been, who have come
from the parts beyond Euphrates, a journey of four months, through many
dangers, and at great expenses, in honor of our temple; and yet,
when they had offered their oblations, could not partake of their own
sacrifices, because Moses had forbidden it, by somewhat in the law
that did not permit them, or somewhat that had befallen them, which
our ancient customs made inconsistent therewith; some of these did
not sacrifice at all, and others left their sacrifices in an imperfect
condition; many were not able, even at first, so much as to enter the
temple, but went their ways in this as preferring a submission to the
laws of Moses before the fulfilling of their own inclinations, they had
no fear upon them that anybody could convict them, but only out of a
reverence to their own conscience. Thus this legislation, which appeared
to be divine, made this man to be esteemed as one superior to his own
nature. Nay, further, a little before the beginning of this war, when
Claudius was emperor of the Romans, and Ismael was our high priest, and
when so great a famine [27] was come upon us, that one tenth deal [of
wheat] was sold for four drachmae, and when no less than seventy cori
of flour were brought into the temple, at the feast of unleavened bread,
[these cori are thirty-one Sicilian, but forty-one Athenian medimni,]
not one of the priests was so hardy as to eat one crumb of it, even
while so great a distress was upon the land; and this out of a dread of
the law, and of that wrath which God retains against acts of wickedness,
even when no one can accuse the actors. Whence we are not to wonder at
what was then done, while to this very day the writings left by Moses
have so great a force, that even those that hate us do confess, that he
who established this settlement was God, and that it was by the means
of Moses, and of his virtue; but as to these matters, let every one take
them as he thinks fit.

BOOK IV. Containing The Interval Of Thirty-Eight Years.

From The Rejection Of That Generation To The Death Of Moses.

CHAPTER 1. Fight Of The Hebrews With The Canaanites Without The Consent
Of Moses; And Their Defeat.

1. Now this life of the Hebrews in the wilderness was so disagreeable
and troublesome to them, and they were so uneasy at it, that although
God had forbidden them to meddle with the Canaanites, yet could they not
be persuaded to be obedient to the words of Moses, and to be quiet;
but supp