HOW THE KINGS OF ASIA HONORED THE NATION OF THE JEWS AND MADE THEM CITIZENS OF THOSE CITIES WHICH THEY BUILT. FJAJ 12.21
1. THE Jews also obtained honors from the kings of Asia when they became
their auxiliaries; for Seleucus Nicator made them citizens in those cities
which he built in Asia, and in the lower Syria, and in the metropolis itself,
Antioch; and gave them privileges equal to those of the Macedonians and
Greeks, who were the inhabitants, insomuch that these privileges continue
to this very day: an argument for which you have in this, that whereas
the Jews do not make use of oil prepared by foreigners, (11)
The use of oil was much greater, and the donatives of it much more valuable,
in Judea, and the neighboring countries, than it is amongst us. It was
also, in the days of Josephus, thought unlawful for Jews to make use of
any oil that was prepared by heathens, perhaps on account of some superstitions
intermixed with its preparation by those heathens. When therefore the heathens
were to make them a donative of oil,: they paid them money instead of it.
See Of the War, B. II. ch. 21. sect. 2; the Life of Josephus, sect. 13;
and Hudson's note on the place before us.
they receive a certain sum of money from the proper officers belonging
to their exercises as the value of that oil; which money, when the people
of Antioch would have deprived them of, in the last war, Mucianus, who
was then president of Syria, preserved it to them
And when the people
of Alexandria and of Antioch did after that, at the time that Vespasian
and Titus his son governed the habitable earth, pray that these privileges
of citizens might be taken away, they did not obtain their request
in
which behavior any one may discern the equity and generosity of the Romans,
(12)
This, and the like great and just characters, of the justice, and equity.
and generosity of the old Romans, both to the Jews and other conquered
nations, affords us a very good reason why Almighty God, upon the rejection
of the Jews for their wickedness, chose them for his people, and first
established Christianity in that empire; of which matter see Josephus here,
sect. 2; as also Antiq. B. XIV. ch. 10. sect. 22, 23; B. XVI. ch. 2. sect.
4.
especially of Vespasian and Titus, who, although they had been at a great
deal of pains in the war against the Jews, and were exasperated against
them, because they did not deliver up their weapons to them, but continued
the war to the very last, yet did not they take away any of their forementioned
privileges belonging to them as citizens, but restrained their anger, and
overcame the prayers of the Alexandrians and Antiochians, who were a very
powerful people, insomuch that they did not yield to them, neither out
of their favor to these people, nor out of their old grudge at those whose
wicked opposition they had subdued in the war; nor would they alter any
of the ancient favors granted to the Jews, but said, that those who had
borne arms against them, and fought them, had suffered punishment already,
and that it was not just to deprive those that had not offended of the
privileges they enjoyed. FJAJ 12.22
2. We also know that Marcus Agrippa was of the like disposition towards
the Jews: for when the people of Ionia were very angry at them, and besought
Agrippa that they, and they only, might have those privileges of citizens
which Antiochus, the grandson of Seleucus, (who by the Greeks was called
The God,) had bestowed on them, and desired that, if the Jews were
to be joint-partakers with them, they might be obliged to worship the gods
they themselves worshipped: but when these matters were brought to the
trial, the Jews prevailed, and obtained leave to make use of their own
customs, and this under the patronage of Nicolaus of Damascus; for Agrippa
gave sentence that he could not innovate
And if any one hath a mind to
know this matter accurately, let him peruse the hundred and twenty-third
and hundred and twenty-fourth books of the history of this Nicolaus
Now
as to this determination of Agrippa, it is not so much to be admired, for
at that time our nation had not made war against the Romans. FJAJ 12.23
:But one may
well be astonished at the generosity of Vespasian and Titus, that after
so great wars and contests which they had from us, they should use such
moderation
But I will now return to that part of my history whence I made
the present digression. FJAJ 12.24
3. Now it happened that in the reign of Antiochus the Great, who ruled
over all Asia, that the Jews, as well as the inhabitants of Celesyria,
suffered greatly, and their land was sorely harassed; for while he was
at war with Ptolemy Philopater, and with his son, who was called Epiphanes,
it fell out that these nations were equally sufferers, both when he was
beaten, and when he beat the others: so that they were very like to a ship
in a storm, which is tossed by the waves on both sides; and just thus were
they in their situation in the middle between Antiochus's prosperity and
its change to adversity
But at length, when Antiochus had beaten Ptolemy,
he seized upon Judea; and when Philopater was dead, his son sent out a
great army under Scopas, the general of his forces, against the inhabitants
of Celesyria, who took many of their cities, and in particular our nation;
which when he fell upon them, went over to him
Yet was it not long afterward
when Antiochus overcame Scopas, in a battle fought at the fountains of
Jordan, and destroyed a great part of his army
But afterward, when Antiochus
subdued those cities of Celesyria which Scopas had gotten into his possession,
and Samaria with them, the Jews, of their own accord, went over to him,
and received him into the city [Jerusalem], and gave plentiful provision
to all his army, and to his elephants, and readily assisted him when he
besieged the garrison which was in the citadel of Jerusalem
Wherefore
Antiochus thought it but just to requite the Jews' diligence and zeal in
his service
So he wrote to the generals of his armies, and to his friends,
and gave testimony to the good behavior of the Jews towards him, and informed
them what rewards he had resolved to bestow on them for that their behavior.
I will set down presently the epistles themselves which he wrote to the
generals concerning them, but will first produce the testimony of Polybius
of Megalopolis; for thus does he speak, in the sixteenth book of his history:
"Now Scopas, the general of Ptolemy's army, went in haste to the superior
parts of the country, and in the winter time overthrew the nation of the
Jews?' He also saith, in the same book, that "when Seopas was conquered
by Antiochus, Antiochus received Batanea, and Samaria, and Abila, and Gadara;
and that, a while afterwards, there came in to him those Jews that inhabited
near that temple which was called Jerusalem; concerning which, although
I have more to say, and particularly concerning the presence of God about
that temple, yet do I put off that history till another opportunity."
This it is which Polybius relates
But we will return to the series of
the history, when we have first produced the epistles of king Antiochus. FJAJ 12.25
KING ANTIOCHUS TO PTOLEMY, SENDETH GREETING. FJAJ 12.26
"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, 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
And, in the first place, we have determined, on
account of their piety towards God, to bestow on them, as a pension, for
their sacrifices of animals that are fit for sacrifice, for wine, and oil,
and frankincense, the value of twenty thousand pieces of silver, and [six]
sacred artabrae of fine flour, with one thousand four hundred and sixty
medimni of wheat, and three hundred and seventy-five medimni of salt
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; 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
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 Hyperheretus
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." FJAJ 12.27
4. And these were the contents of this epistle
He also published a
decree through all his kingdom in honor of the temple, which contained
what follows: "It shall be lawful for no foreigner to come within
the limits of the temple round about; which thing is forbidden also to
the Jews, unless to those who, according to their own custom, have purified
themselves
Nor let any flesh of horses, or of mules, or of asses, he brought
into the city, whether they be wild or tame; nor that of leopards, or foxes,
or hares; and, in general, that of any animal which is forbidden for the
Jews to eat
Nor let their skins be brought into it; nor let any such animal
be bred up in the city
Let them only be permitted to use the sacrifices
derived from their forefathers, with which they have been obliged to make
acceptable atonements to God
And he that transgresseth any of these orders,
let him pay to the priests three thousand drachmae of silver." Moreover,
this Antiochus bare testimony to our piety and fidelity, in an epistle
of his, written when he was informed of a sedition in Phrygia and Lydia,
at which time he was in the superior provinces, wherein he commanded Zenxis,
the general of his forces, and his most intimate friend, to send some of
our nation out of Babylon into Phrygia
The epistle was this: FJAJ 12.28
KING ANTIOCHUS TO ZEUXIS HIS FATHER, SENDETH GREETING. FJAJ 12.29
"If you are in health, it is well
I also am in health
Having
been informed that a sedition is arisen in Lydia and Phrygia, I thought
that matter required great care; and upon advising with my friends what
was fit to be done, it hath been thought proper to remove two thousand
families of Jews, with their effects, out of Mesopotamia and Babylon, unto
the castles and places that lie most convenient; for I am persuaded that
they will be well-disposed guardians of our possessions, because of their
piety towards God, and because I know that my predecessors have borne witness
to them, that they are faithful, and with alacrity do what they are desired
to do
I will, therefore, though it be a laborious work, that thou remove
these Jews, under a promise, that they shall be permitted to use their
own laws
And when thou shalt have brought them to the places forementioned,
thou shalt give everyone of their families a place for building their houses,
and a portion of the land for their husbandry, and for the plantation of
their vines; and thou shalt discharge them from paying taxes of the fruits
of the earth for ten years; and let them have a proper quantity of wheat
for the maintenance of their servants, until they receive bread corn out
of the earth; also let a sufficient share be given to such as minister
to them in the necessaries of life, that by enjoying the effects of our
humanity, they may show themselves the more willing and ready about our
affairs
Take care likewise of that nation, as far as thou art able, that
they may not have any disturbance given them by any one." Now these
testimonials which I have produced are sufficient to declare the friendship
that Antiochus the Great bare to the Jews. FJAJ 12.30