Chapter XLIV: Zechariah . . . 366 (14)

Then Korah did as he had said; and when all the assembly of Israel was gathered together, he spake against Moses all that the lying witness had invented. Then he brought forth the woman. But when she saw all the elders of the congregation before her, she feared, and she said, “Korah hath suborned me with gold to speak false witness against Moses, to cause him to be put to death.”

And when Korah was thus convicted, Moses cried, “Get yourselves up and separate from him.” Then all the people fled away from him on either side. And the earth opened her lips and closed them on Korah’s feet to the ankles.

But Korah laughed, and said, “What magic is this?”

Moses cried, “Earth, seize him!”

Then the earth seized him to his knees.

Korah said, “O Moses! ask the earth to release me, and I will do all thou desirest of me.”

But Moses was very wroth, and he would not hearken, but cried, “Earth, seize him!”

Then the earth seized him to the waist.

Korah pleaded for his life. He said, “I will do all thou desirest of me, only release me!”

But Moses cried again, “Earth, seize him!”

And the earth gulped him down as far as his breast, and his hands were under the earth.

Once more he cried, “Moses! spare me and release me, because of our relationship!”

Moses was filled with bitterness, and he bade the earth swallow him; and he went down quick into the pit, and was seen no more.

Then, when Moses was returning thanks to God, the Lord turned His face away from him and said, “Thy servant asked of thee forgiveness so many times, and thou didst not forgive him.”

Moses answered, “O Lord, I desired that he should ask pardon of Thee and not of me.”

The Lord said, “If he had cried but once to Me, I would have forgiven him.”[557]

The earth swallowed Korah and seventy men, and they are retained in the earth along with all his treasures till the Resurrection Day.

Every Thursday, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram go before the Messiah, and they ask, “When wilt Thou come and release us from our prison? When will the end of these wonders be?”

But the Messiah answers them, “Go and ask the Patriarchs;” but this they are ashamed to do.[558]

They sit in the third mansion of Sheol, not in any lowest one; nor are they there tormented, because Korah promised to hear and obey Moses, as he was being engulfed.[559]

The Arabic name for Korah is Karoun, and under this name he has returned to Rabbinic legends, and the identity of Korah and Karoun has not been observed.

The Rabbis relate of Karoun that he is an evil angel, and that Moses dug a deep pit for him in the land of Gad, and cast him into it. But whenever the Israelites sinned, Karoun crept out of his subterranean dwelling and plagued them.[560]

This is a curious instance of allegorizing upon a false interpretation of a name. The Karoun of the Mussulmans is clearly identical with Korah, but Karoun in Hebrew means Anger, and Karoun was supposed to be the Angel of the Anger of the Lord, and the story of his emerging from his pit to punish the sinful Israelites is simply a figurative mode of saying that the anger of the Lord came upon them.

12. THE WARS OF THE ISRAELITES.

The children of Israel had many foes to contend with. Amongst these were the Amorites. They hid in caves to form an ambuscade against the people of God, intending, when the Israelites had penetrated into a defile between two mountains, to sally forth upon them and to overthrow them. But they did not know that the ark went before Israel, smoothing the rough places and levelling the mountains.[561] Now, when the ark drew near the place where the ambush was, the mountains fell in upon the Amorites, and the Israelites passed on, and knew not that they had been delivered from a great danger. But there were two lepers named Eth and Hav, who followed the camp, and they saw the blood bubbling out from under the mountain; and thus the fate of the Amorites was made known.[562]

The Israelites found a redoubtable enemy in Og, king of Bashan, who was one of the giants who had been saved from the old world by clambering on the roof of the ark; but his weight had so depressed the vessel, that Noah was obliged to turn out the hippopotamus and rhinoceros to preserve the ark from foundering.

Og determined to destroy Moses. Moses was ten cubits in height, and when Og came against him, he took a hatchet of ten cubits’ length, and he made a jump into the air, and hit Og on the ankle. Og tore up a mountain, and put it on his head to throw it upon Moses; but the ants ate out the inside of the mountain, and it sank over Og’s head to his neck, and he could not draw his head out, for his teeth grew into tusks and thrust through the mountain, and he was blinded and caught as in a trap. Thus Moses was able to slay him.[563]

Some further details on Og, furnished by the Rabbis, will assist the reader in estimating the powers of Moses.

At one meal, Og ate a thousand oxen and as many wild roes, and his drink was a thousand firkins; one drop of the sweat from his brow weighed thirty-six pounds.[564] Of his size the following authentic details are given. The Rabbi Johanan said, “I was once a grave-digger, and I ran after a deer, and went in at one end of a shin-bone of a dead man, and I ran for three miles and could not catch the deer or reach the end of the bone. When I went back, I inquired, and was told that this was the shin-bone of Og, king of Bashan.”[565] The sole of his foot was forty miles long. Once, when he was quarrelling with Abraham, one of his teeth fell out, and Abraham made a bed out of the tooth, and slept in it; but some say he made a chair out of it.[566]

When the Israelites came to Edrei and fought against it, in the night Og came and sat down on the wall, and his feet reached the ground. Next morning Moses looked out and said, “I do not understand how the men of Edrei can have built a second wall so high during the night.”

Then it was revealed to him that what he had taken for a wall was Og.[567] Og had built sixty cities, and the smallest was sixty miles high. These cities were in Argob.[568]

The Moabites also resisted Israel, and they were encouraged by Balaam the son of Beor.

Balak, king of Moab, sent to Balaam to curse Israel. Then Balaam rose in the morning and made ready his ass, and went with the princes of Moab. The Mussulman account is that Balaam, having been told by God not to go, resolved to obey, but the princes of Moab bribed his wife, and she gave him no peace till he consented to go to Balak with his messengers.[569] But the anger of the Lord was kindled, because he would go to curse them, and the angel of the Lord stood in the way to be an adversary to him. But he sat upon his ass, and his two sons, Jannes and Jambres, were with him.

And the ass discerned the angel of the Lord standing in the way with a drawn sword in his hand, and the ass turned aside out of the road to go into the field; and Balaam smote the ass. And the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path that was in the midst between the vineyards, in the place where Jacob and Laban raised the mound, the pillars on this side and the observatory on that side,[570] that neither should pass the limit to do evil to the other. And as the ass discerned the angel of the Lord, and thrust herself against the hedge, and bruised Balaam’s foot by the hedge, he smote her again. Ten things were created after the world had been founded at the coming in of the Sabbath between sunset and sunrise,—the manna, the well, the rod of Moses, the diamond, the rainbow, the cloud of glory, the mouth of the earth, the writing on the tables of the covenant, the demons, and the speaking ass.

Then the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to thee, that thou hast smitten me twice?”

And Balaam said to the ass, “Because thou hast been false to me; if there were now a sword in my hand, I would kill thee.”

And the ass said to Balaam, “Woe to thee, wanting in understanding! Behold, thou hast not power with all thy skill to curse me, an unclean beast, which am to die in this world and not to enter the world to come; how much less canst thou curse the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, on whose account the world was created?”[571]

Balaam finding that he could not curse the people, and that they were under the protection of the Most High, saw that the only way to ruin them was by leading them into sin. Therefore he advised Balak, and the king appointed the daughters of the Midianites for the tavern-booths at Beth Jeshimoth, by the snow mountain, where they sold sweetmeats cheaper than their price. And Israel trafficked with them for their sweet cakes; and when the maidens brought out the image of Peor from their bundles, the Israelites did not notice it to take it away, and becoming accustomed to it they went on to sacrifice to it.[572]

And Moses saw one of the sons of Israel come by, holding a Midianitess by the hand, and Moses rebuked him. Then said the man, “What is it that is wrong in this? Didst not thou thyself take to wife a Midianitess, the daughter of Jethro?”

When Moses heard this, he trembled and swooned away. But Phinehas cried, “Where are the lions of the tribe of Judah?” and he took a lance in his hand and slew the man and the woman.

Twelve miracles were wrought for Phinehas; but they need not be repeated here.[573]

Then all the Israelites went forth against the Midianites and defeated them; and when they numbered the slain, Balaam and his sons were discovered among the dead.

13. THE DEATH OF AARON. (Numb. xx. 22-29.)

Moses was full of grief when the word of the Lord came to him that Aaron, his brother, was to die. That night he had no rest, and when it began to dawn towards morning, he rose and went to the tent of Aaron.

Aaron was much surprised to see his brother come in so early, and he said, “Wherefore art thou come?”

Moses answered, “All night long have I been troubled, and have had no sleep, for certain things in the Law came upon me, and they seemed to me to be heavy and unendurable; I have come to thee that thou shouldest relieve my mind.” So they opened the book together and read from the first word; and at every sentence they said, “That is holy, and great, and righteous.”

Soon they came to the history of Adam; and Moses stayed from reading when he arrived at the Fall, and he cried bitterly. “O Adam, thou hast brought death into the world!”

Aaron said, “Why art thou so troubled thereat, my brother? Is not death the way to Eden?”

“It is however very painful. Think also, that both thou and I must some day die. How many years thinkest thou we shall live?”

_Aaron._—“Perhaps twenty.”

_Moses._—“Oh no! not so many.”

_Aaron._—“Then fifteen.”

_Moses._—“No, my brother, not so many.”

_Aaron._—“Then ten years.”

_Moses._—“No, not so many.”

_Aaron._—“Then surely it must be five.”

_Moses._—“I say again, not so many.”

Then said Aaron, hesitating, “Is it then one?”

And Moses said, “Not so much.”

Full of anxiety and alarm, Aaron kept silence. Then said Moses gently, “O my beloved! would it not be good to say of thee as it was said of Abraham, that he was gathered to his fathers in peace?” Aaron was silent.

Then said Moses, “If God were to say that thou shouldst die in a hundred years, what wouldst thou say?”

Aaron said, “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.”

_Moses._—“And if God were to say to thee that thou shouldst die this year, what wouldst thou answer?”

_Aaron._—“The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.”

_Moses._—“And if He were to call thee to-day, what wouldst thou say?”

_Aaron._—“The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.”

“Then,” said Moses, “arise and follow me.”

At that same hour went forth Moses, Aaron, and Eleazer, his son; they ascended into Mount Hor, and the people looked on, nothing doubting, for they knew not what was to take place.

Then said the Most High to His angels, “Behold the new Isaac; he follows his younger brother, who leads him to death.”

When they had reached the summit of the mountain, there opened before them a cavern. They went in, and found a death-bed prepared by the hands of the angels. Aaron laid himself down upon it and made ready for death.

Then Moses cried out in grief, “Woe is me! we were two, when we comforted our sister in her death; in this, thy last hour, I am with thee to solace thee; when I die, who will comfort me?”

Then a voice was heard from heaven, “Fear not; God himself will be with thee.”

On one side stood Moses, on the other Eleazer, and they kissed the dying man on the brow, and took from off him his sacerdotal vestments to clothe Eleazer his son with them. They took off one portion of the sacred apparel, and they laid that on Eleazer; and then they removed another portion, and laid that on Eleazer; and as they stripped Aaron, a silvery veil of cloud sank over him like a pall and covered him.

Aaron seemed to be asleep.

Then Moses said, “My brother, what dost thou feel?”

“I feel nothing but the cloud that envelopes me,” answered he.

After a little pause, Moses said again, “My brother, what dost thou feel?”

He answered feebly, “The cloud surrounds me and bereaves me of all joy.”

And the soul of Aaron was parted from his body. And as it went up Moses cried once more, “Alas, my brother! what dost thou feel?”

And the soul replied, “I feel such joy, that I would it had come to me sooner.”

Then cried Moses, “Oh thou blessed, peaceful death! Oh, may such a death be my lot!”

Moses and Eleazer came down alone from the mountain, and the people wailed because Aaron was no more. But the coffin of Aaron rose, borne by angels, in the sight of the whole congregation, and was carried into heaven, whilst the angels sang: “The priest’s lips have kept knowledge, have spoken truth!”[574]

The Mussulman story is not quite the same.

One version is that both Moses and Aaron ascended Hor, knowing that one of them was to die, but uncertain which, and they found a cave, and a sarcophagus therein with the inscription on it, “I am for him whom I fit.”

Moses tried to lie down in it, but his feet hung out; Aaron next entered it, lay down, and it fitted him exactly.

Then Gabriel led Moses and the sons of Aaron out of the cave, and when they were again admitted Aaron was dead.[575]

Another version is this: God announced to Moses that he would call Aaron to Himself. Then Moses took his brother from the camp, and they went into the desert, till they came to a tree. When Aaron saw the shadow, he said, “O my brother, whose tree is this?”

Moses said, “God alone knows.”

Then spake Aaron, “I am weary, and the shadow is cool; suffer me to repose a little while under the tree.”

Moses said, “Lie down, my brother; and may thy rest be sweet.”

Aaron lay down, and Moses sat beside him till he died.

Then suddenly the tree, the shadow, and Aaron vanished; and Moses returned alone to the Israelites. They were angry with him, that he had not brought back Aaron, and they took up stones against him. But Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed them Aaron on a bed, and he was dead; and the people looked, and wondered, and wept: then said a voice from heaven, “God hath taken him.” The people bewailed him many days.[576]

14. THE DEATH OF MOSES.

When the time came for Moses to die, the Lord called Gabriel to Him, and said, “Go and bring the soul of My servant Moses to Paradise.”

The angel Gabriel answered in astonishment, “Lord, Lord, how can I venture to give death to that man, the like of whom all generations of men have not seen?”

Then the Most High called to Him Michael, and said, “Go and bring the soul of My servant Moses to Paradise.”

The angel Michael answered in fear, “Lord, Lord, I was his instructor in heavenly lore! How can I bear death to my pupil?”

Then the Most High called to Him Sammael, and said, “Go and bring the soul of My servant Moses to Paradise.”

The angel Sammael flushed red with joy. He clothed himself in anger, and grasped his sword, and rushed down upon the holy one. But he found him writing the incommunicable name of God, and he saw his face shine with divine light. Then he stood irresolute, and his sword sank with the point to earth.

“What seekest thou?” asked Moses.

“I am sent to give thee death,” answered the trembling angel. “All mortals must submit to that.”

“But not I,” said Moses, “at least from thee; I, consecrated from my mother’s womb, the discloser of divine mysteries, the mouthpiece of God, I will not surrender my soul into thy hand.”

Then Sammael flew away.

But a voice fell from heaven, “Moses, Moses, thine hour is come!”

“My Lord,” answered Moses, “give not my soul into the hands of the Angel of Death.”

Then the Bath-kol, the heavenly voice, fell again, “Be comforted. I myself will take thy soul, and I myself will bury thee.”[577]

Then Moses went home, and knocked at the door. His wife Zipporah opened; and when she saw him pale and trembling, she inquired the reason.

Moses answered, “Give God the praise. My hour of death is come.”

“What! must a man who has spoken with God die like ordinary mortals?”

“He must. Even the angels Gabriel, Michael, and Israfiel must die; God alone is eternal, and dies not.”

Zipporah wept, and swooned away.

When she recovered her senses, Moses asked, “Where are my children?”

“They are put to bed, and are asleep.”

“Wake them up; I must bid them farewell.”

Zipporah went to the children’s bed and cried, “Arise, poor orphans! arise, and bid your father farewell; for this is his last day in this world, and the first in the world beyond.”

The children awoke in terror, and cried, “Alas! who will pity us when we are fatherless? who will stand protector on our threshold?”

Moses was so moved that he wept. Then God said to him, “What mean these tears? Fearest thou death, or dost thou part reluctantly with this world?”

“I fear not death, nor do I part reluctantly with this world; but I lament these children, who have lost their grandfather Jethro and their uncle Aaron, and who now must lose their father.”

“In whom then did thy mother confide, when she cast thee in the bulrush ark into the water?”

“In Thee, O Lord.”

“Who gave thee power before Pharaoh? who strengthened thee with thy staff to divide the sea?”

“Thou, O Lord.”

“Who led thee through the wilderness, and gave thee bread from heaven, and opened to thee the rock of flint?”

“Thou, O Lord.”

“Then canst thou not trust thy orphans to Me, who am a father to the fatherless? But go, take thy staff, and extend it once more over the sea, and thou shalt have a sign to strengthen thy wavering faith.”

Moses obeyed. He took the rod of God in his hand, and he went down to the sea-beach, and he lifted the rod over the water. Then the sea divided, and he saw in the midst a black rock. And he went forward into the sea till he reached the rock, and then a voice said to him, “Smite with thy staff!” And he smote, and the rock clave asunder, and he saw at its foundations a little cavity, and in the cavity was a worm with a green leaf in its mouth. The worm lifted up its voice and cried thrice, “Praised be God, who doth not forget me, though I, a little worm, lie in loneliness here! Praised be God, who hath nourished and cherished even me!”

When the worm was silent, God said to Moses: “Thou seest that I do not fail to consider and provide for a little worm in a rock of which men know not, far in the depths of the sea; and shall I forget thy children, who know Me?”

Moses returned with shame to his home, comforted his wife and children, and went alone to the mountain where he was to die.[578]

And when he had gone up the mountain, he met three men who were digging a grave; and he asked them, “For whom do you dig this grave?”

They answered, “For a man whom God will call to be with Him in Paradise.”

Moses asked permission to lend a hand to dig the grave of such a holy man. When it was completed, Moses asked, “Have you taken the measure of the deceased?”

“No; we have quite forgotten to do so. But he was of thy size; lie down in it, and God will reward thee, when we see if it be likely to suit.”

Moses did so.[579]

The three men were the three angels Michael, Gabriel, and Sagsagel. The angel Michael had begun the grave, the angel Gabriel had spread the white napkin for the head, the angel Sagsagel that for the feet.

Then the angel Michael stood on one side of Moses, the angel Gabriel on the other side, the angel Sagsagel at the feet, and the Majesty of God appeared above his head.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Close thine eyelids.” He obeyed.

Then the Lord said, “Press thy hand upon thy heart.” And he did so.

Then God said, “Place thy feet in order.” He did so.

Then the Lord God addressed the spirit of Moses, and said, “Holy soul, my daughter! For a hundred and twenty years hast thou inhabited this undefiled body of dust. But now thine hour is come; come forth and mount to Paradise!”

But the soul answered, trembling and with pain, “In this pure and undefiled body have I spent so many years, that I have learned to love it, and I have not the courage to desert it.”

“My daughter, come forth! I will place thee in the highest heaven beneath the Cherubim and Seraphim who bear up My eternal throne.”

Yet the soul doubted and quaked.

Then God bent over the face of Moses, and kissed him. And the soul leaped up in joy, and went with the kiss of God to Paradise.

Then a sad cloud draped the heavens, and the winds wailed, “Who lives now on earth to fight against sin and error?”

And a voice answered, “Such a prophet never arose before.”

And the Earth lamented, “I have lost the holy one!”

And Israel lamented, “We have lost the Shepherd!”

And the angels sang, “He is come in peace to the arms of God!”[580]

But the Mussulmans narrate the last scene differently.

They say that the Angel of Death stood over Moses, as he lay in the grave, and said, “Prophet of God, I must take thy soul.”

“How wilt thou take it?”

“From thy mouth.”

“Thou canst not, for my mouth hath spoken with God.”

“Then from thine eyes.”

“Thou canst not, for my eyes have seen the uncreated Light of God.”

“Then from thy ears.”

“Thou canst not, for my ears have heard the Voice of God.”

“Then from thy hands.”

“Thou canst not, for my hands have held the diamond tables, on which was engraven the Tora.”

Then God bade the Angel of Death obtain from Rhidwan, the porter of Paradise, an apple from the garden, and give it to Moses to smell.

Moses took the apple out of the hand of the Angel of Death, and smelt at it; and as he smelt thereat, the angel drew his soul forth at his nostrils.

None know where is the grave of Moses, save Gabriel, Michael, Israfiel, and Azrael, for they buried him and defend his grave to the Judgment Day.[581]

By Nebo’s lonely mountain,
On this side Jordan’s wave,
In a vale in the land of Moab
There lies a lonely grave.
And no man knows that sepulchre,
And no man saw it e’er,
For the angels of God upturned the sod,
And laid the dead man there.

That was the grandest funeral
That ever passed on earth;
But no man heard the trampling,
Or saw the train go forth—
Noiselessly as the daylight
Comes back when night is done,
And the crimson streak on Ocean’s cheek
Grows into the great sun;

Noiselessly as the spring-time
Her crown of verdure weaves,
And all the trees on all the hills
Open their thousand leaves;
So without sound of music,
Or voice of them that wept,
Silently down from the mountain’s crown
The great procession swept.

And had he not high honour—
The hill-side for a pall,
To lie in state, while angels wait
With stars for tapers tall;
And the dark rock-pines, like tossing plumes,
Over his bier to wave,
And God’s own hand in that lonely land
To lay him in the grave?[582]

Once when the Persian Empire was at the summit of its power, an attempt was made to discover the body of Moses. A countless host of Persian soldiers was sent to search Mount Nebo. When they had reached the top of the mountain, they saw the sepulchre of Moses distinctly at the bottom. They hastened to reach the valley, and then they clearly distinguished the tomb of Moses at the summit. Thus, whenever they were at the top, they saw it at the foot; and when they were at the foot, it appeared at the top; so they were forced to abandon the prosecution of their search.[583]

The incident of the contention of Michael with Satan for the body of Moses mentioned by S. Jude is contained in the apocryphal “Assumption of Moses,” now lost, but which has been quoted by Origen and other Fathers.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 454:

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

Footnote 455:

Yaschar, pp. 1248, 1249; 1253, 1254.

Footnote 456:

Ibid., p. 1255.

Footnote 457:

Midrash, fol. 51; Yaschar, p. 1157.

Footnote 458:

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

Footnote 459:

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

Footnote 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.

Footnote 461:

Beer, pp. 112-6.

Footnote 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.)

Footnote 463:

Yaschar, p. 1260.

Footnote 464:

Targum of Palestine, i. p. 446.

Footnote 465:

Rabboth, fol. 118a.

Footnote 466:

Exod. xv. 1.

Footnote 467:

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

Footnote 468:

Targum of Palestine, i. p. 446; Yaschar, p. 1261.

Footnote 469:

Midrash, fol. 51.

Footnote 470:

Midrash, fol. 51; Yaschar, p. 1262.

Footnote 471:

Midrash, fol. 52; Yaschar, p. 1263.

Footnote 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.)

Footnote 473:

Exod. iv. 10.

Footnote 474:

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

Footnote 475:

Yaschar, p. 1265.

Footnote 476:

Yaschar, p. 1265.

Footnote 477:

Yaschar, p. 1263.

Footnote 478:

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

Footnote 479:

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

Footnote 480:

This illustrates the passage 2 Kings ix. 13.

Footnote 481:

Midrash, fol. 52; Yaschar, pp. 1265-1274.

Footnote 482:

These were two of his seven names.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 484:

Pirke R. Eliezer, c. 40; Yaschar, p. 1274.

Footnote 485:

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

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 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.)

Footnote 489:

Exod. iv. 14.

Footnote 490:

Tabari, i. c. lxxiii. p. 24.

Footnote 491:

Midrash, fol. 54.

Footnote 492:

Targum of Palestine, i. p. 460.

Footnote 493:

Yaschar, p. 1280.

Footnote 494:

Tabari, p. 326.

Footnote 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.)

Footnote 496:

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

Footnote 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.

Footnote 498:

Midrash, fol. 55.

Footnote 499:

Targum of Palestine, i. p. 463.

Footnote 500:

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

Footnote 501:

Targums, i. 464.

Footnote 502:

Targums, i. p. 467.

Footnote 503:

Ibid., i. p. 471.

Footnote 504:

Yaschar, p. 1283.

Footnote 505:

Tabari, i. p. 338.

Footnote 506:

Weil, p. 165.

Footnote 507:

Talmud, Sota. fol. 13.

Footnote 508:

Targum of Palestine, i. p. 478.

Footnote 509:

Targums, i. p. 475.

Footnote 510:

Ibid., i. p. 485.

Footnote 511:

Targum of Jerusalem, i. p. 488; Yaschar, p. 1287.

Footnote 512:

Exod. xiv. 13, 14.

Footnote 513:

Koran, Sura xxvi. v. 63.

Footnote 514:

Weil, p. 168; see also Midrash, fol. 176.

Footnote 515:

Exod. xv. 21.

Footnote 516:

Tabari, p. 350.

Footnote 517:

Ibid. i. p. 355.

Footnote 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.)

Footnote 519:

Targum of Palestine, i. p. 552.

Footnote 520:

Tabari, i. p. 362.

Footnote 521:

Targum of Palestine, ii. p. 685.

Footnote 522:

Pirke R. Eliezer, c. 45.

Footnote 523:

Weil, pp. 172, 173.

Footnote 524:

Koran, Sura vii. v. 139.

Footnote 525:

Tabari, i. p. 364.

Footnote 526:

Ibid., i. c. lxxv.

Footnote 527:

Targum of Palestine, i. p. 561.

Footnote 528:

Jalkut Rubeni, fol. 117, col. 1.

Footnote 529:

Jalkut Rubeni, fol. 107, cols. 2, 3.

Footnote 530:

Ibid., fol. 107, col. 3.

Footnote 531:

Tabari, i. p. 371; also Midrash, fol. 30.

Footnote 532:

Parascha R. Bechai, fol. 116.

Footnote 533:

Talmud, Tract. Hajada, fol. 12, col. 2.

Footnote 534:

Talmud, Tract. Joma, fol. 75, col. 1.

Footnote 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.)

Footnote 536:

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

Footnote 537:

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

Footnote 538:

Targum of Palestine, i. pp. 499, 500.

Footnote 539:

Jalkut Shimoni, fol. 73, col. 4.

Footnote 540:

Targum of Palestine, i. pp. 501, 502.

Footnote 541:

Tabari, i. p. 393.

Footnote 542:

Koran, Sura ii. v. 54.

Footnote 543:

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

Footnote 544:

1 Cor. x. 4.

Footnote 545:

Tabari, i. p. 373.

Footnote 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.

Footnote 547:

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

Footnote 548:

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

Footnote 549:

Targums, ii. pp. 380, 381.

Footnote 550:

Weil, p. 175.

Footnote 551:

Targums, ii. p. 382.

Footnote 552:

Weil, p. 176.

Footnote 553:

Targums, ii. p. 386.

Footnote 554:

Tract. Kethuvoth, fol. 111, col. 2.

Footnote 555:

Targum of Palestine, ii. p. 390.

Footnote 556:

Targums, ii. p. 391.

Footnote 557:

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

Footnote 558:

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

Footnote 559:

Ibid., p. 342.

Footnote 560:

Pirke R. Eliezer, c. 45.

Footnote 561:

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

Footnote 562:

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

Footnote 563:

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

Footnote 564:

Talmud, Tract. Sopherim, fol. 14, col. 4.

Footnote 565:

Ibid., Tract. Nida, fol. 24, col. 2.

Footnote 566:

Jalkut Cadasch, fol. 16, col. 2.

Footnote 567:

Eisenmenger, i. p. 389.

Footnote 568:

Talmud, Tract. Sopherim, fol. 14, col. 4.

Footnote 569:

Tabari, i. p. 398.

Footnote 570:

Gen. xxxi. 51.

Footnote 571:

Targums, ii. pp. 419-21.

Footnote 572:

Targums, ii. pp. 432-3.

Footnote 573:

Ibid., pp. 434-5.

Footnote 574:

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

Footnote 575:

Weil, p. 185.

Footnote 576:

Tabari, i. c. lxxix.; Abulfeda, p. 35.

Footnote 577:

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

Footnote 578:

Weil, pp. 188, 189.

Footnote 579:

Weil, p. 190.

Footnote 580:

Rabboth, fol. 302 b.

Footnote 581:

Weil, pp. 190, 191.

Footnote 582:

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

Footnote 583:

Talmud, Tract. Sota, fol. 14 a.

XXXIII.
JOSHUA.

Hitherto Israel had required a lawgiver, and they had been given one in Moses; now they needed a general, and they were provided with one in Joshua.

After the death of Moses and his brother Aaron, the children of Israel remained seven years in the wilderness, till the forty years were accomplished. Then God conferred on Joshua the function of prophet, and ordered him to lead the chosen people out of the desert and to attack the three cities of the giants.

Joshua was of the tribe of Joseph. He was the son of Nun, who was the son of Ephraim, who was the son of Joseph; and his mother was Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron.[584]

Before Joshua led the people of the Lord to the conquest of the Holy Land, Joshua sent three deputations into Canaan; of these the first proclaimed, “Let any one who will escape death, leave the country.”

Then came the second deputation, and declared, “Let such people as will make an alliance with us, do so, and we will receive them.”

Then came the third deputation, and cried, “Let those who persist in desiring war, prepare for it.”

The result of these deputations was that one nation deserted the country and settled in Africa, and that another nation made terms with Israel. But thirty-one princes made ready for war.[585]

Joshua marched with his army against Jericho, took the city, and slew all the men therein; they were giants, and it took a hundred men to cut off the head of each giant.

After the capture of Jericho, Joshua went against Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Bethel. And as the people went up, the men of Ai came forth, and routed them, and they fled.[586]

Then Joshua rent his clothes, and fell on his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord, until eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust on their heads.

And the Lord said to Joshua, “Get thee up. I am wroth with the people, for there is amongst them a sin which is not put away, and till that accursed thing is cast out, victory shall not attend their arms.”

Now Joshua had ordered all the plunder of Jericho to be burnt with fire; but although it was heaped up, the fire would not consume it. Then he knew that the pile could not be complete, for the flames danced up, but would consume nothing, as though they waited for the entirety of their prey.

So Joshua made inquisition; and it was found that Achan (Adjezan in Arabic) had concealed a portion of the booty, which he desired to appropriate to his own use.

Then the booty taken by Achan was added to the heap, and instantly the flames roared up, and devoured the whole of the spoil.[587]

And when Ai was taken, Joshua said: “Enter into this town; for God has taken it from the giants, and has given it to you to be your inheritance. But when you pass through the gates, prostrate yourselves, with your heads in the dust, and adore God, saying, Hittaton, hittaton, which is by interpretation, Pardon our sins.”

Some of those who entered Ai obeyed the voice of Joshua, and God gave them a possession in that city, and their posterity retain it to this day.

But there were some ungodly men who disobeyed the voice of Joshua, and when they passed through the gates, they did not prostrate themselves, but they raised their heads to heaven, and instead of saying “_hittaton_,” as commanded, they said “_hintaton_,” asking for corn.

Then the wrath of God was kindled against these men, and fire fell from heaven, and consumed all that had said _hintaton_ in place of _hittaton_.[588]

Near Ai there were mountains, in which reigned two kings, Kuma and Djion (Sihon). These Amorites were wealthy. When Joshua attacked these kings, they asked to make a league with the people of Israel; and they were accepted, on condition that they believed in the religion of Moses.

Another of these mountain kingdoms was governed by a king called Barak (Adoni-bezek). He also sought by submission to escape ruin, and Joshua accepted him on the same terms as Kuma and Djion.

To the west were five cities, whose inhabitants were also Amorites. The kings of these cities made war on Joshua. Joshua routed them, and these five kings took refuge in a cave. Joshua ordered the cave to be closed with a stone, whilst he pursued the routed army. Then God sent hail from heaven, and each hailstone struck down and killed a man.[589]

On that day Joshua cried to the Lord, for the sun hasted to go down, and it was a Friday, and he feared that he should not have utterly discomfited the host before the Sabbath came in. Then the Lord lengthened the day one hour, so as to enable him to complete his victory.[590]

After the battle, it was announced to him that Barak and the other kings who had made submission to him had taken advantage of the rising of the kings of the five cities to renounce their allegiance, and to return to the worship of false gods. Therefore Joshua prayed, “O Lord! because they have become unfaithful, take from them their riches, and make them poor, that they may become bondsmen; and that their king may fall into misery!”

Joshua was sick and unable to march against them. He was aged a hundred and twenty-eight years. He was a hundred years old when Moses died, and he governed Israel twenty-eight years.[591]

For the benefit of coin-collectors, the following information is inserted. “On the coins struck by Abraham are figured, on the obverse, an old man and an ass; on the reverse, a boy and a girl. On the coins of Joshua are, on one side a bull, on the other a unicorn. On those of David, on one side a staff and wallet, on the other a tower. On those of Mordecai, on the obverse, sackcloth and ashes; and on the reverse, a crown.”[592]

After Joshua, Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Othniel, the son of Kenaz,[593] Caleb’s brother, governed Israel. They collected the people, and marched against Barak (Adoni-bezek)[594] and his people who had apostatized, and attacked them, and slew great numbers of them.

They took the king and cut off his thumbs. This Barak had, during his reign, treated seventy kings in like fashion, so that they were unable to pick up anything off the ground. And when Barak was feasting, these kings were brought before him. Then he cast bread among them, but they were unable to pick it up, having no thumbs, and they were obliged to stoop to the ground, and take it in their mouths like dogs; and this caused huge merriment to the king.[595]

Footnote 584:

Tabari, i. p. 396.

Footnote 585:

Talmud of Jerusalem; Tract. Terumoth.

Footnote 586:

Josh. vii. 1-5.

Footnote 587:

Tabari, i. p. 402.

Footnote 588:

Koran, Sura ii. v. 55, 56.

Footnote 589:

Tabari, p. 404.

Footnote 590:

Tabari, p. 401.

Footnote 591:

Ibid. p. 404.

Footnote 592:

Berescheth Rabba.

Footnote 593:

The Mussulmans say Khasqîl or Ezechiel.

Footnote 594:

Judges i. 4.

Footnote 595:

Tabari, i. p. 404.

XXXIV.
THE JUDGES.

If Joshua, the first of the Judges, has, to a great extent, escaped the hands of legend manufacturers, the same may be said of his successors, Phinehas, Othniel, Ehud, Deborah and Barak, Gibeon, Abimelech, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. Even Samson has not been surrounded by such a multitude of traditions as might have been expected.

The Mussulmans have little to say of him, and the Jewish legends are not numerous.

The Rabbi Samuel, son of Nahaman, said that Samson once took two mountains, one in each hand, and knocked them together, as a man will strike together two pebbles. The Rabbi Jehuda said that when the Spirit of the Lord rested on him, he strode in one stride from Zorah to Eshtaol. The Rabbi Nahaman added that his hair stood up, and one hair tinkled against another, so that the sound could be heard, like that of bells, from Zorah to Eshtaol.[596]

Abulfaraj says that Phinehas, the son of Eleazer, the son of Aaron, after the death of Joshua, was commanded by an angel to put the manna, the rod, the tables of the covenant, and the five books of Moses in a brazen urn, seal it with lead, and conceal it in a cave, as the Israelites were too wicked to be entrusted with such a treasure.[597]

Footnote 596:

Eisenmenger, i. p. 395.

Footnote 597:

Hist. Dynast. p. 24.

XXXV.
SAMUEL.

Gjalout (Goliath) was king of the Philistines. He was of the race of the ancient giants, the Adites and the Themudites, who were from fifty to a hundred cubits in height.

The children of Israel were grievously oppressed by him, and they besought God to send them a prophet who would reinstruct them in the law of Moses, and in the true religion. For thirty years they besought God, but no prophet was given to them. In the meanwhile, the Philistines oppressed them more and more, and whenever the Israelites rose against them, they defeated the Israelites with great slaughter.

There died a man of the tribe of Levi, Rayyan (Elkanah) son of Elkama who was descended from Aaron the brother of Moses. The elders of Israel hearing that he had died, leaving his wife pregnant, went to her and surrounded her with the greatest care and comforts.

There was amongst them a wise man named Hil (Eli), who was high-priest; to him they confided the care of the widow. In time she bore a son, who was named Ischmawil (Samuel).

Eli brought up the child Samuel in the temple, to the age of seven years, and he taught him the Pentateuch and the religion of Moses.

Samuel regarded Eli as his father, because he had been brought up by him, and he loved and reverenced him greatly.

One night when he was asleep, Gabriel came into the room and made a noise, so that Samuel awoke.

He saw no one, so he called to Eli, “Master! didst thou summon me?”

Eli replied, “No, my son, I did not summon thee.”

Next night the same occurred; so also the third night.

Then Eli thought that God wished to give to Samuel the gift of prophecy; therefore he said, “My son, if thou art called again in the night, reply, Here am I; what wouldest Thou? I am in Thy hands.”

Samuel did so. Then Gabriel appeared to him and communicated to him the message of God.

Samuel told Eli that the Lord had given him the gift of prophecy, by the mouth of His messenger Gabriel.

Then Eli was rejoiced, and he announced the glad tidings to all Israel.

Eli had two sons whom he had instructed in the art of offering sacrifice according to the law of Moses, but he had taught them nothing else. Eli himself moreover neglected to sacrifice, and he allowed his sons to live after their lusts, unrestrained by his paternal and priestly rebuke.

Therefore God spake to Samuel that He would punish Eli and his sons; but Samuel feared to show it to the high priest.

Then said Eli to him, “Has God given thee a message to me?”

And Samuel answered, “God has said, Why hast thou neglected to offer sacrifice, so that thy sons add thereto or detract therefrom? And why hast thou not constrained them? Because of this sin, I shall deliver thee into the hands of an enemy, who shall slay thy sons, and take the ark, and cause thee to perish also.”[598]

Then Gjalout came, and made war against the children of Israel, and there was a great battle, and Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were slain, and the ark was taken; and Eli fell backward from off his seat when he heard the news, and his neck brake, and he died.

In the ark, that now fell into the hands of the Philistines, were preserved the tables of the Law, which God had given to Moses, and a basin in which the angels washed and purified the hearts of the prophets, and the mitre and breastplate and pontifical robes of Aaron.

The Israelites had been accustomed, in times of peril, to produce the ark, and it had delivered them from evil by virtue of the sacred relics it contained. As for the Shekinah which rested upon it, and from which the ark took its name of Tabut-Shekinah, the Mussulman authors assure us it had the form of a leopard, which, whenever the ark was carried against the enemies of God’s people, rose on its legs, and uttered so potent a roar, that the foes of Israel fell to the ground. These authors, however, derived this fable from Rabbinic writers.[599]

The king of the Philistines, having obtained possession of the ark, placed it in a draught-house, purposing thereby to express his hatred of the Jews, and his contempt for that which they regarded as most sacred.

But a terrible disease broke out among the Philistines, and the ark was sent from Gaza to another city. There the plague appeared immediately, and the Philistines were at length obliged to return the ark to the Israelites.

In the meantime, the Israelites, in consternation at the loss of their ark, gathered about Samuel, and besought him to consecrate a king for them, who might go forth to battle before them, and recover for them the ark.

Then Samuel said: “If I consecrate a king for you, will you not desert him, and refuse to obey him?”

But they all protested, “We will follow him wherever he leads, and we will obey all his commands.”[600]

Then Schareh, who was surnamed Thalout (Saul), on account of the greatness of his stature, was chosen by Samuel to be their king. He was poor, and by trade a water-carrier, and his ancestors had all been water-carriers.

Now the father of Saul had lost an ass, which had escaped into the desert. Saul went after it.

Then Samuel came to meet him, and said to him: “Thou shalt reign as king over the people of Israel.”

Saul replied: “O prophet of God! thou knowest that my tribe is the least among the tribes, and that I am the poorest among the members of my tribe.”

Samuel said: “Nevertheless, God has ordered that so it should be.”

Then he poured on his head the sacred oil which had been brought to Samuel out of heaven by Gabriel.

But some say that this oil belonged to Joseph the son of Jacob, and it was preserved by the prophets. When this oil was poured on Saul’s head and face, it made his skin brilliant and pure.

Now the prophets all came out of the tribe of Levi, and the tribe of Benjamin was despised greatly by the Israelites. And when they heard that their king was from that tribe, and was a water-carrier, they were angry and exclaimed, “Why shall he reign over us? We are as worthy to reign as he!”[601]

Samuel answered, “God gives power to whom He wills.”

The Israelites said, “Show us a sign.”

Samuel brought the sacred oil forth, and it boiled in the presence of Saul.[602]

But that did not suffice them. Then they asked another sign; and Samuel said, “The ark shall return.”

And they lifted up their eyes, and lo! the ark was coming to them attached to the tails of two cows, and angels guided the cows.[603]

Then the children of Israel doubted no longer, but accepted Saul as their king.

Then said Samuel to the people: “The God of your fathers has sent me unto you, to promise you victory over the Philistines, and deliverance from your bondage, if you will turn and leave your evil ways.”

“What shall we do,” asked one of the elders, “that we may obtain the favour of God?”

Samuel answered, “Ye must pray to God alone, and offer no sacrifices to idols, nor eat the flesh of swine, or blood; neither must you eat anything which is not slaughtered in the name of the Most High. Ye must assist one another, honour your parents, entreat your wives with kindness, and support the widows, orphans, and poor. Ye shall believe in the prophets who have gone before me, especially in Abraham, for whom God turned a fiery pile into a pleasure garden; in Ishmael, whose neck God made as a flint-stone, and for whom He opened a fountain in the stony desert; and in Moses, who with his staff opened twelve clay paths through the sea. Also ye shall believe in the prophets who shall follow after me, especially in Isa Ibn Mariam (Jesus, Son of Mary), the Spirit of God, and in Mohammed Ibn Abd-allah.”

“And who is this Isa?” asked one of the elders of Israel.