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From the Death of Ahab to the Captivity of the Ten Tribes - Flavius Josephus

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And indeed this prophet prophesied many o<strong>the</strong>r things besides <strong>the</strong>se<br />

concerning Nineveh, which I do not think necessary <strong>to</strong> repeat, and I here<br />

omit <strong>the</strong>m, that I may not appear troublesome <strong>to</strong> my readers; all which thing<br />

happened about Nineveh a hundred and fifteen years afterward: so this may<br />

suffice <strong>to</strong> have spoken <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se matters.<br />

Footnotes:<br />

1. Dr. Wall, in his critical notes on 2 Kings 15:20, observes, "that when<br />

this Menahem is said <strong>to</strong> have exacted <strong>the</strong> money <strong>of</strong> Israel <strong>of</strong> all <strong>the</strong><br />

mighty men <strong>of</strong> wealth, <strong>of</strong> each man fifty shekels <strong>of</strong> silver, <strong>to</strong> give Pul,<br />

<strong>the</strong> king <strong>of</strong> Assyria, a thousand talents, this is <strong>the</strong> first public money<br />

raised by any [Israelite] king by tax on <strong>the</strong> people; that <strong>the</strong>y used before<br />

<strong>to</strong> raise it out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> treasures <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> house <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Lord, or <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir own<br />

house; that it was a poll-money on <strong>the</strong> rich men, [and <strong>the</strong>m only,] <strong>to</strong><br />

raise œ353,000, or, as o<strong>the</strong>rs count a talent, œ400,000, at <strong>the</strong> rate <strong>of</strong> œ6<br />

or œ7 per head; and that God commanded, by Ezekiel, ch. 45:8; 46:18,<br />

that no such thing should be done [at <strong>the</strong> Jews' res<strong>to</strong>ration], but <strong>the</strong> king<br />

should have land <strong>of</strong> his own."<br />

2. This passage is taken out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> prophet Nahum, ch. 2:8-13, and is <strong>the</strong><br />

principal, or ra<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong> only, one that is given us almost verbatim, but a<br />

little abridged, in all <strong>Josephus</strong>'s known writings: by which quotation we<br />

learn what he himself always asserts, viz. that he made use <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

Hebrew original and not <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Greek version]; as also we learn, that his<br />

Hebrew copy considerably differed from ours. See all three texts<br />

particularly set down and compared <strong>to</strong>ge<strong>the</strong>r in <strong>the</strong> Essay on <strong>the</strong> Old<br />

Testament, page 187.<br />

53

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