter verse, in which Moses' triumphant song is here said to be written, distinctly means, our present ignorance of the old Hebrew metre or measure will not let us determine. Nor does it appear to me certain, that even Josephus himself had a distinct notion of it, though he speaks of several sorts of that metre or measure both here and else where. Antiq. B. iv. c. viii. sec. 44, and B. vii. c. xii. sec. 3. vol. i. †Take here the original passages of the four old authors that still remain, as to this transit of Alexander the Great over the Pamphylian sea, I mean of Callisthenes, Strabo, Arrian, and Appian. As to Callisthenes, who himself accompanied Alexander in this expedition, Eustathius, in his notes upon the third Iliad of Homer, as Dr. Bernard here informs us, Bays, "That this Callisthenes wrote, how the Pamphylian sea did no? only open a passage for Alexander, but by rising and elevating its waters did pay him homage as its king." Strabo's account is this, Georg. B. xiv. P. 666. "Now about Phaselis is that narrow passage, by the seaside, 6. On the next day, Moses gathered together the weapons of the Egyptians, which were brought to the camp of the Hebrews, by the current of the sea. and the force of the winds assisting it; and he conjectured that this also happened by divine providence, that so they might not be destitute of weapons. So when he had ordered the Hebrews to arm themselves with them, he led them to mount Sinai, in order to offer sacrifice to God, and to render oblations for the salvation of the multitude, as he was charged to do beforehand.. through which Alexander led his army. There is a mountain called Climax, which adjoins to the sea of Pamphylia, leaving a narrow passage on the shore, which in calm weather is bare, so as to be passable by travellers; but when the sea overflows, it is covered to a great degree by the waves. Now then the ascent by the mountains being round about and steep, in still weather they make use of the road along the coast: but Alexander fell into the winter season, and committing himself chiefly to fortune, he marched on before the waves retired, and so it happened that they were a whole day in journeying over it, and were under water up to the navel."-Arrian's account is this, B. i. p. 72, 73. "When Alexander removed from Phaselis, he sent some part of his army over the mountains to Perga; which road the Thracians showed him. A difficult way it was, but short. However, he himself conducted those that were with him by the seashore. This road is impassable at any other time than when the north wind blows: but if the south wind prevail, there is no passing by the shore. Now, at this time, after strong south winds, a north wind blew; and that not without the divine providence, (as both he and they that were with him supposed,) and afforded him an easy and a quick passage." Appian, when he compares Cæsar and Alexander together, (De Bel. Civil. B. ii. p. 522.) says, "That they both depended on their boldness and fortune, as much as on their skill in war. As an instance of which, Alexander journeyed over a country without water, in the heat of summer, to the oracle of [Jupiter] Hammon, and quickly passed over the bay of Pamphylia, when, by divine providence, the sea was cut off: thus providence restraining the sea on his account, as it had sent him rain when he travelled [over the desert."] N. B. Since in the days of Josephus, as he assures us, all the more numerous original historians of Alexander gave the account he has here set down, as to the providential going back of the waters of the Pamphylian sea, when he was going with his army to destroy the Persian monarchy, which the forenamed authors now remaining, fully confirm, it is without all just foundation that Josephus is here blamed by some late writers for quoting those ancient authors upon the present occasion; nor can the reflections of Plutarch, or any other author later than Josephus, be in the least here alleged to contradict him. Josephus went by all the evidence he then had, and that evidence of the most authentic sort also: so that whatever the moderns may think of the thing itself, there is hence not the least colour for finding fault with Josephus. he would rather have been much to blame had he omitted these quotations. ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. BOOK III. CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF 2 YEARS. [From the Exodus out of Egypt to the rejection of that generation.] CHAPTER I. HOW MOSES, WHEN HE HAD BROUGHT THE PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT, LED THEM TO MOUNT SINAI, BUT NOT TILL THEY HAD SUFFERED MUCH IN THEIR JOURNEY. as 1. WHEN the Hebrews had gained such a wonderful deliverance, the country was a great trouble to them, for it was entirely a desert, and without all sustenance for them; and also had exceeding little water, so that it not only was not at all sufficient for the men, but not enough to feed any of the cattle, for it was parched up, and had no moisture that might afford nutriment to the vegetables; so they were forced to travel over this country, as having no other country but this to travel in. They had, indeed, carried water along with them from the land over which they had travelled before, their conductor had bidden them; but when that was spent, they were obliged to draw water out of wells with pain, by reason of the hardness of the soil. Moreover, what water they found was bitter, and not fit for drinking, and this in small quantities also. And as they thus travelled, they came late in the evening to a place called Marah, which had this name from the badness of the water, for Mar denotes bitterness. *Thither they came afflicted, both by the tediousness of their journey, and by their want of food, for it entirely failed them at that time. Now here was a well, which made them choose to stay in the place, which, although it were not sufficient to satisfy so great an army, did yet afford them * Dr. Bernard takes notice here, that this place, Mar, where the wa ters were bitter, is called by the Syrians and Arabians Marari, and by the Syrians, sometimes Morath, all derived from the Hebrew Mar: he also takes notice, that it is called the bitter fountain, by Pliny himself. Which waters remain there to this day, and are still bitter, as Thevenot assures us; and that there are also abundance of palm-trees. See his Travels, part i. c. xxvi. p. 166. ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. 181 some comfort, as found in such desert places; for they heard from those who had been to search, that there was nothing to be found if they travelled farther. Yet was this water bitter, and not fit for men to drink; and not only so, but it was intolerable even to the cattle themselves. 2. When Moses saw how much the people were cast down, and that the occasion of it could not be contradicted, for the people were not in the nature of a complete army of men, who might oppose a manly fortitude to the necessity that distressed them. The multitude of the children, and of the women also, being of too weak capacities to be persuaded by reason, blunted the courage of the men themselves. Moses, therefore, was in great difficulties, and made every body's calamity to be his own; for they ran all of them to him, and begged of him; the women begged for their infants, and the men for the women, that he would not overlook them, but procure some way or other for their deliverance. He, therefore, betook himself to prayer to God, that he would change the water from its present badness, and make it fit for drinking. And when God had granted him that favour, he took the top of a stick that lay down at his feet, and divided it in the middle, and made the section length-ways. He then let it down into the well, and persuaded the Hebrews that God had hearkened to his prayers, and had promised to render the water such as they desired it to be, in case they would be subservient to him in what he should enjoin them to do; and this not after a remiss or negligent manner.* And when they asked what they were to do in order to have the water changed for the better, he bid the strongest men among them that stood there *The additions here to Moses' account of the sweetning the water at Marah, seem derived from some ancient profane author, and he such an author as also looks less authentic than are usually followed by Josephus. Philo has not a syllable of these additions, nor any other ancient writer that we know of. Had Josephus written these his Antiquities for the use of Jews, he would hardly have given them these very improba. ble circumstances; but writing to Gentiles, that they might not complain of his omission of any accounts of such miracles derived from Gentiles, he did not think proper to conceal what he had met with there about this matter; which procedure is perfectly agreeable to the character and usage of Josephus upon many occasions. This note is, I confess, barely conjectural; and since Josephus never tells us when his own copy, taken out of the temple, had such additions, or when any ancient notes supplied them; or, indeed, when they were derived from Jewish, and when from Gentile antiquity, we can go no farther than bare conjectures in such cases; only the notions of Jews were generally so different from those of Gentile, that we may sometimes make no improbable conjec tures, to which sort such additions belong. See also somewhat like these additions in Josephus' account of Elisha's making sweet the bitter and barren spring near Jericho; of the War, B. iv. c. viii. sec. 3. vol. v. VOL. I. 16 |