THE Jewish People became idola- trous and superstitious as soon almost as they were Worshippers of the true God. Their Abode in Egypt induced them to fall into the Superstitions of the Egyptians; and their Trade with idolatrous Nations engaged them in Idolatry. This is the just Reproach which God often makes them by his Prophets, in order to bring them back to him; and they no sooner returned to their only and true Benefactor, but they immediately almost relapsed. Hence sprung all those false Deities mentioned in the Scripture; that superstitious Worship which is there described, with a design of creating an Abhorrence of it: And this is the Subject of the following Works.
Abarbanel, de Idololatriæ speciebus, de quibus in Scriptura sit mentio, ex versione Joan. Buxtorf, among the several Dissertations translated into Latin by John Buxtorf; and printed with his Philological Dissertations, at Basil, 1662, in 4to. See the Title of this Jewish Doctor in the Index.
With this we may join Moses Maimonides’s Book of Idolatry, with the Latin Version and Notes of Denis Vossius, printed at Amsterdam, 1642, in 4to. and in 1668. See likewise the Title of this Rabbin, ibid. Antonii Vandale, de origine & progressu Idololatriæ & Superstitionum; de verâ & falsâ Prophetiâ, & de divinationibus Idololatricis Judæorum. Amstelod. 1696, in 4to.
Vossii de origine & progressu Idololatriæ, two Vols. fol. This is Gerard John Vossius, who composed two large Vols. in fol. upon Idolatry, printed at Amsterdam, 1668. See his Title in the Alphabetical Table.
Joan Selden, Syntagma de diis Syris cum Annotat. Andreæ Beyer; printed at Lipsick, 1668, and at Frankfort, 1672, in 8vo. Here he treats of the false Gods mention’d in the Old Testament. There are Prolegomena prefixed to his Treatise, which are as valuable almost as the whole Work. We have already given some account of this Author.
Athan. Kircher, de Egyptiorum, Syriorum, Hebræorumq; Diis. t. 1. Oedip. Ægyptiaci.
Agobardi Lugdun. Episcopi, de Superstitionibus Judæorum, in one of his Letters, p. 66. of the first Tome of his Works, of Baluze’s Edition, which is as it were the Sequel of another written by him upon the Insolence of the Jews: both addressed to the Emperor Lewis the Debonnaire.
Chevræana, t. 1. p. 395. These are Miscellanies by M. Chevreau, printed at Paris, 1697, in 12mo. in French. Here, in the Place cited, he speaks of the God Moloch.
You may consult in general those who have written against the Jews: Of these there is a long Catalogue in Imbonati, t. 5. Biblioth. Rabb. p. 526, 527, ---- 531.
Thodori Dassovii, de comâ Hebræorum licitâ & interdictâ, printed at Wittemberg, 1695, in 4to. This Dissertation is upon Leviticus xix. 27.
Prosperi Stellartii, de tonsuris Paganorum, Judæorum, & Christianorum, lib. 3. This Work was published at Doway, 1625, in 8vo. He was a Fleming, of the Order of St. Augustin, and died in 1626, at 39 Years of Age, in his way to Rome about the Affairs of his Order.
Martini Mauritii, de Sortitione veterum Hebræorum. Basileæ, 1692, 8vo. This is a Philological Treatise, the Author whereof was a Flemish Lutheran.
Petri Stevartii Catalogus Scriptorum Græcorum & Latinorum anti-Judaicorum. This is nothing more than the seventh Tome of Canisius’s Antiquities, printed at Ingolstadt 1616, in 4to. We are promised this very Catalogue with great Augmentations; See Fabricius, p. 26. of his Bibliographia. As for Stevart, see his Title in the Index.
See our Dissertation concerning the Idolatry of the Jews in the Wilderness, prefixed to the Comment on the Small Prophets.
—— On the Religion of Judah and Israel after their Separation. —— On the Phœnician Deities, ib.
—— On Moloch, and the other Gods of the Ammonites, before our Comment on Leviticus.
—— Upon Chemosh and Baalpeor, and the other Gods of the Moabites, in the Comment upon Numbers.
—— On the Gods of the Philistines, before our Comment on the First Book of Samuel.
—— On the Dæmon Asmodeus, in our Comment upon Tobit.
—— On the Charms of Serpents, in our Comment upon the first Tome of the Psalms.
—— On the Golden Calf, in the Dissertation upon Exodus.
—— Upon the Worship of the Moon, of Meni, or the Queen of Heaven, see our Comment upon Isaiah lxv. 11. Jeremiah vii. 18. and xliv. 17, 18.
—— Upon the Deity Gad, in the Comment upon Genesis xxx. 11. and Isaiah lxv. 11.
Lipenius, in his Bibliotheca Theologica, takes notice of several others, besides those mentioned by us, who have written on this Subject; such as George Mæbius, who put out Moscholatria Populi Israelitici, or of the Worship of the Golden Calf, upon Exodus xxxii. in several Disputations, at Lipsick, 1669, 1674, in 4to. See his Title in the Alphabetical Catalogue. See likewise Moncæus and Visor.