Chapter 4.
HOW IZATES WAS BETRAYED BY HIS OWN SUBJECTS, AND FOUGHT AGAINST
BY THE ARABIANS AND HOW IZATES, BY THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD, WAS DELIVERED
OUT OF THEIR HANDS.FJAJ 20.20
1. NOW when the king's brother, Monobazus, and his other kindred, saw
how Izates, by his piety to God, was become greatly esteemed by all men,
they also had a desire to leave the religion of their country, and to embrace
the customs of the Jews; but that act of theirs was discovered by Izates's
subjects
Whereupon the grandees were much displeased, and could not contain
their anger at them; but had an intention, when they should find a proper
opportunity, to inflict a punishment upon them
Accordingly, they wrote
to Abia, king of the Arabians, and promised him great sums of money, if
he would make an expedition against their king; and they further promised
him, that, on the first onset, they would desert their king, because they
were desirous to punish him, by reason of the hatred he had to their religious
worship; then they obliged themselves, by oaths, to be faithful to each
other, and desired that he would make haste in this design
The king of
Arabia complied with their desires, and brought a great army into the field,
and marched against Izates; and, in the beginning of the first onset, and
before they came to a close fight, those Handees, as if they had a panic
terror upon them, all deserted Izates, as they had agreed to do, and, turning
their backs upon their enemies, ran away
Yet was not Izates dismayed at
this; but when he understood that the grandees had betrayed him, he also
retired into his camp, and made inquiry into the matter; and as soon as
he knew who they were that made this conspiracy with the king of Arabia,
he cut off those that were found guilty; and renewing the fight on the
next day, he slew the greatest part of his enemies, and forced all the
rest to betake themselves to flight
He also pursued their king, and drove
him into a fortress called Arsamus, and following on the siege vigorously,
he took that fortress
And when he had plundered it of all the prey that
was in it, which was not small, he returned to Adiabene; yet did not he
take Abia alive, because, when he found himself encompassed on every side,
he slew himself.FJAJ 20.21
2. But although the grandees of Adiabene had failed in their first attempt,
as being delivered up by God into their king's hands, yet would they not
even then be quiet, but wrote again to Vologases, who was then king of
Parthia, and desired that he would kill Izates, and set over them some
other potentate, who should be of a Parthian family; for they said that
they hated their own king for abrogating the laws of their forefathers,
and embracing foreign customs
When the king of Parthia heard this, he
boldly made war upon Izates; and as he had no just pretense for this war,
he sent to him, and demanded back those honorable privileges which had
been bestowed on him by his father, and threatened, on his refusal, to
make war upon him
Upon hearing of this, Izates was under no small trouble
of mind, as thinking it would be a reproach upon him to appear to resign
those privileges that had been bestowed upon him out of cowardice; yet
because he knew, that though the king of Parthia should receive back those
honors, yet would he not be quiet, he resolved to commit himself to God,
his Protector, in the present danger he was in of his life; and as he esteemed
him to be his principal assistant, he intrusted his children and his wives
to a very strong fortress, and laid up his corn in his citadels, and set
the hay and the grass on fire
And when he had thus put things in order,
as well as he could, he awaited the coming of the enemy
And when the king
of Parthia was come, with a great army of footmen and horsemen, which he
did sooner than was expected, (for he marched in great haste,) and had
cast up a bank at the river that parted Adiabene from Media, - Izates also
pitched his camp not far off, having with him six thousand horsemen
But
there came a messenger to Izates, sent by the king of Parthia, who told
him how large his dominions were, as reaching from the river Euphrates
to Bactria, and enumerated that king's subjects; he also threatened him
that he should be punished, as a person ungrateful to his lords; and said
that the God whom he worshipped could not deliver him out of the king's
hands
When the messenger had delivered this his message, Izates replied
that he knew the king of Parthia's power was much greater than his own;
but that he knew also that God was much more powerful than all men
And
when he had returned him this answer, he betook himself to make supplication
to God, and threw himself upon the ground, and put ashes upon his head,
in testimony of his confusion, and fasted, together with his wives and
children.FJAJ 20.22
(7)
This conduct of Izates is a sign that he was become either a Jew, or an
Ebionite Christian, who indeed differed not much from proper Jews. See
ch. 6. sect. 1. However, his supplications were heard, and he was providentially
delivered from that imminent danger he was in.
Then he called upon God, and said, "O Lord and Governor, if I have
not in vain committed myself to thy goodness, but have justly determined
that thou only art the Lord and principal of all beings, come now to my
assistance, and defend me from my enemies, not only on my own account,
but on account of their insolent behavior with regard to thy power, while
they have not feared to lift up their proud and arrogant tongue against
thee." Thus did he lament and bemoan himself, with tears in his eyes;
whereupon God heard his prayer
And immediately that very night Vologases
received letters, the contents of which were these, that a great band of
Dahe and Sacse, despising him, now he was gone so long a journey from home,
had made an expedition, and laid Parthis waste; so that he [was forced
to] retire back, without doing any thing
And thus it was that Izates escaped
the threatenings of the Parthians, by the providence of God.FJAJ 20.23
3. It was not long ere Izates died, when he had completed fifty-five
years of his life, and had ruled his kingdom twenty-four years
He left
behind him twenty-four sons and twenty-four daughters
However, he gave
order that his brother Monobazus should succeed in the government, thereby
requiting him, because, while he was himself absent after their father's
death, he had faithfully preserved the government for him
But when Helena,
his mother, heard of her son's death, she was in great heaviness, as was
but natural, upon her loss of such a most dutiful son; yet was it a comfort
to her that she heard the succession came to her eldest son
Accordingly,
she went to him in haste; and when she was come into Adiabene, she did
not long outlive her son Izates
But Monobazus sent her bones, as well
as those of Izates, his brother, to Jerusalem, and gave order that they
should be buried at the pyramids (8)
These pyramids or pillars, erected by Helena, queen of Adiabene, near Jerusalem,
three in number, are mentioned by Eusebius, in his Eccles. Hist. B. II.
ch. 12, for which Dr. Hudson refers us to Valesius's notes upon that place.--They
are also mentioned by Pausanias, as hath been already noted, ch. 2. sect.
6. Reland guesses that that now called Absalom's Pillar may be one of them.
which their mother had erected; they were three in number, and distant
no more than three furlongs from the city Jerusalem
But for the actions
of Monobazus the king, which he did during the rest of his life
we will
relate them hereafter.-FJAJ 20.24