THE BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES OF PHILO

TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD LATIN VERSION
BY

M. R. JAMES, LITT.D., F.B.A.

CHAPTER VI.

VI. 2 Then
all they that had been divided and dwelt upon the earth gathered together there
after, and dwelt together; and they set forth from the East and found a plain
in the land of Babylon: and there they dwelt, and they said every man to his
neighbour: Behold, it will come to pass that we shall be scattered every
man. from his brother, and in the latter days we shall be fighting one against
another. Now, therefore, come and let us build for ourselves a tower, the head
whereof shall reach unto heaven, and we shall make us a name and a renown upon
the earth.Gen. 11:2

2. And they said everyone to his neighbour: Let us take bricks (lit.
stones), and let us, each one, write our names upon the bricks and burn them
with fire: and that which is thoroughly burned shall be for mortar and brick.
(Perhaps, that which is not thoroughly burned shall be for mortar, and
that which is, for brick.)

3. 1
And they took every man their bricks, saving 12 men, which would not take them,
and these are their names: Abraham, Nachor, Loth, Ruge, Tenute, Zaba, Armodath,
Iobab, Esar, Abimahel, Saba, Auphin.

4. And the people of the land laid hands on them and brought them before
their princes and said: These are the men that have transgressed our counsels
and will not walk in our ways. And the princes said unto them: Wherefore would
ye not set every man your bricks with the people of the land? And they answered
and said: We will not set bricks with you, neither will we be joined with your
desire. One Lord know we, and him do we worship. And if ye should cast us into
the fire with your bricks, we will not consent to you.

5. And the princes were wroth and said: As they have said, so do unto them,
and if they consent not to set bricks with you, ye shall burn them with fire
together with your bricks.

6. Then answered Jectan which was the first prince of the captains: Not so,
but there shall be given them a space of 7 days. And it shall be, if they repent
of their evil counsels, and will set bricks along with us, they shall live;
but if not, let them be burned according to your word. But he sought how he
might save them out of the hands of the people; for he was of their tribe, and
he served God.

7. And when he had thus said he took them and shut them up in the king’s
house: and when it was evening the prince commanded 50 mighty men of valour
to be called unto him, and said unto them: Go forth and take to-night these
men that are shut up in mine house, and put provision for them from my house
upon 10 beasts, and the men bring ye to me, and their provision together with
the beasts take ye to the mountains and wait for them there: and know this,
that if any man shall know what I have said unto you, I will burn you with fire.

8. And the men set forth and did all that their prince commanded them, and
took the men from his house by night; and took provision and put it upon beasts
and took them to the hill country as he commanded them.

9. And the prince called unto him those 12 men and said to them: Be of good
courage and fear not, for ye shall not die. For God in whom ye trust is mighty,
and therefore be ye stablished in him, for he will deliver you and save you.
And now lo, I have commanded So men to take [you with] provision from my house,
and go before you into the hill country
1 and wait for you in the valley:
and I will give you other 50 men which shall guide you thither: go ye therefore
and hide yourselves there in the valley, having water to drink that floweth
down from the rocks: hold yourselves there for 30 days, until the anger
of the people of the land be appeased and until God send his wrath upon them
and break them. For I know that the counsel of iniquity which they have agreed
to perform shall not stand, for their thought is vain. And it shall be when
7 days are expired and they shall seek for you, I will say unto them: They have
gone forth and have broken the door of the prison wherein they were shut up
and have fled by night, and I have sent 100 men to seek them. So will I turn
them from their madness that is upon them.

10. And there answered him 11 of the men saying: Thy servants have found
favour in thy sight, in that we are set free out of the hands of these proud
men.

11. But Abram only kept silence, and the prince said unto him: Wherefore
answerest thou not me, Abram, servant of God? Abram answered and said: Lo, I
flee away to-day into the hill country, and if I escape the fire, wild beasts
will come out of the mountains and devour us. Or our victuals will fail and
we shall die of hunger; and we shall be found fleeing from the people of the
land and shall fall in our sins. And now, as he liveth in whom I trust, I will
not remove from my place wherein they have put me: and if there be any sin of
mine so that I be indeed burned, the will of God be done. And the prince said
unto him: Thy blood be upon thy head, if thou refuse to go forth with these.
But if thou consent, thou shall be delivered. Yet if thou wilt abide, abide
as thou art. And Abram said: I will not go forth, but I will abide here.

12. And the prince took those 11 men and sent other 50 with them, and commanded
them saying: Wait, ye also, in the hill country for 15 days with those 50 which
were sent before you; and after that ye shall return and say We have not found
them, as I said to the former ones. And know that if any man transgress one
of all these words that I have spoken unto you, he shall be burned with fire.
So the men went forth, and he took Abram by himself and shut him up where he
had been shut up aforetime.

13. And after 7 days were passed, the people were gathered together and spake
unto their prince saying: Restore us the men which would not consent unto us,
that we may burn them with fire. And they sent captains to bring them, and they
found them not, save Abram only. And they gathered all of them to their prince
saying: The men whom ye shut up are fled and have escaped that which we counselled.

14. And Phenech and Nemroth said unto Jectan: Where are the men whom thou
didst shut up? But he said: They have broken prison and fled by night: but I
have sent 100 men to seek them, and commanded them if they find them that they
should not only burn them with fire but give their bodies to the fowls of the
heaven and so destroy them.

15. Then said they: This fellow which is found alone, let us burn
him. And they took Abram and brought him before their princes and said to him:
Where are they that were with thee? And he said: Verily at night I slept, and
when I awaked I found them not.

16. And they took him and built a furnace and kindled it with fire, and put
bricks burned with fire into the furnace. Then Jectan the prince being amazed
(lit. melted) in his mind took Abram and put him with the bricks into
the furnace of fire.

17. But God stirred up a great earthquake, and the fire gushed forth of the
furnace and brake out into flames and sparks of fire and consumed all them that
stood round about in sight of the furnace; and all they that were burned in
that day were 83,500. But upon Abram was there not any the least hurt by the
burning of the fire. Dan. 3:22

18. And Abram arose out of the furnace, and the fiery furnace fell down,
and Abram was saved. And he went unto the 11 men that were hid in the hill country
and told them all that had befallen him, and they came down with him out of
the hill country rejoicing in the name of the Lord, and no man met them to affright
them that day. And they called that place by the name of Abram, and in the tongue
of the Chaldeans Deli, which is being interpreted, God.Dan.
3:27

Footnotes

89:2 VI. This particular legend
of the rescue of Abram from the fire is peculiar to Philo. Most of the
stories make Nimrod the principal actor. Various forms may be seen in Beer’s
Leben Abrahams or Baring-Gould’s Legends of O. T. Characters.
90:1 3. Several of the names here
are those of the sons of Jectan in IV. 10. Auphin is probably for Ophir.
92:1 9. and go before you,
etc., et praecedite uos in montana et sustinete uos in ualle. Some such change
as I have made in the translation appears necessary.