Moses on the dividing of the nations
Celsus seems to me to have misheard certain more mystical teachings about how the things on earth were apportioned. Greek history too touches on these in some way, when it brings in some of those reputed to be gods contending with one another over Attica, and when in the poets it makes some of the so-called gods admit that certain places are more their own. Barbarian history also, and above all that of the Egyptians, shows something of the kind about the division of what are called the nomes of Egypt, saying that Athena, who obtained Sais by lot, is the same who also holds Attica. The learned men of the Egyptians will tell countless things of this sort, though I do not know whether they also include the Jews and their land when they assign lands to one being or another. But enough for the present about what is said on these matters outside the divine word.
We say that Moses, the prophet of God among us and his true servant, sets out in the song of Deuteronomy the following about the division of the earth: “When the Most High divided the nations, when he scattered the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God; and his people Jacob became the Lord’s portion, Israel the measured lot of his inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:8–9).
And the same Moses, in the book entitled Genesis, tells of the division of the nations in the form of a history, as follows: “And all the earth had one language, and there was one speech for all. And it came to pass, as they moved from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they settled there” (Genesis 11:1–2). And a little after: “The Lord came down,” it says, “to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said: Behold, they are one race and all have one language; and this they have begun to do, and now nothing that they set out to do will fail them. Come, let us go down and confound their tongue there, so that none of them may understand the speech of his neighbour. And the Lord scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city and the tower. For this reason its name was called Confusion, because there the Lord God confounded the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord God scattered them over the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:5–9).
And in the book entitled the Wisdom of Solomon, where it speaks of wisdom and of the events at the confusion of tongues, when the division of those on earth took place, this is said about wisdom: “She also, when the nations had been confounded in their agreement in wickedness, knew the righteous man, and kept him blameless before God, and kept him strong against his tender love for his child” (Wisdom of Solomon 10:5).
The teaching on these matters is long and mystical, and to it applies the saying, “It is good to keep hidden the secret of a king” (Tobit 12:7). This is so that the teaching about souls that are bound into a body, not by transmigration, may not be thrown to whatever ears happen to hear it, and what is holy may not be given “to the dogs,” nor pearls thrown before swine (Matthew 7:6). For such a thing is impious, since it means betraying the secret oracles of the wisdom of God, of which it is well written: “Wisdom will not enter a soul that plots evil, nor dwell in a body in debt to sin” (Wisdom of Solomon 1:4). It is enough to present in the manner of a history what is told in a hidden way as though it were history, so that those who are able may work out for themselves what bears on the passage.
Greek
Δοκεῖ δή μοι παρακηκοέναι τινῶν ὁ Κέλσος περὶ τῆς διανεμήσεως τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς μυστικωτέρων λόγων, ὧν ἐφάπτεται μέν πως καὶ ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ ἱστορία, εἰσαγαγοῦσά τινας τῶν νομιζομένων θεῶν περὶ τῆς Ἀττικῆς πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἡμιλλῆσθαι, ποιοῦσα δὲ παρὰ τοῖς ποιηταῖς τινας τῶν λεγομένων θεῶν ὁμολογεῖν τινας τόπους οἰκειοτέρους αὐτοῖς. καὶ ἡ βαρβαρικὴ δὲ ἱστορία καὶ μάλιστα ἡ Αἰγυπτίων τοιαῦτά τινα ἐμφαίνει περὶ τοῦ μερισμοῦ τῶν τῆς Αἰγύπτου καλουμένων νομῶν, λέγουσα ὅτι ἡ λαχοῦσα τὴν Σάϊν Ἀθηνᾶ ἡ αὐτὴ ἔχει καὶ τὴν Ἀττικήν. Αἰγυπτίων δὲ οἱ λόγιοι μυρία ὅσα τοιαῦτα φήσουσιν, οὐκ οἶδα δ᾿ εἰ καὶ Ἰουδαίους συμπαραλαμβάνοντες καὶ τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν τῇ πρός τινα διανεμήσει. ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τῶν ἔξω τοῦ θείου λόγου λεγομένων εἰς ταῦτα ἅλις ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος. φαμὲν δ᾿ ὅτι ὁ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς προφήτης τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ γνήσιος θεράπων αὐτοῦ Μωϋσῆς ἐν τῇ τοῦ Δευτερονομίου ᾠδῇ ἐκτίθεται περὶ τοῦ μερισμοῦ τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς τοιαῦτα λέγων· „ὅτε διεμέριζεν ὁ ὕψιστος ἔθνη, ὡς διέσπειρεν υἱοὺς Ἀδὰμ, ἔστησεν ὅρια ἐθνῶν κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἀγγέλων θεοῦ, καὶ ἐγενήθη μερὶς κυρίου λαὸς αὐτοῦ Ἰακὼβ, σχοίνισμα κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ Ἰσραήλ.“ τὰ δὲ περὶ τῆς διανεμήσεως τῶν ἐθνῶν ὁ αὐτὸς Μωϋσῆς ἐν τῷ ἐπιγεγραμμένῳ βιβλίῳ Γένεσις ἐν ἱστορίας τρόπῳ φησὶν οὕτως· „καὶ ἦν πᾶσα ἡ γῆ χεῖλος ἓν, καὶ φωνὴ μία πᾶσι. καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ κινῆσαι αὐτοὺς ἀπ᾿ ἀνατολῶν εὗρον πεδίον ἐν γῇ Σενναὰρ, καὶ κατῴκησαν ἐκεῖ“· καὶ μετ᾿ ὀλίγα· „κατέβη, φησὶ, κύριος ἰδεῖν τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸν πύργον, ὃν ᾠκοδόμησαν οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. καὶ εἶπε κύριος· ἰδοὺ γένος ἓν καὶ χεῖλος ἓν πάντων· καὶ τοῦτο ἤρξαντο ποιῆσαι, καὶ νῦν οὐκ ἐκλείψει ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν πάντα, ὅσα ἂν ἐπιθῶνται ποιεῖν· δεῦτε καὶ καταβάντες συγχέωμεν ἐκεῖ τὴν γλῶσσαν αὐτῶν. ἵνα μὴ ἀκούσωσιν ἕκαστος τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ πλησίον αὐτοῦ. καὶ διέσπειρεν αὐτοὺς κύριος ἐκεῖθεν ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἐπαύσαντο οἰκοδομοῦντες τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸν πύργον. διὰ τοῦτο ἐκλήθη τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Σύγχυσις, ὅτι ἐκεῖ συνέχεε κύριος ὁ θεὸς τὰ χείλη πάσης τῆς γῆς, κἀκεῖθεν διέσπειρεν αὐτοὺς κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς.“ καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐπιγεγραμμένῃ δὲ Σολομῶντος Σοφίᾳ περὶ τῆς σοφίας καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν σύγχυσιν τῶν διαλέκτων, ἐν ᾗ γεγένηται ὁ μερισμὸς τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, γῆς. τοιαῦτα περὶ τῆς σοφίας εἴρηται· „αὕτη καὶ ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ πονηρίας ἐθνῶν συγχυθέντων ἔγνω τὸν δίκαιον, καὶ ἐφύλαξεν αὐτὸν ἄμεμπτον τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τέκνου σπλάγχνοις ἰσχυρὸν ἐφύλαξε.“ πολὺς δ᾿ ὁ λόγος καὶ μυστικὸς ὁ περὶ τούτων, ᾧ ἁρμόζει τό· „μυστήριον βασιλέως κρύπτειν καλόν“· ἵνα μὴ εἰς τὰς τυχούσας ἀκοὰς ὁ περὶ ψυχῶν οὐκ ἐκ μετενσωματώσεως εἰς σῶμα ἐνδουμένων λόγος ῥιπτῆται, μηδὲ τὰ ἅγια διδῶται „τοῖς κυσὶ,“ μηδ᾿ οἱ μαργαρῖται παραβάλλωνται χοίροις. ἀσεβὲς γὰρ τὸ τοιοῦτο, προδοσίαν περιέχον τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίας λογίων, περὶ ἧς καλῶς γέγραπται· „εἰς κακότεχνον ψυχὴν οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται σοφία οὐδὲ κατοικήσει ἐν σώματι κατάχρεῳ ἁμαρτίας.“ ἀρκεῖ δὲ τὰ κεκρυμμένως ὡς ἐν ἱστορίας τρόπῳ εἰρημένα κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἱστορίας παραστῆσαι τρόπον, ἵν᾿ οἱ δυνάμενοι ἑαυτοῖς ἐπεξεργάσωνται τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον.