Legends of Old Testament characters, from the Talmud and other sources

by S. Baring-Gould

[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.