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[177]
"O you Israelites and fellow soldiers, who have been partners
with me in this long and uneasy journey; since it is now the will of God,
and the course of old age, at a hundred and twenty, requires it that I
should depart out of this life; and since God has forbidden me to be a
patron or an assistant to you in what remains to be done beyond Jordan;
I thought it reasonable not to leave off my endeavors even now for your
happiness, but to do my utmost to procure for you the eternal enjoyment
of good things, and a memorial for myself, when you shall be in the fruition
of great plenty and prosperity. Come, therefore, let me suggest to you
by what means you may he happy, and may leave an eternal prosperous possession
thereof to your children after you, and then let me thus go out of the
world; and I cannot but deserve to be believed by you, both on account
of the great things I have already done for you, and because, when souls
are about to leave the body, they speak with the sincerest freedom. O children
of Israel! there is but one source of happiness for all mankind, the favor
of God 1
for he alone is able to give good things to those that deserve them, and
to deprive those of them that sin against him; towards whom, if you behave
yourselves according to his will, and according to what I, who well understand
his mind, do exhort you to, you will both be esteemed blessed, and
will be admired by all men; and will never come into misfortunes, nor cease
to be happy: you will then preserve the possession of the good things you
already have, and will quickly obtain those that you are at present in
want of, - only do you be obedient to those whom God would have you to
follow. Nor do you prefer any other constitution of government before the
laws now given you; neither do you disregard that way of Divine worship
which you now have, nor change it for any other form: and if you do this,
you will be the most courageous of all men, in undergoing the fatigues
of war, and will not be easily conquered by any of your enemies; for while
God is present with you to assist you, it is to be expected that you will
be able to despise the opposition of all mankind; and great rewards of
virtue are proposed for you, if you preserve that virtue through your whole
lives. Virtue itself is indeed the principal and the first reward, and
after that it bestows abundance of others; so that your exercise of virtue
towards other men will make your own lives happy, and render you more glorious
than foreigners can be, and procure you an undisputed reputation with posterity.
These blessings you will be able to obtain, in case you hearken to and
observe those laws which, by Divine revelation, I have ordained for you;
that is, in case you withal meditate upon the wisdom that is in them. I
am going from you myself, rejoicing in the good things you enjoy; and I
recommend you to the wise conduct of your law, to the becoming order of
your polity, and to the virtues of your commanders, who will take care
of what is for your advantage. And that God, who has been till now your
Leader, and by whose goodwill I have myself been useful to you, will not
put a period now to his providence over you, but as long as you desire
to have him your Protector in your pursuits after virtue, so long will
you enjoy his care over you. Your high priest also Eleazar, as well as
Joshua, with the senate, and chief of your tribes, will go before you,
and suggest the best advices to you; by following which advices you will
continue to be happy: to whom do you give ear without reluctance, as sensible
that all such as know well how to be governed, will also know how to govern,
if they be promoted to that authority themselves. And do not you esteem
liberty to consist in opposing such directions as your governors think
fit to give you for your practice, - as at present indeed you place your
liberty in nothing else but abusing your benefactors; which error if you
can avoid for the time to come, your affairs will be in a better condition
than they have hitherto been. Nor do you ever indulge such a degree of
passion in these matters, as you have oftentimes done when you have been
very angry at me; for you know that I have been oftener in danger of death
from you than from our enemies. What I now put you in mind of, is not done
in order to reproach you; for I do not think it proper, now I am going
out of the world, to bring this to your remembrance, in order to leave
you offended at me, since, at the time when I underwent those hardships
from you, I was not angry at you; but I do it in order to make you wiser
hereafter, and to teach you that this will be for your security; I mean,
that you never be injurious to those that preside over you, even when you
are become rich, as you will he to a great degree when you have passed
over Jordan, and are in possession of the land of Canaan. Since, when you
shall have once proceeded so far by your wealth, as to a contempt and disregard
of virtue, you will also forfeit the favor of God; and when you have made
him your enemy, you will be beaten in war, and will have the land which
you possess taken away again from you by your enemies, and this with great
reproaches upon your conduct. You will be scattered over the whole world,
and will, as slaves, entirely fill both sea and land; and when once you
have had the experience of what I now say, you will repent, and remember
the laws you have broken, when it is too late. Whence I would advise you,
if you intend to preserve these laws, to leave none of your enemies alive
when you have conquered them, but to look upon it as for your advantage
to destroy them all, lest, if you permit them to live, you taste of their
manners, and thereby corrupt your own proper institutions. I also do further
exhort you, to overthrow their altars, and their groves, and whatsoever
temples they have among them, and to burn all such, their nation, and their
very memory with fire; for by this means alone the safety of your own happy
constitution can be firmly secured to you. And in order to prevent your
ignorance of virtue, and the degeneracy of your nature into vice, I have
also ordained you laws, by Divine suggestion, and a form of government,
which are so good, that if you regularly observe them, you will be esteemed
of all men the most happy."
1 Josephus here, in this one sentence, sums up his notion of Moses's very long and very serious exhortations in the book of Deuteronomy; and his words are so true, and of such importance, that they deserve to be had in constant remembrance.
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