lord over the Egyptians: he it is who conveys these instructions to you by me as his interpreter. And let them be to you venerable, and contended for more earnestly by you than your own children, and your own wives; for if you will follow them, you will lead an happy life; you will enjoy the land fruitful, the sea calm, and the fruit of the womb born complete, as nature requires; you will be also terrible to your enemies for I have been admitted into the presence of God, and been made a hearer of his incorruptible voice; so great is his concern for your nation, and its duration."

4. When he had said this, he brought the people, with their wives and children, so near the mountain, that they might hear God himself speaking to them about the precepts which they were to practise; that the energy of what should be spoken might not be hurt by its utterance by that tongue of a man, which could but imperfectly deliver it to their understanding. And they all heard a voice that came to all of them from above, insomuch that not one of these words escaped them, which Moses wrote in two tables; which it is not * lawful for us to set down directly, but their import we will declare.

5. The first commandment teaches us, that there is but one God, and that we ought to worship him only. The second commands us not to make the image of any living creature to worship it. The third, that we must not swear by God in a false matter. The fourth, that we must keep the seventh day, by resting from all sort of work. The fifth, that we must honour our parents. The sixth, that we must abstain from murder. The seventh, that we must not commit adultery. The eighth, that we must not be guilty of theft. The ninth, that we must not bear false witness. The tenth, that we must not admit of the desire of any thing that is another's.

6. Now when the multitude had heard God himself giving those precepts which Moses had discoursed of, they rejoiced at what was said; and the congregation was dissolved: but on the following days they came to his tent, and desired him to bring them besides other laws from God. Accordingly, he appointed such laws; and afterward informed them in what manner they should act in all cases; which laws I shall make mention of in their proper time: but I shall reserve

* Of this and an another like superstitious notion of the Pharisees, which Josephus complied with, see the note on Antiq. R ii. ch. 12. 946

most of those laws for another work, and make there a distinct explication of them.

7. When matters were brought to this state, Moses went up again to Mount Sinai, of which he had told them beforehand. He made his ascent in their sight; and while he stayed there so long a time, for he was absent from them forty days, fear seized the Hebrews, lest Moses should have come to any harm; nor was there any thing else so sad, and that so much troubled them, as this supposal, that Moses was perished. Now there was a variety in their sentiments about it, some saying that he was fallen among wild beasts, and those that were of this opinion were chiefly such as were illdisposed to him; but others saying, that he was départed and gone to God; but the wiser sort were led by their reason to embrace neither of those opinions with any satisfaction, thinking that it was a thing that sometimes happens to men to fall among wild beasts, and perish that way, so it was probable enough that he might depart, and go to God, on account of his virtue, they therefore were quiet, and expected the event: yet were they exceeding sorry upon the supposal that they were deprived of a governor and a protector, such an one indeed as they could never recover again; nor would this suspicion give them leave to expect any comfortable event about this man, nor could they prevent their trouble and melancholy upon this occasion. However, the camp durst not remove all this while, because Moses had bid them afore to stay there.

8. But when the forty days, and as many nights, were over, Moses came down, having tasted nothing of food usually appointed for the nourishment of men. His appear

ance filled the army with gladness, and he declared to them what care God had of them, and by what manner of conduct of their lives they might live happily; telling them, that during these days of his absence, he had suggested to him also that he would have a tabernacle built for him, inte which he would descend when he came to them; and how we should carry it about with us when we remove from this place; and that there would be no longer occasion for going up to mount Sinai, but that he would himself come and

*This other work of Josephus's here referred to, seems to be that which does not appear to have been ever published, which yet he intended to publish, about the reasons of many of the laws of Mosęs ; of which see the note on the preface, § 4

pitch his tabernacle amongst us, and be present at our prayers; as also, that the tabernacle should be of such measures and constructions as he had showed him, and that you are to fall to the work, and prosecute it diligently. When he had said this, he showed them the two tables, with the ten commandments engraven upon them, five upon each table; and the writing was by the hand of God.

Concerning the tabernacle which Moses built in the wilderness for the honour of God, and which seemed to be a temple.

1. HEREUPON the Israelites rejoiced at what they had seen and heard of their conductor, and were not wanting in diligence according to their ability; but they brought silver, and gold, and brass, and of the best sorts of wood, and such as would not at all decay by putrefaction; camels' hair also, and sheep-skins, some of them dyed of a blue colour, and some of a scarlet; some brought the flower for the purple colour, and others for white; with the wool dyed by the flowers aforementioned; and fine linen, and precious stones, which those that use costly ornaments set in couches of gold; they brought also a great quantity of spices; for of these materials did Moses build the tabernacle, which did not at all differ from a moveable and ambulatory temple. Now when these things were brought together with great diligence, for every one was ambitious to further the work, even beyond their ability, he set architects over the works, and this by the command of God; and indeed the very same which the people themselves would have chosen, had the election been allowed to them. Now their names are set down in writing in the sacred books; and they were these, Besaleel, the son of Uri, of the tribe of Judah, the grandson of Miriam, the sister of their conductor; and Aholiah, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. Now the people went on with what they had undertaken with so great alacrity, that Moses was obliged to restrain them, by making proclamation that what had been brought was suffi cient, as the artificers had informed him. So they fell to work upon the building of the tabernacle. formed them, according to the direction of the measures were to be, and its largeness;

Moses also inGod, both what and how many

vessels it ought to contain for the use of the sacrifices. The women also were ambitious to do their parts about the gar ments of the priests, and about other things that would be wanted in this work, both for ornament, and for the divine service itself.

2. Now when all these things were prepared, the gold, and the silver, and the brass, and what was woven, Moses, when he had appointed beforehand that there should be a festival, and that sacrifices should be offered according to every one's ability, * reared up the tabernacle. And when he had measured the open court, fifty cubits broad, and an hundred long, he set up brazen pillars, five cubits high, twenty on each of the longer sides, and ten pillars for the breadth behind; every one of the pillars also had a ring. Their chapiters were of silver, but their bases were of brass; they resembled the sharp ends of spears, and were of brass fixed into the ground. Cords were also put through the rings, and were tied at their farther ends to brass nails of a cubit long, which at every pillar were driven into the floor, and would keep the tabernacle from being shaken by the violence of winds. But a curtain of fine soft linen went around all the pillars, and hung down in a flowing and loose manner from their chapiters, and enclosed the whole space, and seemed not at all unlike to a wall about it. And this was the structure of three of the sides of this enclosure. But as for the fourth side which was fifty cubits in extent, and was the front of the whole, twenty cubits of it were for the opening at the gates, wherein stood two pillars on each side, after the resemblance of open gates, these were made wholly of silver and polished, and that all over, excepting the bases, which were of brass. Now on each side of the gates there stood three pillars, which were inserted into the concave bases of the gates, and were suited to them; and round them was drawn a curtain of fine linen. But to the gates themselves, which were twenty cubits in extent, and five in height, the curtain was composed of purple, and scarlet, and blue, and fine linen, and embroidered with many and divers sorts of figures, excepting the figures of animals. Within these gates was the brazen laver for purification, having a bason beneath, of the like matter, whence the priests might

* Of this tabernacle of Mores, with its several parts and furniture, see my description at large, ch. vi, vii. viii. ix. x. xi. xii, hereto belonging.

wash their hands and sprinkle their feet. And this was the ornamental construction of the enclosure about the court of the tabernacle, which was exposed to the open air.

3. As to the tabernacle itself, Moses placed it in the middle of that court, with its front to the east, that when the sun arose it might send its first rays upon it. Its length, when it was set up, was thirty cubits, and its breadth was twelve [ten] cubits. The one of its walls was on the south, and the other was exposed to the north, and on the back part of it remained the west. It was necessary that its height should be equal to its breadth [ten cubits.] There were also pillars made of wood, twenty on each side; they were wrought into a quadrangular figure, in breadth a cubit and an half, but the thickness was four fingers: they had thin plates of gold affixed to them on both sides, inwardly and outwardly they had each of them two tenons belonging to them inserted in their bases, and these were of silver; in each of which bases there was a socket to receive the tenon. But the pillars on the west wall were six. Now all these tenons and sockets accurately fitted one another; insomuch that the joints were invisible, and both seemed to be one entire and united wall. It was also covered with gold both within and without. equal on the opposite sides, and twenty, and every one of them span in thickness; so that the were fully made up between them. But as to the wall behind, where the six pillars made up together only nine cubits, they made two other pillars, and cut them out of one cubit, which they placed in the corners, and made them equally fine with the other. Now every one of the pillars had rings of gold affixed to their fronts outward, as if they had taken root in the pillars, and stood one row over against another round about, through which were inserted bars girt over with gold, each of them five cubits long, and these bound together the pillars, the head of one bar running into another, after the nature of one tenon inserted into another. But for the wall behind, there was but one row of bars that went through all the pillars, into which row ran the ends of the bars on each side of the longer walls, the male with its female being so fastened in their joints, that they held the whole firmly together; and for this reason was all this joined so fast together, that the tabernacle might not be shaken,

The number of pillars was there were on each part had the third part of a number of thirty cubits