The Court of the Gentiles, Discourse · Part 1 · Book 3 · Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. Of the Giants war, the Jewiſh Aſſes &c.
Gen: 11.4. The building the Tower of Babel expreſſed by the Pagans, under the Symbol of the Giants VVar &c. Thoſe who were under the confuſion at Babel called foreign, men of divided tongues. Gen. 10.8.9. foreign a Giant, thence the Giants war. aAlſo the Cananites war againſt the Iſraelites was couched under the ſame fable of the Giants war.Appions fable of the Jews worſhipping the Golden head of an Aſſe, whence it ſprang. Num. 19.18. foreign Pi-jao, which Appion interprets the Head of an Aſſe. Tacitus's fable of Aſſes diſcovering w…ls to the Iews in the Wildernes, Ethnick Imitations of Samſons Foxes, and Jonah's VVhale. How theſe Traditions came to be corrupted.
§. 1. The Giants war an imitation of the Tower of Babel &c. Gen. 11.1.ANother piece of Sacred Hiſtorie refers to the Tower of Babel, its Structure, and the Confuſion which happened thereon, mentioned, Gen. 11.4. whereof we find many remarkable Traditions ſcattered up and down amongſt Pagan writers. Thus Bochart in his Preface to Phaleg, about the middle, what follows (ſaies he) concerning the Tower of Babel, its ſtructure, and the confuſion of Tongues enſuing thereon, alſo of its builders being diſperſed throughout various parts of the Earth, is related in expreſſe words by Abydenus, and Eupolemus, in Cyrillus and Euſebius, &c. Bochart here proves at large, that upon this diſperſion the Nations were peopled by ſuch as are mentioned in Scripture. So in his Phaleg. lib. 1. cap. 13. Bochart gives us a deſcription of the Tower of Babel, out of Herodotus, parallel to that of the Scripture. And whereas 'tis ſaid Gen. 11.9. that 'twas called Babel, becauſe the Lord confounded their Language, hence Pagan writers called thoſe of this diſperſion, and their ſucceſſors foreign men of divided tongues. So Hom. Iliad. α. foreign generations of men having divided tongues, i.e. ſaies Dydimus foreign, of men having a divided ſpeech. So Owen Theolog. lib. 3. cap. 4. The Confuſion of Tongues was about the 101 year after the Floud, when men were made foreign of divided Tongues. It has been the common opinion of Antiquity, that men were called foreign from that diviſion of Tongues, which they ſuffered at the building of Babel, &c. Again, Gen: 10.8,9. Gen. 10.8,9.Nimrod the Head of this faction, who were engaged in this deſigne of Babel, is called a Mighty one; where the Hebrew foreign ſignifies a Giant or Mighty one: whence the Poets fabulous ſtories of their Gigantomachia or Giants war againſt Heaven; which is excellently deſcribed by Ovid Metaph. lib. 1. fab. 5. de Gigant.
Affectaſse ferunt Regnum Coeleſte Gigantes,
Alta que congeſtos ſtruxiſſe ad ſidera montes.
Thus Stillingf. Origin. S. book 3. chap. 5. The Giants making war againſt heaven, was only a Poetical adumbration of the deſigne at the building of Babel, whoſe top in the Scripture Gen. 11.4. is ſaid to reach to Heaven foreign which in the Hebrew ſignifies only a great height &c. The like Preſton on the Attributes Ser. 3. pag. 53. (edit. 2a.) Abydenus affirmeth that it was a common opinion, that the men whom the Earth brought forth, gathered themſelves together, and builded a great Tower which was Babel, & the Gods being angry with it threw it down, with a great wind, and thence ſprang the confuſion of Tongues &c.
Others refer the ſtorie of the Giants war, to the Cananites their war againſt the Iſraelites, ſo Sandford, de Deſcenſu Chriſti l. 1. Sect. 20. It is manifeſt, that the Poets ſucked in this whole Hiſtorie of the Giants war, from the Hebrew Monuments, and that the war waged againſt the Cananites, was the fountain whence Greece drank moſt things, which they fable touching their Giants &c. of which ſee more B. 2. C. 5. Sect. 3. of Hercules parallel with Joſhua. Mihi porrò luculentum videtur Gigantes illos, quorum apud Poet as haud infrequens eſt mentio, Amorrhaeos fuiſſe, Anakaeorum reliquias; & Deos, qui (ut fingunt) ex Aegypto provenientes adverſus Typhonem praelio dimicabant, Iſraelitas extitiſſe; qui & ipſi ex Aegypto proceſſerunt, Ogum que , Anakaeorum omnium tune temporis facile Principem devicerunt; ejuſ que Regnum, quod Terra Gigantum vocari ſolet in ditionem ſuam redegerunt. Quam autem ob cauſam Dii tandem dicti fuerint Iſraelitae, in promptu eſt explicare: notum quippe homines pios & fideles ab Hebraeis appellari foreign i.e. filios Dei. Hinc ergo Priſci illi Graeci, qui non modo Hebraicas Hiſtorias & res geſtas, ſed etiam Phraſes modoſ que loquendi, vel ab ipſis Hebraeis, vel a Phaenicibus edocti ſunt, Iſraelitas Dei filios appellare didicerunt, tandem vero & Deos. I…a ſane: ni fortè per Deos intellexerunt non omnes Iſraelitas, ſed Moſem duntaxat & Joſhuam: quos ipſi prius in Deorum album nefariè cum retuliſſent, jam tum nequiſſimè colebant: illum Bacchi nomine, hunc Apollinis ſive Hercules. Dickinſon Delphi Phaeniciz. cap. 2.Though the former reference of Bochart ſeem more authentick, yet we need not exclude this latter of Sandford, for it is apparent that the Mythologiſts differed much in the application of their fables, and applied the ſame to different Perſons and times, as their humor inclined them: whence we may well allow that ſome of them ſhould refer the Giants war, to the Cananites, as others, to the Builders of Babel.
§. 2. The fable of the Jews worſhipping the golden head of an Aſſe.To this we may adde that fable of the Iews worſhipping the golden Head of an Aſſe in the Temple at Jeruſalem, which ſeems evidently a miſtaken tradition of ſome Hebrew Story, Name, or Thing. The firſt inventor of this figment was Appion Grammaticus who was an Egyptian, and lived under Tiberius; the occaſion whereof is variouſly given by the Learned. Tanaquillus Faber, of Caen in Normandie gives this origination hereof. There was a place of the Heliopolitan prefecture in Egypt, where Onius builded a Temple after the Jewiſh Rite called foreign, the Region of Onius; and the Temple it ſelf was called foreign the Temple of Onius or foreign which thoſe of Alexandria ſo underſtood, as if it had been taken foreign, from an Aſſe worſhiped there. Bochart de Animal. Sacr. l. 2. cap. 18. fol. 226. gives this account hereof. 1. We find God ſtiled in Script. foreign badad, alone, ſo Deut. 32. which being of the ſame, or of a like ſound with foreign boded, a wild Aſſe Hoſ. 8.9. theſe calumniating profane Heathens, by a blaſphemous alluſion, interpret the former by the latter. 2. Yet becauſe Appion was an Egyptian, I had rather (addes Bochart) fetch the origination of this fable from the Egyptian tongue; wherein foreign is the ſame with foreign an Aſſe: whence thoſe profane Gentiles interpret what is attributed to God, Num. 9.18,20,23. &c. foreign Pijao to ſignifie an Aſſe. For the Ancients ſounded foreign pi-jao or foreign pieuo as in Porphyrie. Wherefore when the Egyptians read in the ſacred Scripture, or often heard from the Jews, that the Prieſt conſulted in the Sanctuarie or holy place, foreign pi-jao, the mouth of the Lord, and that pi-jao ſaid &c. they impiouſly feigned that pieo i.e. in the Egyptian tongue an Aſſe, was worſhipped by the Jews. Thus Bochart. Owen Theolog. lib. 5. c. 10. pag. 379. refers this fable to Arons Calf. His words are theſe. From Arons calf ſome took occaſion of coining that famous figment of an Aſſes golden head, worſhipped by the Jews, in the Temple at Jeruſalem. Tis poſſible this fable of the Jews worſhipping the head of an Aſſe, might have its riſe from that Prophecie touching the Jewiſh Meſsias's riding on an Aſſe as Gen. 49.11. of which before.
§. 3. Tacitus's fable of the Jews having wels of water diſcovered to them by Aſſes in the Wildernes.We may refer hereto, what is mentioned by Tacitus and Plutarch, touching the Jews; who when they thirſted in the VVildernes, had wels diſcovered to them by Aſſes, whereof Heinſius gives us this account. I do no way doubt (ſaies he) but that this error ſprang from Anachroniſme, and confuſion of Hiſtories: which I ſuppoſe might have its riſe, from what they had heard touching the Aſſes cheek wherewith Samſon ſlew a thouſand men; and from whence by Samſons prayers there ſprang a fountain &c. But Bochart, de Animal. S. part. 1. lib. 2. c. 18. fol. 227. gives this account of this fable. VVe conceive, that Tacitus affirming [cum grex aſinorum agreſtium è paſtu in rupem nemore opacam conceſsit, ſecutus Moſes conjectura herbidi ſoli largas aquarum venas aperit] does hereby deſcribe the deſert of Elim wherein, after long thirſt, the Iſraelites had fainted, had not God by a miracle, ſweetned the bitter waters, and at length in the Palmetree ſhade, opened ſo many fountains, as there were Tribes of the people, Exod. 15.27.Exod. 15.27. Elim, in the Hebrew foreign, ſignifies Fields. But Joſephus, Antiq. l. 3. c. 1. for Elim, reads foreign, as if it had its origiginal from Aſſes. For among the Aſſyrians Ilim ſignifies Aſſes. Whether this fable, which Plutarch and Tacitus relate, touching the Aſſes diſcovering Fountains to the Jews in the deſert, ſprang hence, yea or no, I leave to others to judge. Thus Bochart.
§. 4. we may adde hereto other Ethnick fables, which were of Iewiſh origination. I ſhall content my ſelf with one or two mentioned by Bochart, in his preface to Hiſtor. de Animal. S An Ethnick imitation of Samſons foxesIn memorie (ſaies he) of Samſons Foxes Iudg. 15.4 there were let looſe in the circus at Rome, about the middle of April foxes with firebrands. Whereunto appertains that which the Baeotians, who ſprang partly from the Phenicians boaſt of themſelves, that they could Kindle any thing by means of a torch aſſixt to a foxe: and that of Lycophron a Cilician, by whom a foxe is termed foreign, from its ſhining tail; or from a torch hound to its tail. A fable of Jonahs WhaleThe ſame Bochart tels us that the great fiſh, which ſwallowed up Ionah, although it be called a whale Ma…. 12.40 and by the LXX Ion. 2.1. Yet it was not a wh…le properly ſo Called, but a dog faſh, called Carcharias. Therefore in the Grecian fables Hercules, is ſaid to have bin ſwallowed up of a dog, & to have layen three daies in his Intrals. Which fable ſprang from the ſacred hiſtorie, touching Ionah, the Hebrew Prophet; as 'tis evident to all.
§. 5. Thus we have gleaned up many fragments and broken Traditions of Pagan writers, in imitation of, and derivation from ſacred ſtories and Records. How theſe Jewiſh Traditions came to be corrupted.I ſhall conclude this Diſcourſe with ſome account how theſe ſacred Traditions came to be ſo depraved and converted into fabulous narrations: wherein I ſhall follow the veſtigia of learned Bochart, and Stillingfleet; who have given us a good origination hereof. Stillingf. Origin. S. book. 3. cap. 5. Sect. 1. &c. pag. 578 tels us that it fated with this Tradition of the firſt Ages of the world as with a perſon who hath a long time travelled in forreign parts; that through its continual paſſing from one Age to another, and the various humors, tempers and Deſignes of men, it received ſtrange diſg…iſes, and alterations as to its outward favor, and complection, but yet there are ſome ſuch certain marques, remaining on it, by which we find out its true original. As for the cauſes of this depravation they are either more general, or more particular. The general cauſes or means, whereby theſe Iewiſh Traditions came to be corrupted by the Heathens were.
1. The gradual decay of knowledge, and increaſe of Barbariſme. 2. The gradual increaſe of Idolatrie. 3. The confuſion of Languages. 4. The fabulouſnes of Poets. The particular courſes which the Mythologiſts took, to diſguiſe ancient Traditions, were 1. By attributing what was done by the great founders of Mankind, to ſome of their own Nation; as Noah's floud to Deucalion, &c. 2. By taking the Idiom of the Oriental Languages in a proper ſenſe. 3. By altering the names in ancient Traditions. 4. In Equivocal phraſes, by omitting the ſenſe which was more obvious and proper, and aſsuming that which was more remote and fabulous. 5. By aſcribing the Actions of ſeveral perſons to one, who was the firſt or chief of them. Of all which more fully hereafter.