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leaving behind the prizes. That Isaac was one hundred years old when Jacob stole the blessings of Esau.
That in the times of Abraham and Isaac, the Egyptians record that men of great stature were born, those called Giants by the Greeks, who were also serpent-footed. And at that time they say the Kouretes were also born. who were descendants of the Idaeans, 1.62 who were said to be among the Greeks; and Heracles was one of the Idaean Dactyls. That the Chaldeans are descended from Shem, from whom came Abraham. That Joseph was sold by his brothers at the age of seventeen, in the fifth year after the death of Rachel, for eight pieces of gold. That in the 120th year of Jacob, Joseph began to rule the kingdom of Egypt, being thirty years old. and in the same year Isaac his father died, having lived 180 years; and he was buried by Jacob and Esau his sons. In the 38th year of Joseph the famine began; for the Nile did not rise in all the seven years of the famine, as Josephus testifies. And after two years Jacob went down into Egypt with 75 souls, being one hundred and thirty years old, and Joseph forty. And Jacob died at one hundred and forty-seven years of age, and is buried by Joseph in Hebron. And Gesem is Arabia near Egypt. For 70 years after the descent of Jacob into Egypt, Joseph died at one hundred and ten years of age. Therefore, after the death of Joseph, the Hebrews were enslaved to the Egyptians for 144 years. Therefore, the total years of the Hebrews' sojourn in Egypt were 215. And the sons of Joseph receive the blessing of the firstborn instead of Reuben because of their father's prudence, in that Reuben lay with his fa- 1.63 ther's concubine, but Joseph was not corrupted by the Egyptian woman. But also, though there were thirteen brothers, the land was divided into twelve parts because Levi tithed all the rest. That Joseph, being still quite young, was tending his father's sheep, and was loved by his father more than the others. For which reason his brothers, being jealous, spoke nothing peaceful to him. And they added to their hatred when they heard his dreams. For he said, "As we were binding sheaves in the field, I thought that my sheaf was raised up, and that yours turned and bowed down to it." When they heard this, and correctly judging that he would reign over them, they greatly intensified their hatred. And adding, he said, "I have dreamed again, and indeed I thought I saw the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowing down to me." But Jacob, mocking the vision, said, "Shall I, your father, and your mother, and your brothers come to bow down to you upon the earth?" And rebuking him, he advised him to be silent. Thus, then, the visions were a faint prefiguration of the truth; for this too is a form of prophecy, and the manifestation of the future through dreams has often been observed in many, in whom it comes about through a superior possession, as in Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar and many others. But it is worthwhile to know the differences between prophecies. For one is spiritual and entirely true, like that of God and of the saints, 1.64 bringing the fulfillment of the things prophesied in its own time. Another is demonic, operating in the ministers of demons; and this is of many kinds, such as that called divination by flour and by barley, such as the Pythia and she who babbles through the Dodonian oak, divination through entrails and through the flight of birds, and that which is symbolic through cries and sneezes; such as that through thunder, mice, weasels, the creaking of wood, ringing in the ears, twitching of the body, which is called symbolic and augural. Of this, one part is ornithoscopy, another divination by twitching, another augury, another chiromancy, another that of wayside or chance utterances, as when one infers the future from something said by chance, and when it is through the invocation of the names of the dead, and when through stars and waters or vain dreams, such as befall everyone every day; for very rare are those that come from above. But all these methods of prophecy are demonic and
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καταλιπόντες τὰ γέρα. Ὅτι ὁ Ἰσαὰκ ἑκατὸν ἐτῶν ἦν, ὅτε τὰς εὐλογίας τοῦ Ἠσαῦ Ἰακὼβ ἔκλεψεν.
Ὅτι ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ πολυσωμάτους ἀνθρώπους Αἰγύπτιοι ἱστοροῦσι γενέσθαι, τοὺς ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων Γί γαντας ὀνομαζομένους, τοὺς καὶ δρακοντόποδας. τότε δὲ καὶ τοὺς Κουρῆτας λέγουσι γενέσθαι. οἳ δὲ ἀπογόνους τῶν Ἰδαίων, 1.62 οἳ ἐλέγοντο παρ' Ἕλλησιν εἶναι· καὶ Ἡρακλῆς εἷς τῶν Ἰδαίωνδακτύλων. Ὅτι οἱ Χαλδαῖοι ἀπὸ τοῦ Σὴμ κατάγονται, ἐξ ὧν ὁ Ἀβραάμ. Ὅτι δεκαεπτὰ ἐτῶν ὁ Ἰωσὴφ ὑπὸ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐπράθη, μετὰ πέμπτον ἔτος τῆς τελευτῆς Ῥαχήλ, χρυσῶν ὀκτώ. Ὅτι τῷ ρκʹ ἔτει τοῦ Ἰακὼβ Ἰωσὴφ ἦρξε τῆς βασιλείας Αἰγύπτου, τριακονταετὴς ὤν. καὶ τῷ αὐτῷ ἔτει τελευτᾷ Ἰσαὰκ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ, ζήσας ἔτη ρʹ ὀγδοήκοντα· καὶ ἐτάφη ὑπὸ Ἰακὼβ καὶ Ἠσαῦ τῶν υἱῶν αὐτοῦ. τῷ δὲ ληʹ ἔτει τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ ἤρξατο ὁ λιμός· οὐ γὰρ ἀνέβη ὁ Νεῖλος ἐν ὅλοις τοῖς ἑπτὰ ἔτεσι τοῦ λιμοῦ, ὡς Ἰώσηπος μαρτυρεῖ. μετὰ δὲ δύο ἔτη κατέβη Ἰακὼβ εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἐν οεʹ ψυχαῖς, ἑκατὸν τριάκοντα ἐτῶν ὤν, ὁ δὲ Ἰωσὴφ τεσσαράκοντα. τελευτᾷ δὲ Ἰακὼβ ἑκατὸν τεσσαρακονταεπτὰ ἐτῶν, καὶ θάπτεται ὑπὸ Ἰωσὴφ ἐν Χεβρών. Γεσαῒμ δὲ ἡ πρὸς Αἴγυπτον Ἀρραβία ἐστίν. μετὰ γὰρ οʹ χρόνους τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καθόδου Ἰακώβ, ἐτελεύτησεν Ἰωσὴφ ἑκατὸν δέκα ἐτῶν. Μετὰ γοῦν τὸν θάνατον Ἰωσὴφ δουλεύουσιν Ἑβραῖοι τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις ἔτη ρμδʹ. τὰ πάντα τοίνυν τῆς τῶν Ἑβραίων ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ διατριβῆς ἔτη σιεʹ. λαμβάνουσι δὲ τὴν εὐλογίαν τῶν πρω τοτοκιῶν ἀντὶ τοῦ Ῥουβεὶμ οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰωσὴφ διὰ τὸ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῶν σῶφρον, καθὸ ὁ μὲν Ῥουβεὶμ τῇ παλλακῇ συνῆλθε τοῦ πα 1.63 τρός, ὁ δὲ Ἰωσὴφ τῇ Αἰγυπτίᾳ οὐ συνεφθάρη. ἀλλὰ καὶ δεκα τριῶν ἀδελφῶν ὄντων εἰς δώδεκα ἐμερίσθη ἡ γῆ διὰ τὸ τὸν Λευὶ ἀποδεκατοῦν τοὺς λοιποὺς πάντας. Ὅτι Ἰωσὴφ κομιδῇ νέος ὢν ἔτι πρόβατα τοῦ πατρὸς ποι μαίνων ἦν, καὶ μᾶλλον τῶν ἄλλων ἠγαπᾶτο τῷ πατρί. διὸ καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ διαφθονούμενοι οὐδὲν πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰρηνικὸν ἐλάλουν. προσετίθουν δὲ καὶ μῖσος τῶν ἐνυπνίων αὐτοῦ ἀκούοντες. καὶ γὰρ ἔφη "δράγματα δεσμευόντων ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ ᾤμην μὲν ἀνορθωθῆναι τὸ ἐμόν, τὰ δὲ ὑμέτερα περιστραφέντα προσκυνεῖν αὐτῷ." τούτου γοῦν ἀκούσαντες, καὶ ὡς βασιλεύσει ἐπ' αὐτοὺς ὀρθῶς ἐπικρίναντες, λίαν ἐπέτειναν τὸ μῖσος. προσθεὶς δέ "αὖθις ἐνυπνισάμην" ἔφη, "καί γε ᾤμην τὸν ἥλιον καὶ τὴν σελήνην καὶ ἕνδεκα ἀστέρας προσκυνοῦντάς με καθορᾶν." διαπαίζων δὲ τὸ ὅραμα Ἰακὼβ ἔφη "ἆρα ἐγὼ ὁ πατήρ σου καὶ ἡ μήτηρ σου καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοί σου ἥξομεν προσκυνῆσαί σοι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς;" καὶ ἐπιτιμή σας παρῄνει σιγᾶν. οὕτω μὲν οὖν τὰ ὁράματα ἀμυδρὰ τῆς ἀλη θείας προτύπωσις ἦν· καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο προφητείας εἶδος, καὶ ἐν πολλοῖς ἐθεωρήθη πολλάκις δι' ὀνείρων ἡ τοῦ μέλλοντος προ δήλωσις, ἐν οἷς διὰ κρείττονος γίνεται κατοχῆς, ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ Φαραὼ καὶ τῷ Ναβουχοδονοσὸρ καὶ ἄλλοις πλείστοις. Ἄξιον δὲ εἰδέναι τὰς διαφορὰς τῶν προφητειῶν. ἡ μὲν γάρ ἐστι πνευματικὴ καὶ ἀληθὴς πάντῃ, ὡς ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῶν ἁγίων, 1.64 ἐν καιρῷ τῷ ἰδίῳ τὸ πέρας τῶν προφητευομένων ἐπιφέρουσα. ἄλλη δὲ δαιμονική, ἐν τοῖς τῶν δαιμόνων θεραπευταῖς ἐνεργου μένη· πολύτροπος δὲ αὕτη, οἵα ἡ τῶν ἀλευρομαντῶν καὶ κριθο μαντῶν λεγομένη, οἵα ἡ Πυθία καὶ ἡ διὰ τῆς ∆ωδωναίας λη ροῦσα δρυός, ἡ διὰ τῶν σπλάγχνων μαντεία καὶ ἡ δι' ὀρνέων πτήσεως, καὶ ἡ διὰ κλαγγῶν καὶ πταρμῶν συμβολική· οἵα ἡ διὰ βροντῆς, μυῶν, γαλῆς, τρισμοῦ ξύλων, ὠτὸς ἤχων, παλμῶν σώματος, συμβολικὴ καὶ οἰωνιστικὴ λεγομένη. ἧς τὸ μέν ἐστιν ὀρνεοσκοπικόν, τὸ δὲ παλμωτικόν, τὸ δὲ οἰωνοσκοπικόν, τὸ δὲ χειροσκοπικόν, τὸ δὲ ἐνόδιον ἢ κληδονιστικόν, οἷον ὅταν ἐκ τοῦ παρατυχόντος εἰρημένου τεκμαίρηταί τις τὸ ἐσόμενον, καὶ ὅταν δι' ὀνομάτων νεκρῶν ἐπικλήσεως, καὶ ὅταν δι' ἄστρων καὶ ὑδά των ἢ ὀνείρων ματαίων, οἷοι καθ' ἑκάστην πᾶσι προσπίπτουσι· σπάνιοι γὰρ λίαν οἱ ἄνωθεν ἥκοντες. οὗτοι δὲ πάντες δαιμονιώ δεις οἱ τρόποι τῆς προφητείας καὶ