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he provided, and not Reuben; because Joseph, not yielding to the pleasure of the Egyptian woman, was justified, but Reuben, having been defeated, sinned; and besides that he was also the firstborn of Rachel, and he assigned the kingship to the tribe of Judah, and not to that of Reuben; because Judah was reproached in a matter concerning a woman, but he was justified, having wisely confessed himself to be responsible for the sin, and not the woman. But also for this reason he was appointed to reign, because it alone of the other tribes was more ardent toward the zeal and vengeance of God; wherefore he prophesies that Christ according to the flesh would be born from him, and through him the calling of the gentiles. And to Levi alone he assigned the high priesthood, because Amram, being born of him, evaded the decree of Pharaoh, and kept his own son Moses alive. But Reuben alone he made great in number, because he did not consent to the plot against Joseph. When Jacob died in Egypt, therefore, they carry him away and bury him in the land of Canaan; and likewise also all his sons. And finally Joseph too, when they departed from Egypt, they bury where their forefather Abraham had been previously 780 buried; in which place was also the terebinth, under which Jacob hid the idols of Laban, which even now is venerated by the neighbors in honor of the ancestors; for to this day there is an altar beside its stump, on which they offered both the whole burnt offerings and the hecatombs; and they say that it was the staff of one of the angels who was a guest of Abraham, which, being present at the place at that time, he planted, and from it the admirable grew up [φ. ἀν-] terebinth. For having been kindled, it becomes all fire, and is thought by all to be reduced to ash by the flame, yet when it is extinguished, however, it is shown to be completely unharmed and whole. But after the death of Joseph, the Egyptians, forgetting his good deeds, subjected the race of the Israelites to various calamities, being disposed toward them with envy and jealousy. For the Israelites, being steadfast in labors, surpassed the Egyptians in virtue and wealth, while those others were given to drunkenness and idleness, and always shackled by indolence. And one of the sacred scribes among the Egyptians indicates to Pharaoh that someone would be born among the Israelites, who would humble all of Egypt, but would increase his own nation to a great degree of progress, having acquired an ever-memorable glory. And for this reason Pharaoh intended to destroy the Hebrews by all means; commanding them to toil at laborious works, to build walls for all the cities of Egypt, and to cut the river into many canals; and commanding them to raise up dikes, so that it might not flood and damage the city in any way; and in addition to these things also to build pyramids, and he declared that the infants born among them were to be cast down into the river, thinking he would also remove [φ. καθαιρήσειν] in the river the one prophesied to destroy Egypt. There was therefore a certain man from the tribe of Levi, Amram by name, who, having taken Jochebed as his wife, from her begot the divine Moses, and he hid him for a time. But when he saw the law of the king prevailing more strongly, fearing lest he be discovered, he put the child into a basket and exposed it by the banks of the river. And the daughter of Pharaoh, having come for the sake of a bath, saw the basket and opened it, and delighted at the beauty of the child, she adopted him, being in want of a child; and having called together many nurses of the Egyptians, she was not able to nourish the child; for he would not accept the breast of any of them. At last, therefore, the mother, having been sent secretly to the princess, was commanded to nurse him; for he accepted her breast alone, from his swaddling clothes, I think, accepting his own kin, but abominating what was foreign. When he was grown, therefore, Thermuthis called him Moses

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παρέσχετο, καὶ οὐχὶ Ῥουβίν· διότι ὁ μὲν Ἰωσὴφ μὴ εἴξας ἡδονῇ τῆς Αἰγυπτίας ἐδικαιώθη, ὁ δὲ Ῥουβὶν ἡττηθεὶς ἥμαρτεν· ἄλλως τε ὅτι καὶ ἐκ τῆς Ῥαχὴλ πρωτότοκος ὑπῆρχε, καὶ τῇ Ἰούδα φυλῇ ἀπεκλήρωσε τὴν βασιλείαν, καὶ οὐ τῇ τοῦ Ῥουβίν· διότι ὁ μὲν Ἰούδας ἐν γυναικὶ ὠνειδίσθη, ὁ δὲ ἐδικαιώθη, ὁμολογήσας εὐγνωμόνως ἑαυτὸν τυγχάνειν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑπεύθυνον, καὶ οὐ τὴν γυναῖκα. Ἀλλὰ καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο βασιλεύειν ἐτάχθη, ἐπειδὴ μόνη τῶν ἄλλων φυλῶν ἰταμωτέρα πρὸς ζῆλον καὶ ἐκδίκησιν Θεοῦ ἐτύγχανεν· διὸ καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ φῦναι προφητεύει τὸν Χριστὸν κατὰ σάρκα, καὶ τὴν κλῆσιν δι' αὐτοῦ τῶν ἐθνῶν. Καὶ τῷ Λευῒ δὲ τὴν ἀρχιερωσύνην μόνῳ ἀπένειμε, καθότι ὁ Ἀμρὰμ ἐξ αὐτοῦ φὺς, τὸ δόγμα τοῦ Φαραὼ παρεκρούσατο, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἑαυτοῦ τὸν Μωϋσῆν ἐζωοποίησε. Μόνον δὲ τὸν Ῥουβὶν πολὺν τῷ ἀριθμῷ ἐποίησε, διὰ τὸ μὴ συναινέσαι ἐπὶ τῇ Ἰωσὴφ ἐπιβουλῇ. Τελευτήσαντος γοῦν τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, εἰς τὴν Χαναναίαν γῆν κηδεύουσιν ἀποκομίσαντες· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ πάντας. Ἐπὶ τέλει δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἰωσὴφ, τῆς Αἰγύπτου ἀποχωρήσαντες, κηδεύουσιν ἔνθα ὁ προπάτωρ αὐτῶν Ἀβραὰμ προκε 780 κήδευτο· ἐν ᾧ τόπῳ ὑπῆρχε καὶ ἡ τερέβινθος, ὑφ' ᾗ ἔκρυψεν Ἰακὼβ τῆς Λάβαν τὰ εἴδωλα, ἥτις ἔτι καὶ νῦν εἰς τιμὴν τῶν προγόνων ὑπὸ τῶν πλησιοχόρων θρησκεύεται· ἔστι γὰρ ἄχρι τοῦ δεῦρο παρὰ τὸν πρέμνον αὐτῆς βωμὸς, ἐφ' ὃν τά τε ὁλοκαυτώματα, καὶ τὰς ἑκατόμβας ἀνέφερον· εἶναί τε φασὶ ῥάβδον αὐτὴν ἑνὸς τῶν ἐπιξενωθέντων ἀγγέλων τῷ Ἀβραὰμ, ἥνπερ τῷ τόπῳ τότε παρὼν ἐνεφύτευσε, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῆς ἡ ἀξιάγαστος ἐνεφύη [φ. ἀν-] τερέβινθος. Ὑπαφθεῖσα γὰρ ὅλη πῦρ γίνεται, καὶ νομίζεται τοῖς πᾶσιν εἰς κόνιν ἐκ τῆς φλογὸς ἀναλύεσθαι, καίτοι σβεσθεῖσα μέντοι ἀσινὴς ὅλη, καὶ ἀκέραιος δείκνυται. Μετὰ δὲ τὴν τελευτὴν τοῦ Ἰωσὴφ, τῆς εὐποιίας ἀμνημονεύσαντες οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι, ποικίλαις συμφοραῖς τὸ γένος τῶν Ἰσραηλιτῶν ὑπέβαλον, φθόνῳ καὶ ζήλῳ πρὸς αὐτοὺς διακείμενοι. Οἱ γὰρ Ἰσραηλῖται πρὸς πόνους ὄντες καρτεροὶ, ἀρετῇ καὶ πλούτῳ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους διήνεγκαν, ἐκείνων εἰς μέθην κεχαυνωμένων καὶ ἀργίαν, καὶ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ πεπεδημένων ἀεί. Εἷς δέ τις τῶν παρ' Αἰγυπτίοις ἱερογραμματέων προσημαίνει τῷ Φαραὼ τεχθήσεσθαι παρὰ τοῖς Ἰσραηλίταις τινὰ, ὃς πᾶσαν μὲν ταπεινώσει τὴν Αἴγυπτον, αὐξήσει δὲ ἐπὶ μέγα προκοπῆς τὸ οἰκεῖον ἔθνος, ἀειμνημόνευτον δόξαν κτησάμενος. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παντοίως τοὺς Ἑβραίους ὁ Φαραὼ ἀπολέσαι διενοεῖτο· ἔργα μὲν αὐτοῖς προστάττων ἐπιμοχθεύειν, τειχίζειν δὲ πάσας τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὰς πόλεις, καὶ τὸν ποταμὸν εἰς πολλὰς διατέμνειν διωρυγάς· καὶ χώματα ἐγείρειν, κελεύων, ὅπως κατὰ μηδὲν τὴν πόλιν ἐπιλιμνίζων λυμαίνηται· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ πυραμίδας ἐγείρειν, καὶ τὰ παρ' αὐτοῖς τικτόμενα βρέφη κατακρημνίζειν ἐπὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἀπεφήνατο, οἰόμενος καὶ τὸν θεσπισθέντα καταλῦσαι τὴν Αἴγυπτον ἀραιρήσειν [φ. καθαιρήσειν] ἐπὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ. Ὑπῆρχεν οὖν τις ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς τοῦ Λευῒ Ἀμρὰμ ὀνόματι, ὃς γυναῖκα τὴν Ἰωχαβὲθ κτησάμενος, ἐξ αὐτῆς τὸν θεσπέσιον Μωϋσῆν ἐγέννησε, καὶ ἔκρυπτεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ χρόνον τινά. Ὡς δὲ εἶδε τὸν νόμον τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπικρατοῦντα σφοδρότερον, δεδοικὼς μὴ κατάφωρος γένηται, εἰς θήκην ἐμβαλὼν τὸ παιδίον, παρὰ τὰς ὄχθας τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἐκτίθεται. Καὶ ἡ θυγάτηρ τοῦ Φαραὼ, λουτροῦ χάριν ἀφικομένη, θεωρήσασα τὴν θήκην ἀνοίγει, καὶ πρὸς τὸ κάλλος τοῦ παιδίου ἡσθεῖσα εἰσεποιήσατο ἀποροῦσα παιδός· καὶ πολλὰς τροφοὺς συγκαλέσασα τῶν Αἰγυπτίων, οὐκ εἶχεν ὅπως τὸ παιδίον ἐκθρέψειεν· οὐδεμιᾶς γὰρ αὐτῶν μαζὸν προσίετο. Ἐπὶ τέλει γοῦν ἡ μήτηρ, ἀνεῖσα κρύβδην τῇ βασιλίσσῃ, γαλουχεῖν προσετάχθη· μόνης γὰρ αὐτῆς τὸν μαζὸν προσεδέξατο, ἐξ αὐτῶν, οἶμαι, σπαργάνων τὸ μὲν οἰκεῖον γένος προσιέμενον, τὸ δὲ ἀλλότριον μυσαττόμενον. Ἀνδρωθέντα γοῦν αὐτὸν, Μωϋσῆν προσεῖπεν ἡ Θέρμουθις