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The Antiquities of the Jews - Table of Contents
The Antiquities of the Jews
Written by Flavius Josephus
Translated by William Whiston
Book One
Chapter 8
That When There Was A Famine In Canaan, Abram
Went Thence Into Egypt; And After He Had Continued There A While
He Returned Back Again.
1. Now, after this, when a famine had invaded the land of
Canaan, and Abram had discovered that the Egyptians were in a
flourishing
condition, he was disposed to go down to them, both to partake
of the plenty they enjoyed, and to become an auditor of their
priests, and to know what they said concerning the gods;
designing either to follow them, if they had better notions than
he, or to convert them into a better way, if his own notions
proved the truest. Now, seeing he was to take Sarai with him,
and
was afraid of the madness of the Egyptians with regard to women,
lest the king should kill him on occasion of his wife's great
beauty, he contrived this device : - he pretended to be her
brother, and directed her in a dissembling way to pretend the
same, for he said it would be for their benefit. Now, as soon as
he came into Egypt, it happened to Abram as he supposed it
would;
for the fame of his wife's beauty was greatly talked of; for
which reason Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, would not be satisfied
with what was reported of her, but would needs see her himself,
and was preparing to enjoy her; but God put a stop to his unjust
inclinations, by sending upon him a distemper, and a sedition
against his government. And when he inquired of the priests how
he might be freed from these calamities, they told him that this
his miserable condition was derived from the wrath of God, upon
account of his inclinations to abuse the stranger's wife. He
then, out of fear, asked Sarai who she was, and who it was that
she brought along with her. And when he had found out the truth,
he excused himself to Abram, that supposing the woman to be his
sister, and not his wife, he set his affections on her, as
desiring an affinity with him by marrying her, but not as
incited
by lust to abuse her. He also made him a large present in money,
and gave him leave to enter into conversation with the most
learned among the Egyptians; from which conversation his virtue
and his reputation became more conspicuous than they had been
before.
2. For whereas the Egyptians were formerly addicted to different
customs, and despised one another's sacred and accustomed rites,
and were very angry one with another on that account, Abram
conferred with each of them, and, confuting the reasonings they
made use of, every one for their own practices, demonstrated
that such reasonings were vain and void of truth: whereupon he
was
admired by them in those conferences as a very wise man, and one
of great sagacity, when he discoursed on any subject he
undertook; and this not only in understanding it, but in
persuading other men also to assent to him. He communicated to
them arithmetic, and delivered to them the science of astronomy;
for before Abram came into Egypt they were unacquainted with
those parts of learning; for that science came from the
Chaldeans into Egypt, and from thence to the Greeks also.
3. As soon as Abram was come back into Canaan, he parted the
land between him and Lot, upon account of the tumultuous
behavior of their shepherds, concerning the pastures wherein
they should feed their flocks. However, he gave Lot his option,
or leave, to
choose which lands he would take; and he took himself what the
other left, which were the lower grounds at the foot of the
mountains; and he himself dwelt in Hebron, which is a city seven
years more ancient than Tunis of Egypt. But Lot possessed the
land of the plain, and the river Jordan, not far from the city
of Sodom, which was then a fine city, but is now destroyed, by
the
will and wrath of God, the cause of which I shall show in its
proper place hereafter.
Continue on to
Book One,
Chapter 9, The Antiquities of the Jews by
Flavius Josephus
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The Antiquities of the Jews - Table of Contents
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