9. THE DEATH OF SOLOMON.

When Solomon had recovered his throne, he reigned twenty years. His whole reign was forty years, and he lived in all fifty-five years.[[684]] He spent these years in prosecuting the building of the temple. Towards the end of his life he often visited the temple, and remained there one or two months plunged in prayer, without leaving it. He took his nourishment in the temple. He even remained a year thus; and when he was standing, with bowed head, in a humble attitude before God, no one ventured to approach him, man or Jinn; if a Jinn drew near, fire fell from heaven and consumed him.

In the garden of Solomon grew every day an unknown tree. Solomon asked it, “What is thy name, and what are thy virtues?” And the tree answered him, “I am called such and such, and I serve such a purpose, either by my fruits, or by my shadow, or by my fragrance.”

Then Solomon transplanted it elsewhere; and if it were a tree with medicinal properties, he wrote in books the kinds of remedies for which it served. One day Solomon saw in his garden a new tree, and he asked it, “What is thy name, and what purpose dost thou serve?”

The tree replied, “I serve for the destruction of the temple. Make of me a staff, whereon to lean.”

Solomon said, “None can destroy the temple as long as I am alive.” Then he understood that the tree warned him that he must shortly die. He pulled up the tree, and of it he made a staff, and, when he prayed, he leaned on this staff to keep himself upright.

Solomon knew that the temple was not completed, and that if he died, and the Jinns knew of it, they would leave off building; therefore he prayed, “O Lord! grant that the event of my death may be hidden from the Jinns, that they may finish this temple.”

God heard his prayer, that the temple might be completed, and that the Jinns might be humbled. Solomon died in the temple, standing, leaning on his staff, with his head bowed in adoration. And his soul was taken so gently from him by the Angel of Death, that the body remained standing; and so it remained for a whole year, and those who saw him thought he was absorbed in prayer, and they ventured not to approach.

The Jinns worked night and day till the temple was finished. Now, God had ordered, the same day that the soul left Solomon, a little white ant, which devours wood, to come up out of the earth under the staff, and to gnaw the inside of the staff. She ate a little every day; and as the staff was very strong and stout, she had not finished it till the end of the year. Then, when the temple was finished, at the same time the staff was eaten up, and it crumbled under the weight of Solomon, and the body fell. Thus the Jinns knew that Solomon was dead. Now, wherever the white ant eats wood, the void is filled up with clay and water by the Jinns; and this they will continue to do till the day of the Resurrection, in gratitude to the little ant which announced to them the death of him who held them in bondage. If the clay and the water are not inserted by the Jinns, whence can they come?

The sages assembled and enclosed an ant in a box, with a piece of wood, for a night and a day; then they compared the amount devoured in that time with the length of the staff, and thus they ascertained how long a time Solomon had been dead.[[685]]

XXXIX.
ELIJAH.

When the prophet Elijah appeared, idolatry was general. God sent him to Balbek (Heliopolis), to persuade the inhabitants to renounce the worship of Baal, from whom the city took its name. Some say that Baal was the name of a woman, beautiful of countenance. The Israelites also adored Baal; Elijah preached against idolatry; and Ahab at first believed in him, and rejected Baal, but after a while relapsed. Then Elijah prayed, and God sent a famine on the land for three years, and many men died. None had bread save Elijah, and when any smelt the odour of bread, they said, “Elijah hath passed this way!”

One day Elijah came to the house of an old woman who had a son named Elisha. Both complained of hunger. Elijah gave them bread. It is said, likewise, that Elisha was paralytic, and that at the prayer of Elijah he was healed.

When the famine had lasted three years, Elijah went, accompanied by Elisha, before King Ahab, and he said:—“For three years you have been without bread; let your god Baal, if he can, satisfy your hunger. If he cannot, I will pray to Jehovah, and He will deliver you out of your distress, if you will consent to worship Him.”

Ahab consented. Then Elijah ordered the idol of Baal to be taken out of the city, and the worshippers of Baal invoked the god, but their prayers remained unanswered. Then Elijah prayed, and immediately rain fell, and the earth brought forth green herb and corn.

Nevertheless, shortly after, the people returned to idolatry, and Elijah was weary of his life; he consecrated Elisha to succeed him, and he prayed to God, “O Lord! save me from this untoward generation.” And God heard his cry, and He carried him away and gave him life till the day when Israfiel shall sound the trump of judgment.[[686]]

Both Jews and Mussulmans believe that Elijah is not dead, but that he lives, and appears at intervals. The Mussulmans have confused him with El Khoudr, and relate many wonderful stories of him. He is unquestionably the origin of the Wandering Jew. His reappearances are mentioned in the Talmud, and in later Jewish legends, as, for instance, in a story told by Abraham Tendlau.[[687]] A poor Jew and his wife were reduced to great necessity; the man had not clothes in which to go forth and ask for work. Then his wife borrowed for him clothes, and he entered the street seeking work. He met a venerable man, who bade him use him as a slave. The Jew engaged to build a palace for a prince with the assistance of his slave, for ten thousand thalers. The mysterious stranger laboured hard, and angels assisted him, so that the mansion was completed with astonishing rapidity. When the Jew had received the money, the old man announced that he was Elijah, who had come to assist him, and vanished.

After the Arabs had captured the city of Elvan, Fadhilah, at the head of three hundred horsemen, pitched his tents, late in the evening, between two mountains. Fadhilah having begun his evening prayer with a loud voice, heard the words “Allah akbar!” (God is great!) repeated distinctly, and each word of his prayer was followed in a similar manner. Fadhilah, not believing this to be an echo, was much astonished, and cried out, “O thou! whether thou art of the angel ranks, or whether thou art of some other order of spirits, it is well, the power of God be with thee; but if thou art a man, then let mine eyes light upon thee, that I may rejoice in thy presence and society.”

Scarcely had he spoken these words, before an aged man with bald head stood before him, holding a staff in his hand, and much resembling a dervish in appearance. After having courteously saluted him, Fadhilah asked the old man who he was. Thereupon the stranger answered, “Bassi Hadut Issa, I am here by command of the Lord Jesus, who has left me in this world, that I may live therein until He comes a second time to earth. I wait for the Lord, who is the Fountain of Happiness, and in obedience to his command I dwell beyond the mountain.”

When Fadhilah heard these words, he asked when the Lord Jesus would appear; and the old man replied that his appearing would be at the end of the world.

But this only increased Fadhilah’s curiosity, so that he inquired the signs of the approach of the end of all things; whereupon Zerib bar Elia gave him an account of the general social and moral dissolution which would be the climax of this world’s history.[[688]]

“In the second year of Hezekiah,” says the Rabbinic Sether Olam Rabba (c. 17), “Elijah disappeared, and he will not appear again till the Messiah come; then he will show himself once more; and he will again disappear till Gog and Magog show themselves. And all this time he writes the events and transactions that happen in each century.... Letters from Elijah were brought to King Joram seven years after Elijah had disappeared.”

A prophecy ascribed to Elijah is preserved in the Gemara:[[689]] “The world will last six thousand years; it will lie desert for two thousand years; the Messiah will reign two thousand years; but, because of our iniquities which have super-abounded, the years of the Messiah have passed away.”

XL.
ISAIAH.

The Book of the Ascension of Isaiah has reached us only in an Ethiopic version, which was published along with a translation by Archbishop Laurence, Oxford, 1819. Gieseler translated the book, and gave learned prolegomena and notes, Göttingen, 1837; and Gfrörer has included it in his “Prophetæ Pseudepigraphi,” Stuttgardt, 1840, pp. 1-55, with the Latin translation. It must have existed in Greek and Latin, for fragments of the Latin apocryphal book remain, and have been published by Cardinal Mai, in “Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio;” Romæ, 1824, t. III. ii. 238 et seq.: and it is very evident from these that they are versions of a Greek original, and not of the Ethiopic.

Whilst Isaiah was speaking to the king Hezekiah, he suddenly stopped, and his soul was borne away by an angel. He traversed the firmament, where he saw the strife of the angels and demons, waged between the earth and the moon. He entered the six heavens and admired their glory; then he penetrated into the seventh heaven, where he saw the Holy Trinity, and there the events of futurity were revealed to him. When he returned to himself, Isaiah related to Hezekiah all that he had seen and heard, except what concerned his son Manasseh.

This is the prophecy of Isaiah concerning Antichrist: “And when that time is passed, Berial, the great angel, the prince of this world, Berial will descend from his place in the form of a man; an impious king, the murderer of his mother, a king of this world.

“And he will pluck up from amongst the twelve apostles the plant that they had planted, and it will fall into his hands.

“And all the powers of the world will do the will of the angel Berial, the impious king.

“At his word, the sun will shine in the darkness of the night, and the moon will appear at the eleventh hour.

“He will do all his pleasures; he will illtreat the Well-Beloved, and will say to him, Lo! I am God, and before me there is none other.

“And all the world will believe in him.

“And sacrifice will be offered to him, and a worship of adoration, saying, He alone is God, and there is none other.

“Then the greater number of those gathered together to receive the Well-Beloved will turn aside to Berial;

“Who by his power will work miracles in the cities and in the country;

“And everywhere shall a table be spread for him.

“His domination shall be for three years seven months and twenty-seven days.”[[690]]

Only when Hezekiah was at the point of death, did Isaiah reveal to him what and how great would be the iniquities of his son. Then the king would have slain Manasseh: “I had rather,” said he, “die without posterity, than leave behind me a son who should persecute the saints.”

When the prophet saw that Hezekiah loved God more than his own son, he was glad, and he restrained the king, and said, “It is the will of God that he should live.”

Manasseh reigned in the room of his father, and was a cruel tyrant. He worshipped idols, and sought to make Isaiah partake in his idolatry. And when he could not succeed, he sawed him asunder with a saw of wood.

“And whilst Isaiah was being cut asunder, Melekira stood up and accused him, and all the lying prophets were present, and they showed great joy, and they mocked him.

“And Belial said to Isaiah: ‘Confess that all thou hast said is false, and that the ways of Manasseh are good and just.

“‘Confess that the ways of Melekira, and of those that are with him, are good.’

“He spake thus to him, as the saw entered into his flesh.

“But Isaiah was in an ecstasy, and his eyes were open, and he looked upon the spectators of his passion.

“Then said Melekira to Isaiah: ‘Confess what I shall say, and I will change the heart of those who persecute thee, and I will make Manasseh, and the heads of Judah, and his people, and all Jerusalem, worship thee.’

“Then Isaiah answered and said: ‘Cursed art thou in all that thou sayest, and in all thy power, and in all thy disciples!’

“‘Thou canst do nothing against me; all thou canst do is to take from me this miserable life.’

“Then they seized the prophet, and they sawed him with a saw of wood, Isaiah, son of Amos.

“And Manasseh and Melekira, and the lying prophets, and the princes of Israel, and all the people, beheld his execution.

“Now, before that the execution was accomplished, he said to the prophets who had followed him: ‘Fly to Tyre and Sidon, for the Lord hath given the cup to me alone.’

“And whilst the saw cut into his flesh, Isaiah uttered no complaint and shed no tears; but he ceased not to commune with the Holy Spirit till the saw had cloven him to the middle of his body.”[[691]]

In the Mishna[[692]] it is related that the Rabbi Simeon Ben Azai found in Jerusalem (2nd cent.) a genealogy, wherein it was written that Manasseh killed Isaiah. Manasseh said to Isaiah, “Moses, thy master, said, There shall no man see God and live.[[693]] But thou hast said, I saw the Lord seated upon His throne.[[694]] Moses said, What other nation is there so great, that hath God so nigh unto them?[[695]] But thou hast said, Seek ye the Lord while He may be found.”[[696]]

Isaiah thought, “If I excuse myself, I shall only increase his guilt and not save myself;” so he answered not a word, but pronounced the Incommunicable Name, and a cedar-tree opened, and he disappeared within it. Then Manasseh ordered, and they took the cedar, and sawed it in two length-ways; and when the saw reached his mouth, he died.

XLI.
JEREMIAH.

The work entitled De Vitis Prophetarum, falsely attributed to S. Epiphanius, contains some apocryphal details concerning Jeremiah. It is said that he was stoned at Taphnes in Egypt, in a place where Pharaoh formerly lived. He was held in great honour by the Egyptians, because of the service he had rendered them in taming the serpents and crocodiles.

The faithful who take a little dust from the spot where he died, are able to employ it as a remedy against the bites of serpents, and to drive away crocodiles.

The prophet announced to the priests and wise men of Egypt that when a virgin, who had borne a son, should set her foot on Egyptian soil, all the idols should fall.

Before the destruction of Jerusalem, he hid the ark of the covenant in a rock, which opened for the purpose, and closed upon it. Then said he to the princes of the people and to the elders, “The Lord has gone up from Sinai, but He will come again with His sacred power. And this shall be the token of His coming,—all nations shall bow before the Wood.”

Then the prophet continued, “None of the priests and prophets shall open the ark, except Moses, the elect of God; and Aaron shall alone unfold the tables it contains. At the Resurrection, the ark shall arise out of the rock first of all, and it shall be placed upon Mount Zion. Then all the saints will go there and await the Lord, and they will put the enemy to flight who seeks their destruction.”

Having said these words, he traced with his finger the name of God upon the rock, and the name remained graven there, as if cut with iron. Then a cloud descended upon the rock and hid it, and no man has seen it since. It is in the desert, amongst the mountains, where are the tombs of Moses and Aaron. At night, a cloud of fire shines above the spot.

XLII.
EZEKIEL.

Ezekiel, whom the Arabs call Kazquil, was the son of an aged couple, who had no children. They prayed to God, and He gave them a son.

Ezekiel was a prophet, and he exhorted the men of Jerusalem to war, but they would not go forth to battle. Then God sent a pestilence, and there died of them every day very many. So, fearing death, a million fled from the city, hoping to escape the pestilence, but the wrath of God overtook them, and they fell dead.

Then those who survived in the city went forth to bury them, but they were too numerous; therefore they built a wall round the corpses to protect them from the beasts of the field; and thus they lay exposed to the heat and cold for many years, till the flesh had rotted off their bones.

Once the prophet Ezekiel came that way, and he saw this great multitude of dead and dry bones. He prayed, and God restored them to life again, and they stood upon their feet, a great army, and entered into the city, and lived out the rest of their days. It is said that among the Jews there are, to this day, descendants of those who were resuscitated, and they may be recognized by the corpse-like odour they exhale.[[697]]

The Jews relate that a celebrated Rabbi found the greatest difficulty in comprehending the Book of Ezekiel; therefore his disciples prepared for him three hundred tuns of oil to feed his lamp whilst he studied at night the visions of the prophet.[[698]]

XLIII.
EZRA.

Cyrus, in the year 537 before Christ, put an end to the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, as had been foretold by Daniel; and not only did he permit the Jews to return to Jerusalem, but he furnished them with the means of rebuilding their city and temple. The Oriental writers, to explain the motive of Cyrus, say that his mother was a Jewess, and that he himself was married to the Jewess Maschat, sister of Zerubbabel, a granddaughter of the king Jehoiakim.

In 523 before Christ, Cambyses, having reigned a brief time, was succeeded by Smerdis, the Magian, who is called, in the Scriptures, Artaxerxes. He, being ill-disposed towards the Jews, withdrew from them the gifts made by Cyrus, and arrested their work. Smerdis, however, reigned only two years, and was succeeded by Darius Hystaspes, who continued the work of Cyrus, by the hands of Ezra or Esdras, one of the instruments used by God to restore His people.

Ezra was the son of Seraiah, of the lineage of Aaron.

In the Koran[[699]] it is said that Ezra, passing through a village near Jerusalem, whose houses were ruined, exclaimed, “Can God restore these waste places, and revive the inhabitants?”

Then God made him die; and he remained dead for one hundred years. At the end of that time God revived him, and he saw the village rebuilt, and full of busy people.

The commentators on the Koran say that Ezra (Ozaïr), when young, had been taken away captive by Nebuchadnezzar, but that he was delivered miraculously from prison, and returned to Jerusalem, which he found in ruins. He halted at a village near the city, named Sair-Abad. Its houses were fallen and without inhabitants, but the fig-tree and vines remained in the gardens. Ezra collected the fruit, and made himself a little cell out of the fallen stones. And he kept near him the ass on which he had ridden.

The holy man, on contemplating from his hermitage the ruins of the holy city and the temple, wept bitterly before the Lord, and said often with a tone rather of lament than doubt, “How can the walls of Jerusalem ever be set up again?”

Then God bade him die, and hid him from the eyes of men, in his cell, with all that he had about him, his fruit, his mat, and his ass. At the close of a century God revived him, and he found all as when he had died; the ass standing, and the fruit unwithered. Then Ezra saw the works that had been executed in Jerusalem, how the walls were being set up, and the breaches repaired, and he said, “God is Almighty; He can do whatsoever pleaseth Him!”

After his resurrection, he went into the holy city, and spent night and day in explaining to the people the Law, as he remembered it. But it had been forgotten by the Jews, and therefore they disregarded his instruction.

The Iman Thalebi says, that the Jews, to test the mission of Ezra, placed five pens in his hand, and with each he wrote at the same moment with like facility as if he held only one; and he wrote all the Books of the Sacred Canon, as he drew them from his memory, without the assistance of a book.

The Jews, however, said amongst themselves, “How can we be sure that what Ezra has written is the true sacred text, since there is none amongst us who can bear witness?”

Then one of them said, “I have heard say that my grandfather preserved a copy of the sacred books, and that they were hidden by him in a hollow rock, which he marked so that it might be recognized again.”

They therefore sought the place which had been marked, and there they found a volume containing the Scriptures, which having been compared with what Ezra had written, it was found that the agreement was exact. Then the people, astonished at the miracle, cried out that Ezra was a god.[[700]]

At the time of carrying away into Babylon, the sacred fire had been cast into a well in the temple court. Ezra, having drawn some of the dirt out of the well, placed on it the wood of the sacrifice; then the flame, which for a hundred and forty years had been extinguished, burst forth again out of the mire. When Ezra saw this wonder, he thrice drank of the dust out of the well; and thus he imbibed the prophetic spirit, and the power of recomposing from memory the lost sacred books.[[701]]

XLIV.
ZECHARIAH.

Sozomen[[702]] relates that the prophet Zechariah appeared to Colomeras, a farmer of the village of Chupher, in Palestine, and revealed to him his tomb; and on excavations having been made on the spot, an ancient Hebrew book was discovered, which, however, was not regarded as canonical. Nicephoras repeats the story after Sozomen.[[703]]

LONDON:

R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,

BREAD STREET HILL.

Footnotes

[1]. Rev. xii. 7-9.

[2]. Isaiah xiv. 13, 14.

[3]. Luke x. 18.

[4]. Fabricius (J. A.), Codex Pseudepigraphus Vet. Test. Hamb., 1722, p. 21.

[5]. Jalkut Rubeni, 3, sub. tit. Sammael.

[6]. Fol. 139, col. 1; see Eisenmenger, i. p. 831.

[7]. Jalkut Rubeni, in Eisenmenger, i. p. 307.

[8]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 104.

[9]. Ibid., i. p. 820.

[10]. Ibid., ii. 416, 420, 421.

[11]. Chronique de Tabari. Paris, 1867, i. c. xxvii.

[12]. Abulfeda, Hist. Ante-Islamica. Lipsiæ, 1831, p. 13.

[13]. 1 Cor. x. 20.

[14]. Majer, Mythologische Lexicon, Th. i. p. 231.

[15]. Orig. adv. Cels. vi. 42.

[16]. Lettres Edifiantes, viii. p. 420.

[17]. Bibliothèque Univ. de Genève, 1827; D’Anselme, i. p. 228.

[18]. Hist. Naturelle de l’Orinoque, par Tos. Gumilia. Avignon, 1751, t. i. p 172.

[19]. Weil, Biblische Legenden der Muselmänner. Frankfort, 1845, pp. 12-16.

[20]. Geiger, Was hat Mohammed aus d. Judenthum aufgenommen? p. 99.

[21]. So also Abulfeda, Hist. Ante-Islamica, ed. Fleischer. Lipsiæ, 1831, p. 13.

[22]. Tabari, i. c. xxvi.

[23]. Collin de Plancy, p. 55.

[24]. Eisenmenger, Neuentdecktes Judenthum. Königsberg, 1711, i. pp. 364-5.

[25]. Bochart, Hierozoica, p. 2, l. 8, fol. 486.

[26]. Tract Sanhedrim, f. 38.

[27]. Jalkut Schimoni, f. 6.

[28]. Tract Hagida, f. 12.

[29]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 367.

[30]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 368.

[31]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 369.

[32]. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen; Basle, 1855. Atherne Jones, North American Traditions, i. p. 210, &c. Heckewelder’s Indian Nations, &c.

[33]. Fourmont, Anciens Peuples, i. lib. ii. p. 10.

[34]. Aves, 666.

[35]. Mémoires des Chinois, i. p. 105.

[36]. Berosus, in Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 26.

[37]. It is unfortunate that I have already written on the myths relating to the formation of Eve in “Curiosities of Olden Times.” I would therefore have omitted a chapter which must repeat what has been already published, but that by so doing I should leave this work imperfect. However, there is much in this chapter which was not in the article referred to.

[38]. Rabboth, fol. 20 b.

[39]. Eisenmenger, i. 830.

[40]. Weil, pp. 17, 18.

[41]. Tabari, i. c. xxvi.

[42]. Talmud, Tract Berachoth, f. 61; Bartolocci, Bibl. Rabbin., iv. p. 66.

[43]. Bartolocci, Bibl. Rabbin., iv. p. 67.

[44]. Ibid., iii. p. 395.

[45]. Bartolocci, Bibl. Rabbin., iii. p. 396; Eisenmenger, t. i. p. 365.

[46]. Bhagavat, iii. 12, 51.

[47]. Colebrooke, Miscell. Essays, p. i. 64.

[48]. Bun-dehesch, p. 377.

[49]. Bartolocci, Bibl. Rabbin., iv. p. 465.

[50]. Mendez Pinto, Voyages, ii. p. 178.

[51]. Bhagavat, iii. 12, 25.

[52]. Bhagavat, iv. 15, 27.

[53]. Ovid, Metamorph., x. 7.

[54]. Hesiod, Works and Days, 61-79.

[55]. Gen. i. 27.

[56]. Gen. ii. 18.

[57]. Gen. ii. 23.

[58]. Abraham Ecchellensis. Hist. Arabum, p. 268.

[59]. Talmud, Tract. Bava Bathra.

[60]. S. Epiphan. Hæres., xxvi.

[61]. Tho. Bangius, Cœlum Orientis, p. 103.

[62]. S. Clementi Recog., c. iv.

[63]. Lafitau, Mœurs des Sauvages Amériquaines, i. p. 93.

[64]. Pallas, Reise, i. p. 334.

[65]. Hodgson, Buddhism, p. 63.

[66]. Upham, Sacred Books of Ceylon, iii. 156.

[67]. Mémoires Chinois, i. p. 107.

[68]. Bundehesh in Windischmann: Zoroastrische Studien. Berlin, 1863, p. 82; and tr. A. du Perron, ii. pp. 77-80.

[69]. So also Abulfeda, Hist. Ante-Islamica, p. 13.

[70]. Weil, pp. 19-28.

[71]. Tabari, i. p. 80.

[72]. Diod. Sicul., i. 14 et seq.

[73]. Ausland für Nov. 4, 1847.

[74]. W. Smith, Nouveau Voyage de Guinée. Paris, 1751, ii. p. 176.

[75]. Bowdler, Mission from Cape Coast to Ashantee. London, 1819, p. 344.

[76]. Cranz, Historie von Grönland. Leipzig, 1770, i. p. 262.

[77]. Humboldt, Pittoreske Ansichten d. Cordilleren; Plate xiii. and explanation, ii. pp. 41, 42.

[78]. De la Borde, Reise zu den Caraiben. Nürnb. 1782, i. pp. 380-5.

[79]. Allg. Hist. der Reisen, xviii. p. 395.

[80]. Eisenmenger, i. pp. 827-9.

[81]. Weil, p. 28.

[82]. Basnage, Histoire des Juifs. La Haye, iii. p. 391.

[83]. Tract. Avod., f. 1, col. 3; also Tract. Pesachim, f. 118, col. 1.

[84]. Eisenmenger, i. pp. 376, 377.

[85]. Eisenmenger, i. pp. 377-80.

[86]. Talmud, Avoda Sara, fol. 8 a, and in Levy, Parabeln, p. 300.

[87]. It is a popular superstition among the lower orders in England that a woman who dies in childbirth, even if she be unmarried, cannot be lost.

[88]. Weil, pp. 29-38.

[89]. Dillman, Das Adambuch des Morgenlandes; Göttingen, 1853. This book is not to be confounded with the Testament of Adam.

[90]. Tabari, i., capp. xxviii. xxix.

[91]. In More Nevochim, quoted by Fabricius, i. p. 5.

[92]. Gen. v. 1.

[93]. Fabricius, i. p. 11.

[94]. Adv. Hæresi, c. 5.

[95]. Eusebius Nierembergius, De Origine S. Scripturæ. Lugd., 1641, p. 46.

[96]. Fabricius, i. p. 33.

[97]. Ferdinand de Troilo, Orientale Itinerario. Dresd., 1676, p. 323.

[98]. Selden, De Synedriis, ii. p. 452.

[99]. Hottinger, Historia Orientalis, lib. i. c. 8.

[100]. Jacobus Vitriacus, Hist. Hierosol., c. lxxxv.

[101]. As King Charles’s oak may be seen in the fern-root.

[102]. Fabricius, i. p. 84.

[103]. Neue Ierosolymitanische Pilgerfahrt. Würtzburg, 1667, p. 47.

[104]. Stephanus Le Moyne, Notæ ad Varia Sacra, p. 863.

[105]. Abulfeda, p. 15. In the Apocryphal book, The Combat of Adam (Dillman, Das Christliche Adambuch des Morgenlandes; Göttingen, 1853), the same reason for hostility is given. In that account, Satan appears to Cain, and prompts him to every act of wickedness.

[106]. Tabari, i. c. xxx.

[107]. Jalkut, fol. 11 a.

[108]. Yaschar, p. 1089.

[109]. Targums, ed. Etheridge, London, 1862, i. p. 172.

[110]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 320.

[111]. Liber Zenorena, quoted by Fabricius, i. p. 108.

[112]. S. Methodius, jun., Revelationes, c. 3.

[113]. Eutychius, Patriarcha Alex., Annales.

[114]. Pirke R. Eliezer, c. xxi.

[115]. Historia Dynastiarum, ed. Pocock; Oxon. 1663, p. 4.

[116]. Ad Antiochum, quæst. 56.

[117]. Fabricius, i. p. 112.

[118]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 462.

[119]. Targum, i. p. 173.

[120]. Jalkut Chadasch, fol. 6, col. i.

[121]. Pirke R. Eliezer, c. xxi.

[122]. Ibid.

[123]. Ibid.

[124]. Eisenmenger, ii. p. 8.

[125]. Ibid., ii. p. 428.

[126]. Eisenmenger, ii. p. 455.

[127]. Tract. Avoda Sara.

[128]. Tabari, i. c. xix.

[129]. Antiq. Judæ., lib. i. c. 2.

[130]. Excerpta Chronologica, p. 2.

[131]. Gen. iv. 15.

[132]. Cosmas Indopleustes, Cosmographia, lib. v.

[133]. D’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, sub voce Cabil, i. p. 438.

[134]. Neue Ierosolymitanische Pilger-fahrt. Von P. F. Ignat, von Rheinfelden. Würtzburg, 1667. P. ii. p. 8.

[135]. Weil, pp. 40-3.

[136]. Tabari, i. c. xxxiii.

[137]. Colin de Plancy, p. 78.

[138]. Herbelot, i. p. 95.

[139]. Moses bar Cepha. Commentarius de Paradiso, P. i. c. 14. Fabricius, i. p. 75.

[140]. S. Basil Seleuc., Orat. xxxviii.

[141]. Lettre de H. A. D., Consul de France en Abyssinie, 1841.

[142]. Tabari, i. c. xxxiv.

[143]. D’Herbelot, i. p. 125, s. v. Rocail.

[144]. Midrash Tillim, fol. 10, col. 2.

[145]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 645.

[146]. Theodoret, Quæst. in Gen. xlvii.

[147]. Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, ed. Parthey; pp. 72, 88, and notes pp. 183, 238.

[148]. Abulfaraj, Hist. Dynast., ed. Pocock, p. 5.

[149]. Joseph. Antiq. Judaic., lib. i. c. 2.

[150]. Freculphus, Chron. lib. i. c. 12.

[151]. Anastasius Sinaita, Ὁδηγός, ed. Gretser, Ingolst. 1606, p. 269.

[152]. Gen. v. 6-9.

[153]. Pseudo Josephus Gorionides; ed. Clariss. Breithauptius, lib. ii. c. 18, p. 131.

[154]. I give the Arabic legend. The account in Jasher is different. Enoch retired from the world, and showed himself only at rare intervals, when he gave advice to all who came to hear his wisdom. He was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, in a chariot with horses of fire. (Yaschar, pp. 1094-1096.)

[155]. Tabari, i. c. xxxv.

[156]. Dillmann, Das Buch Enoch; Leipzig, 1853. Ewald, in his “Geschichte der Volks Israel” (iii. 2, pp. 397-401), attributes it to the year 130 B.C.

[157]. Fol. 26, col. 2.

[158]. Jalkut Rubeni, fol. 27, col. 4.

[159]. Ibid., fol. 107, col. i.

[160]. Targums, ed. Etheridge, i. p. 175.

[161]. Suidas, Lexic. s. v. Nannacos.

[162]. Nischmath Chajim, fol. 116, col. i.

[163]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 380.

[164]. Das Buch Henoch, von Dillmann, Leipz. 1853, c. xv. p. 9.

[165]. Abulfaraj, p. 6.

[166]. Eutych., Patriarcha Alex., Annales ab Orbe Condito, Arabice et Lat., ed. Selden; London, 1642, i. p. 19.

[167]. D’Herbelot, s. v. Surkrag and Kaïumarth.

[168]. Tabari, c. xxxvii.

[169]. D’Herbelot, s. v. Tahmourath.

[170]. Tabari, caps. xxxix. xl.

[171]. Gen. iv. 18-24.

[172]. Targums, ed. Etheridge, i. p. 173.

[173]. Yaschar, tr. Drach, p. 1092; the same in Midrash Jalkut, c. 38; Midrash, Par. Bereschith, fol. 2; Rabbi Raschi on Genesis; &c. &c.

[174]. Véland le Forgeron; Paris, 1833. There is an English translation by Wright.

[175]. Tabari, i. c. xxi.

[176]. Eisenmenger, ii. p. 416.

[177]. Colin de Plancy, p. 102.

[178]. Midrash, fol. 12; so also Targum of Palestine, Etheridge, i. p. 179.

[179]. Chron. Græc., ed. Scaliger, Lugd. Batav. 1606, p. 4.

[180]. Fabricius, i. p. 225.

[181]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 651.

[182]. Talmud, Tractat. Sanhedrin, fol. 108, col. 1. So also the Book Yaschar, p. 1097.

[183]. Jalkut, Genesis, fol. 14a.

[184]. Jalkut Shimoni, Job. fol. 121, col. 2.

[185]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 385. The Targum of Palestine says the water was hot (i. p. 179).

[186]. Tractat. Sevachim, fol. 113, col. 2.

[187]. Or, a unicorn; the Hebrew word is Reém.

[188]. Midrash, fol. 14.

[189]. Eutych., Patriarcha Alex., ed. Selden, i. p. 36.

[190]. Tabari, p. 108.

[191]. Abulfeda, p. 17.

[192]. Yaschar, p. 1100.

[193]. Colin de Plancy, p. 110.

[194]. Weil, p. 45.

[195]. Ararat.

[196]. Tabari, c. xli.

[197]. Weil, p. 45.

[198]. Midrash, fol. 15.

[199]. Tabari, p. 113.

[200]. Fabricius, i. pp. 74, 243.

[201]. Ed. Dillmann, c. 67.

[202]. Ed. Etheridge, i. p. 182.

[203]. Gen. v. 20.

[204]. In the Midrash Rabba, this want of connection between the name and the signification is remarked upon, and Solomon Jarki in his commentary says that, for the meaning assigned, the name ought to have been, not Noah, but Menahem.

[205]. Buttmann, Ueber der Mythus d. Sündfluth, Berlin, 1819; Lüken, Die Traditionen des Menschengeschlechts, Münster, 1856; Bryant, Of the Deluge, in Ancient Mythology, London, 1775, &c.

[206]. Parrot, Journey to Ararat, English Trans. Lond. 1845.

[207]. Joseph. Antiq., i. 3; see also Ptolem. Geogr. vi. 2.

[208]. Joseph. Antiq., i. 4.

[209]. Euseb. Præp. Evang. ix. 19.

[210]. Lucian, De Dea Syra, c. 12, 13.

[211]. Georg. Syncellus, Chronographia, p. 29, B., ed. Bonn; or Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 26 et seq.

[212]. Præp. Evang. ix. 12; see also S. Cyril contra Julian, i.

[213]. Bochart, Geogr. Sacra, p. 231.

[214]. Ekhel, Doctrina Numm. Vet. iii. p. 132 et seq.; see also Bryant’s New System of Ancient Mythology, Lond. 1775, i. note 3.

[215]. Orac. Sibyll, i. v. 260, 265-7. Ed. Fiedlieb.

[216]. Bundehesch, 7.

[217]. On the Chronology of the Hindus, by Sir W. Jones; Asiatic Researches, ii. pp. 116-7.

[218]. Bopp, Die Sündfluth; Berlin, 1829, p. 9.

[219]. Ovid. Metam. i. 240 et seq.

[220]. Steph. Byzant., s. voce Ικονιον.

[221]. Diod. Sicul. lib. i.

[222]. Mém. concernant les Chinois, i. p. 157.

[223]. Klaproth, Inschrift. des Yu; Halle, 1811, p. 29.

[224]. Mém. concernant les Chinois, ix. p. 383.

[225]. Mart. Martinii, Hist. Sin. p. 26.

[226]. Steller, Beschreibung v. Kamschatka; Frankf. 1774, p. 273.

[227]. Serres, Kosmoganie des Moses, übersetzt von F. X. Stech, p. 149.

[228]. Davies, Mythology of the British Druids, London, 1809; and Celtic Researches, London, 1844: curious works on the Arkite worship and traditions of the Kelts.

[229]. The prose Edda; Mallet, Northern Antiq., ed. Bohn, p. 404.

[230]. Grimm, Deutsche Mythol.; Göttingen, 1854, p. 545.

[231]. The same story precisely is told by the closely allied race of the Chippewas: Atherne Jones, Traditions of the North American Indians, London, 1830, ii. p. 9 et seq.

[232]. Lütke, Voyage autour du Monde, i. p. 189.

[233]. Braunschweig, Die alten amerik. Denkmäler; Berlin, 1840, p. 18.

[234]. Atherne Jones, Traditions of the N. American Indians, ii. 21-33.

[235]. Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manners, &c., of the N. American Indians; London, 1841.

[236]. Mayer, Mytholog. Taschenbuch; Weimar, 1811, p. 245.

[237]. Schoolcraft, Notes on the Iroquois; New York, 1847, p. 358.

[238]. Müller, Geschichte des amerikanischen Urreligionen, Basle, 1855, p. 515; Lüken, Die Traditionen des Menschengeschlechts, p. 223.

[239]. Humboldt, Anh. des Cordilleren, i. p. 42.

[240]. Antonio de Herrera, Hist. general de los Hechos, &c.; Madrid, 1601, iii. c. 10.

[241]. Compare Lüken and Müller.

[242]. Humboldt, Reise in die Aequinoctial Gegenden, iii. pp. 406-7.

[243]. Nachrichten aus dem Lande Guiana, v. Salvator Gili; Hamb., 1785, pp. 440-1, quoted by Lüken.

[244]. Garcilasso de la Vega, Hist. des Yncas; Amst., i. pp. 73 and 326.

[245]. Ausland, Jan. 1845, No. 1.

[246]. Jalkut Genesis, fol. 16 a.

[247]. Colin de Plancy, p. 121.

[248]. Tabari, i. c. xli.

[249]. Hist. Dynastiarum, ed. Pocock; Oxon., 1663, p. 9.

[250]. Ibid., p. 10.

[251]. Eutychius, Patr. Alex., Annal., t. i. p. 44.

[252]. Bereschith Rabba, fol. 22, col. 4.

[253]. Eutych. Annal., ed. Selden, i. p. 35.

[254]. Suidas, Lexic. s. v. Σίβυλλα.

[255]. Tract. Sanhedrin, fol. 108, col. 2.

[256]. Tabari, i. p. 115.

[257]. Colin de Plancy, p. 124.

[258]. Eisenmenger, i. pp. 318-9.

[259]. Ibid., p. 376.

[260]. Ibid., p. 395.

[261]. Adv. Hæres., lib. i.

[262]. De Tartaris, c. 9.

[263]. Reliquiæ Arcæ Noæ, in Fabricius, i. art. 33.

[264]. Tabari, i. c. xlii. xliii.

[265]. Tabari, i. c. xliii.

[266]. Gen. xi. 16, 18, 20, 22.

[267]. Abulfaraj, Hist. Dynastiarum, p. 12.

[268]. Abulfaraj, Hist. Dynastiarum, p. 13.

[269]. Gen. x. 21-24.

[270]. Koran, Sura xi. verse 57.

[271]. Tabari, i. c. xliv.: Abulfeda, Hist. Ante Islamica, pp. 19-21.

[272]. Weil, pp. 47, 48.

[273]. Herbelot, Biblioth. Orientale, s. v. Lokman.

[274]. Tabari, i. p. 432.

[275]. Koran, Sura xxvi. v. 153.

[276]. Ibid. xi. v. 67.

[277]. Tabari, i. c. xlv.

[278]. Weil, pp. 48-61; Abulfeda, p. 21.

[279]. Pirke of Rabbi Eliezer, c. xi.

[280]. Ibid. c. xxiv.

[281]. Ibid. c. xi.

[282]. Targums, ed. Etheridge, i. p. 187.

[283]. Bechaji, Comm. in 1 Mos. xi.; Pirke of R. Eliezer, c. xi.; Talmud, Sanhedrim, 109a; Targums, i. pp. 189-90, &c.

[284]. Talmud, Sanhedrim; see also the history of Nimrod in Yaschar, pp. 1107-8.

[285]. Herbelot, s. v. Nimroud.

[286]. Hist. Dynast., p. 12.

[287]. Mémoires conc. les Chinois, i. p. 213.

[288]. Euseb., Præp. Ev., ix. 14; Cory, Ancient Fragments, pp. 34-50.

[289]. George Syncellus, Bibl. Græc., v. p. 178.

[290]. Euseb., Præp. Ev., ix. 17.

[291]. Mos. Chorene, i. 9.

[292]. Müller, Glauben u. Wissen. d. Hindus; Mainz, 1822, i. p. 303.

[293]. Allgem. Hist. d. Reisen, vi. p. 602.

[294]. Luken, p. 287; Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 517, &c.

[295]. Humboldt, Ansichten d. Cordilleren, i. p. 42.

[296]. For the Rabbinic traditions relating to Abraham I am indebted to the exhaustive monograph of Dr. B. Beer, “Leben Abraham’s nach Auffassung der jüdischen Sage,” Leipzig, 1859, to which I must refer my readers for references to Jewish books, which are given with an exactitude which leaves nothing to be desired.

[297]. Weil, p. 69.

[298]. The Mussulman history of the patriarch relates that Azar brought Abraham before Nimrod and said, “This is thy God who made all things.” “Then why did he not make himself less ugly?” asked Abraham,—for Nimrod had bad features.

[299]. The Mussulman story, which is precisely the same as the Jewish, adds that the camels refused to bear wood to form the pyre, but cast it on the ground; therefore Abraham blessed the camels. But the mules had no compunction, therefore he cursed them that they should be sterile. The birds who flew over the fire were killed, the city was enveloped in its smoke, and the crackling of its flames could be heard a day’s journey off.

[300]. Weil, p. 73.

[301]. Both the Rabbinic commentators and the Mussulman historians tell a long story about the discussion carried on between Gabriel and Abraham in the air, as he was being shot into the flames. It is hardly worth repeating.

[302]. Tabari, i. p. 147.

[303]. Weil, p. 78.

[304]. Gen. xv.

[305]. Tabari, i. p. 156.

[306]. Gen. xiv. 19. The book Jasher also says that Amraphel and Nimrod are the same.

[307]. Gen. xiv. 17.

[308]. Gen. xiv. 19, 20.

[309]. Gen. xiv. 23, 24.

[310]. Ps. ix. 8.

[311]. Tabari, i. c. xlviii.

[312]. Gittin, fol. 56 b; Pirke of R. Eliezer, fol. 49.

[313]. Weil, p. 80.

[314]. Tabari, i. c. lii.; Abulfeda, p. 25.

[315]. Apocrypha de Loto, apud Fabricium, t. i. pp. 428-431.

[316]. Solomon Jarschi, Comm. on Moses, xx. 5.

[317]. Josh. xii. 24.

[318]. Psalm cxiii. 9.

[319]. This climax of absurdity is found also in the Mussulman histories of the Patriarch.

[320]. Weil, p. 83.

[321]. It seems probable that S. Paul alludes to this traditional speech more than once, as for instance Gal. iii. 9.

[322]. The same story is told by the Mohammedans: Weil, p. 90.

[323]. Gen. xxi. 24-27.

[324]. Numbers xxi. 16, 17.

[325]. Gen. xxi. 33.

[326]. The Mussulmans tell the story of Ishmael almost in every particular the same as that given below.

[327]. Exod. iv. 20.

[328]. Zech. ix. 9.

[329]. When King Sapor heard the R. Samuel explain that Messiah would come riding on an ass, the king said, “I will give him a horse; it is not seemly that he should ride an ass.” “What,” answered the Rabbi, “hast thou a horse with a hundred colours?” (Talmud, Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 98, col. 1.)

[330]. The day is uncertain. Some say it was the 3rd Nisan; others, it was the first of the seventh month, Tischri, New Year’s day; others, that it was the Day of Atonement. Some say Isaac’s age was 37; others say 36; others 26; others 25; others 16; others 13; others, again, say 5; and others say only 2 years.

[331]. In the Rabbinic tradition, the type of Christ comes out more distinctly than in Genesis, for here we see Isaac not merely offered by his father, but also giving himself as a free-will offering, immaculate without in his body, and within in his soul.

[332]. Might not these words be spoken mystically of Christ?

[333]. And these prophetic. Abraham means that God must take care of him in his old age. But they may also be taken by us thus, God must take thy place as the victim.

[334]. Here again—it may be fanciful—but I cannot help thinking we have the type continued of Christ’s presence perpetuated in the Church, in the Tabernacle in which the Host is reserved, that all passing by may look thereupon and worship, and “Remember Me” in the adorable Sacrament. With a vast amount of utterly unfounded fable, the Rabbinic traditions may, and probably do, contain much truth.

[335]. “If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” (John xvi. 7.)

[336]. This is one instance out of several in which the honourable and generous conduct of a Gentile is distorted by Rabbinical tradition; the later Rabbis being unwilling to give any but their own nation credit for liberal and just dealing. It may have been observed in the account of Abimelech, how the frank exchange of promises between Abraham and the Philistine prince was regarded by them as sinful.

[337]. Joshua i. 21.

[338]. 2 Sam. v. 6; 1 Chron. xi. 4.

[339]. 2 Sam. v. 8.

[340]. 2 Sam. xxiv. 24; 1 Chron. xxi. 24. This is, however, in direct contravention of the account in the fifth chapter of the 2nd Samuel.

[341]. Gen. xxiv. 34-49.

[342]. Gen. xxv. 2.

[343]. Gen. xxv. 4.

[344]. Tabari, i. c. lvii.

[345]. Weil, p. 98.

[346]. This the Targumim, or paraphrases of the Sacred Text, distinctly say, “Melchizedek, who was Shem, son of Noah, king of Jerusalem.” (Etheridge, i. p. 199.)

[347]. Fabricius, Codex Pseud. V. T. t. i. p. 311. The Book of the Combat of Adam says Melchizedek was the son of Canaan.

[348]. Suidas, Lexic. s. v. Μελχισεδέκ.

[349]. Πασχάλιον, seu Chronicon Paschale a mundo condito ad Heraclii imp. ann. vicesimum. Ed. C. du Fresne du Cange; Paris, 1688, p. 49.

[350]. Michael Glycas, Βίβλος χρονική, ed. Labbe; Paris, 1660, p. 135.

[351]. Georgius Cedrenus, Σύνοψις ἱστοριῶν, ed. Goar; Paris, 1647, t. i. p. 27.

[352]. Josephus Ben-Gorion, lib. vi. c. 35, apud Fabricium, i. p. 326.

[353]. S. Epiphanius Hæresi, lv. c. 2.

[354]. Talmud, Tract. Bava Bathra.

[355]. Tabari, i. c. liii.

[356]. Tabari; Weil, Abulfeda, pp. 25-27, &c.

[357]. Or El Khoudr; he is identified in Arab legend with S. George and Elias.

[358]. Weil, pp. 94-6.

[359]. Tabari, i. p. 181.

[360]. Maschmia Jeschua, fol. 19, col. 4.

[361]. Nezach Israel, fol. 25, col. 3.

[362]. Eisenmenger, ii. pp. 260, 304.

[363]. Gen. xxv. 22.

[364]. Jer. i. 5.

[365]. Bereschith Rabba, fol. 56, col. 2.

[366]. Eisenmenger, i. 646.

[367]. Ibid.

[368]. Ibid., pp. 650-1.

[369]. Targums. ed. Etheridge, i. p. 240.

[370]. Ibid., p. 241.

[371]. Ibid., also R. Bechai’s Comment. on the Five Books of Moses, fol. 35, col. i.

[372]. Targum of Palestine and Jerusalem; Etheridge, i. 241, 242. The book Yaschar says the deed of transfer was written by Jacob on a leaf, and that he and Esau sealed it, p. 1151.

[373]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 651.

[374]. Gen. iii. 21.

[375]. Yaschar, p. 1150, where is the story of the assassination of Nimrod by Esau.

[376]. Ibid.

[377]. Eisenmenger, ii. p. 879.

[378]. Eisenmenger, ii. p. 262.

[379]. Targums, i. p. 250.

[380]. Targums, i. p. 252.

[381]. Pirke R. Eliezer, c. 35.

[382]. William Sanderson, Vita Mariæ, reg. Scot., et Jacobi, reg. Anglorum; also Beckmann, Notitiar. dignit. Dissert. 3, c. i. § 7.

[383]. The whole of the above is from the Targumim.

[384]. Jalkut Cadasch, fol. 81, col. 1; Yaschar, p. 1161 et seq.

[385]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 486.

[386]. Jalkut Rubeni, fol. 61, col. 3.

[387]. Jalkut Cadasch, fol. 91, col. 4.

[388]. Targum of Palestine, i. p. 272.

[389]. Jacob prepared three things against Esau—War, Gifts, and Prayer—as a token to all men that they must overcome evil by Resistance, by Alms, and by Supplication. (R. Bechai, Comm. on the Five Books of Moses, fol. 42, col. 4.)

[390]. Jalkut Rubeni, fol. 62, col. 2.

[391]. Bereschith rabba, fol. 71, col. 1 (70th Parascha).

[392]. Bereschith rabba, fol. 67, col. 1.

[393]. Jalkut Cadasch, fol. 90, col. 3.

[394]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 325.

[395]. Tabari, i. p. 206.

[396]. Gen. xxxiii. 20.

[397]. Jalkut Cadasch, fol. 91, col. 3.

[398]. Yaschar, pp. 1167, 1168.

[399]. D’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, s. v. Ais, i. p. 142.

[400]. This was Sammael, and he complained to God that Jacob had neglected the duty of hospitality, therefore he was suffered to afflict him for a season.

[401]. Tabari, i. p. 210.

[402]. Targums, i. p. 287.

[403]. Tabari, i. p. 211.

[404]. Targums, i. p. 288. The account of the sale in Yaschar is very long, and full of details too numerous for insertion here (pp. 1185-8.)

[405]. Tabari, i. p. 212.

[406]. Targums, i. 289.

[407]. Weil, p. 102.

[408]. Yaschar, tr. Drachs, p. 1192.

[409]. Tabari, i. pp. 213, 214.

[410]. Targums, i. 288.

[411]. Yaschar, pp. 1188-9; Parrascha Wajescheb. This touching incident is common to Rabbinic and Mussulman traditions. It has been gracefully versified by Dr. Le Heris, “Sagen aus der Orient;” Mannheim, 1852.

[412]. His name in Arabic is Aziz.

[413]. Zuleika is the name in Yaschar; it is that also given her by the Arabs.

[414]. Tract. Sota., fol. 36, col. 2. The original account of this final detail is too absurd and monstrous to be narrated more particularly.

[415]. Tabari, i. p. 217.

[416]. Yaschar, p. 1197. Nearly all these incidents in the life of Joseph are common to Jewish and Mussulman traditions.

[417]. Tabari, p. 220; Weil, p. 112; both taken from the Rabbinic story in Yaschar, p. 1195.

[418]. Weil, p. 113.

[419]. Targums, i. pp. 296-9; Midrash, fol. 45; Yaschar, p. 1200.

[420]. Midrash, fol. 45.

[421]. Weil, p. 116; Tabari, i. c. 44; Gen. xli.; Yaschar, pp. 1202-8.

[422]. This conclusion of the loves of Zuleika and Joseph completes the romance, and makes it a most popular subject for poets in the East. Both Jewish and Mussulman traditions give Zuleika a very different character from that which Holy Scripture leads one to attribute to her.

[423]. Midrash, Jalkut, fol. 46.

[424]. Ibid.

[425]. Weil, p. 122.

[426]. Tabari, i. p. 247; taken from the Rabbinic Yaschar (Sepher Hajaschar), p. 1226.

[427]. Midrash, Jalkut, fol. 47; Yaschar, p. 1225; Berescheth Rabba, fol. 84, col. 4.

[428]. Yaschar, p. 1226.

[429]. This was the shirt given Abraham by Gabriel, to preserve him from the fire into which Nimrod cast him; it was fragrant with the odours of Paradise.

[430]. Koran, Sura xii.; Tabari, i. pp. 250, 251.

[431]. Yaschar, p. 1227.

[432]. Vita Asseneth, filiæ Potipharis; a Greek apocryphal book, in Fabricius, iii. p. 85.

[433]. Lib. de Mensuris et Ponderibus, § 10.

[434]. Ephes. v. 14.

[435]. Thess. ii. 16.

[436]. Commen. in Eph. loc. cit.

[437]. Prolog. in fin. Duarum Hom. in Cant. Canticorum.

[438]. Matt. Paris, Chronicle, ed. Bohn, vol. i. pp. 437, 438.

[439]. T. i., pp. 496-759.

[440]. Koran, Sura xxxviii. v. 43-4. Job in Arabic is Aïub.

[441]. Eisenmenger, ii. p. 439.

[442]. Tabari, i. p. 256.

[443]. Maï (Angelus), Test. Job; Romæ, 1839.

[444]. Maï (Angelus), Test. Job; Romæ, 1839.

[445]. In the “Testament of Job” she is called Sitis.

[446]. Tabari, i. c. lxvi; Abulfeda, pp. 27-29.

[447]. Testament of Job.

[448]. Koran, Sura xxi. v. 83.

[449]. Koran, Sura xxxviii. v. 41.

[450]. Tabari, i. p. 263.

[451]. Koran, Sura xxxviii. v. 43.

[452]. Tabari, i. c. lxvii; Abulfeda, p. 31.

[453]. The early portion of the life of Moses has been elaborated from Rabbinic sources by Dr. B. Beer. Unfortunately he died before the work was completed, and it has been published as a fragment by his friend, G. Wolf. It extends only as far as his marriage with Zipporah. (Leben Moses nach Auffassung der Jüdischen Sage, von Dr. B. Beer; ein Fragment. Leipzig, 1863.) It is, for the most part, compiled from the Sepher Hajasher, or Book of Jasher.

[454]. Yaschar, pp. 1241-53. The history of Zepho is quite a romance, too long for insertion here.

[455]. Yaschar, pp. 1248, 1249; 1253, 1254.

[456]. Ibid., p. 1255.

[457]. Midrash, fol. 51; Yaschar, p. 1157.

[458]. Midrash Jalkut, fol. 52; Yaschar, pp. 1257-9.

[459]. The curious passages, Isaiah vii. 15, 22, may allude to this tradition.

[460]. Moses’s life was shortened because he brought water out of the rock contrary to God’s command (Numb. xxvii. 14), striking the rock instead of speaking to it.

[461]. Beer, pp. 112-6.

[462]. Some authorities say that Jochebed, when thrust away, married Eliphazan, the son of Parnach (Numb. xxxiv. 25), and bare him two sons, Eldad and Medad (Numb. xi. 25); but others, with more probability, assert that she married Eliphazan after the death of Amram. (Yaschar, p. 1259.)

[463]. Yaschar, p. 1260.

[464]. Targum of Palestine, i. p. 446.

[465]. Rabboth, fol. 118a.

[466]. Exod. xv. 1.

[467]. The Arabic name for her is Asia; Yaschar, p. 1261.

[468]. Targum of Palestine, i. p. 446; Yaschar, p. 1261.

[469]. Midrash, fol. 51.

[470]. Midrash, fol. 51; Yaschar, p. 1262.

[471]. Midrash, fol. 52; Yaschar, p. 1263.

[472]. According to another version, it was Jethro who advised that the child should be proved with the basins of rubies and coals. (Rabboth, fol. 118 b; Yaschar, pp. 1263, 1264.)

[473]. Exod. iv. 10.

[474]. Beer, pp. 26-42. Abulfaraj says that Jannes and Jambres were the tutors of Moses in his youth (Hist. Dynast., p. 17).

[475]. Yaschar, p. 1265.

[476]. Yaschar, p. 1265.

[477]. Yaschar, p. 1263.

[478]. Parascha of R. Solomon Jaschi, on Exod. ii. 12; also Targums of Palestine and Jerusalem, i. p. 447; Yaschar, pp. 1265, 1266.

[479]. Pirke R. Eliezer, c. 40; Rabboth, fol. 119a; Yaschar, p. 1266.

[480]. This illustrates the passage 2 Kings ix. 13.

[481]. Midrash, fol. 52; Yaschar, pp. 1265-1274.

[482]. These were two of his seven names.

[483]. It may be noticed in this as in several other instances, such as those of Rebekah and Rachel, the Rabbis have invented stories to explain the circumstance of the damsels watering the flock, which they supposed derogated from their dignity. This indicates the late date of these traditions, when the old pastoral simplicity was lost.

[484]. Pirke R. Eliezer, c. 40; Yaschar, p. 1274.

[485]. The Targum of Palestine, “ten years;” i. p. 448.

[486]. Beer, pp. 42-62; Pirke R. Eliezer. The Targum of Palestine says the rod was in the chamber of Jethro, not in the garden; i. p. 448. Yaschar, pp. 1277, 1278.

[487]. Rabbot., fol. 120 a. It is possible that our Blessed Lord’s parable of the Good Shepherd may contain an allusion to this popular and beautiful tradition.

[488]. Gen. iii. 4. It was the angel Zagnugael who appeared and spoke to him from the bush. (Targum of Palestine, i. p. 449; Abulfeda, p. 31.)

[489]. Exod. iv. 14.

[490]. Tabari, i. c. lxxiii. p. 24.

[491]. Midrash, fol. 54.

[492]. Targum of Palestine, i. p. 460.

[493]. Yaschar, p. 1280.

[494]. Tabari, p. 326.

[495]. Some say that Pharaoh entreated Moses to spare him for the sake of Asia (Bithia), and that at the mention of his name Moses was softened. (Weil, p. 159.)

[496]. In Arabic, Risam and Rijam; and Shabun and Gabun, in Persian.

[497]. Midrash, fol. 56. The Targums say that the enchanters turned the water of Goshen into blood, so that there was no water to the Israelites as to the Egyptians; i. p. 462.

[498]. Midrash, fol. 55.

[499]. Targum of Palestine, i. p. 463.

[500]. Venomous insects (Kalma), gnats (Kinnim). See Wisdom xvi. 1, 3.

[501]. Targums, i. 464.

[502]. Targums, i. p. 467.

[503]. Ibid., i. p. 471.

[504]. Yaschar, p. 1283.

[505]. Tabari, i. p. 338.

[506]. Weil, p. 165.

[507]. Talmud, Sota. fol. 13.

[508]. Targum of Palestine, i. p. 478.

[509]. Targums, i. p. 475.

[510]. Ibid., i. p. 485.

[511]. Targum of Jerusalem, i. p. 488; Yaschar, p. 1287.

[512]. Exod. xiv. 13, 14.

[513]. Koran, Sura xxvi. v. 63.

[514]. Weil, p. 168; see also Midrash, fol. 176.

[515]. Exod. xv. 21.

[516]. Tabari, p. 350.

[517]. Ibid. i. p. 355.

[518]. Both the Rabbis and the Mussulmans lay the blame, not on Aaron, but on another. The Rabbis say it was Micah who made the calf; the Mussulmans call him Samiri. (Weil, p. 170.)

[519]. Targum of Palestine, i. p. 552.

[520]. Tabari, i. p. 362.

[521]. Targum of Palestine, ii. p. 685.

[522]. Pirke R. Eliezer, c. 45.

[523]. Weil, pp. 172, 173.

[524]. Koran, Sura vii. v. 139.

[525]. Tabari, i. p. 364.

[526]. Ibid., i. c. lxxv.

[527]. Targum of Palestine, i. p. 561.

[528]. Jalkut Rubeni, fol. 117, col. 1.

[529]. Jalkut Rubeni, fol. 107, cols. 2, 3.

[530]. Ibid., fol. 107, col. 3.

[531]. Tabari, i. p. 371; also Midrash, fol. 30.

[532]. Parascha R. Bechai, fol. 116.

[533]. Talmud, Tract. Hajada, fol. 12, col. 2.

[534]. Talmud, Tract. Joma, fol. 75, col. 1.

[535]. This is sanctioned by Scripture: “Thou feddest Thine own people with angels’ food, and didst send them from heaven bread prepared without their labour, able to content every man’s delight, and agreeing to every taste.” (Wisdom, xvi. 20.)

[536]. Talmud, Tract. Joma, fol. 75, col. 1; Schemoth Rabba, fol. 115, col. 4.

[537]. To this tradition perhaps David refers, Ps. xxiii. 5, lxxviii. 19.

[538]. Targum of Palestine, i. pp. 499, 500.

[539]. Jalkut Shimoni, fol. 73, col. 4.

[540]. Targum of Palestine, i. pp. 501, 502.

[541]. Tabari, i. p. 393.

[542]. Koran, Sura ii. v. 54.

[543]. Tabari, i. p. 394; but also Deut. viii. 4, Nehemiah ix. 21.

[544]. 1 Cor. x. 4.

[545]. Tabari, i. p. 373.

[546]. See my “Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,” article on S. George. I have no doubt whatever that El Khoudr, identified by the Jews with Elias, is the original of the Wandering Jew. I did not know this when I wrote on the “Wandering Jew” in my “Curious Myths,” but I believe this to be the key to the whole story.

[547]. Weil, pp. 176-81; Tabari, i. c. lxxvi.; Koran, Sura xviii.

[548]. Voltaire has taken this legend as the basis of his story of “Zadig.”

[549]. Targums, ii. pp. 380, 381.

[550]. Weil, p. 175.

[551]. Targums, ii. p. 382.

[552]. Weil, p. 176.

[553]. Targums, ii. p. 386.

[554]. Tract. Kethuvoth, fol. 111, col. 2.

[555]. Targum of Palestine, ii. p. 390.

[556]. Targums, ii. p. 391.

[557]. Tabari, i. c. lxxvii.; Weil, pp. 182, 183; Abulfeda, p. 33.

[558]. Eisenmenger, ii. p. 305. Possibly the passage Zech. ix. 11, 12, may contain an allusion to this tradition.

[559]. Ibid., p. 342.

[560]. Pirke R. Eliezer, c. 45.

[561]. Perhaps the passage Isai. xl. 4 may be an allusion to this tradition.

[562]. Talmud, Tract. Beracoth, fol. 54, col. 2; Targum of Palestine, ii. pp. 411-13.

[563]. Talmud, Tract. Beracoth, fol. 54, col. 2; Targums, ii. p. 416; Yaschar, p. 1296.

[564]. Talmud, Tract. Sopherim, fol. 14, col. 4.

[565]. Ibid., Tract. Nida, fol. 24, col. 2.

[566]. Jalkut Cadasch, fol. 16, col. 2.

[567]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 389.

[568]. Talmud, Tract. Sopherim, fol. 14, col. 4.

[569]. Tabari, i. p. 398.

[570]. Gen. xxxi. 51.

[571]. Targums, ii. pp. 419-21.

[572]. Targums, ii. pp. 432-3.

[573]. Ibid., pp. 434-5.

[574]. Jalkut, fol. 240; Rabboth, fol. 275, col. 1; Midrash, fol. 285.

[575]. Weil, p. 185.

[576]. Tabari, i. c. lxxix.; Abulfeda, p. 35.

[577]. Rabboth, fol. 302 b; Devarim Rabba, fol. 246, col. 2.

[578]. Weil, pp. 188, 189.

[579]. Weil, p. 190.

[580]. Rabboth, fol. 302 b.

[581]. Weil, pp. 190, 191.

[582]. Lyra Anglicana, London, 1864, “The Burial of Moses.”

[583]. Talmud, Tract. Sota, fol. 14 a.

[584]. Tabari, i. p. 396.

[585]. Talmud of Jerusalem; Tract. Terumoth.

[586]. Josh. vii. 1-5.

[587]. Tabari, i. p. 402.

[588]. Koran, Sura ii. v. 55, 56.

[589]. Tabari, p. 404.

[590]. Tabari, p. 401.

[591]. Ibid. p. 404.

[592]. Berescheth Rabba.

[593]. The Mussulmans say Khasqîl or Ezechiel.

[594]. Judges i. 4.

[595]. Tabari, i. p. 404.

[596]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 395.

[597]. Hist. Dynast. p. 24.

[598]. Tabari, i. c. lxxxvii.

[599]. D’Herbelot, Bibl. Orient., s. v. Aschmouil.

[600]. Koran, Sura ii. v. 247, 248.

[601]. Koran, Sura ii. v. 248.

[602]. D’Herbelot, Bib. Orientale, t. i. p. 263.

[603]. Tabari, i. p. 417.

[604]. This incident, from the apocryphal gospels of the childhood of Christ, shall be related in the Legendary Lives of New Testament Characters.

[605]. Weil, pp. 193-8.

[606]. Koran, Sura ii. v. 250.

[607]. Tabari, i. p. 418.

[608]. Perhaps the passage in Psalm cvii. 35 may refer to this miracle, unrecorded in Holy Scripture.

[609]. Weil, pp. 200, 201.

[610]. Koran, Sura ii. v. 251.

[611]. Weil, p. 203.

[612]. Tabari, i. p. 421.

[613]. Ibid.

[614]. Tabari, i. p. 422; Weil, pp. 202-4; D’Herbelot, i. p. 362.

[615]. Weil, pp. 205-8.

[616]. Tabari, i. p. 423. The same story is told of the escape of S. Felix of Nola, in the Decian persecution.

[617]. Tabari, i. p. 429.

[618]. Weil, p. 207.

[619]. Tabari, i. p. 424.

[620]. Ps. li. 5.

[621]. Midrash, fol. 204, col. 1.

[622]. Ps. cxviii. 22.

[623]. See the story in the Legends of Adam.

[624]. Zohar, in Bartolocci, i. fol. 85, col. 2.

[625]. Jalkut, fol. 32, col. 2 (Parasch 2, numb. 134).

[626]. Ibid. (Parasch. 2, numb. 127).

[627]. 1 Sam. xvii. 43.

[628]. 2 Sam. iii. 29.

[629]. Zohar, in Bartolocci, i. fol. 99, col. 1.

[630]. Talmud, Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 107.

[631]. 1 Kings ii. 11.

[632]. 2 Sam. v. 5.

[633]. Bartolocci, i. f. 100.

[634]. 1 Sam. xxiv. 4.

[635]. Bartolocci, i. f. 122, col. 1.

[636]. 1 Kings i. 1.

[637]. Bartolocci, i. f. 122, col. 2.

[638]. Ps. lvii. 9; Bartolocci, i. fol. 125, col. 2.

[639]. Talmud, Tract. Sota, fol. 10 b.

[640]. Ps. xxii. 21.

[641]. Midrash Tillim, fol. 21, col. 2.

[642]. Eisenmenger, i. p. 409.

[643]. Ps. xviii. 36.

[644]. Ps. lv. 6.

[645]. Ps. lxviii. 13.

[646]. Talmud, Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 95, col. 1.

[647]. Tract. Sabbath, fol. 30, col. 2.

[648]. Tabari, i. p. 426; Weil, p. 208.

[649]. Weil, p. 207.

[650]. Tabari, p. 428.

[651]. The Arabs call her Saga.

[652]. The story in the Talmud is almost the same, with this difference: Bathsheba was washing herself behind a beehive, then the beautiful bird perched on the hive, and David shot an arrow at it and broke the hive, and exposed Bathsheba to view. In the Rabbinic tale, David had asked for the gift of prophecy, and God told him he must be tried. This he agreed to, and the temptation to adultery was that sent him. (Talmud, Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 107, col. 2; Jalkut, fol. 22, col. 2.)

[653]. Koran, Sura xxxviii.

[654]. Weil, pp. 212, 213.

[655]. Weil, pp. 213-224.

[656]. Greek text, and Latin translation in Fabricius: Pseudigr. Vet. Test. t. ii. pp. 905-7.

[657]. סגולות ורפואות; Amst. 1703.

[658]. Solomon was twelve years old when he succeeded David. (Abulfeda, p. 43; Bartolocci, iv. p. 371.)

[659]. Weil, pp. 225-231; Eisenmenger, p. 440, &c.

[660]. Weil, pp. 231-4.

[661]. The story of the building of the temple, with the assistance of Schamir, has been already related by me in my “Curious Myths of the Middle Ages.”

[662]. The Rabbinic story and the Mussulman are precisely the same, with the difference that Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, instead of the Jinns, lies in ambush and captures Sachr or Aschmedai (Asmodeus). (Eisenmenger, i. 351-8.) As I have given the Jewish version in my “Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,” I give the Arab story here.

[663]. Weil, pp. 234-7; Talmud, Tract. Gittin. fol. 68, cols. 1, 2.

[664]. Jalkut Schimoni, fol. 90, col. 4.

[665]. Tabari, i. p. 435.

[666]. Tabari, i. p. 436.

[667]. Koran, Sura xxvii.; Tabari, i. c. xcviii.; Weil, pp. 237-9.

[668]. The Jews also believed in a purgatory; see Bartolocci, i. 342.

[669]. Targum Scheni Esther, fol. 401, tells the same of the moorcock.

[670]. This is the letter according to Rabbinic authors: “Greeting to thee and to thine; from me, King Solomon. It is known to thee that the holy, ever-blessed God has made me lord and king over the wild beasts and birds of heaven, and over the devils, and spirits, and ghosts of the night, and that all kings, from the rising to the down-setting of the sun, come and greet me. If thou also wilt come and salute me, then will I show thee great honour above all the kings that lie prostrate before me. But if thou wilt not come, and wilt not salute me, then will I send kings, and soldiers, and horsemen against thee. And if thou sayest in thine heart, ‘Hath King Solomon kings, and soldiers, and horsemen?’ then know that the wild beasts are his kings, and soldiers, and horsemen. And if thou sayest, ‘What, then, are his horsemen?’ know that the birds of heaven are his horsemen. His army are ghosts, and devils, and spectres of the night; and they shall torment and slay you at night in your beds, and the wild beasts will rend you in the fields, and the birds will tear the flesh off you.” This letter, the Jews say, was sent to the Queen of Sheba by a moorcock. (Targum Scheni Esther, fol. 401, 440.)

[671]. According to another account, “that she had ass’s legs” (Weil, p. 267). Tabari says, “hairy legs” (i. p. 441).

[672]. Weil, pp. 246-267; Tabari, i. cc. 94, 95.

[673]. Weil, pp. 267-9.

[674]. Tabari, i. c. xcvi. p. 448.

[675]. Weil, pp. 269-271; Tabari, pp. 450, 451.

[676]. Koran, Sura xxxviii.

[677]. Tabari, pp. 460, 461.

[678]. In the Jewish legend, Asmodeus. In “Curiosities of Olden Times” I have pointed out the connection between the story of the disgrace of Solomon and that of Nebuchadnezzar, Jovinian, Robert of Sicily, &c.

[679]. Deut. xvii. 16, 17.

[680]. Emek Nammelek, fol. 14; Gittin, fol. 68, col. 2; Eisenmenger, i. pp. 358-60. The Anglo-Saxon story of Havelock the Dane bears a strong resemblance to this part of the story of Solomon.

[681]. Eisenmenger, i. pp. 358-60; Weil, pp. 271-4; Tabari, c. 96.

[682]. Weil, p. 274.

[683]. Eisenmenger, i. 361.

[684]. Tabari, p. 454.

[685]. Koran, Sura xxxiv.; Tabari, c. 97; Weil, p. 279.

[686]. Tabari, i. c. 84.

[687]. Das Buch der Sagen und Legenden jüdischer Vorzeit, p. 45; Stuttgart, 1845.

[688]. Herbelot, Bibl. Orient., s. v. Zerib, iii. p. 607.

[689]. Gemara, Avoda Sara, c. i. fol. 65.

[690]. Anabasticon, iv. 2-12.

[691]. Anabasticon, v. 1-14.

[692]. Tract. Jebammoth, c. 4.

[693]. Exod. xxxiii. 20.

[694]. Isai. vi. 1.

[695]. Deut. iv. 7.

[696]. Isai. lv. 6.

[697]. Tabari, i. c. 83.

[698]. Bartolocci, i. p. 848.

[699]. Sura, ii.

[700]. Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, iii. p. 89.

[701]. Abulfaraj, p. 57.

[702]. Hist. Eccles. lib. ix. cap. ult.

[703]. Ibid., lib. xiv. c. 8.