Chapter XLIV: Zechariah . . . 366 (9)

Abraham, who knew well the spot, and that there was neither brook nor river there by nature, recognized this as a deception of Satan, to divert them from the right way. He told Isaac that this was his opinion, and raising his eyes to heaven he prayed: “Thou, O Lord, didst declare to me Thy will, that I should take Isaac my son and offer him to Thee in pledge of my obedience. I did not hesitate, I did not refuse, and now the water overwhelms us and we sink; how then can I perform that which Thou badest me do?”

The Lord answered, “Fear not, through thee shall My Name be known.”

Then the stream vanished away, and they stood upon dry land.

But now Satan made another attempt to turn Abraham from his purpose. He drew him aside and said, “The object of thy journey has failed. I caught a whisper in heaven, and it was this—God will prepare a lamb for the sacrifice, and not thy son.”

Abraham answered, “Even if thy words be true, it matters not; for this is the penalty of liars, that when they speak the truth they are not believed.”

Abraham journeyed on the rest of that day, without seeing his appointed place. Next day he retraced his steps, but could find no signs of the place. The Almighty had so ordered it, that men might not say Abraham was hasty and acted precipitately, but might see that he had leisure and time for reflection on what he was about to do.

On the morning of the third day,[330] they reached the height of Zophim, and thence Abraham saw a beautiful mountain-land, and on the top of one of the mountains was a fiery pillar, which reached from earth to heaven,—it was the Glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.

When Abraham asked Isaac if he beheld this sight, he answered that he did so; but when he asked his other companions, they replied that they saw nothing save the brown hills and purple valleys. Some say they answered that one hill was to them like every other hill.

From this, Abraham concluded that God was well pleased with Isaac as a victim. Then he said to Eliezer and Ishmael:

“Tarry ye here with the ass, for you are not worthy to behold the Shekinah nearer. But I and the youth will go on, _so many_ only shall go.”

Now, as he said these words, it suddenly came to his mind that God had promised him a great people descended from Isaac, _so many_ as the stars for multitude, and with prophetic voice he said, “If the Lord will, _so many_ as go on, _so many_ shall return.”

Then Abraham laid the wood of the sacrifice on his son Isaac, and took the fire and the knife in his hand; and they went on both together, Abraham joyous, and Isaac without fear or thought.

But after they had gone some way, Isaac turned to his father and said, “Father, whither are we going alone?”

_Abraham._—“My son, we go to offer a sacrifice.”

_Isaac._—“But art thou a priest to execute this undertaking?”

_Abraham._—“Shem, the High Priest, will prepare the victim.”

A great fear fell upon Isaac when he saw that they had no animal with them to offer, and he said, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is a lamb for the whole offering?”

_Abraham._—“The lamb which is to be offered is foreknown to the Almighty. He will provide the lamb; and if none other is here, then must thou be the offering, my son.”

Isaac was silent, for the fear of death came over him. But presently he recovered himself and said, “If God chooses me, I place my soul in His hands.”

_Abraham._—“My son! Is there any blemish in thee within? For the offering must be without blemish of any sort.”

_Isaac._—“My father! There is none. I swear by God and by thy life, that in my heart there is not the least resistance to the Divine will. My limbs do not tremble, and there is no quaking at my heart. With gladness do I say, The Lord be praised, who has chosen me for a whole sacrifice.”[331]

_Abraham._—“O my son, with many a wish wast thou brought into this world. Since thou hast been in it, every care has been lavished on thee. I hoped to have had thee to follow me and make a great nation. But now I must, myself, offer thee. Wondrous was thy coming into this world, and wondrous will be thy going out of it![332] Not by sickness, not by war, but as a sacrifice. I had designed thee to be my comfort and stay in old age; now God himself must take thy place.”[333]

_Isaac._—“It were unworthy of thee were I to think to withstand the decree of God, and of thee. Had the decision been thine alone, I would have obeyed.”

When they reached the top of Moriah, God said to Abraham,—

“This is the place where once Adam, when driven out of Paradise, built an altar to My name. Here also Cain and Abel offered their sacrifice. Then came the Flood, and when it was passed away, Noah offered victims to Me here. When the people were scattered from the tower at Babel, then this altar was overthrown. Now it is for thee, friend of God, to set it up again!”

Abraham built the altar, and Isaac brought him the stones. But, according to some authors, this was not so. Abraham hid his son in a cave, lest Satan should take advantage of the opportunity, with a stone or clod of earth, to blemish him.

And when all was ready and the wood laid in order, then Isaac said to his father, “Bind me hand and foot, lest in the fear of death I start and thou wound me, and so I be blemished. Fold thy garments together, and gird thy loins, and bare thine arm, and strike me with the knife and then burn me to ashes, and lay up my ashes in a coffer, and let this coffer be preserved as a memorial of me in thy house, before my mother; and when thou passest by it, bid her remember me. But remind her not of it near a well, or on the edge of a precipice, lest she cast herself down in her grief.”[334]

And he continued, “When thou returnest home, how wilt thou console my mother?”

Abraham answered, “Well I know that He who comforted us before thou earnest, will comfort us after thou art gone from us.”[335]

Abraham now stood over his son, who was bound with his hands to his feet, upon the wood laid in order; and the eyes of Abraham rested on the eyes of his son. But Isaac looked up into heaven, and saw the angel hosts crowded about God’s throne. Abraham saw not this, and he lifted the knife; but he trembled and the knife fell from his hand, and he cried aloud, “O my son! Would that another offering were found instead of thee! But my help cometh only from the Lord who hath made heaven and earth!”

Then he gathered up his resolution, and took the knife and held it once more to strike; and Isaac’s spirit left him, and he swooned away.

But the angels of God, who stood round about His throne, announced to the Most High all that took place, and they cried and wept, and even the fiery seraphim exclaimed, “Woe! He slays his son.” And the tears of the angels fell upon the face of Isaac, and made him ever after sad of countenance.

Then God said, “Behold, and see how great is the faith of My servant Abraham, how on earth a man can hallow My great name, and devote his best and dearest to My service; see that, ye, who at the creation exclaimed, _What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou so regardest him?_”

Then He ordered Michael to fly swiftly, and stay the hand of Abraham.

And the archangel, when he came near, cried aloud, “Abraham! Abraham! what doest thou?”

Abraham looked in the direction of the voice, in doubt, and said, “_Here am I._”

Then said the angel, “_Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him._”

And Abraham said, “Who art thou?”

Michael told him who he was. Then said Abraham, “The Most High appeared to me in a vision, and bade me take my son as a whole offering to the place which He should say, and I may take no command from a servant of God, against that which God Himself hath laid upon me.”

Then heaven opened, and he saw the glory of God, and God said to him, “_Touch not the lad to do him harm, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me._”

And Abraham said, “How is this, O Lord! that Thou changest Thy purpose, and sayest one day, Do this, and the next, Do it not?”

And the Lord answered, and said, “I said not unto thee, Slay the lad as a burnt offering, but I said, Take thy son to the place that I shall tell thee, as a whole burnt offering. This hast thou done; thou hast fulfilled My command, I exact no more of thee. I change not My purpose, but I did suffer thee to misunderstand the purport of My command, and to think that I exacted more of thee; and this I did to prove thee. And now, _by Myself have I sworn; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies_.”

Then Isaac revived, and Abraham cut his cords, and he stood up and said, “Praised be the Eternal One, who quickeneth those that be dead.”

And Abraham turned to the Shekinah and said, “Lord! how shall I depart hence without having offered to Thee a sacrifice?” The Lord answered, “Lift thine eyes, and thou shalt see a beast for sacrifice behind thee.”

In the thicket of the wood was that ram which God created at dusk on the sixth day, that it might serve this purpose. An angel had brought it out of Paradise, where it had lived since its creation, and had fed under the shadow of the Tree of Life, and had drunk of the River that there flows. And when the ram was brought into this earth, all the earth was filled with the fragrance from its fleece, on which hung the odours of the flowers on which it had lain in Paradise.

But by Satan’s fraud, the animal was frightened and strayed away, and Abraham tracked it by its foot-prints. Then Satan decoyed the beast behind some bushes and entangled its horns in the thicket; and Abraham would have passed by, and not seen it, but the ram caught him by his cloak. So Abraham slew it, and offered it in sacrifice, and sprinkled with its blood the altar he had made.

Now the Last Trumpets that shall sound, the one to call the just, the other the unjust, are made of the horns of this wondrous ram.

11. THE DEATH OF SARAH.

Sarah,—who, as we have seen, accompanied Abraham and Isaac part of the way to Moriah,—on her return to the tent, found an old man awaiting her. It was Satan.

He greeted her with profound respect, and asked after her husband and son.

She answered that they had gone forth on a journey.

“Whither have they gone?” asked Satan.

“My lord has gone to visit the school of Shem and Eber, our grandsires, there to leave my son Isaac to be instructed in the law of God.”

“Alas! alas!” exclaimed the Apostate Angel; “thou art greatly deceived.”

Sarah was alarmed; and she asked wherefore he spake thus.

“Know then,” said Satan, “that Abraham has gone forth with Isaac to sacrifice him, upon a mountain, to the Most High.”

When she heard this, Sarah laid her head on the bosom of a slave, and fainted. When she came to herself she hurried with her maidens to the school of Shem and Eber, and inquired after her husband and son, but they had neither seen nor heard anything of them. So Sarah was convinced that what had been told her was true, and there was no spirit left in her.

Now when Satan knew that Abraham was bringing back his son, and that God had accepted the will for the deed, he was moved with envy and spite, and he could not rest to think of the joy that this would cause; so he went hastily to Sarah, and she was weeping in her tent, and sorely cast down and broken in spirit. Then he said suddenly to her, “Thy son liveth and is returning. God hath spared him!”

And she rose up and uttered a cry, and fell, and was dead; for the joy had killed her.

Abraham and Isaac in the meantime had returned from Moriah, and they sought Sarah at Beer-sheba, but she was not there; therefore they went to Hebron, and there they found her corpse. Isaac fell weeping upon the face of his mother, and he cried, “Mother, mother! why hast thou forsaken me? why hast thou gone away?”

Abraham wept aloud, and all the dwellers in Hebron wept and lamented over Sarah, and ceased from their labours, that they might mourn with Abraham and Isaac. Sarah’s age was one hundred and seven-and-twenty years, and she was as fair to look upon when she died as in the bloom of her youth.

And as Abraham was bowed over the body of his wife, he heard the laugh of the Angel of Death, and his words, “Wherefore weepest thou? Thou bearest the blame of her death. Hadst thou not taken her son from her, she would have been alive now.”

Abraham sought a place where to bury her; and he went to the Hittites and asked them to suffer him to buy for his possession a parcel of land, where he might bury one dead body. But they said, “Nay, we will give thee land;” but he would not. So they said, “Choose now a place where thou wouldst have thy sepulchre, and we will entreat the owner for thee.”

Then Abraham said, “I desire the double cave of Ephron the son of Zohar. _If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath; for as much money as is worth he shall give it me, for a possession of a burying-place amongst you._”

And this was the reason why Abraham desired that cave. When he had gone after the calf, to slay it for the three angels that came to him before the destruction of Sodom, the calf had fled from him, and he had pursued it into this cave; and on entering it, he found that it was roomy, and in the inner recesses he saw the bodies of Adam and Eve laid out with burning tapers around them, and the air was fragrant with incense.

The Hittites elected Emor their chief that he might deal with Abraham, for it did not become a chief and prince, like Abraham, to deal with an inferior; and Emor said in the audience of the people of the land, “_My Lord, hear me; the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee; bury thy dead._”

But this he said with craft, for he sought to take an advantage of Abraham.[336]

Then Ephron said, “Put thine own price upon the land;” but this Abraham would not do.

Then Ephron said to Abraham, “_My lord, hearken unto me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead._”

Now the land was not worth half that sum, but Emor said in his heart, “Abraham can afford to pay it, and he is in haste to bury his dead out of his sight.”

Nevertheless, Abraham paid him in the sight of all his people. And the transfer of the land and cave was signed by Amigal, son of Abischna the Hittite; Elichoran, son of Essunass, the Hivite; Abdon, son of Ahirah, the Gomorrhite; and Akdil, son of Abdis, the Sidonian.

Machpelah (double cave) was so called, because, say some, it contained two chambers; or, say others, because Abraham paid double its value; or, say others, because it became doubly holy; but others again observe, with the highest probability, because Adam’s body had to be doubled up to get it into the cave.

Because the Hittites dealt honourably, and sought to procure a place for Abraham, where he might lay Sarah, their name is written ten times in the Holy Scriptures.

They took also an oath of Abraham, that he and his seed should never attack their city Jebus with violence; and they wrote his promise on brazen pillars, and set them up in the market-place of Jebus. Therefore, when the Israelites conquered Canaan, they left the Jebusites unmolested.[337] But when David sought to take the stronghold of Jebus,[338] its inhabitants said to him, “Thou canst not storm our city, because of the covenant of Abraham, which is engraven on these pillars of brass.”

David removed these brazen pillars, for they were in time honoured as idols; therefore the inhabitants of Jebus were _hated of David’s soul_;[339] but he did not break the covenant of Abraham, for he obtained the city of Jebus, not by force of arms, but by purchase.[340]

Sarah was buried with the utmost honour; Shem (Melchizedek), his grandson Eber, Abimelech, Aner, Eshcol and Mamre, together with all the great men of the land, followed the bier. Abraham caused a great mourning throughout the country to be made for seven days. After that, Abraham returned to Beer-sheba, and Isaac went to be instructed in the law by Melchizedek. A year after, died Abimelech, king of Gerar, and Abraham attended his funeral. Soon after, also, died Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

12. THE MARRIAGE OF ISAAC.

After the death of Sarah, say some, Abraham had a daughter named Bakila, by Hagar, who returned to him now that her enemy was dead; but, according to others, the great blessing of Abraham consisted in this, that he had no daughters. Ishmael abandoned his disorderly ways, and loved and respected his brother.

Isaac mourned his mother three years. When this time was elapsed, Abraham called to him his faithful servant Eliezer, and said to him, “I am old, and I know not the day of my death; therefore must I no longer delay the marriage of my son Isaac. Lay thine hand upon my thigh, and swear to me by God Almighty to fulfil my commission. Do not take for my son a wife of the daughters of the Canaanites, but go to Haran, to the place whence I came, and bring thence a wife for my son Isaac.” And he added the proverb, “When you have wheat of your own, do not sow your field with your neighbour’s corn.”

Eliezer asked, “But how, if a woman of that place will not accompany me hither?”

But Abraham said, “Fear not; go, and the Lord be with thee.”

So the servant of Abraham went with ten camels, and he reached Haran in three hours, for the earth fled under the feet of his camels, and Michael, the angel, protected him on his way.

When he reached Haran, he besought the Lord to give him a sign, by which he might know the maiden who was to be the wife of Isaac. “_Let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also; let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac._”

And there were many damsels by the fountain. And the servant said to them, “Let down the pitcher that I may drink.” But they all said, “We may not tarry, for we must take the water home.”

Then came Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, out to the well, and she chid the maidens for their churlishness; and lo! the water in the well leaped to the margin, and she let down her pitcher and offered it to the man, and said, “_Drink; and I will give thy camels drink also._” Then Eliezer leaped from his camel, and he brought forth his gifts, and he gave her a nose ring with a jewel of half a shekel weight, and bracelets of ten shekels weight. And he asked if he might lodge in her house one night.

She answered, “Not one night only, but many.”

Now Rebekah’s brother, Laban, so called from the paleness of his face,—or, say some, from the cowardice of his breast, which made him pale,—coveted the man’s gold, and resolved to kill him. Therefore he put poison in the bowl of meat which was offered him. But the bowl was changed by accident, and it fell to the portion of Bethuel, and he ate, and died that same night.

And Laban would have fallen upon Eliezer with his own hand, but that he saw him lead the two camels at once over the brook, and he knew thereby that he was stronger than he.

After the engagement had been drawn up, as is written in the first book of Moses,[341] Eliezer urged for a speedy departure. Mother and brother consented, but on the following day they asked that, besides the seven days of mourning for Bethuel, they should tarry a year, or at least ten months, according to the usual custom. But Rebekah opposed them, and said that she would go at once.

It was noon when Eliezer and his retinue, together with Rebekah and her nurse Deborah, left Haran, and in three hours they were at Hebron.

At the self-same time Isaac was abroad in the fields, returning from the school of Seth, lamenting over his mother, and saying his evening prayer. Rebekah saw him with his hands outspread, and his angel walking behind him, and she said, “Who is that with a shining countenance, with another walking behind him?”

At the same moment she knew who it was, and with prophetic vision she saw that she would become the mother of Esau, and she trembled and fell from the camel.

Isaac took Rebekah to wife and led her into the tent of Sarah, and the door was once more open, and the perpetual lamp was again kindled, and it seemed to Isaac as if all the happiness that had gone with Sarah, had returned with Rebekah, so he was comforted for his mother.

Eliezer was rewarded for his faithful service, for Abraham gave him his freedom, and he was taken into Paradise without having tasted of death.

13. THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM.

Abraham, after the death of Sarah, had brought back Hagar, and she was called Keturah, which signifies “the Bond-woman,” and this she was called because she had ever regarded herself as bound to Abraham, though he had cast her away. But others say that Keturah was not Hagar, but was a daughter of one of Abraham’s slaves. She bare him six sons,[342] all strong, and men of clear understandings.

According to Mussulman traditions, she was the daughter of Jokdan, and was a Canaanitish woman.

Abraham said to the Most High, in gratitude of heart, “Thou didst promise me one son, Isaac, and thou hast given me many!”

All his substance he gave to Isaac; but some say he gave him a double portion only, and the rest he made over to his other sons. And to Isaac only he gave the right to be buried in the cave of Machpelah, and along with that, his blessing. But others say that he did not give his blessing to Isaac, lest it should cause jealousy to spring up between him and his brothers. He said, “I am a mortal man; to-day here, and to-morrow in the grave; I have done all I can do for my children, and now I will depart when it pleases my heavenly Father.”

He sent the sons of Keturah away, that they might not dwell near Isaac, lest his greatness should swallow them up; and he built them a city of iron, with walls of iron. But the walls were so high that the light of the sun could not penetrate the streets, therefore he set in them diamonds and pearls to illumine the iron city.

Epher, a grandson of Abraham and Keturah,[343] went with an army into Libya and conquered it, and founded there a kingdom, and the land he called after his own name, Africa.

Abraham was alive when Rebekah, after twenty years of barrenness, bare to Isaac his sons, Esau and Jacob; and he saw them grow up before him till their fifteenth year, and he died on the day that Esau sold his birthright.

The days of his life had been 175 years; he reached not the age of 180, to which Isaac attained, because God shortened his life by five years, lest he should know the evil deeds of Esau.

The Angel of Death did not smite him, but God kissed him, and he died by that kiss; and because the sword of the angel touched him not, but his soul parted to the kiss of God, his body saw no corruption.

This is the Mussulman story of his death. The Angel of Death, when bidden to take the soul of the prophet, hesitated about doing so without his consent. So he took upon him the form of a very old man, and came to Abraham’s door. The patriarch invited him in and gave him to eat, but he noted with surprise the great infirmity of the old man, how his limbs tottered, how dull was his sight, and how incapable he was of feeding himself, for his hands shook, and how little he could eat, for his teeth were gone. And he asked him how old he was. Then the angel answered, “I am aged 202.” Now Abraham was then 200 years old. So he said, “What! in two years shall I be as feeble and helpless as this? O Lord, suffer me to depart; now send the Angel of Death to me, to remove my soul.” Then the angel took him,[344] having first watched till he was on his knees in prayer.[345]

Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the double cave by the side of Sarah; and he was followed to his grave by all the inhabitants of Canaan, and Shem and Eber went before the bier. And all the people wailed and said, “Woe to the vessel when the pilot is gone! woe to the pilgrims when their guide is lost!”

A whole year was Abraham lamented by the inhabitants of the land; men, and women, and young children joined in bewailing him.

Never was there a man like Abraham in perfect righteousness, serving God, and walking in His way from the earliest youth to the day of his death.

Abraham was the first, say the Mussulmans, whose beard became white. He asked God when it became so, “What is this?” The Lord replied, “It is a token of gentleness, my son.”

Footnote 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.

Footnote 297:

Weil, p. 69.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 300:

Weil, p. 73.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 302:

Tabari, i. p. 147.

Footnote 303:

Weil, p. 78.

Footnote 304:

Gen. xv.

Footnote 305:

Tabari, i. p. 156.

Footnote 306:

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

Footnote 307:

Gen. xiv. 17.

Footnote 308:

Gen. xiv. 19, 20.

Footnote 309:

Gen. xiv. 23, 24.

Footnote 310:

Ps. ix. 8.

Footnote 311:

Tabari, i. c. xlviii.

Footnote 312:

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

Footnote 313:

Weil, p. 80.

Footnote 314:

Tabari, i. c. lii.; Abulfeda, p. 25.

Footnote 315:

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

Footnote 316:

Solomon Jarschi, Comm. on Moses, xx. 5.

Footnote 317:

Josh. xii. 24.

Footnote 318:

Psalm cxiii. 9.

Footnote 319:

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

Footnote 320:

Weil, p. 83.

Footnote 321:

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

Footnote 322:

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

Footnote 323:

Gen. xxi. 24-27.

Footnote 324:

Numbers xxi. 16, 17.

Footnote 325:

Gen. xxi. 33.

Footnote 326:

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

Footnote 327:

Exod. iv. 20.

Footnote 328:

Zech. ix. 9.

Footnote 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.)

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 332:

Might not these words be spoken mystically of Christ?

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.)

Footnote 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.

Footnote 337:

Joshua i. 21.

Footnote 338:

2 Sam. v. 6; 1 Chron. xi. 4.

Footnote 339:

2 Sam. v. 8.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 341:

Gen. xxiv. 34-49.

Footnote 342:

Gen. xxv. 2.

Footnote 343:

Gen. xxv. 4.

Footnote 344:

Tabari, i. c. lvii.

Footnote 345:

Weil, p. 98.

XXV.
MELCHIZEDEK.

We have seen that, according to Jewish traditions, Melchizedek is Shem, the son of Noah, whom God consecrated to be a priest for ever, and who set up a kingdom on Salem.[346]

It is also said that, before he died, Lamech ordered his son, Noah, to transport the body of Adam to the centre of the earth. Now the centre or navel of the earth is Salem, afterwards called Jerusalem.

Lamech also bade Noah confide to one of his children the custody of the body of Adam, obliging him to remain all his life in the service of God, and in the practice of celibacy, never to shed blood, and to offer to God only the sacrifice of bread and wine.

Noah chose, according to some, Shem; according to others, Melchizedek, the son of Shem. He did not suffer him to wear other garments than the skins of beasts; nor to shave his head nor cut his nails, nor to build a house.

A Christian tradition is that Adam was buried on Golgotha, and that when Christ died, His blood flowed down upon the head of Adam, and cleansed him of his sin.

Dom Calmet, in one of his dissertations, gives various curious opinions which have been entertained on the subject of Melchizedek: some affirmed that he was identical with the patriarch Enoch, who came from the Terrestrial Paradise to confer with Abraham; and others, that the Magi who adored the infant Christ were Enoch, Melchizedek, and Elias.

And some have supposed that Melchizedek was created before Adam, and was of celestial race. Others again have supposed that he was our Lord Jesus Christ who appeared to Abraham.

S. Athanasius gives a curious tradition of Melchizedek.

A queen, named Salem, had a grandson named Melchi. He was an idolater. Where he reigned is unknown; but it is supposed that it was where now stands the city Jerusalem. Melchi married a princess named Salem, like his grandmother. By her he had two sons, of whom the younger was called Melchizedek.

One day that Melchi was about to sacrifice to idols, he said to his son Melchizedek, “Bring me here seven calves to sacrifice to the gods.”

Whilst going to execute his father’s order, Melchizedek raised his eyes to heaven and said, “He who made heaven and earth, the sea and the stars, is the only God to whom sacrifice should be offered.”

Then he returned to his father, who asked him, “Where are the calves?”

“My father,” he replied, “hearken to me, and be not angry. Instead of offering thy victims to those gods which are no gods, offer them to Him who is above the heavens, and who rules all things.”

King Melchi replied,“Go and do what I have commanded thee, as thou valuest thy life.”

After that he turned to his wife Salem, and he told her that he purposed sacrificing one of his sons. The queen wept bitterly, because she knew that the king designed the immolation of Melchizedek, and she said, “Alas! I have suffered and laboured in vain.”

“Do not weep,” said Melchi, somewhat touched. “We will draw the lot: if it is mine, I will choose which of the sons is to die; if it be thine, thou shalt keep the one dearest to thee.”

Now the lot fell to the queen, so she chose Melchizedek, whom she loved; and the king adorned his elder son for sacrifice.

There were in the temple troops of oxen and flocks of sheep, and five hundred and three children, destined by their parents to be sacrificed. The queen was at home weeping, and she said to Melchizedek, “Dost thou not weep for thy brother, whom we have brought up with so much care, and who is led to the slaughter?”

Melchizedek wept, and he said to his mother, “I will go and invoke the Lord, the only true God Most High.”

He ascended Tabor, and kneeling down, he prayed, saying, “My God, Lord of all, Creator of heaven and earth, I adore Thee as the only true God; hearken now unto my prayer. May the earth open her mouth and swallow up all those who assist at the sacrifice of my brother!”

God heard the cry of Melchizedek, and the earth parted asunder, and swallowed up the temple and all who were therein; and the city of Salem also, and not a stone was left standing where it had been.

When Melchizedek came down from Tabor, and saw what God had done, he was filled with dismay, and retired into a forest, where he spent seven years, feeding on herbs and drinking the dew.

At the end of that time, a voice from heaven called Abraham, and said, “Take thine ass, lade it with rich garments, go to Tabor and cry thrice, O man of God! Then a man of a savage appearance will come forth to thee out of the forest. And after thou hast cut his hair and pared his nails, clothe him with the garments thou hast taken with thee, and ask him to bless thee.”

Abraham did as he was bidden. He went to Tabor and called thrice, “O man of God!” and there came out to him Melchizedek. Then a voice was heard from heaven, which said, “As there remains no one on earth of the family of Melchizedek, it shall be said of him that he is without father and without mother, without beginning of days or end of life.”

Therefore it is said of him, as of Enoch and Elias, that having been created a priest for ever, he is not dead.

Afterwards he is said to have founded Jerusalem.[347]

Suidas the Grammarian gives the following account of this mysterious personage.

“Melchizedek, priest of God, king of Canaan, built a city on a mountain called Sion, and named it Salem; which is the same as Εἰρηνόπολις, the City of Peace. In which, when he had reigned a hundred and thirteen years, he died, righteous and single. For this reason he is said to have been without generation, because he was not of the seed of Abraham, but of the race of Canaan, and of abhorred seed. Therefore he was without honourable generation. Nor did it beseem him, the essence of all righteousness, to unite with the race of all unrighteousness. Therefore he is said to have been without father or mother. But that he was a Canaanite, both as to country, of which he was lord; and as to nation, of which he was king; and as to neighbourhood, joining that of the iniquitous Sodomites,—that is evident enough. Nevertheless Salem, of which he was king, is that celebrated Jerusalem, which, however, did not bear then the complete name of Hierusalem, but the adjective ἱεροῦ was added to Σαλήμ afterwards, and compounded into Hierusalem. And because no genealogy is given to him, he is said to be without father and mother. Therefore, when you hear him spoken of as God, by the sect of the Melchizedekites, remember the saying of the Apostle, that he was of another race, to wit, that of Canaan.”[348]

Another apocryphal account of Melchizedek is in the “Chronicon Paschale:”—

“A certain ancient relates and affirms, concerning Melchizedek, this. He was a man of the tribe of Ham, who, being found a holy seed in his tribe, pleased God; and God called him into the land beyond Jordan, even as He called Abraham out of the land of the Chaldeans. And as this man was holy and just, he was made a priest of the Most High God, to offer bread and wine, and holy prayers to the Most High God. He prayed for his tribe, saying, Lord, thou hast brought me from my own people, and hast had mercy on me; have mercy on them also. But God answered him, and said, I will save them when I call my Son out of Egypt. This promise God gave to Melchizedek. The same ancient relates also that at this time it happened that Lot was carried away captive from Sodom by those who were of the tribe Gothologomos, whom Abraham pursued and destroyed, and he liberated all the captives; and Lot also, the son of his brother Aram, he delivered from their hands. Therefore Abraham said within himself, Lord, if in my days Thou sendest Thy angel upon the earth, grant me to see that day! The Lord said, It cannot be, but I will show thee a figure of that day; go down and cross the river Jordan and thou shalt behold it.

“Therefore Abraham crossed Jordan with his men, and Melchizedek came forth to meet him, called by the Holy Ghost, having in his hands the bread of Eucharists and the wine of thanksgiving. Abraham did not see Melchizedek till he had passed over Jordan, which is the symbol of Baptism.

“Abraham then, seeing Melchizedek coming to meet him having the bread of Eucharists and the cup of thanksgiving, fell on his face upon the earth, and adored, since he saw the day of the Lord, and was glad.

“Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, blessed Abraham and said, _Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hands_. And Abraham gave him tithes of all.”[349]

Michael Glycas says: “Melchizedek, though he is said in the sacred Scriptures to have been without father and mother, yet sprung from Sidos, son of Ægyptos, who built Sidon. When he had built a city on Mount Sion, named Salem, he reigned there thirteen years, and died a just man and a virgin.”[350] And Cedrenus: “Melchizedek was the son of King Sidos, son of Ægyptos, but he was said to be without father and mother and of uncertain generation, because he was not of Jewish extraction, and because his parents were bad and not reckoned among the righteous.”[351]

Joseph Ben-Gorion writes: “O Jerusalem! once the city of the great King, by what name shall I designate thee? Anciently thou wast called Jebus, after thy founder; then thou didst acquire the name of Zedek, and from thence did thy king Jehoram take his title Melchi-zedek (or Melech-zedek, Lord of Zedek), for he was a just king, and he reigned in thee justly. And thou didst obtain the name of Justice, and in thee justice dwelt, and the star that did illumine thee; thou wast called Zedek, and in the same king’s reign, to thee was given the title Salem, as it is written in the Law: and Melchizedek was king of Salem, so called because thus the measure of the iniquity of the people was accomplished. But Abraham, our father, of pious memory, chose thee, to labour in thee and to acquire in thee a possession, and in thee to lay a root of good works, and because the majesty of God dwelt in thee, when Abraham, our father, flourished.”[352]

S. Epiphanius, however, says: “Although no names of the parents of Melchizedek are given, yet some assert that his father was called Heraclas, and his mother Astaroth, or Asteria.”[353] The “Catena Arabica” on Genesis says: “Melchizedek was the son of Heraclis, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber; and the name of his mother was Salathiel, the daughter of Gomer, the son of Japheth, the son of Noah.”

Melchizedek is said to have composed the cx. Psalm, _Dixit Dominus_.[354]

The tomb of Melchizedek is, or was, shown at Jerusalem, says Gemelli Carrere, the traveller in Palestine.

Footnote 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.)

Footnote 347:

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

Footnote 348:

Suidas, Lexic. s. v. Μελχισεδέκ.

Footnote 349:

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

Footnote 350:

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

Footnote 351:

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

Footnote 352:

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

Footnote 353:

S. Epiphanius Hæresi, lv. c. 2.

Footnote 354:

Talmud, Tract. Bava Bathra.

XXVI.
OF ISHMAEL AND THE WELL ZEMZEM.

The Arabs call Hagar, Hagiar Anaï, the mother in chief, because of Ishmael her son. They do not suppose that she was the bond-servant of Sarah, but that she was the legitimate wife of the patriarch; and she bore him Ishmael, who, as his eldest son, had the birthright, and obtained, as his double portion of Abraham’s inheritance, the land of Arabia, whereas to Isaac was given the inferior land of Canaan.

They say that Hagar died at Mecca, and that she was buried in the exterior enclosure of the Kaaba, or square temple, built, say they, by Abraham.

Near the tomb is the well of Zemzem, which is the fountain which God revealed to her when she had been driven out of the house of Sarah, and had fled into Arabia.

As has been already mentioned, the Mussulmans say that it was Ishmael and not Isaac whom Abraham prepared to sacrifice. The story need not be related again, as all the particulars in the Jewish legends are absorbed into the Mussulman account.

One particular alone needs mention. Gabriel gave the ram to Abraham in the place where Mussulman pilgrims now cast stones; namely, on the mountain of Mina. But the ram escaped out of the hands of Abraham, and the patriarch threw seven stones after it. Then Ishmael went forward, and the ram halted. Ishmael went up to the ram and brought it to Abraham, and he took it, and slew it. Some say that this was the same ram that Abel had offered in sacrifice, and which had been preserved in Paradise.[355]

Then God said to Abraham, “Go to Mecca along with Ishmael, and build me the temple there.”

At Mecca had been the “Visited-house,” to which Adam went in pilgrimage, and round which he walked in procession every year. When the Flood came, this house had been caught up into heaven.

When Abraham went in obedience to the command of God to visit Ishmael, and to call him to build the temple, he found him on a mountain engaged in making arrows. He said to him, “O my son, God has ordered me to build a house along with thee.”

Ishmael replied, “I am ready to obey, O my father.”

Then they prepared to build. But Abraham knew nothing of architecture.

God sent a cloud of the size of the Kaaba, to show them, by its shadow on the ground, what were to be the dimensions of the house, and to give them shade in which to build.

But some say that the Serpent arrived and instructed Abraham in the proportions of the house. After that, Abraham and Ishmael began to dig the trenches which were to receive the foundations; and they gave them the depth of a man’s stature. Then they raised them to the level of the soil; after that, they cut stones out of the neighbouring rocks for the walls of the edifice. Abraham built, and Ishmael handed the stones. Now, when the wall got above his reach, Abraham placed a stone on the ground, and stood upon that to build, and he left thereon the impression of his foot. The stone remains to this day, and is called Makam Ibrahîm.

And when the temple was built, God sent Gabriel to instruct Abraham in all the rites of pilgrimage, and how to visit Mina and Mount Arafat, and how to go processionally round the Kaaba, and to cast the stones, and to wear the pilgrim’s dress, and to make sacrifice, and to shave the head, to visit the holy places, and all that concerns the pilgrimage.

That same year Abraham made the pilgrimage, and he confided the care of the temple to Ishmael, his son, and he said to him, “This land belongs to thee and to thy children till the Judgment Day.”

Then Abraham, turning him about, went at God’s command to the top of a high mountain, and cried, “O men, God has built you a house, and He calls you to visit it.”

And all men and women, and the children yet unborn, answered from every quarter of the world, “We will visit it.”

Then Abraham returned into Syria.[356]

Now the well of Zemzem was formed when Hagar and Ishmael were in the desert. The angel Gabriel trod in the ground and the water bubbled up. At first it was sweet as honey, and as nourishing as milk. This well is one of the wonders of Mecca. We shall relate more of it presently.

And the stone that was white and shining, but now is black, that stone was an angel who wept over the sins of men till he has grown dark; that also is one of the wonders of Mecca.

Whilst Ishmael was engaged one day in building the Kaaba, there came to him Alexander the Two-horned, and asked him what he was doing.

Then Abraham answered, “We build a temple to the only God in whom we believe.” And Alexander knew that he was a prophet of God; and he went on foot seven times round the temple.

About this Alexander, authorities differ. Some say that he was a Greek, and that he was lord of the whole earth as Nimrod was before him, and as Solomon was after him.

Alexander was lord of light and darkness; when he went forth with his hosts, he had light before him, and behind him was darkness: thus he could overtake his enemies, but could not be overtaken by them. He had also two banners, one white and the other black, and when he unfurled the white one, it was instantly broad day; and when he unfurled the black one, it was instantly midnight. Thus he could have day in the darkest night, and night in the brightest day.

He was also unconquerable; for he could, at will, make his army invisible, and fall upon his enemies and destroy them, without their being able to see who were opposed to them. He went through the whole world in quest of the Fountain of Immortality, of which, as he read in his sacred books, a descendant of Shem was pre-ordained to drink, and become immortal.

But his vizir Al Hidhr[357] lighted on the fountain before him and drank, not knowing what were the virtues of this spring; and when Alexander came afterwards, the water had sunk away, for by God’s command only one man was destined to drink thereof.

Alexander was called the Two-horned, according to some, because he went through the world from one end to the other; according to others, because he wore two long locks of hair which stood up like horns; according to others, because he had two gold horns on his crown which symbolized the kingdoms of Grecia and Persia over which he reigned. But according to others, he once dreamed that he had got so near to the sun, that he caught it by its two ends, and therefore he was given his name.

Learned men are also equally disagreed as to the time in which he lived, and as to the place of his birth and residence.

Most think that there were two Alexanders. One was descended from Shem, and went with El Khoudr to the end of the world after the Fountain of Immortality, and who was ordered by God to build an indestructible wall against the incursions of the children of Gog and Magog. The other Alexander was the son of Philip of Macedon, and was descended from Japheth, and was the pupil of Aristotle at Athens.[358]

And now let us return to the fountain or well of Zemzem, and relate what befel that.