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brothers”; for on account of what accomplishment of his would they have done this? Nor indeed did “the sons of his father” bow down to him. Rather, the saying would have been more fitting if it had been said to Joseph, since Judah himself, along with the rest of his brothers, is seen to have bowed down to him, but this was before the words of the prophecy. For after these, history presents nothing of this sort having happened concerning Joseph, let alone concerning Judah. 8.1.24 And “reclining, you slept as a lion and as a lion’s cub” would require a greater interpretation than one concerning Judah. But also what is said after this, “A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until the things stored up for him come, and he is the expectation of nations,” seems to me to allude to the times of the coming of the one prophesied. For this, it says, will not be, until this happens. 8.1.25 For the rulers and leaders of the Jewish nation will not cease before the expectation of the nations comes and “the things stored up” for the one prophesied. And Theodotion interpreted these things similarly to the Seventy. But Aquila rendered it in this way: “A scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor an exact inquirer from between his feet, until he comes, and to him is the assembly of peoples.” 8.1.26 Where it says, “a ruler shall not fail from Judah,” again one must not understand this as being about Judah, that very first man, just as “Judah, let your brothers praise you” and the following were not referred to him. For many years, therefore, rulers and leaders of the Jewish nation were established not from the succession of that man. 8.1.27 For first Moses himself led the people, being not from Judah but from Levi, then Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim, after whom Deborah from the tribe of Ephraim ruled them, and Barak from the tribe of Naphtali, after them Gideon from the tribe of Manasseh, then the son of Gideon, and after him Tola from the same tribe, then Ibzan from Bethlehem, and after him Elon from the tribe of Zebulun, then Abdon from the tribe of Ephraim, and again Samson from the tribe of Dan, then, when there was anarchy among them, Eli the priest from the tribe of Levi led them. 8.1.28 All these were judges who judged Israel, not from the succession of Judah, but being from different tribes, one from one place, another from another; and indeed the first who reigned over them after these, Saul, was from the tribe of Benjamin. 8.1.29 How then can “a ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs” be referred, as one might think, to the rulers and leaders from the tribe of Judah, when for nearly a thousand whole years from the time of Jacob’s death until the time of David, they are seen to have been brought forth not from the tribe of Judah alone, but at different times from a different one? And if after so many, David and those from his succession who reigned over the Jewish nation were from the tribe of Judah, yet you must know that they did not last for five hundred whole years, not reigning over the whole nation but only of three tribes, and not even all of these, during which time certain others happened to be managing the kingdom of the greater nation and of nine whole tribes. 8.1.30 For after the death of Solomon, when the whole nation was divided, the successors of David from Judah reigned in Jerusalem over three, as I said, not even whole, tribes until the captivity in Babylon. 8.1.31 And at this same time, others, not from Judah but from other tribes, continued as leaders of the nine tribes in the city called Samaria, of whom the first was Jeroboam from the tribe of Ephraim, and those in order after him, so that not even in the intervening times from David to the captivity in Babylon did those from the tribe of Judah lead the whole nation. 8.1.32 What need is there to say that after the return from Babylon, again for more than five hundred years until the birth of Christ, they continued using an aristocratic form of government, with the high priests of the time leading the nation, but none from the tribe of Judah,

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ἀδελφοί»· ἐπὶ ποίῳ γὰρ αὐτοῦ κατορθώματι τοῦτο ἐποίησαν ἄν; οὐδὲ μὴν ἐκείνῳ προσεκύνησαν «οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρός». μᾶλλον δ' ἂν ὁ λόγος ἥρμοσεν, εἰ τῷ Ἰωσὴφ εἴρητο, ἐπειδὴ τοῦτον ἅμα τοῖς λοιποῖς ἀδελφοῖς καὶ αὐτὸς Ἰούδας προσκυνήσας φαίνεται, πλὴν ἀλλὰ πρὸ τῶν λόγων τῆς προφητείας, μετὰ γὰρ τούτους οὐδέν τι τοιοῦτον οὐδὲ περὶ τὸν Ἰωσήφ, ἦπού γε περὶ τὸν Ἰούδαν, γεγονὸς ἡ ἱστορία παρίστησιν. 8.1.24 καὶ τὸ «ἀναπεσὼν» δὲ «ἐκοιμήθης ὡς λέων καὶ ὡς σκύμνος» μείζονος ἂν δέοιτο ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἰούδαν θεωρίας. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ μετὰ ταῦτα εἰρημένον «οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἄρχων ἐξ Ἰούδα, οὐδὲ ἡγούμενος ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτοῦ, ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ τὰ ἀποκείμενα αὐτῷ, καὶ αὐτὸς προσδοκία ἐθνῶν» τοὺς χρόνους αἰνίττεσθαί μοι δοκεῖ τῆς τοῦ προφητευομένου παρουσίας. τόδε γάρ, φησίν, οὐκ ἔσται, ἔστ' ἂν γένοιτο τόδε. 8.1.25 οὐδὲ γὰρ πρότερον παύσονται τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἄρχοντες καὶ ἡγούμενοι ἢ τὴν τῶν ἐθνῶν προσδοκίαν ἐλθεῖν καὶ «τὰ ἀποκείμενα» τῷ προφητευομένῳ. ταῦτα δὲ ὁμοίως τοῖς ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ ὁ Θεοδοτίων ἡρμήνευσεν. ὁ δὲ Ἀκύλας τοῦτον ἐξέδωκε τὸν τρόπον· «οὐκ ἀναστήσεται σκῆπτρον ἀπὸ Ἰούδα, καὶ ἀκριβαζόμενος ἀπὸ μεταξὺ ποδῶν αὐτοῦ, ἕως ἂν ἔλθῃ καὶ αὐτῷ σύστημα λαῶν». 8.1.26 ἔνθα λεγομένου τοῦ «οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἄρχων ἐξ Ἰούδα», πάλιν οὐ περὶ τοῦ Ἰούδα, αὐτοῦ δὴ ἐκείνου τοῦ πρώτου ἀνδρός, ἀκούειν δεήσει, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ τὸ «Ἰούδα, σὲ αἰνέσαισαν οἱ ἀδελφοί σου» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς ἐπ' ἐκεῖνον ἀνεφέρετο. πλείστοις δ' οὖν χρόνοις ἄρχοντες καὶ ἡγούμενοι τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους κατέστησαν οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ἐκείνου τοῦ ἀνδρὸς διαδοχῆς. 8.1.27 πρῶτος μὲν γὰρ Μωσῆς αὐτὸς ἡγήσατο τοῦ λαοῦ, μὴ ἐκ τοῦ Ἰούδα ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ Λευὶ γεγονώς, εἶτα Ἰησοῦς ἐκ φυλῆς Ἐφραΐμ, μεθ' ὃν ἦρξεν αὐτῶν ∆εββώρα ἐκ φυλῆς Ἐφραΐμ, καὶ Βαρὰκ ἐκ φυλῆς Νεφθαλείμ, μεθ' οὓς Γεδεὼν ἐκ φυλῆς Μανασσῆ, ἔπειτα ὁ τοῦ Γεδεὼν παῖς, καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν Θωλὰ ἐκ φυλῆς τῆς αὐτῆς, ἔπειτα Ἐσεβὼν ἐκ Βηθλεέμ, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτον Αἰλὼν ἐκ φυλῆς Ζαβουλών, ἔπειτα Λαβδὼν ἐκ φυλῆς Ἐφραΐμ, καὶ αὖθις Σαμψὼν ἐκ φυλῆς ∆άν, ἔπειτα ἀναρχίας αὐτῶν γενομένης ἡγεῖτο αὐτῶν Ἠλεὶ ὁ ἱερεὺς ἐκ φυλῆς Λευί. 8.1.28 οὗτοι πάντες κριταὶ κρίναντες τὸν Ἰσραήλ, οὐκ ἐκ διαδοχῆς Ἰούδα, ἐκ διαφόρων δὲ φυλῶν ἄλλοθεν ἄλλος γενόμενος· καὶ ὅ γε μετὰ τούτους πρῶτος αὐτῶν βασιλεύσας Σαοὺλ ἐκ φυλῆς ἦν Βενιαμίν. 8.1.29 πῶς οὖν τὸ «οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἄρχων ἐξ Ἰούδα, οὐδὲ ἡγούμενος ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτοῦ», ὡς ἂν οἰηθείη τις, ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐκ φυλῆς Ἰούδα ἄρχοντας καὶ ἡγουμένους ἀνενεχθήσεται, ὅτε φαίνονται ἀπὸ τῶν χρόνων τῆς τοῦ Ἰακὼβ τελευτῆς ὅλοις ἔτεσιν ἐγγύς που χιλίοις οὐκ ἐκ μόνης τῆς Ἰούδα φυλῆς προαχθέντες, ἀλλ' ἄλλοτε ἐξ ἄλλης, μέχρι τῶν ∆αβὶδ χρόνων; εἰ δὲ μετὰ τοὺς τοσούτους ὁ ∆αβὶδ οἵ τε ἐκ τῆς τούτου διαδοχῆς βασιλεύσαντες τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους ἐκ φυλῆς γεγόνασιν Ἰούδα, ἀλλὰ χρή σε εἰδέναι ὅτι οὐδὲ ὅλοις πεντακοσίοις ἔτεσιν διήρκεσαν, οὔτοι τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους βασιλεύσαντες ἀλλὰ μόνων φυλῶν τριῶν, καὶ οὐδὲ ὅλων τούτων, καθ' οὓς ἕτεροί τινες ἐτύγχανον τοῦ πλείονος ἔθνους καὶ ὅλων γε ἐννέα φυλῶν τὴν βασιλείαν διέποντες. 8.1.30 μετὰ γὰρ τὴν τοῦ Σολομῶνος τελευτὴν διαιρεθέντος τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους, ἐξ Ἰούδα τοῦ ∆αβὶδ διάδοχοι τριῶν, ὡς ἔφην, οὐδ' ὅλων φυλῶν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐβασίλευον μέχρι τῆς εἰς Βαβυλῶνα αἰχμαλωσίας. 8.1.31 κατ' αὐτοὺς δὲ τούτους ἐπὶ τῆς Σαμαρείας οὕτω καλουμένης πόλεως τῶν ἐννέα φυλῶν ἡγούμενοι οὐκ ἐξ Ἰούδα ἀλλ' ἐξ ἑτέρων φυλῶν ἕτεροι διετέλεσαν, ὧν πρῶτος ἦν Ἱεροβοὰμ ἐκ φυλῆς Ἐφραΐμ, καὶ οἱ καθεξῆς μετὰ τοῦτον, ὡς μηδ' ἐν τοῖς μεταξὺ χρόνοις τοῖς ἀπὸ ∆αβὶδ ἐπὶ τὴν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα αἰχμαλωσίαν τοὺς ἐκ φυλῆς Ἰούδα τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους ἡγήσασθαι. 8.1.32 τί δεῖ λέγειν ὡς μετὰ τὴν ἀπὸ Βαβυλῶνος ἐπάνοδον αὖθις ὑπὲρ τὰ πεντακόσια ἔτη μέχρι τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ γενέσεως διετέλεσαν πολιτείᾳ χρώμενοι ἀριστοκρατικῇ, τῶν μὲν κατὰ χρόνους ἀρχιερέων ἡγουμένων τοῦ ἔθνους, οὐδενὸς δὲ ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Ἰούδα φυλῆς,