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they have dedicated, bearing it in their soul, having suspended their whole life upon it and having deemed it right to attend to it alone, and to nothing else 7.4.6 of the things that are seen. Thus then, having appeared at once lovers of God and beloved by God, they were shown to be certain true worshippers and priests of the Most High, or rather were deemed worthy to be called a "chosen race" and a "royal priesthood" of God and a "holy nation," having left behind the seed of this true piety also for their 7.4.7 descendants. Does it therefore seem to you that we have preferred these men to the Greeks with reason, and more than the Phoenician and Egyptian gods and the impious absurdities concerning the gods, and have accepted the narratives among the Hebrews concerning pious men?

7.5.1 5. HOW, HAVING BECOME LOVERS OF GOD, THEY WERE DEEMED WORTHY OF THE RECORDED THEOPHANIES

AND ORACLES Observe, then, further to what a degree of God-loving virtue they say that the men mentioned advanced. The divine, having approved the men for the rest of their pious and philosophical life and for their worship of it, now deemed them worthy also of more divine oracles and theophanies and angelic visions, correcting what was lacking in their mortal nature with instructions for their actions, and revealing to them the knowledge of god-befitting doctrines and teachings, so that their minds were no longer enlightened by reasonings or by conjectures, but by the radiance of truth itself, so that, now being inspired, they could survey the comprehension of future events as if they were present, and prophesy the things that would universally happen to the 7.5.2 human race. Such much-praised and truly God-beloved things do the oracles concerning the virtue of the Hebrews contain, which we have preferred to the Greek and ancestral myths and trifles; for the ones contained the most shameful things about gods, while the others contained pious teachings about God-loving men.

7.6.1 6. HOW THEY WERE OUTSIDE OF JUDAISM BEFORE MOSES WAS BORN, HAVING SHONE FORTH IN PIETY

But these things were known long ago, before either Moses or the Jewish race had come into being, for a yet long age among the forefathers of the Jews. For indeed it is good to articulate this also, that Judaism did not yet exist then, but the men mentioned were Hebrews both in name and in manner of life, 7.6.2 but they were not yet Jews nor were they so called. And you may understand the difference between Hebrews and Jews thus: as for the name, the one group took it from Judah, from whose tribe the kingdom of the Jews was established long afterwards, while the other was named after Eber—and he was the forefather of Abraham—7.6.3 and the sacred scriptures teach that the Hebrews came before the Jews; and as for the manner of piety, that Moses was the first to begin the legislation for the Jews, having delivered a certain day of the sabbath and the greatest possible observance of it in remembrance of leisure for the sacred words, and a distinction between animals that may be eaten and not eaten, and annual festivals and certain purifications of bodies and another long 7.6.4 series performed more divinely according to certain symbols. But the Hebrews, being older than Moses in time, being unacquainted with any of the legislation through Moses, practiced a free and unrestricted manner of piety, being adorned by a life according to nature, so that of laws

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ψυχῇ φέροντες ἀνατεθείκασι, τὸν πάντα αὐτῶν βίον ἐπ' αὐτὸν ἀναρτησάμενοι καὶ μόνῳ προσέχειν, ἄλλῳ δὲ 7.4.6 μηδενὶ τῶν ὁρωμένων ἀξιώσαντες. οὕτω δὴ φιλόθεοι ὁμοῦ καὶ θεοφιλεῖς ἀναφανέντες θεραπευταί τινες ὄντως καὶ ἱερεῖς τοῦ ὑψίστου ἀπεφάνθησαν ἢ καὶ «γένος ἐκλεκτὸν» καὶ «βασιλικὸν ἱεράτευμά» τε θεοῦ καὶ «ἔθνος ἅγιον» προσαγορευθῆναι ἠξιώθησαν, σπέρμα τῆς ἀληθοῦς ταύτης εὐσεβείας καὶ τοῖς 7.4.7 ὀψιγόνοις αὐτῶν ἀπολελοιπότες. ἆρ' οὖν λογισμῷ σοι δοκοῦμεν τούσδε τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν προτετιμηκέναι καὶ μᾶλλον τῶν Φοινίκων τε καὶ Αἰγυπτίων θεῶν τῶν τε περὶ τοὺς θεοὺς δυσφήμων ἀτοπημάτων τὰς παρ' Ἑβραίοις περὶ εὐσεβῶν ἀνδρῶν διηγήσεις ἀποδέξασθαι;

7.5.1 εʹ. ΟΠΩΣ ΦΙΛΟΘΕΟΙ ΓΕΓΟΝΟΤΕΣ ΤΩΝ ΑΝΑΓΡΑΠΤΩΝ ΘΕΟΦΑΝΕΙΩΝ

ΚΑΙ ΧΡΗΣΜΩΝ ΗΞΙΩΘΗΣΑΝ Θέα δ' οὖν ἔτι εἰς ὅσον θεοφιλοῦς ἀρετῆς προελθεῖν φασι τοὺς δηλουμένους. ἀποδεξάμενον τὸ θεῖον τῆς τε ἄλλης τοῦ βίου εὐσεβείας καὶ φιλοσοφίας τῆς τε περὶ αὐτὸ θεραπείας τοὺς ἄνδρας ἤδη καὶ θειοτέρων χρησμῶν θεοφανειῶν τε αὐτοὺς καὶ ἀγγελικῶν ὀπτασιῶν ἠξίου, τὰ ἐνδέοντα τῇ θνητῇ φύσει ταῖς τῶν πρακτέων ὑποθήκαις ἐπιδιορθούμενον δογμάτων τε καὶ μαθημάτων αὐτοῖς θεοπρεπῶν τὴν γνῶσιν ἀποκαλύπτον, ὡς μηκέτι συλλογισμοῖς μηδὲ εἰκασίαις, ἐκλάμψει δὲ αὐτῆς ἀληθείας φωτίζεσθαι τὰς διανοίας αὐτῶν, ὥστε ἤδη θεοφορουμένους τὴν τῶν μελλόντων ἔσεσθαι ὡς παρόντων ἐπιθεωρεῖν κατάληψιν καὶ τὰ καθόλου συμβησόμενα τῷ τῶν 7.5.2 ἀνθρώπων γένει θεσπίζειν. τοιαῦτα τῆς Ἑβραίων ἀρετῆς τὰ πολυύμνητα καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς θεοφιλῆ περιέχει λόγια, ἃ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν καὶ πατρίων μύθων τε καὶ λήρων προτετιμήκαμεν· οἱ μέν γε περὶ θεῶν τὰ αἰσχρότατα περιεῖχον, οἱ δὲ περὶ θεοφιλῶν ἀνδρῶν τὰς εὐσεβεῖς διδασκαλίας.

7.6.1 ʹ. ΩΣ ΕΚΤΟΣ ΗΣΑΝ ΙΟΥ∆ΑΪΣΜΟΥ ΠΡΟΣΘΕΝ Η ΜΩΣΕΑ ΓΕΝΕΣΘΑΙ ΕΠ' ΕΥΣΕΒΕΙΑΙ ∆ΙΑΛΑΜΨΑΝΤΕΣ

Ταῦτα δὲ πάλαι πρότερον πρὶν ἢ καὶ Μωσέα καὶ τὸ Ἰουδαίων γένος ὑποστῆναι ἐξ ἔτι μακροῦ αἰῶνος παρὰ τοῖς Ἰουδαίων προπάτορσιν ἐγνωρίζετο. καὶ γὰρ οὖν καὶ τοῦτο διαρθρῶσαι καλόν, ὡς ὁ Ἰουδαϊσμὸς οὐκ ἦν πω τότε, ἀλλ' Ἑβραῖοι μὲν οἱ δηλούμενοι ὁμοῦ τῇ προσηγορίᾳ καὶ τὸν τρόπον ὑπῆρχον, 7.6.2 Ἰουδαῖοι δὲ οὔτ' ἦσάν πω οὔτ' ἐχρημάτιζον. Ἑβραίων δὲ καὶ Ἰουδαίωντὸ διάφορον γνοίης ἂν ὧδε· τὴν μὲν προσηγορίαν οἱ μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰούδα, ἐξ οὗ τῆς φυλῆς τὸ Ἰουδαίων μακροῖς ὕστερον χρόνοις βασίλειον συνέστη, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἕβερ προπάτωρ δὲ τοῦ Ἁβραὰμ οὗτος ἦν ἐπεγράφοντο 7.6.3 προτερεῖν τε Ἰουδαίων Ἑβραίους διδάσκουσιν οἱ ἱεροὶ λόγοι· τὸν δὲ τῆς εὐσεβείας τρόπον, Ἰουδαίοις μὲν πρῶτον ἀπάρξασθαι τῆς νομοθεσίας Μωσέα, σαββάτου τινὸς παραδόντα ἡμέραν καὶ ταύτης πλείστην ὅσην φυλακὴν εἰς ὑπόμνησιν σχολῆς τῶν ἱερῶν λόγων βρωτέων τε καὶ οὐ βρωτέων ζῴων διαστολὴν ἑορτάς τε ἐτησίους καί τινας σωμάτων καθαρμοὺς ἄλλης τε μα7.6.4 κρᾶς περιόδου κατά τινα σύμβολα θειότερον ἐπιτελουμένας. Ἑβραῖοι δὲ πρεσβύτεροι Μωσέως γενόμενοι τοῖς χρόνοις, πάσης τῆς διὰ Μωσέως νομοθεσίας ἀνεπήκοοι ὄντες, ἐλεύθερον καὶ ἀνειμένον εὐσεβείας κατώρθουν τρόπον, βίῳ μὲν τῷ κατὰ φύσιν κεκοσμημένοι, ὡς μηδὲν νόμων