“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.