thousand drachmæ; and what money is to spare shall be your own. I also release to you those ten thousand drachmæ which the kings received from the temple; because they appertain to the priests that minister in that temple. And whosoever shall flee to the temple at Jerusalem, or to the places thereto belonging; or who owe the king money; or are there on any other account; let them be set free, and let their goods be in safety. I give you leave to repair and rebuild your temple; and that all be done at my expense. I also allow you to build the walls of your city; and to erect high towers; and that they be erected at my charge. And if there be any fortified town that would be convenient for the Jewish country to have very strong, let it be so built at my expense."

This was what Demetrius promised, and granted to the Jews by this letter. But king Alexander raised a great army of mercenary soldiers, and of those that deserted to him out of Syria; and made an expedition against Demetrius. And when they came to a battle, the left wing of Demetrius* put those who opposed them to flight, and pursued them a great way, and slew many of them, and spoiled their camp. But the right wing, where Demetrius happened to be, was beaten: and the rest ran away. Demetrius indeed fought courageously, and slew great numbers of the enemy: but as he was in pursuit of the rest, his horse carried him into a deep bog, where it was hard to get out. And there it happened, that upon his horse's falling down, he could not escape being killed. For when his enemies saw what had befallen him, they returned back, encompassed him round, and all threw their darts at him. He being now on foot, fought bravely: but at length received so many wounds, that he was not able to bear up any longer, but fell.† And this is the end that Demetrius came to, when he had reigned elevent years.

* In the first onset, Demetrius's left wing put the opposite wing of the enemy to flight; but as he pursued them too far, (a fault in war which has lost many victories,) by the time that they came back, the right wing, in which Demetrius fought in person, was overborne, and he slain in the rout: for his horse having plunged him in a bog, they who pursued him shot at him there with their arrows, till be died. Joseph. Antiq. lib. 13. c. 5. Justin, lib. 35, c. 1; Apion, de Syriacis, and Polybius, lib. 3. B.

† 1 Macc. x. 50.

Since the rest of the historians now extant give this Demetrius 13 years; and Josephus only 11 years; Dean Prideaux does not amiss in ascribing to him the mean number 12.

CHAP. III.

OF THE FRIENDSHIP THAT SUBSISTED BETWEEN ONIAS AND PTOLE-
MY PHILOMETOR; AND OF THE TEMPLE WHICH ONIAS BUILT IN
EGYPT, LIKE TO THAT AT JERUSALEM.

THE son of Onias, the high-priest, who was of the same name with his father, and who fled to Ptolemy Philometor, lived now at Alexandria; as we have said already. When this Onias saw that Judea was oppressed by the Macedonians, and their kings; out of desire to purchase to himself a memorial and eternal fame, he resolved to send to king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, to ask leave of them that he might build a temple in Egypt, like to that at Jerusalem: and might ordain Levites and priests out of their own stock. The chief reason why he was desirous so to do, was that he relied upon the prophet Isaiah, who lived about six hundred years before, and foretold that there certainly was to be a temple built to Almighty God in Egypt, by a man that was a Jew. Accordingly Onias was elevated with this prediction: and wrote the following epistle to Ptolemy and Cleopatra:

66

Having done many and great things for you in the affairs of the war, by the assistance of God; and that in Colesyria and Phoenicia: I came at length with the Jews to Leontopolis, and to other places of your nation. Where I found that the greatest part of your people had temples in an improper manner; and that on this account they bare ill will one against another : which happens to the Egyptians, by reason of the multitude of the temples, and the difference of opinions about divine worship. Now I found a very fit place in a castle that hath its name from the country Diana; this place is full of materials of several sorts, and replenished with sacred animals. I desire therefore that you will grant me leave to purge this holy place: which belongs to no master, and is fallen down; and to build there a temple to Almighty God, after the pattern of that in Je

rusalem, and of the same dimensions; that may be for the benefit of thyself, and thy wife, and children: that those Jews which dwell in Egypt may have a place whither they may come and meet together in mutual harmony one with another, and be subservient to thy advantages. For the prophet Isaiah foretold that there* should be an altar in Egypt to the Lord God.† many such things did he prophecy relating to that place."

And

And this was what Onias wrote to king Ptolemy; whose piety and that of his sister and wife Cleopatra will appear, by that epistle which they wrote in answer to it. For they laid the blame and the transgression of the law upon the head of Onias. And this was their reply: "King Ptolemy and queen Cleopa

*Isaiah xix. 19.

It seems to me, contrary to the opinion of Josephus, and of the moderns, both Jews and Christians, that this prophecy of Isaiah xix. 10, &c. "In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt," &c. directly foretold the building of the temple of Onias in Egypt, and was a sufficient warrant to the Jews for building it, and for worshipping the God of Israel therein. See Authentic Records, part II. page 755. God indeed seems to have better accepted of the sacrifices and prayers here offered him, than of those at Jerusalem. And truly the marks of Jewish corruption or interpolation in this text in order to discourage their people from approving of the worship of God here, are very strong; and highly deserve our consideration and correction. The foregoing verse in Isaiah runs thus, in our common copies: "In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan [the Hebrew language; shall be full of Jews whose sacred books were in Hebrew ;] and swear to the Lord of Hosts. One [or the first] shall be called the city of Destruction," Isa. xx. 18. A strange name, City of Destruction! upon so joyful an occasion! and a name never heard of in the land of Egypt, or perhaps any other nation! The old reading was evidently, the City of the Sun, or Heliopolis; and Onkelos in effect, and Symmachus, with the Arabic version, entirely confess that to be the true reading. The Septuagint also, though they have the text disguised in the common copies, and call it Asedek, the City of Righteousness; yet in two or three other copies the Hebrew word itself for the sun, Achares or Thares, is preserved. And since Onias insists with the king and queen, that Isaiah's prophecy contained many other predictions relating to this place, besides the words by him recited, it is highly probable that these were especially meant by him; and that one main reason why he applied this prediction to himself, and to his prefecture of Heliopolis, which Dean Prideaux well proves was in that part of Egypt; and why he chose to build in that prefecture of Heliopolis, though otherwise an improper place, was, that he had the same authority for building this temple in his own prefecture of Heliopolis as in Egypt. Dean Prideaux has much difficulty to avoid seeing this corruption of the Hebrew. But it being in support of his own opinion about this temple, he durst not see it and indeed he reasons here in the most injudicious manner. See him at the year 149.

tra, to Onias send greeting. We have read thy petition; wherein thou desirest permission to purge that temple which is fallen down at Leontopolis in the Nomus of Heliopolis, and which is named from the country Bubastis. On which account we cannot but wonder that it should be pleasing to God to have a temple erected in a place so unclean, and so full of sacred animals. But since thou sayest that Isaiah the prophet foretold this long ago; we give thee leave to do it; if it may be done according to your law; and so that we may not appear to have at all offended God herein."

Accordingly Onias took the place; and built a temple, and an altar to God; like indeed to that in Jerusalem, but smaller, and poorer. I do not think it proper for me now to describe its dimensions, or its vessels: which have been already described in my seventh book of The Wars of the Jews.* However, Onias found other Jews also like to himself, together with priests and Levites that there performed divine service.

Now it came to pass that the Alexandrian Jews and those Samaritans who payed their worship to the temple that was built in the days of Alexander at mount Gerizzim, did now make a sedition one against another, and disputed about their temples before Ptolemy himself: the Jews saying, that, according to the laws of Moses, the temple was to be built at Jerusalem; and the Samaritans saying that it was to be built at Gerizzim. They desired therefore that the king would sit with his friends, and bear the debates about these matters; and punish those with death who were baffled. Now Sabbeus and Theodosius managed the argument of the Samaritans; and Andronicus, the son of Messalamus, for the people of Jerusalem. And they took an oath by God and the king to make their demonstrations according to the law. And they desired of Ptolemy, that whosoever he should find that transgressed what they had sworn to, he would put him to death. Accordingly the king took several of his friends into the council, and sat down in order to hear what the pleaders said. Now the Jews that were at Alexandria were in great concern for those men, whose lot it was to contend for the temple at Jerusalem. For they took it very ill that any should pretend to take away the reputation of that temple,

*See War of the Jews, Book VII, chap. 10.

which was so ancient, and so celebrated, all over the habitable earth. Now when Sabbeus and Theodosius had given leave to Andronicus to speak first, he began to demonstrate out of the law, and out of the successions of the high-priests, how they every one in succession from his father had received that dignity, and ruled over the temple; and how all the kings of Asia had honoured that temple with their donations, and with the most splendid gifts. But as for that at Gerizzim, he made no account of it, nor regarded it as if it had ever had a being. By this speech, and other arguments, Andronicus persuaded the king to determine,* that the temple at Jerusalem was built according to the laws of Moses: and to put Sabbeus and Theodosius to death. And these were the events that befell the Jews at Alexandria, in the days of Ptolemy Philometor.

CHAP. IV.

OF THE HONOURS CONFERRED UPON JONATHAN BY ALEXANDER, KING OF SYRIA; AND OF THE AFFAIRS OF DEMETRIUS, WHO AFTERWARD MADE A LEAGUE OF FRIENDSHIP WITH JONATHAN,

DEMETRIUS being slain in battle, as we have already† related, Alexander took the kingdom of Syria; and wrote to Ptole

* A very unfair disputation this! while the Jewish disputant, knowing that he could not properly prove out of the Pentateuch, that the place which the Lord their God should choose to place his name there, so often referred to in the book of Deuteronomy, was Jerusalem any more than Gerizzim: that being not determined till the days of David: see VII. 13. proves only what the Samaritans did not deny, that the temple at Jerusalem was much more ancient, and much more celebrated and honoured than that at Gerizzim: which was nothing to the present purpose. The whole evidence, by the very oaths of both parties being obliged to be confined to the law of Moses, or to the Pentateuch alone. However, worldly policy, and interest, and the multitude prevailing, the court gave sentence, as usual, on the stronger side; and Sabbeus and Theodosius, the Samaritan disputants, were martyred and this. so far as appears, without any direct hearing at all. Which is like the usual practice of such political courts about matters of religion. Our copies say, that the body of the Jews were in great concern about those men, in the plural, who were to dispute for their temple at Jerusalem; whereas, it seems here, they had but one disputant, Andronicus by name. Perhaps more were prepared to speak on the Jews' side: but the first having answered to his name, and overcome the Samaritans, there was no necessity for any other defender of the Jerusalem temple.

+ Chap. II,