1. Septuagint, 2 Esdras, 6.16-6.17 (10th cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
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2. Hebrew Bible, Numbers, 17, 16 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
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3. Plato, Euthyphro, None (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 3b. Socrates. Absurd things, my friend, at first hearing. For he says I am a maker of gods; and because I make new gods and do not believe in the old ones, he indicted me for the sake of these old ones, as he says. Euthyphro. I understand, Socrates; it is because you say the divine monitor keeps coming to you. So he has brought the indictment against you for making innovations in religion, and he is going into court to slander you, knowing that slanders on such subjects are readily accepted by the people. Why, they even laugh at me and say I am crazy |
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4. Hebrew Bible, Daniel, 3.2, 9.26, 11.22 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 3.2. וּנְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר מַלְכָּא שְׁלַח לְמִכְנַשׁ לַאֲחַשְׁדַּרְפְּנַיָּא סִגְנַיָּא וּפַחֲוָתָא אֲדַרְגָּזְרַיָּא גְדָבְרַיָּא דְּתָבְרַיָּא תִּפְתָּיֵא וְכֹל שִׁלְטֹנֵי מְדִינָתָא לְמֵתֵא לַחֲנֻכַּת צַלְמָא דִּי הֲקֵים נְבוּכַדְנֶצַּר מַלְכָּא׃ 3.2. וּלְגֻבְרִין גִּבָּרֵי־חַיִל דִּי בְחַיְלֵהּ אֲמַר לְכַפָּתָה לְשַׁדְרַךְ מֵישַׁךְ וַעֲבֵד נְגוֹ לְמִרְמֵא לְאַתּוּן נוּרָא יָקִדְתָּא׃ 9.26. וְאַחֲרֵי הַשָּׁבֻעִים שִׁשִּׁים וּשְׁנַיִם יִכָּרֵת מָשִׁיחַ וְאֵין לוֹ וְהָעִיר וְהַקֹּדֶשׁ יַשְׁחִית עַם נָגִיד הַבָּא וְקִצּוֹ בַשֶּׁטֶף וְעַד קֵץ מִלְחָמָה נֶחֱרֶצֶת שֹׁמֵמוֹת׃ 11.22. וּזְרֹעוֹת הַשֶּׁטֶף יִשָּׁטְפוּ מִלְּפָנָיו וְיִשָּׁבֵרוּ וְגַם נְגִיד בְּרִית׃ | 3.2. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up." 9.26. And after the threescore and two weeks shall an anointed one be cut off, and be no more; and the people of a prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; but his end shall be with a flood; and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." 11.22. And the arms of the flood shall be swept away from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covet." |
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5. Septuagint, 1 Maccabees, 1.11-1.64, 3.32, 6.20, 10.25-10.45, 11.28-11.37, 13.15, 13.36-13.42, 14.25-14.49 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.11. In those days lawless men came forth from Israel, and misled many, saying, "Let us go and make a covet with the Gentiles round about us, for since we separated from them many evils have come upon us. 1.12. This proposal pleased them 1.13. and some of the people eagerly went to the king. He authorized them to observe the ordices of the Gentiles. 1.14. So they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem, according to Gentile custom 1.15. and removed the marks of circumcision, and abandoned the holy covet. They joined with the Gentiles and sold themselves to do evil. 1.16. When Antiochus saw that his kingdom was established, he determined to become king of the land of Egypt, that he might reign over both kingdoms. 1.17. So he invaded Egypt with a strong force, with chariots and elephants and cavalry and with a large fleet. 1.18. He engaged Ptolemy king of Egypt in battle, and Ptolemy turned and fled before him, and many were wounded and fell. 1.19. And they captured the fortified cities in the land of Egypt, and he plundered the land of Egypt. 1.20. After subduing Egypt, Antiochus returned in the one hundred and forty-third year. He went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force. 1.21. He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils. 1.22. He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off. 1.23. He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures which he found. 1.24. Taking them all, he departed to his own land. He committed deeds of murder,and spoke with great arrogance. 1.25. Israel mourned deeply in every community 1.26. rulers and elders groaned,maidens and young men became faint,the beauty of women faded. 1.27. Every bridegroom took up the lament;she who sat in the bridal chamber was mourning. 1.28. Even the land shook for its inhabitants,and all the house of Jacob was clothed with shame. 1.29. Two years later the king sent to the cities of Judah a chief collector of tribute, and he came to Jerusalem with a large force. 1.30. Deceitfully he spoke peaceable words to them, and they believed him; but he suddenly fell upon the city, dealt it a severe blow, and destroyed many people of Israel. 1.31. He plundered the city, burned it with fire, and tore down its houses and its surrounding walls. 1.32. And they took captive the women and children, and seized the cattle. 1.33. Then they fortified the city of David with a great strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel. 1.34. And they stationed there a sinful people, lawless men. These strengthened their position; 1.35. they stored up arms and food, and collecting the spoils of Jerusalem they stored them there, and became a great snare. 1.36. It became an ambush against the sanctuary,an evil adversary of Israel continually. 1.37. On every side of the sanctuary they shed innocent blood;they even defiled the sanctuary. 1.38. Because of them the residents of Jerusalem fled;she became a dwelling of strangers;she became strange to her offspring,and her children forsook her. 1.39. Her sanctuary became desolate as a desert;her feasts were turned into mourning,her sabbaths into a reproach,her honor into contempt. 1.40. Her dishonor now grew as great as her glory;her exaltation was turned into mourning. 1.41. Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people 1.42. and that each should give up his customs. 1.43. All the Gentiles accepted the command of the king. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath. 1.44. And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land 1.45. to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane sabbaths and feasts 1.46. to defile the sanctuary and the priests 1.47. to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals 1.48. and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane 1.49. so that they should forget the law and change all the ordices. 1.50. And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die. 1.51. In such words he wrote to his whole kingdom. And he appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the cities of Judah to offer sacrifice, city by city. 1.52. Many of the people, every one who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land; 1.53. they drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had. 1.54. Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege upon the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding cities of Judah 1.55. and burned incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets. 1.56. The books of the law which they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire. 1.57. Where the book of the covet was found in the possession of any one, or if any one adhered to the law, the decree of the king condemned him to death. 1.58. They kept using violence against Israel, against those found month after month in the cities. 1.59. And on the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar which was upon the altar of burnt offering. 1.60. According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised 1.61. and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers necks. 1.62. But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. 1.63. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covet; and they did die. 1.64. And very great wrath came upon Israel. 3.32. He left Lysias, a distinguished man of royal lineage, in charge of the kings affairs from the river Euphrates to the borders of Egypt. 6.20. They gathered together and besieged the citadel in the one hundred and fiftieth year; and he built siege towers and other engines of war. 10.25. So he sent a message to them in the following words:"King Demetrius to the nation of the Jews, greeting. 10.26. Since you have kept your agreement with us and have continued your friendship with us, and have not sided with our enemies, we have heard of it and rejoiced. 10.27. And now continue still to keep faith with us, and we will repay you with good for what you do for us. 10.28. We will grant you many immunities and give you gifts. 10.29. And now I free you and exempt all the Jews from payment of tribute and salt tax and crown levies 10.30. and instead of collecting the third of the grain and the half of the fruit of the trees that I should receive, I release them from this day and henceforth. I will not collect them from the land of Judah or from the three districts added to it from Samaria and Galilee, from this day and for all time. 10.31. And let Jerusalem and her environs, her tithes and her revenues, be holy and free from tax. 10.32. I release also my control of the citadel in Jerusalem and give it to the high priest, that he may station in it men of his own choice to guard it. 10.33. And every one of the Jews taken as a captive from the land of Judah into any part of my kingdom, I set free without payment; and let all officials cancel also the taxes on their cattle. 10.34. And all the feasts and sabbaths and new moons and appointed days, and the three days before a feast and the three after a feast -- let them all be days of immunity and release for all the Jews who are in my kingdom. 10.35. No one shall have authority to exact anything from them or annoy any of them about any matter. 10.36. Let Jews be enrolled in the kings forces to the number of thirty thousand men, and let the maintece be given them that is due to all the forces of the king. 10.37. Let some of them be stationed in the great strongholds of the king, and let some of them be put in positions of trust in the kingdom. Let their officers and leaders be of their own number, and let them live by their own laws, just as the king has commanded in the land of Judah. 10.38. As for the three districts that have been added to Judea from the country of Samaria, let them be so annexed to Judea that they are considered to be under one ruler and obey no other authority but the high priest. 10.39. Ptolemais and the land adjoining it I have given as a gift to the sanctuary in Jerusalem, to meet the necessary expenses of the sanctuary. 10.40. I also grant fifteen thousand shekels of silver yearly out of the kings revenues from appropriate places. 10.41. And all the additional funds which the government officials have not paid as they did in the first years, they shall give from now on for the service of the temple. 10.42. Moreover, the five thousand shekels of silver which my officials have received every year from the income of the services of the temple, this too is canceled, because it belongs to the priests who minister there. 10.43. And whoever takes refuge at the temple in Jerusalem, or in any of its precincts, because he owes money to the king or has any debt, let him be released and receive back all his property in my kingdom. 10.44. Let the cost of rebuilding and restoring the structures of the sanctuary be paid from the revenues of the king. 10.45. And let the cost of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and fortifying it round about, and the cost of rebuilding the walls in Judea, also be paid from the revenues of the king. 11.28. Then Jonathan asked the king to free Judea and the three districts of Samaria from tribute, and promised him three hundred talents. 11.29. The king consented, and wrote a letter to Jonathan about all these things; its contents were as follows: 11.30. King Demetrius to Jonathan his brother and to the nation of the Jews, greeting. 11.31. This copy of the letter which we wrote concerning you to Lasthenes our kinsman we have written to you also, so that you may know what it says. 11.32. `King Demetrius to Lasthenes his father, greeting. 11.33. To the nation of the Jews, who are our friends and fulfil their obligations to us, we have determined to do good, because of the good will they show toward us. 11.34. We have confirmed as their possession both the territory of Judea and the three districts of Aphairema and Lydda and Rathamin; the latter, with all the region bordering them, were added to Judea from Samaria. To all those who offer sacrifice in Jerusalem, we have granted release from the royal taxes which the king formerly received from them each year, from the crops of the land and the fruit of the trees. 11.35. And the other payments henceforth due to us of the tithes, and the taxes due to us, and the salt pits and the crown taxes due to us -- from all these we shall grant them release. 11.36. And not one of these grants shall be canceled from this time forth for ever. 11.37. Now therefore take care to make a copy of this, and let it be given to Jonathan and put up in a conspicuous place on the holy mountain. 13.15. It is for the money that Jonathan your brother owed the royal treasury, in connection with the offices he held, that we are detaining him. 13.36. King Demetrius to Simon, the high priest and friend of kings, and to the elders and nation of the Jews, greeting. 13.37. We have received the gold crown and the palm branch which you sent, and we are ready to make a general peace with you and to write to our officials to grant you release from tribute. 13.38. All the grants that we have made to you remain valid, and let the strongholds that you have built be your possession. 13.39. We pardon any errors and offenses committed to this day, and cancel the crown tax which you owe; and whatever other tax has been collected in Jerusalem shall be collected no longer. 13.40. And if any of you are qualified to be enrolled in our bodyguard, let them be enrolled, and let there be peace between us. 13.41. In the one hundred and seventieth year the yoke of the Gentiles was removed from Israel 13.42. and the people began to write in their documents and contracts, "In the first year of Simon the great high priest and commander and leader of the Jews. 14.25. When the people heard these things they said, "How shall we thank Simon and his sons? 14.26. For he and his brothers and the house of his father have stood firm; they have fought and repulsed Israels enemies and established its freedom. 14.27. So they made a record on bronze tablets and put it upon pillars on Mount Zion. This is a copy of what they wrote: "On the eighteenth day of Elul, in the one hundred and seventy-second year, which is the third year of Simon the great high priest 14.28. in Asaramel, in the great assembly of the priests and the people and the rulers of the nation and the elders of the country, the following was proclaimed to us: 14.29. Since wars often occurred in the country, Simon the son of Mattathias, a priest of the sons of Joarib, and his brothers, exposed themselves to danger and resisted the enemies of their nation, in order that their sanctuary and the law might be perserved; and they brought great glory to their nation. 14.30. Jonathan rallied the nation, and became their high priest, and was gathered to his people. 14.31. And when their enemies decided to invade their country and lay hands on their sanctuary 14.33. He fortified the cities of Judea, and Beth-zur on the borders of Judea, where formerly the arms of the enemy had been stored, and he placed there a garrison of Jews. 14.34. He also fortified Joppa, which is by the sea, and Gazara, which is on the borders of Azotus, where the enemy formerly dwelt. He settled Jews there, and provided in those cities whatever was necessary for their restoration. 14.35. The people saw Simons faithfulness and the glory which he had resolved to win for his nation, and they made him their leader and high priest, because he had done all these things and because of the justice and loyalty which he had maintained toward his nation. He sought in every way to exalt his people. 14.36. And in his days things prospered in his hands, so that the Gentiles were put out of the country, as were also the men in the city of David in Jerusalem, who had built themselves a citadel from which they used to sally forth and defile the environs of the sanctuary and do great damage to its purity. 14.37. He settled Jews in it, and fortified it for the safety of the country and of the city, and built the walls of Jerusalem higher. 14.38. In view of these things King Demetrius confirmed him in the high priesthood 14.39. and he made him one of the kings friends and paid him high honors. 14.40. For he had heard that the Jews were addressed by the Romans as friends and allies and brethren, and that the Romans had received the envoys of Simon with honor. 14.41. And the Jews and their priests decided that Simon should be their leader and high priest for ever, until a trustworthy prophet should arise 14.42. and that he should be governor over them and that he should take charge of the sanctuary and appoint men over its tasks and over the country and the weapons and the strongholds, and that he should take charge of the sanctuary 14.43. and that he should be obeyed by all, and that all contracts in the country should be written in his name, and that he should be clothed in purple and wear gold. 14.44. And none of the people or priests shall be permitted to nullify any of these decisions or to oppose what he says, or to convene an assembly in the country without his permission, or to be clothed in purple or put on a gold buckle. 14.45. Whoever acts contrary to these decisions or nullifies any of them shall be liable to punishment. 14.46. And all the people agreed to grant Simon the right to act in accord with these decisions. 14.47. So Simon accepted and agreed to be high priest, to be commander and ethnarch of the Jews and priests, and to be protector of them all. 14.48. And they gave orders to inscribe this decree upon bronze tablets, to put them up in a conspicuous place in the precincts of the sanctuary 14.49. and to deposit copies of them in the treasury, so that Simon and his sons might have them. |
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6. Septuagint, 2 Maccabees, 1.1-2.18, 2.19, 2.20, 2.21, 2.22, 2.23, 2.24, 2.25, 2.26, 2.27, 2.28, 2.29, 2.30, 2.31, 2.32, 3, 3.1, 3.1-4.6, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, 3.13, 3.14, 3.15, 3.16, 3.17, 3.18, 3.19, 3.20, 3.21, 3.22, 3.23, 3.24, 3.25, 3.26, 3.27, 3.28, 3.29, 3.30, 3.31, 3.32, 3.33, 3.34, 3.35, 3.36, 3.37, 3.38, 3.39, 3.40, 4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 4.12, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 4.16, 4.17, 4.18, 4.19, 4.20, 4.21, 4.22, 4.23, 4.24, 4.25, 4.26, 4.27, 4.28, 4.29, 4.30, 4.31, 4.32, 4.33, 4.34, 4.35, 4.36, 4.37, 4.38, 4.39, 4.40, 4.41, 4.42, 4.43, 4.44, 4.45, 4.46, 4.47, 4.48, 4.49, 4.50, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10, 5.11, 5.12, 5.13, 5.14, 5.15, 5.16, 5.17, 5.18, 5.19, 5.20, 5.21, 5.22, 5.23, 5.24, 5.27, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 6.12, 6.14, 6.15, 6.16, 6.18-7.42, 6.21, 7.2, 7.18, 7.32, 7.33, 7.42, 8, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 8.10, 8.11, 8.12, 8.13, 8.14, 8.15, 8.16, 8.17, 8.18, 8.19, 8.20, 8.21, 8.22, 8.23, 8.24, 8.25, 8.26, 8.27, 8.28, 8.29, 8.30, 8.31, 8.32, 8.33, 8.34, 8.35, 8.36, 9, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7, 9.8, 9.9, 9.10, 9.11, 9.12, 9.13, 9.14, 9.15, 9.16, 9.17, 9.18, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.16, 11.17, 11.18, 11.19, 11.20, 11.21, 11.22, 11.23, 11.24, 11.25, 11.26, 11.27, 11.28, 11.29, 11.30, 11.31, 11.32, 11.33, 11.38, 13.1, 13.7, 13.9, 13.24, 13.26, 14.1, 14.1-15.36, 14.2, 14.3, 14.4, 14.5, 14.6, 14.7, 14.8, 14.9, 14.10, 14.11, 14.12, 14.13, 14.14, 14.15, 14.16, 14.17, 14.18, 14.19, 14.20, 14.21, 14.22, 14.23, 14.24, 14.25, 14.26, 14.27, 14.28, 14.29, 14.30, 14.31, 14.32, 14.33, 14.34, 14.35, 14.36, 15.12, 15.13, 15.14, 15.15, 15.16, 15.31, 15.37 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
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7. Septuagint, Ecclesiasticus (Siracides), 6.7, 41.8-41.9, 45.6-45.13, 45.18, 50.1-50.24 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 41.8. Woe to you, ungodly men,who have forsaken the law of the Most High God! 45.6. He exalted Aaron, the brother of Moses,a holy man like him, of the tribe of Levi. 45.7. He made an everlasting covet with him,and gave him the priesthood of the people. He blessed him with splendid vestments,and put a glorious robe upon him. 45.8. He clothed him with superb perfection,and strengthened him with the symbols of authority,the linen breeches, the long robe, and the ephod. 45.9. And he encircled him with pomegranates,with very many golden bells round about,to send forth a sound as he walked,to make their ringing heard in the temple as a reminder to the sons of his people; 45.11. with twisted scarlet, the work of a craftsman;with precious stones engraved like signets,in a setting of gold, the work of a jeweler,for a reminder, in engraved letters,according to the number of the tribes of Israel; 45.12. with a gold crown upon his turban,inscribed like a signet with "Holiness," a distinction to be prized, the work of an expert,the delight of the eyes, richly adorned. 45.13. Before his time there never were such beautiful things. No outsider ever put them on,but only his sons and his descendants perpetually. 45.18. Outsiders conspired against him,and envied him in the wilderness,Dathan and Abiram and their men and the company of Korah, in wrath and anger. 50.1. The leader of his brethren and the pride of his people was Simon the high priest, son of Onias,who in his life repaired the house,and in his time fortified the temple. 50.1. like an olive tree putting forth its fruit,and like a cypress towering in the clouds. 50.2. He laid the foundations for the high double walls,the high retaining walls for the temple enclosure. 50.2. Then Simon came down, and lifted up his hands over the whole congregation of the sons of Israel,to pronounce the blessing of the Lord with his lips,and to glory in his name; 50.3. In his days a cistern for water was quarried out,a reservoir like the sea in circumference. 50.4. He considered how to save his people from ruin,and fortified the city to withstand a seige. 50.5. How glorious he was when the people gathered round him as he came out of the inner sanctuary! 50.7. like the sun shining upon the temple of the Most High,and like the rainbow gleaming in glorious clouds; 50.8. like roses in the days of the first fruits,like lilies by a spring of water,like a green shoot on Lebanon on a summer day; 50.9. like fire and incense in the censer,like a vessel of hammered gold adorned with all kinds of precious stones; 50.11. When he put on his glorious robe and clothed himself with superb perfection and went up to the holy altar,he made the court of the sanctuary glorious. 50.12. And when he received the portions from the hands of the priests,as he stood by the hearth of the altar with a garland of brethren around him,he was like a young cedar on Lebanon;and they surrounded him like the trunks of palm trees 50.13. all the sons of Aaron in their splendor with the Lords offering in their hands,before the whole congregation of Israel. 50.14. Finishing the service at the altars,and arranging the offering to the Most High, the Almighty 50.15. he reached out his hand to the cup and poured a libation of the blood of the grape;he poured it out at the foot of the altar,a pleasing odor to the Most High, the King of all. 50.16. Then the sons of Aaron shouted,they sounded the trumpets of hammered work,they made a great noise to be heard for remembrance before the Most High. 50.17. Then all the people together made haste and fell to the ground upon their faces to worship their Lord,the Almighty, God Most High. 50.18. And the singers praised him with their voices in sweet and full-toned melody. 50.19. And the people besought the Lord Most High in prayer before him who is merciful,till the order of worship of the Lord was ended;so they completed his service. 50.21. and they bowed down in worship a second time,to receive the blessing from the Most High. 50.22. And now bless the God of all,who in every way does great things;who exalts our days from birth,and deals with us according to his mercy. 50.23. May he give us gladness of heart,and grant that peace may be in our days in Israel,as in the days of old. 50.24. May he entrust to us his mercy!And let him deliver us in our days! |
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8. Septuagint, Wisdom of Solomon, 45.7, 45.12, 50.5-50.7 (2nd cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
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9. Julius Caesar, De Bello Civli, 3.112 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
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10. Philo of Alexandria, On Dreams, 1.215 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.215. For there are, as it seems, two temples belonging to God; one being this world, in which the high priest is the divine word, his own firstborn son. The other is the rational soul, the priest of which is the real true man, the copy of whom, perceptible to the senses, is he who performs his paternal vows and sacrifices, to whom it is enjoined to put on the aforesaid tunic, the representation of the universal heaven, in order that the world may join with the man in offering sacrifice, and that the man may likewise co-operate with the universe. |
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11. Strabo, Geography, 17.1.9 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 17.1.9. In the great harbour at the entrance, on the right hand, are the island and the Pharos tower; on the left are the reef of rocks and the promontory Lochias, with a palace upon it: at the entrance, on the left hand, are the inner palaces, which are continuous with those on the Lochias, and contain numerous painted apartments and groves. Below lies the artificial and close harbour, appropriated to the use of the kings; and Antirrhodus a small island, facing the artificial harbour, with a palace on it, and a small port. It was called Antirrhodus, a rival as it were of Rhodes.Above this is the theatre, then the Poseidium, a kind of elbow projecting from the Emporium, as it is called, with a temple of Neptune upon it. To this Antony added a mound, projecting still further into the middle of the harbour, and built at the extremity a royal mansion, which he called Timonium. This was his last act, when, deserted by his partisans, he retired to Alexandreia after his defeat at Actium, and intended, being forsaken by so many friends, to lead the [solitary] life of Timon for the rest of his days.Next are the Caesarium, the Emporium, and the Apostaseis, or magazines: these are followed by docks, extending to the Heptastadium. This is the description of the great harbour. |
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12. Josephus Flavius, Jewish Antiquities, 11.347, 12.43-12.44, 12.138-12.144, 12.156-12.222, 12.237-12.241, 12.383, 13.48-13.57, 13.247, 19.298, 20.205, 20.213, 20.233-20.235 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 11.347. he fled away to the Shechemites, and said that he was accused unjustly. About this time it was that Jaddua the high priest died, and Onias his son took the high priesthood. This was the state of the affairs of the people of Jerusalem at this time. 12.43. When Onias the high priest was dead, his son Simon became his successor. He was called Simon the Just because of both his piety towards God, and his kind disposition to those of his own nation. 12.43. o being not able to fly, but encompassed round about with enemies, he stood still, and he and those that were with him fought; and when he had slain a great many of those that came against him, he at last was himself wounded, and fell and gave up the ghost, and died in a way like to his former famous actions. 12.44. When he was dead, and had left a young son, who was called Onias, Simon’s brother Eleazar, of whom we are speaking, took the high priesthood; and he it was to whom Ptolemy wrote, and that in the manner following: 12.138. “King Antiochus To Ptolemy, Sendeth Greeting. /p“Since the Jews, upon our first entrance on their country, demonstrated their friendship towards us, and when we came to their city [Jerusalem], received us in a splendid manner, and came to meet us with their senate, and gave abundance of provisions to our soldiers, and to the elephants, and joined with us in ejecting the garrison of the Egyptians that were in the citadel 12.139. we have thought fit to reward them, and to retrieve the condition of their city, which hath been greatly depopulated by such accidents as have befallen its inhabitants, and to bring those that have been scattered abroad back to the city. 12.141. And these payments I would have fully paid them, as I have sent orders to you. I would also have the work about the temple finished, and the cloisters, and if there be any thing else that ought to be rebuilt. And for the materials of wood, let it be brought them out of Judea itself and out of the other countries, and out of Libanus tax free; and the same I would have observed as to those other materials which will be necessary, in order to render the temple more glorious; 12.142. and let all of that nation live according to the laws of their own country; and let the senate, and the priests, and the scribes of the temple, and the sacred singers, be discharged from poll-money and the crown tax and other taxes also. 12.143. And that the city may the sooner recover its inhabitants, I grant a discharge from taxes for three years to its present inhabitants, and to such as shall come to it, until the month Hyperberetus. 12.144. We also discharge them for the future from a third part of their taxes, that the losses they have sustained may be repaired. And all those citizens that have been carried away, and are become slaves, we grant them and their children their freedom, and give order that their substance be restored to them.” 12.156. Now at this time the Samaritans were in a flourishing condition, and much distressed the Jews, cutting off parts of their land, and carrying off slaves. This happened when Onias was high priest; 12.157. for after Eleazar’s death, his uncle Manasseh took the priesthood, and after he had ended his life, Onias received that dignity. He was the son of Simon, who was called The Just: 12.158. which Simon was the brother of Eleazar, as I said before. This Onias was one of a little soul, and a great lover of money; and for that reason, because he did not pay that tax of twenty talents of silver, which his forefathers paid to these things out of their own estates, he provoked king Ptolemy Euergetes to anger, who was the father of Philopater. 12.159. Euergetes sent an ambassador to Jerusalem, and complained that Onias did not pay his taxes, and threatened, that if he did not receive them, he would seize upon their land, and send soldiers to live upon it. When the Jews heard this message of the king, they were confounded; but so sordidly covetous was Onias, that nothing of things nature made him ashamed. 12.161. Hereupon he came to the city [Jerusalem], and reproved Onias for not taking care of the preservation of his countrymen, but bringing the nation into dangers, by not paying this money. For which preservation of them, he told him he had received the authority over them, and had been made high priest; 12.162. but that, in case he was so great a lover of money, as to endure to see his country in danger on that account, and his countrymen suffer the greatest damages, he advised him to go to the king, and petition him to remit either the whole or a part of the sum demanded. 12.163. Onias’s answer was this: That he did not care for his authority, and that he was ready, if the thing were practicable, to lay down his high priesthood; and that he would not go to the king, because he troubled not himself at all about such matters. Joseph then asked him if he would not give him leave to go ambassador on behalf of the nation. 12.164. He replied, that he would give him leave. Upon which Joseph went up into the temple, and called the multitude together to a congregation, and exhorted them not to be disturbed nor affrighted, because of his uncle Onias’s carelessness, but desired them to be at rest, and not terrify themselves with fear about it; for he promised them that he would be their ambassador to the king, and persuade him that they had done him no wrong. 12.165. And when the multitude heard this, they returned thanks to Joseph. So he went down from the temple, and treated Ptolemy’s ambassador in a hospitable manner. He also presented him with rich gifts, and feasted him magnificently for many days, and then sent him to the king before him, and told him that he would soon follow him; 12.166. for he was now more willing to go to the king, by the encouragement of the ambassador, who earnestly persuaded him to come into Egypt, and promised him that he would take care that he should obtain every thing that he desired of Ptolemy; for he was highly pleased with his frank and liberal temper, and with the gravity of his deportment. 12.167. 3. When Ptolemy’s ambassador was come into Egypt, he told the king of the thoughtless temper of Onias; and informed him of the goodness of the disposition of Joseph; and that he was coming to him to excuse the multitude, as not having done him any harm, for that he was their patron. In short, he was so very large in his encomiums upon the young man, that he disposed both the king and his wife Cleopatra to have a kindness for him before he came. 12.168. So Joseph sent to his friends at Samaria, and borrowed money of them, and got ready what was necessary for his journey, garments and cups, and beasts for burden, which amounted to about twenty thousand drachmae, and went to Alexandria. 12.169. Now it happened that at this time all the principal men and rulers went up out of the cities of Syria and Phoenicia, to bid for their taxes; for every year the king sold them to the men of the greatest power in every city. 12.171. which happened as the king was sitting in his chariot, with his wife, and with his friend Athenion, who was the very person who had been ambassador at Jerusalem, and had been entertained by Joseph. As soon therefore as Athenion saw him, he presently made him known to the king, how good and generous a young man he was. 12.172. So Ptolemy saluted him first, and desired him to come up into his chariot; and as Joseph sat there, he began to complain of the management of Onias: to which he answered, “Forgive him, on account of his age; for thou canst not certainly be unacquainted with this, that old men and infants have their minds exactly alike; but thou shalt have from us, who are young men, every thing thou desirest, and shalt have no cause to complain.” 12.173. With this good humor and pleasantry of the young man, the king was so delighted, that he began already, as though he had had long experience of him, to have a still greater affection for him, insomuch that he bade him take his diet in the king’s palace, and be a guest at his own table every day. 12.174. But when the king was come to Alexandria, the principal men of Syria saw him sitting with the king, and were much offended at it. 12.175. 4. And when the day came on which the king was to let the taxes of the cities to farm, and those that were the principal men of dignity in their several countries were to bid for them, the sum of the taxes together, of Celesyria, and Phoenicia, and Judea, with Samaria, [as they were bidden for,] came to eight thousand talents. 12.176. Hereupon Joseph accused the bidders, as having agreed together to estimate the value of the taxes at too low a rate; and he promised that he would himself give twice as much for them: but for those who did not pay, he would send the king home their whole substance; for this privilege was sold together with the taxes themselves. 12.177. The king was pleased to hear that offer; and because it augmented his revenues, he said he would confirm the sale of the taxes to him. But when he asked him this question, Whether he had any sureties that would be bound for the payment of the money? he answered very pleasantly, “I will give such security, and those of persons good and responsible, and which you shall have no reason to distrust.” 12.178. And when he bid him name them who they were, he replied, “I give thee no other persons, O king, for my sureties, than thyself, and this thy wife; and you shall be security for both parties.” So Ptolemy laughed at the proposal, and granted him the farming of the taxes without any sureties. 12.179. This procedure was a sore grief to those that came from the cities into Egypt, who were utterly disappointed; and they returned every one to their own country with shame. 12.181. And when he was at Askelon, and demanded the taxes of the people of Askelon, they refused to pay any thing, and affronted him also; upon which he seized upon about twenty of the principal men, and slew them, and gathered what they had together, and sent it all to the king, and informed him what he had done. 12.182. Ptolemy admired the prudent conduct of the man, and commended him for what he had done, and gave him leave to do as he pleased. When the Syrians heard of this, they were astonished; and having before them a sad example in the men of Askelon that were slain, they opened their gates, and willingly admitted Joseph, and paid their taxes. 12.183. And when the inhabitants of Scythopolis attempted to affront him, and would not pay him those taxes which they formerly used to pay, without disputing about them, he slew also the principal men of that city, and sent their effects to the king. 12.184. By this means he gathered great wealth together, and made vast gains by this farming of the taxes; and he made use of what estate he had thus gotten, in order to support his authority, as thinking it a piece of prudence to keep what had been the occasion and foundation of his present good fortune; and this he did by the assistance of what he was already possessed of 12.185. for he privately sent many presents to the king, and to Cleopatra, and to their friends, and to all that were powerful about the court, and thereby purchased their good-will to himself. 12.186. 6. This good fortune he enjoyed for twenty-two years, and was become the father of seven sons by one wife; he had also another son, whose name was Hyrcanus, by his brother Solymius’s daughter 12.187. whom he married on the following occasion. He once came to Alexandria with his brother, who had along with him a daughter already marriageable, in order to give her in wedlock to some of the Jews of chief dignity there. He then supped with the king, and falling in love with an actress that was of great beauty, and came into the room where they feasted, he told his brother of it, and entreated him, because a Jew is forbidden by their law to come near to a foreigner, to conceal his offense; and to be kind and subservient to him, and to give him an opportunity of fulfilling his desires. 12.188. Upon which his brother willingly entertained the proposal of serving him, and adorned his own daughter, and brought her to him by night, and put her into his bed. And Joseph, being disordered with drink, knew not who she was, and so lay with his brother’s daughter; and this did he many times, and loved her exceedingly; and said to his brother, that he loved this actress so well, that he should run the hazard of his life [if he must part with her], and yet probably the king would not give him leave [to take her with him]. 12.189. But his brother bid him be in no concern about that matter, and told him he might enjoy her whom he loved without any danger, and might have her for his wife; and opened the truth of the matter to him, and assured him that he chose rather to have his own daughter abused, than to overlook him, and see him come to [public] disgrace. So Joseph commended him for this his brotherly love, and married his daughter; and by her begat a son, whose name was Hyrcanus, as we said before. 12.191. Joseph had once a mind to know which of his sons had the best disposition to virtue; and when he sent them severally to those that had then the best reputation for instructing youth, the rest of his children, by reason of their sloth and unwillingness to take pains, returned to him foolish and unlearned. 12.192. After them he sent out the youngest, Hyrcanus, and gave him three hundred yoke of oxen, and bid him go two days’ journey into the wilderness, and sow the land there, and yet kept back privately the yokes of the oxen that coupled them together. 12.193. When Hyrcanus came to the place, and found he had no yokes with him, he condemned the drivers of the oxen, who advised him to send some to his father, to bring them some yokes; but he thinking that he ought not to lose his time while they should be sent to bring him the yokes, he invented a kind of stratagem, and what suited an age older than his own; 12.194. for he slew ten yoke of the oxen, and distributed their flesh among the laborers, and cut their hides into several pieces, and made him yokes, and yoked the oxen together with them; by which means he sowed as much land as his father had appointed him to sow, and returned to him. 12.195. And when he was come back, his father was mightily pleased with his sagacity, and commended the sharpness of his understanding, and his boldness in what he did. And he still loved him the more, as if he were his only genuine son, while his brethren were much troubled at it. 12.196. 7. But when one told him that Ptolemy had a son just born, and that all the principal men of Syria, and the other countries subject to him, were to keep a festival, on account of the child’s birthday, and went away in haste with great retinues to Alexandria, he was himself indeed hindered from going by old age; but he made trial of his sons, whether any of them would be willing to go to the king. 12.197. And when the elder sons excused themselves from going, and said they were not courtiers good enough for such conversation, and advised him to send their brother Hyrcanus, he gladly hearkened to that advice, and called Hyrcanus, and asked him whether he would go to the king, and whether it was agreeable to him to go or not. 12.198. And upon his promise that he would go, and his saying that he should not want much money for his journey, because he would live moderately, and that ten thousand drachmas would be sufficient, he was pleased with his son’s prudence. 12.199. After a little while, the son advised his father not to send his presents to the king from thence, but to give him a letter to his steward at Alexandria, that he might furnish him with money, for purchasing what should be most excellent and most precious. 12.201. for Joseph sent the money he received in Syria to Alexandria. And when the day appointed for the payment of the taxes to the king came, he wrote to Arion to pay them. 12.202. So when the son had asked his father for a letter to the steward, and had received it, he made haste to Alexandria. And when he was gone, his brethren wrote to all the king’s friends, that they should destroy him. 12.203. 8. But when he was come to Alexandria, he delivered his letter to Arion, who asked him how many talents he would have (hoping he would ask for no more than ten, or a little more); he said he wanted a thousand talents. At which the steward was angry, and rebuked him, as one that intended to live extravagantly; and he let him know how his father had gathered together his estate by painstaking, and resisting his inclinations, and wished him to imitate the example of his father: he assured him withal, that he would give him but ten talents, and that for a present to the king also. 12.204. The son was irritated at this, and threw Arion into prison. But when Arion’s wife had informed Cleopatra of this, with her entreaty, that she would rebuke the child for what he had done, (for Arion was in great esteem with her,) Cleopatra informed the king of it. 12.205. And Ptolemy sent for Hyrcanus, and told him that he wondered, when he was sent to him by his father, that he had not yet come into his presence, but had laid the steward in prison. And he gave order, therefore, that he should come to him, and give an account of the reason of what he had done. 12.206. And they report that the answer he made to the king’s messenger was this: That “there was a law of his that forbade a child that was born to taste of the sacrifice, before he had been at the temple and sacrificed to God. According to which way of reasoning he did not himself come to him in expectation of the present he was to make to him, as to one who had been his father’s benefactor; 12.207. and that he had punished the slave for disobeying his commands, for that it mattered not Whether a master was little or great: so that unless we punish such as these, thou thyself mayst also expect to be despised by thy subjects.” Upon hearing this his answer he fell alaughing, and wondered at the great soul of the child. 12.208. 9. When Arion was apprised that this was the king’s disposition, and that he had no way to help himself, he gave the child a thousand talents, and was let out of prison. So after three days were over, Hyrcanus came and saluted the king and queen. 12.209. They saw him with pleasure, and feasted him in an obliging manner, out of the respect they bare to his father. So he came to the merchants privately, and bought a hundred boys, that had learning, and were in the flower of their ages, each at a talent apiece; as also he bought a hundred maidens, each at the same price as the other. 12.211. Now when all those that sat with him had laid the bones of the several parts on a heap before Hyrcanus, (for they had themselves taken away the flesh belonging to them,) till the table where he sat was filled full with them 12.212. Trypho, who was the king’s jester, and was appointed for jokes and laughter at festivals, was now asked by the guests that sat at the table [to expose him to laughter]. So he stood by the king, and said, “Dost thou not see, my lord, the bones that lie by Hyrcanus? by this similitude thou mayst conjecture that his father made all Syria as bare as he hath made these bones.” 12.213. And the king laughing at what Trypho said, and asking of Hyrcanus, How he came to have so many bones before him? he replied, “Very rightfully, my lord; for they are dogs that eat the flesh and the bones together, as these thy guests have done, (looking in the mean time at those guests,) for there is nothing before them; but they are men that eat the flesh, and cast away the bones, as I, who am also a man, have now done.” 12.214. Upon which the king admired at his answer, which was so wisely made; and bid them all make an acclamation, as a mark of their approbation of his jest, which was truly a facetious one. 12.215. On the next day Hyrcanus went to every one of the king’s friends, and of the men powerful at court, and saluted them; but still inquired of the servants what present they would make the king on his son’s birthday; 12.216. and when some said that they would give twelve talents, and that others of greater dignity would every one give according to the quantity of their riches, he pretended to every one of them to be grieved that he was not able to bring so large a present; for that he had no more than five talents. And when the servants heard what he said, they told their masters; 12.217. and they rejoiced in the prospect that Joseph would be disapproved, and would make the king angry, by the smallness of his present. When the day came, the others, even those that brought the most, offered the king not above twenty talents; but Hyrcanus gave to every one of the hundred boys and hundred maidens that he had bought a talent apiece, for them to carry, and introduced them, the boys to the king, and the maidens to Cleopatra; 12.218. every body wondering at the unexpected richness of the presents, even the king and queen themselves. He also presented those that attended about the king with gifts to the value of a great number of talents, that he might escape the danger he was in from them; for to these it was that Hyrcanus’s brethren had written to destroy him. 12.219. Now Ptolemy admired at the young man’s magimity, and commanded him to ask what gift he pleased. But he desired nothing else to be done for him by the king than to write to his father and brethren about him. 12.221. But when his brethren heard that Hyrcanus had received such favors from the king, and was returning home with great honor, they went out to meet him, and to destroy him, and that with the privity of their father; for he was angry at him for the [large] sum of money that he bestowed for presents, and so had no concern for his preservation. However, Joseph concealed the anger he had at his son, out of fear of the king. 12.222. And when Hyrcanus’s brethren came to fight him, he slew many others of those that were with them, as also two of his brethren themselves; but the rest of them escaped to Jerusalem to their father. But when Hyrcanus came to the city, where nobody would receive him, he was afraid for himself, and retired beyond the river Jordan, and there abode, but obliging the barbarians to pay their taxes. 12.237. 1. About this time, upon the death of Onias the high priest, they gave the high priesthood to Jesus his brother; for that son which Onias left [or Onias IV.] was yet but an infant; and, in its proper place, we will inform the reader of all the circumstances that befell this child. 12.238. But this Jesus, who was the brother of Onias, was deprived of the high priesthood by the king, who was angry with him, and gave it to his younger brother, whose name also was Onias; for Simon had these three sons, to each of which the priesthood came, as we have already informed the reader. 12.239. This Jesus changed his name to Jason, but Onias was called Menelaus. Now as the former high priest, Jesus, raised a sedition against Menelaus, who was ordained after him, the multitude were divided between them both. And the sons of Tobias took the part of Menelaus 12.241. Wherefore they desired his permission to build them a Gymnasium at Jerusalem. And when he had given them leave, they also hid the circumcision of their genitals, that even when they were naked they might appear to be Greeks. Accordingly, they left off all the customs that belonged to their own country, and imitated the practices of the other nations. 12.383. But when Antiochus came into it, and saw how strong the place was, he broke his oaths, and ordered his army that was there to pluck down the walls to the ground; and when he had so done, he returned to Antioch. He also carried with him Onias the high priest, who was also called Menelaus; 13.48. “King Demetrius to Jonathan, and to the nation of the Jews, sendeth greeting. Since you have preserved your friendship for us, and when you have been tempted by our enemies, you have not joined yourselves to them, I both commend you for this your fidelity, and exhort you to continue in the same disposition, for which you shall be repaid, and receive rewards from us; 13.49. for I will free you from the greatest part of the tributes and taxes which you formerly paid to the kings my predecessors, and to myself; and I do now set you free from those tributes which you have ever paid; and besides, I forgive you the tax upon salt, and the value of the crowns which you used to offer to me and instead of the third part of the fruits [of the field], and the half of the fruits of the trees, I relinquish my part of them from this day: 13.51. I will also that the city of Jerusalem be holy and inviolable, and free from the tithe, and from the taxes, unto its utmost bounds. And I so far recede from my title to the citadel, as to permit Jonathan your high priest to possess it, that he may place such a garrison in it as he approves of for fidelity and good-will to himself, that they may keep it for us. 13.52. I also make free all those Jews who have been made captives and slaves in my kingdom. I also give order that the beasts of the Jews be not pressed for our service; and let their sabbaths, and all their festivals, and three days before each of them, be free from any imposition. 13.53. In the same manner, I set free the Jews that are inhabitants of my kingdom, and order that no injury be done them. I also give leave to such of them as are willing to list themselves in my army, that they may do it, and those as far as thirty thousand; which Jewish soldiers, wheresoever they go, shall have the same pay that my own army hath; and some of them I will place in my garrisons, and some as guards about mine own body, and as rulers over those that are in my court. 13.54. I give them leave also to use the laws of their forefathers, and to observe them; and I will that they have power over the three toparchies that are added to Judea; and it shall be in the power of the high priest to take care that no one Jew shall have any other temple for worship but only that at Jerusalem. 13.55. I bequeath also, out of my own revenues, yearly, for the expenses about the sacrifices, one hundred and fifty thousand [drachmae]; and what money is to spare, I will that it shall be your own. I also release to you those ten thousand drachmae which the kings received from the temple, because they appertain to the priests that minister in that temple. 13.56. And whosoever shall fly to the temple at Jerusalem, or to the places thereto belonging, or who owe the king money, or are there on any other account, let them be set free, and let their goods be in safety. 13.57. I also give you leave to repair and rebuild your temple, and that all be done at my expenses. I also allow you to build the walls of your city, and to erect high towers, and that they be erected at my charge. And if there be any fortified town that would be convenient for the Jewish country to have very strong, let it be so built at my expenses.” 13.247. But the Jews, although they were content with the other conditions, did not agree to admit the garrison, because they could not associate with other people, nor converse with them; yet were they willing, instead of the admission of the garrison, to give him hostages, and five hundred talents of silver; of which they paid down three hundred, and sent the hostages immediately, which king Antiochus accepted. One of those hostages was Hyrcanus’s brother. But still he broke down the fortifications that encompassed the city. 19.298. Simon, therefore, had the [high] priesthood with his brethren, and with his father, in like manner as the sons of Simon, the son of Onias, who were three, had it formerly under the government of the Macedonians, as we have related in a former book. 20.205. But as for the high priest, Aias he increased in glory every day, and this to a great degree, and had obtained the favor and esteem of the citizens in a signal manner; for he was a great hoarder up of money: he therefore cultivated the friendship of Albinus, and of the high priest [Jesus], by making them presents; 20.213. And now Jesus, the son of Gamaliel, became the successor of Jesus, the son of Damneus, in the high priesthood, which the king had taken from the other; on which account a sedition arose between the high priests, with regard to one another; for they got together bodies of the boldest sort of the people, and frequently came, from reproaches, to throwing of stones at each other. But Aias was too hard for the rest, by his riches, which enabled him to gain those that were most ready to receive. 20.233. But after the term of seventy years’ captivity under the Babylonians, Cyrus, king of Persia, sent the Jews from Babylon to their own land again, and gave them leave to rebuild their temple; 20.234. at which time Jesus, the son of Josadek, took the high priesthood over the captives when they were returned home. Now he and his posterity, who were in all fifteen, until king Antiochus Eupator, were under a democratical government for four hundred and fourteen years; 20.235. and then the forementioned Antiochus, and Lysias the general of his army, deprived Onias, who was also called Menelaus, of the high priesthood, and slew him at Berea; and driving away the son [of Onias the third], put Jacimus into the place of the high priest, one that was indeed of the stock of Aaron, but not of the family of Onias. |
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13. Josephus Flavius, Jewish War, 1.31-1.33, 1.41, 7.423-7.427 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.31. Now these caves were in the precipices of craggy mountains, and could not be come at from any side, since they had only some winding pathways, very narrow, by which they got up to them; but the rock that lay on their front had beneath it valleys of a vast depth, and of an almost perpendicular declivity; insomuch that the king was doubtful for a long time what to do, by reason of a kind of impossibility there was of attacking the place. Yet did he at length make use of a contrivance that was subject to the utmost hazard; 1.31. 1. At the same time that Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, had a quarrel with the sixth Ptolemy about his right to the whole country of Syria, a great sedition fell among the men of power in Judea, and they had a contention about obtaining the government; while each of those that were of dignity could not endure to be subject to their equals. However, Onias, one of the high priests, got the better, and cast the sons of Tobias out of the city; 1.32. 7. Hereupon Herod was very angry at him, and was going to fight against Macheras as his enemy; but he restrained his indignation, and marched to Antony to accuse Macheras of mal-administration. But Macheras was made sensible of his offenses, and followed after the king immediately, and earnestly begged and obtained that he would be reconciled to him. 1.32. who fled to Antiochus, and besought him to make use of them for his leaders, and to make an expedition into Judea. The king being thereto disposed beforehand, complied with them, and came upon the Jews with a great army, and took their city by force, and slew a great multitude of those that favored Ptolemy, and sent out his soldiers to plunder them without mercy. He also spoiled the temple, and put a stop to the constant practice of offering a daily sacrifice of expiation for three years and six months. 1.33. But Onias, the high priest, fled to Ptolemy, and received a place from him in the Nomus of Heliopolis, where he built a city resembling Jerusalem, and a temple that was like its temple, concerning which we shall speak more in its proper place hereafter. 1.33. He also made an immediate and continual attack upon the fortress. Yet was he forced, by a most terrible storm, to pitch his camp in the neighboring villages before he could take it. But when, after a few days’ time, the second legion, that came from Antony, joined themselves to him, the enemy were affrighted at his power, and left their fortifications in the nighttime. 1.41. 5. So this Antiochus got together fifty thousand footmen, and five thousand horsemen, and fourscore elephants, and marched through Judea into the mountainous parts. He then took Bethsura, which was a small city; but at a place called Bethzacharias, where the passage was narrow, Judas met him with his army. 1.41. But the king, by the expenses he was at, and the liberal disposal of them, overcame nature, and built a haven larger than was the Pyrecum [at Athens]; and in the inner retirements of the water he built other deep stations [for the ships also]. 7.423. Onias, the son of Simon, one of the Jewish high priests, fled from Antiochus the king of Syria, when he made war with the Jews, and came to Alexandria; and as Ptolemy received him very kindly, on account of his hatred to Antiochus, he assured him, that if he would comply with his proposal, he would bring all the Jews to his assistance; 7.424. and when the king agreed to do it so far as he was able, he desired him to give him leave to build a temple somewhere in Egypt, and to worship God according to the customs of his own country; 7.425. for that the Jews would then be so much readier to fight against Antiochus who had laid waste the temple at Jerusalem, and that they would then come to him with greater goodwill; and that, by granting them liberty of conscience, very many of them would come over to him. 7.426. 3. So Ptolemy complied with his proposals, and gave him a place one hundred and eighty furlongs distant from Memphis. That Nomos was called the Nomos of Heliopoli 7.427. where Onias built a fortress and a temple, not like to that at Jerusalem, but such as resembled a tower. He built it of large stones to the height of sixty cubits; |
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14. Josephus Flavius, Against Apion, 1.43, 1.176-1.183 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 1.43. For it is no new thing for our captives, many of them in number, and frequently in time, to be seen to endure racks and deaths of all kinds upon the theatres, that they may not be obliged to say one word against our laws and the records that contain them; 1.176. for Clearchus, who was the scholar of Aristotle, and inferior to no one of the Peripatetics whomsoever, in his first book concerning sleep, says that “Aristotle, his master, related what follows of a Jew,” and sets down Aristotle’s own discourse with him. The account is this, as written down by him: 1.177. “Now, for a great part of what this Jew said, it would be too long to recite it; but what includes in it both wonder and philosophy, it may not be amiss to discourse of. Now, that I may be plain with thee, Hyperochides, I shall herein seem to thee to relate wonders, and what will resemble dreams themselves. Hereupon Hyperochides answered modestly, and said, for that very reason it is that all of us are very desirous of hearing what thou art going to say. 1.178. Then replied Aristotle, For this cause it will be the best way to imitate that rule of the Rhetoricians which requires us first to give an account of the man, and of what nation he was, that so we may not contradict our master’s directions. Then said Hyperochides, Go on, if it so pleases thee. 1.179. This man, then [answered Aristotle], was by birth a Jew, and came from Celesyria: these Jews are derived from the Indian philosophers; they are named by the Indians Calami, and by the Syrians Judaei, and took their name from the country they inhabit, which is called Judea; but for the name of their city it is a very awkward one, for they call it Jerusalem. 1.181. insomuch that when we ourselves happened to be in Asia about the same places whither he came, he conversed with us and with other philosophical persons, and made a trial of our skill in philosophy; and as he had lived with many learned men, he communicated to us more information than he received from us.” 1.182. This is Aristotle’s account of the matter, as given us by Clearchus; which Aristotle discoursed also particularly of the great and wonderful fortitude of this Jew in his diet and continent way of living, as those that please may learn more about him from Clearchus’s book itself; for I avoid setting down any more than is sufficient for my purpose. 1.183. Now Clearchus said this by way of digression, for his main design was of another nature; but for Hecateus of Abdera, who was both a philosopher and one very useful in an active life, he was contemporary with king Alexander in his youth, and afterward was with Ptolemy, the son of Lagus: he did not write about the Jewish affairs by the by only, but composed an entire book concerning the Jews themselves; out of which book I am willing to run over a few things, of which I have been treating, by way of epitome. |
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15. Josephus Flavius, Life, 2 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
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16. New Testament, Romans, 12.1-12.2 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 12.1. Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. 12.2. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. |
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17. New Testament, John, 2.19-2.22, 10.36, 11.49, 19.5 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 2.19. Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 2.20. The Jews therefore said, "Forty-six years was this temple in building, and will you raise it up in three days? 2.21. But he spoke of the temple of his body. 2.22. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. 10.36. Do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You blaspheme,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God?' 11.49. But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all 19.5. Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, "Behold, the man! |
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18. Suetonius, Augustus, 49.3 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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19. Suetonius, Iulius, 57 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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20. Tacitus, Histories, 5.12 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 5.12. The temple was built like a citadel, with walls of its own, which were constructed with more care and effort than any of the rest; the very colonnades about the temple made a splendid defence. Within the enclosure is an ever-flowing spring; in the hills are subterraneous excavations, with pools and cisterns for holding rain-water. The founders of the city had foreseen that there would be many wars because the ways of their people differed so from those of the neighbours: therefore they had built at every point as if they expected a long siege; and after the city had been stormed by Pompey, their fears and experience taught them much. Moreover, profiting by the greed displayed during the reign of Claudius, they had bought the privilege of fortifying the city, and in time of peace had built walls as if for war. The population at this time had been increased by streams of rabble that flowed in from the other captured cities, for the most desperate rebels had taken refuge here, and consequently sedition was the more rife. There were three generals, three armies: the outermost and largest circuit of the walls was held by Simon, the middle of the city by John, and the temple was guarded by Eleazar. John and Simon were strong in numbers and equipment, Eleazar had the advantage of position: between these three there was constant fighting, treachery, and arson, and a great store of grain was consumed. Then John got possession of the temple by sending a party, under pretence of offering sacrifice, to slay Eleazar and his troops. So the citizens were divided into two factions until, at the approach of the Romans, foreign war produced concord. |
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21. Tosefta, Menachot, 13.21 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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22. Babylonian Talmud, Keritot, None (3rd cent. CE - 6th cent. CE)
| 28a. לכבשתו והעני הואיל ונדחה ידחה,אמר רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע שמע מינה תלת שמע מינה בעלי חיים נדחים וקדושת דמים נדחה,ודחוי מעיקרא הוי דחוי,מתיב רב עוקבא בר חמא המפריש נקבה לפסחו קודם הפסח תרעה עד שתסתאב ותמכר ויביא בדמיה פסח ילדה זכר ירעה עד שיסתאב וימכר ויביא בדמיו פסח,ר"ש אומר הוא עצמו יקרב פסח ש"מ בעלי חיים אינם נדחים,אמרי דבי רבי אושעיא כי אמרינן לרבנן דר"ש ס"ל בעלי חיים אינן נדחין,והגרלה אינה מעכבת דתניא מת אחד מהן מביא חבירו שלא בהגרלה דברי ר"ש,אלמא קסבר בעלי חיים אינן נידחין והגרלה אינה מעכבת,אמר רב חסדא אין הקינין מתפרשות אלא אי בלקיחת בעלים אי בעשיית כהן,אמר רב שימי בר אשי מאי טעמא דרב חסדא דכתיב (ויקרא יב, ח) ולקחה שתי תורים וגו' (ויקרא טו, ל) ועשה הכהן וגו' או בלקיחת בעלים או בעשיית כהן,מיתיבי (ויקרא טז, ט) ועשהו חטאת הגורל עושהו חטאת ואין השם עושהו חטאת ואין כהן עושה חטאת,שיכול והלא דין הוא ומה במקום שלא קידש הגורל קידש השם מקום שיקדש הגורל אינו דין שיקדש השם,ת"ל ועשהו חטאת הגורל עושהו חטאת ואין השם עושהו חטאת,קתני שם דומיא דגורל מה גורל לאו בלקיחה ולאו בעשייה אף השם נמי לאו בלקיחה ולאו בעשייה,אמר רב ה"ק ומה במקום שלא קידש הגורל בלקיחת בעלים ובעשיית הכהן קידש השם אי בלקיחת בעלים אי בעשיית כהן כאן שיקדש הגורל שלא בלקיחה ושלא בעשייה אינו דין שיקדש השם אי בלקיחה אי בעשייה,ת"ל ועשהו חטאת הגורל עושהו חטאת ואין השם עושהו חטאת,מיתיבי מטמא מקדש עני שהפריש מעות לקינו והעשיר,אמר אלו לחטאתי ואלו לעולתי מוסיף ומביא חובתו מדמי חטאתו ואין מוסיף ומביא מדמי עולתו,והא הכא דליכא לא לקיחה ולא עשייה וקתני מביא חובתו מדמי חטאתו ולא מדמי עולתו,א"ר ששת ותסברא מתניתא מתקנתא היא דקתני והעשיר והא"ר אלעזר א"ר אושעיא מטמא מקדש עשיר שהביא קרבן עני לא יצא,אלא מאי אית לך למימר שכבר אמר משעת ענייתו ה"נ שכבר אמר משעת הפרשתו,ולר' חגא א"ר אושעיא דאמר יצא מאי איכא למימר תני ואח"כ לקח ואמר,מיתיבי מצורע עני שהביא קרבן עשיר יצא עשיר שהביא קרבן עני לא יצא תיובתא דר' חגא א"ר אושעיא,אמר לך שאני גבי מצורע דמיעט רחמנא (ויקרא יד, ב) זאת,אי הכי אפילו מצורע עני נמי שהביא קרבן עשיר לא יצא לאיי הא אהדריה קרא תורת והתניא תורת לרבות מצורע עני שהביא קרבן עשיר יצא יכול אפילו עשיר שהביא קרבן עני שיצא תלמוד לומר זאת,ולילף מיניה אמר קרא (ויקרא יד, כא) ואם דל הוא ואין ידו משגת מצורע הוא דעשיר שהביא קרבן עני הוא דלא יצא אבל מטמא מקדש עשיר שהביא קרבן עני יצא:, big strongמתני׳ /strong /big ר"ש אומר כבשים קודמין את העזים בכל מקום יכול מפני שהן מובחרים מהם ת"ל (ויקרא ד, לב) ואם כבש יביא קרבנו לחטאת מלמד ששניהם שקולין,תורין קודמין לבני יונה בכל מקום יכול מפני שהן מובחרים מהן תלמוד לומר ((ויקרא יב, ו) תור ובני) יונה או תור לחטאת מלמד ששניהם שקולין,האב קודם לאם בכל מקום יכול מפני שכיבוד האב קודם על כיבוד האם ת"ל (ויקרא יט, ג) איש אמו ואביו תיראו מלמד ששניהם שקולין אבל אמרו חכמים האב קודם לאם בכל מקום מפני שהוא ואמו חייבין בכבוד אביו,וכן בתלמוד תורה אם זכה הבן לפני הרב הרב קודם את האב בכל מקום מפני שהוא ואביו חייבין בכבוד רבו:, big strongגמ׳ /strong /big ת"ר ד' צווחות צווחה עזרה צווחה אחת הוציאו מיכן בני עלי חפני ופנחס שטימאו את ההיכל,צווחה שניה פתחו שערים ויכנס יוחנן בן נדבאי תלמידו של פינקאי וימלא כרסו מקדשי שמים אמרו על בן נדבאי שהיה אוכל ארבע סאה גוזלות | 28a. instead bof a female lamb, and hethen bbecame poorer,a bird pair is now the appropriate offering for him. Nevertheless, bsincehis offering bwas disqualifiedat the outset because at that time he was obligated to bring a female lamb, bit ispermanently bdisqualified. /b, bRav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, said:One can bconclude from thisruling bthree ihalakhot /i. bConclude from itthat bconsecrated living animals can bepermanently bdisqualifiedeven if the animal is unblemished, as is the case with regard to this pair of birds. bAndconclude from it that when there is bsanctitythat inheres in an animal’s bvalue,where the consecrated item will not be sacrificed as an offering, it can be bdisqualified.When he was wealthy and designated the bird pair as his offering, the two birds were consecrated only with sanctity that inheres in their value because they were unfit for sacrifice, and yet the birds were permanently disqualified., bAndfinally, conclude from this that ba disqualification at the outset,when the animal is initially consecrated, bisconsidered a permanent bdisqualification.Not only is an animal that was initially fit to be sacrificed and was later disqualified permanently disqualified, but even in a case such as this, where the birds were unfit for sacrifice from the beginning, the disqualification is permanent., bRav Ukva bar Ḥama raises an objectionfrom a ibaraita( iTosefta /i, iTemura2:3): With regard to bone who designates a femaleanimal bfor his Paschal offering before Passover,since the Paschal offering must be a male it is left to bgraze until it becomes blemished,at which point bit is sold and one brings a Paschal offering with the moneyreceived from its sale. Similarly, if this animal bgave birth to a maleanimal, the offspring is left to bgraze until it becomes blemished,at which point bit is sold and one brings a Paschal offering with the moneyreceived from its sale., bRabbi Shimon says:It is not necessary to sell the offspring in such a case, as the offspring bitself is sacrificedas ba Paschal offering. Conclude from thisstatement of Rabbi Shimon that bconsecrated living animals are notpermanently bdisqualified,as the mother was unfit to be a Paschal offering and yet the offspring, which is an extension of the mother’s sanctity, is fit for sacrifice., bThe school of Rabbi Oshaya say: When we saythat consecrated living animals can be permanently disqualified, this applies baccording tothe opinion of bthe Rabbis,who maintain that the offspring is not sacrificed. Nevertheless, it is correct bthat Rabbi Shimon holdsthat consecrated bliving animals are notpermanently bdisqualified. /b, bAndRabbi Shimon likewise maintains bthatthe bdrawingof the lots for the two goats on Yom Kippur to decide which goat is designated as a sacrifice and which is designated as the scapegoat, bis not indispensable. As it is taughtin a ibaraita /i: If bone ofthe goats bdiedfollowing their designation, one bbrings anothergoat instead of it, and it is designated bwithout drawinglots. The surviving goat is still used for the purpose for which it was designated by the lot; this is bthe statement of Rabbi Shimon. /b, bEvidently, Rabbi Shimon holds:Consecrated bliving animals are notpermanently bdisqualified.Although the surviving goat was disqualified when the other goat died, it is once again fit when a new goat is designated as its partner. bAndRabbi Shimon also holds that the bdrawingof the lots bis not indispensable,as the new goat was designated without drawing lots.,§ bRav Ḥisda says: Nests,i.e., pairs of birds, bare designated, /bone as a burnt offering and one as a sin offering, bonlyin the following manner: bEitherby the bownerat the time bof purchase or,if the owner did not designate the birds at that stage, by the bpriestat the time bof sacrifice. /b, bRav Shimi bar Ashi said: What is the reason of Rav Ḥisda? As it is writtenwith regard to the offering of a woman after childbirth: b“And she shall purchase two dovesor two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering” (Leviticus 12:8). And with regard to the offering of a leper it is written: b“And the priest shall sacrificethe one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering” (Leviticus 15:30). Together, these verses indicate that one bird is designated as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering beitherby the bownerat the time bof purchase orby the bpriestat the time bof sacrifice. /b,The Gemara braises an objectionfrom a ibaraitain the iSifrathat discusses the drawing of lots for the two goats of Yom Kippur. The verse states: “Aaron shall bring forward the goat upon which the lot came up for the Lord, band he shall sacrifice it for a sin offering”(Leviticus 16:9). This teaches that the drawing of bthe lot renders it a sin offering, butverbally designating bthe nameof the goat bdoes not render it a sin offering, andlikewise the act of the bpriest,placing the lot on the goat, bdoes not render it a sin offering. /b,A verse is required to teach this ihalakha /i, basone bmighthave come to the opposite conclusion: bCould this notbe derived through an ia fortiori binference,as follows: bAnd if in a case wherethe drawing of ba lot does not sanctifyan animal with a specific designation, e.g., a woman after childbirth, who cannot determine by lot the status of the two birds she must bring, one as a sin offering and one as a burnt offering, nevertheless, in such a case a verbal designation of bthe name does sanctifywith a specific designation; bis it not logicalin ba case wherethe drawing of ba lot sanctifiesan animal with a specific designation, i.e., the two goats of Yom Kippur, bthatverbally designating bthe nameshould bsanctifyit with a specific designation?,The ibaraitaconcludes: Therefore bthe verse states,with regard to one of the two goats of Yom Kippur: b“He shall sacrifice it for a sin offering,”to teach that the drawing of bthe lot renders it a sin offering, butverbally designating bthe nameof the goat bdoes not render it a sin offering. /b,The Gemara explains the objection: The ibaraita bteachesthat verbally designating the bnameof an offering bis similar todrawing ba lot.If so, one can reason as follows: bJust asthe drawing of ba lotis bnotperformed batthe time of bpurchase nor atthe time of bsacrifice, so tooverbal designation of bthe name alsodoes bnothave to be performed batthe time of bpurchase nor atthe time of bsacrifice.This contradicts the opinion of Rav Ḥisda., bRav saidthat bthisis what the ibaraita bis saying: And if in a place wherethe drawing of ba lot,either by the bownerat the time bof purchase orby the bpriestat the time bof sacrifice, does not sanctifyan animal with a specific designation, and nevertheless a verbal designation of bthe name, eitherby the bownerat the time bof purchase orby the bpriestat the time bof sacrifice, does sanctifyit with a specific designation; bhere,with regard to the two goats, bwherethe drawing of ba lotthat does bnottake place batthe time of bpurchase nor atthe time of bsacrifice sanctifiesthe animal with a specific designation, bis it not logical thatverbally designating bthe name, either atthe time of bpurchase or atthe time of bsacrifice,should bsanctifyit with a specific designation?,Therefore, bthe verse states: “He shall sacrifice it for a sin offering,”to teach that drawing bthe lot renders it a sin offering, butverbally designating bthe nameof the goat bdoes not render it a sin offering. /b,The Gemara braisesanother bobjectionto the opinion of Rav Ḥisda from a ibaraita /i: In the case of ba poor person who defiles the Temple,i.e., he entered the Temple while ritually impure, bwho designated money for his nest,as he is required to bring one bird as a sin offering and another bird as a burnt offering, band hethen bbecame wealthier,he is now obligated to bring a female lamb or goat as a sin offering.,If he was unaware that he is no longer obligated to bring a pair of birds, and he bsays: Thismoney bis for my sin offering and thismoney bis for my burnt offering,which is an error, as he is not obligated to bring a burnt offering, bhe addsmore money band brings his obligationof a lamb or goat for his sin offering bfromthe bmoneydesignated bfor his sin offering. But he may not addmore money band bring his obligationof a sin offering bfromthe bmoneydesignated bfor his burnt offering,as one may not use money that is designated for a burnt offering for the purchase of a sin offering.,The Gemara explains the objection: bBut here,the ibaraitais dealing with a case where he said: This money is for my sin offering and that money is for my burnt offering, which means that he designated the money at a stage bthat was notthe time of bpurchase northe time of bsacrifice; andyet the ibaraita bteachesthat the designation is established and therefore bhe brings his obligationof a sin offering bfromthe bmoneydesignated for ba sin offering but not fromthe bmoneydesignated for ba burnt offering. /b, bRav Sheshet said: And can you understandthat bthis ibaraitais properlyexplained, i.e., the ibaraitaas it stands is difficult, bas it teaches: He became wealthierand said: This money is for my sin offering and this money is for my burnt offering. bButthis is difficult, as bdoesn’t Rabbi Elazar saythat bRabbi Oshaya says: A wealthy person who defiles the Temple,i.e., he entered the Temple while ritually impure, bwho broughtthe bofferingof ba poor personto atone for his transgression has bnot fulfilledhis obligation. Since he cannot fulfill his obligation with that offering, how can his designation permanently establish the status of the money?, bRather, what have you to say?You must say that the ibaraitais referring to a case bwhere he already said:This money is for my sin offering and this money is for my burnt offering, bat the timewhen bhe was poor. So too,it is referring to a case bwhere he already saidit even earlier, bat the timewhen bhe designatedthe money, and therefore there is no difficulty for Rav Ḥisda.,The Gemara asks: bBut according to Rabbi Ḥagga,who bsaysthat bRabbi Oshaya saysthat a wealthy person who brings the offering of a poor person has bfulfilledhis obligation, bwhat can be said?According to this opinion, there is no inherent difficulty in the ibaraitathat necessitates Rav Sheshet’s interpretation, and therefore that ibaraitaapparently contradicts Rav Ḥisda’s ruling. The Gemara answers that one should bteachthe ibaraitaas follows: bAnd afterhe became wealthier, bhe purchasedanimals band saidat the time of purchase: This is designated as my sin offering and this as my burnt offering.,With regard to the dispute between Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Ḥagga in the case of a wealthy person who brings the offering of a poor person, the Gemara braises an objectionfrom a ibaraita /i: bA poor leper who brought the offering of a wealthy personhas bfulfilledhis obligation. By contrast, ba wealthyleper bwho brought the offering of a poor personhas bnot fulfilledhis obligation. This is apparently ba conclusive refutation ofthe opinion bthat Rabbi Ḥaggasays that bRabbi Oshaya says. /b,The Gemara explains that Rabbi Ḥagga could have bsaid to you:The ihalakha bis different with regard toa wealthy bleper, as the Merciful One excludedthe possibility of a wealthy person bringing the offering of a poor person in the verse: b“Thisshall be the law of the leper” (Leviticus 14:2). The emphasis of “this” teaches that a leper fulfills his obligation only with the appropriate offering.,The Gemara objects: bIf so,that this ihalakhais derived from a verse, then bevenin the case of ba poor leper who brings the offering of a wealthy person as well,he should bnot fulfillhis obligation. The Gemara rejects that suggestion: This is bnot so,as bthe verse returnedto state: “This shall be bthe lawof the leper,” which includes a leper who brings an inappropriate offering. bAs it is taughtin a ibaraitathat the phrase b“the lawof the leper” serves bto include a poor leper who brought the offering of a wealthy person,that he bhas fulfilledhis obligation. One bmighthave thought that bevenin the case of ba wealthyleper bwho brought the offering of a poor person, hehas bfulfilledhis obligation. Therefore, bthe verse states: “Thisshall be the law.”,The Gemara raises a difficulty: bButwhy not bderivea principle bfrom thatverse that with regard to any sliding-scale offering, a wealthy person who brings a poor person’s offering has not fulfilled his obligation? The Gemara answers: With regard to a leper bthe verse states: “And if he is poor and cannot afford”(Leviticus 14:21). The emphasis of “he” teaches that bit isonly with regard to ba leper that a wealthy person who brought a poor person’s offeringhas bnot fulfilledhis obligation. bButin the case of bone who defiles the Temple,i.e., he entered the Temple while ritually impure, ba wealthy person who brought a poor person’s offeringhas bfulfilledhis obligation., strongMISHNA: /strong bRabbi Shimon says: Lambs precede goatsalmost beverywherein the Torah that they are both mentioned, as in the verse: “You shall take it from the lambs or from the goats” (Exodus 12:5). One bmighthave thought that it is bdue tothe fact bthatsheep bare more select thangoats. Therefore, bthe verse states:“And he shall bring for his offering a goat” (Leviticus 4:28), after which it is written: b“And if he bring a lamb as his offering for a sin offering”(Leviticus 4:32), which bteaches that both of them are equal. /b,Similarly, bdoves precede pigeonsalmost beverywherein the Torah, as in the verse: “And he shall bring his guilt offering…two doves, or two pigeons” (Leviticus 5:7). One bmighthave thought that it is bdue tothe fact bthatdoves bare more select thanpigeons. Therefore, bthe verse states: “And a pigeon or a dove for a sin offering”(Leviticus 12:6), with the usual order reversed, which bteaches that both of them are equal. /b,Likewise, mention of bthe father precedesthat of bthe motheralmost beverywherein the Torah, as in the verse: “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12). One bmighthave thought that it is bdue tothe fact bthat the honor of the father takes precedence over the honor of the mother.Therefore, bthe verse states: “Every man shall fear his mother and his father”(Leviticus 19:3), with the order reversed, which bteaches that both of them are equal. But the Sages said:Honor of bthe father takes precedence overhonor of bthe mother everywhere, due tothe fact bthatboth the son band his mother are obligated in the honor of his father. /b, bAnd likewise with regard to Torah study, if the son was privilegedto acquire most of his Torah knowledge from studying bbefore the teacher,honor of bthe teacher takes precedence overhonor of bthe father, due tothe fact bthatboth the son band his father are obligated in the honor of his teacher,as everyone is obligated in the honor of Torah scholars., strongGEMARA: /strong With regard to the mishna’s discussion of lambs and goats, bthe Sages taughtin a ibaraita /i: The Temple bcourtyard cried four cries. The first crywas: bRemove Ḥofni and Pineḥas the sons of Elithe priest bfrom here, as they have rendered the Sanctuaryin Shiloh bimpure(see I Samuel 4:13–22)., bThe second crywas: bOpenthe bgates, and let Yoḥa ben Nedavai, the student of Pinkai, enter and fill his belly withmeat of bofferingsconsecrated to bHeaven,as he is worthy to eat offerings. bThey said about ben Nedavai that he would eat four ise’aof doves /b |
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23. Babylonian Talmud, Pesahim, None (3rd cent. CE - 6th cent. CE)
| 57a. נימא תלתא תנאי הוו לא תרי תנאי הוו ותנא קמא דר' שמעון היינו ר' יוסי ותנא קמא דר' יוסי היינו ר' שמעון ומאי אף אקמייתא,ת"ר בן בוהיין נתן פיאה לירק ובא אביו ומצאן לעניים שהיו טעונין ירק ועומדין על פתח הגינה אמר להם בני השליכו מעליכם ואני נותן לכם כפליים במעושר לא מפני שעיני צרה אלא מפני שאמרו חכמים אין נותנין פיאה לירק,למה ליה למימרא להו לא מפני שעיני צרה כי היכי דלא לימרו דחויי קא מדחי לן,ת"ר בראשונה היו מניחין עורות קדשים בלשכת בית הפרוה לערב היו מחלקין אותן לאנשי בית אב והיו בעלי זרועות נוטלין אותן בזרוע התקינו שיהיו מחלקין אותן מערב שבת לע"ש דאתיין כולהו משמרות ושקלן בהדדי,ועדיין היו גדולי כהונה נוטלין אותן בזרוע עמדו בעלים והקדישום לשמים,אמרו לא היו ימים מועטים עד שחיפו את ההיכל כולו בטבלאות של זהב שהן אמה על אמה כעובי דינר זהב ולרגל היו מקפלין אותן ומניחין אותן על גב מעלה בהר הבית כדי שיהו עולי רגלים רואין שמלאכתם נאה ואין בה דלם,תנא אבא שאול אומר קורות של שקמה היו ביריחו והיו בעלי זרועות נוטלין אותן בזרוע עמדו בעלים והקדישום לשמים,עליהם ועל כיוצא בהם אמר אבא שאול בן בטנית משום אבא יוסף בן חנין אוי לי מבית בייתוס אוי לי מאלתן אוי לי מבית חנין אוי לי מלחישתן אוי לי מבית קתרוס אוי לי מקולמוסן אוי לי מבית ישמעאל בן פיאכי אוי לי מאגרופן שהם כהנים גדולים ובניהן גיזברין וחתניהם אמרכלין ועבדיהן חובטין את העם במקלות,תנו רבנן ארבע צווחות צוחה עזרה ראשונה צאו מכאן בני עלי שטימאו היכל ה' ועוד צווחה צא מיכן יששכר איש כפר ברקאי שמכבד את עצמו ומחלל קדשי שמים דהוה כריך ידיה בשיראי ועביד עבודה,ועוד צווחה העזרה שאו שערים ראשיכם ויכנס ישמעאל בן פיאכי תלמידו של פנחס וישמש בכהונה גדולה ועוד צווחה העזרה שאו שערים ראשיכם ויכנס יוחנן בן נרבאי תלמידו של פנקאי וימלא כריסו מקדשי שמים,אמרו עליו על יוחנן בן נרבאי שהיה אוכל ג' מאות עגלים ושותה ג' מאות גרבי יין ואוכל ארבעים סאה גוזלות בקינוח סעודה אמרו כל ימיו של יוחנן בן נרבאי לא נמצא נותר במקדש מאי סלקא ביה ביששכר איש כפר ברקאי אמרי מלכא ומלכתא הוו יתבי מלכא אמר גדיא יאי ומלכתא אמרה אימרא יאי אמרו מאן מוכח כהן גדול דקא מסיק קרבנות כל יומא אתא איהו | 57a. bLet us saythat bthere are three itanna’im /iwho dispute this point: The two unattributed opinions, each of which is referring to two vegetables, and the opinion common to Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon that includes all three vegetables. The Gemara rejects this: bNo, there areonly btwo itanna’im /iwho dispute the point, band the first itanna /iwhose opinion appears before the opinion of bRabbi Shimon is Rabbi Yosei. And the first itanna /iwhose opinion appears before the opinion of bRabbi Yosei is Rabbi Shimon. And whatis the meaning of the word bevenin both their statements? They agree with regard to bthe firstvegetable, turnips; however, they disagree with regard to the second, and replace it with another vegetable.,The Gemara cites an episode from the iTosefta /i. bThe Sages taught: The sonof a man named bBohayan designatedfor the poor btheproduce in the bcornerin a garden bof vegetables, and his fatherBohayan bfound the poor ladenwith bvegetables and standing at the opening of the gardenon their way out. bHe said to them: My sons, castthe vegetables that you have gathered bfrom upon yourselves and I will give you twicethe amount in btithedproduce, and you will be no worse off. bNot because I begrudgeyou what you have taken. bRather, it is because the Sages say: One does not designatefor the poor btheproduce in the bcornerin a garden bof vegetables.Therefore, the vegetables that you took require tithing.,The Gemara asks: bWhywas it necessary bfor him to say to them: Not because I begrudgeyou what you have taken? It would have been sufficient to offer them tithed produce. The Gemara answers that he said it bso they would not say: He is putting us off,taking what we collected now, but later he will not fulfill his commitment.,Apropos the people of Jericho, the Gemara relates that powerful people would steal wood from them. bThe Sages taught: Initially,the priests bwould place the hidesthat were flayed from animals bconsecratedas offerings of the most sacred order, which were given to the priests, bin the Parva chamber. In the evening, they would distribute them to the members of the familyof priests serving in the Temple that day. bAnd the powerfulpriests among them would btake them by forcebefore they could be distributed. The Rabbis bdecreed that they would distribute them each Shabbat eve,because then ball thefamilies of both priestly bwatches came and tooktheir part btogether.All the families from both the watch that was beginning its service and the one ending its service were together when they divided the hides. The powerful priests were unable to take the hides by force., bYet still the prominent priestsby virtue of their lineage bwould take them by force.Due to their prominence, the members of the rest of the watch dared not challenge them. When they realized that there was no equitable distribution, bthe ownersof the sacrifices ( iMe’iri /i) barose and consecratedthe hides bto Heavenso the priests could not take them.,The Sages bsaid: Not a few days passed before they had plated the entire sanctuary with golden tabletswith the proceeds from the redemption and sale of the hides. These plates bwere one cubit by one cubit and as thick as a golden dinar. Andwhen the people assembled bfor theFestival bpilgrimage they would removethe tablets band place them on a stair of the Temple Mount so that the pilgrims would see that the craftsmanshipof the tablets bwas beautiful and without flaw [ idalam /i].Afterward they replaced the tablets in the Sanctuary., bIt wassimilarly btaughtthat bAbba Shaul says: There were sycamore tree trunks in Jericho, and powerful people would take themfrom their owners bby force. The owners stood and consecratedthese trunks bto Heaven.It was with regard to these trunks and the branches that grew from them that the residents of Jericho acted against the will of the Sages., bWith regard tothe prominent priests band those like them, Abba Shaul ben Batnit said in the name of Abba Yosef ben Ḥanin: Woe is me due tothe High Priests of bthe house of Baitos, woe is me due to their clubs. Woe is me due tothe High Priests of bthe house of Ḥanin; woe is me due to their whispersand the rumors they spread. bWoe is me due tothe High Priests of bthe house of Katros; woe is me due to their pensthat they use to write lies. bWoe is me due tothe servants of the High Priests of bthe house of Yishmael ben Piakhi; woe is me due to their fists.The power of these households stemmed from the fact bthatthe fathers bwere High Priests, and their sons werethe Temple btreasurers, and their sons-in-law wereTemple boverseers [ iamarkalin /i]. And their servants strike the people with clubs,and otherwise act inappropriately.,Apropos the critique of several prominent priests, the Gemara relates that bthe Sages taught:The people in btheTemple bcourtyardall bcried four cries,as they were in agreement over various issues ( iPardes Rimonim /i). The bfirstcry was: bLeave here, sons of Eli, who defiled God’s Sanctuary(see I Samuel 2:22). Subsequently the priesthood was transferred to the house of Zadok. bAnd an additional cry: Leave here, Yissakhar of Kfar Barkai, who honors himself and desecratesthe items bconsecratedto bHeaven.Due to his delicate nature and his disrespect for the Temple service, he would bwraphis hands bin silk [ ishirai /i] and perform the service.This would invalidate the service because the silk was an interposition between his hands and the Temple vessels. Furthermore, his conduct demeaned the Temple service, as he demonstrated that he was unwilling to dirty his hands for it., bAndthe people in btheTemple bcourtyard cried additionally: Lift your heads, O gates, and letthe righteous bYishmael ben Piakhi, the student of Pinehasben Elazar the priest, benter and serve as High Priest,although the members of this family were violent. bAndthe people in btheTemple bcourtyard cried additionally: Lift your heads, O gates, and let Yoḥa ben Narbbai, the student of Pinkai, enter and fill his belly withmeat bof offeringsconsecrated to bHeaven,as he is worthy to eat offerings., bThey said about Yoḥa ben Narbbai that heand his household bwould eat three hundred calves, and drink three hundred jugs of wine, and eat forty ise’aof doves for dessert. They said:Throughout ball the days of Yoḥa ben Narbbai there was no leftoversacrificial meat bin the Temple,as he would make certain that someone ate it. The Gemara asks: bWhatultimately bhappened to Yissakhar of Kfar Barkai? They said: The king and the queen were sittingand talking. bThe king saidthat bgoatmeat bis betterfood, band the queen said lambmeat is bbetterfood. bThey said: Who can provewhich one of us is correct? bThe High Priestcan, bas he offers sacrifices all dayand tastes their meat. The High Priest had the right to take a portion from any sacrifice offered in the Temple, and therefore was well acquainted with the tastes of different meat. Yissakhar of Kfar Barkai bcame,and when they asked him this question |
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24. Babylonian Talmud, Yoma, None (3rd cent. CE - 6th cent. CE)
| 8b. שזה פרישתו לקדושה ואחיו הכהנים נוגעין בו וזה פרישתו לטהרה ואין אחיו הכהנים נוגעין בו כמאן או ר"מ או רבי יוסי דאי ר' חנינא סגן הכהנים הא איכא נמי הא,מתקיף לה רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא בשלמא ראשון שמא שלישי שני שמא שלישי שלישי שמא שלישי חמישי שמא שביעי ששי שמא שביעי שביעי שמא שביעי,אלא רביעי למה לי הזאה כלל לא בשלישי איכא לספוקי ולא בשביעי איכא לספוקי,ולטעמיך הזאה כל שבעה מי איכא והא קיימא לן דהזאה שבות ואינה דוחה את השבת אלא מאי אית לך למימר שבעה לבר משבת הכא נמי שבעה לבר מרביעי,אמר רבא הלכך כהן גדול ביום הכפורים דלא בדידן תליא מילתא אלא בקביעא דירחא תליא מילתא בתלתא בתשרי בעי לאפרושי וכל אימת דמתרמי תלתא בתשרי מפרשינן ליה אבל כהן השורף את הפרה דבדידן תליא מילתא מפרשינן ליה ברביעי בשבת כי היכי דניתרמי רביעי שלו בשבת,ללשכת פרהדרין וכו' תניא רבי יהודה וכי לשכת פרהדרין היתה והלא לשכת בלווטי היתה,אלא בתחלה היו קורין אותה לשכת בלווטי ומתוך שנותנין עליו ממון לכהונה ומחליפין אותה כל שנים עשר חודש כפרהדרין הללו שמחליפין אותם כל שנים עשר חודש לפיכך היו קוראין אותה לשכת פרהדרין,תנן התם הנחתומין לא חייבו אותן חכמים להפריש אלא תרומת מעשר וחלה,בשלמא תרומה גדולה לא דתניא | 8b. bthat the sequestering of thisHigh Priest prior to Yom Kippur is bforthe purpose of bsanctity,i.e., to ensure that he appreciates the gravity of the occasion and to fill him with reverence in preparation for entering the Holy of Holies. bHis brethren, the priests,may btouch him,as the objective of his sequestering is unrelated to any concern of impurity. In contrast, bthe sequestering of thatpriest who burns the heifer is bforthe purpose of bpurity, and his brethren, the priests,may bnot touch him. In accordance with whoseopinion is this ibaraita /i? It is in accordance with the opinion of beither Rabbi Meir or Rabbi Yosei. As, ifit were in accordance with the opinion of bRabbi Ḥanina, the deputyHigh bPriest, isn’t there also thisdifference between the two priests: One sprinkles purification waters on the priest who burns the heifer all seven days that he is sequestered, whereas one sprinkles purification waters on the High Priest before Yom Kippur only on the third and seventh days?,§ bRabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, strongly objects tothe opinion that one sprinkles purification waters on the priest who burns the heifer all seven days because those days may be the third or seventh day of his impurity. bGranted,on the bfirstday of the seven one sprinkles the water, as bperhapsit is bthe thirdday of his impurity; and on the bsecondday of the seven one sprinkles the water, as bperhapsit is bthe thirdday of his impurity, if he became impure the day before he was sequestered. The same is true for the bthirdday; one sprinkles the water, as bperhapsthat is bthe thirdday of his impurity. By the same token, on the bfifthday one sprinkles the water, as bperhapsthat is bthe seventhday of his impurity if he became impure two days before he was sequestered. On the bsixthday one sprinkles the water, as bperhapsthat is bthe seventhday of his impurity if he became impure the day before he was sequestered. On the bseventhday one sprinkles the water, as bperhapsthat is bthe seventhday of his impurity., bHowever,on the bfourthday after he was sequestered, bwhy do Irequire bsprinkling at all? Neither with regard tothe possibility that it may be the bthirdday of his impurity bis there uncertainty,since he has already been sequestered for three days, bnor with regard tothe possibility that it may be the bseventhday of his impurity bis there uncertainty,as even if it were, sprinkling would be useless because he did not have purification water sprinkled on him on the third day of his impurity. Nothing is accomplished by sprinkling the water on the priest on the fourth day.,The Gemara asks: bAndaccording bto your reasoning, is thereever bsprinklingon the priest ball sevendays? bDon’t we maintain that sprinkling isprohibited by brabbinic decreeissued to enhance the character of Shabbat as a day of rest, bandtherefore, sprinkling bdoes not override Shabbat. Rather, what have you to say?When it was instituted to sprinkle the water on the priest, it was for bsevendays bexcept for Shabbat. Here too,say that sprinkling is performed for bsevendays bexcept forthe bfourthday of sequestering., bRava said: Therefore,with regard to bthe High Priest on Yom Kippur,where bthe matterof the beginning of the seven-day period bis not dependent on us; rather, the matter is dependent on the determination of thefirst day of the new bmonth,for that reason it is brequired to removethe High Priest from his home bon the third of Tishrei, and whenever the third of Tishrei occurson a weekday, bwe remove himfrom his house. Therefore, both on the fourth day of his sequestering and on Shabbat, no sprinkling is performed. bHowever,with regard to the bpriest who burns the heifer,where bthe matterof the beginning of the seven-day period bis dependent on us, we remove himfrom his home bon the fourth day of the week,Wednesday, bso that the fourth day of hissequestering bwill occur on Shabbat.In that way, sprinkling will not be performed only one day of the seven, as the day on which sprinkling is prohibited will coincide with the day on which sprinkling is unnecessary.,§ Having discussed the obligation to sequester the High Priest prior to Yom Kippur, the Gemara interprets the next matter in the mishna: The High Priest is removed from his house bto the Chamber of iParhedrin /i. It was taughtin a ibaraitathat bRabbi Yehudasaid: bAnd was itcalled bthe Chamber of iParhedrin /i,the chamber for the annual royal appointees? bWasn’t itcalled bthe Chamber of iBalvatei /i,the chamber for ministers and council heads?, bRather, initially,during the era of Shimon HaTzaddik and his colleagues, who were rewarded with long lives due to their righteousness, bthey would call it the Chamber of iBalvatei /i,a term connoting significance, since it was a place designated for the High Priest. bHowever, becausepeople were bgiving moneyin order to be appointed bto theHigh bPriesthood,the position was filled by unworthy individuals. Due to their wickedness, they did not survive the year, and they were breplaced every twelve months like the iparhedrinwho are replaced every twelve months. Therefore, the chamber was calleddisparagingly the Chamber of iParhedrin /i.Since the High Priest was replaced every year, the new appointee would renovate the chamber to reflect his own more elaborate tastes.,Apropos the iParhedrinchamber, the Gemara discusses a related ihalakha /i. bWe learnedin a mishna btherein tractate iDemai /i: With regard to doubtfully tithed produce, i.e., produce purchased from an iam ha’aretzwith regard to whom there is uncertainty whether or not he tithed the produce, bthe Sages required bakers to separate only iterumaof the tithe,which is one one-hundredth of the produce that is given to the priests, and iḥalla /i,separated from the dough and given to priests.,The Gemara asks: bGranted, iteruma gedola /i,which is equal to approximately one-fiftieth of the produce and is given to a priest, need bnotbe separated from doubtfully-tithed produce, bas it was taughtin a ibaraita /i: |
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