The Biblical Antiquities of Philo, Chapter 34
THE BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES OF PHILO
TRANSLATED FROM THE OLD LATIN VERSION
BY
M. R. JAMES, LITT.D., F.B.A.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
XXXIV. And at that time there came up a certain Aod 1 of the priests of Madian, and he was a wizard, and he spake unto Israel, saying: Wherefore give ye ear to your law? Come and I will shew you such a thing as your law is not. And the people said: What canst thou shew us that our law hath not? And he said to the people: Have ye ever seen the sun by night? And they said: Nay. And he said: Whensoever ye will, I will shew it unto you, that ye may know that our gods have power, and will not deceive them that serve them. And they said: Shew us.
2. And he departed and wrought with his magic, commanding the angels that were set over sorceries, because for a long time he did sacrifice unto them.
3. <<For this was formerly in the power of the angels and was>> performed by the angels before they were judged, and they would have destroyed the unmeasurable world; and because they transgressed, it came to pass that the angels had no longer the power. 1 For when they were judged, then the power was not committed unto the rest: and by these signs (or powers) do they work who minister unto men in sorceries, until the unmeasurable age shall come.
4. And at that time Aod by art magic shewed unto the people the sun by night. And the people were astonished and said: Behold, what great things can the gods of the Madianites do, and we knew it not!
5. And God, willing to try Israel whether they were yet in iniquity, suffered the angels, and their work had good success, and the people of Israel were deceived and began to serve the gods of the Madianites. And God said: I will deliver them into the hands of the Madianites, inasmuch as by them are they deceived. And he delivered them into their hands, and the Madianites began to bring Israel into bondage.
Footnotes
180:1 XXXIV. Aod reminds us of the traditional Antichrist, one of whose great feats will be to make the sun appear at night: Ascension of Isaiah (4:5): "and at his word the sun will shine at night."
181:1 3. The sentences about the angels who preside over sorceries are somewhat obscure. They depend upon the story, told at such length in Enoch, of the fallen angels who made known secret arts to mankind. The powers possessed by these were not conferred upon those who replaced them.
