Chapter 81
Some history of Tiberias.
The Jerusalem Talmud was written there: and when.
Tiberias was built by Herod the
tetrarch in honour of Tiberius: and that in a common burying-place, or
in a place where many sepulchres had been. Hence it was that the
founder was fain to use all manner of persuasion, enticements, and
liberality, to invite inhabitants. The very delightful situation of
the place seemed to put him on to wrestle with such a difficulty and
inconvenience, rather than not to enjoy so pleasant a soil and seat.
For on this side, the sea washing upon it,--on that side, within a
little way, Jordan gliding by it,--on the other side, the hot baths of
Chammath,--and on another, the most fruitful country Gennesaret
adjacent,--did every way begird this city, when it was built, with
pleasure and delight.
It did every day increase in
splendour, and became at last the chief city not only of Galilee but
of the whole land of Israel. It obtained this honour, by reason of the
university translated thither by Rabbi Judah, and there continued for
many ages. It was ennobled by thirteen synagogues: among which "the
ancient Serongian synagogue was one." It was famous also for the
Sanhedrim sitting there; for the Talmudic Misna, perhaps, collected
here by R. Judah; and for the Jerusalem Talmud, written there for
certain. That very volume does openly speak the place where it was
published: in which the words here, and hither, do most
plainly design Tiberias, almost in infinite places. But there is a
greater controversy about the time: it is agreed upon, by very many
learned men, that this Talmud was written about the year of Christ
230: which I do indeed wonder at, when the mention of the emperor
Diocletian, unless I am very much mistaken, does occur in it. Let us
note the places:--
"When the king Docletinus came hither
[to Tiberias], they saw R. Chaija Bar Abba climbing a sepulchre to see
him." This story is repeated in Nazir, and he is there called
Doclinus, by an error, as it seems, of the copiers.
"Dicletinus gathered the rivers
together, and made the sea of Apamia." And this story is recited in
Chetuboth, and there he is called Docletianus.
"Docletinus had most fine gold, even
to the weight of a Gordian penny."
"When Docletianus came thither, he
came with a hundred and twenty myriads."
"The boys of R. Judah, the prince,
bruised Diclot, the keeper of hogs, with blows. That king at length
escaped, and coming to Paneas, sent for the Rabbins, &c. He said to
them, Therefore, because your Creator worketh miracles for you, you
contemn my government. To whom they said, We contemned Diclot the
hog-herd; we contemned not Diocletianus the king." Hence arose a
suspicion among some learned men, that this was not to be understood
of Diocletian the emperor, but of some little king, I know not whom,
of a very beggarly original: of which opinion I also was some time,
until at last I met with something that put the thing past all doubt.
That you find in Avodah Zarah. There
inquiry is made by one, "What of the mart of Tsur?"--There is this
inscription there, "I Diocletianus, the king, built this mart of Tsur
[or Tyre], to the fortune of my brother Herculius, in eighty days."
The very sound persuades to render Herculius, and the
agreeableness of the Roman history, from which every one knows how
near a king there was between Diocletian and Maximian Herculius.
Eusebius mentions the travelling of
Diocletian through Palestine; and all the Roman historians speak of
his sordid and mean birth; which agree very well with the things that
are related by the Talmudists.
These are all the places, unless I
am much mistaken, where this name occurs in this Talmud, one only
excepted, which I have reserved for this place, that, after we have
discovered, by these quotations, that this was Diocletian the emperor,
some years after him might be computed. That place is in Sheviith: "Diocletianus
afflicted the men of Paneas: they said therefore to him, We will
depart hence: but a certain sophist said to him, Either they
will not depart; or, if they do, they will return again: but if you
would have an experiment of it, let two young goats be brought hither,
and let them be sent to some place afar off, and they will at last
come back to their place. He did so: for the goats were brought, whose
horns he gilded, and sent them into Africa: and they, after thirty
years, returned to their own place." Consider, that thirty years
passed from this action of Diocletian, which if you compute even from
his first year, and suppose that this story was writ in the last year
of those thirty, you come as far as the ninth or tenth year of
Constantine.
Mention also of king Sapor occurs,
if I do not fail of the true reading. "A serpent, under Sapor the
king, devoured camels." Yea, I have I know not what suspicion, that "Lulianus
the king," of whom there is mention in that very same place, does
denote Julianus the emperor. "When Lulianus the king (say they) came
thither, a hundred and twenty myriads accompanied him." But enough of
this...
R. Judah, who first removed the
university to Tiberias, sat also in Zippor for many years, and there
died: so that in both places were very famous schools. He composed and
digested the Mishnaioth into one volume. "For when he saw the
captivity was prolonged" (they are the words of Tsemach David,
translated by Vorstius), "and the scholars to become faint-hearted,
and the strength of wisdom and the cabala to fail, and the oral law to
be much diminished,--he gathered and scraped up together all the
decrees, statutes, and sayings of the wise men; of which he wrote
every one apart, which the house of the Sanhedrim had taught, &c. And
he disposed it into six classes; which are Zeraim, Moed, Nezikin,
Nashim, Kedoshim, Tahoroth." And a little after; "All the Israelites
ratified the body of Mishnaioth, and obliged themselves to it: and in
it, during the life of Rabbi, his two sons, Rabban Gamaliel and R.
Simeon, employed themselves, in the school of the land of Israel: and
R. Chaija, R. Hoshaia, R. Chaninah, and R. John, and their companions.
And in the school of Babylon, Rabh and Samuel exercised themselves in
it," &c.
Therefore it is worthy of
examination, whence those differences should arise between the
Jerusalem Misna, and the Babylonian,--differences in words, without
number,--in things, in great number; which he that compares them will
meet with every where. You have a remarkable example in the very
entrance of the Jerusalem Misna, where the story of R. Tarphon's
danger among thieves is wanting, which is in that of Babylon.
Whether R. Judah composed that
system in Tiberias or in Zippor, we are not solicitous to inquire: he
sat in both, and enriched both with famed schools; and Tiberias was
the more eminent. For "The university of Tiberias was greater than
that of Zippor."
Chapter 82
Tsippor
"Tsippor is the greatest city of
Galilee, and built in a very strong place."
"Kitron (Judg
1:29,30) is Tsippor: and why is it called Tsippor? Because
it is seated upon a mountain as Tsippor, a bird."
"Sixteen miles on all sides from
Tsippor was a land flowing with milk and honey."
This city is noted in Josephus for
its warlike affairs; but most noted in the Talmudists for the
university fixed there, and for the learning, which Rabbi Judah the
Holy brought hither, as we have said before. He sat in this place
seventeen years, and used most frequently to say this of himself,
"Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and Judah lived in Tsippor
seventeen years."
He sat also in Beth-Shaarim, as also
in Tiberias, but he ended his life in Tsippor. There is this story of
his death; "The men of Tsippor said, Whosoever shall tell us that
Rabbi is dead, we will kill him. Bar Kaphra, having his head veiled,
looked upon them and said, 'Holy men and angels both took hold of the
tables of the covenant, and the hand of the angels prevailed, and they
snatched away the tables.' They said to him, 'Is Rabbi dead?' He said,
'Ye have said.' They rent their garments after that manner, that the
voice of the renting came as far as Papath, that is, the space of
three miles. R. Nachman in the name of R. Mena said, 'Miracles were
done on that day.' When all cities were gathered together to lament
him, and that on the eve of the sabbath, the day did not waste, until
every one was gone home, had filled a bottle with water, and had
lighted up a sabbath-candle. The Bath Kol pronounced blessedness upon
those that lamented him, excepting only one; who knowing himself
excepted, threw himself headlong from the roof, and died."
"R. Judah died in Tsippor, but his
burial was in Beth-Shaarim: dying, he gave in command to his son,
'When ye carry me to my burial, do not lament me in the small cities
through which ye shall pass, but in the great,'" &c. What say you to
this, R. Benjamin? In you it is, "His sepulchre is in Tsippor in the
mountain, as also the sepulchre of R. Chaija, and Jonah the prophet,"
&c. Do you make up the controversy with your kinsmen now cited.
There were many synagogues in
Tsippor. In the story but now alleged, concerning the death and burial
of R. Judah, mention is made of eighteen synagogues that bewailed him;
but whether all these were synagogues of Tsippor, or of other places,
it is questioned, not without cause.
"The synagogue of Gophna was
certainly in Tsippor." There was also "The synagogue of Babylon in
Tsippor." There are also many names of famous doctors there.
"R. Honna Rabba." "R. Abudina of
Tsippor." "R. Bar Kaphra in Tsippor." "R. Chaninah of Tsippor." The
mention of whom is most frequent above others.
A controversy, risen at Tsippor, was
determined before "R. Simeon Ben Gamaliel, and R. Jose."
Among many stories acted on this
stage, which might be produced, we shall offer these only:--
"An inquisition was sometime made
after the men of Tsippor: they, therefore, that they might not be
known, clapped patches upon their noses; but at last they were
discovered," &c.
"One, in the upper street of Tsippor,
taking care about the scripts of paper fixed to the door-posts, was
punished a thousand zuzees." These words argue some persecution
stirred up in that city against the Jews.
"A certain butcher of Tsippor sold
the Jews flesh that was forbidden,--namely, dead carcases, and that
which was torn. On one sabbath eve, after he had been drinking wine,
going up into the roof, he fell down thence and died. The dogs came
and licked his blood. R. Chaninah being asked, Whether they should
drive away the dogs? 'By no means,' said he, 'for they eat of their
own.'"
"Counsellors and pagans in Tsippor"
are mentioned.
And also "The sons of Ketzirah, (or
the harvest), of Tsippor."
Tsippor was distant from Tiberias,
as R. Benjamin tells us in his Itinerary, "twenty miles."
Zipporin with Zain is once
writ in the Jerusalem Talmud; one would suspect it to be this city:
"When R. Akibah went to Zippor, they came to him, and asked, Are the
jugs of the Gentiles clean?" A story worthy of consideration; if that
Zipporin denote ours, was R. Akibah in Tsippor? He died almost
forty years before the university was translated thither. But schools
haply were there before a university.
In the Talmud, the story of "Ben
Elam of Tsippor" (once it is written, "in Tsippor") is
thrice repeated; who, when the high priest, by reason of some
uncleanness contracted on the day of expiation, could not perform the
office of that day, went in, and officiated.
Chapter 83
Some places bordering upon
Tsippor. Jeshanah. Ketsarah. Shihin.
I. In the place, noted in the
margin, discourse is had of the legitimate mothers of the priests:
among other things it is said, that no further inquiry be made, "If
his father be enrolled in the catalogue of Jeshanah of Tsippor."
The Gloss is, "There was a neighbour city to Tsippor, whose name was
Jeshanah; and it was customary to enroll them who were fit to judge,"
&c. So that this 'Jeshanah' seems to be so near to Tsippor, that the
records of Tsippor were laid up there.
II. "Towns fortified from the days
of Joshua: Old Ketsarah, which belongs to Tsippor; and Chakrah, which
belongs to Gush; Calab; and Jodapath the old [Jotopata]; and Gamala,"
&c. The Gloss is, "Ketsarah is the name of a little city without
Tsippor." Perhaps that which we cited above relates to this, "The sons
of Ketzirah (or the harvest), of Tsippor."
III. "Sometime a fire happened in
the court of Josi Ben Simai in Shihin, and the inhabitants of Ketsarah,
which belongs to Tsippor, came down to quench it; but he permitted
them not, saying, 'Let the exactor exact his debt.' Presently a cloud
gathered together above the fire; and rains fell, and put it out. The
sabbath being finished, he sent money to every one of them."
Josephus mentions also Garisimes,
distant twenty furlongs from Tsippor.
In like manner, "Asamon, a mountain
in the middle of Galilee, which lies over against Tsippor."
Chapter 84
Usha
"The Sanhedrim went from Jabneh
to Usha, and from Usha to Shepharaam." The Gloss is, "To Jabneh in
the days of Rabban Jochanan (Ben Zaccai); to Usha in the days of
Rabban Gamaliel: but they went back from Usha to Jabneh: but in the
days of Rabban Simeon they returned."
We do not apprehend the reason why
Rabban Gamaliel went thither; whatsoever it were, either some
disturbance raised by the Romans, or indignation that R. Eleazer Ben
Azariah should be president with him, or some other reason,--certainly
the abode there was but small, either Gamaliel himself returning to
Jabneh after some time, or R. Akibah, who succeeded in his chair.
But after the war of Adrian, and the
death of R. Akibah in that war, when Judea was now in disturbance by
the Romans, Rabban Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, succeeding in the
presidentship after Akibah, went with the Sanhedrim from Jafne to Usha,
nor was there ever after any return to Jafne.
The Talmudists remember us of very
many things transacted at Usha. "When they intercalated the year in
Usha, the first day, R. Ismael, the son of R. Jochanan Ben Brucha,
stood forth, and said according to the words of R. Jochanan Ben Nuri.
Rabban Simeon Ben Gamaliel said, 'We were not wont to do so in Jafne.'
On the second day, Ananias, the son of Josi the Galilean, said
according to the words of R. Akibah. R. Simeon Ben Gamaliel said, 'So
we were wont to do in Jafne.'" This story is repeated in Rosh hashanah,
and Nedarim.
"In Usha it was decreed that a man
should nourish his little children; that if a man make over his goods
to his children, he and his wife be maintained out of them," &c.
It was determined also in Usha
concerning the burning the Truma, in some doubtful cases: of which see
the place quoted.
But that we be not more tedious, let
this story be for a conclusion: "The wicked kingdom [of Rome] did
sometime decree a persecution against Israel: namely, that every one
preferring any to be an elder should be killed; and that every one
that was preferred should be killed; and that the city in which any is
preferred to eldership should be laid waste; and that the borders
within which any such promotion is made, should be rooted out. What
did Baba Ben Judah do? He went out, and sat between two great
mountains, and between two great cities, and between two sabbath
bounds, between Usha and Shapharaam, and ordained five elders,
namely, R. Meir, R. Judah, R. Simeon, R. Josi, and R. Eliezer Ben
Simeon. Rabh Oia added also R. Nehemiah. When this came to be known to
their enemies, he said to the scholars, 'Fly, O my sons': they said to
him, 'Rabbi, what will you do?' He said to them, 'Behold, I am cast
before them as a stone which hath no movers.' They say, that they
departed not thence, until they had fastened three hundred iron darts
into him, and had made him like a sieve."
Chapter 85
Arbel. Shezor. Tarnegola the Upper.
"Arbel a city of Galilee."--There is
mention of it in
Hosea 10:14. But there are authors which do very differently
interpret that place, viz. the Chaldee paraphrast, R. Solomon, Kimchi:
consult them.
It was between Zippor and Tiberias.
Hence Nittai the Arbelite, who was
president with Josua Ben Perahiah.
The valley of Arbel is mentioned by
the Talmudists.
So also "The Arbelite Bushel."
"Near Zephath in Upper Galilee was a
town named Shezor, whence was R. Simeon Shezori: there he was
buried. There is the memory also of R. Ismael Shezorei, who perhaps
was his brother."
In that scheme which we exhibited in
the beginning of this work, out of the Jerusalem Gemarists,
delineating the limits of the land under the second Temple, among
other names of places, you observe the mention of a place called "The
upper Tarnegola or Cock," &c. I render it "Geber, (or Gabara) the
upper, which is above Caesarea." Why I render Tarnegola by
Geber, those that are versed in the Talmudic writings will easily
perceive; for in them 'a cock' is indifferently called in the Chaldee
language Tarnegola, and by the Rabbins Geber. Nor is
there an example wanting of this our rendering. For the Targum of
Jonathan, in
Numbers 33:35,36, renders Ezio-geber Cerac Tarnegola, "The
city of the Cock." And he mentions this very place which we are now
upon,
Numbers 34:8; "Tarnegola at Caesarea." And the Targum of Jerusalem
there reads "Tornegola of Caesarion." Now that Caesarea which they
mean is 'Caesarea Philippi,' which is at the fountain of Jordan: and
that Gabara is called "Gabara the upper," for distinction's sake, from
other cities of the same name. Josephus calleth "Tiberias, Sipphor,
and Gabara," the three greatest cities of Galilee. He mentions also
the town Gabaroth, and Gabaraganei, which are reckoned with the
Gadarenes and Tyrians by him.
"From Gabara of Caesarea and
down-wards is as the land of Israel," in respect of the Demai,
or tithing.
Chapter 86
The difference of some customs
of the Galileans from those of Judea.
It is not impertinently questioned,
with what inhabitants Galilee and Perea were first planted after the
return out of Babylon, when you scarce find any mention of them in the
Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, but of those only who inhabited Judea and
the land of Benjamin. But whosoever they were, whether pure
Israelites, or those that were more mixed, or some of the ten tribes,
it is certain those that inhabited Galilee differed much from those
that dwelt in Judea, in certain rites, and not a little in the dialect
of their speech.
The Jewish pandect observe a various
difference between them: out of which we produce these few instances
instead of more:--
In the place noted in the margin, it
is discoursed concerning the form and manner of writing the donation
of the marriage dowry. "So and so (say they) the people of Jerusalem
writ, and the Galileans writ as those of Jerusalem: but the
inhabitants of Judea something varied," &c. Where the Gemarists thus;
"The Galileans' care was of reputation, not of money; the inhabitants
of Judea, their care was of money, not of reputation," &c.
"The wise men say, In Judea they did
service works on the Passover-eves, until noon; in Galilee, not at
all."
"The wise men say, That the Trumah
taken generally is bound in Judea, in Galilee is loosed. For the
Galileans know not the Trumah of the Temple-chamber." The sense of the
tradition is this, When any one pronounced a vow in general
terms,--for example, saying thus, 'Let this be to me as the Trumah,'
not naming what kind of Trumah,--a Galilean, so speaking, was loosed
from his vow, because he, by reason of the distance of the place (as
the Gloss tells us), knew not the Trumah of the holy treasury: but he
that inhabited Judea, and spoke thus, was bound by his vow.
And in the same text is added, "If
any vows generally by curses, he is loosed in Judea; he is bound in
Galilee, because the Galileans do not know the curses of the priests."
Where the Gloss is this; "There were no priests among the Galileans:
therefore, when they cursed, they cursed to none but to God." And the
Gemara of Jerusalem thus; "Because they were fastened to the curse of
Achan, it is said, that they are bound: but in Judea, because they are
not fastened to the curse of Achan, it is said that they are loosed."
"Rabbi Judah saith, In Judea they
made inquiry concerning the bridegroom and bride three days before the
wedding: but in Galilee they did not so. In Judea they allowed the
bridegroom and bride private company one hour before the wedding; but
they did not so in Galilee. It was a custom in Judea that the married
persons should have two friends, one of the family of the
bridegroom, and the other of the family of the bride: but it was not
so in Galilee. In Judea those friends slept in the same place where
the bridegroom and bride slept: but in Galilee it was not so," &c.
Chapter 87
The dialect of the Galileans,
differing from the Jewish.
"Surely thou also art one of them,
for thy speech bewrayeth thee,"
Matthew 26:73. Let these passages, which are delivered by the
masters, be instead of a comment:--
"To the men of Judea who were exact
in their language, their law is established in their hands. To the men
of Galilee, who were not exact in their language, their law is not
established in their hands."--The Gloss is, "They [the men of Judea]
were exact in their language: so that their speech was pure, not
corrupt."
"To the men of Judea, who are exact
about their language, and appoint to themselves certain signs, their
law is established in their hands: to the men of Galilee, who are not
exact about their language, nor appoint to themselves signs, their law
is not established in their hands." The Gloss is; "They were exact
about their language, namely, in rendering the same words which they
had heard from their masters. And because they were taught orally, by
hearing after hearing, they appointed to themselves from them sign
after sign. And because they were exact about their language, they
knew how to appoint to themselves fit signs that they might not
forget."
"The men of Judea learn from one
master, and their law is established in their hands: the Galileans
learn not from one master, and their law is not established in their
hands." The Gloss writes, "The Galileans heard one master in one
language, and another in another; and the diversity of the language,
or pronunciation, confounded them so that they forgat." And a little
after,
"R. Abba said, If any ask the men of
Judea, who are exact about their language, Whether they say Maabrin
with Ain, or Maabrin with Aleph? Whether they say Acuzo
(with Ain), or Acuzo (with Aleph)? They all answer, There are
some who pronounce it with Aleph, and there are others who pronounce
it with Ain..." And a little after:
"A certain Galilean said...They
answered him, O foolish Galilean..." The sense is, When the Galilean
asked, "Whose is Immar, 'this lamb?'" he pronounced the first
letter in the word Immar, so confusedly and uncertainly, that
the hearers knew not whether he meant Chamar,--that is, an
'ass'; or Chamar, 'wine'; or Amar, 'wool'; or Immar,
'a lamb.'
"A Galilean woman when she should
have said to their neighbour Come, and I will feed you with milk" [or
some fat thing]: "said, My neighbour, a lion shall eat you." The Gloss
is, "She distinguished not, but confounded the letters: for when she
should say, Shelubti with Beth, which signifies a neighbour,
she said Shelucti, with Caph (a barbarous word). For, 'come,
and I will feed you with milk.'--she said words that imply a curse; as
much as to say, Let a lion devour thee."
"A certain woman said before the
judge"...That which she intended to say was this, "My Lord, I had a
picture, which they stole; and it was so great, that if you had been
placed in it, your feet would not have touched the ground." But she so
spoiled the business with her pronouncing, that, as the Glosser
interprets it, her words had this sense, "Sir, slave, I had a beam;
and they stole thee away; and it was so great, that if they had hung
thee on it, thy feet would not have touched the ground."
Among other things, you see, that in
this Galilean dialect the pronunciation of the gutturals is very much
confounded; which however the Jews correct in the words alleged, yet
it was not unusual among them, so that "the mystical doctors
distinguished not between Cheth and He." They are the words of the
Jerusalem Talmudists:--and these also are the words of those of
Babylon; "The schools of R. Eleazar Ben Jacob pronounced Aleph Ain,
and Ain Aleph."
We observed before one example of
such confusion of letters, when one teaching thus, "The waters of the
marshes are not to be reckoned among those waters" (that make
unclean), he meant to have it understood of the water of eggs:
but he deceived his hearers by an uncertain pronunciation...
If you read the Samaritan version of
the Pentateuch, you will find so frequent a changing of the gutturals,
that you could not easily get a more ready key of that language than
by observing that variation.
Chapter 88
Gilgal, in
Deuteronomy 11:30: what the place was.
That which is said by Moses, that "Gerizim
and Ebal were over-against Gilgal,"
Deuteronomy 11:30, is so obscure, that it is rendered into
contrary significations by interpreters. Some take it in that sense,
as if it were near to Gilgal: some far off from Gilgal:
the Targumists read, "before Gilgal": while, as I think, they do not
touch the difficulty; which lies not so much in the signification of
the word Mul, as in the ambiguity of the word Gilgal.
These do all seem to understand that Gilgal which the people of Israel
took the first night after their passage over Jordan,
Joshua 4:19; which, as Josephus relates, was distant only fifty
furlongs from Jordan; but which the Gemarists guess to be fifty miles
and more. For "they say, the journey of that day was more than sixty
miles, to wit, from Jordan to Gilgal." And this they say, that they
may fix Gilgal near Gerizim and Ebal; where they think the people
encamped the first night after their entrance into the land of Canaan,
from those words of Moses,
Deuteronomy 27:2, "In the day, wherein thou shalt pass over
Jordan, thou shalt set thee up great stones, and shalt plaster them
with plaster," &c. Now those stones, say they, are set up in Gerizim
and Ebal. Hence is that of the Gemarists, "The Lord said, I said, When
ye shall pass Jordan, ye shall set up stones; but you have spread
yourselves as far as sixty miles." And, "Gerizim and Ebal were sixty
miles distant from Jordan."
But certainly by that Gilgal, of
which Moses in those words speaks, "Are not Gerizim and Ebal
over-against Gilgal?" is to be understood some other than that
which Joshua named by that name,
Joshua 5:9. For when Moses spoke those words, the name of that
Gilgal, near Jericho, was not at all: nor can that which is spoke in
the book of Joshua concerning the nations of Gilgal,
Joshua 12:23, be applied to that Gilgal, when it had obtained that
name. Therefore, in both places, by Gilgal seems to be
understood Galilee; and that as well from the nearness of the
words,--for Gilgal, and Galil, are of the same root and
etymology,--as from the very sense of the places. For when, in Joshua,
some kings of certain particular cities in Galilee--Kedesh, Jokneam,
Dor, &c.--are reckoned up, the king of the nations of Gilgal, or
Galilee, is also added, who ruled over many cities and countries in
Galilee.
So also the words of Moses may very
well be rendered in the like sense, 'Are not those mountains, Gerizim
and Ebal, beyond Jordan, over-against Gilgal, or Galilee?'
These things following strengthen
our conjecture:--I. The version of the LXX, who render The nations
of Gilgal, by Gei of Galilee. II. The comparing Josephus
with the book of the Maccabees, in the story of Demetrius. "He pitched
his tent (saith Josephus), 'in Arbel, a city of Galilee'"; but,
1 Maccabees 9:2, "They went forth the way that leadeth to Galgala,
and pitched their tents before Mesaloth, which is in Arbel." In one
Arbel is in Galgala or Gilgal, in the other it is in Galilee.
Chapter 89
Divers towns called by the name of Tyre.
Besides Tyre, the noble mart of
Phoenicia, we meet with various places of the same name, both in the
Talmudists and in Josephus.
In the place noted in the margin,
they mention one Tyre, in the very borders of the land, which
was bound to pay tithes; and another, in like manner in the borders,
which was not bound: we shall hereafter produce their words. And in
these examples which follow, and in very many others, which might be
produced,--they leave it undecided, whether the discourse is of Tyre
of Phoenicia, or of some other place of that name.
"Jacob Navoriensis travelled to
Tyre and there taught some things, for which R. Chaggai would have
him beaten."
"R. Mean went to Tyre: whom
R. Chaija Bar Ba found there; and going forward, he told R. Jochanan
those things which he had taught."
"R. Issa went to Tyre, and
saw them drinking wine," &c.
Josephus thus writes of Hyrcanus,
the brother of Simon the high priest:--"He built a strong place
between Arabia and Judea beyond Jordan: and called it Tyre."
The same author, of John Ben Levi
thus: When he had endeavoured to retain the Giscalites, now attempting
to shake off the Roman yoke, it was to no purpose: "for the bordering
people, the Gadarenes, the Gabaraganeans, and the Tyrians, having got
together considerable forces, invade Giscala." You can scarcely
suppose that these Tyrians came out of Tyre of Phoenicia, but from
some other place of the same name.
Upon that reason that very many
towns in the land of Israel were called by the name of Rama, namely,
because they were seated in some high place; by the same reason
very many are called by the name of Tyre, because they were
built in a rocky place.
Chapter 90
Cana
We have little to certify as to the
situation of this place: only we learn this of Josephus concerning
Cana, that it was such a distance from Tiberias, as he could measure
with his army in one night. For when word was brought him by letters,
that the enemy Justus had endeavoured to draw away the Tiberians from
their fidelity towards him, "I was then (saith he) in a town of
Galilee, called Cana: taking, therefore, with me two hundred soldiers,
I travelled the whole night, having despatched a messenger before, to
tell the Tiberians of my coming: and, in the morning, when I
approached the city, the people came out to meet me," &c.
He makes mention, also, of Cana, in
the same book of his own Life, in these words; "Sylla, king Agrippa's
general, encamping five furlongs from Julias, blocked up the ways with
guards, both that which leads to Cana, and that which leads to the
castle Gamala." But now, when Julias and Gamala, without all
doubt, were beyond Jordan, it may be inquired whether that Cana were
not also on that side. But those things that follow seem to deny this:
for he blocked up the ways, "that by this means he might shut out all
supplies that might come from the Galileans." Mark that, that might
come from the Galileans; that is, from Cana, and other
places of Galilee about Cana.
That Julias which Sylla received was
Julias Betharamphtha (of which afterward), which was seated on the
further bank of Jordan, there where it is now ready to flow into the
sea of Gennesaret. Therefore, Cana seems, on the contrary, to lie on
this side Jordan; how far removed from it we say not, but we guess not
far; and it was distant such a space from Tiberias as the whole length
of the sea of Gennesaret doth contain.
