על חיי משה, ספר ב נ׳On the Life of Moses, Book II 50
א׳
1[275] There is another still more remarkable utterance of this kind which I may mention. It is one which I described some way back when I was speaking of the prophet in his capacity of high priest. This again came from his own mouth when again under possession, and it was fulfilled not long afterwards but at the very time when the prediction was given.
ב׳
2[276] The ministers of the temple are of two ranks, the higher consisting of priests, the lower of temple attendants; and at that time there were three priests but many thousand attendants.
ג׳
3[277] These last, puffed with pride at their own numerical superiority over the priests, despised their fewness, and combined in the same deed two trespasses, by attempting on the one hand to bring low the superior, on the other to exalt the inferior. This is what happens when subjects attack their rulers to confound that most excellent promoter of the common weal, order.
ד׳
4[278] Then, conspiring with each other, and collecting in great numbers, they raised an outcry against the prophet, declaring that he had bestowed the priesthood on his brother and nephews because of their relation to him, and had given a false account of their election, which had not really been made under divine direction, as we stated it above to be.
ה׳
5[279] Moses, greatly hurt and grieved at this, though the mildest and meekest of men, was so spurred to righteous anger by his passionate hatred of evil that he besought God to turn His face from their sacrifice; not that the All-righteous Judge would ever accept the ministries of the impious, but because the soul of one whom God loves must also do its part and not keep silence, so eagerly does it desire that the unholy may not prosper but ever fail to attain their purpose.
ו׳
6[280] While his heart was still hot within him, burning with lawful indignation, inspiration came upon him, and, transformed into a prophet, he pronounced these words: “Disbelief falls hardly on the disbelievers only. Such are schooled by facts alone, and not by words. Experience will show them what teaching has failed to show that I do not lie.
ז׳
7[281] This matter will be judged by the manner of their latter end. If the death they meet is in the ordinary course of nature, my oracles are a false invention; but, if it be of a new and different kind, my truthfulness will be attested. I see the earth opened and vast chasms yawning wide. I see great bands of kinsfolk perishing, houses dragged down and swallowed up with their inmates, and living men descending into Hades.”
ח׳
8[282] As he ceased speaking, the earth burst open under the shock of a convulsion, and the bursting was just in that part where the tents of the impious stood, so that they were borne below in a mass and hidden from sight; for the gaping sides closed again when the object was accomplished for which they had been split asunder.
ט׳
9[283] And, shortly after, thunderbolts fell suddenly on two hundred and fifty men who had led the sedition and destroyed them in a mass, leaving no part of their bodies to receive the tribute of burial.
י׳
10[284] The quick succession of these punishments and their magnitude in both cases clearly and widely established the fame of the prophet’s godliness, to the truth of whose pronouncements God Himself had testified.
י״א
11[285] This too we should not fail to note, that the work of chastising the impious was shared by earth and heaven, the fundamental parts of the universe. For they had set the roots of their wickedness on earth, but let it grow so high that it mounted right up to ether above.
י״ב
12[286] Therefore each of the two elements supplied its punishment: earth burst and parted asunder to drag down and swallow up those who had then become a burden to it; heaven poured down the strangest of rainstorms, a great stream of fire to blast them in its flames.
י״ג
13[287] Whether they were swallowed up or destroyed by the thunderbolts, the result was the same: neither party was ever seen again, the former hidden in the earth by the closing of the chasm which united to form level ground again, the latter consumed absolutely and entirely by the flame of the thunderbolt.