A Treatise on the Special Laws, Which Are Referred to Three Articles of the Decalogue, Namely the Third, Fourth, and Fifth About Oaths, and the Rever

 I. (1) In the treatise preceding this one we have discussed with accuracy two articles of the ten commandments, that which relates to not thinking tha

 II. (6) And some men display such easiness and indifference on the subject, that, passing over all created things, they dare in their ordinary convers

 III. (9) But if any one being compelled to swear, swears by anything whatever in a manner which the law does not forbid, let him exert himself with al

 IV. And in this description of oaths those most lawful vows are included which are offered up in consequence of an abundance of blessings, either pres

 V. (18) But there are other persons, also, boastful, puffed up with pride and arrogance, who, being insatiably greedy of glory, are determined to obey

 VI. (24) But the law takes away from virgins and from married women the power of making vows independently, pronouncing the parents of the one class,

 VII. (29) These then are the ordinances contained in the express language of these commandments but there is also an allegorical meaning concealed be

 VIII. (32) But in the case of those persons who have vowed not merely their own property or some part of it, but also their own selves, the law has af

 IX. (35) These are the ordinances established in respect of men, but about animals the following commands are given. If any one shall set apart any be

 X. (39) The next commandment is that concerning the sacred seventh day, in which are comprehended an infinite number of most important festivals. For

 XI. (41) Now there are ten festivals in number, as the law sets them down.

 XII. (42) The law sets down every day as a festival, adapting itself to an irreproachable life, as if men continually obeyed nature and her injunction

 XIII. (46) Being, therefore, full of all kinds of excellence, and being accustomed to disregard all those good things which affect the body and extern

 XIV. (49) Wherefore, if truth were to be the judge, no wicked or worthless man can pass a time of festival, no not even for the briefest period, inasm

 XV. (56) But after this continued and uninterrupted festival which thus lasts through all time, there is another celebrated, namely, that of the sacre

 XVI. (65) It is forbidden also on this day to kindle a fire, as being the beginning and seed of all the business of life since without fire it is not

 XVII. (71) And Moses thinks the number seven worthy of such reverence that even all other things which at all partake of it are honoured by him at al

 XVIII. (79) After having given these commandments, Moses proceeds in regular order to establish a law full of all gentleness and humanity. If, says

 XIX. (86) In the next place Moses commands the people to leave the land fallow and untilled every seventh year, for many reasons [Le 25:4.] first of

 XX. (96) Then, O you most worthless of all men! I would say to them, have you not first learnt what you are now teaching? or do you know how to invite

 XXI. (104) And the lawgiver, who is a prophetic spirit, gave us our laws, having a regard to these things, and proclaimed a holiday to the whole count

 XXII. (110) Having laid down these principles as a kind of foundation of gentleness and humanity, he then puts together seven sevens of years, and so

 XXIII. (116) These are the commandments which are given with respect to the divisions of the land and the inheritances so portioned out. There are oth

 XXIV. (120) And concerning the tribe which was set apart as consecrated for the priesthood, the following laws are established. The law did not bestow

 XXV. (122) But the laws established with respect to those who owed money to usurers, and to those who had become servants to masters, resemble those a

 XXVI. (140) Following the order which we have adopted, we proceed to speak of the third festival, that of the new moon. First of all, because it is th

 XXVII. (145) And after the feast of the new moon comes the fourth festival, that of the passover, which the Hebrews call pascha, on which the whole pe

 XXVIII. (150) And there is another festival combined with the feast of the passover, having a use of food different from the usual one, and not custom

 XXIX. (162) There is also a festival on the day of the paschal feast, which succeeds the first day, and this is named the sheaf, from what takes place

 XXX. (176) The solemn assembly on the occasion of the festival of the sheaf having such great privileges, is the prelude to another festival of still

 XXXI. (188) Immediately after comes the festival of the sacred moon in which it is the custom to play the trumpet in the temple at the same moment th

 XXXII. (193) And after the feast of trumpets the solemnity of the fast is celebrated, [part of sections 193�194 was omitted in Yonge's translation bec

 XXXIII. (204) The last of all the annual festivals is that which is called the feast of tabernacles, which is fixed for the season of the autumnal equ

 XXXIV. (215) There is, besides all these, another Festival[De 26:1.] sacred to God, and a solemn assembly on the day of the festival which they call c

 XXXV. (216) Nevertheless, any one may easily see that it has about it some of the characteristics of a sacred festival, and that it comes very near to

 XXXVI. (220) This hymn is sung from the beginning of summer to the end of autumn, by two choruses replying to one another uninterruptedly, on two sepa

 XXXVII. (223) I have now said thus much respecting the number seven, and the things referring to it among the days, and the months, and the years and

 XXXVIII. (224) Having already spoken of four commandments which, both as to the order in which they are placed and as to their importance, are truly t

 XXXIX. (226) And this is not the only reason why a man's father and mother are deserving of honour, but here are also several other reasons. For among

 XL. (228) I affirm, therefore, that that which produces is always older than that which is produced, and that that which causes anything is older than

 XLI. (232) For these reasons it is allowable for parents even to accuse their children, and to reprove them with considerable severity, and even, if t

 XLII. (234) Since this, then, is the case, those who do honour their parents are not doing anything worthy of praise, since even any single one of the

 XLIII. (237) And any one may conjecture that pious respect is due to parents, not only from what has been said above, but also from the manner in whic

 XLIV. (242) I have now then gone through all the five heads of laws in the first table, and have noticed also all the particular points which had any

 XLV. (249) Again, let the man who has profaned the sacred seventh day as far as it may have lain in his power, be liable to the punishment of death. F

 XLVI. (252) Against those who call God as a witness in favour of assertions which are not true, the punishment of death is ordained in the law [De 19

 XLVII. (257) We have now then mentioned the punishments which are ordained against those who neglect the five commandments. But the rewards which are

 XLVIII. (260) Again, those who properly keep the sacred sabbath are benefited in two most important particulars, both body and soul as to their body,

XXIX. (162) There is also a festival on the day of the paschal feast, which succeeds the first day, and this is named the sheaf, from what takes place on it; for the sheaf is brought to the altar as a first fruit both of the country which the nation has received for its own, and also of the whole land; so as to be an offering both for the nation separately, and also a common one for the whole race of mankind; and so that the people by it worship the living God, both for themselves and for all the rest of mankind, because they have received the fertile earth for their inheritance; for in the country there is no barren soil but even all those parts which appear to be stony and rugged are surrounded with soft veins of great depth, which, by reason of their richness, are very well suited for the production of living Things.[sections 163�174 were omitted in Yonge's translation because the edition on which Yonge based his translation, Mangey, lacked this material. These lines have been newly translated for this volume.] (163) The reason is that a priest has the same relation to a city that the nation of the Jews has to the entire inhabited world. For it serves as a priest--to state the truth--through the use of all purificatory offerings and the guidance both for body and soul of divine laws which have checked the pleasures of the stomach and those under the stomach and [tamed] the mob [of the Senses][there is a clear problem with the text here, i.e., the noun ochlon lacks a verb.] by having appointed reason as charioteer over the irrational senses; they also have driven back and overturned the undiscriminating and excessive urges of the soul, some by rather gentle instructions and philosophical exhortations, others by rather weighty and forcible rebukes and by fear of punishment, the fear which they brandish threateningly. (164) Apart from the fact that the legislation is in a certain way teaching about the priesthood and that the one who lives by the laws is at once considered a priest, or rather a high priest, in the judgment of truth, the following point is also remarkable. The multitude of gods, both male and female, honored in individual cities happens to be undetermined and indefinite. The poetic clan and the great company of humans have spoken fabulously about them, people for whom the search for truth is impractical and beyond their capability of investigation. Yet all do not reverence and honor the same gods, but different people different gods. The reason is that they do not consider as gods those belonging to another land but make the acceptance of them the occasion for laughter and a joke. They charge those who honor them with great foolishness since they completely violate sound sense. (165) But if he is, whom all Greeks together with all barbarians acknowledge with one judgment, the highest Father of both gods and humans and the Maker of the entire cosmos, whose nature--although it is invisible and unfathomable not only to sight but also to perception--all who spend their time with mathematics and other philosophy long to discover, leaving aside none of the things which contribute to the discovery and service of him, then it was necessary for all people to cling to him and not as if through some mechanical device to introduce other gods into participation of equal honors. (166) Since they slipped in the most essential matter, the nation of the Jews--to speak most accurately--set aright the false step of others by having looked beyond everything which has come into existence through creation since it is generate and corruptible in nature, and chose only the service of the ungenerate and eternal. The first reason for this is because it is excellent; the second is because it is profitable to be dedicated and associated with the Older rather than those who are younger and with the Ruler rather than those who are ruled and with the Maker rather those things which come into existence. (167) For this reason it amazes me that some dare to charge the nation with an anti-social stance, a nation which has made such an extensive use of fellowship and goodwill toward all people everywhere that they offer up prayers and feasts and first fruits on behalf of the common race of human beings and serve the really self-existent God both on behalf of themselves and of others who have run from the services which they should have rendered. (168) These are the things they do for the entire race of human beings. On the other hand they give thanks for themselves for many things. The first is that they are not perpetually wandering here and there among islands and continents and like foreigners and those without a permanent abode who have settled the lands of others and occupy others' wealth are reproached since they have acquired no portion of land from lack of means, but have acquired a land and cities and for a long time have been in possession of their own inheritance, for which reason it has been a sacred duty for them to offer the first fruits. (169) The second is that they did not receive a worthless and common land, but a good and fertile land both for the breeding of domestic animals and the abundance of unspeakably great crops. For there is no poor soil in it, and even the parts that seem to be stony and hardened are broken up with soft and especially deep veins which because of their richness are good for crop production. (170) In addition to these things, they did not receive a desolate land, but one in which there was a populous nation and great cities abounding in men. Yet the cities were emptied of their inhabitants and the entire race disappeared except for a small part: some as a result of wars and others as a result of divinely sent attacks because of their new and strange practices of wrongs and all of the impieties they used to commit through their great efforts to demolish the laws of nature. These things happened so that those who replaced them might be sobered by the calamities of others, and learn from their deeds that those who become devotees of evil deeds will suffer the same fate but those who have honored a life of virtue will possess their assigned portion, numbered not among emigrants but among the native residents. (171) That the first fruit is a handful for their own land and for all lands, offered in thanksgiving for prosperity and a good season which the nation and the entire race of human beings were hoping to enjoy, has been demonstrated. We should not be unaware that many benefits have come by means of the first fruit: first, memory of God--it is not possible to find a more perfect good than this; then, the most just recompense to the real Cause of the fruitfulness. (172) For the things which occur as a result of agricultural skill are few or none at all: to build up furrows, to dig and spade all around a plant, to deepen a trench, to cut off excessive growths, or to perform any similar task. But the things which come from nature are all essential and useful: the most fertile ground, a land well-watered by springs and both spring-fed and seasonal rivers and sprinkled with annual rains, mild temperatures of air moved by breezes which are most conducive for life, countless types of crops and plants. For which of these has a human either discovered or engendered? (173) Nature which has engendered these things has not begrudged a man its own goods, but considered him to be the governing part of mortal animals because he has a share in reason and good sense. She therefore chose him on the basis of his merit and summoned him to participate in her own goods. For these things it is right that the host, God, be praised and admired since he sees to it that the truely hospitable earth, all of it, is always full of not only the necessities but even of the things which make for a luxurious life. (174) In addition to these things, we should not fail to pay our regard to benefactors. For the person who is thankful to God who needs nothing and is selfsufficient, will also make it a habit to be thankful to humans who are in need of how many countless things. And there are many meanings intended by this offering of the first fruits. In the first place they are a memorial of God; secondly, they are a most just requital to be offered to him who is the real cause of all fertility; (175) and the sheaf of the first fruits is barley, calculated for the innocent and blameless use of the inferior animals; for since it is not consistent with holiness to offer first fruits of everything, since most things are made rather for pleasure than for any actually indispensable use, it is also not consistent with holiness to enjoy and partake of any thing which is given for food, without first giving thanks to that being to whom it is becoming and pious to offer them. That portion of the food which was honoured with the second place, namely, barley, was ordered by the law to be offered as first fruits; for the first honours were assigned to wheat, of which it has deferred the offering of the first fruits, as being more honourable, to a more suitable season.

THE SEVENTH FESTIVAL