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Jeroboam and his sons cast them out against their will, so that they might not minister to the Lord; and he appointed for himself priests of the high places, and for the idols, and for the vain things, and for the calves which Jeroboam had made. But the devout from the other tribes followed the priests and the Levites; "For," it says, "they went after them from all the tribes of Israel, those who set their heart to seek the Lord God of Israel." And, "They came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord their God, and to strengthen the kingdom of Judah." But the philanthropic Lord delivered over the impious Jeroboam to Shishak. And having spoken through Shemaiah the prophet both to him and to the rulers, "You have forsaken me, and I will forsake you into the hand of Shishak;" when he saw that they were humbled and had confessed their impiety, he said to the prophet; "They have been humbled, I will not destroy them, and I will grant them a little deliverance;" that is, I will preserve in them the spark of the blessing of the world; "and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak." Not now, he says, will I deliver them to utter destruction, but I will reserve the punishment for later; but for the present I will put the yoke of servitude upon them. "For they shall be," he says, "his servants, and they will know my service, and the service of the kingdom of the earth." By comparison, he says, I will teach them how good my yoke is, and how heavy the yoke of men is. And again we have been taught that other prophetic books have come into being: "For the words," it says, "of Rehoboam, the first and the last, are they not, behold, written in the words of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer for the genealogy, and his deeds?" But the oration of Abijah is worthy of admiration. For seeing eight hundred thousand of the ten tribes campaigning against him (and Jeroboam was leading them), he, being arrayed with four hundred thousand, said to those arrayed against him: "Is it not for you to know that the Lord 80.825 God of Israel gave the kingdom to David over Jerusalem forever, and to his sons a covenant of salt forever? Was it not necessary, he says, for you to know that the kingdom of David is God-given, and does not admit an end according to the divine promise? How then did you raise up a tyrant, the servant of my father? And he called the security of the kingdom an eternal covenant of salt; since barbarians, too, often eating with enemies, keep a sure peace, remembering the salt. But my father, he says, because of youth and cowardice, yielded to the tyranny; but I find fault with you, because you are insolent against the divine kingdom, which the Lord of all gave to the family of David; and you trust in your number, and in the golden calves, for which you even drove out the priests of God, and appointed others in their place, doing things similar to the nations. For they too consecrate any priests whatsoever to those who are not gods. But we trust in the true God, whose priests and Levites we honor, and according to the divine law we offer sacrifices, and according to his ordinances we are arrayed for battle, signaling the war with the divine trumpets. Therefore I exhort you not to array yourselves against the Lord God, who leads our phalanx. For you will repent of doing this. When these things had been said, the ten tribes surrounded Judah; but these shouted aloud, and called upon the divine favor for aid. And God, having been called to their alliance, turned the audacity of the enemies into cowardice, and turning, they all fled, and fifty myriads were destroyed while fleeing. And it also states the cause of the flight: "And the sons of Judah prevailed, because they hoped in the Lord God of their fathers." And they also took cities subject to them. But God of all himself delivered Jeroboam to death. And he also praises the former piety of Asa; "For Asa," it says, "did what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, and he removed the foreign altars," that is, those of the idols. Then he added, "and the

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ἄκοντας αὐτοὺς ἐξέβαλεν Ἱερο βοὰμ, καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ, τοῦ μὴ λειτουργεῖν τῷ Κυρίῳ· καὶ κατέστησεν αὐτῷ ἱερεῖς τῶν ὑψηλῶν, καὶ τοῖς εἰδώλοις, καὶ τοῖς ματαίοις, καὶ ταῖς δα μάλεσιν αἷς ἐποίησεν Ἱεροβοάμ. Ἠκολούθησαν δὲ τοῖς ἱερεῦσι, καὶ τοῖς Λευΐταις, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων φυλῶν εὐσεβεῖς· "Ἀπῆλθον γὰρ, φησὶν, ὀπίσω αὐ τῶν ἀπὸ πασῶν φυλῶν Ἰσραὴλ, οἳ ἔδωκαν καρδίαν αὐ τῶν ζητῆσαι Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν Ἰσραήλ." Καὶ, "Ἦλθον εἰς Ἱερουσαλὴμ θῦσαι Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ αὐτῶν, καὶ κατισχῦσαι τὴν βασιλείαν Ἰούδα." Ὁ δὲ φιλάνθρωπος ∆εσπότης δυσσεβήσαντα μὲν τὸν Ἱεροβοὰμ τῷ Σουσακεὶμ παραδέδωκε. ∆ιὰ Σαμαίου δὲ τοῦ προφήτου καὶ αὐτῷ καὶ τοῖς ἄρχουσιν εἰπὼν, "Ὑμεῖς ἐγκατελίπετέ με, καὶ ἐγὼ ἐγκαταλείψω ὑμᾶς ἐν χειρὶ Σουσακείμ·" ὡς εἶδεν ἐντραπέντας, καὶ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ὁμολογήσαντας, ἔφῃ τῷ προφήτῃ· "Ἐνετράπησαν, οὐ καταφθερῶ αὐτοὺς, καὶ δώσω αὐτοὺς ὡς εἰς σμικρὸν εἰς σωτηρίαν·" ἀντὶ τοῦ, Τὸν σπινθῆρα τῆς εὐλογίας τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐν αὐτοῖς διαφυλάξω· "καὶ οὐ μὴ στάξῃ ὁ θυμός μου ἐπὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐν χειρὶ Σουσακείμ." Οὐ νῦν αὐτοὺς, φησὶ, παραδώσω πανωλεθρίᾳ, ἀλλ' εἰς ὕστερον φυλάξω τὴν τιμωρίαν· ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ παρόντος αὐτοῖς τὸν τῆς δουλείας ἐπιθήσω ζυγόν. "Ἔσονται γὰρ αὐτῷ, φησὶν, εἰς δούλους, καὶ γνώσονται τὴν δου λείαν μου, καὶ τὴν δουλείαν τῆς βασιλείας τῆς γῆς." Ἀπὸ συγκρίσεως, φησὶν, αὐτοὺς διδάξω, ὅπως χρη στὸς ὁ ἐμὸς ζυγὸς, καὶ ὅπως βαρὺς ὁ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ζυγός. Πάλιν δὲ καὶ ἑτέρας ἐδιδάχθημεν γεγενῆσθαι βίβλους προφητικάς· "Οἱ λόγοι γὰρ, φησὶ, Ῥο βοὰμ, οἱ πρῶτοι καὶ οἱ ἔσχατοι, οὐκ ἰδού εἰσι γε γραμμένοι ἐν τοῖς λόγοις Σαμαίου τοῦ προφήτου, καὶ Ἰαδὼκ τοῦ ὁρῶντος τοῦ γενεαλογῆσαι, καὶ αἱ πράξεις αὐτοῦ;" Ἄξιον δὲ θαυμάσαι τὴν τοῦ Ἀβιᾶ δημηγορίαν. Τῶν γὰρ δέκα φυλῶν ὀκτακο σίας χιλιάδας κατ' αὐτοῦ στρατευομένας ἰδών· ἡγεῖτο δὲ αὐτῶν Ἱεροβοάμ· οὗτος μετὰ τετρακοσίων χιλιάδων παραταττόμενος, πρὸς τοὺς ἀντιπαρατασ σομένους ἔφη· "Οὐχ ὑμῖν γνῶναι, ὅτι Κύριος ὁ 80.825 Θεὸς Ἰσραὴλ ἔδωκε βασιλείαν τῷ ∆αβὶδ ἐπὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ διαθήκην ἁλὸς αἰωνίαν; Οὐχ ὑμᾶς, φησὶν, ἔδει γνῶναι, ὡς θεόσδοτος ἡ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ βασιλεία, καὶ τέλος οὐ δεχο μένη κατὰ τὴν θείαν ὑπόσχεσιν; Πῶς οὖν ἀνεστή σατε τύραννον τοῦ πατρός μου τὸν δοῦλον; ∆ιαθήκην δὲ ἁλὸς αἰωνίαν τὸ βέβαιον τῆς βασιλείας ἐκάλεσεν· ἐπειδὴ καὶ βάρβαροι πολλάκις συνεσθίοντες πολε μίοις βεβαίαν εἰρήνην φυλάττουσι, τῶν ἁλῶν μεμνη μένοι. Ἀλλ' ὁ ἐμὸς πατὴρ, φησὶ, διὰ νεότητα καὶ δειλίαν παρεχώρησε τῇ τυραννίδι· ἐγὼ δὲ ὑμῖν ἐπιμέμφομαι, ὅτι κατὰ τῆς θείας βασιλείας θρα σύνεσθε, ἣν τῷ γένει τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ὁ τῶν ὅλων ἐδωρή σατο Κύριος· καὶ θαῤῥεῖτε τῷ πλήθει, καὶ ταῖς χρυσαῖς δαμάλεσι, δι' ἃς καὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοὺς ἱερέας ἐξελάσαντες, ἑτέρους ἀντ' αὐτῶν κατεστήσατε, παραπλήσια δρῶντες τοῖς ἔθνεσι. Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι τοὺς τυχόντας ἱερέας χειροτονοῦσι τοῖς οὐκ οὖσι θεοῖς. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τῷ ἀληθινῷ θαῤῥοῦμεν Θεῷ, οὗ καὶ τοὺς ἱερέας, καὶ τοὺς Λευΐτας γεραίρομεν, καὶ κατὰ τὸν θεῖον νόμον τὰς θυσίας προσφέρομεν, καὶ κατὰ τὰς τούτου διατάξεις παρατασσόμεθα, ταῖς θείαις σάλπιγξι τὸν πόλεμον προσημαίνοντες. ∆ιὸ παρεγγυῶ μὲν ὑμῖν μὴ ἀντιπαρατάξασθαι τῷ ∆εσπό τῃ Θεῷ, ὃς τῆς ἡμετέρας φάλαγγος στρατηγεῖ. Μεταγνώσεσθε γὰρ τοῦτο ποιήσαντες. Τούτων εἰρη μένων, ἐκύκλωσαν μὲν τὸν Ἰούδαν αἱ δέκα φυλαί· ἠλάλαξαν δὲ οὗτοι, καὶ τὴν θείαν ῥοπὴν εἰς ἐπικου ρίαν ἐκάλεσαν. Ὁ δὲ κληθεὶς εἰς συμμαχίαν Θεὸς εἰς δειλίαν τῶν πολεμίων τὸ θράσος μετέβαλε καὶ τραπέντες ἀπέδρασαν πάντες, καὶ πεντήκοντα μυ ριάδες ἀνηλώθησαν φεύγουσαι. Λέγει δὲ καὶ τῆς φυγῆς τὴν αἰτίαν· "Καὶ κατίσχυσαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰού δα, ὅτι ἤλπισαν ἐπὶ Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν τῶν πατέρων αὐτῶν." Ἔλαβον δὲ καὶ πόλεις ὑποκειμένας ἐκεί νοις. Τὸν δὲ Ἱεροβοὰμ αὐτὸς ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς τῷ θανάτῳ παρέδωκεν. Ἐπαινεῖ δὲ καὶ τοῦ Ἀσὰ τὴν προτέραν εὐσέβειαν· "Ἐποίησε γὰρ, φησὶν, Ἀσὰ τὸ εὐθὲς ἐνώπιον Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ αὑτοῦ, καὶ ἀπ έστησε τὰ θυσιαστήρια τὰ ἀλλότρια," τουτέστι, τὰ τῶν εἰδώλων. Εἶτα ἐπήγαγε, "καὶ τὰ