XXXVIII
OF THE JEWS, AT THE TIME THEY BEGAN TO BE KNOWN
WE SHALL touch as little as possible upon what is divine in the history of the Jews; or, if we are compelled to speak of it, we shall go no farther than as their miracles have an essential connection with the sequel of events. We have all the respect that is due to the continual prodigies which signalized all the steps of that nation. We believe them with all the reasonable faith that is required by the church, that is, the substitute to the synagogue; we do not examine them, we constantly confine ourselves to history. We shall talk of the Jews, as we spoke of the Scythians and the Greeks, in weighing the probabilities and discussing the facts. No other persons than themselves having wrote their history, before the Romans destroyed their state, it is only necessary to consult their annals.
This is one of the most modern nations, considering them as the other people only from the time they formed a settlement and possessed a capital. The Jews seem to be considered by their neighbors only in the time of Solomon, which was nearly about that of Hesiod and Homer, and the first archons of Athens.
The name of Solomon, or Soleiman, is well known to the Eastern people; but that of David is not, and Saul still less. The Jews before Saul appeared only like a band of Arabs of the Desert, of so little power that the Phenicians treated them nearly in the same manner as the Lacedemonians treated the Ilotes. These were slaves, who were not allowed arms. They had not the privilege of forging iron, not even to sharpen their plowshares and the edge of their hatchets. They were obliged to apply to their masters for any kind of work of this nature; this is set forth by the Jews in the book of Samuel; and they add, that they had neither sword nor javelin, in the battle which Saul and Jonathan gave as Bethaven against the Phenicians, or Philistines, an action in which it is related of Saul that he made an oath of sacrificing to the Lord he that should eat during the conflict.
It is true that before this battle won without arms, it is said in the preceding chapter, that Saul with an army of three hundred thirty thousand men entirely defeated the Ammonites; which does not seem to agree with the confession, that they had neither sword nor javelin, nor any other arms. Moreover, the greatest princes have seldom had at one time three hundred thirty thousand effective warriors. How could the Jews, who appear wandering and oppressed in this little country, which has not a single fortified city, no arms, not so much as a sword, be able to bring thirty-three thousand soldiers into the field? These were sufficient to conquer Asia and Europe. Let us leave the pains of reconciling these apparent contradictions, which superior intellects remove, to learned and celebrated authors: let us respect what we are obliged to respect; and let us recur to the history of the Jews according to their own writings.