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While Josephus was making this exhortation to the Jews, many of them
jested upon him from the wall, and many reproached him; nay, some threw
their darts at him: but when he could not himself persuade them by such
open good advice, he betook himself to the histories belonging to their
own nation, and cried out aloud, "O miserable creatures! are you so
unmindful of those that used to assist you, that you will fight by your
weapons and by your hands against the Romans? When did we ever conquer
any other nation by such means? and when was it that God, who is the Creator
of the Jewish people, did not avenge them when they had been injured? Will
not you turn again, and look back, and consider whence it is that you fight
with such violence, and how great a Supporter you have profanely abused?
Will not you recall to mind the prodigious things done for your forefathers
and this holy place, and how great enemies of yours were by him subdued
under you? I even tremble myself in declaring the works of God before your
ears, that are unworthy to hear them; however, hearken to me, that you
may be informed how you fight not only against the Romans, but against
God himself. In old times there was one Necao, king of Egypt, who was also
called Pharaoh; he came with a prodigious army of soldiers, and seized
queen Sarah, the mother of our nation. What did Abraham our progenitor
then do? Did he defend himself from this injurious person by war, although
he had three hundred and eighteen captains under him, and an immense army
under each of them? Indeed he deemed them to be no number at all without
God's assistance, and only spread out his hands towards this holy place,
1 which you
have now polluted, and reckoned upon him as upon his invincible supporter,
instead of his own army. Was not our queen sent back, without any defilement,
to her husband, the very next evening? - while the king of Egypt fled away,
adoring this place which you have defiled by shedding thereon the blood
of your own countrymen; and he also trembled at those visions which he
saw in the night season, and bestowed both silver and gold on the Hebrews,
as on a people beloved by God. Shall I say nothing, or shall I mention
the removal of our fathers into Egypt, who,
2
when they were used tyrannically, and were fallen under the power of foreign
kings for four hundred ears together, and might have defended themselves
by war and by fighting, did yet do nothing but commit themselves to God!
Who is there that does not know that Egypt was overrun with all sorts of
wild beasts, and consumed by all sorts of distempers? how their land did
not bring forth its fruit? how the Nile failed of water? how the ten plagues
of Egypt followed one upon another? and how by those means our fathers
were sent away under a guard, without any bloodshed, and without running
any dangers, because God conducted them as his peculiar servants? Moreover,
did not Palestine groan under the ravage the Assyrians made, when they
carried away our sacred ark? as did their idol Dagon, and as also did that
entire nation of those that carried it away, how they were smitten with
a loathsome distemper in the secret parts of their bodies, when their very
bowels came down together with what they had eaten, till those hands that
stole it away were obliged to bring it back again, and that with the sound
of cymbals and timbrels, and other oblations, in order to appease the anger
of God for their violation of his holy ark. It was God who then became
our General, and accomplished these great things for our fathers, and this
because they did not meddle with war and fighting, but committed it to
him to judge about their affairs. When Sennacherib, king of Assyria, brought
along with him all Asia, and encompassed this city round with his army,
did he fall by the hands of men? were not those hands lifted up to God
in prayers, without meddling with their arms, when an angel of God destroyed
that prodigious army in one night? when the Assyrian king, as he rose the
next day, found a hundred fourscore and five thousand dead bodies, and
when he, with the remainder of his army, fled away from the Hebrews, though
they were unarmed, and did not pursue them. You are also acquainted with
the slavery we were under at Babylon, where the people were captives for
seventy years; yet were they not delivered into freedom again before God
made Cyrus his gracious instrument in bringing it about; accordingly they
were set free by him, and did again restore the worship of their Deliverer
at his temple. And, to speak in general, we can produce no example wherein
our fathers got any success by war, or failed of success when without war
they committed themselves to God. When they staid at home, they conquered,
as pleased their Judge; but when they went out to fight, they were always
disappointed: for example, when the king of Babylon besieged this very
city, and our king Zedekiah fought against him, contrary to what predictions
were made to him by Jeremiah the prophet, he was at once taken prisoner,
and saw the city and the temple demolished. Yet how much greater was the
moderation of that king, than is that of your present governors, and that
of the people then under him, than is that of you at this time! for when
Jeremiah cried out aloud, how very angry God was at them, because of their
transgressions, and told them they should be taken prisoners, unless they
would surrender up their city, neither did the king nor the people put
him to death; but for you, (to pass over what you have done within the
city, which I am not able to describe as your wickedness deserves,) you
abuse me, and throw darts at me, who only exhort you to save yourselves,
as being provoked when you are put in mind of your sins, and cannot bear
the very mention of those crimes which you every day perpetrate. For another
example, when Antiochus, who was called Epiphanes, lay before this city,
and had been guilty of many indignities against God, and our forefathers
met him in arms, they then were slain in the battle, this city was plundered
by our enemies, and our sanctuary made desolate for three years and six
months. And what need I bring any more examples? Indeed what can it be
that hath stirred up an army of the Romans against our nation? Is it not
the impiety of the inhabitants? Whence did our servitude commence? Was
it not derived from the seditions that were among our forefathers, when
the madness of Aristobulus and Hyrcanus, and our mutual quarrels, brought
Pompey upon this city, and when God reduced those under subjection to the
Romans who were unworthy of the liberty they had enjoyed? After a siege,
therefore, of three months, they were forced to surrender themselves, although
they had not been guilty of such offenses, with regard to our sanctuary
and our laws, as you have; and this while they had much greater advantages
to go to war than you have. Do not we know what end Antigonus, the son
of Aristobulus, came to, under whose reign God provided that this city
should be taken again upon account of the people's offenses? When Herod,
the son of Antipater, brought upon us Sosius, and Sosius brought upon us
the Roman army, they were then encompassed and besieged for six months,
till, as a punishment for their sins, they were taken, and the city was
plundered by the enemy. Thus it appears that arms were never given to our
nation, but that we are always given up to be fought against, and to be
taken; for I suppose that such as inhabit this holy place ought to commit
the disposal of all things to God, and then only to disregard the assistance
of men when they resign themselves up to their Arbitrator, who is above.
As for you, what have you done of those things that are recommended by
our legislator? and what have you not done of those things that he hath
condemned? How much more impious are you than those who were so quickly
taken! You have not avoided so much as those sins that are usually done
in secret; I mean thefts, and treacherous plots against men, and adulteries.
You are quarrelling about rapines and murders, and invent strange ways
of wickedness. Nay, the temple itself is become the receptacle of all,
and this Divine place is polluted by the hands of those of our own country;
which place hath yet been reverenced by the Romans when it was at a distance
from them, when they have suffered many of their own customs to give place
to our law. And, after all this, do you expect Him whom you have so impiously
abused to be your supporter? To be sure then you have a right to be petitioners,
and to call upon Him to assist you, so pure are your hands! Did your king
[Hezekiah] lift up such hands in prayer to God against the king of Assyria,
when he destroyed that great army in one night? And do the Romans commit
such wickedness as did the king of Assyria, that you may have reason to
hope for the like vengeance upon them? Did not that king accept of money
from our king on this condition, that he should not destroy the city, and
yet, contrary to the oath he had taken, he came down to burn the temple?
while the Romans do demand no more than that accustomed tribute which our
fathers paid to their fathers; and if they may but once obtain that, they
neither aim to destroy this city, nor to touch this sanctuary; nay, they
will grant you besides, that your posterity shall be free, and your possessions
secured to you, and will preserve our holy laws inviolate to you. And it
is plain madness to expect that God should appear as well disposed towards
the wicked as towards the righteous, since he knows when it is proper to
punish men for their sins immediately; accordingly he brake the power of
the Assyrians the very first night that they pitched their camp. Wherefore,
had he judged that our nation was worthy of freedom, or the Romans of punishment,
he had immediately inflicted punishment upon those Romans, as he did upon
the Assyrians, when Pompey began to meddle with our nation, or when after
him Sosius came up against us, or when Vespasian laid waste Galilee, or,
lastly, when Titus came first of all near to this city; although Magnus
and Sosius did not only suffer nothing, but took the city by force; as
did Vespasian go from the war he made against you to receive the empire;
and as for Titus, those springs that were formerly almost dried up when
they were under your power
3
since he is come, run more plentifully than they did before; accordingly,
you know that Siloam, as well as all the other springs that were without
the city, did so far fail, that water was sold by distinct measures; whereas
they now have such a great quantity of water for your enemies, as is sufficient
not only for drink both for themselves and their cattle, but for watering
their gardens also. The same wonderful sign you had also experience of
formerly, when the forementioned king of Babylon made war against us, and
when he took the city, and burnt the temple; while yet I believe the Jews
of that age were not so impious as you are. Wherefore I cannot but suppose
that God is fled out of his sanctuary, and stands on the side of those
against whom you fight. Now even a man, if he be but a good man, will fly
from an impure house, and will hate those that are in it; and do you persuade
yourselves that God will abide with you in your iniquities, who sees all
secret things, and hears what is kept most private? Now what crime is there,
I pray you, that is so much as kept secret among you, or is concealed by
you? nay, what is there that is not open to your very enemies? for you
show your transgressions after a pompous manner, and contend one with another
which of you shall be more wicked than another; and you make a public demonstration
of your injustice, as if it were virtue. However, there is a place left
for your preservation, if you be willing to accept of it; and God is easily
reconciled to those that confess their faults, and repent of them. O hard-hearted
wretches as you are! cast away all your arms, and take pity of your country
already going to ruin; return from your wicked ways, and have regard to
the excellency of that city which you are going to betray, to that excellent
temple with the donations of so many countries in it. Who could bear to
be the first that should set that temple on fire? who could be willing
that these things should be no more? and what is there that can better
deserve to be preserved? O insensible creatures, and more stupid than are
the stones themselves! And if you cannot look at these things with discerning
eyes, yet, however, have pity upon your families, and set before every
one of your eyes your children, and wives, and parents, who will be gradually
consumed either by famine or by war. I am sensible that this danger will
extend to my mother, and wife, and to that family of mine who have been
by no means ignoble, and indeed to one that hath been very eminent in old
time; and perhaps you may imagine that it is on their account only that
I give you this advice; if that be all, kill them; nay, take my own blood
as a reward, if it may but procure your preservation; for I am ready to
die, in case you will but return to a sound mind after my death."