Chapter 1.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE WORLD AND THE DISPOSITION OF THE
ELEMENTS.FJAJ 1.3
1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
But when the
earth did not come into sight, but was covered with thick darkness, and
a wind moved upon its surface, God commanded that there should be light:
and when that was made, he considered the whole mass, and separated the
light and the darkness; and the name he gave to one was Night, and
the other he called Day: and he named the beginning of light, and
the time of rest, The Evening and The Morning, and this
was indeed the first day
But Moses said it was one day; the cause of which
I am able to give even now; but because I have promised to give such reasons
for all things in a treatise by itself, I shall put off its exposition
till that time
After this, on the second day, he placed the heaven over
the whole world, and separated it from the other parts, and he determined
it should stand by itself
He also placed a crystalline [firmament] round
it, and put it together in a manner agreeable to the earth, and fitted
it for giving moisture and rain, and for affording the advantage of dews.
On the third day he appointed the dry land to appear, with the sea itself
round about it; and on the very same day he made the plants and the seeds
to spring out of the earth
On the fourth day he adorned the heaven with
the sun, the moon, and the other stars, and appointed them their
motions and courses, that the vicissitudes of the seasons might
be clearly signified
And on the fifth day he produced the living creatures,
both those that swim, and those that fly; the former in the sea, the latter
in the air: he also sorted them as to society and mixture, for procreation,
and that their kinds might increase and multiply
On the sixth day he created
the four-footed beasts, and made them male and female: on the same day
he also formed man
Accordingly Moses says, That in just six days the world,
and all that is therein, was made
And that the seventh day was a rest,
and a release from the labor of such operations; whence it is that we Celebrate
a rest from our labors on that day, and call it the Sabbath, which word
denotes rest in the Hebrew tongue.FJAJ 1.4
2. Moreover, Moses, after the seventh day was over (1) Since
Josephus, in his Preface, sect. 4, says that Moses wrote some things enigmatically,
some allegorically, and the rest in plain words, since in his account of
the first chapter of Genesis, and the first three verses of the second,
he gives us no hints of any mystery at all; but when he here comes to ver.
4, etc. he says that Moses, after the seventh day was over, began to talk
philosophically; it is not very improbable that he understood the rest
of the second and the third chapters in some enigmatical, or allegorical,
or philosophical sense. The change of the name of God just at this place,
from Elohim to Jehovah Elohim, from God to Lord God, in the Hebrew, Samaritan,
and Septuagint, does also not a little favor some such change in the narration
or construction.
begins to talk philosophically; and concerning the formation of man, says
thus: That God took dust from the ground, and formed man, and inserted
in him a spirit and a soul.(2) We
may observe here, that Josephus supposed man to be compounded of spirit,
soul, and body, with St. Paul, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, and the rest of the
ancients: he elsewhere says also, that the blood of animals was forbidden
to be eaten, as having in it soul and spirit, Antiq. B. III. ch. 11. sect.
2.
This man was called Adam, which in the Hebrew tongue signifies one that
is red, because he was formed out of red earth, compounded together;
for of that kind is virgin and true earth
God also presented the living
creatures, when he had made them, according to their kinds, both male and
female, to Adam, who gave them those names by which they are still called.
But when he saw that Adam had no female companion, no society, for there
was no such created, and that he wondered at the other animals which were
male and female, he laid him asleep, and took away one of his ribs, and
out of it formed the woman; whereupon Adam knew her when she was brought
to him, and acknowledged that she was made out of himself
Now a woman
is called in the Hebrew tongue Issa; but the name of this woman
was Eve, which signifies the mother of all living.FJAJ 1.5
3. Moses says further, that God planted a paradise in the east, flourishing
with all sorts of trees; and that among them was the tree of life, and
another of knowledge, whereby was to be known what was good and evil; and
that when he brought Adam and his wife into this garden, he commanded ;hem
to take care of the plants
Now the garden was watered by one river, (3) Whence
this strange notion came, which yet is not peculiar to Joseph,, but, as
Dr. Hudson says here, is derived from older authors, as if four of the
greatest rivers in the world, running two of them at vast distances from
the other two, by some means or other watered paradise, is hard to say.
Only since Josephus has already appeared to allegorize this history, and
take notice that these four names had a particular signification; Phison
for Ganges, a multitude; Phrath for Euphrates, either a dispersion or a
flower; Diglath for Tigris, what is swift, with narrowness; and Geon for
Nile, what arises from the east,--we perhaps mistake him when we suppose
he literally means those four rivers; especially as to Geon or Nile, which
arises from the east, while he very well knew the literal Nile arises from
the south; though what further allegorical sense he had in view, is now,
I fear, impossible to be determined.
which ran round about the whole earth, and was parted into four parts.
And Phison, which denotes a multitude, running into India, makes its exit
into the sea, and is by the Greeks called Ganges
Euphrates also, as well
as Tigris, goes down into the Red Sea.FJAJ 1.6
(4) By
the Red Sea is not here meant the Arabian Gulf, which alone we now call
by that name, but all that South Sea, which included the Red Sea, and the
Persian Gulf, as far as the East Indies; as Reland and Hudson here truly
note, from the old geographers.
Now the name Euphrates, or Phrath, denotes either a dispersion, or a flower:
by Tiris, or Diglath, is signified what is swift, with narrowness; and
Geon runs through Egypt, and denotes what arises from the east, which the
Greeks call Nile.FJAJ 1.7
4. God therefore commanded that Adam and his wife should eat of all
the rest of the plants, but to abstain from the tree of knowledge; and
foretold to them, that if they touched it, it would prove their destruction.
But while all the living creatures had one language, (5) Hence
it appears, that Josephus thought several, at least, of the brute animals,
particularly the serpent, could speak before the fall. And I think few
of the more perfect kinds of those animals want the organs of speech at
this day. Many inducements there are also to a notion, that the present
state they are in, is not their original state; and that their capacities
have been once much greater than we now see them, and are capable of being
restored to their former condition. But as to this most ancient, and authentic,
and probably allegorical account of that grand affair of the fall of our
first parents, I have somewhat more to say in way of conjecture, but being
only a conjecture, I omit it: only thus far, that the imputation of the
sin of our first parents to their posterity, any further than as some way
the cause or occasion of man's mortality, seems almost entirely groundless;
and that both man, and the other subordinate creatures, are hereafter to
be delivered from the curse then brought upon them, and at last to be delivered
from that bondage of corruption, Romans 8:19-22.
at that time the serpent, which then lived together with Adam and his wife,
shewed an envious disposition, at his supposal of their living happily,
and in obedience to the commands of God; and imagining, that when they
disobeyed them, they would fall into calamities, he persuaded the woman,
out of a malicious intention, to taste of the tree of knowledge, telling
them, that in that tree was the knowledge of good and evil; which knowledge,
when they should obtain, they would lead a happy life; nay, a life not
inferior to that of a god: by which means he overcame the woman, and persuaded
her to despise the command of God
Now when she had tasted of that tree,
and was pleased with its fruit, she persuaded Adam to make use of it also.
Upon this they perceived that they were become naked to one another; and
being ashamed thus to appear abroad, they invented somewhat to cover them;
for the tree sharpened their understanding; and they covered themselves
with fig-leaves; and tying these before them, out of modesty, they thought
they were happier than they were before, as they had discovered what they
were in want of
But when God came into the garden, Adam, who was wont
before to come and converse with him, being conscious of his wicked behavior,
went out of the way
This behavior surprised God; and he asked what was
the cause of this his procedure; and why he, that before delighted in that
conversation, did now fly from it, and avoid it
When he made no reply,
as conscious to himself that he had transgressed the command of God, God
said, "I had before determined about you both, how you might lead
a happy life, without any affliction, and care, and vexation of soul; and
that all things which might contribute to your enjoyment and pleasure should
grow up by my providence, of their own accord, without your own labor and
pains-taking; which state of labor and pains-taking would soon bring on
old age, and death would not be at any remote distance: but now thou hast
abused this my good-will, and hast disobeyed my commands; for thy silence
is not the sign of thy virtue, but of thy evil conscience." However,
Adam excused his sin, and entreated God not to be angry at him, and laid
the blame of what was done upon his wife; and said that he was deceived
by her, and thence became an offender; while she again accused the serpent.
But God allotted him punishment, because he weakly submitted to the counsel
of his wife; and said the ground should not henceforth yield its fruits
of its own accord, but that when it should be harassed by their labor,
it should bring forth some of its fruits, and refuse to bring forth others.
He also made Eve liable to the inconveniency of breeding, and the sharp
pains of bringing forth children; and this because she persuaded Adam with
the same arguments wherewith the serpent had persuaded her, and had thereby
brought him into a calamitous condition
He also deprived the serpent of
speech, out of indignation at his malicious disposition towards Adam
Besides
this, he inserted poison under his tongue, and made him an enemy to men;
and suggested to them, that they should direct their strokes against his
head, that being the place wherein lay his mischievous designs towards
men, and it being easiest to take vengeance on him, that way
And when
he had deprived him of the use of his feet, he made him to go rolling all
along, and dragging himself upon the ground
And when God had appointed
these penalties for them, he removed Adam and Eve out of the garden into
another place.FJAJ 1.8