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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Legends of the Jews, by Louis Ginzberg
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: The Legends of the Jews
+       Volume 1
+
+Author: Louis Ginzberg
+
+Translator: Henrietta Szold
+
+Release Date: October, 1998 [eBook #1493]
+[Most recently updated: February 3, 2022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: Charles Keller
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS, VOLUME I ***
+
+
+
+
+The Legends of the Jews
+
+by Louis Ginzberg
+
+
+TRANSLATED PROM THE GERMAN MANUSCRIPT BY
+HENRIETTA SZOLD
+
+
+VOLUME I
+BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS
+FROM THE CREATION TO JACOB
+
+
+
+
+To
+MY BROTHER ASHER
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+ PREFACE
+
+ I. THE CREATION OF THE WORLD
+ The First Things Created
+ The Alphabet
+ The First Day
+ The Second Day
+ The Third Day
+ The Fourth Day
+ The Fifth Day
+ The Sixth Day
+ All Things Praise the Lord.
+
+ II. ADAM
+ Man and the World
+ The Angels and the Creation of Man
+ The Creation of Adam
+ The Soul of Man
+ The Ideal Man
+ The Fall of Satan
+ Woman
+ Adam and Eve in Paradise
+ The Fall of Man
+ The Punishment
+ Sabbath in Heaven
+ Adam's Repentance
+ The Book of Raziel
+ The Sickness of Adam
+ Eve's Story of the Fall
+ The Death of Adam
+ The Death of Eve.
+
+ III. THE TEN GENERATIONS
+ The Birth of Cain
+ Fratricide
+ The Punishment of Cain
+ The Inhabitants of the Seven Earths
+ The Descendants of Cain
+ The Descendants of Adam and Lilith
+ Seth and His Descendants
+ Enosh
+ The Fall of the Angels
+ Enoch, Ruler and Teacher
+ The Ascension of Enoch
+ The Translation of Enoch
+ Methuselah.
+
+ IV. NOAH
+ The Birth of Noah
+ The Punishment of the Fallen Angels
+ The Generation of the Deluge
+ The Holy Book
+ The Inmates of the Ark
+ The Flood
+ Noah Leaves the Ark
+ The Curse of Drunkenness
+ Noah's Descendants Spread Abroad
+ The Depravity of Mankind
+ Nimrod
+ The Tower of Babel.
+
+ V. ABRAHAM
+ The Wicked Generations
+ The Birth of Abraham
+ The Babe Proclaims God
+ Abraham's First Appearance in Public
+ The Preacher of the True Faith
+ In the Fiery Furnace
+ Abraham Emigrates to Haran
+ The Star in the East
+ The True Believer
+ The Iconoclast
+ Abraham in Canaan
+ His Sojourn in Egypt
+ The First Pharaoh
+ The War of the Kings
+ The Covenant of the Pieces
+ The Birth of Ishmael
+ The Visit of the Angels
+ The Cities of Sin
+ Abraham Pleads for the Sinners
+ The Destruction of the Sinful Cities
+ Among the Philistines
+ The Birth of Isaac
+ Ishmael Cast Off
+ The Two Wives of Ishmael
+ The Covenant with Abimelech
+ Satan Accuses Abraham
+ The Journey to Moriah
+ The Akedah
+ The Death and Burial of Sarah
+ Eliezer's Mission
+ The Wooing of Rebekah
+ The Last Years of Abraham
+ A Herald of Death
+ Abraham Views Earth and Heaven
+ The Patron of Hebron.
+
+ VI. JACOB
+ The Birth of Esau and Jacob
+ The Favorite of Abraham
+ The Sale of the Birthright
+ Isaac with the Philistines
+ Isaac Blesses Jacob
+ Esau's True Character Revealed
+ Jacob Leaves His Father's House
+ Jacob Pursued by Eliphaz and Esau
+ The Day of Miracles
+ Jacob with Laban
+ The Marriage of Jacob
+ The Birth of Jacob's Children
+ Jacob Flees before Laban
+ The Covenant with Laban
+ Jacob and Esau Prepare to Meet
+ Jacob Wrestles with the Angel
+ The Meeting between Esau and Jacob
+ The Outrage at Shechem
+ A War Frustrated
+ The War with the Ninevites
+ The War with the Amorites
+ Isaac Blesses Levi and Judah
+ Joy and Sorrow in the House of Jacob
+ Esau's Campaign against Jacob
+ The Descendants of Esau.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Was sich nie und nirgends hat begeben, das allein veraltet nie.
+
+The term Rabbinic was applied to the Jewish Literature of post-Biblical
+times by those who conceived the Judaism of the later epoch to be
+something different from the Judaism of the Bible, something actually
+opposed to it. Such observers held that the Jewish nation ceased to
+exist with the moment when its political independence was destroyed.
+For them the Judaism of the later epoch has been a Judaism of the
+Synagogue, the spokesmen of which have been the scholars, the Rabbis.
+And what this phase of Judaism brought forth has been considered by
+them to be the product of the schools rather than the product of
+practical, pulsating life. Poetic phantasmagoria, frequently the
+vaporings of morbid visionaries, is the material out of which these
+scholars construct the theologic system of the Rabbis, and fairy tales,
+the spontaneous creations of the people, which take the form of sacred
+legend in Jewish literature, are denominated the Scriptural exegesis of
+the Rabbis, and condemned incontinently as nugae rabbinorum.
+
+As the name of a man clings to him, so men cling to names. For the
+primitive savage the name is part of the essence of a person or thing,
+and even in the more advanced stages of culture, judgments are not
+always formed in agreement with facts as they are, but rather according
+to the names by which they are called. The current estimate of Rabbinic
+Literature is a case in point. With the label Rabbinic later ages
+inherited from former ages a certain distorted view of the literature
+so designated. To this day, and even among scholars that approach its
+investigation with unprejudiced minds, the opinion prevails that it is
+purely a learned product. And yet the truth is that the most prominent
+feature of Rabbinic Literature is its popular character.
+
+The school and the home are not mutually opposed to each other in the
+conception of the Jews. They study in their homes, and they live in
+their schools. Likewise there is no distinct class of scholars among
+them, a class that withdraws itself from participation in the affairs
+of practical life. Even in the domain of the Halakah, the Rabbis were
+not so much occupied with theoretic principles of law as with the
+concrete phenomena of daily existence. These they sought to grasp and
+shape. And what is true of the Halakah is true with greater emphasis of
+the Haggadah, which is popular in the double sense of appealing to the
+people and being produced in the main by the people. To speak of the
+Haggadah of the Tannaim and Amoraim is as far from fact as to speak of
+the legends of Shakespeare and Scott. The ancient authors and their
+modern brethren of the guild alike elaborate legendary material which
+they found at hand.
+
+It has been held by some that the Haggadah contains no popular legends,
+that it is wholly a factitious, academic product. A cursory glance at
+the pseudepigraphic literature of the Jews, which is older than the
+Haggadah literature by several centuries, shows how untenable this view
+is. That the one literature should have drawn from the other is
+precluded by historical facts. At a very early time the Synagogue
+disavowed the pseudepigraphic literature, which was the favorite
+reading matter of the sectaries and the Christians. Nevertheless the
+inner relation between them is of the closest kind. The only essential
+difference is that the Midrashic form prevails in the Haggadah, and the
+parenetic or apocalyptic form in the pseudepigrapha. The common element
+must therefore depart from the Midrash on the one hand and from
+parenesis on the other.
+
+Folklore, fairy tales, legends, and all forms of story telling akin to
+these are comprehended, in the terminology of the post-Biblical
+literature of the Jews, under the inclusive description Haggadah, a
+name that can be explained by a circumlocution, but cannot be
+translated. Whatever it is applied to is thereby characterized first as
+being derived from the Holy Scriptures, and then as being of the nature
+of a story. And, in point of fact, this dualism sums up the
+distinguishing features of Jewish Legend. More than eighteen centuries
+ago the Jewish historian Josephus observed that "though we be deprived
+of our wealth, of our cities, or of the other advantages we have, our
+law continues immortal." The word he meant to use was not law, but
+Torah, only he could not find an equivalent for it in Greek. A singer
+of the Synagogue a thousand years after Josephus, who expressed his
+sentiments in Hebrew, uttered the same thought: "The Holy City and all
+her daughter cities are violated, they lie in ruins, despoiled of their
+ornaments, their splendor darkened from sight. Naught is left to us
+save one eternal treasure alone—the Holy Torah." The sadder the life of
+the Jewish people, the more it felt the need of taking refuge in its
+past. The Scripture, or, to use the Jewish term, the Torah, was the
+only remnant of its former national independence, and the Torah was the
+magic means of making a sordid actuality recede before a glorious
+memory. To the Scripture was assigned the task of supplying nourishment
+to the mind as well as the soul, to the intellect as well as the
+imagination, and the result is the Halakah and the Haggadah.
+
+The fancy of the people did not die out in the post-Biblical time, but
+the bent of its activity was determined by the past.
+
+Men craved entertainment in later times as well as in the earlier, only
+instead of resorting for its subject-matter to what happened under
+their eyes, they drew from the fountain-head of the past. The events in
+the ancient history of Israel, which was not only studied, but lived
+over again daily, stimulated the desire to criticize it. The religious
+reflections upon nature laid down in the myths of the people, the fairy
+tales, which have the sole object of pleasing, and the legends, which
+are the people's verdict upon history—all these were welded into one
+product. The fancy of the Jewish people was engaged by the past
+reflected in the Bible, and all its creations wear a Biblical hue for
+this reason. This explains the peculiar form of the Haggadah.
+
+But what is spontaneously brought forth by the people is often
+preserved only in the form impressed upon it by the feeling and the
+thought of the poet, or by the speculations of the learned. Also Jewish
+legends have rarely been transmitted in their original shape. They have
+been perpetuated in the form of Midrash, that is, Scriptural exegesis.
+The teachers of the Haggadah, called Rabbanan d'Aggadta in the Talmud,
+were no folklorists, from whom a faithful reproduction of legendary
+material may be expected. Primarily they were homilists, who used
+legends for didactic purposes, and their main object was to establish a
+close connection between the Scripture and the creations of the popular
+fancy, to give the latter a firm basis and secure a long term of life
+for them.
+
+One of the most important tasks of the modern investigation of the
+Haggadah is to make a clean separation between the original elements
+and the later learned additions. Hardly a beginning has been made in
+this direction. But as long as the task of distinguishing them has not
+been accomplished, it is impossible to write out the Biblical legends
+of the Jews without including the supplemental work of scholars in the
+products of the popular fancy.
+
+In the present work, "The Legends of the Jews," I have made the first
+attempt to gather from the original sources all Jewish legends, in so
+far as they refer to Biblical personages and events, and reproduce them
+with the greatest attainable completeness and accuracy. I use the
+expression Jewish, rather than Rabbinic, because the sources from which
+I have levied contributions are not limited to the Rabbinic literature.
+As I expect to take occasion elsewhere to enter into a description of
+the sources in detail, the following data must suffice for the present.
+
+The works of the Talmudic Midrashic literature are of the first
+importance. Covering the period from the second to the fourteenth
+century, they contain the major part of the Jewish legendary material.
+Akin to this in content if not always in form is that derived from the
+Targumim, of which the oldest versions were produced not earlier than
+the fourth century, and the most recent not later than the tenth. The
+Midrashic literature has been preserved only in fragmentary form. Many
+Haggadot not found in our existing collections are quoted by the
+authors of the Middle Ages. Accordingly, a not inconsiderable number of
+the legends here printed are taken from medieval Bible commentators and
+homilists. I was fortunate in being able to avail myself also of
+fragments of Midrashim of which only manuscript copies are extant.
+
+The works of the older Kabbalah are likewise treasuries of quotations
+from lost Midrashim, and it was among the Kabbalists, and later among
+the Hasidim, that new legends arose. The literatures produced in these
+two circles are therefore of great importance for the present purpose.
+
+Furthermore, Jewish legends can be culled not from the writings of the
+Synagogue alone; they appear also in those of the Church. Certain
+Jewish works repudiated by the Synagogue were accepted and mothered by
+the Church. This is the literature usually denominated
+apocryphal-pseudepigraphic. From the point of view of legends, the
+apocryphal books are of subordinate importance, while the
+pseudepigrapha are of fundamental value. Even quantitatively the latter
+are an imposing mass. Besides the Greek writings of the Hellenist Jews,
+they contain Latin, Syrian, Ethiopic, Aramean, Arabic, Persian, and Old
+Slavic products translated directly or indirectly from Jewish works of
+Palestinian or Hellenistic origin. The use of these pseudepigrapha
+requires great caution. Nearly all of them are embellished with
+Christian interpolations, and in some cases the inserted portions have
+choked the original form so completely that it is impossible to
+determine at first sight whether a Jewish or a Christian legend is
+under examination. I believe, however, that the pseudepigraphic
+material made use of by me is Jewish beyond the cavil of a doubt, and
+therefore it could not have been left out of account in a work like the
+present.
+
+However, in the appreciation of Jewish Legends, it is the Rabbinic
+writers that should form the point of departure, and not the
+pseudepigrapha. The former represent the main stream of Jewish thought
+and feeling, the latter only an undercurrent. If the Synagogue cast out
+the pseudepigrapha, and the Church adopted them with a great show of
+favor, these respective attitudes were not determined arbitrarily or by
+chance. The pseudepigrapha originated in circles that harbored the
+germs from which Christianity developed later on. The Church could thus
+appropriate them as her own with just reason.
+
+In the use of some of the apocryphal and pseudepigraphic writings, I
+found it expedient to quote the English translations of them made by
+others, in so far as they could be brought into accord with the general
+style of the book, for which purpose I permitted myself the liberty of
+slight verbal changes. In particulars, I was guided, naturally, by my
+own conception of the subject, which the Notes justify in detail.
+
+Besides the pseudepigrapha there are other Jewish sources in Christian
+garb. In the rich literature of the Church Fathers many a Jewish legend
+lies embalmed which one would seek in vain in Jewish books. It was
+therefore my special concern to use the writings of the Fathers to the
+utmost.
+
+The luxuriant abundance of the material to be presented made it
+impossible to give a verbal rendition of each legend. This would have
+required more than three times the space at my disposal. I can
+therefore claim completeness for my work only as to content. In form it
+had to suffer curtailment. When several conflicting versions of the
+same legend existed, I gave only one in the text, reserving the other
+one, or the several others, for the Notes, or, when practicable, they
+were fused into one typical legend, the component parts of which are
+analyzed in the Notes. In other instances I resorted to the expedient
+of citing one version in one place and the others in other appropriate
+places, in furtherance of my aim, to give a smooth presentation of the
+matter, with as few interruptions to the course of the narrative as
+possible. For this reason I avoided such transitional phrases as "Some
+say," "It has been maintained," etc. That my method sometimes separates
+things that belong together cannot be considered a grave disadvantage,
+as the Index at the end of the work will present a logical
+rearrangement of the material for the benefit of the interested
+student. I also did not hesitate to treat of the same personage in
+different chapters, as, for instance, many of the legends bearing upon
+Jacob, those connected with the latter years of the Patriarch, do not
+appear in the chapter bearing his name, but will be found in the
+sections devoted to Joseph, for the reason that once the son steps upon
+the scene, he becomes the central figure, to which the life and deeds
+of the father are subordinated. Again, in consideration of lack of
+space the Biblical narratives underlying the legends had to be
+omitted—surely not a serious omission in a subject with which
+widespread acquaintance may be presupposed as a matter of course.
+
+As a third consequence of the amplitude of the material, it was thought
+advisable to divide it into several volumes. The references, the
+explanations of the sources used, and the interpretations given, and,
+especially, numerous emendations of the text of the Midrashim and the
+pseudepigrapha, which determined my conception of the passages so
+emended, will be found in the last volume, the fourth, which will
+contain also an Introduction to the History of Jewish Legends, a number
+of Excursuses, and the Index.
+
+As the first three volumes are in the hands of the printer almost in
+their entirety, I venture to express the hope that the whole work will
+appear within measurable time, the parts following each other at short
+intervals.
+
+LOUIS GINZBERG.
+
+
+NEW YORK, March 24, 1909
+
+
+
+
+I
+THE CREATION OF THE WORLD
+
+THE FIRST THINGS CREATED
+
+In the beginning, two thousand years before the heaven and the earth,
+seven things were created: the Torah written with black fire on white
+fire, and lying in the lap of God; the Divine Throne, erected in the
+heaven which later was over the heads of the Hayyot; Paradise on the
+right side of God, Hell on the left side; the Celestial Sanctuary
+directly in front of God, having a jewel on its altar graven with the
+Name of the Messiah, and a Voice that cries aloud, "Return, ye children
+of men."[1]
+
+When God resolved upon the creation of the world, He took counsel with
+the Torah.[2] Her advice was this: "O Lord, a king without an army and
+without courtiers and attendants hardly deserves the name of king, for
+none is nigh to express the homage due to him." The answer pleased God
+exceedingly. Thus did He teach all earthly kings, by His Divine
+example, to undertake naught without first consulting advisers.[3]
+
+The advice of the Torah was given with some reservations. She was
+skeptical about the value of an earthly world, on account of the
+sinfulness of men, who would be sure to disregard her precepts. But God
+dispelled her doubts. He told her, that repentance had been created
+long before, and sinners would have the opportunity of mending their
+ways. Besides, the Temple service would be invested with atoning power,
+and Paradise and hell were intended to do duty as reward and
+punishment. Finally, the Messiah was appointed to bring salvation,
+which would put an end to all sinfulness.[4]
+
+Nor is this world inhabited by man the first of things earthly created
+by God. He made several worlds before ours, but He destroyed them all,
+because He was pleased with none until He created ours.[5] But even
+this last world would have had no permanence, if God had executed His
+original plan of ruling it according to the principle of strict
+justice. It was only when He saw that justice by itself would undermine
+the world that He associated mercy with justice, and made them to rule
+jointly.[6] Thus, from the beginning of all things prevailed Divine
+goodness, without which nothing could have continued to exist. If not
+for it, the myriads of evil spirits had soon put an end to the
+generations of men. But the goodness of God has ordained, that in every
+Nisan, at the time of the spring equinox, the seraphim shall approach
+the world of spirits, and intimidate them so that they fear to do harm
+to men. Again, if God in His goodness had not given protection to the
+weak, the tame animals would have been extirpated long ago by the wild
+animals. In Tammuz, at the time of the summer solstice, when the
+strength of behemot is at its height, he roars so loud that all the
+animals hear it, and for a whole year they are affrighted and timid,
+and their acts become less ferocious than their nature is. Again, in
+Tishri, at the time of the autumnal equinox, the great bird ziz[7]
+flaps his wings and utters his cry, so that the birds of prey, the
+eagles and the vultures, blench, and they fear to swoop down upon the
+others and annihilate them in their greed. And, again, were it not for
+the goodness of God, the vast number of big fish had quickly put an end
+to the little ones. But at the time of the winter solstice, in the
+month of Tebet, the sea grows restless, for then leviathan spouts up
+water, and the big fish become uneasy. They restrain their appetite,
+and the little ones escape their rapacity.
+
+Finally, the goodness of God manifests itself in the preservation of
+His people Israel. It could not have survived the enmity of the
+Gentiles, if God had not appointed protectors for it, the archangels
+Michael and Gabriel.[8] Whenever Israel disobeys God, and is accused of
+misdemeanors by the angels of the other nations, he is defended by his
+designated guardians, with such good result that the other angels
+conceive fear of them. Once the angels of the other nations are
+terrified, the nations themselves venture not to carry out their wicked
+designs against Israel.
+
+That the goodness of God may rule on earth as in heaven, the Angels of
+Destruction are assigned a place at the far end of the heavens, from
+which they may never stir, while the Angels of Mercy encircle the
+Throne of God, at His behest.[9]
+
+THE ALPHABET
+
+When God was about to create the world by His word, the twenty-two
+letters of the alphabet[10] descended from the terrible and august
+crown of God whereon they were engraved with a pen of flaming fire.
+They stood round about God, and one after the other spake and
+entreated, "Create the world through me!" The first to step forward was
+the letter Taw. It said: "O Lord of the world! May it be Thy will to
+create Thy world through me, seeing that it is through me that Thou
+wilt give the Torah to Israel by the hand of Moses, as it is written,
+'Moses commanded us the Torah.'" The Holy One, blessed be He, made
+reply, and said, "No!" Taw asked, "Why not?" and God answered: "Because
+in days to come I shall place thee as a sign of death upon the
+foreheads of men." As soon as Taw heard these words issue from the
+mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, it retired from His presence
+disappointed.
+
+The Shin then stepped forward, and pleaded: "O Lord of the world,
+create Thy world through me: seeing that Thine own name Shaddai begins
+with me." Unfortunately, it is also the first letter of Shaw, lie, and
+of Sheker, falsehood, and that incapacitated it. Resh had no better
+luck. It was pointed out that it was the initial letter of Ra', wicked,
+and Rasha' evil, and after that the distinction it enjoys of being the
+first letter in the Name of God, Rahum, the Merciful, counted for
+naught. The Kof was rejected, because Kelalah, curse, outweighs the
+advantage of being the first in Kadosh, the Holy One. In vain did Zadde
+call attention to Zaddik, the Righteous One; there was Zarot, the
+misfortunes of Israel, to testify against it. Pe had Podeh, redeemer,
+to its credit, but Pesha: transgression, reflected dishonor upon it.
+'Ain was declared unfit, because, though it begins 'Anawah, humility,
+it performs the same service for 'Erwah, immorality. Samek said: "O
+Lord, may it be Thy will to begin the creation with me, for Thou art
+called Samek, after me, the Upholder of all that fall." But God said:
+"Thou art needed in the place in which thou art;[11] thou must continue
+to uphold all that fall." Nun introduces Ner, "the lamp of the Lord,"
+which is "the spirit of men," but it also introduces Ner, "the lamp of
+the wicked," which will be put out by God. Mem starts Melek, king, one
+of the titles of God. As it is the first letter of Mehumah, confusion,
+as well, it had no chance of accomplishing its desire. The claim of
+Lamed bore its refutation within itself. It advanced the argument that
+it was the first letter of Luhot, the celestial tables for the Ten
+Commandments; it forgot that the tables were shivered in pieces by
+Moses. Kaf was sure of victory Kisseh, the throne of God, Kabod, His
+honor, and Keter, His crown, all begin with it. God had to remind it
+that He would smite together His hands, Kaf, in despair over the
+misfortunes of Israel. Yod at first sight seemed the appropriate letter
+for the beginning of creation, on account of its association with Yah,
+God, if only Yezer ha-Ra' the evil inclination, had not happened to
+begin with it, too. Tet is identified with Tob, the good. However, the
+truly good is not in this world; it belongs to the world to come. Het
+is the first letter of Hanun, the Gracious One; but this advantage is
+offset by its place in the word for sin, Hattat. Zain suggests Zakor,
+remembrance, but it is itself the word for weapon, the doer of
+mischief. Waw and He compose the Ineffable Name of God; they are
+therefore too exalted to be pressed into the service of the mundane
+world. If Dalet had stood only for Dabar, the Divine Word, it would
+have been used, but it stands also for Din, justice, and under the rule
+of law without love the world would have fallen to ruin. Finally, in
+spite of reminding one of Gadol, great, Gimel would not do, because
+Gemul, retribution, starts with it.
+
+After the claims of all these letters had been disposed of, Bet stepped
+before the Holy One, blessed be He, and pleaded before Him: "O Lord of
+the world! May it be Thy will to create Thy world through me, seeing
+that all the dwellers in the world give praise daily unto Thee through
+me, as it is said, 'Blessed be the Lord forever. Amen, and Amen.'" The
+Holy One, blessed be He, at once granted the petition of Bet. He said,
+"Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord." And He created His
+world through Bet, as it is said, "Bereshit God created the heaven and
+the earth." The only letter that had refrained from urging its claims
+was the modest Alef, and God rewarded it later for its humility by
+giving it the first place in the Decalogue.[12]
+
+THE FIRST DAY
+
+On the first day of creation God produced ten things:[13] the heavens
+and the earth, Tohu and Bohu, light and darkness, wind and water, the
+duration of the day[14] and the duration of the night.[15]
+
+Though the heavens and the earth consist of entirely different
+elements,[16] they were yet created as a unit, "like the pot and its
+cover."[17] The heavens were fashioned from the light of God's garment,
+and the earth from the snow under the Divine Throne.[18] Tohu is a
+green band which encompasses the whole world, and dispenses darkness,
+and Bohu consists of stones in the abyss, the producers of the waters.
+The light created at the very beginning is not the same as the light
+emitted by the sun, the moon, and the stars, which appeared only on the
+fourth day. The light of the first day was of a sort that would have
+enabled man to see the world at a glance from one end to the other.
+Anticipating the wickedness of the sinful generations of the deluge and
+the Tower of Babel, who were unworthy to enjoy the blessing of such
+light, God concealed it, but in the world to come it will appear to the
+pious in all its pristine glory.[19]
+
+Several heavens were created,[20] seven in fact,[21] each to serve a
+purpose of its own. The first, the one visible to man, has no function
+except that of covering up the light during the night time; therefore
+it disappears every morning. The planets are fastened to the second of
+the heavens; in the third the manna is made for the pious in the
+hereafter; the fourth contains the celestial Jerusalem together with
+the Temple, in which Michael ministers as high priest, and offers the
+souls of the pious as sacrifices. In the fifth heaven, the angel hosts
+reside, and sing the praise of God, though only during the night, for
+by day it is the task of Israel on earth to give glory to God on high.
+The sixth heaven is an uncanny spot; there originate most of the trials
+and visitations ordained for the earth and its inhabitants. Snow lies
+heaped up there and hail; there are lofts full of noxious dew,
+magazines stocked with storms, and cellars holding reserves of smoke.
+Doors of fire separate these celestial chambers, which are under the
+supervision of the archangel Metatron. Their pernicious contents
+defiled the heavens until David's time. The pious king prayed God to
+purge His exalted dwelling of whatever was pregnant with evil; it was
+not becoming that such things should exist near the Merciful One. Only
+then they were removed to the earth.
+
+The seventh heaven, on the other hand, contains naught but what is good
+and beautiful: right, justice, and mercy, the storehouses of life,
+peace, and blessing, the souls of the pious, the souls and spirits of
+unborn generations, the dew with which God will revive the dead on the
+resurrection day, and, above all, the Divine Throne, surrounded by the
+seraphim, the ofanim, the holy Hayyot, and the ministering angels.[22]
+
+Corresponding to the seven heavens, God created seven earths, each
+separated from the next by five layers. Over the lowest earth, the
+seventh, called Erez, lie in succession the abyss, the Tohu, the Bohu,
+a sea, and waters.[23] Then the sixth[24] earth is reached, the Adamah,
+the scene of the magnificence of God. In the same way the Adamah is
+separated from the fifth earth, the Arka, which contains Gehenna, and
+Sha'are Mawet, and Sha'are Zalmawet, and Beer Shahat, and Tit ha-Yawen,
+and Abaddon, and Sheol,[25] and there the souls of the wicked are
+guarded by the Angels of Destruction. In the same way Arka is followed
+by Harabah, the dry, the place of brooks and streams in spite of its
+name, as the next, called Yabbashah, the mainland, contains the rivers
+and the springs. Tebel, the second earth, is the first mainland
+inhabited by living creatures, three hundred and sixty-five
+species,[26] all essentially different from those of our own earth.
+Some have human heads set on the body of a lion, or a serpent, or an
+ox; others have human bodies topped by the head of one of these
+animals. Besides, Tebel is inhabited by human beings with two heads and
+four hands and feet, in fact with all their organs doubled excepting
+only the trunk.[27] It happens sometimes that the parts of these double
+persons quarrel with each other, especially while eating and drinking,
+when each claims the best and largest portions for himself. This
+species of mankind is distinguished for great piety, another difference
+between it and the inhabitants of our earth.
+
+Our own earth is called Heled, and, like the others, it is separated
+from the Tebel by an abyss, the Tohu, the Bohu, a sea, and waters.
+
+Thus one earth rises above the other, from the first to the seventh,
+and over the seventh earth the heavens are vaulted, from the first to
+the seventh, the last of them attached to the arm of God. The seven
+heavens form a unity, the seven kinds of earth form a unity, and the
+heavens and the earth together also form a unity.[28]
+
+When God made our present heavens and our present earth, "the new
+heavens and the new earth"[29] were also brought forth, yea, and the
+hundred and ninety-six thousand worlds which God created unto His Own
+glory.[30]
+
+It takes five hundred years to walk from the earth to the heavens, and
+from one end of a heaven to the other, and also from one heaven to the
+next,[31] and it takes the same length of time to travel from the east
+to the west, or from the south to the north.[32] Of all this vast world
+only one-third is inhabited, the other two-thirds being equally divided
+between water and waste desert land.
+
+Beyond the inhabited parts to the east is Paradise[33] with its seven
+divisions, each assigned to the pious of a certain degree. The ocean is
+situated to the west, and it is dotted with islands upon islands,
+inhabited by many different peoples. Beyond it, in turn, are the
+boundless steppes full of serpents and scorpions, and destitute of
+every sort of vegetation, whether herbs or trees. To the north are the
+supplies of hell-fire, of snow, hail, smoke, ice, darkness, and
+windstorms, and in that vicinity sojourn all sorts of devils, demons,
+and malign spirits. Their dwelling-place is a great stretch of land, it
+would take five hundred years to traverse it. Beyond lies hell. To the
+south is the chamber containing reserves of fire, the cave of smoke,
+and the forge of blasts and hurricanes.[34] Thus it comes that the wind
+blowing from the south brings heat and sultriness to the earth. Were it
+not for the angel Ben Nez, the Winged, who keeps the south wind back
+with his pinions, the world would be consumed.[35] Besides, the fury of
+its blast is tempered by the north wind, which always appears as
+moderator, whatever other wind may be blowing.[36]
+
+In the east, the west, and the south, heaven and earth touch each
+other, but the north God left unfinished, that any man who announced
+himself as a god might be set the task of supplying the deficiency, and
+stand convicted as a pretender.[37]
+
+The construction of the earth was begun at the centre, with the
+foundation stone of the Temple, the Eben Shetiyah,[38] for the Holy
+Land is at the central point of the surface of the earth, Jerusalem is
+at the central point of Palestine, and the Temple is situated at the
+centre of the Holy City. In the sanctuary itself the Hekal is the
+centre, and the holy Ark occupies the centre of the Hekal, built on the
+foundation stone, which thus is at the centre of the earth.[39] Thence
+issued the first ray of light, piercing to the Holy Land, and from
+there illuminating the whole earth.[40] The creation of the world,
+however, could not take place until God had banished the ruler of the
+dark.[41] "Retire," God said to him, "for I desire to create the world
+by means of light." Only after the light had been fashioned, darkness
+arose, the light ruling in the sky, the darkness on the earth.[42] The
+power of God displayed itself not only in the creation of the world of
+things, but equally in the limitations which He imposed upon each. The
+heavens and the earth stretched themselves out in length and breadth as
+though they aspired to infinitude, and it required the word of God to
+call a halt to their encroachments.[43]
+
+THE SECOND DAY
+
+On the second day God brought forth four creations, the firmament,
+hell, fire, and the angels.[44] The firmament is not the same as the
+heavens of the first day. It is the crystal stretched forth over the
+heads of the Hayyot, from which the heavens derive their light, as the
+earth derives its light from the sun. This firmament saves the earth
+from being engulfed by the waters of the heavens; it forms the
+partition between the waters above and the waters below.[45] It was
+made to crystallize into the solid it is by the heavenly fire, which
+broke its bounds, and condensed the surface of the firmament. Thus fire
+made a division between the celestial and the terrestrial at the time
+of creation, as it did at the revelation on Mount Sinai.[46] The
+firmament is not more than three fingers thick,[47] nevertheless it
+divides two such heavy bodies as the waters below, which are the
+foundations for the nether world, and the waters above, which are the
+foundations for the seven heavens, the Divine Throne, and the abode of
+the angels.[48]
+
+The separation of the waters into upper and lower waters was the only
+act of the sort done by God in connection with the work of
+creation.[49] All other acts were unifying. It therefore caused some
+difficulties. When God commanded, "Let the waters be gathered together,
+unto one place, and let the dry land appear," certain parts refused to
+obey. They embraced each other all the more closely. In His wrath at
+the waters, God determined to let the whole of creation resolve itself
+into chaos again. He summoned the Angel of the Face, and ordered him to
+destroy the world. The angel opened his eyes wide, and scorching fires
+and thick clouds rolled forth from them, while he cried out, "He who
+divides the Red Sea in sunder!"—and the rebellious waters stood. The
+all, however, was still in danger of destruction. Then began the singer
+of God's praises: "O Lord of the world, in days to come Thy creatures
+will sing praises without end to Thee, they will bless Thee
+boundlessly, and they will glorify Thee without measure. Thou wilt set
+Abraham apart from all mankind as Thine own; one of his sons Thou wilt
+call 'My first-born'; and his descendants will take the yoke of Thy
+kingdom upon themselves. In holiness and purity Thou wilt bestow Thy
+Torah upon them, with the words, 'I am the Lord your God,' whereunto
+they will make answer, 'All that God hath spoken we will do.' And now I
+beseech Thee, have pity upon Thy world, destroy it not, for if Thou
+destroyest it, who will fulfil Thy will?" God was pacified; He withdrew
+the command ordaining the destruction of the world, but the waters He
+put under the mountains, to remain there forever.[50] The objection of
+the lower waters to division and Separation[51] was not their only
+reason for rebelling. The waters had been the first to give praise to
+God, and when their separation into upper and lower was decreed, the
+waters above rejoiced, saying, "Blessed are we who are privileged to
+abide near our Creator and near His Holy Throne." Jubilating thus, they
+flew upward, and uttered song and praise to the Creator of the world.
+Sadness fell upon the waters below. They lamented: "Woe unto us, we
+have not been found worthy to dwell in the presence of God, and praise
+Him together with our companions." Therefore they attempted to rise
+upward, until God repulsed them, and pressed them under the earth.[52]
+Yet they were not left unrewarded for their loyalty. Whenever the
+waters above desire to give praise to God, they must first seek
+permission from the waters below.[53]
+
+The second day of creation was an untoward day in more than the one
+respect that it introduced a breach where before there had been nothing
+but unity; for it was the day that saw also the creation of hell.
+Therefore God could not say of this day as of the others, that He "saw
+that it was good." A division may be necessary, but it cannot be called
+good, and hell surely does not deserve the attribute of good.[54]
+Hell[55] has seven divisions,[36] one beneath the other. They are
+called Sheol, Abaddon, Beer Shahat, Tit ha-Yawen, Sha'are Mawet,
+Sha'are Zalmawet: and Gehenna. It requires three hundred years to
+traverse the height, or the width, or the depth of each division, and
+it would take six thousand three hundred[37] years to go over a tract
+of land equal in extent to the seven divisions.[38]
+
+Each of the seven divisions in turn has seven subdivisions, and in each
+compartment there are seven rivers of fire and seven of hail. The width
+of each is one thousand ells, its depth one thousand, and its length
+three hundred, and they flow one from the other, and are supervised by
+ninety thousand Angels of Destruction. There are, besides, in every
+compartment seven thousand caves, in every cave there are seven
+thousand crevices, and in every crevice seven thousand scorpions. Every
+scorpion has three hundred rings, and in every ring seven thousand
+pouches of venom, from which flow seven rivers of deadly poison. If a
+man handles it, he immediately bursts, every limb is torn from his
+body, his bowels are cleft asunder, and he falls upon his face.[56]
+There are also five different kinds of fire in hell. One devours and
+absorbs, another devours and does not absorb, while the third absorbs
+and does not devour, and there is still another fire, which neither
+devours nor absorbs, and furthermore a fire which devours fire. There
+are coals big as mountains, and coals big as hills, and coals as large
+as the Dead Sea, and coals like huge stones, and there are rivers of
+pitch and sulphur flowing and seething like live coals.[60]
+
+The third creation of the second day was the angel hosts, both the
+ministering angels and the angels of praise. The reason they had not
+been called into being on the first day was, lest men believe that the
+angels assisted God in the creation of the heavens and the earth.[61]
+The angels that are fashioned from fire have forms of fire,[62] but
+only so long as they remain in heaven. When they descend to earth, to
+do the bidding of God here below, either they are changed into wind, or
+they assume the guise of men.[63] There are ten ranks or degrees among
+the angels.[64]
+
+The most exalted in rank are those surrounding the Divine Throne on all
+sides, to the right, to the left, in front, and behind, under the
+leadership of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael.[65]
+
+All the celestial beings praise God with the words, "Holy, holy, holy,
+is the Lord of hosts," but men take precedence of the angels herein.
+They may not begin their song of praise until the earthly beings have
+brought their homage to God.[66] Especially Israel is preferred to the
+angels. When they encircle the Divine Throne in the form of fiery
+mountains and flaming hills, and attempt to raise their voices in
+adoration of the Creator, God silences them with the words, "Keep quiet
+until I have heard the songs, praises, prayers, and sweet melodies of
+Israel." Accordingly, the ministering angels and all the other
+celestial hosts wait until the last tones of Israel's doxologies rising
+aloft from earth have died away, and then they proclaim in a loud
+voice, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts." When the hour for the
+glorification of God by the angels draws nigh, the august Divine
+herald, the angel Sham'iel, steps to the windows[67] of the lowest
+heaven to hearken to the songs, prayers, and praises that ascend from
+the synagogues and the houses of learning, and when they are finished,
+he announces the end to the angels in all the heavens. The ministering
+angels, those who come in contact with the sublunary world,[68] now
+repair to their chambers to take their purification bath. They dive
+into a stream of fire and flame seven times, and three hundred and
+sixty-five times they examine themselves carefully, to make sure that
+no taint clings to their bodies.[69] Only then they feel privileged to
+mount the fiery ladder and join the angels of the seventh heaven, and
+surround the throne of God with Hashmal and all the holy Hayyot.
+Adorned with millions of fiery crowns, arrayed in fiery garments, all
+the angels in unison, in the same words, and with the same melody,
+intone songs of praise to God.[70]
+
+THE THIRD DAY
+
+Up to this time the earth was a plain, and wholly covered with water.
+Scarcely had the words of God, "Let the waters be gathered together,"
+made themselves heard, when mountains appeared all over and hills,[71]
+and the water collected in the deep-lying basins. But the water was
+recalcitrant, it resisted the order to occupy the lowly spots, and
+threatened to overflow the earth, until God forced it back into the
+sea, and encircled the sea with sand. Now, whenever the water is
+tempted to transgress its bounds, it beholds the sand, and recoils.[72]
+
+The waters did but imitate their chief Rahab, the Angel of the Sea, who
+rebelled at the creation of the world. God had commanded Rahab to take
+in the water. But he refused, saying, "I have enough." The punishment
+for his disobedience was death. His body rests in the depths of the
+sea, the water dispelling the foul odor that emanates from it.[73]
+
+The main creation of the third day was the realm of plants, the
+terrestrial plants as well as the plants of Paradise. First of all the
+cedars of Lebanon and the other great trees were made. In their pride
+at having been put first, they shot up high in the air. They considered
+themselves the favored among plants. Then God spake, "I hate arrogance
+and pride, for I alone am exalted, and none beside," and He created the
+iron on the same day, the substance with which trees are felled down.
+The trees began to weep, and when God asked the reason of their tears,
+they said: "We cry because Thou hast created the iron to uproot us
+therewith. All the while we had thought ourselves the highest of the
+earth, and now the iron, our destroyer, has been called into
+existence." God replied: "You yourselves will furnish the axe with a
+handle. Without your assistance the iron will not be able to do aught
+against you."[74]
+
+The command to bear seed after their kind was given to the trees alone.
+But the various sorts of grass reasoned, that if God had not desired
+divisions according to classes, He would not have instructed the trees
+to bear fruit after their kind with the seed thereof in it, especially
+as trees are inclined of their own accord to divide themselves into
+species. The grasses therefore reproduced themselves also after their
+kinds. This prompted the exclamation of the Prince of the World, "Let
+the glory of the Lord endure forever; let the Lord rejoice in His
+works."[75]
+
+The most important work done on the third day was the creation of
+Paradise. Two gates of carbuncle form the entrance to Paradise,[76] and
+sixty myriads of ministering angels keep watch over them. Each of these
+angels shines with the lustre of the heavens. When the just man appears
+before the gates, the clothes in which he was buried are taken off him,
+and the angels array him in seven garments of clouds of glory, and
+place upon his head two crowns, one of precious stones and pearls, the
+other of gold of Parvaim,[77] and they put eight myrtles in his hand,
+and they utter praises before him and say to him, "Go thy way, and eat
+thy bread with joy." And they lead him to a place full of rivers,
+surrounded by eight hundred kinds of roses and myrtles. Each one has a
+canopy according to his merits,[78] and under it flow four rivers, one
+of milk, the other of balsam, the third of wine, and the fourth of
+honey. Every canopy is overgrown by a vine of gold, and thirty pearls
+hang from it, each of them shining like Venus. Under each canopy there
+is a table of precious stones and pearls, and sixty angels stand at the
+head of every just man, saying unto him: "Go and eat with joy of the
+honey, for thou hast busied thyself with the Torah, and she is sweeter
+than honey, and drink of the wine preserved in the grape since the six
+days of creation,[79] for thou hast busied thyself with the Torah, and
+she is compared to wine." The least fair of the just is beautiful as
+Joseph and Rabbi Johanan, and as the grains of a silver pomegranate
+upon which fall the rays of the sun.[80] There is no light, "for the
+light of the righteous is the shining light." And they undergo four
+transformations every day, passing through four states. In the first
+the righteous is changed into a child. He enters the division for
+children, and tastes the joys of childhood. Then he is changed into a
+youth, and enters the division for the youths, with whom he enjoys the
+delights of youth. Next he becomes an adult, in the prime of life, and
+he enters the division of men, and enjoys the pleasures of manhood.
+Finally, he is changed into an old man. He enters the division for the
+old, and enjoys the pleasures of age.
+
+There are eighty myriads of trees in every corner of Paradise, the
+meanest among them choicer than all the spice trees. In every corner
+there are sixty myriads of angels singing with sweet voices, and the
+tree of life stands in the middle and shades the whole of Paradise.[81]
+It has fifteen thousand tastes, each different from the other, and the
+perfumes thereof vary likewise. Over it hang seven clouds of glory, and
+winds blow upon it from all four sides,[82] so that its odor is wafted
+from one end of the world to the other. Underneath sit the scholars and
+explain the Torah. Over each of them two canopies are spread, one of
+stars, the other of sun and moon, and a curtain of clouds of glory
+separates the one canopy from the other.[83] Beyond Paradise begins
+Eden, containing three hundred and ten worlds[84] and seven
+compartments for seven different classes of the pious. In the first are
+"the martyr victims of the government," like Rabbi Akiba and his
+colleagues;[85] in the second those who were drowned;[86] in the
+third[87] Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai and his disciples; in the fourth
+those who were carried off in the cloud of glory;[88] in the fifth the
+penitents, who occupy a place which even a perfectly pious man cannot
+obtain; in the sixth are the youths[89] who have not tasted of sin in
+their lives; in the seventh are those poor who studied Bible and
+Mishnah, and led a life of self-respecting decency. And God sits in the
+midst of them and expounds the Torah to them.[90]
+
+As for the seven divisions of Paradise, each of them is twelve myriads
+of miles in width and twelve myriads of miles in length. In the first
+division dwell the proselytes who embraced Judaism of their own free
+will, not from compulsion. The walls are of glass and the wainscoting
+of cedar. The prophet Obadiah,[91] himself a proselyte, is the overseer
+of this first division. The second division is built of silver, and the
+wainscoting thereof is of cedar. Here dwell those who have repented,
+and Manasseh, the penitent son of Hezekiah, presides over them. The
+third division is built of silver and gold. Here dwell Abraham, Isaac,
+and Jacob, and all the Israelites who came out of Egypt, and the whole
+generation that lived in the desert.[92] Also David is there, together
+with all his sons[93] except Absalom, one of them, Chileab, still
+alive. And all the kings of Judah are there, with the exception of
+Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, who presides in the second division,
+over the penitents. Moses and Aaron preside over the third division.
+Here are precious vessels of silver and gold and jewels and canopies
+and beds and thrones and lamps, of gold, of precious stones, and of
+pearls, the best of everything there is in heaven.[94] The fourth
+division is built of beautiful rubies,[95] and its wainscoting is of
+olive wood. Here dwell the perfect and the steadfast in faith, and
+their wainscoting is of olive wood, because their lives were bitter as
+olives to them. The fifth division is built of silver and gold and
+refined gold,[96] and the finest of gold and glass and bdellium, and
+through the midst of it flows the river Gihon. The wainscoting is of
+silver and gold, and a perfume breathes through it more exquisite than
+the perfume of Lebanon. The coverings of the silver and gold beds are
+made of purple and blue, woven by Eve, and of scarlet and the hair of
+goats, woven by angels. Here dwells the Messiah on a palanquin made of
+the wood of Lebanon, "the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom of
+gold, the seat of it purple." With him is Elijah. He takes the head of
+Messiah, and places it in his bosom, and says to him, "Be quiet, for
+the end draweth nigh." On every Monday and Thursday and on Sabbaths and
+holidays, the Patriarchs come to him, and the twelve sons of Jacob, and
+Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, and all the kings of Israel and of Judah,
+and they weep with him and comfort him, and say unto him, "Be quiet and
+put trust in thy Creator, for the end draweth nigh." Also Korah and his
+company, and Dathan, Abiram, and Absalom come to him on every
+Wednesday, and ask him: "How long before the end comes full of wonders?
+When wilt thou bring us life again, and from the abysses of the earth
+lift us?" The Messiah answers them, "Go to your fathers and ask them";
+and when they hear this, they are ashamed, and do not ask their
+fathers.
+
+In the sixth division dwell those who died in performing a pious act,
+and in the seventh division those who died from illness inflicted as an
+expiation for the sins of Israel.[97]
+
+THE FOURTH DAY
+
+The fourth day of creation produced the sun, the moon, and the stars.
+These heavenly spheres were not actually fashioned on this day; they
+were created on the first day, and merely were assigned their places in
+the heavens on the fourth.[98] At first the sun and the moon enjoyed
+equal powers and prerogatives.[99] The moon spoke to God, and said: "O
+Lord, why didst Thou create the world with the letter Bet?" God
+replied: "That it might be made known unto My creatures that there are
+two worlds." The moon: "O Lord: which of the two worlds is the larger,
+this world or the world to come?" God: "The world to come is the
+larger." The moon: "O Lord, Thou didst create two worlds, a greater and
+a lesser world; Thou didst create the heaven and the earth, the heaven
+exceeding the earth; Thou didst create fire and water, the water
+stronger than the fire, because it can quench the fire; and now Thou
+hast created the sun and the moon, and it is becoming that one of them
+should be greater than the other." Then spake God to the moon: "I know
+well, thou wouldst have me make Thee greater than the sun. As a
+punishment I decree that thou mayest keep but one-sixtieth of thy
+light." The moon made supplication: "Shall I be punished so severely
+for having spoken a single word?" God relented: "In the future world I
+will restore thy light, so that thy light may again be as the light of
+the sun." The moon was not yet satisfied. "O Lord," she said, "and the
+light of the sun, how great will it be in that day?" Then the wrath of
+God was once more enkindled: "What, thou still plottest against the
+sun? As thou livest, in the world to come his light shall be sevenfold
+the light he now sheds."[100] The Sun runs his course like a
+bridegroom. He sits upon a throne with a garland on his head.[101]
+Ninety-six angels accompany him on his daily journey, in relays of
+eight every hour, two to the left of him, and two to the right, two
+before Him, and two behind. Strong as he is, he could complete his
+course from south to north in a single instant, but three hundred and
+sixty-five angels restrain him by means of as many grappling-irons.
+Every day one looses his hold, and the sun must thus spend three
+hundred and sixty-five days on his course. The progress of the sun in
+his circuit is an uninterrupted song of praise to God. And this song
+alone makes his motion possible. Therefore, when Joshua wanted to bid
+the sun stand still, he had to command him to be silent. His song of
+praise hushed, the sun stood still.[102]
+
+The sun is double-faced; one face, of fire, is directed toward the
+earth, and one of hail, toward heaven, to cool off the prodigious heat
+that streams from the other face, else the earth would catch afire. In
+winter the sun turns his fiery face upward, and thus the cold is
+produced.[103] When the sun descends in the west in the evening, he
+dips down into the ocean and takes a bath, his fire is extinguished,
+and therefore he dispenses neither light nor warmth during the night.
+But as soon as he reaches the east in the morning, he laves himself in
+a stream of flame, which imparts warmth and light to him, and these he
+sheds over the earth. In the same way the moon and the stars take a
+bath in a stream of hail before they enter upon their service for the
+night.[104]
+
+When the sun and the moon are ready to start upon their round of
+duties, they appear before God, and beseech him to relieve them of
+their task, so that they may be spared the sight of sinning mankind.
+Only upon compulsion they proceed with their daily course. Coming from
+the presence of God, they are blinded by the radiance in the heavens,
+and they cannot find their way. God, therefore, shoots off arrows, by
+the glittering light of which they are guided. It is on account of the
+sinfulness of man, which the sun is forced to contemplate on his
+rounds, that he grows weaker as the time of his going down approaches,
+for sins have a defiling and enfeebling effect, and he drops from the
+horizon as a sphere of blood, for blood is the sign of corruption.[105]
+As the sun sets forth on his course in the morning, his wings touch the
+leaves on the trees of Paradise, and their vibration is communicated to
+the angels and the holy Hayyot, to the other plants, and also to the
+trees and plants on earth, and to all the beings on earth and in
+heaven. It is the signal for them all to cast their eyes upward. As
+soon as they see the Ineffable Name, which is engraved in the sun, they
+raise their voices in songs of praise to God. At the same moment a
+heavenly voice is heard to say, "Woe to the sons of men that consider
+not the honor of God like unto these creatures whose voices now rise
+aloft in adoration."[106] These words, naturally, are not heard by men;
+as little as they perceive the grating of the sun against the wheel to
+which all the celestial bodies are attached, although the noise it
+makes is extraordinarily loud.[107] This friction of the sun and the
+wheel produces the motes dancing about in the sunbeams. They are the
+carriers of healing to the sick,[108] the only health-giving creations
+of the fourth day, on the whole an unfortunate day, especially for
+children, afflicting them with disease.[109] When God punished the
+envious moon by diminishing her light and splendor, so that she ceased
+to be the equal of the sun as she had been originally,[110] she
+fell,[111] and tiny threads were loosed from her body. These are the
+stars.[112]
+
+THE FIFTH DAY
+
+On the fifth day of creation God took fire[118] and water, and out of
+these two elements He made the fishes of the sea.[114] The animals in
+the water are much more numerous than those on land. For every species
+on land, excepting only the weasel, there is a corresponding species in
+the water, and, besides, there are many found only in the water.[115]
+
+The ruler over the sea-animals is leviathan.[116] With all the other
+fishes he was made on the fifth day.[117] Originally he was created
+male and female like all the other animals. But when it appeared that a
+pair of these monsters might annihilate the whole earth with their
+united strength, God killed the female.[119] So enormous is leviathan
+that to quench his thirst he needs all the water that flows from the
+Jordan into the sea.[119] His food consists of the fish which go
+between his jaws of their own accord.[120] When he is hungry, a hot
+breath blows from his nostrils, and it makes the waters of the great
+sea seething hot. Formidable though behemot, the other monster, is, he
+feels insecure until he is certain that leviathan has satisfied his
+thirst.[121] The only thing that can keep him in check is the
+stickleback, a little fish which was created for the purpose, and of
+which he stands in great awe.[122] But leviathan is more than merely
+large and strong; he is wonderfully made besides. His fins radiate
+brilliant light, the very sun is obscured by it,[123] and also his eyes
+shed such splendor that frequently the sea is illuminated suddenly by
+it.[121] No wonder that this marvellous beast is the plaything of God,
+in whom He takes His pastime.[124]
+
+There is but one thing that makes leviathan repulsive, his foul smell:
+which is so strong that if it penetrated thither, it would render
+Paradise itself an impossible abode.[125]
+
+The real purpose of leviathan is to be served up as a dainty to the
+pious in the world to come. The female was put into brine as soon as
+she was killed, to be preserved against the time when her flesh will be
+needed.[126] The male is destined to offer a delectable sight to all
+beholders before he is consumed. When his last hour arrives, God will
+summon the angels to enter into combat with the monster. But no sooner
+will leviathan cast his glance at them than they will flee in fear and
+dismay from the field of battle. They will return to the charge with
+swords, but in vain, for his scales can turn back steel like straw.
+They will be equally unsuccessful when they attempt to kill him by
+throwing darts and slinging stones; such missiles will rebound without
+leaving the least impression on his body. Disheartened, the angels will
+give up the combat, and God will command leviathan and behemot to enter
+into a duel with each other. The issue will be that both will drop
+dead, behemot slaughtered by a blow of leviathan's fins, and leviathan
+killed by a lash of behemot's tail. From the skin of leviathan God will
+construct tents to shelter companies of the pious while they enjoy the
+dishes made of his flesh. The amount assigned to each of the pious will
+be in proportion to his deserts, and none will envy or begrudge the
+other his better share. What is left of leviathan's skin will be
+stretched out over Jerusalem as a canopy, and the light streaming from
+it will illumine the whole world, and what is left of his flesh after
+the pious have appeased their appetite, will be distributed among the
+rest of men, to carry on traffic therewith.[127]
+
+On the same day with the fishes, the birds were created, for these two
+kinds of animals are closely related to each other. Fish are fashioned
+out of water, and birds out of marshy ground saturated with water.[128]
+
+As leviathan is the king of fishes, so the ziz is appointed to rule
+over the birds.[129] His name comes from the variety of tastes his
+flesh has; it tastes like this, zeh, and like that, zeh.[130] The ziz
+is as monstrous of size as leviathan himself. His ankles rest on the
+earth, and his head reaches to the very sky.[121]
+
+It once happened that travellers on a vessel noticed a bird. As he
+stood in the water, it merely covered his feet, and his head knocked
+against the sky. The onlookers thought the water could not have any
+depth at that point, and they prepared to take a bath there. A heavenly
+voice warned them: "Alight not here! Once a carpenter's axe slipped
+from his hand at this spot, and it took it seven years to touch
+bottom." The bird the travellers saw was none other than the ziz.[132]
+His wings are so huge that unfurled they darken the sun.[133] They
+protect the earth against the storms of the south; without their aid
+the earth would not be able to resist the winds blowing thence.[134]
+Once an egg of the ziz fell to the ground and broke. The fluid from it
+flooded sixty cities, and the shock crushed three hundred cedars.
+Fortunately such accidents do not occur frequently. As a rule the bird
+lets her eggs slide gently into her nest. This one mishap was due to
+the fact that the egg was rotten, and the bird cast it away carelessly.
+The ziz has another name, Renanin,[135] because he is the celestial
+singer.[136] On account of his relation to the heavenly regions he is
+also called Sekwi, the seer, and, besides, he is called "son of the
+nest,"[137] because his fledgling birds break away from the shell
+without being hatched by the mother bird; they spring directly from the
+nest, as it were.[138] Like leviathan, so ziz is a delicacy to be
+served to the pious at the end of time, to compensate them for the
+privations which abstaining from the unclean fowls imposed upon
+them.[139]
+
+THE SIXTH DAY
+
+As the fish were formed out of water, and the birds out of boggy earth
+well mixed with water, so the mammals were formed out of solid
+earth,[140] and as leviathan is the most notable representative of the
+fish kind, and ziz of the bird kind, so behemot is the most notable
+representative of the mammal kind. Behemot matches leviathan in
+strength, and he had to be prevented, like leviathan, from multiplying
+and increasing, else the world could not have continued to exist; after
+God had created him male and female, He at once deprived him of the
+desire to propagate his kind.[141] He is so monstrous that he requires
+the produce of a thousand mountains for his daily food. All the water
+that flows through the bed of the Jordan in a year suffices him exactly
+for one gulp. It therefore was necessary to give him one stream
+entirely for his own use, a stream flowing forth from Paradise, called
+Yubal.[142] Behemot, too, is destined to be served to the pious as an
+appetizing dainty, but before they enjoy his flesh, they will be
+permitted to view the mortal combat between leviathan and behemot, as a
+reward for having denied themselves the pleasures of the circus and its
+gladiatorial contests.[143]
+
+Leviathan, ziz, and behemot are not the only monsters; there are many
+others, and marvellous ones, like the reem, a giant animal, of which
+only one couple, male and female, is in existence. Had there been more,
+the world could hardly have maintained itself against them. The act of
+copulation occurs but once in seventy years between them, for God has
+so ordered it that the male and female reem are at opposite ends of the
+earth, the one in the east, the other in the west. The act of
+copulation results in the death of the male. He is bitten by the female
+and dies of the bite. The female becomes pregnant and remains in this
+state for no less than twelve years. At the end of this long period she
+gives birth to twins, a male and a female. The year preceding her
+delivery she is not able to move. She would die of hunger, were it not
+that her own spittle flowing copiously from her mouth waters and
+fructifies the earth near her, and causes it to bring forth enough for
+her maintenance. For a whole year the animal can but roll from side to
+side, until finally her belly bursts, and the twins issue forth. Their
+appearance is thus the signal for the death of the mother reem. She
+makes room for the new generation, which in turn is destined to suffer
+the same fate as the generation that went before. Immediately after
+birth, the one goes eastward and the other westward, to meet only after
+the lapse of seventy years, propagate themselves, and perish.[144] A
+traveller who once saw a reem one day old described its height to be
+four parasangs, and the length of its head one parasang and a
+half.[145] Its horns measure one hundred ells, and their height is a
+great deal more.[146]
+
+One of the most remarkable creatures is the "man of the mountain," Adne
+Sadeh, or, briefly, Adam.[147] His form is exactly that of a human
+being, but he is fastened to the ground by means of a navel-string,
+upon which his life depends. The cord once snapped, he dies. This
+animal keeps himself alive with what is produced by the soil around
+about him as far as his tether permits him to crawl. No creature may
+venture to approach within the radius of his cord, for he seizes and
+demolishes whatever comes in his reach. To kill him, one may not go
+near to him, the navel-string must be severed from a distance by means
+of a dart, and then he dies amid groans and moans.[143] Once upon a
+time a traveller happened in the region where this animal is found. He
+overheard his host consult his wife as to what to do to honor their
+guest, and resolve to serve "our man," as he said. Thinking he had
+fallen among cannibals, the stranger ran as fast as his feet could
+carry him from his entertainer, who sought vainly to restrain him.
+Afterward, he found out that there had been no intention of regaling
+him with human flesh, but only with the flesh of the strange animal
+called "man."[146] As the "man of the mountain" is fixed to the ground
+by his navel-string, so the barnacle-goose is grown to a tree by its
+bill. It is hard to say whether it is an animal and must be slaughtered
+to be fit for food, or whether it is a plant and no ritual ceremony is
+necessary before eating it.[150]
+
+Among the birds the phoenix is the most wonderful. When Eve gave all
+the animals some of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, the phoenix was
+the only bird that refused to eat thereof, and he was rewarded with
+eternal life. When he has lived a thousand years, his body shrinks, and
+the feathers drop from it, until he is as small as an egg. This is the
+nucleus of the new bird.[151]
+
+The phoenix is also called "the guardian of the terrestrial sphere." He
+runs with the sun on his circuit, and he spreads out his wings and
+catches up the fiery rays of the sun.[152] If he were not there to
+intercept them, neither man nor any other animate being would keep
+alive. On his right wing the following words are inscribed in huge
+letters,[153] about four thousand stadia high: "Neither the earth
+produces me, nor the heavens, but only the wings of fire." His food
+consists of the manna of heaven and the dew of the earth. His excrement
+is a worm, whose excrement in turn is the cinnamon used by kings and
+princes.[152] Enoch, who saw the phoenix birds when he was translated,
+describes them as flying creatures, wonderful and strange in
+appearance, with the feet and tails of lions, and the heads of
+crocodiles; their appearance is of a purple color like the rainbow;
+their size nine hundred measures. Their wings are like those of angels,
+each having twelve, and they attend the chariot of the sun and go with
+him, bringing heat and dew as they are ordered by God. In the morning
+when the sun starts on his daily course, the phoenixes and the
+chalkidri[154] sing, and every bird flaps its wings, rejoicing the
+Giver of light, and they sing a song at the command of the Lord.[155]
+Among reptiles the salamander and the shamir are the most marvellous.
+The salamander originates from a fire of myrtle wood[156] which has
+been kept burning for seven years steadily by means of magic arts. Not
+bigger than a mouse, it yet is invested with peculiar properties. One
+who smears himself with its blood is invulnerable,[157] and the web
+woven by it is a talisman against fire.[158] The people who lived at
+the deluge boasted that, were a fire flood to come, they would protect
+themselves with the blood of the salamander.[159]
+
+King Hezekiah owes his life to the salamander. His wicked father, King
+Ahaz, had delivered him to the fires of Moloch, and he would have been
+burnt, had his mother not painted him with the blood of the salamander,
+so that the fire could do him no harm.[160]
+
+The shamir was made at twilight on the sixth day of creation together
+with other extraordinary things.[161] It is about as large as a barley
+corn, and it possesses the remarkable property of cutting the hardest
+of diamonds. For this reason it was used for the stones in the
+breastplate worn by the high priest. First the names of the twelve
+tribes were traced with ink on the stones to be set into the
+breastplate, then the shamir was passed over the lines, and thus they
+were graven. The wonderful circumstance was that the friction wore no
+particles from the stones. The shamir was also used for hewing into
+shape the stones from which the Temple was built, because the law
+prohibited iron tools to be used for the work in the Temple.[162] The
+shamir may not be put in an iron vessel for safe-keeping, nor in any
+metal vessel, it would burst such a receptacle asunder. It is kept
+wrapped up in a woollen cloth, and this in turn is placed in a lead
+basket filled with barley bran.[163] The shamir was guarded in Paradise
+until Solomon needed it. He sent the eagle thither to fetch the
+worm.[164] With the destruction of the Temple the shamir vanished.[165]
+A similar fate overtook the tahash, which had been created only that
+its skin might be used for the Tabernacle. Once the Tabernacle was
+completed, the tahash disappeared. It had a horn on its forehead, was
+gaily colored like the turkey-cock, and belonged to the class of clean
+animals.[166] Among the fishes there are also wonderful creatures, the
+sea-goats and the dolphins, not to mention leviathan. A sea-faring man
+once saw a sea-goat on whose horns the words were inscribed: "I am a
+little sea-animal, yet I traversed three hundred parasangs to offer
+myself as food to the leviathan."[167] The dolphins are half man and
+half fish; they even have sexual intercourse with human beings;
+therefore they are called also "sons of the sea," for in a sense they
+represent the human kind in the waters.[163]
+
+Though every species in the animal world was created during the last
+two days of the six of creation,[169] yet many characteristics of
+certain animals appeared later. Cats and mice, foes now, were friends
+originally. Their later enmity had a distinct cause. On one occasion
+the mouse appeared before God and spoke: "I and the cat are partners,
+but now we have nothing to eat." The Lord answered: "Thou art
+intriguing against thy companion, only that thou mayest devour her. As
+a punishment, she shall devour thee." Thereupon the mouse: "O Lord of
+the world, wherein have I done wrong?" God replied: "O thou unclean
+reptile, thou shouldst have been warned by the example of the moon, who
+lost a part of her light, because she spake ill of the sun, and what
+she lost was given to her opponent.[170] The evil intentions thou didst
+harbor against thy companion shall be punished in the same way. Instead
+of thy devouring her, she shall devour thee." The mouse: "O Lord of the
+world! Shall my whole kind be destroyed?" God: "I will take care that a
+remnant of thee is spared." In her rage the mouse bit the cat, and the
+cat in turn threw herself upon the mouse, and hacked into her with her
+teeth until she lay dead. Since that moment the mouse stands in such
+awe of the cat that she does not even attempt to defend herself against
+her enemy's attacks, and always keeps herself in hiding.[171] Similarly
+dogs and cats maintained a friendly relation to each other, and only
+later on became enemies. A dog and a cat were partners, and they shared
+with each other whatever they had. It once happened that neither could
+find anything to eat for three days. Thereupon the dog proposed that
+they dissolve their partnership. The cat should go to Adam, in whose
+house there would surely be enough for her to eat, while the dog should
+seek his fortune elsewhere. Before they separated, they took an oath
+never to go to the same master. The cat took up her abode with Adam,
+and she found sufficient mice in his house to satisfy her appetite.
+Seeing how useful she was in driving away and extirpating mice, Adam
+treated her most kindly. The dog, on the other hand, saw bad times. The
+first night after their separation he spent in the cave of the wolf,
+who had granted him a night's lodging. At night the dog caught the
+sound of steps, and he reported it to his host, who bade him repulse
+the intruders. They were wild animals. Little lacked and the dog would
+have lost his life. Dismayed, the dog fled from the house of the wolf,
+and took refuge with the monkey. But he would not grant him even a
+single night's lodging; and the fugitive was forced to appeal to the
+hospitality of the sheep. Again the dog heard steps in the middle of
+the night. Obeying the bidding of his host, he arose to chase away the
+marauders, who turned out to be wolves. The barking of the dog apprised
+the wolves of the presence of sheep, so that the dog innocently caused
+the sheep's death. Now he had lost his last friend. Night after night
+he begged for shelter, without ever finding a home. Finally, he decided
+to repair to the house of Adam, who also granted him refuge for one
+night. When wild animals approached the house under cover of darkness,
+the dog began to bark, Adam awoke, and with his bow and arrow he drove
+them away. Recognizing the dog's usefulness, he bade him remain with
+him always. But as soon as the cat espied the dog in Adam's house, she
+began to quarrel with him, and reproach him with having broken his oath
+to her. Adam did his best to pacify the cat. He told her he had himself
+invited the dog to make his home there, and he assured her she would in
+no wise be the loser by the dog's presence; he wanted both to stay with
+him. But it was impossible to appease the cat. The dog promised her not
+to touch anything intended for her. She insisted that she could not
+live in one and the same house with a thief like the dog. Bickerings
+between the dog and the cat became the order of the day. Finally the
+dog could stand it no longer, and he left Adam's house, and betook
+himself to Seth's. By Seth he was welcomed kindly, and from Seth's
+house, he continued to make efforts at reconciliation with the cat. In
+vain. Yes, the enmity between the first dog and the first cat was
+transmitted to all their descendants until this very day.[172]
+
+Even the physical peculiarities of certain animals were not original
+features with them, but owed their existence to something that occurred
+subsequent to the days of creation. The mouse at first had quite a
+different mouth from its present mouth. In Noah's ark, in which all
+animals, to ensure the preservation of every kind, lived together
+peaceably, the pair of mice were once sitting next to the cat. Suddenly
+the latter remembered that her father was in the habit of devouring
+mice, and thinking there was no harm in following his example, she
+jumped at the mouse, who vainly looked for a hole into which to slip
+out of sight. Then a miracle happened; a hole appeared where none had
+been before, and the mouse sought refuge in it. The cat pursued the
+mouse, and though she could not follow her into the hole, she could
+insert her paw and try to pull the mouse out of her covert. Quickly the
+mouse opened her mouth in the hope that the paw would go into it, and
+the cat would be prevented from fastening her claws in her flesh. But
+as the cavity of the mouth was not big enough, the cat succeeded in
+clawing the cheeks of the mouse. Not that this helped her much, it
+merely widened the mouth of the mouse, and her prey after all escaped
+the cat.[173] After her happy escape, the mouse betook herself to Noah
+and said to him, "O pious man, be good enough to sew up my cheek where
+my enemy, the cat, has torn a rent in it." Noah bade her fetch a hair
+out of the tail of the swine, and with this he repaired the damage.
+Thence the little seam-like line next to the mouth of every mouse to
+this very day.[174]
+
+The raven is another animal that changed its appearance during its
+sojourn in the ark. When Noah desired to send him forth to find out
+about the state of the waters, he hid under the wings of the eagle.
+Noah found him, however, and said to him, "Go and see whether the
+waters have diminished." The raven pleaded: "Hast thou none other among
+all the birds to send on this errand?" Noah: "My power extends no
+further than over thee and the dove."[175] But the raven was not
+satisfied. He said to Noah with great insolence: "Thou sendest me forth
+only that I may meet my death, and thou wishest my death that my wife
+may be at thy service."[176] Thereupon Noah cursed the raven thus: "May
+thy mouth, which has spoken evil against me, be accursed, and thy
+intercourse with thy wife be only through it."[177] All the animals in
+the ark said Amen. And this is the reason why a mass of spittle runs
+from the mouth of the male raven into the mouth of the female during
+the act of copulation, and only thus the female is impregnated.[178]
+Altogether the raven is an unattractive animal. He is unkind toward his
+own young so long as their bodies are not covered with black
+feathers,[179] though as a rule ravens love one another.[180] God
+therefore takes the young ravens under His special protection. From
+their own excrement maggots come forth,[181] which serve as their food
+during the three days that elapse after their birth, until their white
+feathers turn black and their parents recognize them as their offspring
+and care for them.[182]
+
+The raven has himself to blame also for the awkward hop in his gait. He
+observed the graceful step of the dove, and envious of her tried to
+enmulate it. The outcome was that he almost broke his bones without in
+the least succeeding in making himself resemble the dove, not to
+mention that he brought the scorn of the other animals down upon
+himself. His failure excited their ridicule. Then he decided to return
+to his own original gait, but in the interval he had unlearnt it, and
+he could walk neither the one way nor the other properly. His step had
+become a hop betwixt and between. Thus we see how true it is, that he
+who is dissatisfied with his small portion loses the little he has in
+striving for more and better things.[163]
+
+The steer is also one of the animals that have suffered a change in the
+course of time. Originally his face was entirely overgrown with hair,
+but now there is none on his nose, and that is because Joshua kissed
+him on his nose during the siege of Jericho. Joshua was an exceedingly
+heavy man. Horses, donkeys, and mules, none could bear him, they all
+broke down under his weight. What they could not do, the steer
+accomplished. On his back Joshua rode to the siege of Jericho, and in
+gratitude he bestowed a kiss upon his nose.[134]
+
+The serpent, too, is other than it was at first. Before the fall of man
+it was the cleverest of all animals created, and in form it resembled
+man closely. It stood upright, and was of extraordinary size.[185]
+Afterward, it lost the mental advantages it had possessed as compared
+with other animals, and it degenerated physically, too; it was deprived
+of its feet, so that it could not pursue other animals and kill them.
+The mole and the frog had to be made harmless in similar ways; the
+former has no eyes, else it were irresistible, and the frog has no
+teeth, else no animal in the water were sure of its life.[186]
+
+While the cunning of the serpent wrought its own undoing, the cunning
+of the fox stood him in good stead in many an embarrassing situation.
+After Adam had committed the sin of disobedience, God delivered the
+whole of the animal world into the power of the Angel of Death, and He
+ordered him to cast one pair of each kind into the water. He and
+leviathan together thus have dominion over all that has life. When the
+Angel of Death was in the act of executing the Divine command upon the
+fox, he began to weep bitterly. The Angel of Death asked him the reason
+of his tears, and the fox replied that he was mourning the sad fate of
+his friend. At the same time he pointed to the figure of a fox in the
+sea, which was nothing but his own reflection. The Angel of Death,
+persuaded that a representative of the fox family had been cast into
+the water, let him go free. The fox told his trick to the cat, and she
+in turn played it on the Angel of Death.[187] So it happened that
+neither cats nor foxes are represented in the water, while all other
+animals are.[188]
+
+When leviathan passed the animals in review, and missing the fox was
+informed of the sly way in which he had eluded his authority, he
+dispatched great and powerful fish on the errand of enticing the truant
+into the water. The fox walking along the shore espied the large number
+of fish, and he exclaimed, "How happy he who may always satisfy his
+hunger with the flesh of such as these." The fish told him, if he would
+but follow them, his appetite could easily be appeased. At the same
+time they informed him that a great honor awaited him. Leviathan, they
+said, was at death's door, and he had commissioned them to install the
+fox as his successor. They were ready to carry him on their backs, so
+that he had no need to fear the water, and thus they would convey him
+to the throne, which stood upon a huge rock. The fox yielded to these
+persuasions, and descended into the water. Presently an uncomfortable
+feeling took possession of him. He began to suspect that the tables
+were turned; he was being made game of instead of making game of others
+as usual. He urged the fish to tell him the truth, and they admitted
+that they had been sent out to secure his person for leviathan, who
+wanted his heart,[189] that he might become as knowing as the fox,
+whose wisdom he had heard many extol. The fox said reproachfully: "Why
+did you not tell me the truth at once? Then I could have brought my
+heart along with me for King Leviathan, who would have showered honors
+upon me. As it is, you will surely suffer punishment for bringing me
+without my heart. The foxes, you see," he continued, "do not carry
+their hearts around with them. They keep them in a safe place, and when
+they have need of them, they fetch them thence." The fish quickly swam
+to shore, and landed the fox, so that he might go for his heart. No
+sooner did he feel dry land under his feet than he began to jump and
+shout, and when they urged him to go in search of his heart, and follow
+them, he said: "O ye fools, could I have followed you into the water,
+if I had not had my heart with me? Or exists there a creature able to
+go abroad without his heart?" The fish replied: "Come, come, thou art
+fooling us." Whereupon the fox: "O ye fools, if I could play a trick on
+the Angel of Death, how much easier was it to make game of you?" So
+they had to return, their errand undone, and leviathan could not but
+confirm the taunting judgment of the fox: "In very truth, the fox is
+wise of heart, and ye are fools."[190]
+
+ALL THINGS PRAISE THE LORD
+
+"Whatever God created has value." Even the animals and the insects that
+seem useless and noxious at first sight have a vocation to fulfil. The
+snail trailing a moist streak after it as it crawls, and so using up
+its vitality, serves as a remedy for boils. The sting of a hornet is
+healed by the house-fly crushed and applied to the wound. The gnat,
+feeble creature, taking in food but never secreting it, is a specific
+against the poison of a viper, and this venomous reptile itself cures
+eruptions, while the lizard is the antidote to the scorpion.[191] Not
+only do all creatures serve man, and contribute to his comfort, but
+also God "teacheth us through the beasts of the earth, and maketh us
+wise through the fowls of heaven." He endowed many animals with
+admirable moral qualities as a pattern for man. If the Torah had not
+been revealed to us, we might have learnt regard for the decencies of
+life from the cat, who covers her excrement with earth; regard for the
+property of others from the ants, who never encroach upon one another's
+stores; and regard for decorous conduct from the cock, who, when he
+desires to unite with the hen, promises to buy her a cloak long enough
+to reach to the ground, and when the hen reminds him of his promise, he
+shakes his comb and says, "May I be deprived of my comb, if I do not
+buy it when I have the means." The grasshopper also has a lesson to
+teach to man. All the summer through it sings, until its belly bursts,
+and death claims it. Though it knows the fate that awaits it, yet it
+sings on. So man should do his duty toward God, no matter what the
+consequences. The stork should be taken as a model in two respects. He
+guards the purity of his family life zealously, and toward his fellows
+he is compassionate and merciful. Even the frog can be the teacher of
+man. By the side of the water there lives a species of animals which
+subsist off aquatic creatures alone. When the frog notices that one of
+them is hungry, he goes to it of his own accord, and offers himself as
+food, thus fulfilling the injunction, "If thine enemy be hungry, give
+him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink."[192]
+
+The whole of creation was called into existence by God unto His
+glory,[193] and each creature has its own hymn of praise wherewith to
+extol the Creator. Heaven and earth, Paradise and hell, desert and
+field, rivers and seas—all have their own way of paying homage to God.
+The hymn of the earth is, "From the uttermost part of the earth have we
+heard songs, glory to the Righteous." The sea exclaims, "Above the
+voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, the Lord on high
+is mighty."
+
+Also the celestial bodies and the elements proclaim the praise of their
+Creator—the sun, moon, and stars, the clouds and the winds, lightning
+and dew. The sun says, "The sun and moon stood still in their
+habitation, at the light of Thine arrows as they went, at the shining
+of Thy glittering spear"; and the stars sing, "Thou art the Lord, even
+Thou alone; Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all
+their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all
+that is in them, and Thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven
+worshippeth Thee."
+
+Every plant, furthermore, has a song of praise. The fruitful tree
+sings, "Then shall all the trees of the wood sing for joy, before the
+Lord, for He cometh; for He cometh to judge the earth"; and the ears of
+grain on the field sing, "The pastures are covered with flocks; the
+valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also
+sing."
+
+Great among singers of praise are the birds, and greatest among them is
+the cock. When God at midnight goes to the pious in Paradise, all the
+trees therein break out into adoration, and their songs awaken the
+cock, who begins in turn to praise God. Seven times he crows, each time
+reciting a verse. The first verse is: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
+and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall
+come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord
+mighty in battle." The second verse: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
+yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall
+come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King
+of glory." The third: "Arise, ye righteous, and occupy yourselves with
+the Torah, that your reward may be abundant in the world hereafter."
+The fourth: "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord!" The fifth: "How
+long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? When wilt thou arise out of thy
+sleep?" The sixth: "Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open
+thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread." And the seventh
+verse sung by the cock runs: "It is time to work for the Lord, for they
+have made void Thy law."
+
+The song of the vulture is: "I will hiss for them, and gather them; for
+I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they have
+increased"—the same verse with which the bird will in time to come
+announce the advent of the Messiah, the only difference being, that
+when he heralds the Messiah he will sit upon the ground and sing his
+verse, while at all other times he is seated elsewhere when he sings
+it.
+
+Nor do the other animals praise God less than the birds. Even the
+beasts of prey give forth adoration. The lion says: "The Lord shall go
+forth as a mighty man; He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; He
+shall cry, yea, He shall shout aloud; He shall do mightily against his
+enemies." And the fox exhorts unto justice with the words: "Woe unto
+him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by
+injustice; that useth his neighbor's service without wages, and giveth
+him not his hire."
+
+Yea, the dumb fishes know how to proclaim the praise of their Lord.
+"The voice of the Lord is upon the waters," they say, "the God of glory
+thundereth, even the Lord upon many waters"; while the frog exclaims,
+"Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever."
+
+Contemptible though they are, even the reptiles give praise unto their
+Creator. The mouse extols God with the words: "Howbeit Thou art just in
+all that is come upon me; for Thou hast dealt truly, but I have done
+wickedly." And the cat sings: "Let everything that hath breath praise
+the Lord. Praise ye the Lord."[194]
+
+
+
+
+II
+ADAM
+
+MAN AND THE WORLD
+
+With ten Sayings God created the world, although a single Saying would
+have sufficed. God desired to make known how severe is the punishment
+to be meted out to the wicked, who destroy a world created with as many
+as ten Sayings, and how goodly the reward destined for the righteous,
+who preserve a world created with as many as ten Sayings.[1]
+
+The world was made for man, though he was the last-comer among its
+creatures. This was design. He was to find all things ready for him.
+God was the host who prepared dainty dishes, set the table, and then
+led His guest to his seat. At the same time man's late appearance on
+earth is to convey an admonition to humility. Let him beware of being
+proud, lest he invite the retort that the gnat is older than he.[2]
+
+The superiority of man to the other creatures is apparent in the very
+manner of his creation, altogether different from theirs. He is the
+only one who was created by the hand of God.[3] The rest sprang from
+the word of God. The body of man is a microcosm, the whole world in
+miniature, and the world in turn is a reflex of man. The hair upon his
+head corresponds to the woods of the earth, his tears to a river, his
+mouth to the ocean.[4] Also, the world resembles the ball of his eye:
+the ocean that encircles the earth is like unto the white of the eye,
+the dry land is the iris, Jerusalem the pupil, and the Temple the image
+mirrored in the pupil of the eye.[5] But man is more than a mere image
+of this world. He unites both heavenly and earthly qualities within
+himself. In four he resembles the angels, in four the beasts. His power
+of speech, his discriminating intellect, his upright walk, the glance
+of his eye—they all make an angel of him. But, on the other hand, he
+eats and drinks, secretes the waste matter in his body, propagates his
+kind, and dies, like the beast of the field. Therefore God said before
+the creation of man: "The celestials are not propagated, but they are
+immortal; the beings on earth are propagated, but they die. I will
+create man to be the union of the two, so that when he sins, when he
+behaves like a beast, death shall overtake him; but if he refrains from
+sin, he shall live forever."[6] God now bade all beings in heaven and
+on earth contribute to the creation of man, and He Himself took part in
+it. Thus they all will love man, and if he should sin, they will be
+interested in his preservation.[7]
+
+The whole world naturally was created for the pious, the God-fearing
+man, whom Israel produces with the helpful guidance of the law of God
+revealed to him.[8] It was, therefore, Israel who was taken into
+special consideration at the time man was made. All other creatures
+were instructed to change their nature, if Israel should ever need
+their help in the course of his history. The sea was ordered to divide
+before Moses, and the heavens to give ear to the words of the leader;
+the sun and the moon were bidden to stand still before Joshua, the
+ravens to feed Elijah, the fire to spare the three youths in the
+furnace, the lion to do no harm to Daniel, the fish to spew forth
+Jonah, and the heavens to open before Ezekiel.[9]
+
+In His modesty, God took counsel with the angels, before the creation
+of the world, regarding His intention of making man. He said: "For the
+sake of Israel, I will create the world. As I shall make a division
+between light and darkness, so I will in time to come do for Israel in
+Egypt—thick darkness shall be over the land, and the children of Israel
+shall have light in their dwellings; as I shall make a separation
+between the waters under the firmament and the waters above the
+firmament, so I will do for Israel—I will divide the waters for him
+when he crosses the Red Sea; as on the third day I shall create plants,
+so I will do for Israel—I will bring forth manna for him in the
+wilderness; as I shall create luminaries to divide day from night, so I
+will do for Israel—I will go before him by day in a pillar of cloud and
+by night in a pillar of fire; as I shall create the fowl of the air and
+the fishes of the sea, so I will do for Israel—I will bring quails for
+him from the sea; and as I shall breathe the breath of life into the
+nostrils of man, so I will do for Israel—I will give the Torah unto
+him, the tree of life." The angels marvelled that so much love should
+be lavished upon this people of Israel, and God told them: "On the
+first day of creation, I shall make the heavens and stretch them out;
+so will Israel raise up the Tabernacle as the dwelling-place of My
+glory. On the second day, I shall put a division between the
+terrestrial waters and the heavenly waters; so will he hang up a veil
+in the Tabernacle to divide the Holy Place and the Most Holy. On the
+third day, I shall make the earth put forth grass and herb; so will he,
+in obedience to My commands, eat herbs on the first night of the
+Passover, and prepare showbread for Me. On the fourth day, I shall make
+the luminaries; so will he make a golden candlestick for Me. On the
+fifth day, I shall create the birds; so will he fashion the cherubim
+with outstretched wings. On the sixth day, I shall create man; so will
+Israel set aside a man of the sons of Aaron as high priest for My
+service."[10]
+
+Accordingly, the whole of creation was conditional. God said to the
+things He made on the first six days: "If Israel accepts the Torah, you
+will continue and endure; otherwise, I shall turn everything back into
+chaos again." The whole world was thus kept in suspense and dread until
+the day of the revelation on Sinai, when Israel received and accepted
+the Torah, and so fulfilled the condition made by God at the time when
+He created the universe.[11]
+
+THE ANGELS AND THE CREATION OF MAN
+
+God in His wisdom hiving resolved to create man, He asked counsel of
+all around Him before He proceeded to execute His purpose—an example to
+man, be he never so great and distinguished, not to scorn the advice of
+the humble and lowly. First God called upon heaven and earth, then upon
+all other things He had created, and last upon the angels.
+
+The angels were not all of one opinion. The Angel of Love favored the
+creation of man, because he would be affectionate and loving; but the
+Angel of Truth opposed it, because he would be full of lies. And while
+the Angel of Justice favored it, because he would practice justice, the
+Angel of Peace opposed it, because he would be quarrelsome.
+
+To invalidate his protest, God cast the Angel of Truth down from heaven
+to earth, and when the others cried out against such contemptuous
+treatment of their companion, He said, "Truth will spring back out of
+the earth."
+
+The objections of the angels would have been much stronger, had they
+known the whole truth about man. God had told them only about the
+pious, and had concealed from them that there would be reprobates among
+mankind, too. And yet, though they knew but half the truth, the angels
+were nevertheless prompted to cry out: "What is man, that Thou art
+mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" God
+replied: "The fowl of the air and the fish of the sea, what were they
+created for? Of what avail a larder full of appetizing dainties, and no
+guest to enjoy them?" And the angels could not but exclaim: "O Lord,
+our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! Do as is pleasing
+in Thy sight."[12]
+
+For not a few of the angels their opposition bore fatal consequences.
+When God summoned the band under the archangel Michael, and asked their
+opinion on the creation of man, they answered scornfully: "What is man,
+that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest
+him?" God thereupon stretched forth His little finger, and all were
+consumed by fire except their chief Michael. And the same fate befell
+the band under the leadership of the archangel Gabriel; he alone of all
+was saved from destruction.
+
+The third band consulted was commanded by the archangel Labbiel. Taught
+by the horrible fate of his predecessors, he warned his troop: "You
+have seen what misfortune overtook the angels who said 'What is man,
+that Thou art mindful of him?' Let us have a care not to do likewise,
+lest we suffer the same dire punishment. For God will not refrain from
+doing in the end what He has planned. Therefore it is advisable for us
+to yield to His wishes." Thus warned, the angels spoke: "Lord of the
+world, it is well that Thou hast thought of creating man. Do Thou
+create him according to Thy will. And as for us, we will be his
+attendants and his ministers, and reveal unto him all our secrets."
+Thereupon God changed Labbiel's name to Raphael, the Rescuer, because
+his host of angels had been rescued by his sage advice. He was
+appointed the Angel of Healing, who has in his safe-keeping all the
+celestial remedies, the types of the medical remedies used on
+earth.[12]
+
+THE CREATION OF ADAM
+
+When at last the assent of the angels to the creation of man was given,
+God said to Gabriel: "Go and fetch Me dust from the four corners of the
+earth, and I will create man therewith." Gabriel went forth to do the
+bidding of the Lord, but the earth drove him away, and refused to let
+him gather up dust from it. Gabriel remonstrated: "Why, O Earth, dost
+thou not hearken unto the voice of the Lord, who founded thee upon the
+waters without props or pillars?" The earth replied, and said: "I am
+destined to become a curse, and to be cursed through man, and if God
+Himself does not take the dust from me, no one else shall ever do it."
+When God heard this, He stretched out His hand, took of the dust of the
+ground, and created the first man therewith.[14] Of set purpose the
+dust was taken from all four corners of the earth, so that if a man
+from the east should happen to die in the west, or a man from the west
+in the east, the earth should not dare refuse to receive the dead, and
+tell him to go whence he was taken. Wherever a man chances to die, and
+wheresoever he is buried, there will he return to the earth from which
+he sprang. Also, the dust was of various colors—red, black, white, and
+green—red for the blood, black for the bowels, white for the bones and
+veins, and green for the pale skin.
+
+At this early moment the Torah interfered. She addressed herself to
+God: "O Lord of the world! The world is Thine, Thou canst do with it as
+seemeth good in Thine eyes. But the man Thou art now creating will be
+few of days and full of trouble and sin. If it be not Thy purpose to
+have forbearance and patience with him, it were better not to call him
+into being." God replied, "Is it for naught I am called long-suffering
+and merciful?"[15]
+
+The grace and lovingkindness of God revealed themselves particularly in
+His taking one spoonful of dust from the spot where in time to come the
+altar would stand, saying, "I shall take man from the place of
+atonement, that he may endure."[19]
+
+THE SOUL OF MAN
+
+The care which God exercised in fashioning every detail of the body of
+man is as naught in comparison with His solicitude for the human soul.
+The soul of man was created on the first day, for it is the spirit of
+God moving upon the face of the waters. Thus, instead of being the
+last, man is really the first work of creation.[17]
+
+This spirit, or, to call it by its usual name, the soul of man,
+possesses five different powers. By means of one of them she escapes
+from the body every night, rises up to heaven, and fetches new life
+thence for man.[18]
+
+With the soul of Adam the souls of all the generations of men were
+created. They are stored up in a promptuary, in the seventh of the
+heavens, whence they are drawn as they are needed for human body after
+human body.[19]
+
+The soul and body of man are united in this way: When a woman has
+conceived, the Angel of the Night, Lailah, carries the sperm before
+God, and God decrees what manner of human being shall become of
+it—whether it shall be male or female, strong or weak, rich or poor,
+beautiful or ugly, long or short, fat or thin, and what all its other
+qualities shall be. Piety and wickedness alone are left to the
+determination of man himself. Then God makes a sign to the angel
+appointed over the souls, saying, "Bring Me the soul so-and-so, which
+is hidden in Paradise, whose name is so-and-so, and whose form is
+so-and-so." The angel brings the designated soul, and she bows down
+when she appears in the presence of God, and prostrates herself before
+Him. At that moment, God issues the command, "Enter this sperm." The
+soul opens her mouth, and pleads: "O Lord of the world! I am well
+pleased with the world in which I have been living since the day on
+which Thou didst call me into being. Why dost Thou now desire to have
+me enter this impure sperm, I who am holy and pure, and a part of Thy
+glory?" God consoles her: "The world which I shall cause thee to enter
+is better than the world in which thou hast lived hitherto, and when I
+created thee, it was only for this purpose." The soul is then forced to
+enter the sperm against her will, and the angel carries her back to the
+womb of the mother. Two angels are detailed to watch that she shall not
+leave it, nor drop out of it, and a light is set above her, whereby the
+soul can see from one end of the world to the other. In the morning an
+angel carries her to Paradise, and shows her the righteous, who sit
+there in their glory, with crowns upon their heads. The angel then says
+to the soul, "Dost thou know who these are?" She replies in the
+negative, and the angel goes on: "These whom thou beholdest here were
+formed, like unto thee, in the womb of their mother. When they came
+into the world, they observed God's Torah and His commandments.
+Therefore they became the partakers of this bliss which thou seest them
+enjoy. Know, also thou wilt one day depart from the world below, and if
+thou wilt observe God's Torah, then wilt thou be found worthy of
+sitting with these pious ones. But if not, thou wilt be doomed to the
+other place."
+
+In the evening, the angel takes the soul to hell, and there points out
+the sinners whom the Angels of Destruction are smiting with fiery
+scourges, the sinners all the while crying out Woe! Woe! but no mercy
+is shown unto them. The angel then questions the soul as before, "Dost
+thou know who these are?" and as before the reply is negative. The
+angel continues: "These who are consumed with fire were created like
+unto thee. When they were put into the world, they did not observe
+God's Torah and His commandments. Therefore have they come to this
+disgrace which thou seest them suffer. Know, thy destiny is also to
+depart from the world. Be just, therefore, and not wicked, that thou
+mayest gain the future world."
+
+Between morning and evening the angel carries the soul around, and
+shows her where she will live and where she will die, and the place
+where she will buried, and he takes her through the whole world, and
+points out the just and the sinners and all things. In the evening, he
+replaces her in the womb of the mother, and there she remains for nine
+months.
+
+When the time arrives for her to emerge from the womb into the open
+world, the same angel addresses the soul, "The time has come for thee
+to go abroad into the open world." The soul demurs, "Why dost thou want
+to make me go forth into the open world?" The angel replies: "Know that
+as thou wert formed against thy will, so now thou wilt be born against
+thy will, and against thy will thou shalt die, and against thy will
+thou shalt give account of thyself before the King of kings, the Holy
+One, blessed be He." But the soul is reluctant to leave her place. Then
+the angel fillips the babe on the nose, extinguishes the light at his
+head, and brings him forth into the world against his will. Immediately
+the child forgets all his soul has seen and learnt, and he comes into
+the world crying, for he loses a place of shelter and security and
+rest.
+
+When the time arrives for man to quit this world, the same angel
+appears and asks him, "Dost thou recognize me?" And man replies, "Yes;
+but why dost thou come to me to-day, and thou didst come on no other
+day?" The angel says, "To take thee away from the world, for the time
+of thy departure has arrived." Then man falls to weeping, and his voice
+penetrates to all ends of the world, yet no creature hears his voice,
+except the cock alone. Man remonstrates with the angel, "From two
+worlds thou didst take me, and into this world thou didst bring me."
+But the angel reminds him: "Did I not tell thee that thou wert formed
+against thy will, and thou wouldst be born against thy will, and
+against thy will thou wouldst die? And against thy will thou wilt have
+to give account and reckoning of thyself before the Holy One, blessed
+be He."[20]
+
+THE IDEAL MAN
+
+Like all creatures formed on the six days of creation, Adam came from
+the hands of the Creator fully and completely developed. He was not
+like a child, but like a man of twenty years of age.[21] The dimensions
+of his body were gigantic, reaching from heaven to earth, or, what
+amounts to the same, from east to west.[22] Among later generations of
+men, there were but few who in a measure resembled Adam in his
+extraordinary size and physical perfections. Samson possessed his
+strength, Saul his neck, Absalom his hair, Asahel his fleetness of
+foot, Uzziah his forehead, Josiah his nostrils, Zedekiah his eyes, and
+Zerubbabel his voice. History shows that these physical excellencies
+were no blessings to many of their possessors; they invited the ruin of
+almost all. Samson's extraordinary strength caused his death; Saul
+killed himself by cutting his neck with his own sword; while speeding
+swiftly, Asahel was pierced by Abner's spear; Absalom was caught up by
+his hair in an oak, and thus suspended met his death; Uzziah was
+smitten with leprosy upon his forehead; the darts that killed Josiah
+entered through his nostrils, and Zedekiah's eyes were blinded.[23]
+
+The generality of men inherited as little of the beauty as of the
+portentous size of their first father. The fairest women compared with
+Sarah are as apes compared with a human being. Sarah's relation to Eve
+is the same, and, again, Eve was but as an ape compared with Adam. His
+person was so handsome that the very sole of his foot obscured the
+splendor of the sun.[24]
+
+His spiritual qualities kept pace with his personal charm, for God had
+fashioned his soul with particular care. She is the image of God, and
+as God fills the world, so the soul fills the human body; as God sees
+all things, and is seen by none, so the soul sees, but cannot be seen;
+as God guides the world, so the soul guides the body; as God in His
+holiness is pure, so is the soul; and as God dwells in secret, so doth
+the soul.[25]
+
+When God was about to put a soul into Adam's clod-like body, He said:
+"At which point shall I breathe the soul into him? Into the mouth? Nay,
+for he will use it to speak ill of his fellow-man. Into the eyes? With
+them he will wink lustfully. Into the ears? They will hearken to
+slander and blasphemy. I will breathe her into his nostrils; as they
+discern the unclean and reject it, and take in the fragrant, so the
+pious will shun sin, and will cleave to the words of the Torah"[26]
+
+The perfections of Adam's soul showed themselves as soon as he received
+her, indeed, while he was still without life. In the hour that
+intervened between breathing a soul into the first man and his becoming
+alive, God revealed the whole history of mankind to him. He showed him
+each generation and its leaders; each generation and its prophets; each
+generation and its teachers; each generation and its scholars; each
+generation and its statesmen; each generation and its judges; each
+generation and its pious members; each generation and its average,
+commonplace members; and each generation and its impious members. The
+tale of their years, the number of their days, the reckoning of their
+hours, and the measure of their steps, all were made known unto
+him.[27]
+
+Of his own free will Adam relinquished seventy of his allotted years.
+His appointed span was to be a thousand years, one of the Lord's days.
+But he saw that only a single minute of life was apportioned to the
+great soul of David, and he made a gift of seventy years to her,
+reducing his own years to nine hundred and thirty.'
+
+The wisdom of Adam displayed itself to greatest advantage when he gave
+names to the animals. Then it appeared that God, in combating the
+arguments of the angels that opposed the creation of man, had spoken
+well, when He insisted that man would possess more wisdom than they
+themselves. When Adam was barely an hour old, God assembled the whole
+world of animals before him and the angels. The latter were called upon
+to name the different kinds, but they were not equal to the task. Adam,
+however, spoke without hesitation: "O Lord of the world! The proper
+name for this animal is ox, for this one horse, for this one lion, for
+this one camel." And so he called all in turn by name, suiting the name
+to the peculiarity of the animal. Then God asked him what his name was
+to be, and he said Adam, because he had been created out of Adamah,
+dust of the earth. Again, God asked him His own name, and he said:
+"Adonai, Lord, because Thou art Lord over all creatures"—the very name
+God had given unto Himself, the name by which the angels call Him, the
+name that will remain immutable evermore.[29] But without the gift of
+the holy spirit, Adam could not have found names for all; he was in
+very truth a prophet, and his wisdom a prophetic quality.[30]
+
+The names of the animals were not the only inheritance handed down by
+Adam to the generations after him, for mankind owes all crafts to him,
+especially the art of writing, and he was the inventor of all the
+seventy languages.[31] And still another task he accomplished for his
+descendants. God showed Adam the whole earth, and Adam designated what
+places were to be settled later by men, and what places were to remain
+waste.[32]
+
+THE FALL OF SATAN
+
+The extraordinary qualities with which Adam was blessed, physical and
+spiritual as well, aroused the envy of the angels. They attempted to
+consume him with fire, and he would have perished, had not the
+protecting hand of God rested upon him, and established peace between
+him and the heavenly host.[33] In particular, Satan was jealous of the
+first man, and his evil thoughts finally led to his fall. After Adam
+had been endowed with a soul, God invited all the angels to come and
+pay him reverence and homage. Satan, the greatest of the angels in
+heaven, with twelve wings, instead of six like all the others, refused
+to pay heed to the behest of God, saying, "Thou didst create us angels
+from the splendor of the Shekinah, and now Thou dost command us to cast
+ourselves down before the creature which Thou didst fashion out of the
+dust of the ground!" God answered, "Yet this dust of the ground has
+more wisdom and understanding than thou." Satan demanded a trial of wit
+with Adam, and God assented thereto, saying: "I have created beasts,
+birds, and reptiles, I shall have them all come before thee and before
+Adam. If thou art able to give them names, I shall command Adam to show
+honor unto thee, and thou shalt rest next to the Shekinah of My glory.
+But if not, and Adam calls them by the names I have assigned to them,
+then thou wilt be subject to Adam, and he shall have a place in My
+garden, and cultivate it." Thus spake God, and He betook Himself to
+Paradise, Satan following Him. When Adam beheld God, he said to his
+wife, "O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the
+Lord our Maker." Now Satan attempted to assign names to the animals. He
+failed with the first two that presented themselves, the ox and the
+cow. God led two others before him, the camel and the donkey, with the
+same result. Then God turned to Adam, and questioned him regarding the
+names of the same animals, framing His questions in such wise that the
+first letter of the first word was the same as the first letter of the
+name of the animal standing before him. Thus Adam divined the proper
+name, and Satan was forced to acknowledge the superiority of the first
+man. Nevertheless he broke out in wild outcries that reached the
+heavens, and he refused to do homage unto Adam as he had been
+bidden.[34] The host of angels led by him did likewise, in spite of the
+urgent representations of Michael, who was the first to prostrate
+himself before Adam in order to show a good example to the other
+angels. Michael addressed Satan: "Give adoration to the image of God!
+But if thou doest it not, then the Lord God will break out in wrath
+against thee." Satan replied: "If He breaks out in wrath against me, I
+will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will be like the Most
+High!" At once God flung Satan and his host out of heaven, down to the
+earth, and from that moment dates the enmity between Satan and man.'
+
+WOMAN
+
+When Adam opened his eyes the first time, and beheld the world about
+him, he broke into praise of God, "How great are Thy works, O Lord!"
+But his admiration for the world surrounding him did not exceed the
+admiration all creatures conceived for Adam. They took him to be their
+creator, and they all came to offer him adoration. But he spoke: "Why
+do you come to worship me? Nay, you and I together will acknowledge the
+majesty and the might of Him who hath created us all. 'The Lord
+reigneth,'" he continued, "'He is apparelled with majesty.'"[36]
+
+And not alone the creatures on earth, even the angels thought Adam the
+lord of all, and they were about to salute him with "Holy, holy, holy,
+is the Lord of hosts," when God caused sleep to fall upon him, and then
+the angels knew that he was but a human being.[37]
+
+The purpose of the sleep that enfolded Adam was to give him a wife, so
+that the human race might develop, and all creatures recognize the
+difference between God and man. When the earth heard what God had
+resolved to do, it began to tremble and quake. "I have not the
+strength," it said, "to provide food for the herd of Adam's
+descendants." But God pacified it with the words, "I and thou together,
+we will find food for the herd." Accordingly, time was divided between
+God and the earth; God took the night, and the earth took the day.
+Refreshing sleep nourishes and strengthens man, it affords him life and
+rest, while the earth brings forth produce with the help of God, who
+waters it. Yet man must work the earth to earn his food.[38]
+
+The Divine resolution to bestow a companion on Adam met the wishes of
+man, who had been overcome by a feeling of isolation when the animals
+came to him in pairs to be named.[39] To banish his loneliness, Lilith
+was first given to Adam as wife. Like him she had been created out of
+the dust of the ground. But she remained with him only a short time,
+because she insisted upon enjoying full equality with her husband. She
+derived her rights from their identical origin. With the help of the
+Ineffable Name, which she pronounced, Lilith flew away from Adam, and
+vanished in the air. Adam complained before God that the wife He had
+given him had deserted him, and God sent forth three angels to capture
+her. They found her in the Red Sea, and they sought to make her go back
+with the threat that, unless she went, she would lose a hundred of her
+demon children daily by death. But Lilith preferred this punishment to
+living with Adam. She takes her revenge by injuring babes—baby boys
+during the first night of their life, while baby girls are exposed to
+her wicked designs until they are twenty days old. The only way to ward
+off the evil is to attach an amulet bearing the names of her three
+angel captors to the children, for such had been the agreement between
+them.[40]
+
+The woman destined to become the true companion of man was taken from
+Adam's body, for "only when like is joined unto like the union is
+indissoluble."[41] The creation of woman from man was possible because
+Adam originally had two faces, which were separated at the birth of
+Eve.[42]
+
+When God was on the point of making Eve, He said: "I will not make her
+from the head of man, lest she carry her head high in arrogant pride;
+not from the eye, lest she be wanton-eyed; not from the ear, lest she
+be an eavesdropper; not from the neck, lest she be insolent; not from
+the mouth, lest she be a tattler; not from the heart, lest she be
+inclined to envy; not from the hand, lest she be a meddler; not from
+the foot, lest she be a gadabout. I will form her from a chaste portion
+of the body," and to every limb and organ as He formed it, God said,
+"Be chaste! Be chaste!" Nevertheless, in spite of the great caution
+used, woman has all the faults God tried to obviate. The daughters of
+Zion were haughty and walked with stretched forth necks and wanton
+eyes; Sarah was an eavesdropper in her own tent, when the angel spoke
+with Abraham; Miriam was a talebearer, accusing Moses; Rachel was
+envious of her sister Leah; Eve put out her hand to take the forbidden
+fruit, and Dinah was a gadabout.[43]
+
+The physical formation of woman is far more complicated than that of
+man, as it must be for the function of child-bearing, and likewise the
+intelligence of woman matures more quickly than the intelligence of
+man.[44] Many of the physical and psychical differences between the two
+sexes must be attributed to the fact that man was formed from the
+ground and woman from bone. Women need perfumes, while men do not; dust
+of the ground remains the same no matter how long it is kept; flesh,
+however, requires salt to keep it in good condition. The voice of women
+is shrill, not so the voice of men; when soft viands are cooked, no
+sound is heard, but let a bone be put in a pot, and at once it
+crackles. A man is easily placated, not so a woman; a few drops of
+water suffice to soften a clod of earth; a bone stays hard, and if it
+were to soak in water for days. The man must ask the woman to be his
+wife, and not the woman the man to be her husband, because it is man
+who has sustained the loss of his rib, and he sallies forth to make
+good his loss again. The very differences between the sexes in garb and
+social forms go back to the origin of man and woman for their reasons.
+Woman covers her hair in token of Eve's having brought sin into the
+world; she tries to hide her shame; and women precede men in a funeral
+cortege, because it was woman who brought death into the world. And the
+religious commands addressed to women alone are connected with the
+history of Eve. Adam was the heave offering of the world, and Eve
+defiled it. As expiation, all women are commanded to separate a heave
+offering from the dough. And because woman extinguished the light of
+man's soul, she is bidden to kindle the Sabbath light.[45]
+
+Adam was first made to fall into a deep sleep before the rib for Eve
+was taken from his side. For, had he watched her creation, she would
+not have awakened love in him. To this day it is true that men do not
+appreciate the charms of women whom they have known and observed from
+childhood up. Indeed, God had created a wife for Adam before Eve, but
+he would not have her, because she had been made in his presence.
+Knowing well all the details of her formation, he was repelled by
+her.[46] But when he roused himself from his profound sleep, and saw
+Eve before him in all her surprising beauty and grace, he exclaimed,
+"This is she who caused my heart to throb many a night!" Yet he
+discerned at once what the nature of woman was. She would, he knew,
+seek to carry her point with man either by entreaties and tears, or
+flattery and caresses. He said, therefore, "This is my never-silent
+bell!"[47]
+
+The wedding of the first couple was celebrated with pomp never repeated
+in the whole course of history since. God Himself, before presenting
+her to Adam, attired and adorned Eve as a bride. Yea, He appealed to
+the angels, saying: "Come, let us perform services of friendship for
+Adam and his helpmate, for the world rests upon friendly services, and
+they are more pleasing in My sight than the sacrifices Israel will
+offer upon the altar." The angels accordingly surrounded the marriage
+canopy, and God pronounced the blessings upon the bridal couple, as the
+Hazan does under the Huppah. The angels then danced and played upon
+musical instruments before Adam and Eve in their ten bridal chambers of
+gold, pearls, and precious stones, which God had prepared for them.
+
+Adam called his wife Ishah, and himself he called Ish, abandoning the
+name Adam, which he had borne before the creation of Eve, for the
+reason that God added His own name Yah to the names of the man and the
+woman—Yod to Ish and He to Ishah—to indicate that as long as they
+walked in the ways of God and observed His commandments, His name would
+shield them against all harm. But if they went astray, His name would
+be withdrawn, and instead of Ish there would remain Esh, fire, a fire
+issuing from each and consuming the other.[48]
+
+ADAM AND EVE IN PARADISE
+
+The Garden of Eden was the abode of the first man and woman, and the
+souls of all men must pass through it after death, before they reach
+their final destination. For the souls of the departed must go through
+seven portals before they arrive in the heaven 'Arabot. There the souls
+of the pious are transformed into angels, and there they remain
+forever, praising God and feasting their sight upon the glory of the
+Shekinah. The first portal is the Cave of Machpelah, in the vicinity of
+Paradise, which is under the care and supervision of Adam. If the soul
+that presents herself at the portal is worthy, he calls out, "Make
+room! Thou art welcome!" The soul then proceeds until she arrives at
+the gate of Paradise guarded by the cherubim and the flaming sword. If
+she is not found worthy, she is consumed by the sword; otherwise she
+receives a pass-bill, which admits her to the terrestrial Paradise.
+Therein is a pillar of smoke and light extending from Paradise to the
+gate of heaven, and it depends upon the character of the soul whether
+she can climb upward on it and reach heaven. The third portal, Zebul,
+is at the entrance of heaven. If the soul is worthy, the guard opens
+the portal and admits her 'to the heavenly Temple. Michael presents her
+to God, and conducts her to the seventh portal, 'Arabot, within which
+the souls of the pious, changed to angels, praise the Lord, and feed on
+the glory of the Shekinah.[49]
+
+In Paradise stand the tree of life and the tree of knowledge, the
+latter forming a hedge about the former. Only he who has cleared a path
+for himself through the tree of knowledge can come close to the tree of
+life, which is so huge that it would take a man five hundred years to
+traverse a distance equal to the diameter of the trunk, and no less
+vast is the space shaded by its crown of branches. From beneath it
+flows forth the water that irrigates the whole earth,[50] parting
+thence into four streams, the Ganges, the Nile, the Tigris, and the
+Euphrates.[51] But it was only during the days of creation that the
+realm of plants looked to the waters of the earth for nourishment.
+Later on God made the plants dependent upon the rain, the upper waters.
+The clouds rise from earth to heaven, where water is poured into them
+as from a conduit.[52] The plants began to feel the effect of the water
+only after Adam was created. Although they had been brought forth on
+the third day, God did not permit them to sprout and appear above the
+surface of the earth, until Adam prayed to Him to give food unto them,
+for God longs for the prayers of the pious.[53]
+
+Paradise being such as it was, it was, naturally, not necessary for
+Adam to work the land. True, the Lord God put the man into the Garden
+of Eden to dress it and to keep it, but that only means he is to study
+the Torah there and fulfil the commandments of God.[54] There were
+especially six commandments which every human being is expected to
+heed: man should not worship idols; nor blaspheme God; nor commit
+murder, nor incest, nor theft and robbery; and all generations have the
+duty of instituting measures of law and order.[55] One more such
+command there was, but it was a temporary injunction. Adam was to eat
+only the green things of the field. But the prohibition against the use
+of animals for food was revoked in Noah's time, after the deluge.
+Nevertheless, Adam was not cut off from the enjoyment of meat dishes.
+Though he was not permitted to slaughter animals for the appeasing of
+his appetite, the angels brought him meat and wine, serving him like
+attendants.[56] And as the angels ministered to his wants, so also the
+animals. They were wholly under his dominion, and their food they took
+out of his hand and out of Eve's.[57] In all respects, the animal world
+had a different relation to Adam from their relation to his
+descendants. Not only did they know the language of man,[58] but they
+respected the image of God, and they feared the first human couple, all
+of which changed into the opposite after the fall of man.[59]
+
+THE FALL OF MAN
+
+Among the animals the serpent was notable. Of all of them he had the
+most excellent qualities, in some of which he resembled man. Like man
+he stood upright upon two feet, and in height he was equal to the
+camel. Had it not been for the fall of man, which brought misfortune to
+them, too, one pair of serpents would have sufficed to perform all the
+work man has to do, and, besides, they would have supplied him with
+silver, gold, gems, and pearls. As a matter of fact, it was the very
+ability of the serpent that led to the ruin of man and his own ruin.
+His superior mental gifts caused him to become an infidel. It likewise
+explains his envy of man, especially of his conjugal relations. Envy
+made him meditate ways and means of bringing about the death of
+Adam.[60] He was too well acquainted with the character of the man to
+attempt to exercise tricks of persuasion upon him, and he approached
+the woman, knowing that women are beguiled easily. The conversation
+with Eve was cunningly planned, she could not but be caught in a trap.
+The serpent began, "Is it true that God hath said, Ye shall not eat of
+every tree in the garden?" "We may," rejoined Eve, "eat of the fruit of
+all the trees in the garden, except that which is in the midst of the
+garden, and that we may not even touch, lest we be stricken with
+death." She spoke thus, because in his zeal to guard her against the
+transgressing of the Divine command, Adam had forbidden Eve to touch
+the tree, though God had mentioned only the eating of the fruit. It
+remains a truth, what the proverb says, "Better a wall ten hands high
+that stands, than a wall a hundred ells high that cannot stand." It was
+Adam's exaggeration that afforded the serpent the possibility of
+persuading Eve to taste of the forbidden fruit. The serpent pushed Eve
+against the tree, and said: "Thou seest that touching the tree has not
+caused thy death. As little will it hurt thee to eat the fruit of the
+tree. Naught but malevolence has prompted the prohibition, for as soon
+as ye eat thereof, ye shall be as God. As He creates and destroys
+worlds, so will ye have the power to create and destroy. As He doth
+slay and revive, so will ye have the power to slay and revive.[61] He
+Himself ate first of the fruit of the tree, and then He created the
+world. Therefore doth He forbid you to eat thereof, lest you create
+other worlds. Everyone knows that 'artisans of the same guild hate one
+another.' Furthermore, have ye not observed that every creature hath
+dominion over the creature fashioned before itself? The heavens were
+made on the first day, and they are kept in place by the firmament made
+on the second day. The firmament, in turn, is ruled by the plants, the
+creation of the third day, for they take up all the water of the
+firmament. The sun and the other celestial bodies, which were created
+on the fourth day, have power over the world of plants. They can ripen
+their fruits and flourish only through their influence. The creation of
+the fifth day, the animal world, rules over the celestial spheres.
+Witness the ziz, which can darken the sun with its pinions. But ye are
+masters of the whole of creation, because ye were the last to be
+created. Hasten now and eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of
+the garden, and become independent of God, lest He bring forth still
+other creatures to bear rule over you."[62]
+
+To give due weight to these words, the serpent began to shake the tree
+violently and bring down its fruit. He ate thereof, saying: "As I do
+not die of eating the fruit, so wilt thou not die." Now Eve could not
+but say to herself, "All that my master"—so she called Adam—"commanded
+me is but lies," and she determined to follow the advice of the
+serpent.[63] Yet she could not bring herself to disobey the command of
+God utterly. She made a compromise with her conscience. First she ate
+only the outside skin of the fruit, and then, seeing that death did not
+fell her, she ate the fruit itself.[64] Scarce had she finished, when
+she saw the Angel of Death before her. Expecting her end to come
+immediately, she resolved to make Adam eat of the forbidden fruit, too,
+lest he espouse another wife after her death.[65] It required tears and
+lamentations on her part to prevail upon Adam to take the baleful step.
+Not yet satisfied, she gave of the fruit to all other living beings,
+that they, too, might be subject to death.[66] All ate, and they all
+are mortal, with the exception of the bird malham, who refused the
+fruit, with the words: "Is it not enough that ye have sinned against
+God, and have brought death to others? Must ye still come to me and
+seek to persuade me into disobeying God's command, that I may eat and
+die thereof? I will not do your bidding." A heavenly voice was heard
+then to say to Adam and Eve: "To you was the command given. Ye did not
+heed it; ye did transgress it, and ye did seek to persuade the bird
+malham. He was steadfast, and he feared Me, although I gave him no
+command. Therefore he shall never taste of death, neither he nor his
+descendants—they all shall live forever in Paradise."[67]
+
+Adam spoke to Eve: "Didst thou give me of the tree of which I forbade
+thee to eat? Thou didst give me thereof, for my eyes are opened, and
+the teeth in my mouth are set on edge." Eve made answer, "As my teeth
+were set on edge, so may the teeth of all living beings be set on
+edge."[68] The first result was that Adam and Eve became naked. Before,
+their bodies had been overlaid with a horny skin, and enveloped with
+the cloud of glory. No sooner had they violated the command given them
+than the cloud of glory and the horny skin dropped from them, and they
+stood there in their nakedness, and ashamed.[69] Adam tried to gather
+leaves from the trees to cover part of their bodies, but he heard one
+tree after the other say: "There is the thief that deceived his
+Creator. Nay, the foot of pride shall not come against me, nor the hand
+of the wicked touch me. Hence, and take no leaves from me!" Only the
+fig-tree granted him permission to take of its leaves. That was because
+the fig was the forbidden fruit itself. Adam had the same experience as
+that prince who seduced one of the maid-ser vants in the palace. When
+the king, his father, chased him out, he vainly sought a refuge with
+the other maid-servants, but only she who had caused his disgrace would
+grant him assistance.[70]
+
+THE PUNISHMENT
+
+As long as Adam stood naked, casting about for means of escape from his
+embarrassment, God did not appear unto him, for one should not "strive
+to see a man in the hour of his disgrace." He waited until Adam and Eve
+had covered themselves with fig leaves.[71] But even before God spoke
+to him, Adam knew what was impending. He heard the angels announce,
+"God betaketh Himself unto those that dwell in Paradise." He heard
+more, too. He heard what the angels were saying to one another about
+his fall, and what they were saying to God. In astonishment the angels
+exclaimed: "What! He still walks about in Paradise? He is not yet
+dead?" Whereupon God: "I said to him, 'In the day that thou eatest
+thereof, thou shalt surely die!' Now, ye know not what manner of day I
+meant—one of My days of a thousand years, or one of your days. I will
+give him one of My days. He shall have nine hundred and thirty years to
+live, and seventy to leave to his descendants."[72]
+
+When Adam and Eve heard God approaching, they hid among the trees—which
+would not have been possible before the fall. Before he committed his
+trespass, Adam's height was from the heavens to the earth, but
+afterward it was reduced to one hundred ells.[73] Another consequence
+of his sin was the fear Adam felt when he heard the voice of God:
+before his fall it had not disquieted him in the least.[74] Hence it
+was that when Adam said, "I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was
+afraid," God replied, "Aforetime thou wert not afraid, and now thou art
+afraid?"[75]
+
+God refrained from reproaches at first. Standing at the gate of
+Paradise, He but asked, "Where art thou, Adam?" Thus did God desire to
+teach man a rule of polite behavior, never to enter the house of
+another without announcing himself.[76] It cannot be denied, the words
+"Where art thou?" were pregnant with meaning. They were intended to
+bring home to Adam the vast difference between his latter and his
+former state—between his supernatural size then and his shrunken size
+now; between the lordship of God over him then and the lordship of the
+serpent over him now.[77] At the same time, God wanted to give Adam the
+opportunity of repenting of his sin, and he would have received Divine
+forgiveness for it. But so far from repenting of it, Adam slandered
+God, and uttered blasphemies against Him.[78] When God asked him, "Hast
+thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee thou shouldst not eat?"
+he did not confess his sin, but excused himself with the words: "O Lord
+of the world! As long as I was alone, I did not fall into sin, but as
+soon as this woman came to me, she tempted me." God replied: "I gave
+her unto thee as a help, and thou art ungrateful when thou accusest
+her, saying, 'She gave me of the tree.' Thou shouldst not have obeyed
+her, for thou art the head, and not she."[79] God, who knows all
+things, had foreseen exactly this, and He had not created Eve until
+Adam had asked Him for a helpmate, so that he might not have apparently
+good reason for reproaching God with having created woman.[80]
+
+As Adam tried to shift the blame for his misdeed from himself, so also
+Eve. She, like her husband, did not confess her transgression and pray
+for pardon, which would have been granted to her.[81] Gracious as God
+is, He did not pronounce the doom upon Adam and Eve until they showed
+themselves stiff-necked. Not so with the serpent. God inflicted the
+curse upon the serpent without hearing his defense; for the serpent is
+a villain, and the wicked are good debaters. If God had questioned him,
+the serpent would have answered: "Thou didst give them a command, and I
+did contradict it. Why did they obey me, and not Thee?"[82] Therefore
+God did not enter into an argument with the serpent, but straightway
+decreed the following ten punishments: The mouth of the serpent was
+closed, and his power of speech taken away; his hands and feet were
+hacked off; the earth was given him as food; he must suffer great pain
+in sloughing his skin; enmity is to exist between him and man; if he
+eats the choicest viands, or drinks the sweetest beverages, they all
+change into dust in his mouth; the pregnancy of the female serpent
+lasts seven years; men shall seek to kill him as soon as they catch
+sight of him; even in the future world, where all beings will be
+blessed, he will not escape the punishment decreed for him; he will
+vanish from out of the Holy Land if Israel walks in the ways of
+God.[83]
+
+Furthermore, God spake to the serpent: "I created thee to be king over
+all animals, cattle and the beasts of the field alike; but thou wast
+not satisfied. Therefore thou shalt be cursed above all cattle and
+above every beast of the field. I created thee of upright posture; but
+thou wast not satisfied. Therefore thou shalt go upon thy belly. I
+created thee to eat the same food as man; but thou wast not satisfied.
+Therefore thou shalt eat dust all the days of thy life. Thou didst seek
+to cause the death of Adam in order to espouse his wife. Therefore I
+will put enmity between thee and the woman." How true it is—he who
+lusts after what is not his due, not only does he not attain his
+desire, but he also loses what he has!
+
+As angels had been present when the doom was pronounced upon the
+serpent—for God had convoked a Sanhedrin of seventy-one angels when He
+sat in judgment upon him—so the execution of the decree against him was
+entrusted to angels. They descended from heaven, and chopped off his
+hands and feet. His suffering was so great that his agonized cries
+could be heard from one end of the world to the other.[84]
+
+The verdict against Eve also consisted of ten curses, the effect of
+which is noticeable to this day in the physical, spiritual, and social
+state of woman.[85] It was not God Himself who announced her fate to
+Eve. The only woman with whom God ever spoke was Sarah. In the case of
+Eve, He made use of the services of an interpreter.[86]
+
+Finally, also the punishment of Adam was tenfold: he lost his celestial
+clothing—God stripped it off him; in sorrow he was to earn his daily
+bread; the food he ate was to be turned from good into bad; his
+children were to wander from land to land; his body was to exude sweat;
+he was to have an evil inclination; in death his body was to be a prey
+of the worms; animals were to have power over him, in that they could
+slay him; his days were to be few and full of trouble; in the end he
+was to render account of all his doings on earth.
+
+These three sinners were not the only ones to have punishment dealt out
+to them. The earth fared no better, for it had been guilty of various
+misdemeanors. In the first place, it had not entirely heeded the
+command of God given on the third day, to bring forth "tree of fruit."
+What God had desired was a tree the wood of which was to be as pleasant
+to the taste as the fruit thereof. The earth, however, produced a tree
+bearing fruit, the tree itself not being edible.[88] Again, the earth
+did not do its whole duty in connection with the sin of Adam. God had
+appointed the sun and the earth witnesses to testify against Adam in
+case he committed a trespass. The sun, accordingly, had grown dark the
+instant Adam became guilty of disobedience, but the earth, not knowing
+how to take notice of Adam's fall, disregarded it altogether.[89] The
+earth also had to suffer a tenfold punishment: independent before, she
+was hereafter to wait to be watered by the rain from above; sometimes
+the fruits of the earth fail; the grain she brings forth is stricken
+with blasting and mildew; she must produce all sorts of noxious vermin;
+thenceforth she was to be divided into valleys and mountains; she must
+grow barren trees, bearing no fruit; thorns and thistles sprout from
+her; much is sown in the earth, but little is harvested; in time to
+come the earth will have to disclose her blood, and shall no more cover
+her slain; and, finally, she shall, one day, "wax old like a
+garment."[90]
+
+When Adam heard the words, "Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth,"
+concerning the ground, a sweat broke out on his face, and he said:
+"What! Shall I and my cattle eat from the same manger?" The Lord had
+mercy upon him, and spoke, "In view of the sweat of thy face, thou
+shalt eat bread."[91]
+
+The earth is not the only thing created that was made to suffer through
+the sin of Adam. The same fate overtook the moon. When the serpent
+seduced Adam and Eve, and exposed their nakedness, they wept bitterly,
+and with them wept the heavens, and the sun and the stars, and all
+created beings and things up to the throne of God. The very angels and
+the celestial beings were grieved by the trans gression of Adam. The
+moon alone laughed, wherefore God grew wroth, and obscured her light.
+Instead of shining steadily like the sun, all the length of the day,
+she grows old quickly, and must be born and reborn, again and
+again.[92] The callous conduct of the moon offended God, not only by
+way of contrast with the compassion of all other creatures, but because
+He Himself was full of pity for Adam and his wife. He made clothes for
+them out of the skin stripped from the serpent.[93] He would have done
+even more. He would have permitted them to remain in Paradise, if only
+they had been penitent. But they refused to repent, and they had to
+leave, lest their godlike understanding urge them to ravage the tree of
+life, and they learn to live forever. As it was, when God dismissed
+them from Paradise, He did not allow the Divine quality of justice to
+prevail entirely. He associated mercy with it. As they left, He said:
+"O what a pity that Adam was not able to observe the command laid upon
+him for even a brief span of time!"
+
+To guard the entrance to Paradise, God appointed the cherubim, called
+also the ever-turning sword of flames, because angels can turn
+themselves from one shape into another at need.[94] Instead of the tree
+of life, God gave Adam the Torah, which likewise is a tree of life to
+them that lay hold upon her, and he was permitted to take up his abode
+in the vicinity of Paradise in the east.[95]
+
+Sentence pronounced upon Adam and Eve and the serpent, the Lord
+commanded the angels to turn the man and the woman out of Paradise.
+They began to weep and supplicate bitterly, and the angels took pity
+upon them and left the Divine command unfulfilled, until they could
+petition God to mitigate His severe verdict. But the Lord was
+inexorable, saying, "Was it I that committed a trespass, or did I
+pronounce a false judgment?" Also Adam's prayer, to be given of the
+fruit of the tree of life, was turned aside, with the promise, however,
+that if he would lead a pious life, he would be given of the fruit on
+the day of resurrection, and he would then live forever.
+
+Seeing that God had resolved unalterably, Adam began to weep again and
+implore the angels to grant him at least permission to take
+sweet-scented spices with him out of Paradise, that outside, too, he
+might be able to bring offerings unto God, and his prayers be accepted
+before the Lord. Thereupon the angels came before God, and spake: "King
+unto everlasting, command Thou us to give Adam sweet-scented spices of
+Paradise," and God heard their prayer. Thus Adam gathered saffron,
+nard, calamus, and cinnamon, and all sorts of seeds besides for his
+sustenance. Laden with these, Adam and Eve left Paradise, and came upon
+earth.[96] They had enjoyed the splendors of Paradise but a brief span
+of time—but a few hours. It was in the first hour of the sixth day of
+creation that God conceived the idea of creating man; in the second
+hour, He took counsel with the angels; in the third, He gathered the
+dust for the body of man; in the fourth, He formed Adam; in the fifth,
+He clothed him with skin; in the sixth, the soulless shape was
+complete, so that it could stand upright; in the seventh, a soul was
+breathed into it; in the eighth, man was led into Paradise; in the
+ninth, the Divine command prohibiting the fruit of the tree in the
+midst of the garden was issued to him; in the tenth, he transgressed
+the command; in the eleventh, he was judged; and in the twelfth hour of
+the day, he was cast out of Paradise, in atonement for his sin.
+
+This eventful day was the first of the month of Tishri. Therefore God
+spoke to Adam: "Thou shalt be the prototype of thy children. As thou
+hast been judged by Me on this day and absolved, so thy children Israel
+shall be judged by Me on this New Year's Day, and they shall be
+absolved."[97]
+
+Each day of creation brought forth three things: the first, heaven,
+earth, and light; the second, the firmament, Gehenna, and the angels;
+the third, trees, herbs, and Paradise; the fourth, sun, moon, and
+stars; and the fifth, fishes, birds, and leviathan. As God intended to
+rest on the seventh day, the Sabbath, the sixth day had to do double
+duty. It brought forth six creations: Adam, Eve, cattle, reptiles, the
+beasts of the field, and demons. The demons were made shortly before
+the Sabbath came in, and they are, therefore, incorporeal spirits—the
+Lord had no time to create bodies for them.[98]
+
+In the twilight, between the sixth day and the Sabbath, ten creations
+were, brought forth: the rainbow, invisible until Noah's time; the
+manna; watersprings, whence Israel drew water for his thirst in the
+desert; the writing upon the two tables of stone given at Sinai; the
+pen with which the writing was written; the two tables themselves; the
+mouth of Balaam's she-ass; the grave of Moses; the cave in which Moses
+and Elijah dwelt; and the rod of Aaron, with its blossoms and its ripe
+almonds.[99]
+
+SABBATH IN HEAVEN
+
+Before the world was created, there was none to praise God and know
+Him. Therefore He created the angels and the holy Hayyot, the heavens
+and their host, and Adam as well. They all were to praise and glorify
+their Creator. During the week of creation, however, there was no
+suitable time to proclaim the splendor and praise of the Lord. Only on
+the Sabbath, when all creation rested, the beings on earth and in
+heaven, all together, broke into song and adoration when God ascended
+His throne and sate upon it.[100] It was the Throne of Joy upon which
+He sate, and He had all the angels pass before Him—the angel of the
+water, the angel of the rivers, the angel of the mountains, the angel
+of the hills, the angel of the abysses, the angel of the deserts, the
+angel of the sun, the angel of the moon, the angel of the Pleiades, the
+angel of Orion, the angel of the herbs, the angel of Paradise, the
+angel of Gehenna, the angel of the trees, the angel of the reptiles,
+the angel of the wild beasts, the angel of the domestic animals, the
+angel of the fishes, the angel of the locusts, the angel of the birds,
+the chief angel of the angels, the angel of each heaven, the chief
+angel of each division of the heavenly hosts, the chief angel of the
+holy Hayyot, the chief angel of the cherubim, the chief angel of the
+ofanim, and all the other splendid, terrible, and mighty angel chiefs.
+They all appeared before God with great joy, laved in a stream of joy,
+and they rejoiced and danced and sang, and extolled the Lord with many
+praises and many instruments. The ministering angels began, "Let the
+glory of the Lord endure forever!" And the rest of the angels took up
+the song with the words, "Let the Lord rejoice in His works!" 'Arabot,
+the seventh heaven, was filled with joy and glory, splendor and
+strength, power and might and pride and magnificence and grandeur,
+praise and jubilation, song and gladness, steadfastness and
+righteousness, honor and adoration.
+
+Then God bade the Angel of the Sabbath seat himself upon a throne of
+glory, and He brought before him the chiefs of the angels of all the
+heavens and all the abysses, and bade them dance and rejoice, saying,
+"Sabbath it is unto the Lord!" and the exalted princes of the heavens
+responded, "Unto the Lord it is Sabbath!" Even Adam was permitted to
+ascend to the highest heaven, to take part in the rejoicing over the
+Sabbath.
+
+By bestowing Sabbath joy upon all beings, not excepting Adam, thus did
+the Lord dedicate His creation. Seeing the majesty of the Sabbath, its
+honor and greatness, and the joy it conferred upon all, being the fount
+of all joy, Adam intoned a song of praise for the Sabbath day. Then God
+said to him, "Thou singest a song of praise to the Sabbath day, and
+singest none to Me, the God of the Sabbath?" Thereupon the Sabbath rose
+from his seat, and prostrated himself before God, saying, "It is a good
+thing to give thanks unto the Lord," and the whole of creation added,
+"And to sing praises unto Thy Name, O Most High!"[101]
+
+This was the first Sabbath, and this its celebration in heaven by God
+and the angels. The angels were informed at the same time that in days
+to come Israel would hallow the day in similar manner. God told them:
+"I will set aside for Myself a people from among all the peoples. This
+people will observe the Sabbath, and I will sanctify it to be My
+people, and I will be God unto it. From all that I have seen, I have
+chosen the seed of Israel wholly, and I have inscribed him as My
+first-born son, and I sanctified him unto Myself unto all eternity, him
+and the Sabbath, that he keep the Sabbath and hallow it from all
+work."[102]
+
+For Adam the Sabbath had a peculiar significance. When he was made to
+depart out of Paradise in the twilight of the Sabbath eve, the angels
+called after him, "Adam did not abide in his glory overnight!" Then the
+Sabbath appeared before God as Adam's defender, and he spoke: "O Lord
+of the world! During the six working days no creature was slain. If
+Thou wilt begin now by slaying Adam, what will become of the sanctity
+and the blessing of the Sabbath?" In this way Adam was rescued from the
+fires of hell, the meet punishment for his sins, and in gratitude he
+composed a psalm in honor of the Sabbath, which David later embodied in
+his Psalter.[103]
+
+Still another opportunity was given to Adam to learn and appreciate the
+value of the Sabbath. The celestial light, whereby Adam could survey
+the world from end to end, should properly have been made to disappear
+immediately after his sin. But out of consideration for the Sabbath,
+God had let this light continue to shine, and the angels, at sundown on
+the sixth day, intoned a song of praise and thanksgiving to God, for
+the radiant light shining through the night. Only with the going out of
+the Sabbath day the celestial light ceased, to the consternation of
+Adam, who feared that the serpent would attack him in the dark. But God
+illumined his understanding, and he learned to rub two stones against
+each other and produce light for his needs.[104]
+
+The celestial light was but one of the seven precious gifts enjoyed by
+Adam before the fall and to be granted to man again only in the
+Messianic time. The others are the resplendence of his countenance;
+life eternal; his tall stature; the fruits of the soil; the fruits of
+the tree; and the luminaries of the sky, the sun and the moon, for in
+the world to come the light of the moon shall be as the light of the
+sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold.[105]
+
+ADAM'S REPENTANCE
+
+Cast out of Paradise, Adam and Eve built a hut for themselves, and for
+seven days they sat in it in great distress, mourning and lamenting. At
+the end of the seven days, tormented by hunger, they came forth and
+sought food. For seven other days, Adam journeyed up and down in the
+land, looking for such dainties as he had enjoyed in Paradise. In vain;
+he found nothing. Then Eve spoke to her husband: "My lord, if it please
+thee, slay me. Mayhap God will then take thee back into Paradise, for
+the Lord God became wroth with thee only on account of me." But Adam
+rejected her plan with abhorrence, and both went forth again on the
+search for food. Nine days passed, and still they found naught
+resembling what they had had in Paradise. They saw only food fit for
+cattle and beasts. Then Adam proposed: "Let us do penance, mayhap the
+Lord God will forgive us and have pity on us, and give us something to
+sustain our life." Knowing that Eve was not vigorous enough to undergo
+the mortification of the flesh which he purposed to inflict upon
+himself, he prescribed a penance for her different from his own. He
+said to her: "Arise, and go to the Tigris, take a stone and stand upon
+it in the deepest part of the river, where the water will reach as high
+as thy neck. And let no speech issue forth from thy mouth, for we are
+unworthy to supplicate God, our lips are unclean by reason of the
+forbidden fruit of the tree. Remain in the water for thirty-seven
+days."
+
+For himself Adam ordained forty days of fasting, while he stood in the
+river Jordan in the same way as Eve was to take up her stand in the
+waters of the Tigris. After he had adjusted the stone in the middle of
+the Jordan, and mounted it, with the waters surging up to his neck, he
+said: "I adjure thee, O thou water of the Jordan! Afflict thyself with
+me, and gather unto me all swimming creatures that live in thee. Let
+them surround me and sorrow with me, and let them not beat their own
+breasts with grief, but let them beat me. Not they have sinned, only I
+alone!" Very soon they all came, the dwellers in the Jordan, and they
+encompassed him, and from that moment the water of the Jordan stood
+still and ceased from flowing.
+
+The penance which Adam and Eve laid upon themselves awakened misgivings
+in Satan. He feared God might forgive their sin, and therefore essayed
+to hinder Eve in her purpose. After a lapse of eighteen days he
+appeared unto her in the guise of an angel. As though in distress on
+account of her, he began to cry, saying: "Step up out of the river, and
+weep no longer. The Lord God hath heard your mourning, and your
+penitence hath been accepted by Him. All the angels supplicated the
+Lord in your behalf, and He hath sent me to fetch you out of the water
+and give you the sustenance that you enjoyed in Paradise, and for which
+you have been mourning." Enfeebled as she was by her penances and
+mortifications, Eve yielded to the solicitations of Satan, and he led
+her to where her husband was. Adam recognized him at once, and amid
+tears he cried out: "O Eve, Eve, where now is thy penitence? How
+couldst thou let our adversary seduce thee again—him who robbed us of
+our sojourn in Paradise and all spiritual joy?" Thereupon Eve, too,
+began to weep and cry out: "Woe unto thee, O Satan! Why strivest thou
+against us without any reason? What have we done unto thee that thou
+shouldst pursue us so craftily?" With a deep-fetched sigh, Satan told
+them how that Adam, of whom he had been jealous, had been the real
+reason of his fall. Having lost his glory through him, he had intrigued
+to have him driven from Paradise.
+
+When Adam heard the confession of Satan, he prayed to God: "O Lord my
+God! In Thy hands is my life. Remove from me this adversary, who seeks
+to deliver my soul to destruction, and grant me the glory he has
+forfeited." Satan disappeared forthwith, but Adam continued his
+penance, standing in the waters of the Jordan for forty days.[106]
+
+While Adam stood in the river, he noticed that the days were growing
+shorter, and he feared the world might be darkened on account of his
+sin, and go under soon. To avert the doom, he spent eight days in
+prayer and fasting. But after the winter solstice, when he saw that the
+days grew longer again, he spent eight days in rejoicing, and in the
+following year he celebrated both periods, the one before and the one
+after the solstice. This is why the heathen celebrate the calends and
+the saturnalia in honor of their gods, though Adam had consecrated
+those days to the honor of God.[107]
+
+The first time Adam witnessed the sinking of the sun be was also seized
+with anxious fears. It happened at the conclusion of the Sabbath, and
+Adam said, "Woe is me! For my sake, because I sinned, the world is
+darkened, and it will again become void and without form. Thus will be
+executed the punishment of death which God has pronounced against me!"
+All the night he spent in tears, and Eve, too, wept as she sat opposite
+to him. When day began to dawn, he understood that what he had deplored
+was but the course of nature, and he brought an offering unto God, a
+unicorn whose horn was created before his hoofs,[108] and he sacrificed
+it on the spot on which later the altar was to stand in Jerusalem.[109]
+
+THE BOOK OF RAZIEL
+
+After Adam's expulsion from Paradise, he prayed to God in these words:
+"O God, Lord of the world! Thou didst create the whole world unto the
+honor and glory of the Mighty One, and Thou didst as was pleasing unto
+Thee. Thy kingdom is unto all eternity, and Thy reign unto all
+generations. Naught is hidden from Thee, and naught is concealed from
+Thine eyes. Thou didst create me as Thy handiwork, and didst make me
+the ruler over Thy creatures, that I might be the chief of Thy works.
+But the cunning, accursed serpent seduced me with the tree of desire
+and lusts, yea, he seduced the wife of my bosom. But Thou didst not
+make known unto me what shall befall my children and the generations
+after me. I know well that no human being can be righteous in Thine
+eyes, and what is my strength that I should step before Thee with an
+impudent face? I have no mouth wherewith to speak and no eye wherewith
+to see, for I did sin and commit a trespass, and, by reason of my sins,
+I was driven forth from Paradise. I must plough the earth whence I was
+taken, and the other inhabitants of the earth, the beasts, no longer,
+as once, stand in awe and fear of me. From the time I ate of the tree
+of knowledge of good and evil, wisdom departed from me, and I am a fool
+that knoweth naught, an ignorant man that understandeth not. Now, O
+merciful and gracious God, I pray to Thee to turn again Thy compassion
+to the head of Thy works, to the spirit which Thou didst instil into
+him, and the soul Thou didst breathe into him. Meet me with Thy grace,
+for Thou art gracious, slow to anger, and full of love. O that my
+prayer would reach unto the throne of Thy glory, and my supplication
+unto the throne of Thy mercy, and Thou wouldst incline to me with
+lovingkindness. May the words of my mouth be acceptable, that Thou turn
+not away from my petition. Thou wert from everlasting, and Thou wilt be
+unto everlasting; Thou wert king, and Thou wilt ever be king. Now, have
+Thou mercy upon the work of Thy hands. Grant me knowledge and
+understanding, that I may know what shall befall me, and my posterity,
+and all the generations that come after me, and what shall befall me on
+every day and in every month, and mayest Thou not withhold from me the
+help of Thy servants and of Thy angels."
+
+On the third day after he had offered up this prayer, while he was
+sitting on the banks of the river that flows forth out of Paradise,
+there appeared to him, in the heat of the day, the angel Raziel,
+bearing a book in his hand. The angel addressed Adam thus: "O Adam, why
+art thou so fainthearted? Why art thou distressed and anxious? Thy
+words were heard at the moment when thou didst utter thy supplication
+and entreaties, and I have received the charge to teach thee pure words
+and deep understanding, to make thee wise through the contents of the
+sacred book in my hand, to know what will happen to thee until the day
+of thy death. And all thy descendants and all the later generations, if
+they will but read this book in purity, with a devout heart and an
+humble mind, and obey its precepts, will become like unto thee. They,
+too, will foreknow what things shall happen, and in what month and on
+what day or in what night. All will be manifest to them—they will know
+and understand whether a calamity will come, a famine or wild beasts,
+floods or drought; whether there will be abundance of grain or dearth;
+whether the wicked will rule the world; whether locusts will devastate
+the land; whether the fruits will drop from the trees unripe; whether
+boils will afflict men; whether wars will prevail, or diseases or
+plagues among men and cattle; whether good is resolved upon in heaven,
+or evil; whether blood will flow, and the death-rattle of the slain be
+heard in the city. And now, Adam, come and give heed unto what I shall
+tell thee regarding the manner of this book and its holiness."
+
+Raziel, the angel, then read from the book, and when Adam heard the
+words of the holy volume as they issued from the mouth of the angel, he
+fell down affrighted. But the angel encouraged him. "Arise, Adam," he
+said, "be of good courage, be not afraid, take the book from me and
+keep it, for thou wilt draw knowledge from it thyself and become wise,
+and thou wilt also teach its contents to all those who shall be found
+worthy of knowing what it contains."
+
+In the moment when Adam took the book, a flame of fire shot up from
+near the river, and the angel rose heavenward with it. Then Adam knew
+that he who had spoken to him was an angel of God, and it was from the
+Holy King Himself that the book had come, and he used it in holiness
+and purity. It is the book out of which all things worth knowing can be
+learnt, and all mysteries, and it teaches also how to call upon the
+angels and make them appear before men, and answer all their questions.
+But not all alike can use the book, only he who is wise and
+God-fearing, and resorts to it in holiness. Such an one is secure
+against all wicked counsels, his life is serene, and when death takes
+him from this world, he finds repose in a place where there are neither
+demons nor evil spirits, and out of the hands of the wicked he is
+quickly rescued.[110]
+
+THE SICKNESS OF ADAM
+
+When Adam had lived to be nine hundred and thirty years old, a sickness
+seized him, and he felt that his days were drawing to an end. He
+summoned all his descendants, and assembled them before the door of the
+house of worship in which he had always offered his prayers to God, to
+give them his last blessing. His family were astonished to find him
+stretched out on the bed of sickness, for they did not know what pain
+and suffering were.[111] They thought he was overcome with longing
+after the fruits of Paradise, and for lack of them was depressed. Seth
+announced his willingness to go to the gates of Paradise and beg God to
+let one of His angels give him of its fruits. But Adam explained to
+them what sickness and pain are, and that God had inflicted them upon
+him as a punishment for his sin.[112] Adam suffered violently; tears
+and groans were wrung from him. Eve sobbed, and said, "Adam, my lord,
+give me the half of thy sickness, I will gladly bear it. Is it not on
+account of me that this hath come upon thee? On account of me thou
+undergoest pain and anguish."
+
+Adam bade Eve go with Seth to the gates of Paradise and entreat God to
+have mercy upon him, and send His angel to catch up some of the oil of
+life flowing from the tree of His mercy and give it to his messengers.
+The ointment would bring him rest, and banish the pain consuming him.
+On his way to Paradise, Seth was attacked by a wild beast. Eve called
+out to the assailant, "How durst thou lay hand on the image of God?"
+The ready answer came: "It is thine own fault. Hadst thou not opened
+thy mouth to eat of the forbidden fruit, my mouth would not be opened
+now to destroy a human being." But Seth remonstrated: "Hold thy tongue!
+Desist from the image of God until the day of judgment." And the beast
+gave way, saying, "See, I refrain myself from the image of God," and it
+slunk away to its covert.[113]
+
+Arrived at the gates of Paradise, Eve and Seth began to cry bitterly,
+and they besought God with many lamentations to give them oil from the
+tree of His mercy. For hours they prayed thus. At last the archangel
+Michael appeared, and informed them that he came as the messenger of
+God to tell them that their petition could not be granted. Adam would
+die in a few days, and as he was subject to death, so would be all his
+descendants. Only at the time of the resurrection, and then only to the
+pious, the oil of life would be dispensed, together with all the bliss
+and all the delights of Paradise.[114] Returned to Adam, they reported
+what had happened, and he said to Eve: "What misfortune didst thou
+bring upon us when thou didst arouse great wrath! See, death is the
+portion of all our race! Call hither our children and our children's
+children, and tell them the manner of our sinning." And while Adam lay
+prostrate upon the bed of pain, Eve told them the story of their
+fall.[115]
+
+EVE'S STORY OF THE FALL
+
+After I was created, God divided Paradise and all the animals therein
+between Adam and me. The east and the north were assigned to Adam,
+together with the male animals. I was mistress of the west and the
+south and all the female animals. Satan, smarting under the disgrace of
+having been dismissed from the heavenly host, resolved to bring about
+our ruin and avenge himself upon the cause of his discomfiture. He won
+the serpent over to his side, and pointed out to him that before the
+creation of Adam the animals could enjoy all that grew in Paradise, and
+now they were restricted to the weeds. To drive Adam from Paradise
+would therefore be for the good of all. The serpent demurred, for he
+stood in awe of the wrath of God. But Satan calmed his fears, and said,
+"Do thou but become my vessel,[117] and I shall speak a word through
+thy mouth wherewith thou wilt succeed in seducing man."
+
+The serpent thereupon suspended himself from the wall surrounding
+Paradise, to carry on his conversation with me from without. And this
+happened at the very moment when my two guardian angels had betaken
+themselves to heaven to supplicate the Lord. I was quite alone
+therefore, and when Satan assumed the appearance of an angel, bent over
+the wall of Paradise, and intoned seraphic songs of praise, I was
+deceived, and thought him an angel. A conversation was held between us,
+Satan speaking through the mouth of the serpent:
+
+"Art thou Eve?"
+
+"Yes, it is I."
+
+"What art thou doing in Paradise?"
+
+"The Lord has put us here to cultivate it and eat of its fruits."
+
+"That is good. Yet you eat not of all the trees."
+
+"That we do, excepting a single one, the tree that stands in the midst
+of Paradise. Concerning it alone, God has forbidden us to eat of it,
+else, the Lord said, ye will die."
+
+The serpent made every effort to persuade me that I had naught to
+fear—that God knew that in the day that Adam and I ate of the fruit of
+the tree, we should be as He Himself. It was jealousy that had made Him
+say,[118] "Ye shall not eat of it." In spite of all his urging, I
+remained steadfast and refused to touch the tree. Then the serpent
+engaged to pluck the fruit for me. Thereupon I opened the gate of
+Paradise, and he slipped in. Scarcely was he within, when he said to
+me, "I repent of my words, I would rather not give thee of the fruit of
+the forbidden tree." It was but a cunning device to tempt me more. He
+consented to give me of the fruit only after I swore to make my husband
+eat of it, too. This is the oath he made me take: "By the throne of
+God, by the cherubim, and by the tree of life, I shall give my husband
+of this fruit, that he may eat, too." Thereupon the serpent ascended
+the tree and injected his poison, the poison of the evil inclination,
+into the fruit,[119] and bent the branch on which it grew to the
+ground. I took hold of it, but I knew at once that I was stripped of
+the righteousness in which I had been clothed.[120] I began to weep,
+because of it and because of the oath the serpent had forced from me.
+
+The serpent disappeared from the tree, while I sought leaves wherewith
+to cover my nakedness, but all the trees within my reach had cast off
+their leaves at the moment when I ate of the forbidden fruit.[121]
+There was only one that retained its leaves, the fig-tree, the very
+tree the fruit of which had been forbidden to me.[122] I summoned Adam,
+and by means of blasphemous words I prevailed upon him to eat of the
+fruit. As soon as it had passed his lips, he knew his true condition,
+and he exclaimed against me: "Thou wicked woman, what bast thou brought
+down upon me? Thou hast removed me from the glory of God."
+
+At the same time Adam and I heard the archangel Michael[123] blow his
+trumpet, and all the angels cried out: "Thus saith the Lord, Come ye
+with Me to Paradise and hearken unto the sentence which I will
+pronounce upon Adam."[124]
+
+We hid ourselves because we feared the judgment of God. Sitting in his
+chariot drawn by cherubim, the Lord, accompanied by angels uttering His
+praise, appeared in Paradise. At His coming the bare trees again put
+forth leaves.[125] His throne was erected by the tree of life, and God
+addressed Adam: "Adam, where dost thou keep thyself in hiding? Thinkest
+thou I cannot find thee? Can a house conceal itself from its
+architect?"[126]
+
+Adam tried to put the blame on me, who had promised to hold him
+harmless before God. And I in turn accused the serpent. But God dealt
+out justice to all three of us. To Adam He said: "Because thou didst
+not obey My commands, but didst hearken unto the voice of thy wife,
+cursed is the ground in spite of thy work. When thou dost cultivate it,
+it will not yield thee its strength. Thorns and thistles shall it bring
+forth to thee, and in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread. Thou
+wilt suffer many a hardship, thou wilt grow weary, and yet find no
+rest. Bitterly oppressed, thou shalt never taste of any sweetness. Thou
+shalt be scourged by heat, and yet pinched by cold. Thou shalt toil
+greatly, and yet not gain wealth. Thou shalt grow fat, and yet cease to
+live. And the animals over which thou art the master will rise up
+against thee, because thou didst not keep my command."[127]
+
+Upon me God pronounced this sentence: "Thou shalt suffer anguish in
+childbirth and grievous torture. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth
+children, and in the hour of travail, when thou art near to lose thy
+life, thou wilt confess and cry, 'Lord, Lord, save me this time, and I
+will never again indulge in carnal pleasure,' and yet thy desire shall
+ever and ever be unto thy husband."[128]
+
+At the same time all sorts of diseases were decreed upon us. God said
+to Adam: "Because thou didst turn aside from My covenant, I will
+inflict seventy plagues upon thy flesh. The pain of the first plague
+shall lay hold on thy eyes; the pain of the second plague upon thy
+hearing, and one after the other all the plagues shall come upon
+thee."[129] The serpent God addressed thus: "Because thou becamest the
+vessel of the Evil One,[130] deceiving the innocent, cursed art thou
+above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Thou shalt be
+robbed of the food thou wast wont to eat, and dust shalt thou eat all
+the days of thy life. Upon thy breast and thy belly shalt thou go, and
+of thy hands and thy feet thou shalt be deprived. Thou shalt not remain
+in possession of thy ears, nor of thy wings, nor of any of thy limbs
+wherewith thou didst seduce the woman and her husband, bringing them to
+such a pass that they must be driven forth from Paradise. And I will
+put enmity between thee and the seed of man. It shall bruise thy head,
+and, thou shalt bruise his heel until the day of judgment."[131]
+
+THE DEATH OF ADAM
+
+On the last day of Adam's life, Eve said to him, "Why should I go on
+living, when thou art no more? How long shall I have to linger on after
+thy death? Tell me this!" Adam assured her she would not tarry long.
+They would die together, and be buried together in the same place. He
+commanded her not to touch his corpse until an angel from God had made
+provision regarding it, and she was to begin at once to pray to God
+until his soul escaped from his body.
+
+While Eve was on her knees in prayer, an angel came,[132] and bade her
+rise. "Eve, arise from thy penance," he commanded. "Behold, thy husband
+hath left his mortal coil. Arise, and see his spirit go up to his
+Creator, to appear before Him." And, lo, she beheld a chariot of light,
+drawn by four shining eagles, and preceded by angels. In this chariot
+lay the soul of Adam, which the angels were taking to heaven. Arrived
+there, they burnt incense until the clouds of smoke enveloped the
+heavens. Then they prayed to God to have mercy upon His image and the
+work of His holy hands. In her awe and fright, Eve summoned Seth, and
+she bade him look upon the vision and explain the celestial sights
+beyond her understanding. She asked, "Who may the two Ethiopians be,
+who are adding their prayers to thy father's?" Seth told her, they were
+the sun and the moon, turned so black because they could not shine in
+the face of the Father of light.[133] Scarcely had he spoken, when an
+angel blew a trumpet, and all the angels cried out with awful voices,
+"Blessed be the glory of the Lord by His creatures, for He has shown
+mercy unto Adam, the work of His hands!" A seraph then seized Adam, and
+carried him off to the river Acheron, washed him three times, and
+brought him before the presence of God, who sat upon His throne, and,
+stretching out His hand, lifted Adam up and gave him over to the
+archangel Michael, with the words, "Raise him to the Paradise of the
+third heaven, and there thou shalt leave him until the great and
+fearful day ordained by Me." Michael executed the Divine behest, and
+all the angels sang a song of praise, extolling God for the pardon He
+had accorded Adam.
+
+Michael now entreated God to let him attend to the preparation of
+Adam's body for the grave. Permission being given, Michael repaired to
+earth, accompanied by all the angels. When they entered the terrestrial
+Paradise, all the trees blossomed forth, and the perfume wafted thence
+lulled all men into slumber except Seth alone. Then God said to Adam,
+as his body lay on the ground: "If thou hadst kept My commandment, they
+would not rejoice who brought thee hither. But I tell thee, I will turn
+the joy of Satan and his consorts into sorrow, and thy sorrow shall be
+turned into joy. I will restore thee to thy dominion, and thou shalt
+sit upon the throne of thy seducer, while he shall be damned, with
+those who hearken unto him."[134]
+
+Thereupon, at the bidding of God, the three great archangels[135]
+covered the body of Adam with linen, and poured sweet-smelling oil upon
+it. With it they interred also the body of Abel, which had lain
+unburied since Cain had slain him, for all the murderer's efforts to
+hide it had been in vain. The corpse again and again sprang forth from
+the earth, and a voice issued thence, proclaiming, "No creature shall
+rest in the earth until the first one of all has returned the dust to
+me of which it was formed."[136] The angels carried the two bodies to
+Paradise, Adam's and Abel's—the latter had all this time been lying on
+a stone on which angels had placed it—and they buried them both on the
+spot whence God had taken the dust wherewith to make Adam.[137]
+
+God called unto the body of Adam, "Adam! Adam!" and it answered, "Lord,
+here am I!" Then God said: "I told thee once, Dust thou art, and unto
+dust shalt thou return. Now I promise thee resurrection. I will awaken
+thee on the day of judgment, when all the generations of men that
+spring from thy loins, shall arise from the grave." God then sealed up
+the grave, that none might do him harm during the six days to elapse
+until his rib should be restored to him through the death of Eve.[138]
+
+THE DEATH OF EVE
+
+The interval between Adam's death and her own Eve spent in weeping. She
+was distressed in particular that she knew not what had become of
+Adam's body, for none except Seth had been awake while the angel
+interred it. When the hour of her death drew nigh, Eve supplicated to
+be buried in the selfsame spot in which the remains of her husband
+rested. She prayed to God: "Lord of all powers! Remove not Thy
+maid-servant from the body of Adam, from which Thou didst take me, from
+whose limbs Thou didst form me. Permit me, who am an unworthy and
+sinning woman, to enter into his habitation. As we were together in
+Paradise, neither separated from the other; as together we were tempted
+to transgress Thy law, neither separated from the other, so, O Lord,
+separate us not now." To the end of her prayer she added the petition,
+raising her eyes heavenward, "Lord of the world! Receive my spirit!"
+and she gave up her soul to God.
+
+The archangel Michael came and taught Seth how to prepare Eve for
+burial, and three angels descended and interred her body in the grave
+with Adam and Abel. Then Michael spoke to Seth, "Thus shalt thou bury
+all men that die until the resurrection day." And again, having given
+him this command, he spoke: "Longer than six days ye shall not
+mourn.[139] The repose of the seventh day is the token of the
+resurrection in the latter day, for on the seventh day the Lord rested
+from all the work which He had created and made."[140]
+
+Though death was brought into the world through Adam, yet he cannot be
+held responsible for the death of men. Once on a time he said to God:
+"I am not concerned about the death of the wicked, but I should not
+like the pious to reproach me and lay the blame for their death upon
+me. I pray Thee, make no mention of my guilt." And God promised to
+fulfil his wish. Therefore, when a man is about to die, God appears to
+him, and bids him set down in writing all he has done during his life,
+for, He tells him, "Thou art dying by reason of thy evil deeds." The
+record finished, God orders him to seal it with his seal. This is the
+writing God will bring out on the judgment day, and to each will be
+made known his deeds.[141] As soon as life is extinct in a man, he is
+presented to Adam, whom he accuses of having caused his death. But Adam
+repudiates the charge: "I committed but one trespass. Is there any
+among you, and be he the most pious, who has not been guilty of more
+than one?"[142]
+
+
+
+
+III
+THE TEN GENERATIONS
+
+THE BIRTH OF CAIN
+
+There were ten generations from Adam to Noah, to show how
+long-suffering is the Lord, for all the generations provoked Him unto
+wrath, until He brought the deluge upon them.[1] By reason of their
+impiousness God changed His plan of calling one thousand generations
+into being between the creation of the world and the revelation of the
+law at Mount Sinai; nine hundred and seventy-four He suppressed before
+the flood.[2]
+
+Wickedness came into the world with the first being born of woman,
+Cain, the oldest son of Adam. When God bestowed Paradise upon the first
+pair of mankind, He warned them particularly against carnal intercourse
+with each other. But after the fall of Eve, Satan, in the guise of the
+serpent, approached her, and the fruit of their union was Cain, the
+ancestor of all the impious generations that were rebellious toward
+God, and rose up against Him. Cain's descent from Satan, who is the
+angel Samael, was revealed in his seraphic appearance. At his birth,
+the exclamation was wrung from Eve, "I have gotten a man through an
+angel of the Lord."[3]
+
+Adam was not in the company of Eve during the time of her pregnancy
+with Cain. After she had succumbed a second time to the temptations of
+Satan, and permitted herself to be interrupted in her penance,[4] she
+left her husband and journeyed westward, because she feared her
+presence might continue to bring him misery. Adam remained in the east.
+When the days of Eve to be delivered were fulfilled, and she began to
+feel the pangs of travailing, she prayed to God for help. But He
+hearkened not unto her supplications. "Who will carry the report to my
+lord Adam?" she asked herself. "Ye luminaries in the sky, I beg you,
+tell it to my master Adam when ye return to the east!" In that self
+same hour, Adam cried out: "The lamentation of Eve has pierced to my
+ear! Mayhap the serpent has again assaulted her," and he hastened to
+his wife. Finding her in grievous pain, he besought God in her behalf,
+and twelve angels appeared, together with two heavenly powers.[5] All
+these took up their post to right of her and to left of her, while
+Michael, also standing on her right side, passed his hand over her,
+from her face downward to her breast, and said to her, "Be thou
+blessed, Eve, for the sake of Adam. Because of his solicitations and
+his prayers I was sent to grant thee our assistance. Make ready to give
+birth to thy child!" Immediately her son was born, a radiant figure.[6]
+A little while and the babe stood upon his feet, ran off, and returned
+holding in his hands a stalk of straw, which he gave to his mother. For
+this reason he was named Cain, the Hebrew word for stalk of straw.
+
+Now Adam took Eve and the boy to his home in the east. God sent him
+various kinds of seeds by the hand of the angel Michael, and he was
+taught how to cultivate the ground and make it yield produce and
+fruits, to sustain himself and his family and his posterity.[7]
+
+After a while, Eve bore her second son, whom she named Hebel, because,
+she said, he was born but to die.
+
+FRATRICIDE
+
+The slaying of Abel by Cain did not come as a wholly unexpected event
+to his parents. In a dream Eve had seen the blood of Abel flow into the
+mouth of Cain, who drank it with avidity, though his brother entreated
+him not to take all. When she told her dream to Adam, he said,
+lamenting, "O that this may not portend the death of Abel at the hand
+of Cain!" He separated the two lads, assigning to each an abode of his
+own, and to each he taught a different occupation. Cain became a tiller
+of the ground, and Abel a keeper of sheep. It was all in vain. In spite
+of these precautions, Cain slew his brother.[9]
+
+His hostility toward Abel had more than one reason. It began when God
+had respect unto the offering of Abel, and accepted it by sending
+heavenly fire down to consume it, while the offering of Cain was
+rejected.[10] They brought their sacrifices on the fourteenth day of
+Nisan, at the instance of their father, who had spoken thus to his
+sons: "This is the day on which, in times to come, Israel will offer
+sacrifices. Therefore, do ye, too, bring sacrifices to your Creator on
+this day, that He may take pleasure in you." The place of offering
+which they chose was the spot whereon the altar of the Temple at
+Jerusalem stood later.[11] Abel selected the best of his flocks for his
+sacrifice, but Cain ate his meal first, and after he had satisfied his
+appetite, he offered unto God what was left over, a few grains of flax
+seed. As though his offense had not been great enough in offering unto
+God fruit of the ground which had been cursed by God![12] What wonder
+that his sacrifice was not received with favor! Besides, a chastisement
+was inflicted upon him. His face turned black as smoke.[13]
+Nevertheless, his disposition underwent no change, even when God spoke
+to him thus: "If thou wilt amend thy ways, thy guilt will be forgiven
+thee; if not, thou wilt be delivered into the power of the evil
+inclination. It coucheth at the door of thy heart, yet it depends upon
+thee whether thou shalt be master over it, or it shall be master over
+thee."[14]
+
+Cain thought he had been wronged, and a dispute followed between him
+and Abel. "I believed," he said, "that the world was created through
+goodness,[15] but I see that good deeds bear no fruit. God rules the
+world with arbitrary power, else why had He respect unto thy offering,
+and not unto mine also?" Abel opposed him; he maintained that God
+rewards good deeds, without having respect unto persons. If his
+sacrifice had been accepted graciously by God, and Cain's not, it was
+because his deeds were good, and his brother's wicked.[16]
+
+But this was not the only cause of Cain's hatred toward Abel. Partly
+love for a woman brought about the crime. To ensure the propagation of
+the human race, a girl, destined to be his wife, was born together with
+each of the sons of Adam. Abel's twin sister was of exquisite beauty,
+and Cain desired her.[17] Therefore he was constantly brooding over
+ways and means of ridding himself of his brother.
+
+The opportunity presented itself ere long. One day a sheep belonging to
+Abel tramped over a field that had been planted by Cain. In a rage, the
+latter called out, "What right hast thou to live upon my land and let
+thy sheep pasture yonder?" Abel retorted: "What right hast thou to use
+the products of my sheep, to make garments for thyself from their wool?
+If thou wilt take off the wool of my sheep wherein thou art arrayed,
+and wilt pay me for the flesh of the flocks which thou hast eaten, then
+I will quit thy land as thou desirest, and fly into the air, if I can
+do it." Cain thereupon said, "And if I were to kill thee, who is there
+to demand thy blood of me?" Abel replied: "God, who brought us into the
+world, will avenge me. He will require my blood at thine hand, if thou
+shouldst slay me. God is the Judge, who will visit their wicked deeds
+upon the wicked, and their evil deeds upon the evil. Shouldst thou slay
+me, God will know thy secret, and He will deal out punishment unto
+thee."
+
+These words but added to the anger of Cain, and he threw himself upon
+his brother.[18] Abel was stronger than he, and he would have got the
+worst of it, but at the last moment he begged for mercy, and the gentle
+Abel released his hold upon him. Scarcely did he feel himself free,
+when he turned against Abel once more, and slew him. So true is the
+saying, "Do the evil no good, lest evil fall upon thee."[19]
+
+THE PUNISHMENT OF CAIN
+
+The manner of Abel's death was the most cruel conceivable. Not knowing
+what injury was fatal, Cain pelted all parts of his body with stones,
+until one struck him on the neck and inflicted death.
+
+After committing the murder, Cain resolved to flee, saying, "My parents
+will demand account of me concerning Abel, for there is no other human
+being on earth." This thought had but passed through his mind when God
+appeared unto him, and addressed him in these words: "Before thy
+parents thou canst flee, but canst thou go out from My presence, too?
+'Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?' Alas
+for Abel that he showed thee mercy, and refrained from killing thee,
+when he had thee in his power! Alas that he granted thee the
+opportunity of slaying him!"
+
+Questioned by God, "Where is Abel thy brother?" Cain answered: "Am I my
+brother's keeper? Thou art He who holdest watch over all creatures, and
+yet Thou demandest account of me! True, I slew him, but Thou didst
+create the evil inclination in me. Thou guardest all things; why, then,
+didst Thou permit me to slay him? Thou didst Thyself slay him, for
+hadst Thou looked with a favorable countenance toward my offering as
+toward his, I had had no reason for envying him, and I had not slain
+him." But God said, "The voice of thy brother's blood issuing from his
+many wounds crieth out against thee,[20] and likewise the blood of all
+the pious who might have sprung from the loins of Abel."
+
+Also the soul of Abel denounced the murderer, for she could find rest
+nowhere. She could neither soar heavenward, nor abide in the grave with
+her body, for no human soul had done either before.[21] But Cain still
+refused to confess his guilt. He insisted that he had never seen a man
+killed, and how was he to suppose that the stones which he threw at
+Abel would take his life? Then, on account of Cain, God cursed the
+ground, that it might not yield fruit unto him.[22] With a single
+punishment both Cain and the earth were chastised, the earth because it
+retained the corpse of Abel, and did not cast it above ground.[23]
+
+In the obduracy of his heart, Cain spake: "O Lord of the world! Are
+there informers who denounce men before Thee? My parents are the only
+living human beings, and they know naught of my deed. Thou abidest in
+the heavens, and how shouldst Thou know what things happen on earth?"
+God said in reply: "Thou fool! I carry the whole world. I have made it,
+and I will bear it"—a reply that gave Cain the opportunity of feigning
+repentance. "Thou bearest the whole world," he said, "and my sin Thou
+canst not bear?[24] Verily, mine iniquity is too great to be borne!
+Yet, yesterday Thou didst banish my father from Thy presence, to-day
+Thou dost banish me. In sooth, it will be said, it is Thy way to
+banish."[25]
+
+Although this was but dissimulation, and not true repentance, yet God
+granted Cain pardon, and removed the half of his chastisement from him.
+Originally, the decree had condemned him to be a fugitive and a
+wanderer on the earth. Now he was no longer to roam about forever, but
+a fugitive he was to remain. And so much was hard enough to have to
+suffer, for the earth quaked under Cain, and all the animals, the wild
+and the tame, among them the accursed serpent, gathered together and
+essayed to devour him in order to avenge the innocent blood of Abel.
+Finally Cain could bear it no longer, and, breaking out in tears, he
+cried: "Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee
+from Thy presence?"[26] To protect him from the onslaught of the
+beasts, God inscribed one letter of His Holy Name upon his forehead,
+and furthermore He addressed the animals: "Cain's punishment shall not
+be like unto the punishment of future murderers. He has shed blood, but
+there was none to give him instruction. Henceforth, however, he who
+slays another shall himself be slain." Then God gave him the dog as a
+protection against the wild beasts, and to mark him as a sinner, He
+afflicted him with leprosy.
+
+Cain's repentance, insincere though it was, bore a good result. When
+Adam met him, and inquired what doom had been decreed against him, Cain
+told how his repentance had propitiated God, and Adam exclaimed, "So
+potent is repentance, and I knew it not!" Thereupon he composed a hymn
+of praise to God, beginning with the words, "It is a good thing to
+confess thy sins unto the Lord!"[29]
+
+The crime committed by Cain had baneful consequences, not for himself
+alone, but for the whole of nature also. Before, the fruits which the
+earth bore unto him when he tilled the ground had tasted like the
+fruits of Paradise. Now his labor produced naught but thorns and
+thistles.[29] The ground changed and deteriorated at the very moment of
+Abel's violent end. The trees and the plants in the part of the earth
+whereon the victim lived refused to yield their fruits, on account of
+their grief over him, and only at the birth of Seth those that grew in
+the portion belonging to Abel began to flourish and bear again. But
+never did they resume their former powers. While, before, the vine had
+borne nine hundred and twenty-six different varieties of fruit, it now
+brought forth but one kind. And so it was with all other species. They
+will regain their pristine powers only in the world to come.[30]
+
+Nature was modified also by the burial of the corpse of Abel. For a
+long time it lay there exposed, above ground, because Adam and Eve knew
+not what to do with it. They sat beside it and wept, while the faithful
+dog of Abel kept guard that birds and beasts did it no harm. On a
+sudden, the mourning parents observed how a raven scratched the earth
+away in one spot, and then hid a dead bird of his own kind in the
+ground. Adam, following the example of the raven, buried the body of
+Abel, and the raven was rewarded by God. His young are born with white
+feathers, wherefore the old birds desert them, not recognizing them as
+their offspring. They take them for serpents. God feeds them until
+their plumage turns black, and the parent birds return to them. As an
+additional reward, God grants their petition when the ravens pray for
+rain.[31]
+
+THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEVEN EARTHS
+
+When Adam was cast out of Paradise, he first reached the lowest of the
+seven earths, the Erez, which is dark, without a ray of light, and
+utterly void. Adam was terrified, particularly by the flames of the
+ever-turning sword, which is on this earth. After he had done penance,
+God led him to the second earth, the Adamah, where there is light
+reflected from its own sky and from its phantom-like stars and
+constellations. Here dwell the phantom-like beings that issued from the
+union of Adam with the spirits. They are always sad; the emotion of joy
+is not known to them. They leave their own earth and repair to the one
+inhabited by men, where they are changed into evil spirits. Then they
+return to their abode for good, repent of their wicked deeds, and till
+the ground, which, however, bears neither wheat nor any other of the
+seven species.[34] In this Adamah, Cain, Abel, and Seth were born.
+After the murder of Abel, Cain was sent back to the Erez, where he was
+frightened into repentance by its darkness and by the flames of the
+ever-turning sword. Accepting his penitence, God permitted him to
+ascend to the third earth, the Arka, which receives some light from the
+sun. The Arka was surrendered to the Cainites forever, as their
+perpetual domain. They till the ground, and plant trees, but they have
+neither wheat nor any other of the seven species.
+
+Some of the Cainites are giants, some of them are dwarfs. They have two
+heads, wherefore they can never arrive at a decision; they are always
+at loggerheads with themselves.[34] It may happen that they are pious
+now, only to be inclined to do evil the next moment.
+
+In the Ge, the fourth earth, live the generation of the Tower of Babel
+and their descendants. God banished them thither because the fourth
+earth is not far from Gehenna, and therefore close to the flaming
+fire.[35] The inhabitants of the Ge are skilful in all arts, and
+accomplished in all departments of science and knowledge, and their
+abode overflows with wealth. When an inhabitant of our earth visits
+them, they give him the most precious thing in their possession, but
+then they lead him to the Neshiah, the fifth earth, where he becomes
+oblivious of his origin and his home. The Neshiah is inhabited by
+dwarfs without noses; they breathe through two holes instead. They have
+no memory; once a thing has happened, they forget it completely, whence
+their earth is called Neshiah, "forgetting." The fourth and fifth
+earths are like the Arka; they have trees, but neither wheat nor any
+other of the seven species.
+
+The sixth earth, the Ziah, is inhabited by handsome men, who are the
+owners of abundant wealth, and live in palatial residences, but they
+lack water, as the name of their territory, Ziah, "drought," indicates.
+Hence vegetation is sparse with them, and their tree culture meets with
+indifferent success. They hasten to any waterspring that is discovered,
+and sometimes they succeed in slipping through it up to our earth,
+where they satisfy their sharp appetite for the food eaten by the
+inhabitants of our earth. For the rest, they are men of steadfast
+faith, more than any other class of mankind.[36]
+
+Adam remained in the Adamah until after the birth of Seth. Then,
+passing the third earth, the Arka, the abiding place of the Cainites,
+and the next three earths as well, the Ge, the Neshiah, and the Ziah,
+God transported him to the Tebel, the seventh earth, the earth
+inhabited by men.
+
+THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN
+
+Cain knew only too well that his blood-guiltiness would be visited upon
+him in the seventh generation. Thus had God decreed against him.[37] He
+endeavored, therefore, to immortalize his name by means of
+monuments,[38] and he became a builder of cities. The first of them he
+called Enoch, after his son, because it was at the birth of Enoch that
+he began to enjoy a measure of rest and peace.[39] Besides, he founded
+six other cities.[40] This building of cities was a godless deed, for
+he surrounded them with a wall, forcing his family to remain within.
+All his other doings were equally impious. The punishment God had
+ordained for him did not effect any improvement. He sinned in order to
+secure his own pleasure, though his neighbors suffered injury thereby.
+He augmented his household substance by rapine and violence; he excited
+his acquaintances to procure pleasures and spoils by robbery, and he
+became a great leader of men into wicked courses. He also introduced a
+change in the ways of simplicity wherein men had lived before, and he
+was the author of measures and weights. And whereas men lived
+innocently and generously while they knew nothing of such arts, he
+changed the world into cunning craftiness.[41]
+
+Like unto Cain were all his descendants, impious and godless, wherefore
+God resolved to destroy them.[42]
+
+The end of Cain overtook him in the seventh generation of men, and it
+was inflicted upon him by the hand of his great-grandson Lamech. This
+Lamech was blind, and when he went a-hunting, he was led by his young
+son, who would apprise his father when game came in sight, and Lamech
+would then shoot at it with his bow and arrow. Once upon a time he and
+his son went on the chase, and the lad discerned something horned in
+the distance. He naturally took it to be a beast of one kind or
+another, and he told the blind Lamech to let his arrow fly. The aim was
+good, and the quarry dropped to the ground. When they came close to the
+victim, the lad exclaimed: "Father, thou hast killed something that
+resembles a human being in all respects, except it carries a horn on
+its forehead!" Lamech knew at once what had happened—he had killed his
+ancestor Cain, who had been marked by God with a horn.[43] In despair
+he smote his hands together, inadvertently killing his son as he
+clasped them. Misfortune still followed upon misfortune. The earth
+opened her mouth and swallowed up the four generations sprung from
+Cain—Enoch, Irad, Mehujael, and Methushael. Lamech, sightless as he
+was, could not go home; he had to remain by the side of Cain's corpse
+and his son's. Toward evening, his wives, seeking him, found him there.
+When they heard what he had done, they wanted to separate from him, all
+the more as they knew that whoever was descended from Cain was doomed
+to annihilation. But Lamech argued, "If Cain, who committed murder of
+malice aforethought, was punished only in the seventh generation, then
+I, who had no intention of killing a human being, may hope that
+retribution will be averted for seventy and seven generations." With
+his wives, Lamech repaired to Adam, who heard both parties, and decided
+the case in favor of Lamech.[44]
+
+The corruptness of the times, and especially the depravity of Cain's
+stock, appears in the fact that Lamech, as well as all the men in the
+generation of the deluge, married two wives, one with the purpose of
+rearing children, the other in order to pursue carnal indulgences, for
+which reason the latter was rendered sterile by artificial means. As
+the men of the time were intent upon pleasure rather than desirous of
+doing their duty to the human race, they gave all their love and
+attention to the barren women, while their other wives spent their days
+like widows, joyless and in gloom.
+
+The two wives of Lamech, Adah and Zillah, bore him each two children,
+Adah two sons, Jabal and Jubal, and Zillah a son, Tubal-cain, and a
+daughter, Naamah. Jabal was the first among men to erect temples to
+idols, and Jubal invented the music sung and played therein. Tubal-cain
+was rightly named, for he completed the work of his ancestor Cain. Cain
+committed murder, and Tubal-cain, the first who knew how to sharpen
+iron and copper, furnished the instruments used in wars and combats.
+Naamah, "the lovely," earned her name from the sweet sounds which she
+drew from her cymbals when she called the worshippers to pay homage to
+idols.[45]
+
+THE DESCENDANTS OF ADAM AND LILITH
+
+When the wives of Lamech heard the decision of Adam, that they were to
+continue to live with their husband, they turned upon him, saying, "O
+physician, heal thine own lameness!" They were alluding to the fact
+that he himself had been living apart from his wife since the death of
+Abel, for he had said, "Why should I beget children, if it is but to
+expose them to death?"[46]
+
+Though he avoided intercourse with Eve, he was visited in his sleep by
+female spirits, and from his union with them sprang shades and demons
+of various kinds,[47] and they were endowed with peculiar gifts.
+
+Once upon a time there lived in Palestine a very rich and pious man,
+who had a son named Rabbi Hanina. He knew the whole of the Torah by
+heart. When he was at the point of death, he sent for his son, Rabbi
+Hanina, and bade him, as his last request, to study the Torah day and
+night, fulfil the commands of the law, and be a faithful friend to the
+poor. He also told him that he and his wife, the mother of Rabbi
+Hanina, would die on the selfsame day, and the seven days of mourning
+for the two would end on the eve of the Passover. He enjoined him not
+to grieve excessively, but to go to market on that day, and buy the
+first article offered to him, no matter how costly it might be. If it
+happened to be an edible, he was to prepare it and serve it with much
+ceremony. His expense and trouble would receive their recompense. All
+happened as foretold: the man and his wife died upon the same day, and
+the end of the week of mourning coincided with the eve of the Passover.
+The son in turn carried out his father's behest: he repaired to market,
+and there he met an old man who offered a silver dish for sale.
+Although the price asked was exorbitant, yet he bought it, as his
+father had bidden. The dish was set upon the Seder table, and when
+Rabbi Hanina opened it, he found a second dish within, and inside of
+this a live frog, jumping and hopping around gleefully. He gave the
+frog food and drink, and by the end of the festival he was grown so big
+that Rabbi Hanina made a cabinet for him, in which he ate and lived. In
+the course of time, the cabinet became too small, and the Rabbi built a
+chamber, put the frog within, and gave him abundant food and drink. All
+this he did that he might not violate his father's last wish. But the
+frog waxed and grew; he consumed all his host owned, until, finally,
+Rabbi Hanina was stripped bare of all his possessions. Then the frog
+opened his mouth and began to speak. "My dear Rabbi Hanina," he said,
+"do not worry! Seeing thou didst raise me and care for me, thou mayest
+ask of me whatever thy heart desireth, and it shall be granted thee."
+Rabbi Hanina made reply, "I desire naught but that thou shouldst teach
+me the whole of the Torah." The frog assented, and he did, indeed,
+teach him the whole of the Torah, and the seventy languages of men
+besides.[48] His method was to write a few words upon a scrap of paper,
+which he had his pupil swallow. Thus he acquired not alone the Torah
+and the seventy tongues, but also the language of beasts and birds.
+Thereupon the frog spoke to the wife of Rabbi Hanina: "Thou didst tend
+me well, and I have given thee no recompense. But thy reward will be
+paid thee before I depart from you, only you must both accompany me to
+the woods. There you shall see what I shall do for you." Accordingly,
+they went to the woods with him. Arrived there, the frog began to cry
+aloud, and at the sound all sorts of beasts and birds assembled. These
+he commanded to produce precious stones, as many as they could carry.
+Also they were to bring herbs and roots for the wife of Rabbi Hanina,
+and he taught her how to use them as remedies for all varieties of
+disease. All this they were bidden to take home with them. When they
+were about to return, the frog addressed them thus: "May the Holy One,
+blessed be He, have mercy upon you, and requite you for all the trouble
+you took on my account, without so much as inquiring who I am. Now I
+shall make my origin known to you. I am the son of Adam, a son whom he
+begot during the hundred and thirty years of his separation from Eve.
+God has endowed me with the power of assuming any form or guise I
+desire." Rabbi Hanina and his wife departed for their home, and they
+became very rich, and enjoyed the respect and confidence of the
+king.[49]
+
+SETH AND HIS DESCENDANTS
+
+The exhortations of the wives of Lamech took effect upon Adam. After a
+separation of one hundred and thirty years, he returned to Eve, and the
+love he now bore her was stronger by far than in the former time. She
+was in his thoughts even when she was not present to him bodily. The
+fruit of their reunion was Seth, who was destined to be the ancestor of
+the Messiah.[50]
+
+Seth was so formed from birth that the rite of circumcision could be
+dispensed with. He was thus one of the thirteen men born perfect in a
+way.[51] Adam begot him in his likeness and image, different from Cain,
+who had not been in his likeness and image. Thus Seth became, in a
+genuine sense, the father of the human race, especially the father of
+the pious, while the depraved and godless are descended from Cain.[52]
+
+Even during the lifetime of Adam the descendants of Cain became
+exceedingly wicked, dying successively, one after another, each more
+wicked than the former. They were intolerable in war, and vehement in
+robberies, and if any one were slow to murder people, yet was he bold
+in his profligate behavior in acting unjustly and doing injury for
+gain.
+
+Now as to Seth. When he was brought up, and came to those years in
+which he could discern what was good, he became a virtuous man, and as
+he was himself of excellent character, so he left children behind him
+who imitated his virtues. All these proved to be of good disposition.
+They also inhabited one and the same country without dissensions, and
+in a happy condition, without any misfortune's falling upon them, until
+they died. They also were the inventors of that peculiar sort of wisdom
+which is concerned with the heavenly bodies and their order. And that
+their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently known,
+they made two pillars, upon Adam's prediction that the world was to be
+destroyed at one time by the force of fire and at another time by the
+violence and quantity of water. The one was of brick, the other of
+stone, and they inscribed their discoveries on both, that in case the
+pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone
+might remain, and exhibit these discoveries to mankind, and also inform
+them that there was another pillar, of brick, erected by them.[53]
+
+ENOSH
+
+Enosh was asked who his father was, and he named Seth. The questioners,
+the people of his time, continued: "Who was the father of Seth?" Enosh:
+"Adam."—"And who was the father of Adam?"—"He had neither father nor
+mother, God formed him from the dust of the earth."—"But man has not
+the appearance of dust!"—"After death man returns to dust, as God said,
+'And man shall turn again unto dust;' but on the day of his creation,
+man was made in the image of God."—"How was the woman created?"—"Male
+and female He created them."—"But how?"—"God took water and earth, and
+moulded them together in the form of man."—"But how?" pursued the
+questioners.
+
+Enosh took six clods of earth, mixed them, and moulded them, and formed
+an image of dust and clay. "But," said the people, "this image does not
+walk, nor does it possess any breath of life." He then essayed to show
+them how God breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of Adam, but
+when he began to blow his breath into the image he had formed, Satan
+entered it, and the figure walked, and the people of his time who had
+been inquiring these matters of Enosh went astray after it, saying,
+"What is the difference between bowing down before this image and
+paying homage to a man?"[54]
+
+The generation of Enosh were thus the first idol worshippers, and the
+punishment for their folly was not delayed long. God caused the sea to
+transgress its bounds, and a portion of the earth was flooded. This was
+the time also when the mountains became rocks, and the dead bodies of
+men began to decay. And still another consequence of the sin of
+idolatry was that the countenances of the men of the following
+generations were no longer in the likeness and image of God, as the
+countenances of Adam, Seth, and Enosh had been. They resembled centaurs
+and apes, and the demons lost their fear of men.[55]
+
+But there was a still more serious consequence from the idolatrous
+practices introduced in the time of Enosh. When God drove Adam forth
+from Paradise, the Shekinah remained behind, enthroned above a cherub
+under the tree of life. The angels descended from heaven and repaired
+thither in hosts, to receive their instructions, and Adam and his
+descendants sat by the gate to bask in the splendor of the Shekinah,
+sixty-five thousand times more radiant than the splendor of the sun.
+This brightness of the Shekinah makes all upon whom it falls exempt
+from disease, and neither insects nor demons can come nigh unto them to
+do them harm.
+
+Thus it was until the time of Enosh, when men began to gather gold,
+silver, gems, and pearls from all parts of the earth, and made idols
+thereof a thousand parasangs high. What was worse, by means of the
+magic arts taught them by the angels Uzza and Azzael, they set
+themselves as masters over the heavenly spheres, and forced the sun,
+the moon, and the stars to be subservient to themselves instead of the
+Lord. This impelled the angels to ask God: "'What is man, that Thou art
+mindful of him?' Why didst Thou abandon the highest of the heavens, the
+seat of Thy glory and Thy exalted Throne in 'Arabot, and descend to
+men, who pay worship to idols, putting Thee upon a level with them?"
+The Shekinah was induced to leave the earth and ascend to heaven, amid
+the blare and flourish of the trumpets of the myriads of angel
+hosts.[56]
+
+THE FALL OF THE ANGELS
+
+The depravity of mankind, which began to show itself in the time of
+Enosh, had increased monstrously in the time of his grandson Jared, by
+reason of the fallen angels. When the angels saw the beautiful,
+attractive daughters of men, they lusted after them, and spoke: "We
+will choose wives for ourselves only from among the daughters of men,
+and beget children with them." Their chief Shemhazai said, "I fear me,
+ye will not put this plan of yours into execution, and I alone shall
+have to suffer the consequences of a great sin." Then they answered
+him, and said: "We will all swear an oath, and we will bind ourselves,
+separately and together, not to abandon the plan, but to carry it
+through to the end."
+
+Two hundred angels descended to the summit of Mount Hermon, which owes
+its name to this very occurrence, because they bound themselves there
+to fulfil their purpose, on the penalty of Herem, anathema. Under the
+leadership of twenty captains they defiled themselves with the
+daughters of men, unto whom they taught charms, conjuring formulas, how
+to cut roots, and the efficacy of plants. The issue from these mixed
+marriages was a race of giants, three thousand ells tall, who consumed
+the possessions of men. When all had vanished, and they could obtain
+nothing more from them, the giants turned against men and devoured many
+of them, and the remnant of men began to trespass against the birds,
+beasts, reptiles, and fishes, eating their flesh and drinking their
+blood.
+
+Then the earth complained about the impious evil-doers. But the fallen
+angels continued to corrupt mankind. Azazel taught men how to make
+slaughtering knives, arms, shields, and coats of mail. He showed them
+metals and how to work them, and armlets and all sorts of trinkets, and
+the use of rouge for the eyes, and how to beautify the eyelids, and how
+to ornament themselves with the rarest and most precious jewels and all
+sorts of paints. The chief of the fallen angels, Shemhazai, instructed
+them in exorcisms and how to cut roots; Armaros taught them how to
+raise spells; Barakel, divination from the stars; Kawkabel, astrology;
+Ezekeel, augury from the clouds; Arakiel, the signs of the earth;
+Samsaweel, the signs of the sun; and Seriel, the signs of the moon.[57]
+
+While all these abominations defiled the earth, the pious Enoch lived
+in a secret place. None among men knew his abode, or what had become of
+him, for he was sojourning with the angel watchers and holy ones. Once
+he heard the call addressed to him: "Enoch, thou scribe of justice, go
+unto the watchers of the heavens, who have left the high heavens, the
+eternal place of holiness, defiling themselves with women, doing as men
+do, taking wives unto themselves, and casting themselves into the arms
+of destruction upon earth. Go and proclaim unto them that they shall
+find neither peace nor pardon. For every time they take joy in their
+offspring, they shall see the violent death of their sons, and sigh
+over the ruin of their children. They will pray and supplicate
+evermore, but never shall they attain to mercy or peace."
+
+Enoch repaired to Azazel and the other fallen angels, to announce the
+doom uttered against them. They all were filled with fear. Trembling
+seized upon them, and they implored Enoch to set up a petition for them
+and read it to the Lord of heaven, for they could not speak with God as
+aforetime, nor even raise their eyes heavenward, for shame on account
+of their sins. Enoch granted their request, and in a vision he was
+vouchsafed the answer which he was to carry back to the angels. It
+appeared to Enoch that he was wafted into heaven upon clouds, and was
+set down before the throne of God. God spake: "Go forth and say to the
+watchers of heaven who have sent thee hither to intercede for them:
+Verily, it is you who ought to plead in behalf of men, not men in
+behalf of you I Why did ye forsake the high, holy, and eternal heavens,
+to pollute yourselves with the daughters of men, taking wives unto
+yourselves, doing like the races of the earth, and begetting giant
+sons? Giants begotten by flesh and spirits will be called evil spirits
+on earth, and on the earth will be their dwelling-place. Evil spirits
+proceed from their bodies, because they are created from above, and
+from the holy watchers is their beginning and primal origin; they will
+be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits they will be named. And the
+spirits of heaven have their dwelling in heaven, but the spirits of the
+earth, which were born upon the earth, have their dwelling on the
+earth. And the spirits of the giants will devour, oppress, destroy,
+attack, do battle, and cause destruction on the earth, and work
+affliction. They will take no kind of food, nor will they thirst, and
+they will be invisible. And these spirits will rise up against the
+children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from
+them. Since the days of murder and destruction and the death of the
+giants, when the spirits went forth from the soul of their flesh, in
+order to destroy without incurring judgment—thus will they destroy
+until the day when the great consummation of the great world be
+consummated. And now as to the watchers who have sent thee to intercede
+for them, who had been aforetime in heaven, say to them: You have been
+in heaven, and though the hidden things had not yet been revealed to
+you, you know worthless mysteries, and in the hardness of your hearts
+you have recounted these to the women, and through these mysteries
+women and men work much evil on earth. Say to them therefore: You have
+no peace!"[58]
+
+ENOCH, RULER AND TEACHER
+
+After Enoch had lived a long time secluded from men, he once heard the
+voice of an angel calling to him: "Enoch, Enoch, make thyself ready and
+leave the house and the secret place wherein thou hast kept thyself
+hidden, and assume dominion over men, to teach them the ways in which
+they shall walk, and the deeds which they shall do, in order that they
+may walk in the ways of God."
+
+Enoch left his retreat and betook himself to the haunts of men. He
+gathered them about him, and instructed them in the conduct pleasing to
+God. He sent messengers all over to announce, "Ye who desire to know
+the ways of God and righteous conduct, come ye to Enoch!" Thereupon a
+vast concourse of people thronged about him, to hear the wisdom he
+would teach and learn from his mouth what is good and right. Even kings
+and princes, no less than one hundred and thirty in number, assembled
+about him, and submitted themselves to his dominion, to be taught and
+guided by him, as he taught and guided all the others. Peace reigned
+thus over the whole world all the two hundred and forty-three years
+during which the influence of Enoch prevailed.
+
+At the expiration of this period, in the year in which Adam died, and
+was buried with great honors by Seth, Enosh, Enoch, and Methuselah,
+Enoch resolved to retire again from intercourse with men, and devote
+himself wholly to the service of God. But he withdrew gradually. First
+he would spend three days in prayer and praise of God, and on the
+fourth day he would return to his disciples and grant them instruction.
+Many years passed thus, then he appeared among them but once a week,
+later, once a month, and, finally, once a year. The kings, princes, and
+all others who were desirous of seeing Enoch and hearkening to his
+words did not venture to come close to him during the times of his
+retirement. Such awful majesty sat upon his countenance, they feared
+for their very life if they but looked at him. They therefore resolved
+that all men should prefer their requests before Enoch on the day he
+showed himself unto them.
+
+The impression made by the teachings of Enoch upon all who heard them
+was powerful. They prostrated themselves before him, and cried "Long
+live the king! Long live the king!" On a certain day, while Enoch was
+giving audience to his followers, an angel appeared and made known unto
+him that God had resolved to install him as king over the angels in
+heaven, as until then he had reigned over men. He called together all
+the inhabitants of the earth, and addressed them thus: "I have been
+summoned to ascend into heaven, and I know not on what day I shall go
+thither. Therefore I will teach you wisdom and righteousness before I
+go hence." A few days yet Enoch spent among men, and all the time left
+to him he gave instruction in wisdom, knowledge, God-fearing conduct,
+and piety, and established law and order, for the regulation of the
+affairs of men. Then those gathered near him saw a gigantic steed
+descend from the skies, and they told Enoch of it, who said, "The steed
+is for me, for the time has come and the day when I leave you, never to
+be seen again." So it was. The steed approached Enoch, and he mounted
+upon its back, all the time instructing the people, exhorting them,
+enjoining them to serve God and walk in His ways. Eight hundred
+thousand of the people followed a day's journey after him. But on the
+second day Enoch urged his retinue to turn back: "Go ye home, lest
+death overtake you, if you follow me farther." Most of them heeded his
+words and went back, but a number remained with him for six days,
+though he admonished them daily to return and not bring death down upon
+themselves. On the sixth day of the journey, he said to those still
+accompanying him, "Go ye home, for on the morrow I shall ascend to
+heaven, and whoever will then be near me, he will die." Nevertheless,
+some of his companions remained with him, saying: "Whithersoever thou
+goest, we will go. By the living God, death alone shall part us."
+
+On the seventh day Enoch was carried into the heavens in a fiery
+chariot drawn by fiery chargers. The day thereafter, the kings who had
+turned back in good time sent messengers to inquire into the fate of
+the men who had refused to separate themselves from Enoch, for they had
+noted the number of them. They found snow and great hailstones upon the
+spot whence Enoch had risen, and, when they searched beneath, they
+discovered the bodies of all who had remained behind with Enoch. He
+alone was not among them; he was on high in heaven.[59]
+
+THE ASCENSION OF ENOCH
+
+This was not the first time Enoch had been in heaven. Once before,
+while he sojourned among men, he had been permitted to see all there is
+on earth and in the heavens. On a time when he was sleeping, a great
+grief came upon his heart, and he wept in his dream, not knowing what
+the grief meant, nor what would happen to him. And there appeared to
+him two men, very tall. Their faces shone like the sun, and their eyes
+were like burning lamps, and fire came forth from their lips; their
+wings were brighter than gold, their hands whiter than snow. They stood
+at the head of Enoch's bed, and called him by his name. He awoke from
+his sleep, and hastened and made obeisance to them, and was terrified.
+And these men said to him: "Be of good cheer, Enoch, be not afraid; the
+everlasting God hath sent us to thee, and lo! to-day thou shalt ascend
+with us into heaven. And tell thy sons and thy servants, and let none
+seek thee, till the Lord bring thee back to them."
+
+Enoch did as he was told, and after he had spoken to his sons, and
+instructed them not to turn aside from God, and to keep His judgment,
+these two men summoned him, and took him on their wings, and placed him
+on the clouds, which moved higher and higher, till they set him down in
+the first heaven. Here they showed him the two hundred angels who rule
+the stars, and their heavenly service. Here he saw also the treasuries
+of snow and ice, of clouds and dew.
+
+From there they took him to the second heaven, where he saw the fallen
+angels imprisoned, they who obeyed not the commandments of God, and
+took counsel of their own will. The fallen angels said to Enoch, "O man
+of God! Pray for us to the Lord," and he answered: "Who am I, a mortal
+man, that I should pray for angels? Who knows whither I go, or what
+awaits me?"
+
+They took him from thence to the third heaven, where they showed him
+Paradise, with all the trees of beautiful colors, and their fruits,
+ripe and luscious, and all kinds of food which they produced, springing
+up with delightful fragrance. In the midst of Paradise he saw the tree
+of life, in that place in which God rests when He comes into Paradise.
+This tree cannot be described for its excellence and sweet fragrance,
+and it is beautiful, more than any created thing, and on all its sides
+it is like gold and crimson in appearance, and transparent as fire, and
+it covers everything. From its root in the garden there go forth four
+streams, which pour out honey, milk, oil, and wine, and they go down to
+the Paradise of Eden, that lies on the confines between the earthly
+region of corruptibility and the heavenly region of incorruptibility,
+and thence they go along the earth. He also saw the three hundred
+angels who keep the garden, and with never-ceasing voices and blessed
+singing they serve the Lord every day. The angels leading Enoch
+explained to him that this place is prepared for the righteous, while
+the terrible place prepared for the sinners is in the northern regions
+of the third heaven. He saw there all sorts of tortures, and
+impenetrable gloom, and there is no light there, but a gloomy fire is
+always burning. And all that place has fire on all sides, and on all
+sides cold and ice, thus it burns and freezes. And the angels, terrible
+and without pity, carry savage weapons, and their torture is
+unmerciful.
+
+The angels took him then to the fourth heaven, and showed him all the
+comings in and goings forth, and all the rays of the light of the sun
+and the moon. He saw the fifteen myriads of angels who go out with the
+sun, and attend him during the day, and the thousand angels who attend
+him by night. Each angel has six wings, and they go before the chariot
+of the sun, while one hundred angels keep the sun warm, and light it
+up. He saw also the wonderful and strange creatures named phoenixes and
+chalkidri, who attend the chariot of the sun, and go with him, bringing
+heat and dew. They showed him also the six gates in the east of the
+fourth heaven, by which the sun goes forth, and the six gates in the
+west where he sets, and also the gates by which the moon goes out, and
+those by which she enters. In the middle of the fourth heaven he saw an
+armed host, serving the Lord with cymbals and organs and unceasing
+voices.
+
+In the fifth heaven he saw many hosts of the angels called Grigori.
+Their appearance was like men, and their size was greater than the size
+of the giants, their countenances were withered, and their lips silent.
+On his question who they were, the angels leading him answered, "These
+are the Grigori, who with their prince Salamiel rejected the holy
+Lord." Enoch then said to the Grigori, "Why wait ye, brethren, and
+serve ye not before the face of the Lord, and why perform ye not your
+duties before the face of the Lord, and anger not your Lord to the
+end?" The Grigori listened to the rebuke, and when the trumpets
+resounded together with a loud call, they also began to sing with one
+voice, and their voices went forth before the Lord with sadness and
+tenderness.
+
+In the seventh heaven he saw the seven bands of archangels who arrange
+and study the revolutions of the stars and the changes of the moon and
+the revolution of the sun, and superintend the good or evil conditions
+of the world. And they arrange teachings and instructions and sweet
+speaking and singing and all kinds of glorious praise. They hold in
+subjection all living things, both in heaven and on earth. In the midst
+of them are seven phoenixes, and seven cherubim, and seven six-winged
+creatures, singing with one voice.
+
+When Enoch reached the seventh heaven, and saw all the fiery hosts of
+great archangels and incorporeal powers and lordships and
+principalities and powers, he was afraid and trembled with a great
+terror. Those leading him took hold of him, and brought him into the
+midst of them, and said to him, "Be of good cheer, Enoch, be not
+afraid," and they showed him the Lord from afar, sitting on His lofty
+throne, while all the heavenly hosts, divided in ten classes, having
+approached, stood on the ten steps according to their rank, and made
+obeisance to the Lord. And so they proceeded to their places in joy and
+mirth and boundless light, singing songs with low and gentle voices,
+and gloriously serving Him. They leave not nor depart day or night,
+standing before the face of the Lord, working His will, cherubim and
+seraphim, standing around His throne. And the six-winged creatures
+overshadow all His throne, singing with a soft voice before the face of
+the Lord, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; heaven and earth are
+full of His glory." When he had seen all these, the angels leading him
+said to him, "Enoch, up to this time we were ordered to accompany
+thee." They departed, and he saw them no more. Enoch remained at the
+extremity of the seventh heaven, in great terror, saying to himself,
+"Woe is me! What has come upon me!" But then Gabriel came and said unto
+him, "Enoch, be not afraid, stand up and come with me, and stand up
+before the face of the Lord forever." And Enoch answered: "O my lord,
+my spirit has departed from me with fear and trembling. Call the men to
+me who have brought me to the place! Upon them I have relied, and with
+them I would go before the face of the Lord." And Gabriel hurried him
+away like a leaf carried off by the wind, and set him before the face
+of the Lord. Enoch fell down and worshipped the Lord, who said to him:
+"Enoch, be not afraid! Rise up and stand before My face forever." And
+Michael lifted him up, and at the command of the Lord took his earthly
+robe from him, and anointed him with the holy oil, and clothed him, and
+when he gazed upon himself, he looked like one of God's glorious ones,
+and fear and trembling departed from him. God called then one of His
+archangels who was more wise than all the others, and wrote down all
+the doings of the Lord, and He said to him, "Bring forth the books from
+My store-place, and give a reed to Enoch, and interpret the books to
+him." The angel did as he was commanded, and he instructed Enoch thirty
+days and thirty nights, and his lips never ceased speaking, while Enoch
+was writing down all the things about heaven and earth, angels and men,
+and all that is suitable to be instructed in. He also wrote down all
+about the souls of men, those of them which are not born, and the
+places prepared for them forever. He copied all accurately, and he
+wrote three hundred and sixty-six books. After he had received all the
+instructions from the archangel, God revealed unto him great secrets,
+which even the angels do not know. He told him how, out of the lowest
+darkness, the visible and the invisible were created, how He formed
+heaven, light, water, and earth, and also the fall of Satan and the
+creation and sin of Adam He narrated to him, and further revealed to
+him that the duration of the world will be seven thousand years, and
+the eighth millennium will be a time when there is no computation, no
+end, neither years, nor months, nor weeks, nor days, nor hours.
+
+The Lord finished this revelation to Enoch with the words: "And now I
+give thee Samuil and Raguil, who brought thee to Me. Go with them upon
+the earth, and tell thy sons what things I have said to thee, and what
+thou hast seen from the lowest heaven up to My throne. Give them the
+works written out by thee, and they shall read them, and shall
+distribute the books to their children's children and from generation
+to generation and from nation to nation. And I will give thee My
+messenger Michael for thy writings and for the writings of thy fathers,
+Adam, Seth, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalalel, and Jared thy father. And I shall
+not require them till the last age, for I have instructed My two
+angels, Ariuk and Mariuk, whom I have put upon the earth as their
+guardians, and I have ordered them in time to guard them, that the
+account of what I shall do in thy family may not be lost in the deluge
+to come. For on account of the wickedness and iniquity of men, I will
+bring a deluge upon the earth, and I will destroy all, but I will leave
+a righteous man of thy race with all his house, who shall act according
+to My will. From their seed will be raised up a numerous generation,
+and on the extinction of that family, I will show them the books of thy
+writings and of thy father, and the guardians of them on earth will
+show them to the men who are true and please Me. And they shall tell to
+another generation, and they, having read them, shall be glorified at
+last more than before."
+
+Enoch was then sent to earth to remain there for thirty days to
+instruct his sons, but before he left heaven, God sent an angel to him
+whose appearance was like snow, and his hands were like ice. Enoch
+looked at him, and his face was chilled, that men might be able to
+endure the sight of him. The angels who took him to heaven put him upon
+his bed, in the place where his son Methuselah was expecting him by day
+and by night. Enoch assembled his sons and all his household, and
+instructed them faithfully about all things he had seen, heard, and
+written down, and he gave his books to his sons, to keep them and read
+them, admonishing them not to conceal the books, but tell them to all
+desiring to know. When the thirty days had been completed, the Lord
+sent darkness upon the earth, and there was gloom, and it hid the men
+standing with Enoch. And the angels hasted and took Enoch, and carried
+him to the highest heaven, where the Lord received him and set him
+before His face, and the darkness departed from the earth, and there
+was light. And the people saw, and did not understand how Enoch was
+taken, and they glorified God.
+
+Enoch was born on the sixth day of the month of Siwan, and he was taken
+to heaven in the same month, Siwan, on the same day and in the same
+hour when he was born. And Methuselah hasted and all his brethren, the
+sons of Enoch, and built an altar in the place called Achuzan, whence
+Enoch was taken up to heaven. The elders and all the people came to the
+festivity and brought their gifts to the sons of Enoch, and made a
+great festivity, rejoicing and being merry for three days, praising
+God, who had given such a sign by means of Enoch, who had found favor
+with them.[60]
+
+THE TRANSLATION OF ENOCH
+
+The sinfulness of men was the reason why Enoch was translated to
+heaven. Thus Enoch himself told Rabbi Ishmael. When the generation of
+the deluge transgressed, and spoke to God, saying, "Depart from us, for
+we do not desire to know Thy ways," Enoch was carried to heaven, to
+serve there as a witness that God was not a cruel God in spite of the
+destruction decreed upon all living beings on earth.
+
+When Enoch, under the guidance of the angel 'Anpiel, was carried from
+earth to heaven, the holy beings, the ofanim, the seraphim, the
+cherubim, all those who move the throne of God, and the ministering
+spirits whose substance is of consuming fire, they all, at a distance
+of six hundred and fifty million and three hundred parasangs, noticed
+the presence of a human being, and they exclaimed: "Whence the odor of
+one born of woman? How comes he into the highest heaven of the
+fire-coruscating angels?" But God replied: "O My servants and hosts,
+ye, My cherubim, ofanim, and seraphim, let this not be an offense unto
+you, for all the children of men denied Me and My mighty dominion, and
+they paid homage to the idols, so that I transferred the Shekinah from
+earth to heaven. But this man Enoch is the elect of men. He has more
+faith, justice, and righteousness than all the rest, and he is the only
+reward I have derived from the terrestrial world."
+
+Before Enoch could be admitted to service near the Divine throne, the
+gates of wisdom were opened unto him, and the gates of understanding,
+and of discernment, of life, peace, and the Shekinah, of strength and
+power, of might, loveliness, and grace, of humility and fear of sin.
+Equipped by God with extraordinary wisdom, sagacity, judgment,
+knowledge, learning, compassionateness, love, kindness, grace,
+humility, strength, power, might, splendor, beauty, shapeliness, and
+all other excellent qualities, beyond the endowment of any of the
+celestial beings, Enoch received, besides, many thousand blessings from
+God, and his height and his breadth became equal to the height and the
+breadth of the world, and thirty-six wings were attached to his body,
+to the right and to the left, each as large as the world, and three
+hundred and sixty-five thousand eyes were bestowed upon him, each
+brilliant as the sun. A magnificent throne was erected for him beside
+the gates of the seventh celestial palace, and a herald proclaimed
+throughout the heavens concerning him, who was henceforth to be called
+Metatron in the celestial regions: "I have appointed My servant
+Metatron as prince and chief over all the princes in My realm, with the
+exception only of the eight august and exalted princes that bear My
+name. Whatever angel has a request to prefer to Me, shall appear before
+Metatron, and what he will command at My bidding, ye must observe and
+do, for the prince of wisdom and the prince of understanding are at his
+service, and they will reveal unto him the sciences of the celestials
+and the terrestrials, the knowledge of the present order of the world
+and the knowledge of the future order of the world. Furthermore, I have
+made him the guardian of the treasures of the palaces in the heaven
+'Arabot, and of the treasures of life that are in the highest heaven."
+
+Out of the love He bore Enoch, God arrayed him in a magnificent
+garment, to which every kind of luminary in existence was attached, and
+a crown gleaming with forty-nine jewels, the splendor of which pierced
+to all parts of the seven heavens and to the four corners of the earth.
+In the presence of the heavenly family, He set this crown upon the head
+of Enoch, and called him "the little Lord." It bears also the letters
+by means of which heaven and earth were created, and seas and rivers,
+mountains and valleys, planets and constellations, lightning and
+thunder, snow and hail, storm and whirlwind—these and also all things
+needed in the world, and the mysteries of creation. Even the princes of
+the heavens, when they see Metatron, tremble before him, and prostrate
+themselves; his magnificence and majesty, the splendor and beauty
+radiating from him overwhelm them, even the wicked Samael, the greatest
+of them, even Gabriel the angel of the fire, Bardiel the angel of the
+hail, Ruhiel the angel of the wind, Barkiel the angel of the lightning,
+Za'miel the angel of the hurricane, Zakkiel the angel of the storm,
+Sui'el the angel of the earthquake, Za'fiel the angel of the showers,
+Ra'miel the angel of the thunder, Ra'shiel the angel of the whirlwind,
+Shalgiel the angel of the snow, Matriel the angel of the rain,
+Shamshiel the angel of the day, Leliel the angel of the night, Galgliel
+the angel of the solar system, Ofaniel the angel of the wheel of the
+moon, Kokabiel the angel of the stars, and Rahtiel the angel of the
+constellations.
+
+When Enoch was transformed into Metatron, his body was turned into
+celestial fire—his flesh became flame, his veins fire, his bones
+glimmering coals, the light of his eyes heavenly brightness, his
+eyeballs torches of fire, his hair a flaring blaze, all his limbs and
+organs burning sparks, and his frame a consuming fire. To right of him
+sparkled flames of fire, to left of him burnt torches of fire, and on
+all sides he was engirdled by storm and whirlwind, hurricane and
+thundering.[61]
+
+METHUSELAH
+
+After the translation of Enoch, Methuselah was proclaimed ruler of the
+earth by all the kings. He walked in the footsteps of his father,
+teaching truth, knowledge, and fear of God to the children of men all
+his life, and deviating from the path of rectitude neither to the right
+nor the left.[62] He delivered the world from thousands of demons, the
+posterity of Adam which he had begotten with Lilith, that she-devil of
+she-devils. These demons and evil spirits, as often as they encountered
+a man, had sought to injure and even slay him, until Methuselah
+appeared, and supplicated the mercy of God. He spent three days in
+fasting, and then God gave him permission to write the Ineffable Name
+upon his sword, wherewith he slew ninety-four myriads of the demons in
+a minute, until Agrimus, the first-born of them, came to him and
+entreated him to desist, at the same time handing the names of the
+demons and imps over to him. And so Methuselah placed their kings in
+iron fetters, while the remainder fled away and hid themselves in the
+innermost chambers and recesses of the ocean. And it is on account of
+the wonderful sword by means of which the demons were killed that he
+was called Methuselah.[63]
+
+He was so pious a man that he composed two hundred and thirty parables
+in praise of God for every word he uttered. When he died, the people
+heard a great commotion in the heavens, and they saw nine hundred rows
+of mourners corresponding to the nine hundred orders of the Mishnah
+which he had studied, and tears flowed from the eyes of the holy beings
+down upon the spot where he died. Seeing the grief of the celestials,
+the people on earth also mourned over the demise of Methuselah, and God
+rewarded them therefor. He added seven days to the time of grace which
+He had ordained before bringing destruction upon the earth by a flood
+of waters.[64]
+
+
+
+
+IV
+NOAH
+
+THE BIRTH OF NOAH
+
+Methuselah took a wife for his son Lamech, and she bore him a man
+child. The body of the babe was white as snow and red as a blooming
+rose, and the hair of his head and his long locks were white as wool,
+and his eyes like the rays of the sun. When he opened his eyes, he
+lighted up the whole house, like the sun, and the whole house was very
+full of light.[1] And when he was taken from the hand of the midwife,
+he opened his mouth and praised the Lord of righteousness.[2] His
+father Lamech was afraid of him, and fled, and came to his own father
+Methuselah. And he said to him: "I have begotten a strange son; he is
+not like a human being, but resembles the children of the angels of
+heaven, and his nature is different, and he is not like us, and his
+eyes are as the rays of the sun, and his countenance is glorious.[3]
+And it seems to me that he is not sprung from me, but from the angels,
+and I fear that in his days a wonder may be wrought on the earth. And
+now, my father, I am here to petition thee and implore thee, that thou
+mayest go to Enoch, our father, and learn from him the truth, for his
+dwelling place is among the angels."
+
+And when Methuselah heard the words of his son, he went to Enoch, to
+the ends of the earth, and he cried aloud, and Enoch heard his voice,
+and appeared before him, and asked him the reason of his coming.
+Methuselah told him the cause of his anxiety, and requested him to make
+the truth known to him. Enoch answered, and said: "The Lord will do a
+new thing in the earth. There will come a great destruction on the
+earth, and a deluge for one year. This son who is born unto thee will
+be left on the earth, and his three children will be saved with him,
+when all mankind that are on the earth shall die. And there will be a
+great punishment on the earth, and the earth will be cleansed from all
+impurity. And now make known to thy son Lamech that he who was born is
+in truth his son, and call his name Noah, for he will be left to you,
+and he and his children will be saved from the destruction which will
+come upon the earth." When Methuselah had heard the words of his
+father, who showed him all the secret things, he returned home, and he
+called the child Noah, for he would cause the earth to rejoice in
+compensation for all destruction.[4]
+
+By the name Noah he was called only by his grandfather Methuselah; his
+father and all others called him Menahem. His generation was addicted
+to sorcery, and Methuselah apprehended that his grandson might be
+bewitched if his true name were known, wherefore he kept it a secret.
+Menahem, Comforter, suited him as well as Noah; it indicated that he
+would be a consoler, if but the evil-doers of his time would repent of
+their misdeeds.[5] At his very birth it was felt that he would bring
+consolation and deliverance. When the Lord said to Adam, "Cursed is the
+ground for thy sake," he asked, "For how long a time?" and the answer
+made by God was, "Until a man child shall be born whose conformation is
+such that the rite of circumcision need not be practiced upon him."
+This was fulfilled in Noah, he was circumcised from his mother's womb.
+
+Noah had scarcely come into the world when a marked change was
+noticeable. Since the curse brought upon the earth by the sin of Adam,
+it happened that wheat being sown, yet oats would sprout and grow. This
+ceased with the appearance of Noah: the earth bore the products planted
+in it. And it was Noah who, when he was grown to manhood, invented the
+plough, the scythe, the hoe, and other implements for cultivating the
+ground. Before him men had worked the land with their bare hands.[6]
+
+There was another token to indicate that the child born unto Lamech was
+appointed for an extraordinary destiny. When God created Adam, He gave
+him dominion over all things: the cow obeyed the ploughman, and the
+furrow was willing to be drawn. But after the fall of Adam all things
+rebelled against him: the cow refused obedience to the ploughman, and
+also the furrow was refractory. Noah was born, and all returned to its
+state preceding the fall of man.
+
+Before the birth of Noah, the sea was in the habit of transgressing its
+bounds twice daily, morning and evening, and flooding the land up to
+the graves. After his birth it kept within its confines. And the famine
+that afflicted the world in the time of Lamech, the second of the ten
+great famines appointed to come upon it, ceased its ravages with the
+birth of Noah.[7]
+
+THE PUNISHMENT OF THE FALLEN ANGELS
+
+Grown to manhood, Noah followed in the ways of his grandfather
+Methuselah, while all other men of the time rose up against this pious
+king. So far from observing his precepts, they pursued the evil
+inclination of their hearts, and perpetrated all sorts of abominable
+deeds.[8] Chiefly the fallen angels and their giant posterity caused
+the depravity of mankind. The blood spilled by the giants cried unto
+heaven from the ground, and the four archangels accused the fallen
+angels and their sons before God, whereupon He gave the following
+orders to them: Uriel was sent to Noah to announce to him that the
+earth would be destroyed by a flood, and to teach him how to save his
+own life. Raphael was told to put the fallen angel Azazel into chains,
+cast him into a pit of sharp and pointed stones in the desert Dudael,
+and cover him with darkness, and so was he to remain until the great
+day of judgment, when he would be thrown into the fiery pit of hell,
+and the earth would be healed of the corruption he had contrived upon
+it. Gabriel was charged to proceed against the bastards and the
+reprobates, the sons of the angels begotten with the daughters of men,
+and plunge them into deadly conflicts with one another. Shemhazai's ilk
+were handed over to Michael, who first caused them to witness the death
+of their children in their bloody combat with each other, and then he
+bound them and pinned them under the hills of the earth, where they
+will remain for seventy generations, until the day of judgment, to be
+carried thence to the fiery pit of hell.[9]
+
+The fall of Azazel and Shemhazai came about in this way. When the
+generation of the deluge began to practice idolatry, God was deeply
+grieved. The two angels Shemhazai and Azazel arose, and said: "O Lord
+of the world! It has happened, that which we foretold at the creation
+of the world and of man, saying, 'What is man, that Thou art mindful of
+him?'" And God said, "And what will become of the world now without
+man?" Whereupon the angels: "We will occupy ourselves with it." Then
+said God: "I am well aware of it, and I know that if you inhabit the
+earth, the evil inclination will overpower you, and you will be more
+iniquitous than ever men." The angels pleaded, "Grant us but permission
+to dwell among men, and Thou shalt see how we will sanctify Thy Name."
+God yielded to their wish, saying, "Descend and sojourn among men!"
+
+When the angels came to earth, and beheld the daughters of men in all
+their grace and beauty, they could not restrain their passion.
+Shemhazai saw a maiden named Istehar, and he lost his heart to her. She
+promised to surrender herself to him, if first he taught her the
+Ineffable Name, by means of which he raised himself to heaven. He
+assented to her condition. But once she knew it, she pronounced the
+Name, and herself ascended to heaven, without fulfilling her promise to
+the angel. God said, "Because she kept herself aloof from sin, we will
+place her among the seven stars, that men may never forget her," and
+she was put in the constellation of the Pleiades.
+
+Shemhazai and Azazel, however, were not deterred from entering into
+alliances with the daughters of men, and to the first two sons were
+born. Azazel began to devise the finery and the ornaments by means of
+which women allure men. Thereupon God sent Metatron to tell Shemhazai
+that He had resolved to destroy the world and bring on a deluge. The
+fallen angel began to weep and grieve over the fate of the world and
+the fate of his two sons. If the world went under, what would they have
+to eat, they who needed daily a thousand camels, a thousand horses, and
+a thousand steers?
+
+These two sons of Shemhazai, Hiwwa and Hiyya by name, dreamed dreams.
+The one saw a great stone which covered the earth, and the earth was
+marked all over with lines upon lines of writing. An angel came, and
+with a knife obliterated all the lines, leaving but four letters upon
+the stone. The other son saw a large pleasure grove planted with all
+sorts of trees. But angels approached bearing axes, and they felled the
+trees, sparing a single one with three of its branches.
+
+When Hiwwa and Hiyya awoke, they repaired to their father, who
+interpreted the dreams for them, saying, "God will bring a deluge, and
+none will escape with his life, excepting only Noah and his sons." When
+they heard this, the two began to cry and scream, but their father
+consoled them: "Soft, soft! Do not grieve. As often as men cut or haul
+stones, or launch vessels, they shall invoke your names, Hiwwa! Hiyya!"
+This prophecy soothed them.
+
+Shemhazai then did penance. He suspended himself between heaven and
+earth, and in this position of a penitent sinner he hangs to this day.
+But Azazel persisted obdurately in his sin of leading mankind astray by
+means of sensual allurements. For this reason two he-goats were
+sacrificed in the Temple on the Day of Atonement, the one for God, that
+He pardon the sins of Israel, the other for Azazel, that he bear the
+sins of Israel.[10]
+
+Unlike Istehar, the pious maiden, Naamah, the lovely sister of
+Tubal-cain, led the angels astray with her beauty, and from her union
+with Shamdon sprang the devil Asmodeus.[11] She was as shameless as all
+the other descendants of Cain, and as prone to bestial indulgences.
+Cainite women and Cainite men alike were in the habit of walking abroad
+naked, and they gave themselves up to every conceivable manner of lewd
+practices. Of such were the women whose beauty and sensual charms
+tempted the angels from the path of virtue. The angels, on the other
+hand, no sooner had they rebelled against God and descended to earth
+than they lost their transcendental qualities, and were invested with
+sublunary bodies, so that a union with the daughters of men became
+possible. The offspring of these alliances between the angels and the
+Cainite women were the giants,[12] known for their strength and their
+sinfulness; as their very name, the Emim, indicates, they inspired
+fear. They have many other names. Sometimes they go by the name
+Rephaim, because one glance at them made one's heart grow weak; or by
+the name Gibborim, simply giants, because their size was so enormous
+that their thigh measured eighteen ells; or by the name Zamzummim,
+because they were great masters in war; or by the name Anakim, because
+they touched the sun with their neck; or by the name Ivvim, because,
+like the snake, they could judge of the qualities of the soil; or
+finally, by the name Nephilim, because, bringing the world to its fall,
+they themselves fell.[13]
+
+THE GENERATION OF THE DELUGE
+
+While the descendants of Cain resembled their father in his sinfulness
+and depravity, the descendants of Seth led a pious, well-regulated
+life, and the difference between the conduct of the two stocks was
+reflected in their habitations. The family of Seth was settled upon the
+mountains in the vicinity of Paradise, while the family of Cain resided
+in the field of Damascus, the spot whereon Abel was slain by Cain.
+
+Unfortunately, at the time of Methuselah, following the death of Adam,
+the family of Seth became corrupted after the manner of the Cainites.
+The two strains united with each other to execute all kinds of
+iniquitous deeds. The result of the marriages between them were the
+Nephilim, whose sins brought the deluge upon the world. In their
+arrogance they claimed the same pedigree as the posterity of Seth, and
+they compared themselves with princes and men of noble descent.[14]
+
+The wantonness of this generation was in a measure due to the ideal
+conditions under which mankind lived before the flood. They knew
+neither toil nor care, and as a consequence of their extraordinary
+prosperity they grew insolent. In their arrogance they rose up against
+God. A single sowing bore a harvest sufficient for the needs of forty
+years, and by means of magic arts they could compel the very sun and
+moon to stand ready to do their service.[15] The raising of children
+gave them no trouble. They were born after a few days' pregnancy, and
+immediately after birth they could walk and talk; they themselves aided
+the mother in severing the navel string. Not even demons could do them
+harm. Once a new-born babe, running to fetch a light whereby his mother
+might cut the navel string, met the chief of the demons, and a combat
+ensued between the two. Suddenly the crowing of a cock was heard, and
+the demon made off, crying out to the child, "Go and report unto thy
+mother, if it had not been for the crowing of the cock, I had killed
+thee!" Whereupon the child retorted, "Go and report unto thy mother, if
+it had not been for my uncut navel string, I had killed thee!"[16]
+
+It was their care-free life that gave them space and leisure for their
+infamies. For a time God, in His long-suffering kindness, passed by the
+iniquities of men, but His forbearance ceased when once they began to
+lead unchaste lives, for "God is patient with all sins save only an
+immoral life."[17]
+
+The other sin that hastened the end of the iniquitous generation was
+their rapacity. So cunningly were their depredations planned that the
+law could not touch them. If a countryman brought a basket of
+vegetables to market, they would edge up to it, one after the other,
+and abstract a bit, each in itself of petty value, but in a little
+while the dealer would have none left to sell.[18]
+
+Even after God had resolved upon the destruction of the sinners, He
+still permitted His mercy to prevail, in that He sent Noah unto them,
+who exhorted them for one hundred and twenty years to amend their ways,
+always holding the flood over them as a threat. As for them, they but
+derided him. When they saw him occupying himself with the building of
+the ark, they asked, "Wherefore this ark?"
+
+Noah: "God will bring a flood upon you."
+
+The sinners: "What sort of flood? If He sends a fire flood, against
+that we know how to protect ourselves. If it is a flood of waters,
+then, if the waters bubble up from the earth, we will cover them with
+iron rods, and if they descend from above, we know a remedy against
+that, too."
+
+Noah: "The waters will ooze out from under your feet, and you will not
+be able to ward them off."
+
+Partly they persisted in their obduracy of heart because Noah had made
+known to them that the flood would not descend so long as the pious
+Methuselah sojourned among them. The period of one hundred and twenty
+years which God had appointed as the term of their probation having
+expired, Methuselah died, but out of regard for the memory of this
+pious man God gave them another week's respite, the week of mourning
+for him. During this time of grace, the laws of nature were suspended,
+the sun rose in the west and set in the east. To the sinners God gave
+the dainties that await man in the future world, for the purpose of
+showing them what they were forfeiting.[19] But all this proved
+unavailing, and, Methuselah and the other pious men of the generation
+having departed this life, God brought the deluge upon the earth.[20]
+
+THE HOLY BOOK
+
+Great wisdom was needed for building the ark, which was to have space
+for all beings on earth, even the spirits. Only the fishes did not have
+to be provided for.[21] Noah acquired the necessary wisdom from the
+book given to Adam by the angel Raziel, in which all celestial and all
+earthly knowledge is recorded.
+
+While the first human pair were still in Paradise, it once happened
+that Samael, accompanied by a lad, approached Eve and requested her to
+keep a watchful eye upon his little son until he should return. Eve
+gave him the promise. When Adam came back from a walk in Paradise, he
+found a howling, screaming child with Eve, who, in reply to his
+question, told him it was Samael's. Adam was annoyed, and his annoyance
+grew as the boy cried and screamed more and more violently. In his
+vexation he dealt the little one a blow that killed him. But the corpse
+did not cease to wail and weep, nor did it cease when Adam cut it up
+into bits. To rid himself of the plague, Adam cooked the remains, and
+he and Eve ate them. Scarcely had they finished, when Samael appeared
+and demanded his son. The two malefactors tried to deny everything;
+they pretended they had no knowledge of his son. But Samael said to
+them: "What! You dare tell lies, and God in times to come will give
+Israel the Torah in which it is said, 'Keep thee far from a false
+word'?"
+
+While they were speaking thus, suddenly the voice of the slain lad was
+heard proceeding from the heart of Adam and Eve, and it addressed these
+words to Samael: "Go hence! I have penetrated to the heart of Adam and
+the heart of Eve, and never again shall I quit their hearts, nor the
+hearts of their children, or their children's children, unto the end of
+all generations."
+
+Samael departed, but Adam was sore grieved, and he put on sackcloth and
+ashes, and he fasted many, many days, until God appeared unto him, and
+said: "My son, have no fear of Samael. I will give thee a remedy that
+will help thee against him, for it was at My instance that he went to
+thee." Adam asked, "And what is this remedy?" God: "The Torah." Adam:
+"And where is the Torah?" God then gave him the book of the angel
+Raziel, which he studied day and night. After some time had passed, the
+angels visited Adam, and, envious of the wisdom he had drawn from the
+book, they sought to destroy him cunningly by calling him a god and
+prostrating themselves before him, in spite of his remonstrance, "Do
+not prostrate yourselves before me, but magnify the Lord with me, and
+let us exalt His Name together." However, the envy of the angels was so
+great that they stole the book God had given Adam from him, and threw
+it in the sea. Adam searched for it everywhere in vain, and the loss
+distressed him sorely. Again he fasted many days, until God appeared
+unto him, and said: "Fear not! I will give the book back to thee," and
+He called Rahab, the Angel of the Sea, and ordered him to recover the
+book from the sea and restore it to Adam. And so he did.[22]
+
+Upon the death of Adam, the holy book disappeared, but later the cave
+in which it was hidden was revealed to Enoch in a dream. It was from
+this book that Enoch drew his knowledge of nature, of the earth and of
+the heavens, and he became so wise through it that his wisdom exceeded
+the wisdom of Adam. Once he had committed it to memory, Enoch hid the
+book again.
+
+Now, when God resolved upon bringing the flood on the earth, He sent
+the archangel Raphael to Noah, as the bearer of the following message:
+"I give thee herewith the holy book, that all the secrets and mysteries
+written therein may be made manifest unto thee, and that thou mayest
+know how to fulfil its injunction in holiness, purity, modesty, and
+humbleness. Thou wilt learn from it how to build an ark of the wood of
+the gopher tree, wherein thou, and thy sons, and thy wife shall find
+protection."
+
+Noah took the book, and when he studied it, the holy spirit came upon
+him, and he knew all things needful for the building of the ark and the
+gathering together of the animals. The book, which was made of
+sapphires, he took with him into the ark, having first enclosed it in a
+golden casket. All the time he spent in the ark it served him as a
+time-piece, to distinguish night from day. Before his death, he
+entrusted it to Shem, and he in turn to Abraham. From Abraham it
+descended through Jacob, Levi, Moses, and Joshua to Solomon, who learnt
+all his wisdom from it, and his skill in the healing art, and also his
+mastery over the demons.[23]
+
+THE INMATES OF THE ARK
+
+The ark was completed according to the instructions laid down in the
+Book of Raziel. Noah's next task was gathering in the animals. No less
+than thirty-two species of birds and three hundred and sixty-five of
+reptiles he had to take along with him. But God ordered the animals to
+repair to the ark, and they trooped thither, and Noah did not have to
+do so much as stretch out a finger.[24] Indeed, more appeared than were
+required to come, and God instructed him to sit at the door of the ark
+and note which of the animals lay down as they reached the entrance and
+which stood. The former belonged in the ark, but not the latter. Taking
+up his post as he had been commanded, Noah observed a lioness with her
+two cubs. All three beasts crouched. But the two young ones began to
+struggle with the mother, and she arose and stood up next to them. Then
+Noah led the two cubs into the ark. The wild beasts, and the cattle,
+and the birds which were not accepted remained standing about the ark
+all of seven days, for the assembling of the animals happened one week
+before the flood began to descend. On the day whereon they came to the
+ark, the sun was darkened, and the foundations of the earth trembled,
+and lightning flashed, and the thunder boomed, as never before. And yet
+the sinners remained impenitent. In naught did they change their wicked
+doings during those last seven days.
+
+When finally the flood broke loose, seven hundred thousand of the
+children of men gathered around the ark, and implored Noah to grant
+them protection. With a loud voice he replied, and said: "Are ye not
+those who were rebellious toward God, saying, 'There is no God'?
+Therefore He has brought ruin upon you, to annihilate you and destroy
+you from the face of the earth. Have I not been prophesying this unto
+you these hundred and twenty years, and you would not give heed unto
+the voice of God? Yet now you desire to be kept alive!" Then the
+sinners cried out: "So be it! We all are ready now to turn back to God,
+if only thou wilt open the door of thy ark to receive us, that we may
+live and not die." Noah made answer, and said: "That ye do now, when
+your need presses hard upon you. Why did you not turn to God during all
+the hundred and twenty years which the Lord appointed unto you as the
+term of repentance? Now do ye come, and ye speak thus, because distress
+besets your lives. Therefore God will not hearken unto you and give you
+ear; naught will you accomplish!"
+
+The crowd of sinners tried to take the entrance to the ark by storm,
+but the wild beasts keeping watch around the ark set upon them, and
+many were slain, while the rest escaped, only to meet death in the
+waters of the flood.[25] The water alone could not have made an end of
+them, for they were giants in stature and strength. When Noah
+threatened them with the scourge of God, they would make reply: "If the
+waters of the flood come from above, they will never reach up to our
+necks; and if they come from below, the soles of our feet are large
+enough to dam up the springs." But God bade each drop pass through
+Gehenna before it fell to earth, and the hot rain scalded the skin of
+the sinners. The punishment that overtook them was befitting their
+crime. As their sensual desires had made them hot, and inflamed them to
+immoral excesses, so they were chastised by means of heated water.[26]
+
+Not even in the hour of the death struggle could the sinners suppress
+their vile instincts. When the water began to stream up out of the
+springs, they threw their little children into them, to choke the
+flood.[27]
+
+It was by the grace of God, not on account of his merits, that Noah
+found shelter in the ark before the overwhelming force of the
+waters.[28] Although he was better than his contemporaries, he was yet
+not worthy of having wonders done for his sake. He had so little faith
+that he did not enter the ark until the waters had risen to his knees.
+With him his pious wife Naamah, the daughter of Enosh, escaped the
+peril, and his three sons, and the wives of his three sons.
+
+Noah had not married until he was four hundred and ninety-eight years
+old. Then the Lord had bidden him to take a wife unto himself. He had
+not desired to bring children into the world, seeing that they would
+all have to perish in the flood, and he had only three sons, born unto
+him shortly before the deluge came.[30] God had given him so small a
+number of offspring that he might be spared the necessity of building
+the ark on an overlarge scale in case they turned out to be pious. And
+if not, if they, too, were depraved like the rest of their generation,
+sorrow over their destruction would but be increased in proportion to
+their number.[31]
+
+As Noah and his family were the only ones not to have a share in the
+corruptness of the age, so the animals received into the ark were such
+as had led a natural life. For the animals of the time were as immoral
+as the men: the dog united with the wolf, the cock with the pea-fowl,
+and many others paid no heed to sexual purity. Those that were saved
+were such as had kept themselves untainted.[32]
+
+Before the flood the number of unclean animals had been greater than
+the number of the clean. Afterward the ratio was reversed, because
+while seven pairs of clean animals were preserved in the ark, but two
+pairs of the unclean were preserved.[33]
+
+One animal, the reem, Noah could not take into the ark. On account of
+its huge size it could not find room therein. Noah therefore tied it to
+the ark, and it ran on behind.[34] Also, he could not make space for
+the giant Og, the king of Bashan. He sat on top of the ark securely,
+and in this way escaped the flood of waters. Noah doled out his food to
+him daily, through a hole, because Og had promised that he and his
+descendants would serve him as slaves in perpetuity.[35]
+
+Two creatures of a most peculiar kind also found refuge in the ark.
+Among the beings that came to Noah there was Falsehood asking for
+shelter. He was denied admission, because he had no companion, and Noah
+was taking in the animals only by pairs. Falsehood went off to seek a
+partner, and he met Misfortune, whom he associated with himself on the
+condition that she might appropriate what Falsehood earned. The pair
+were then accepted in the ark. When they left it, Falsehood noticed
+that whatever he gathered together disappeared at once, and he betook
+himself to his companion to seek an explanation, which she gave him in
+the following words, "Did we not agree to the condition that I might
+take what you earn?" and Falsehood had to depart empty-handed.
+
+THE FLOOD
+
+The assembling of the animals in the ark was but the smaller part of
+the task imposed upon Noah. His chief difficulty was to provide food
+for a year and accommodations for them. Long afterward Shem, the son of
+Noah, related to Eliezer, the servant of Abraham, the tale of their
+experiences with the animals in the ark. This is what he said: "We had
+sore troubles in the ark. The day animals had to be fed by day, and the
+night animals by night. My father knew not what food to give to the
+little zikta. Once he cut a pomegranate in half, and a worm dropped out
+of the fruit, and was devoured by the zikta. Thenceforth my father
+would knead bran, and let it stand until it bred worms, which were fed
+to the animal. The lion suffered with a fever all the time, and
+therefore he did not annoy the others, because he did not relish dry
+food. The animal urshana my father found sleeping in a corner of the
+vessel, and he asked him whether he needed nothing to eat. He answered,
+and said: 'I saw thou wast very busy, and I did not wish to add to thy
+cares.' Whereupon my father said, 'May it be the will of the Lord to
+keep thee alive forever,' and the blessing was realized."[37]
+
+The difficulties were increased when the flood began to toss the ark
+from side to side. All inside of it were shaken up like lentils in a
+pot. The lions began to roar, the oxen lowed, the wolves howled, and
+all the animals gave vent to their agony, each through the sounds it
+had the power to utter.
+
+Also Noah and his sons, thinking that death was nigh, broke into tears.
+Noah prayed to God: "O Lord, help us, for we are not able to bear the
+evil that encompasses us. The billows surge about us, the streams of
+destruction make us afraid, and death stares us in the face. O hear our
+prayer, deliver us, incline Thyself unto us, and be gracious unto us!
+Redeem us and save us!"[38]
+
+The flood was produced by a union of the male waters, which are above
+the firmament, and the female waters issuing from the earth.[39] The
+upper waters rushed through the space left when God removed two stars
+out of the constellation Pleiades. Afterward, to put a stop to the
+flood, God had to transfer two stars from the constellation of the Bear
+to the constellation of the Pleiades. That is why the Bear runs after
+the Pleiades. She wants her two children back, but they will be
+restored to her only in the future world.[40]
+
+There were other changes among the celestial spheres during the year of
+the flood. All the time it lasted, the sun and the moon shed no light,
+whence Noah was called by his name, "the resting one," for in his life
+the sun and the moon rested. The ark was illuminated by a precious
+stone, the light of which was more brilliant by night than by day, so
+enabling Noah to distinguish between day and night.[41]
+
+The duration of the flood was a whole year. It began on the seventeenth
+day of Heshwan, and the rain continued for forty days, until the
+twenty-seventh of Kislew. The punishment corresponded to the crime of
+the sinful generation. They had led immoral lives, and begotten bastard
+children, whose embryonic state lasts forty days. From the twenty
+seventh of Kislew until the first of Siwan, a period of one hundred and
+fifty days, the water stood at one and the same height, fifteen ells
+above the earth. During that time all the wicked were destroyed, each
+one receiving the punishment due to him.[42] Cain was among those that
+perished, and thus the death of Abel was avenged.[43] So powerful were
+the waters in working havoc that the corpse of Adam was not spared in
+its grave.[44]
+
+On the first of Siwan the waters began to abate, a quarter of an ell a
+day, and at the end of sixty days, on the tenth day of Ab, the summits
+of the mountains showed themselves. But many days before, on the tenth
+of Tammuz, Noah had sent forth the raven, and a week later the dove, on
+the first of her three sallies, repeated at intervals of a week. It
+took from the first of Ab until the first of Tishri for the waters to
+subside wholly from the face of the earth. Even then the soil was so
+miry that the dwellers in the ark had to remain within until the
+twenty-seventh day of Heshwan, completing a full sun year, consisting
+of twelve moons and eleven days.[45]
+
+Noah had experienced difficulty all along in ascertaining the state of
+the waters. When he desired to dispatch the raven, the bird said: "The
+Lord, thy Master, hates me, and thou dost hate me, too. Thy Master
+hates me, for He bade thee take seven pairs of the clean animals into
+the ark, and but two pairs of the unclean animals, to which I belong.
+Thou hatest me, for thou dost not choose, as a messenger, a bird of one
+of the kinds of which there are seven pairs in the ark, but thou
+sendest me, and of my kind there is but one pair. Suppose, now, I
+should perish by reason of heat or cold, would not the world be the
+poorer by a whole species of animals? Or can it be that thou hast cast
+a lustful eye upon my mate, and desirest to rid thyself of me?" Where
+unto Noah made answer, and said: "Wretch! I must live apart from my own
+wife in the ark. How much less would such thoughts occur to my mind as
+thou imputest to me!"[46]
+
+The raven's errand had no success, for when he saw the body of a dead
+man, he set to work to devour it, and did not execute the orders given
+to him by Noah. Thereupon the dove was sent out. Toward evening she
+returned with an olive leaf in her bill, plucked upon the Mount of
+Olives at Jerusalem, for the Holy Land had not been ravaged by the
+deluge. As she plucked it, she said to God: "O Lord of the world, let
+my food be as bitter as the olive, but do Thou give it to me from Thy
+hand, rather than it should be sweet, and I be delivered into the power
+of men."[47]
+
+NOAH LEAVES THE ARK
+
+Though the earth assumed its old form at the end of the year of
+punishment, Noah did not abandon the ark until he received the command
+of God to leave it. He said to himself, "As I entered the ark at the
+bidding of God, so I will leave it only at His bidding." Yet, when God
+bade Noah go out of the ark, he refused, because he feared that after
+he had lived upon the dry land for some time, and begotten children,
+God would bring another flood. He therefore would not leave the ark
+until God swore He would never visit the earth with a flood again.[48]
+
+When he stepped out from the ark into the open, he began to weep
+bitterly at sight of the enormous ravages wrought by the flood, and he
+said to God: "O Lord of the world! Thou art called the Merciful, and
+Thou shouldst have had mercy upon Thy creatures." God answered, and
+said: "O thou foolish shepherd, now thou speakest to Me. Thou didst not
+so when I addressed kind words to thee, saying: 'I saw thee as a
+righteous man and perfect in thy generation, and I will bring the flood
+upon the earth to destroy all flesh. Make an ark for thyself of gopher
+wood.' Thus spake I to thee, telling thee all these circumstances, that
+thou mightest entreat mercy for the earth. But thou, as soon as thou
+didst hear that thou wouldst be rescued in the ark, thou didst not
+concern thyself about the ruin that would strike the earth. Thou didst
+but build an ark for thyself, in which thou wast saved. Now that the
+earth is wasted, thou openest thy mouth to supplicate and pray."
+
+Noah realized that he had been guilty of folly. To propitiate God and
+acknowledge his sin, he brought a sacrifice.[49] God accepted the
+offering with favor, whence he is called by his name Noah.[50] The
+sacrifice was not offered by Noah with his own hands; the priestly
+services connected with it were performed by his son Shem. There was a
+reason for this. One day in the ark Noah forgot to give his ration to
+the lion, and the hungry beast struck him so violent a blow with his
+paw that he was lame forever after, and, having a bodily defect, he was
+not permitted to do the offices of a priest.[51]
+
+The sacrifices consisted of an ox, a sheep, a goat, two turtle doves,
+and two young pigeons. Noah had chosen these kinds because he supposed
+they were appointed for sacrifices, seeing that God had commanded him
+to take seven pairs of them into the ark with him. The altar was
+erected in the same place on which Adam and Cain and Abel had brought
+their sacrifices, and on which later the altar was to be in the
+sanctuary at Jerusalem.[52]
+
+After the sacrifice was completed, God blessed Noah and his sons. He
+made them to be rulers of the world as Adam had been,[53] and He gave
+them a command, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply upon the earth," for
+during their sojourn in the ark, the two sexes, of men and animals
+alike, had lived apart from each other, because while a public calamity
+rages continence is becoming even to those who are left unscathed. This
+law of conduct had been violated by none in the ark except by Ham, by
+the dog, and by the raven. They all received a punishment. Ham's was
+that his descendants were men of dark-hued skin.[54]
+
+As a token that He would destroy the earth no more, God set His bow in
+the cloud. Even if men should be steeped in sin again, the bow
+proclaims to them that their sins will cause no harm to the world.
+Times came in the course of the ages when men were pious enough not to
+have to live in dread of punishment. In such times the bow was not
+visible.[55]
+
+God accorded permission to Noah and his descendants to use the flesh of
+animals for food, which had been forbidden from the time of Adam until
+then. But they were to abstain from the use of blood. He ordained the
+seven Noachian laws, the observance of which is incumbent upon all men,
+not upon Israel alone. God enjoined particularly the command against
+the shedding of human blood. Whoso would shed man's blood, his blood
+would be shed. Even if human judges let the guilty man go free, his
+punishment would overtake him. He would die an unnatural death, such as
+he had inflicted upon his fellow-man. Yea, even beasts that slew men,
+even of them would the life of men be required.[56]
+
+THE CURSE OF DRUNKENNESS
+
+Noah lost his epithet "the pious" when he began to occupy himself with
+the growing of the vine. He became a "man of the ground," and this
+first attempt to produce wine at the same time produced the first to
+drink to excess, the first to utter curses upon his associates, and the
+first to introduce slavery. This is the way it all came about. Noah
+found the vine which Adam had taken with him from Paradise, when he was
+driven forth. He tasted the grapes upon it, and, finding them
+palatable, he resolved to plant the vine and tend it.[57] On the
+selfsame day on which he planted it, it bore fruit, he put it in the
+wine-press, drew off the juice, drank it, became drunken, and was
+dishonored—all on one day. His assistant in the work of cultivating the
+vine was Satan, who had happened along at the very moment when he was
+engaged in planting the slip he had found. Satan asked him: "What is it
+thou art planting here?"
+
+Noah: "A vineyard."
+
+Satan: "And what may be the qualities of what it produces?"
+
+Noah: "The fruit it bears is sweet, be it dry or moist. It yields wine
+that rejoiceth the heart of man."
+
+Satan: "Let us go into partnership in this business of planting a
+vineyard."
+
+Noah: "Agreed!"
+
+Satan thereupon slaughtered a lamb, and then, in succession, a lion, a
+pig, and a monkey. The blood of each as it was killed he made to flow
+under the vine. Thus he conveyed to Noah what the qualities of wine
+are: before man drinks of it, he is innocent as a lamb; if he drinks of
+it moderately, he feels as strong as a lion; if he drinks more of it
+than he can bear, he resembles the pig; and if he drinks to the point
+of intoxication, then he behaves like a monkey, he dances around,
+sings, talks obscenely, and knows not what he is doing.[58]
+
+This deterred Noah no more than did the example of Adam, whose fall had
+also been due to wine, for the forbidden fruit had been the grape, with
+which he had made himself drunk.[59]
+
+In his drunken condition Noah betook himself to the tent of his wife.
+His son Ham saw him there, and he told his brothers what he had
+noticed, and said: "The first man had but two sons, and one slew the
+other; this man Noah has three sons, yet he desires to beget a fourth
+besides." Nor did Ham rest satisfied with these disrespectful words
+against his father. He added to this sin of irreverence the still
+greater outrage of attempting to perform an operation upon his father
+designed to prevent procreation.
+
+When Noah awoke from his wine and became sober, he pronounced a curse
+upon Ham in the person of his youngest son Canaan. To Ham himself he
+could do no harm, for God had conferred a blessing upon Noah and his
+three sons as they departed from the ark. Therefore he put the curse
+upon the last-born son of the son that had prevented him from begetting
+a younger son than the three he had. The descendants of Ham through
+Canaan therefore have red eyes, because Ham looked upon the nakedness
+of his father; they have misshapen lips, because Ham spoke with his
+lips to his brothers about the unseemly condition of his father; they
+have twisted curly hair, because Ham turned and twisted his head round
+to see the nakedness of his father; and they go about naked, because
+Ham did not cover the nakedness of his father. Thus he was requited,
+for it is the way of God to mete out punishment measure for measure.
+
+Canaan had to suffer vicariously for his father's sin. Yet some of the
+punishment was inflicted upon him on his own account, for it had been
+Canaan who had drawn the attention of Ham to Noah's revolting
+condition. Ham, it appears, was but the worthy father of such a
+son.[61] The last will and testament of Canaan addressed to his
+children read as follows: "Speak not the truth; hold not yourselves
+aloof from theft; lead a dissolute life; hate your master with an
+exceeding great hate; and love one another."[62]
+
+As Ham was made to suffer requital for his irreverence, so Shem and
+Japheth received a reward for the filial, deferential way in which they
+took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and walking
+backward, with averted faces, covered the nakedness of their father.
+Naked the descendants of Ham, the Egyptians and Ethiopians, were led
+away captive and into exile by the king of Assyria, while the
+descendants of Shem, the Assyrians, even when the angel of the Lord
+burnt them in the camp, were not exposed, their garments remained upon
+their corpses unsinged. And in time to come, when Gog shall suffer his
+defeat, God will provide both shrouds and a place of burial for him and
+all his multitude, the posterity of Japheth.
+
+Though Shem and Japheth both showed themselves to be dutiful and
+deferential, yet it was Shem who deserved the larger meed of praise. He
+was the first to set about covering his father. Japheth joined him
+after the good deed had been begun. Therefore the descendants of Shem
+received as their special reward the tallit, the garment worn by them,
+while the Japhethites have only the toga.[63] A further distinction
+accorded to Shem was the mention of his name in connection with God's
+in the blessing of Noah. "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem," he
+said, though as a rule the name of God is not joined to the name of a
+living person, only to the name of one who has departed this life.[64]
+
+The relation of Shem to Japheth was expressed in the blessing their
+father pronounced upon them: God will grant a land of beauty to
+Japheth, and his sons will be proselytes dwelling in the academies of
+Shem.[65] At the same time Noah conveyed by his words that the Shekinah
+would dwell only in the first Temple, erected by Solomon, a son of
+Shem, and not in the second Temple, the builder of which would be
+Cyrus, a descendant of Japheth.[66]
+
+NOAH'S DESCENDANTS SPREAD ABROAD
+
+When it became known to Ham that his father had cursed him, he fled
+ashamed, and with his family he settled in the city built by him, and
+named Neelatamauk for his wife. Jealous of his brother, Japheth
+followed his example. He likewise built a city which he named for his
+wife, Adataneses. Shem was the only one of the sons of Noah who did not
+abandon him. In the vicinity of his father's home, by the mountain, he
+built his city, to which he also gave his wife's name, Zedeketelbab.
+The three cities are all near Mount Lubar, the eminence upon which the
+ark rested. The first lies to the south of it, the second to the west,
+and the third to the east.
+
+Noah endeavored to inculcate the ordinances and the commands known to
+him upon his children and his children's children. In particular he
+admonished them against the fornication, the uncleanness, and all the
+iniquity which had brought the flood down upon the earth. He reproached
+them with living apart from one another, and with their jealousies, for
+he feared that, after his death, they might go so far as to shed human
+blood. Against this he warned them impressively, that they be not
+annihilated from the earth like those that went before. Another law
+which he enjoined upon them, to observe it, was the law ordaining that
+the fruit of a tree shall not be used the first three years it bears,
+and even in the fourth year it shall be the portion of the priests
+alone, after a part thereof has been offered upon the altar of God. And
+having made an end of giving his teachings and injunctions, Noah said:
+"For thus did Enoch, your ancestor, exhort his son Methuselah, and
+Methuselah his son Lamech, and Lamech delivered all unto me as his
+father had bidden him, and now I do exhort you, my children, as Enoch
+exhorted his son. When he lived, in his generation, which was the
+seventh generation of man, he commanded it and testified it unto his
+children and his children's children, until the day of his death."[67]
+
+In the year 1569 after the creation of the world, Noah divided the
+earth by lot among his three sons, in the presence of an angel. Each
+one stretched forth his hand and took a slip from the bosom of Noah.
+Shem's slip was inscribed with the middle of the earth, and this
+portion became the inheritance of his descendants unto all eternity.
+Noah rejoiced that the lot had assigned it to Shem. Thus was fulfilled
+his blessing upon him, "And God in the habitation of Shem," for three
+holy places fell within his precincts—the Holy of Holies in the Temple,
+Mount Sinai, the middle point of the desert, and Mount Zion, the middle
+point of the navel of the earth.
+
+The south fell to the lot of Ham, and the north became the inheritance
+of Japheth. The land of Ham is hot, Japheth's cold, but Shem's is
+neither hot nor cold, its temperature is hot and cold mixed.[68]
+
+This division of the earth took place toward the end of the life of
+Peleg, the name given to him by his father Eber, who, being a prophet,
+knew that the division of the earth would take place in the time of his
+son.[69] The brother of Peleg was called Joktan, because the duration
+of the life of man was shortened in his time.[70]
+
+In turn, the three sons of Noah, while they were still standing in the
+presence of their father, divided each his portion among his children,
+Noah threatening with his curse any who should stretch out his hand to
+take a portion not assigned to him by lot. And they all cried, "So be
+it! So be it!"[71]
+
+Thus were divided one hundred and four lands and ninety-nine islands
+among seventy-two nations, each with a language of its own, using
+sixteen different sets of characters for writing. To Japheth were
+allotted forty-four lands, thirty-three islands, twenty-two languages,
+and five kinds of writing; Ham received thirty-four lands, thirty-three
+islands, twenty-four languages, and five kinds of writing; and Shem
+twenty-six lands, thirty-three islands, twenty-six languages, and six
+kinds of writing—one set of written characters more to Shem than to
+either of his brothers, the extra set being the Hebrew.[72]
+
+The land appointed as the inheritance of the twelve sons of Jacob was
+provisionally granted to Canaan, Zidon, Heth, the Jebusites, the
+Amorites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the
+Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. It was the duty of these
+nations to take care of the land until the rightful owners should
+come.[73]
+
+No sooner had the children of Noah and their children's children taken
+possession of the habitations apportioned to them, than the unclean
+spirits began to seduce men and torment them with pain and all sorts of
+suffering leading to spiritual and physical death. Upon the entreaties
+of Noah God sent down the angel Raphael, who banished nine-tenths of
+the unclean spirits from the earth, leaving but one-tenth for Mastema,
+to punish sinners through them. Raphael, supported by the chief of the
+unclean spirits, at that time revealed to Noah all the remedies
+residing in plants, that he might resort to them at need. Noah recorded
+them in a book, which he transmitted to his son Shem.[74] This is the
+source to which go back all the medical books whence the wise men of
+India, Aram, Macedonia, and Egypt draw their knowledge. The sages of
+India devoted themselves particularly to the study of curative trees
+and spices; the Arameans were well versed in the knowledge of the
+properties of grains and seeds, and they translated the old medical
+books into their language. The wise men of Macedonia were the first to
+apply medical knowledge practically, while the Egyptians sought to
+effect cures by means of magic arts and by means of astrology, and they
+taught the Midrash of the Chaldees, composed by Kangar, the son of Ur,
+the son of Kesed. Medical skill spread further and further until the
+time of aesculapius. This Macedonian sage, accompanied by forty learned
+magicians, journeyed from country to country, until they came to the
+land beyond India, in the direction of Paradise. They hoped there to
+find some wood of the tree of life, and thus spread their fame abroad
+over the whole world. Their hope was frustrated. When they arrived at
+the spot, they found healing trees and wood of the tree of life, but
+when they were in the act of stretching forth their hands to gather
+what they desired, lightning darted out of the ever-turning sword,
+smote them to the ground, and they were all burnt. With them
+disappeared all knowledge of medicine, and it did not revive until the
+time of the first Artaxerxes, under the Macedonian sage Hippocrates,
+Dioscorides of Baala, Galen of Caphtor, and the Hebrew Asaph.[75]
+
+THE DEPRAVITY OF MANKIND
+
+With the spread of mankind corruption increased. While Noah was still
+alive, the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth appointed princes over
+each of the three groups—Nimrod for the descendants of Ham, Joktan for
+the descendants of Shem, and Phenech for the descendants of Japheth.
+Ten years before Noah's death, the number of those subject to the three
+princes amounted to millions. When this great concourse of men came to
+Babylonia upon their journeyings, they said to one another: "Behold,
+the time is coming when, at the end of days, neighbor will be separated
+from neighbor, and brother from brother, and one will carry on war
+against the other. Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose
+top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a great name upon the
+earth. And now let us make bricks, and each one write his name upon his
+brick." All agreed to this proposal, with the exception of twelve pious
+men, Abraham among them. They refused to join the others. They were
+seized by the people, and brought before the three princes, to whom
+they gave the following reason for their refusal: "We will not make
+bricks, nor remain with you, for we know but one God, and Him we serve;
+even if you burn us in the fire together with the bricks, we will not
+walk in your ways." Nimrod and Phenech flew into such a passion over
+the twelve men that they resolved to throw them into the fire. Joktan,
+however, besides being a God-fearing man, was of close kin to the men
+on trial, and he essayed to save them. He proposed to his two
+colleagues to grant them a seven days' respite. His plan was accepted,
+such deference being paid him as the primate among the three. The
+twelve were incarcerated in the house of Joktan. In the night he
+charged fifty of his attendants to mount the prisoners upon mules and
+take them to the mountains. Thus they would escape the threatened
+punishment. Joktan provided them with food for a month. He was sure
+that in the meantime either a change of sentiment would come about, and
+the people desist from their purpose, or God would help the fugitives.
+Eleven of the prisoners assented to the plan with gratitude. Abraham
+alone rejected it, saying: "Behold, to-day we flee to the mountains to
+escape from the fire, but if wild beasts rush out from the mountains
+and devour us, or if food is lacking, so that we die by famine, we
+shall be found fleeing before the people of the land and dying in our
+sins. Now, as the Lord liveth, in whom I trust, I will not depart from
+this place wherein they have imprisoned me, and if I am to die through
+my sins, then will I die by the will of God, according to His desire."
+
+In vain Joktan endeavored to persuade Abraham to flee. He persisted in
+his refusal. He remained behind alone in the prison house, while the
+other eleven made their escape. At the expiration of the set term, when
+the people returned and demanded the death of the twelve captives,
+Joktan could produce only Abraham. His excuse was that the rest had
+broken loose during the night. The people were about to throw
+themselves upon Abraham and cast him into the lime kiln. Suddenly an
+earthquake was felt, the fire darted from the furnace, and all who were
+standing round about, eighty four thousand of the people, were
+consumed, while Abraham remained untouched. Thereupon he repaired to
+his eleven friends in the mountains, and told them of the miracle that
+had befallen for his sake. They all returned with him, and, unmolested
+by the people, they gave praise and thanks to God.[76]
+
+NIMROD
+
+The first among the leaders of the corrupt men was Nimrod.[77] His
+father Cush had married his mother at an advanced age, and Nimrod, the
+offspring of this belated union, was particularly dear to him as the
+son of his old age. He gave him the clothes made of skins with which
+God had furnished Adam and Eve at the time of their leaving Paradise.
+Cush himself had gained possession of them through Ham. From Adam and
+Eve they had descended to Enoch, and from him to Methuselah, and to
+Noah, and the last had taken them with him into the ark. When the
+inmates of the ark were about to leave their refuge, Ham stole the
+garments and kept them concealed, finally passing them on to his
+first-born son Cush. Cush in turn hid them for many years. When his son
+Nimrod reached his twentieth year, he gave them to him.[78] These
+garments had a wonderful property. He who wore them was both invincible
+and irresistible. The beasts and birds of the woods fell down before
+Nimrod as soon as they caught sight of him arrayed in them,[79] and he
+was equally victorious in his combats with men.[80] The source of his
+unconquerable strength was not known to them. They attributed it to his
+personal prowess, and therefore they appointed him king over
+themselves.[81] This was done after a conflict between the descendants
+of Cush and the descendants of Japheth, from which Nimrod emerged
+triumphant, having routed the enemy utterly with the assistance of a
+handful of warriors. He chose Shinar as his capital. Thence he extended
+his dominion farther and farther, until he rose by cunning and force to
+be the sole ruler of the whole world, the first mortal to hold
+universal sway, as the ninth ruler to possess the same power will be
+the Messiah.[82]
+
+His impiousness kept pace with his growing power. Since the flood there
+had been no such sinner as Nimrod. He fashioned idols of wood and
+stone, and paid worship to them. But not satisfied to lead a godless
+life himself, he did all he could to tempt his subjects into evil ways,
+wherein he was aided and abetted by his son Mardon. This son of his
+outstripped his father in iniquity. It was their time and their life
+that gave rise to the proverb, "Out of the wicked cometh forth
+wickedness."[83]
+
+The great success that attended all of Nimrod's undertakings produced a
+sinister effect. Men no longer trusted in God, but rather in their own
+prowess and ability,[84] an attitude to which Nimrod tried to convert
+the whole world.[85] Therefore people said, "Since the creation of the
+world there has been none like Nimrod, a mighty hunter of men and
+beasts, and a sinner before God."[86]
+
+And not all this sufficed unto Nimrod's evil desire. Not enough that he
+turned men away from God, he did all he could to make them pay Divine
+honors unto himself. He set himself up as a god, and made a seat for
+himself in imitation of the seat of God. It was a tower built out of a
+round rock, and on it he placed a throne of cedar wood, upon which
+arose, one above the other, four thrones, of iron, copper, silver, and
+gold. Crowning all, upon the golden throne, lay a precious stone, round
+in shape and gigantic in size. This served him as a seat, and as he
+sate upon it, all nations came and paid him Divine homage.[87]
+
+THE TOWER OF BABEL
+
+The iniquity and godlessness of Nimrod reached their climax in the
+building of the Tower of Babel. His counsellors had proposed the plan
+of erecting such a tower, Nimrod had agreed to it, and it was executed
+in Shinar by a mob of six hundred thousand men. The enterprise was
+neither more nor less than rebellion against God, and there were three
+sorts of rebels among the builders. The first party spoke, Let us
+ascend into the heavens and wage warfare with Him; the second party
+spoke, Let us ascend into the heavens, set up our idols, and pay
+worship unto them there; and the third party spoke, Let us ascend into
+the heavens, and ruin them with our bows and spears.
+
+Many, many years were passed in building the tower. It reached so great
+a height that it took a year to mount to the top. A brick was,
+therefore, more precious in the sight of the builders than a human
+being. If a man fell down, and met his death, none took notice of it,
+but if a brick dropped, they wept, because it would take a year to
+replace it. So intent were they upon accomplishing their purpose that
+they would not permit a woman to interrupt herself in her work of
+brick-making when the hour of travail came upon her. Moulding bricks
+she gave birth to her child, and, tying it round her body in a sheet,
+she went on moulding bricks.
+
+They never slackened in their work, and from their dizzy height they
+constantly shot arrows toward heaven, which, returning, were seen to be
+covered with blood. They were thus fortified in their delusion, and
+they cried, "We have slain all who are in heaven." Thereupon God turned
+to the seventy angels who encompass His throne, and He spake: "Go to,
+let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not
+understand one another's speech." Thus it happened. Thenceforth none
+knew what the other spoke. One would ask for the mortar, and the other
+handed him a brick; in a rage, he would throw the brick at his partner
+and kill him. Many perished in this manner, and the rest were punished
+according to the nature of their rebellious conduct. Those who had
+spoken, "Let us ascend into the heavens, set up our idols, and pay
+worship unto them there," God transformed into apes and phantoms; those
+who had proposed to assault the heavens with their arms, God set
+against each other so that they fell in the combat; and those who had
+resolved to carry on a combat with God in heaven were scattered
+broadcast over the earth. As for the unfinished tower, a part sank into
+the earth, and another part was consumed by fire; only one-third of it
+remained standing.[88] The place of the tower has never lost its
+peculiar quality. Whoever passes it forgets all he knows.[89]
+
+The punishment inflicted upon the sinful generation of the tower is
+comparatively lenient. On account of rapine the generation of the flood
+were utterly destroyed, while the generation of the tower were
+preserved in spite of their blasphemies and all their other acts
+offensive to God. The reason is that God sets a high value upon peace
+and harmony. Therefore the generation of the deluge, who gave
+themselves up to depredation, and bore hatred to one another, were
+extirpated, root and branch, while the generation of the Tower of Babel
+dwelling amicably together, and loving one another, were spared alive,
+at least a remnant of them.[90]
+
+Beside the chastisement of sin and sinners by the confounding of
+speech, another notable circumstance was connected with the descent of
+God upon earth—one of only ten such descents to occur between the
+creation of the world and the day of judgment. It was on this occasion
+that God and the seventy angels that surround His throne cast lots
+concerning the various nations. Each angel received a nation, and
+Israel fell to the lot of God. To every nation a peculiar language was
+assigned, Hebrew being reserved for Israel—the language made use of by
+God at the creation of the world.[91]
+
+
+
+
+V
+ABRAHAM
+
+THE WICKED GENERATIONS
+
+Ten generations there were from Noah to Abraham, to show how great is
+the clemency of God, for all the generations provoked His wrath, until
+Abraham our father came and received the reward of all of them.[1] For
+the sake of Abraham God had shown himself long-suffering and patient
+during the lives of these ten generations. Yea, more, the world itself
+had been created for the sake of his merits.[2] His advent had been
+made manifest to his ancestor Reu, who uttered the following prophecy
+at the birth of his son Serug: "From this child he shall be born in the
+fourth generation that shall set his dwelling over the highest, and he
+shall be called perfect and spotless, and shall be the father of
+nations, and his covenant shall not be dissolved, and his seed shall be
+multiplied forever."[3]
+
+It was, indeed, high time that the "friend of God"[4] should make his
+appearance upon earth. The descendants of Noah were sinking from
+depravity to lower and lower depths of depravity. They were beginning
+to quarrel and slay, eat blood, build fortified cities and walls and
+towers, and set one man over the whole nation as king, and wage wars,
+people against people, and nations against nations, and cities against
+cities, and do all manner of evil, and acquire weapons, and teach
+warfare unto their children. And they began also to take captives and
+sell them as slaves. And they made unto themselves molten images, which
+they worshipped, each one the idol he had molten for himself, for the
+evil spirits under their leader Mastema led them astray into sin and
+uncleanness. For this reason Reu called his son Serug, because all
+mankind had turned aside unto sin and transgression. When he grew to
+manhood, the name was seen to have been chosen fittingly, for he, too,
+worshipped idols, and when he himself had a son, Nahor by name, he
+taught him the arts of the Chaldees, how to be a soothsayer and
+practice magic according to signs in the heavens. When, in time, a son
+was born to Nahor, Mastema sent ravens and other birds to despoil the
+earth and rob men of the proceeds of their work. As soon as they had
+dropped the seed in the furrows, and before they could cover it over
+with earth, the birds picked it up from the surface of the ground, and
+Nahor called his son Terah, because the ravens and the other birds
+plagued men, devoured their seed, and reduced them to destitution.[6]
+
+THE BIRTH OF ABRAHAM
+
+Terah married Emtelai, the daughter of Karnabo,[6] and the offspring of
+their union was Abraham. His birth had been read in the stars by
+Nimrod,[7] for this impious king was a cunning astrologer, and it was
+manifest to him that a man would be born in his day who would rise up
+against him and triumphantly give the lie to his religion. In his
+terror at the fate foretold him in the stars, he sent for his princes
+and governors, and asked them to advise him in the matter. They
+answered, and said: "Our unanimous advice is that thou shouldst build a
+great house, station a guard at the entrance thereof, and make known in
+the whole of thy realm that all pregnant women shall repair thither
+together with their midwives, who are to remain with them when they are
+delivered. When the days of a woman to be delivered are fulfilled, and
+the child is born, it shall be the duty of the midwife to kill it, if
+it be a boy. But if the child be a girl, it shall be kept alive, and
+the mother shall receive gifts and costly garments, and a herald shall
+proclaim, 'Thus is done unto the woman who bears a daughter!'"
+
+The king was pleased with this counsel, and he had a proclamation
+published throughout his whole kingdom, summoning all the architects to
+build a great house for him, sixty ells high and eighty wide. After it
+was completed, he issued a second proclamation, summoning all pregnant
+women thither, and there they were to remain until their confinement.
+Officers were appointed to take the women to the house, and guards were
+stationed in it and about it, to prevent the women from escaping
+thence. He furthermore sent midwives to the house, and commanded them
+to slay the men children at their mothers' breasts. But if a woman bore
+a girl, she was to be arrayed in byssus, silk, and embroidered
+garments, and led forth from the house of detention amid great honors.
+No less than seventy thousand children were slaughtered thus. Then the
+angels appeared before God, and spoke, "Seest Thou not what he doth,
+yon sinner and blasphemer, Nimrod son of Canaarl, who slays so many
+innocent babes that have done no harm?" God answered, and said: "Ye
+holy angels, I know it and I see it, for I neither slumber nor sleep. I
+behold and I know the secret things and the things that are revealed,
+and ye shall witness what I will do unto this sinner and blasphemer,
+for I will turn My hand against him to chastise him."[8]
+
+It was about this time that Terah espoused the mother of Abraham, and
+she was with child. When her body grew large at the end of three months
+of pregnancy,[9] and her countenance became pale, Terah said unto her,
+"What ails thee, my wife, that thy countenance is so pale and thy body
+so swollen?" She answered, and said, "Every year I suffer with this
+malady."[10] But Terah would not be put off thus. He insisted: "Show me
+thy body. It seems to me thou art big with child. If that be so, it
+behooves us not to violate the command of our god Nimrod."[11] When he
+passed his hand over her body, there happened a miracle. The child rose
+until it lay beneath her breasts, and Terah could feel nothing with his
+hands. He said to his wife, "Thou didst speak truly," and naught became
+visible until the day of her delivery.
+
+When her time approached, she left the city in great terror and
+wandered toward the desert, walking along the edge of a valley,[12]
+until she happened across a cave. She entered this refuge, and on the
+next day she was seized with throes, and she gave birth to a son. The
+whole cave was filled with the light of the child's countenance as with
+the splendor of the sun, and the mother rejoiced exceedingly. The babe
+she bore was our father Abraham.
+
+His mother lamented, and said to her son: "Alas that I bore thee at a
+time when Nimrod is king. For thy sake seventy thousand men children
+were slaughtered, and I am seized with terror on account of thee, that
+he hear of thy existence, and slay thee. Better thou shouldst perish
+here in this cave than my eye should behold thee dead at my breast."
+She took the garment in which she was clothed, and wrapped it about the
+boy. Then she abandoned him in the cave, saying, "May the Lord be with
+thee, may He not fail thee nor forsake thee."[13]
+
+THE BABE PROCLAIMS GOD
+
+Thus Abraham was deserted in the cave, without a nurse, and he began to
+wail. God sent Gabriel down to give him milk to drink, and the angel
+made it to flow from the little finger of the baby's right hand, and he
+sucked at it until he was ten days old.[14] Then he arose and walked
+about, and he left the cave, and went along the edge of the valley.[15]
+When the sun sank, and the stars came forth, he said, "These are the
+gods!" But the dawn came, and the stars could be seen no longer, and
+then he said, "I will not pay worship to these, for they are no gods."
+Thereupon the sun came forth, and he spoke, "This is my god, him will I
+extol." But again the sun set, and he said, "He is no god," and
+beholding the moon, he called her his god to whom he would pay Divine
+homage. Then the moon was obscured, and he cried out: "This, too, is no
+god! There is One who sets them all in motion."[16]
+
+He was still communing with himself when the angel Gabriel approached
+him and met him with the greeting, "Peace be with thee," and Abraham
+returned, "With thee be peace," and asked, "Who art thou?" And Gabriel
+answered, and said, "I am the angel Gabriel, the messenger of God," and
+he led Abraham to a spring of water near by, and Abraham washed his
+face and his hands and feet, and he prayed to God, bowing down and
+prostrating himself.
+
+Meantime the mother of Abraham thought of him in sorrow and tears, and
+she went forth from the city to seek him in the cave in which she had
+abandoned him. Not finding her son, she wept bitterly, and said, "Woe
+unto me that I bore thee but to become a prey of wild beasts, the bears
+and the lions and the wolves!" She went to the edge of the valley, and
+there she found her son. But she did not recognize him, for he had
+grown very large. She addressed the lad, "Peace be with thee!" and he
+returned, "With thee be peace!" and he continued, "Unto what purpose
+didst thou come to the desert?" She replied, "I went forth from the
+city to seek my son." Abraham questioned further, "Who brought thy son
+hither?" and the mother replied thereto: "I had become pregnant from my
+husband Terah, and when the days of my delivery were fulfilled, I was
+in anxiety about my son in my womb, lest our king come, the son of
+Canaan, and slay him as he had slain the seventy thousand other men
+children. Scarcely had I reached the cave in this valley when the
+throes of travailing seized me, and I bore a son, whom I left behind in
+the cave, and I went home again. Now am I come to seek him, but I find
+him not."
+
+Abraham then spoke, "As to this child thou tellest of, how old was it?"
+
+The mother: "It was about twenty days old."
+
+Abraham: "Is there a woman in the world who would forsake her new-born
+son in the desert, and come to seek him after twenty days?"
+
+The mother: "Peradventure God will show Himself a merciful God!"
+
+Abraham: "I am the son whom thou hast come to seek in this valley!"
+
+The mother: "My son, how thou art grown! But twenty days old, and thou
+canst already walk, and talk with thy mouth!"[17]
+
+Abraham: "So it is, and thus, O my mother, it is made known unto thee
+that there is in the world a great, terrible, living, and ever-existing
+God, who doth see, but who cannot be seen. He is in the heavens above,
+and the whole earth is full of His glory."
+
+The mother: "My son, is there a God beside Nimrod?"
+
+Abraham: "Yes, mother, the God of the heavens and the God of the earth,
+He is also the God of Nimrod son of Canaan. Go, therefore, and carry
+this message unto Nimrod."
+
+The mother of Abraham returned to the city and told her husband Terah
+how she had found their son. Terah, who was a prince and a magnate in
+the house of the king, betook himself to the royal palace, and cast
+himself down before the king upon his face. It was the rule that one
+who prostrated himself before the king was not permitted to lift up his
+head until the king bade him lift it up. Nimrod gave permission to
+Terah to rise and state his request. Thereupon Terah related all that
+had happened with his wife and his son. When Nimrod heard his tale,
+abject fear seized upon him, and he asked his counsellors and princes
+what to do with the lad. They answered, and said: "Our king and our
+god! Wherefore art thou in fear by reason of a little child? There are
+myriads upon myriads of princes in thy realm,[18] rulers of thousands,
+rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, and
+overseers without number. Let the pettiest of the princes go and fetch
+the boy and put him in prison." But the king interposed, "Have ye ever
+seen a baby of twenty days walking with his feet, speaking with his
+mouth, and proclaiming with his tongue that there is a God in heaven,
+who is One, and none beside Him, who sees and is not seen?" All the
+assembled princes were horror struck at these words.[19]
+
+At this time Satan in human form appeared, clad in black silk garb, and
+he cast himself down before the king. Nimrod said, "Raise thy head and
+state thy request." Satan asked the king: "Why art thou terrified, and
+why are ye all in fear on account of a little lad? I will counsel thee
+what thou shalt do: Open thy arsenal and give weapons unto all the
+princes, chiefs, and governors, and unto all the warriors, and send
+them to fetch him unto thy service and to be under thy dominion."
+
+This advice given by Satan the king accepted and followed. He sent a
+great armed host to bring Abraham to him. When the boy saw the army
+approach him, he was sore afraid, and amid tears he implored God for
+help. In answer to his prayer, God sent the angel Gabriel to him, and
+he said: "Be not afraid and disquieted, for God is with thee. He will
+rescue thee out of the hands of all thine adversaries." God commanded
+Gabriel to put thick, dark clouds between Abraham and his assailants.
+Dismayed by the heavy clouds, they fled, returning to Nimrod, their
+king, and they said to him, "Let us depart and leave this realm," and
+the king gave money unto all his princes and his servants, and together
+with the king they departed and journeyed to Babylon.[20]
+
+ABRAHAM'S FIRST APPEARANCE IN PUBLIC
+
+Now Abraham, at the command of God, was ordered by the angel Gabriel to
+follow Nimrod to Babylon. He objected that he was in no wise equipped
+to undertake a campaign against the king, but Gabriel calmed him with
+the words: "Thou needest no provision for the way, no horse to ride
+upon, no warriors to carry on war with Nimrod, no chariots, nor riders.
+Do thou but sit thyself upon my shoulder, and I shall bear thee to
+Babylon."
+
+Abraham did as he was bidden, and in the twinkling of an eye he found
+himself before the gates of the city of Babylon.[21] At the behest of
+the angel, he entered the city, and he called unto the dwellers therein
+with a loud voice: "The Eternal, He is the One Only God, and there is
+none beside. He is the God of the heavens, and the God of the gods, and
+the God of Nimrod. Acknowledge this as the truth, all ye men, women,
+and children. Acknowledge also that I am Abraham His servant, the
+trusted steward of His house."
+
+Abraham met his parents in Babylon, and also he saw the angel Gabriel,
+who bade him proclaim the true faith to his father and his mother.
+Therefore Abraham spake to them, and said: "Ye serve a man of your own
+kind, and you pay worship to an image of Nimrod. Know ye not that it
+has a mouth, but it speaks not; an eye, but it sees not; an ear, but it
+hears not; nor does it walk upon its feet, and there is no profit in
+it, either unto itself or unto others?"
+
+When Terah heard these words, he persuaded Abraham to follow him into
+the house, where his son told him all that had happened—how in one day
+he had completed a forty days' journey. Terah thereupon went to Nimrod
+and reported to him that his son Abraham had suddenly appeared in
+Babylon.[22] The king sent for Abraham, and he came before him with his
+father. Abraham passed the magnates and the dignitaries until he
+reached the royal throne, upon which he seized hold, shaking it and
+crying out with a loud voice: "O Nimrod, thou contemptible wretch, that
+deniest the essence of faith, that deniest the living and immutable
+God, and Abraham His servant, the trusted steward of His house.
+Acknowledge Him, and repeat after me the words: The Eternal is God, the
+Only One, and there is none beside; He is incorporeal, living,
+ever-existing; He slumbers not and sleeps not, who hath created the
+world that men might believe in Him. And confess also concerning me,
+and say that I am the servant of God and the trusted steward of His
+house."[23]
+
+While Abraham proclaimed this with a loud voice, the idols fell upon
+their faces, and with them also King Nimrod.[24] For a space of two
+hours and a half the king lay lifeless, and when his soul returned upon
+him, he spoke and said, "Is it thy voice, O Abraham, or the voice of
+thy God?" And Abraham answered, and said, "This voice is the voice of
+the least of all creatures called into existence by God." Thereupon
+Nimrod said, "Verily, the God of Abraham is a great and powerful God,
+the King of all kings," and he commanded Terah to take his son and
+remove him, and return again unto his own city, and father and son did
+as the king had ordered.[25]
+
+THE PREACHER OF THE TRUE FAITH
+
+When Abraham attained the age of twenty years, his father Terah fell
+ill. He spoke as follows to his sons Haran and Abraham, "I adjure you
+by your lives, my sons, sell these two idols for me, for I have not
+enough money to meet our expenses." Haran executed the wish of his
+father, but if any one accosted Abraham, to buy an idol from him, and
+asked him the price, he would answer, "Three manehs," and then question
+in turn, "How old art thou?" "Thirty years," the reply would be. "Thou
+art thirty years of age, and yet thou wouldst worship this idol which I
+made but to-day?" The man would depart and go his way, and another
+would approach Abraham, and ask, "How much is this idol?" and "Five
+manehs" would be the reply, and again Abraham would put the question,
+"How old art thou?"—"Fifty years."—"And dost thou who art fifty years
+of age bow down before this idol which was made but to-day?" Thereupon
+the man would depart and go his way. Abraham then took two idols, put a
+rope about their necks, and, with their faces turned downward, he
+dragged them along the ground, crying aloud all the time: "Who will buy
+an idol wherein there is no profit, either unto itself or unto him that
+buys it in order to worship it? It has a mouth, but it speaketh not;
+eyes, but it seeth not; feet, but it walketh not; ears, but it heareth
+not."
+
+The people who heard Abraham were amazed exceedingly at his words. As
+he went through the streets, he met an old woman who approached him
+with the purpose of buying an idol, good and big, to be worshipped and
+loved. "Old woman, old woman," said Abraham, "I know no profit therein,
+either in the big ones or in the little ones, either unto themselves or
+unto others. And," he continued to speak to her, "what has become of
+the big image thou didst buy from my brother Haran, to worship it?"
+"Thieves," she replied, "came in the night and stole it, while I was
+still at the bath." "If it be thus," Abraham went on questioning her,
+"how canst thou pay homage to an idol that cannot save itself from
+thieves, let alone save others, like thyself, thou silly old woman, out
+of misfortune? How is it possible for thee to say that the image thou
+worshippest is a god? If it be a god, why did it not save itself out of
+the hands of those thieves? Nay, in the idol there is no profit, either
+unto itself or unto him that adores it."[26]
+
+The old woman rejoined, "If what thou sayest be true, whom shall I
+serve?" "Serve the God of all gods," returned Abraham, "the Lord of
+lords, who hath created heaven and earth, the sea and all therein—the
+God of Nimrod and the God of Terah, the God of the east, the west, the
+south, and the north. Who is Nimrod, the dog, who calleth himself a
+god, that worship be offered unto him?"
+
+Abraham succeeded in opening the eyes of the old woman, and she became
+a zealous missionary for the true God. When she discovered the thieves
+who had carried off her idol, and they restored it to her, she broke it
+in pieces with a stone, and as she wended her way through the streets,
+she cried aloud, "Who would save his soul from destruction, and be
+prosperous in all his doings, let him serve the God of Abraham." Thus
+she converted many men and women to the true belief.
+
+Rumors of the words and deeds of the old woman reached the king, and he
+sent for her. When she appeared before him, he rebuked her harshly,
+asking her how she dared serve any god but himself. The old woman
+replied: "Thou art a liar, thou deniest the essence of faith, the One
+Only God, beside whom there is no other god. Thou livest upon His
+bounty, but thou payest worship to another, and thou dost repudiate
+Him, and His teachings, and Abraham His servant."
+
+The old woman had to pay for her zeal for the faith with her life.
+Nevertheless great fear and terror took possession of Nimrod, because
+the people became more and more attached to the teachings of Abraham,
+and he knew not how to deal with the man who was undermining the old
+faith. At the advice of his princes, he arranged a seven days'
+festival, at which all the people were bidden to appear in their robes
+of state, their gold and silver apparel. By such display of wealth and
+power he expected to intimidate Abraham and bring him back to the faith
+of the king. Through his father Terah, Nimrod invited Abraham to come
+before him, that he might have the opportunity of seeing his greatness
+and wealth, and the glory of his dominion, and the multitude of his
+princes and attendants. But Abraham refused to appear before the king.
+On the other hand, he granted his father's request that in his absence
+he sit by his idols and the king's, and take care of them.
+
+Alone with the idols, and while he repeated the words, "The Eternal He
+is God, the Eternal He is God!" he struck the king's idols from their
+thrones, and began to belabor them with an axe. With the biggest he
+started, and with the smallest he ended. He hacked off the feet of one,
+and the other he beheaded. This one had his eyes struck out, the other
+had his hands crushed.[27] After all were mutilated, he went away,
+having first put the axe into the hand of the largest idol.
+
+The feast ended, the king returned, and when he saw all his idols
+shivered in pieces, he inquired who had perpetrated the mischief.
+Abraham was named as the one who had been guilty of the outrage, and
+the king summoned him and questioned him as to his motive for the deed.
+Abraham replied: "I did not do it; it was the largest of the idols who
+shattered all the rest. Seest thou not that he still has the axe in his
+hand? And if thou wilt not believe my words, ask him and he will tell
+thee."
+
+IN THE FIERY FURNACE
+
+Now the king was exceedingly wroth at Abraham, and ordered him to be
+cast into prison, where he commanded the warden not to give him bread
+or water.[28] But God hearkened unto the prayer of Abraham, and sent
+Gabriel to him in his dungeon. For a year the angel dwelt with him, and
+provided him with all sorts of food, and a spring of fresh water welled
+up before him, and he drank of it. At the end of a year, the magnates
+of the realm presented themselves before the king, and advised him to
+cast Abraham into the fire, that the people might believe in Nimrod
+forever. Thereupon the king issued a decree that all the subjects of
+the king in all his provinces, men and women, young and old, should
+bring wood within forty days, and he caused it to be thrown into a
+great furnace and set afire.[29] The flames shot up to the skies, and
+the people were sore afraid of the fire. Now the warden of the prison
+was ordered to bring Abraham forth and cast him in the flames. The
+warden reminded the king that Abraham had not had food or drink a whole
+year, and therefore must be dead, but Nimrod nevertheless desired him
+to step in front of the prison and call his name. If he made reply, he
+was to be hauled out to the pyre. If he had perished, his remains were
+to receive burial, and his memory was to be wiped out henceforth.
+
+Greatly amazed the warden was when his cry, "Abraham, art thou alive?"
+was answered with "I am living." He questioned further, "Who has been
+bringing thee food and drink all these many days?" and Abraham replied:
+"Food and drink have been bestowed upon me by Him who is over all
+things, the God of all gods and the Lord of all lords, who alone doeth
+wonders, He who is the God of Nimrod and the God of Terah and the God
+of the whole world. He dispenseth food and drink unto all beings. He
+sees, but He cannot be seen, He is in the heavens above, and He is
+present in all places, for He Himself superviseth all things and
+provideth for all."
+
+The miraculous rescue of Abraham from death by starvation and thirst
+convinced the prison-keeper of the truth of God and His prophet
+Abraham, and he acknowledged his belief in both publicly. The king's
+threat of death unless he recanted could not turn him away from his new
+and true faith. When the hangman raised his sword and set it at his
+throat to kill him, he exclaimed, "The Eternal He is God, the God of
+the whole world as well as of the blasphemer Nimrod." But the sword
+could not cut his flesh. The harder it was pressed against his throat,
+the more it broke into pieces.[30]
+
+Nimrod, however, was not to be turned aside from his purpose, to make
+Abraham suffer death by fire. One of the princes was dispatched to
+fetch him forth. But scarcely did the messenger set about the task of
+throwing him into the fire, when the flame leapt forth from the furnace
+and consumed him. Many more attempts were made to cast Abraham into the
+furnace, but always with the same success—whoever seized him to pitch
+him in was himself burnt, and a large number lost their lives. Satan
+appeared in human shape, and advised the king to place Abraham in a
+catapult and sling him into the fire. Thus no one would be required to
+come near the flame. Satan himself constructed the catapult. Having
+proved it fit three times by means of stones put in the machine, they
+bound Abraham, hand and foot, and were about to consign him to the
+flames. At that moment Satan, still disguised in human shape,
+approached Abraham, and said, "If thou desirest to deliver thyself from
+the fire of Nimrod, bow down before him and believe in him." But
+Abraham rejected the tempter with the words, "May the Eternal rebuke
+thee, thou vile, contemptible, accursed blasphemer!" and Satan departed
+from him.
+
+Then the mother of Abraham came to him and implored him to pay homage
+to Nimrod and escape the impending misfortune. But he said to her: "O
+mother, water can extinguish Nimrod's fire, but the fire of God will
+not die out for evermore. Water cannot quench it."[31] When his mother
+heard these words, she spake, "May the God whom thou servest rescue
+thee from the fire of Nimrod!"
+
+Abraham was finally placed in the catapult, and he raised his eyes
+heavenward, and spoke, "O Lord my God, Thou seest what this sinner
+purposes to do unto me!"[32] His confidence in God was unshakable. When
+the angels received the Divine permission to save him, and Gabriel
+approached him, and asked, "Abraham, shall I save thee from the fire?"
+he replied, "God in whom I trust, the God of heaven and earth, will
+rescue me," and God, seeing the submissive spirit of Abraham, commanded
+the fire, "Cool off and bring tranquillity to my servant Abraham."[33]
+
+No water was needed to extinguish the fire. The logs burst into buds,
+and all the different kinds of wood put forth fruit, each tree bearing
+its own kind. The furnace was transformed into a royal pleasance, and
+the angels sat therein with Abraham. When the king saw the miracle, he
+said: "Great witchcraft! Thou makest it known that fire hath no power
+over thee, and at the same time thou showest thyself unto the people
+sitting in a pleasure garden." But the princes of Nimrod interposed all
+with one voice, "Nay, our lord, this is not witchcraft, it is the power
+of the great God, the God of Abraham, beside whom there is no other
+god, and we acknowledge that He is God, and Abraham is His servant."
+All the princes and all the people believed in God at this hour, in the
+Eternal, the God of Abraham, and they all cried out, "The Lord He is
+God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath; there is none
+else."[34]
+
+Abraham was the superior, not only of the impious king Nimrod and his
+attendants, but also of the pious men of his time, Noah, Shem, Eber,
+and Asshur.[35] Noah gave himself no concern whatsoever in the matter
+of spreading the pure faith in God. He took an interest in planting his
+vineyard, and was immersed in material pleasures. Shem and Eber kept in
+hiding, and as for Asshur, he said, "How can I live among such
+sinners?" and departed out of the land.[36] The only one who remained
+unshaken was Abraham. "I will not forsake God," he said, and therefore
+God did not forsake him, who had hearkened neither unto his father nor
+unto his mother.
+
+The miraculous deliverance of Abraham from the fiery furnace, together
+with his later fortunes, was the fulfilment and explanation of what his
+father Terah had read in the stars. He had seen the star of Haran
+consumed by fire, and at the same time fill and rule the whole world.
+The meaning was plain now. Haran was irresolute in his faith, he could
+not decide whether to adhere to Abraham or the idolaters. When it
+befell that those who would not serve idols were cast into the fiery
+furnace, Haran reasoned in this manner: "Abraham, being my elder, will
+be called upon before me. If he comes forth out of the fiery trial
+triumphant, I will declare my allegiance to him; otherwise I will take
+sides against him." After God Himself had rescued Abraham from death,
+and Haran's turn came to make his confession of faith, he announced his
+adherence to Abraham. But scarcely had he come near the furnace,[37]
+when he was seized by the flames and consumed, because he was lacking
+in firm faith in God. Terah had read the stars well, it now appeared:
+Haran was burnt, and his daughter Sarah[38] became the wife of Abraham,
+whose descendants fill the earth.[39] In another way the death of Haran
+was noteworthy. It was the first instance, since the creation of the
+world, of a son's dying while his father was still alive.[40]
+
+The king, the princes, and all the people, who had been witnesses of
+the wonders done for Abraham, came to him, and prostrated themselves
+before him. But Abraham said: "Do not bow down before me, but before
+God, the Master of the universe, who hath created you. Serve Him and
+walk in His ways, for He it was who delivered me from the flames, and
+He it is who hath created the soul and the spirit of every human being,
+who formeth man in the womb of his mother, and bringeth him into the
+world. He saveth from all sickness those who put their trust in Him."
+
+The king then dismissed Abraham, after loading him down with an
+abundance of precious gifts, among them two slaves who had been raised
+in the royal palace. 'Ogi was the name of the one, Eliezer the name of
+the other. The princes followed the example of the king, and they gave
+him silver, and gold, and gems. But all these gifts did not rejoice the
+heart of Abraham so much as the three hundred followers that joined him
+and became adherents of his religion.
+
+ABRAHAM EMIGRATES TO HARAN
+
+For a period of two years Abraham could devote himself undisturbed to
+his chosen task of turning the hearts of men to God and His
+teachings.[41] In his pious undertaking he was aided by his wife Sarah,
+whom he had married in the meantime. While he exhorted the men and
+sought to convert them, Sarah addressed herself to the women.[42] She
+was a helpmeet worthy of Abraham. Indeed, in prophetical powers she
+ranked higher than her husband.[43] She was sometimes called Iscah,
+"the seer," on that account.[44]
+
+At the expiration of two years it happened that Nimrod dreamed a dream.
+In his dream he found himself with his army near the fiery furnace in
+the valley into which Abraham had been cast. A man resembling Abraham
+stepped out of the furnace, and he ran after the king with drawn sword,
+the king fleeing before him in terror. While running, the pursuer threw
+an egg at Nimrod's head, and a mighty stream issued therefrom, wherein
+the king's whole host was drowned. The king alone survived, with three
+men. When Nimrod examined his companions, he observed that they wore
+royal attire, and in form and stature they resembled himself. The
+stream changed back into an egg again, and a little chick broke forth
+from it, and it flew up, settled upon the head of the king, and put out
+one of his eyes.
+
+The king was confounded in his sleep, and when he awoke, his heart beat
+like a trip-hammer, and his fear was exceeding great. In the morning,
+when he arose, he sent and called for his wise men and his magicians,
+and told them his dream. One of his wise men, Anoko by name, stood up,
+and said: "Know, O king, this dream points to the misfortune which
+Abraham and his descendants will bring upon thee. A time will come when
+he and his followers will make war upon thy army, and they will
+annihilate it. Thou and the three kings, thy allies, will be the only
+ones to escape death. But later thou wilt lose thy life at the hands of
+one of the descendants of Abraham. Consider, O king, that thy wise men
+read this fate of thine in the stars, fifty-two years ago, at the birth
+of Abraham. As long as Abraham liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not
+be stablished, nor thy kingdom." Nimrod took Anoko's words to heart,
+and dispatched some of his servants to seize Abraham and kill him. It
+happened that Eliezer, the slave whom Abraham had received as a present
+from Nimrod, was at that time at the royal court. With great haste he
+sped to Abraham to induce him to flee before the king's bailiffs. His
+master accepted his advice, and took refuge in the house of Noah and
+Shem, where he lay in hiding a whole month. The king's officers
+reported that despite zealous efforts Abraham was nowhere to be found.
+Thenceforth the king did not concern himself about Abraham.
+
+When Terah visited his son in his hiding-place, Abraham proposed that
+they leave the land and take up their abode in Canaan, in order to
+escape the pursuit of Nimrod. He said: "Consider that it was not for
+thy sake that Nimrod overloaded thee with honors, but for his own
+profit. Though he continue to confer the greatest of benefactions upon
+thee, what are they but earthly vanity? for riches and possessions
+profit not in the day of wrath and fury. Hearken unto my voice, O my
+father, let us depart for the land of Canaan, and serve the God that
+hath created thee, that it may be well with thee."
+
+Noah and Shem aided and abetted the efforts of Abraham to persuade
+Terah, whereupon Terah consented to leave his country, and he, and
+Abraham, and Lot, the son of Haran, departed for Haran with their
+households. They found the land pleasant, and also the inhabitants
+thereof, who readily yielded to the influence of Abraham's humane
+spirit and his piety. Many of them obeyed his precepts and became
+God-fearing and good.[45]
+
+Terah's resolve to quit his native land for the sake of Abraham and
+take up his abode in strange parts, and his impulse to do it before
+even the Divine call visited Abraham himself—this the Lord accounted a
+great merit unto Terah, and he was permitted to see his son Abraham
+rule as king over the whole world. For when the miracle happened, and
+Isaac was born unto his aged parents, the whole world repaired to
+Abraham and Sarah, and demanded to know what they had done that so
+great a thing should be accomplished for them. Abraham told them all
+that had happened between Nimrod and himself, how he had been ready to
+be burnt for the glory of God, and how the Lord had rescued him from
+the flames. In token of their admiration for Abraham and his teachings,
+they appointed him to be their king, and in commemoration of Isaac's
+wondrous birth, the money coined by Abraham bore the figures of an aged
+husband and wife on the obverse side, and of a young man and his wife
+on the reverse side, for Abraham and Sarah both were rejuvenated at the
+birth of Isaac, Abraham's white hair turned black, and the lines in
+Sarah's face were smoothed out.
+
+For many years Terah continued to live a witness of his son's glory,
+for his death did not occur until Isaac was a youth of thirty-five.[46]
+And a still greater reward waited upon his good deed. God accepted his
+repentance, and when he departed this life, he entered into Paradise,
+and not into hell, though he had passed the larger number of his days
+in sin. Indeed, it had been his fault that Abraham came near losing his
+life at the hands of Nimrod.[47]
+
+THE STAR IN THE EAST
+
+Terah had been a high official at the court of Nimrod, and he was held
+in great consideration by the king and his suite. A son was born unto
+him whom he called Abram, because the king had raised him to an exalted
+place. In the night of Abraham's birth, the astrologers and the wise
+men of Nimrod came to the house of Terah, and ate and drank, and
+rejoiced with him that night. When they left the house, they lifted up
+their eyes toward heaven to look at the stars, and they saw, and,
+behold, one great star came from the east and ran athwart the heavens
+and swallowed up the four stars at the four corners. They all were
+astonished at the sight, but they understood this matter, and knew its
+import. They said to one another: "This only betokens that the child
+that hath been born unto Terah this night will grow up and be fruitful,
+and he will multiply and possess all the earth, he and his children
+forever, and he and his seed will slay great kings and inherit their
+lands."
+
+They went home that night, and in the morning they rose up early, and
+assembled in their meeting-house. They spake, and said to one another:
+"Lo, the sight that we saw last night is hidden from the king, it has
+not been made known to him, and should this thing become known to him
+in the latter days, he will say to us, Why did you conceal this matter
+from me? and then we shall all suffer death. Now, let us go and tell
+the king the sight which we saw, and the interpretation thereof, and we
+shall be clear from this thing." And they went to the king and told him
+the sight they had seen, and their interpretation thereof, and they
+added the advice that he pay the value of the child to Terah, and slay
+the babe.
+
+Accordingly, the king sent for Terah, and when he came, he spake to
+him: "It hath been told unto me that a son was born to thee
+yesternight, and a wondrous sign was observed in the heavens at his
+birth. Now give me the boy, that we may slay him before evil comes upon
+us from him, and I will give thee thy house full of silver and gold in
+exchange for him." Terah answered: "This thing which thou promisest
+unto me is like the words which a man spoke to a mule, saying, 'I will
+give thee a great heap of barley, a houseful thereof, on condition that
+I cut off thy head!' The mule replied, 'Of what use will all the barley
+be to me, if thou cuttest off my head? Who will eat it when thou givest
+it to me?' Thus also do I say: What shall I do with silver and gold
+after the death of my son? Who shall inherit me?" But when Terah saw
+how the king's anger burned within him at these words, he added,
+"Whatever the king desireth to do unto his servant, that let him do,
+even my son is at the king's disposal, without value or exchange, he
+and his two older brethren."
+
+The king spake, however, saying, "I will purchase thy youngest son for
+a price." And Terah made answer, "Let my king give me three days' time
+to consider the matter and consult about it with my family." The king
+agreed to this condition, and on the third day he sent to Terah,
+saying, "Give me thy son for a price, as I spoke unto thee, and if thou
+wilt not do this, I will send and slay all thou hast in thy house,
+there shall not be a dog left unto thee."
+
+Then Terah took a child which his handmaid had borne unto him that day,
+and he brought the babe to the king, and received value for him, and
+the king took the child and dashed his head against the ground, for he
+thought it was Abraham. But Terah took his son Abraham, together with
+the child's mother and his nurse, and concealed them in a cave, and
+thither he carried provisions to them once a month, and the Lord was
+with Abraham in the cave, and he grew up, but the king and all his
+servants thought that Abraham was dead.
+
+And when Abraham was ten years old, he and his mother and his nurse
+went out from the cave, for the king and his servants had forgotten the
+affair of Abraham.
+
+In that time all the inhabitants of the earth, with the exception of
+Noah and his household, transgressed against the Lord, and they made
+unto themselves every man his god, gods of wood and stone, which could
+neither speak, nor hear, nor deliver from distress. The king and all
+his servants, and Terah with his household, were the first to worship
+images of wood and stone. Terah made twelve gods of large size, of wood
+and of stone, corresponding to the twelve months of the year, and he
+paid homage to them monthly in turn.[48]
+
+THE TRUE BELIEVER
+
+Once Abraham went into the temple of the idols in his father's house,
+to bring sacrifices to them, and he found one of them, Marumath by
+name, hewn out of stone, lying prostrate on his face before the iron
+god of Nahor. The idol was too heavy for him to raise it alone, and he
+called his father to help him put Marumath back in his place. While
+they were handling the image, its head dropped off, and Terah took a
+stone, and chiselled another Marumath, setting the head of the first
+upon the new body. Then Terah continued and made five more gods, and
+all these he delivered to Abraham, and bade him sell them in the
+streets of the city.
+
+Abraham saddled his mule, and went to the inn where merchants from
+Fandana in Syria put up on their way to Egypt. He hoped to dispose of
+his wares there. When he reached the inn, one of the camels belonging
+to the merchants belched, and the sound frightened his mule so that it
+ran off pell-mell and broke three of the idols. The merchants not only
+bought the two sound idols from him, they also gave him the price of
+the broken ones, for Abraham had told them how distressed he was to
+appear before his father with less money than he had expected to
+receive for his handiwork.
+
+This incident made Abraham reflect upon the worthlessness of idols, and
+he said to himself: "What are these evil things done by my father? Is
+not he the god of his gods, for do they not come into being by reason
+of his carving and chiselling and contriving? Were it not more seemly
+that they should pay worship to him than he to them, seeing they are
+the work of his hands?" Meditating thus, he reached his father's house,
+and he entered and handed his father the money for the five images, and
+Terah rejoiced, and said, "Blessed art thou unto my gods, because thou
+didst bring me the price of the idols, and my labor was not in vain."
+But Abraham made reply: "Hear, my father Terah, blessed are thy gods
+through thee, for thou art their god, since thou didst fashion them,
+and their blessing is destruction and their help is vanity. They that
+help not themselves, how can they help thee or bless me?"
+
+Terah grew very wrathful at Abraham, that he uttered such speech
+against his gods, and Abraham, thinking upon his father's anger, left
+him and went from the house. But Terah called him back, and said,
+"Gather together the chips of the oak wood from which I made images
+before thou didst return, and prepare my dinner for me." Abraham made
+ready to do his father's bidding, and as he took up the chips he found
+a little god among them, whose forehead bore the inscription "God
+Barisat." He threw the chips upon the fire, and set Barisat up next to
+it, saying: "Attention! Take care, Barisat, that the fire go not out
+until I come back. If it burns low, blow into it, and make it flame up
+again." Speaking thus, he went out. When he came in again, he found
+Barisat lying prone upon his back, badly burnt. Smiling, he said to
+himself, "In truth, Barisat, thou canst keep the fire alive and prepare
+food," and while he spoke, the idol was consumed to ashes. Then he took
+the dishes to his father, and he ate and drank and was glad and blessed
+his god Marumath. But Abraham said to his father, "Bless not thy god
+Marumath, but rather thy god Barisat, for he it was who, out of his
+great love for thee, threw himself into the fire that thy meal might be
+cooked." "Where is he now?" exclaimed Terah, and Abraham answered, "He
+hath become ashes in the fierceness of the fire." Terah said, "Great is
+the power of Barisat! I will make me another this day, and to-morrow he
+will prepare my food for me."
+
+These words of his father made Abraham laugh in his mind, but his soul
+was grieved at his obduracy, and he proceeded to make clear his views
+upon the idols, saying: "Father, no matter which of the two idols thou
+blessest, thy behavior is senseless, for the images that stand in the
+holy temple are more to be worshipped than thine. Zucheus, the god of
+my brother Nahor, is more venerable than Marumath, because he is made
+cunningly of gold, and when he grows old, he will be worked over again.
+But when thy Marumath becomes dim, or is shivered in pieces, he will
+not be renewed, for he is of stone. And the god Joauv, who stands above
+the other gods with Zucheus, is more venerable than Barisat, made of
+wood, because he is hammered out of silver, and ornamented by men, to
+show his magnificence. But thy Barisat, before thou didst fashion him
+into a god with thy axe, was rooted in the earth, standing there great
+and wonderful, with the glory of branches and blossoms. Now he is dry,
+and gone is his sap. From his height he has fallen to the earth, from
+grandeur he came to pettiness, and the appearance of his face has paled
+away, and he himself was burnt in the fire, and he was consumed unto
+ashes, and he is no more. And thou didst then say, 'I will make me
+another this day, and to-morrow he will prepare my food for me.'
+Father," Abraham continued, and said, "the fire is more to be
+worshipped than thy gods of gold and silver and wood and stone, because
+it consumes them. But also the fire I call not god, because it is
+subject to the water, which quenches it. But also the water I call not
+god, because it is sucked up by the earth, and I call the earth more
+venerable, because it conquers the water. But also the earth I call not
+god, because it is dried out by the sun, and I call the sun more
+venerable than the earth, because he illumines the whole world with his
+rays. But also the sun I call not god, because his light is obscured
+when darkness cometh up. Nor do I call the moon and the stars gods,
+because their light, too, is extinguished when their time to shine is
+past. But hearken unto this, my father Terah, which I will declare unto
+thee, The God who hath created all things, He is the true God, He hath
+empurpled the heavens, and gilded the sun, and given radiance to the
+moon and also the stars, and He drieth out the earth in the midst of
+many waters, and also thee hath He put upon the earth, and me hath He
+sought out in the confusion of my thoughts."[49]
+
+THE ICONOCLAST
+
+But Terah could not be convinced, and in reply to Abraham's question,
+who the God was that had created heaven and earth and the children of
+men, he took him to the hall wherein stood twelve great idols and a
+large number of little idols, and pointing to them he said, "Here are
+they who have made all thou seest on earth, they who have created also
+me and thee and all men on the earth," and he bowed down before his
+gods, and left the hall with his son.
+
+Abraham went thence to his mother, and he spoke to her, saying:
+"Behold, my father has shown those unto me who made heaven and earth
+and all the sons of men. Now, therefore, hasten and fetch a kid from
+the flock, and make of it savory meat, that I may bring it to my
+father's gods, perhaps I may thereby become acceptable to them." His
+mother did according to his request, but when Abraham brought the
+offering to the gods, he saw that they had no voice, no hearing, no
+motion, and not one of them stretched forth his hand to eat. Abraham
+mocked them, and said, "Surely, the savory meat that I prepared doth
+not please you, or perhaps it is too little for you! Therefore I will
+prepare fresh savory meat to-morrow, better and more plentiful than
+this, that I may see what cometh therefrom." But the gods remained mute
+and without motion before the second offering of excellent savory meat
+as before the first offering, and the spirit of God came over Abraham,
+and he cried out, and said: "Woe unto my father and his wicked
+generation, whose hearts are all inclined to vanity, who serve these
+idols of wood and stone, which cannot eat, nor smell, nor hear, nor
+speak, which have mouths without speech, eyes without sight, ears
+without hearing, hands without feeling, and legs without motion!"
+
+Abraham then took a hatchet in his hand, and broke all his father's
+gods, and when he had done breaking them he placed the hatchet in the
+hand of the biggest god among them all, and he went out. Terah, having
+heard the crash of the hatchet on the stone, ran to the room of the
+idols, and he reached it at the moment when Abraham was leaving it, and
+when he saw what had happened, he hastened after Abraham, and he said
+to him, "What is this mischief thou hast done to my gods?" Abraham
+answered: "I set savory meat before them, and when I came nigh unto
+them, that they might eat, they all stretched out their hands to take
+of the meat, before the big one had put forth his hand to eat. This
+one, enraged against them on account of their behavior, took the
+hatchet and broke them all, and, behold, the hatchet is yet in his
+hands, as thou mayest see."
+
+Then Terah turned in wrath upon Abraham, and he said: "Thou speakest
+lies unto me! Is there spirit, soul, or power in these gods to do all
+thou hast told me? Are they not wood and stone? and have I not myself
+made them? It is thou that didst place the hatchet in the hand of the
+big god, and thou sayest he smote them all." Abraham answered his
+father, and said: "How, then, canst thou serve these idols in whom
+there is no power to do anything? Can these idols in which thou
+trustest deliver thee? Can they hear thy prayers when thou callest upon
+them?" After having spoken these and similar words, admonishing his
+father to mend his ways and refrain from worshipping idols, he leapt up
+before Terah, took the hatchet from the big idol, broke it therewith,
+and ran away.
+
+Terah hastened to Nimrod, bowed down before him, and besought him to
+hear his story, about his son who had been born to him fifty years
+back, and how he had done to his gods, and how he had spoken. "Now,
+therefore, my lord and king," he said, "send for him that he may come
+before thee, and do thou judge him according to the law, that we may be
+delivered from his evil." When Abraham was brought before the king, he
+told him the same story as he had told Terah, about the big god who
+broke the smaller ones, but the king replied, "Idols do neither speak,
+nor eat, nor move." Then Abraham reproached him for worshipping gods
+that can do nothing, and admonished him to serve the God of the
+universe. His last words were, "If thy wicked heart will not hearken to
+my words, to cause thee to forsake thy evil ways and serve the Eternal
+God, then wilt thou die in shame in the latter days, thou, thy people,
+and all that are connected with thee, who hear thy words, and walk in
+thy evil ways."
+
+The king ordered Abraham to be put into prison, and at the end of ten
+days he caused all the princes and great men of the realm to appear
+before him, and to them he put the case of Abraham. Their verdict was
+that he should be burnt, and, accordingly, the king had a fire prepared
+for three days and three nights, in his furnace at Kasdim, and Abraham
+was to be carried thither from prison to be burnt.
+
+All the inhabitants of the land, about nine hundred thousand men, and
+the women and the children besides, came to see what would be done with
+Abraham. And when he was brought forth, the astrologers recognized him,
+and they said to the king, "Surely, this is the man whom we knew as a
+child, at whose birth the great star swallowed the four stars. Behold,
+his father did transgress thy command, and he made a mockery of thee,
+for he did bring thee another child, and him didst thou kill."
+
+Terah was greatly terrified, for he was afraid of the king's wrath, and
+he admitted that he had deceived the king, and when the king said,
+"Tell me who advised thee to do this. Hide naught, and thou shalt not
+die," he falsely accused Haran, who had been thirty-two years old at
+the time of Abraham's birth, of having advised him to deceive the king.
+At the command of the king, Abraham and Haran, stripped of all their
+clothes except their hosen, and their hands and feet bound with linen
+cords, were cast into the furnace. Haran, because his heart was not
+perfect with the Lord, perished in the fire, and also the men who cast
+them into the furnace were burnt by the flames which leapt out over
+them, and Abraham alone was saved by the Lord, and he was not burnt,
+though the cords with which he was bound were consumed. For three days
+and three nights Abraham walked in the midst of the fire, and all the
+servants of the king came and told him, "Behold, we have seen Abraham
+walking about in the midst of the fire."[50]
+
+At first the king would not believe them, but when some of his faithful
+princes corroborated the words of his servants, he rose up and went to
+see for himself. He then commanded his servants to take Abraham from
+the fire, but they could not, because the flames leapt toward them from
+the furnace, and when they tried again, at the king's command, to
+approach the furnace, the flames shot out and burnt their faces, so
+that eight of their number died. The king then called unto Abraham, and
+said: "O servant of the God who is in heaven, go forth from the midst
+of the fire, and come hither and stand before me," and Abraham came and
+stood before the king. And the king spoke to Abraham, and said, "How
+cometh it that thou wast not burnt in the fire?" And Abraham made
+answer, "The God of heaven and earth in whom I trust, and who hath all
+things in His power, He did deliver me from the fire into which thou
+didst cast me."[51]
+
+ABRAHAM IN CANAAN
+
+With ten temptations Abraham was tempted, and he withstood them all,
+showing how great was the love of Abraham.[52] The first test to which
+he was subjected was the departure from his native land. The hardships
+were many and severe which he encountered, and he was loth to leave his
+home, besides. He spoke to God, and said, "Will not the people talk
+about me, and say, 'He is endeavoring to bring the nations under the
+wings of the Shekinah, yet he leaves his old father in Haran, and he
+goes away.'" But God answered him, and said: "Dismiss all care
+concerning thy father and thy kinsmen from thy thoughts. Though they
+speak words of kindness to thee, yet are they all of one mind, to ruin
+thee."[53]
+
+Then Abraham forsook his father in Haran, and journeyed to Canaan,
+accompanied by the blessing of God, who said unto him, "I will make of
+thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great."
+These three blessings were to counteract the evil consequences which,
+he feared, would follow emigration, for travelling from place to place
+interferes with the growth of the family, it lessens one's substance,
+and it diminishes the consideration one enjoys.[54] The greatest of all
+blessings, however, was the word of God, "And be thou a blessing." The
+meaning of this was that whoever came in contact with Abraham was
+blessed. Even the mariners on the sea were indebted to him for
+prosperous voyages.[55] Besides, God held out the promise to him that
+in time to come his name would be mentioned in the Benedictions, God
+would be praised as the Shield of Abraham, a distinction accorded to no
+other mortal except David.[56] But the words, "And be thou a blessing,"
+will be fulfilled only in the future world, when the seed of Abraham
+shall be known among the nations and his offspring among the peoples as
+"the seed which the Lord hath blessed."[57]
+
+When Abraham first was bidden to leave his home, he was not told to
+what land he was to journey—all the greater would be his reward for
+executing the command of God.[58] And Abraham showed his trust in God,
+for he said, "I am ready to go whithersoever Thou sendest me." The Lord
+then bade him go to a land wherein He would reveal Himself, and when he
+went to Canaan later, God appeared to him, and he knew that it was the
+promised land.[59]
+
+On entering Canaan, Abraham did not yet know that it was the land
+appointed as his inheritance. Nevertheless he rejoiced when he reached
+it. In Mesopotamia and in Aramnaharaim, the inhabitants of which he had
+seen eating, drinking, and acting wantonly, he had always wished, "O
+that my portion may not be in this land," but when he came to Canaan,
+he observed that the people devoted themselves industriously to the
+cultivation of the land, and he said, "O that my portion may be in this
+land!" God then spoke to him, and said, "Unto thy seed will I give this
+land."[60] Happy in these joyous tidings, Abraham erected an altar to
+the Lord to give thanks unto Him for the promise, and then he journeyed
+on, southward, in the direction of the spot whereon the Temple was once
+to stand. In Hebron he again erected an altar, thus taking possession
+of the land in a measure. And likewise he raised an altar in Ai,
+because he foresaw that a misfortune would befall his offspring there,
+at the conquest of the land under Joshua. The altar, he hoped, would
+obviate the evil results that might follow.
+
+Each altar raised by him was a centre for his activities as a
+missionary. As soon as he came to a place in which he desired to
+sojourn, he would stretch a tent first for Sarah, and next for himself,
+and then he would proceed at once to make proselytes and bring them
+under the wings of the Shekinah. Thus he accomplished his purpose of
+inducing all men to proclaim the Name of God.[61]
+
+For the present Abraham was but a stranger in his promised land. After
+the partition of the earth among the sons of Noah, when all had gone to
+their allotted portions, it happened that Canaan son of Ham saw that
+the land extending from the Lebanon to the River of Egypt was fair to
+look upon, and he refused to go to his own allotment, westward by the
+sea. He settled in the land upon Lebanon, eastward and westward from
+the border of the Jordan and the border of the sea. And Ham, his
+father, and his brothers Cush and Mizraim spoke to him, and said: "Thou
+livest in a land that is not thine, for it was not assigned unto us
+when the lots were drawn. Do not thus! But if thou persistest, ye, thou
+and thy children, will fall, accursed, in the land, in a rebellion. Thy
+settling here was rebellion, and through rebellion thy children will be
+felled down, and thy seed will be destroyed unto all eternity. Sojourn
+not in the land of Shem, for unto Shem and unto the children of Shem
+was it apportioned by lot. Accursed art thou, and accursed wilt thou be
+before all the children of Noah on account of the curse, for we took an
+oath before the holy Judge and before our father Noah."
+
+But Canaan hearkened not unto the words of his father and his brothers.
+He dwelt in the land of the Lebanon from Hamath even unto the entrance
+of Egypt, he and his sons.[62] Though the Canaanites had taken unlawful
+possession of the land, yet Abraham respected their rights; he provided
+his camels with muzzles, to prevent them from pasturing upon the
+property of others.[63]
+
+HIS SOJOURN IN EGYPT
+
+Scarcely had Abraham established himself in Canaan, when a devastating
+famine broke out—one of the ten God appointed famines for the
+chastisement of men. The first of them came in the time of Adam, when
+God cursed the ground for his sake; the second was this one in the time
+of Abraham; the third compelled Isaac to take up his abode among the
+Philistines; the ravages of the fourth drove the sons of Jacob into
+Egypt to buy grain for food; the fifth came in the time of the Judges,
+when Elimelech and his family had to seek refuge in the land of Moab;
+the sixth occurred during the reign of David, and it lasted three
+years; the seventh happened in the day of Elijah, who had sworn that
+neither rain nor dew should fall upon the earth; the eighth was the one
+in the time of Elisha, when an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces
+of silver; the ninth is the famine that comes upon men piecemeal, from
+time to time; and the tenth will scourge men before the advent of
+Messiah, and this last will be "not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
+water, but of hearing the words of the Lord."[64]
+
+The famine in the time of Abraham prevailed only in Canaan, and it had
+been inflicted upon the land in order to test his faith. He stood this
+second temptation as he had the first. He murmured not, and he showed
+no sign of impatience toward God, who had bidden him shortly before to
+abandon his native land for a land of starvation.[65] The famine
+compelled him to leave Canaan for a time, and he repaired to Egypt, to
+become acquainted there with the wisdom of the priests and, if
+necessary, give them instruction in the truth.[66]
+
+On this journey from Canaan to Egypt, Abraham first observed the beauty
+of Sarah. Chaste as he was, he had never before looked at her, but now,
+when they were wading through a stream, he saw the reflection of her
+beauty in the water like the brilliance of the sun.[67] Wherefore he
+spoke to her thus, "The Egyptians are very sensual, and I will put thee
+in a casket that no harm befall me on account of thee." At the Egyptian
+boundary, the tax collectors asked him about the contents of the
+casket, and Abraham told them he had barley in it. "No," they said, "it
+contains wheat." "Very well," replied Abraham, "I am prepared to pay
+the tax on wheat." The officers then hazarded the guess, "It contains
+pepper!" Abraham agreed to pay the tax on pepper, and when they charged
+him with concealing gold in the casket, he did not refuse to pay the
+tax on gold, and finally on precious stones. Seeing that he demurred to
+no charge, however high, the tax collectors, made thoroughly
+suspicious, insisted upon his unfastening the casket and letting them
+examine the contents. When it was forced open, the whole of Egypt was
+resplendent with the beauty of Sarah. In comparison with her, all other
+beauties were like apes compared with men. She excelled Eve
+herself.[68] The servants of Pharaoh outbid one another in seeking to
+obtain possession of her, though they were of opinion that so radiant a
+beauty ought not to remain the property of a private individual. They
+reported the matter to the king,[69] and Pharaoh sent a powerful armed
+force to bring Sarah to the palace,[70] and so bewitched was he by her
+charms that those who had brought him the news of her coming into Egypt
+were loaded down with bountiful gifts.[71]
+
+Amid tears, Abraham offered up a prayer. He entreated God in these
+words: "Is this the reward for my confidence in Thee? For the sake of
+Thy grace and Thy lovingkindness, let not my hope be put to shame."[72]
+Sarah also implored God, saying: "O God, Thou didst bid my lord Abraham
+leave his home, the land of his fathers, and journey to Canaan, and
+Thou didst promise him to do good unto him if he fulfilled Thy
+commands. And now we have done as Thou didst command us to do. We left
+our country and our kindred, and we journeyed to a strange land, unto a
+people which we knew not heretofore. We came hither to save our people
+from starvation, and now hath this terrible misfortune befallen. O
+Lord, help me and save me from the hand of this enemy, and for the sake
+of Thy grace show me good."
+
+An angel appeared unto Sarah while she was in the presence of the king,
+to whom he was not visible, and he bade her take courage, saying, "Fear
+naught, Sarah, for God hath heard thy prayer." The king questioned
+Sarah as to the man in the company of whom she had come to Egypt, and
+Sarah called Abraham her brother. Pharaoh pledged himself to make
+Abraham great and powerful, to do for him whatever she wished. He sent
+much gold and silver to Abraham, and diamonds and pearls, sheep and
+oxen, and men slaves and women slaves, and he assigned a residence to
+him within the precincts of the royal palace.[73] In the love he bore
+Sarah, he wrote out a marriage contract, deeding to her all he owned in
+the way of gold and silver, and men slaves and women slaves, and the
+province of Goshen besides, the province occupied in later days by the
+descendants of Sarah, because it was their property. Most remarkable of
+all, he gave her his own daughter Hagar as slave, for he preferred to
+see his daughter the servant of Sarah to reigning as mistress in
+another harem.[74]
+
+His free-handed generosity availed naught. During the night, when he
+was about to approach Sarah, an angel appeared armed with a stick, and
+if Pharaoh but touched Sarah's shoe to remove it from her foot, the
+angel planted a blow upon his hand, and when he grasped her dress, a
+second blow followed. At each blow he was about to deal, the angel
+asked Sarah whether he was to let it descend, and if she bade him give
+Pharaoh a moment to recover himself, he waited and did as she desired.
+And another great miracle came to pass. Pharaoh, and his nobles, and
+his servants, the very walls of his house and his bed were afflicted
+with leprosy, and he could not indulge his carnal desires.[75] This
+night in which Pharaoh and his court suffered their well deserved
+punishment was the night of the fifteenth of Nisan, the same night
+wherein God visited the Egyptians in a later time in order to redeem
+Israel, the descendants of Sarah.[76]
+
+Horrified by the plague sent upon him, Pharaoh inquired how he could
+rid himself thereof. He applied to the priests, from whom he found out
+the true cause of his affliction, which was corroborated by Sarah. He
+then sent for Abraham and returned his wife to him, pure and untouched,
+and excused himself for what had happened, saying that he had had the
+intention of connecting himself in marriage with him, whom he had
+thought to be the brother of Sarah.[77] He bestowed rich gifts upon the
+husband and the wife, and they departed for Canaan, after a three
+months' sojourn in Egypt.[78]
+
+Arrived in Canaan they sought the same night-shelters at which they had
+rested before, in order to pay their accounts, and also to teach by
+their example that it is not proper to seek new quarters unless one is
+forced to it.[79]
+
+Abraham's sojourn in Egypt was of great service to the inhabitants of
+the country, because he demonstrated to the wise men of the land how
+empty and vain their views were, and also he taught them astronomy and
+astrology, unknown in Egypt before his time.[80]
+
+THE FIRST PHARAOH
+
+The Egyptian ruler, whose meeting with Abraham had proved so untoward
+an event, was the first to bear the name Pharaoh. The succeeding kings
+were named thus after him. The origin of the name is connected with the
+life and adventures of Rakyon, Have-naught, a man wise, handsome, and
+poor, who lived in the land of Shinar. Finding himself unable to
+support himself in Shinar, he resolved to depart for Egypt, where he
+expected to display his wisdom before the king, Ashwerosh, the son of
+'Anam. Perhaps he would find grace in the eyes of the king, who would
+give Rakyon the opportunity of supporting himself and rising to be a
+great man. When he reached Egypt, he learnt that it was the custom of
+the country for the king to remain in retirement in his palace, removed
+from the sight of the people. Only on one day of the year he showed
+himself in public, and received all who had a petition to submit to
+him. Richer by a disappointment, Rakyon knew not how he was to earn a
+livelihood in the strange country. He was forced to spend the night in
+a ruin, hungry as he was. The next day he decided to try to earn
+something by selling vegetables. By a lucky chance he fell in with some
+dealers in vegetables, but as he did not know the customs of the
+country, his new undertaking was not favored with good fortune.
+Ruffians assaulted him, snatched his wares from him, and made a
+laughing-stock of him. The second night, which he was compelled to
+spend in the ruin again, a sly plan ripened in his mind. He arose and
+gathered together a crew of thirty lusty fellows. He took them to the
+graveyard, and bade them, in the name of the king, charge two hundred
+pieces of silver for every body they buried. Otherwise interment was to
+be prevented. In this way he succeeded in amassing great wealth within
+eight months. Not only did he acquire silver, gold, and precious gems,
+but also he attached a considerable force, armed and mounted, to his
+person.
+
+On the day on which the king appeared among the people, they began to
+complain of this tax upon the dead. They said: "What is this thou art
+inflicting upon thy servants—permitting none to be buried unless they
+pay thee silver and gold! Has a thing like this come to pass in the
+world since the days of Adam, that the dead should not be interred
+unless money be paid therefor! We know well that it is the privilege of
+the king to take an annual tax from the living. But thou takest tribute
+from the dead, too, and thou exactest it day by day. O king, we cannot
+endure this any longer, for the whole of the city is ruined thereby."
+
+The king, who had had no suspicion of Rakyon's doings, fell into a
+great rage when the people gave him information about them. He ordered
+him and his armed force to appear before him. Rakyon did not come
+empty-handed. He was preceded by a thousand youths and maidens, mounted
+upon steeds and arrayed in state apparel. These were a present to the
+king. When he himself stepped before the king, he delivered gold,
+silver, and diamonds to him in great abundance, and a magnificent
+charger. These gifts and the display of splendor did not fail of taking
+effect upon the king, and when Rakyon, in well-considered words and
+with a pliant tongue, described the undertaking, he won not only the
+king to his side, but also the whole court, and the king said to him,
+"No longer shalt thou be called Rakyon, Have-naught, but Pharaoh,
+Paymaster, for thou didst collect taxes from the dead."
+
+So profound was the impression made by Rakyon that the king, the
+grandees, and the people, all together resolved to put the guidance of
+the realm in the hands of Pharaoh. Under the suzerainty of Ashwerosh he
+administered law and justice throughout the year; only on the one day
+when he showed himself to the people did the king himself give judgment
+and decide cases. Through the power thus conferred upon him and through
+cunning practices, Pharaoh succeeded in usurping royal authority, and
+he collected taxes from all the inhabitants of Egypt. Nevertheless he
+was beloved of the people, and it was decreed that every ruler of Egypt
+should thenceforth bear the name Pharaoh.[81]
+
+THE WAR OF THE KINGS
+
+On his return from Egypt Abraham's relations to his own family were
+disturbed by annoying circumstances. Strife developed between the
+herdmen of his cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle. Abraham
+furnished his herds with muzzles, but Lot made no such provision, and
+when the shepherds that pastured Abraham's flocks took Lot's shepherds
+to task on account of the omission, the latter replied: "It is known of
+a surety that God said unto Abraham, 'To thy seed will I give the
+land.' But Abraham is a sterile mule. Never will he have children. On
+the morrow he will die, and Lot will be his heir. Thus the flocks of
+Lot are but consuming what belongs to them or their master." But God
+spoke: "Verily, I said unto Abraham I would give the land unto his
+seed, but only after the seven nations shall have been destroyed from
+out of the land. To-day the Canaanites are therein, and the Perizzites.
+They still have the right of habitation."
+
+Now, when the strife extended from the servants to the masters, and
+Abraham vainly called his nephew Lot to account for his unbecoming
+behavior, Abraham decided he would have to part from his kinsman,
+though he should have to compel Lot thereto by force. Lot thereupon
+separated himself not from Abraham alone, but from the God of Abraham
+also, and he betook himself to a district in which immorality and sin
+reigned supreme, wherefore punishment overtook him, for his own flesh
+seduced him later unto sin.
+
+God was displeased with Abraham for not living in peace and harmony
+with his own kindred, as he lived with all the world beside. On the
+other hand, God also took it in ill part that Abraham was accepting Lot
+tacitly as his heir, though He had promised him, in clear, unmistakable
+words, "To thy seed will I give the land." After Abraham had separated
+himself from Lot, he received the assurance again that Canaan should
+once belong to his seed, which God would multiply as the sand which is
+upon the sea-shore. As the sand fills the whole earth, so the offspring
+of Abraham would be scattered over the whole earth, from end to end;
+and as the earth is blessed only when it is moistened with water, so
+his offspring would be blessed through the Torah, which is likened unto
+water; and as the earth endures longer than metal, so his offspring
+would endure forever, while the heathen would vanish; and as the earth
+is trodden upon, so his offspring would be trodden upon by the four
+kingdoms.[82]
+
+The departure of Lot had a serious consequence, for the war waged by
+Abraham against the four kings is intimately connected with it. Lot
+desired to settle in the well-watered circle of the Jordan, but the
+only city of the plain that would receive him was Sodom, the king of
+which admitted the nephew of Abraham out of consideration for the
+latter.[83] The five impious kings planned first to make war upon Sodom
+on account of Lot and then advance upon Abraham.[84] For one of the
+five, Amraphel, was none other than Nimrod, Abraham's enemy from of
+old. The immediate occasion for the war was this: Chedorlaomer, one of
+Nimrod's generals, rebelled against him after the builders of the tower
+were dispersed, and he set himself up as king of Elam. Then he
+subjugated the Hamitic tribes living in the five cities of the plain of
+the Jordan, and made them tributary. For twelve years they were
+faithful to their sovereign ruler Chedorlaomer, but then they refused
+to pay the tribute, and they persisted in their insubordination for
+thirteen years. Making the most of Chedorlaomer's embarrassment, Nimrod
+led a host of seven thousand warriors against his former general. In
+the battle fought between Elam and Shinar, Nimrod suffered a disastrous
+defeat, he lost six hundred of his army, and among the slain was the
+king's son Mardon. Humiliated and abased, he returned to his country,
+and he was forced to acknowledge the suzerainty of Chedorlaomer, who
+now proceeded to form an alliance with Arioch king of Ellasar, and
+Tidal, the king of several nations, the purpose of which was to crush
+the cities of the circle of the Jordan. The united forces of these
+kings, numbering eight hundred thousand, marched upon the five cities,
+subduing whatever they encountered in their course,[85] and
+annihilating the descendants of the giants. Fortified places, unwalled
+cities, and flat, open country, all fell in their hands.[86] They
+pushed on through the desert as far as the spring issuing from the rock
+at Kadesh, the spot appointed by God as the place of pronouncing
+judgment against Moses and Aaron on account of the waters of strife.
+Thence they turned toward the central portion of Palestine, the country
+of dates, where they encountered the five godless kings, Bera, the
+villain, king of Sodom; Birsha, the sinner, king of Gomorrah; Shinab,
+the father-hater, king of Admah; Shemeber, the voluptuary, king of
+Zeboiim; and the king of Bela, the city that devours its inhabitants.
+The five were routed in the fruitful Vale of Siddim, the canals of
+which later formed the Dead Sea. They that remained of the rank and
+file fled to the mountains, but the kings fell into the slime pits and
+stuck there. Only the king of Sodom was rescued, miraculously, for the
+purpose that he might convert those heathen to faith in God that had
+not believed in the wonderful deliverance of Abraham from the fiery
+furnace.[87]
+
+The victors despoiled Sodom of all its goods and victuals, and took
+Lot, boasting, "We have taken the son of Abraham's brother captive," so
+betraying the real object of their undertaking; their innermost desire
+was to strike at Abraham.[88]
+
+It was on the first evening of the Passover, and Abraham was eating of
+the unleavened bread,[89] when the archangel Michael brought him the
+report of Lot's captivity. This angel bears another name besides,
+Palit, the escaped, because when God threw Samael and his host from
+their holy place in heaven, the rebellious leader held on to Michael
+and tried to drag him along downward, and Michael escaped falling from
+heaven only through the help of God.[90]
+
+When the report of his nephew's evil state reached Abraham, he
+straightway dismissed all thought of his dissensions with Lot from his
+mind, and only considered ways and means of deliverance.[91] He
+convoked his disciples to whom he had taught the true faith, and who
+all called themselves by the name Abraham.[92] He gave them gold and
+silver, saying at the same time: "Know that we go to war for the
+purpose of saving human lives. Therefore, do ye not direct your eyes
+upon money, here lie gold and silver before you." Furthermore he
+admonished them in these words: "We are preparing to go to war. Let
+none join us who hath committed a trespass, and fears that Divine
+punishment will descend upon him." Alarmed by his warning, not one
+would obey his call to arms, they were fearful on account of their
+sins. Eliezer alone remained with him, wherefore God spake, and said:
+"All forsook thee save only Eliezer. Verily, I shall invest him with
+the strength of the three hundred and eighteen men whose aid thou didst
+seek in vain."[93]
+
+The battle fought with the mighty hosts of the kings, from which
+Abraham emerged victorious, happened on the fifteenth of Nisan, the
+night appointed for miraculous deeds.[94] The arrows and stones hurled
+at him effected naught,[95] but the dust of the ground, the chaff, and
+the stubble which he threw at the enemy were transformed into
+death-dealing javelins and swords.[96] Abraham, as tall as seventy men
+set on end, and requiring as much food and drink as seventy men,
+marched forward with giant strides, each of his steps measuring four
+miles, until he overtook the kings, and annihilated their troops.
+Further he could not go, for he had reached Dan, where Jeroboam would
+once raise the golden calves, and on this ominous spot Abraham's
+strength diminished.[97]
+
+His victory was possible only because the celestial powers espoused his
+side. The planet Jupiter made the night bright for him, and an angel,
+Lailah by name, fought for him.[98] In a true sense, it was a victory
+of God. All the nations acknowledged his more than human achievement,
+and they fashioned a throne for Abraham, and erected it on the field of
+battle. When they attempted to seat him upon it, amid exclamations of
+"Thou art our king! Thou art our prince! Thou art our god!" Abraham
+warded them off, and said, "The universe has its King, and it has its
+God!" He declined all honors, and returned his property unto each man.
+Only the little children he kept by himself. He reared them in the
+knowledge of God, and later they atoned for the disgrace of their
+parents.
+
+Somewhat arrogantly the king of Sodom set out to meet Abraham. He was
+proud that a great miracle, his rescue from the slime pit, had been
+performed for him, too. He made Abraham the proposition that he keep
+the despoiled goods for himself.[99] But Abraham refused them, and
+said: "I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, God Most High, who hath
+created the world for the sake of the pious, that I will not take a
+thread nor a shoe-latchet nor aught that is thine. I have no right upon
+any goods taken as spoils,[100] save only that which the young men have
+eaten, and the portion of the men who tarried by the stuff, though they
+went not down to the battle itself." The example of Abraham in giving a
+share in the spoils even unto the men not concerned directly in the
+battle, was followed later by David, who heeded not the protest of the
+wicked men and the base fellows with him, that the watchers who staid
+by the stuff were not entitled to share alike with the warriors that
+had gone down to the battle.[101]
+
+In spite of his great success, Abraham nevertheless was concerned about
+the issue of the war. He feared that the prohibition against shedding
+the blood of man had been transgressed, and he also dreaded the
+resentment of Shem, whose descendants had perished in the encounter.
+But God reassured him, and said: "Be not afraid! Thou hast but
+extirpated the thorns, and as to Shem, he will bless thee rather than
+curse thee." So it was. When Abraham returned from the war, Shem, or,
+as he is sometimes called, Melchizedek, the king of righteousness,
+priest of God Most High, and king of Jerusalem, came forth to meet him
+with bread and wine.[102] And this high priest instructed Abraham in
+the laws of the priesthood and in the Torah, and to prove his
+friendship for him he blessed him, and called him the partner of God in
+the possession of the world, seeing that through him the Name of God
+had first been made known among men.[103] But Melchizedek arranged the
+words of his blessing in an unseemly way. He named Abraham first and
+then God. As a punishment, he was deposed by God from the priestly
+dignity, and instead it was passed over to Abraham, with whose
+descendants it remained forever.[104]
+
+As a reward for the sanctification of the Holy Name, which Abraham had
+brought about when he refused to keep aught of the goods taken in
+battle,[105] his descendants received two commands, the command of the
+threads in the borders of their garments, and the command of the
+latchets to be bound upon their hands and to be used as frontlets
+between their eyes. Thus they commemorate that their ancestor refused
+to take so much as a thread or a latchet. And because he would not
+touch a shoe-latchet of the spoils, his descendants cast their shoe
+upon Edom.[106]
+
+THE COVENANT OF THE PIECES
+
+Shortly after the war, God revealed Himself unto Abraham, to soothe his
+conscience as to the spilling of innocent blood, for it was a scruple
+that gave him much anguish of spirit. God assured him at the same time
+that He would cause pious men to arise among his descendants, who, like
+himself, would be a shield unto their generation.[107] As a further
+distinction, God gave him leave to ask what he would have, rare grace
+accorded to none beside, except Jacob, Solomon, Ahaz, and the Messiah.
+Abraham spoke, and said: "O Lord of the world, if in time to come my
+descendants should provoke Thy wrath, it were better I remained
+childless. Lot, for the sake of whom I journeyed as far as Damascus,
+where God was my protection, would be well pleased to be my heir.
+Moreover, I have read in the stars, 'Abraham, thou wilt beget no
+children.'" Thereupon God raised Abraham above the vault of the skies,
+and He said, "Thou art a prophet, not an astrologer!"[108] Now Abraham
+demanded no sign that he would be blessed with offspring. Without
+losing another word, he believed in the Lord, and he was rewarded for
+his simple faith by a share in this world and a share in the world to
+come as well, and, besides, the redemption of Israel from the exile
+will take place as a recompense for his firm trust.[109]
+
+But though he believed the promise made him with a full and abiding
+faith, he yet desired to know by what merit of theirs his descendants
+would maintain themselves. Therefore God bade him bring Him a sacrifice
+of three heifers, three she-goats, three rams, a turtle dove, and a
+young pigeon, thus indicating to Abraham the various sacrifices that
+should once be brought in the Temple, to atone for the sins of Israel
+and further his welfare.[110] "But what will become of my descendants,"
+asked Abraham, "after the Temple is destroyed?" God replied, and said,
+"If they read the order of sacrifices as they will be set down in the
+Scriptures, I will account it unto them as though they had offered the
+sacrifices, and I will forgive all their sins."[111] And God continued
+and revealed to Abraham the course of Israel's history and the history
+of the whole world: The heifer of three years indicates the dominion of
+Babylon, the she-goat of three years stands for the empire of the
+Greeks, the ram of three years for the Medo-Persian power, the rule of
+Ishmael is represented by the ram, and Israel is the innocent dove.
+
+Abraham took him these animals and divided them in the midst. Had he
+not done so, Israel would not have been able to resist the power of the
+four kingdoms. But the birds he divided not, to indicate that Israel
+will remain whole. And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses,
+and Abraham drove them away. Thus was announced the advent of the
+Messiah, who will cut the heathen in pieces, but Abraham bade Messiah
+wait until the time appointed unto him.[112] And as the Messianic time
+was made known unto Abraham, so also the time of the resurrection of
+the dead. When he laid the halves of the pieces over against each
+other, the animals became alive again, as the bird flew over them.[112]
+
+While he was preparing these sacrifices, a vision of great import was
+granted to Abraham. The sun sank, and a deep sleep fell upon him, and
+he beheld a smoking furnace, Gehenna, the furnace that God prepares for
+the sinner; and he beheld a flaming torch, the revelation on Sinai,
+where all the people saw flaming torches; and he beheld the sacrifices
+to be brought by Israel; and an horror of great darkness fell upon him,
+the dominion of the four kingdoms. And God spake to him: "Abraham, as
+long as thy children fulfil the two duties of studying the Torah and
+performing the service in the Temple, the two visitations, Gehenna and
+alien rule, will be spared them. But if they neglect the two duties,
+they will have to suffer the two chastisements; only thou mayest choose
+whether they shall be punished by means of Gehenna or by means of the
+dominion of the stranger." All the day long Abraham wavered, until God
+called unto him: "How long wilt thou halt between two opinions? Decide
+for one of the two, and let it be for the dominion of the stranger!"
+Then God made known to him the four hundred years' bondage of Israel in
+Egypt, reckoning from the birth of Isaac, for unto Abraham himself was
+the promise given that he should go to his fathers in peace, and feel
+naught of the arrogance of the stranger oppressor. At the same time, it
+was made known to Abraham that his father Terah would have a share in
+the world to come, for he had done penance for his sinful deeds.
+Furthermore it was revealed to him that his son Ishmael would turn into
+the path of righteousness while yet his father was alive, and his
+grandson Esau would not begin his impious way of life until he himself
+had passed away. And as he received the promise of their deliverance
+together with the announcement of the slavery of his seed, in a land
+not theirs, so it was made known to him that God would judge the four
+kingdoms and destroy them.[114]
+
+THE BIRTH OF ISHMAEL
+
+The covenant of the pieces, whereby the fortunes of his descendants
+were revealed to Abraham, was made at a time when he was still
+childless.[115] As long as Abraham and Sarah dwelt outside of the Holy
+Land, they looked upon their childlessness as a punishment for not
+abiding within it. But when a ten years' sojourn in Palestine found her
+barren as before, Sarah perceived that the fault lay with her.[116]
+Without a trace of jealousy she was ready to give her slave Hagar to
+Abraham as wife,[117] first making her a freed woman.[118] For Hagar
+was Sarah's property, not her husband's. She had received her from
+Pharaoh, the father of Hagar. Taught and bred by Sarah, she walked in
+the same path of righteousness as her mistress,[119] and thus was a
+suitable companion for Abraham, and, instructed by the holy spirit, he
+acceded to Sarah's proposal.
+
+No sooner had Hagar's union with Abraham been consummated, and she felt
+that she was with child, than she began to treat her former mistress
+contemptuously, though Sarah was particularly tender toward her in the
+state in which she was. When noble matrons came to see Sarah, she was
+in the habit of urging them to pay a visit to "poor Hagar," too. The
+dames would comply with her suggestion, but Hagar would use the
+opportunity to disparage Sarah. "My lady Sarah," she would say, "is not
+inwardly what she appears to be outwardly. She makes the impression of
+a righteous, pious woman, but she is not, for if she were, how could
+her childlessness be explained after so many years of marriage, while I
+became pregnant at once?"
+
+Sarah scorned to bicker with her slave, yet the rage she felt found
+vent in these words to Abraham:[120] "It is thou who art doing me
+wrong. Thou hearest the words of Hagar, and thou sayest naught to
+oppose them, and I hoped that thou wouldst take my part. For thy sake
+did I leave my native land and the house of my father, and I followed
+thee into a strange land with trust in God. In Egypt I pretended to be
+thy sister, that no harm might befall thee. When I saw that I should
+bear no children, I took the Egyptian woman, my slave Hagar, and gave
+her unto thee for wife, contenting myself with the thought that I would
+rear the children she would bear. Now she treats me disdainfully in thy
+presence. O that God might look upon the injustice which hath been done
+unto me, to judge between thee and me, and have mercy upon us, restore
+peace to our home, and grant us offspring, that we have no need of
+children from Hagar, the Egyptian bondwoman of the generation of the
+heathen that cast thee in the fiery furnace!"[121]
+
+Abraham, modest and unassuming as he was, was ready to do justice to
+Sarah, and he conferred full power upon her to dispose of Hagar
+according to her pleasure. He added but one caution, "Having once made
+her a mistress, we cannot again reduce her to the state of a
+bondwoman." Unmindful of this warning, Sarah exacted the services of a
+slave from Hagar. Not alone this, she tormented her, and finally she
+cast an evil eye upon her, so that the unborn child dropped from her,
+and she ran away. On her flight she was met by several angels, and they
+bade her return, at the same time making known to her that she would
+bear a son who should be called Ishmael—one of the six men who have
+been given a name by God before their birth, the others being Isaac,
+Moses, Solomon, Josiah, and the Messiah.[122]
+
+Thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael the command was issued to
+Abraham that he put the sign of the covenant upon his body and upon the
+bodies of the male members of his household. Abraham was reluctant at
+first to do the bidding of God, for he feared that the circumcision of
+his flesh would raise a barrier between himself and the rest of
+mankind. But God said unto him, "Let it suffice thee that I am thy God
+and thy Lord, as it sufficeth the world that I am its God and its
+Lord."[123]
+
+Abraham then consulted with his three true friends, Aner, Eshcol, and
+Mamre, regarding the command of the circumcision. The first one spoke,
+and said, "Thou art nigh unto a hundred years old, and thou considerest
+inflicting such pain upon thyself?" The advice of the second was also
+against it. "What," said Eshcol, "thou choosest to mark thyself so that
+thy enemies may recognize thee without fail?" Mamre, the third, was the
+only one to advise obedience to the command of God. "God succored thee
+from the fiery furnace," he said, "He helped thee in the combat with
+the kings, He provided for thee during the famine, and thou dost
+hesitate to execute His behest concerning the circumcision?"[124]
+Accordingly, Abraham did as God had commanded, in bright daylight,
+bidding defiance to all, that none might say, "Had we seen him attempt
+it, we should have prevented him."[125]
+
+The circumcision was performed on the tenth day of Tishri, the Day of
+Atonement, and upon the spot on which the altar was later to be erected
+in the Temple, for the act of Abraham remains a never-ceasing atonement
+for Israel.[126]
+
+THE VISIT OF THE ANGELS
+
+On the third day after his circumcision, when Abraham was suffering
+dire pain,[127] God spoke to the angels, saying, "Go to, let us pay a
+visit to the sick." The angels refused, and said: "What is man, that
+Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?
+And Thou desirest to betake Thyself to a place of uncleanness, a place
+of blood and filth?" But God replied unto them, "Thus do ye speak. As
+ye live, the savor of this blood is sweeter to me than myrrh and
+incense, and if you do not desire to visit Abraham, I will go
+alone."[128]
+
+The day whereon God visited him was exceedingly hot, for He had bored a
+hole in hell, so that its heat might reach as far as the earth, and no
+wayfarer venture abroad on the highways, and Abraham be left
+undisturbed in his pain.[129] But the absence of strangers caused
+Abraham great vexation, and he sent his servant Eliezer forth to keep a
+lookout for travellers. When the servant returned from his fruitless
+search, Abraham himself, in spite of his illness and the scorching
+heat, prepared to go forth on the highway and see whether he would not
+succeed where failure had attended Eliezer, whom he did not wholly
+trust at any rate, bearing in mind the well-known saying, "No truth
+among slaves."[130] At this moment God appeared to him, surrounded by
+the angels. Quickly Abraham attempted to rise from his seat, but God
+checked every demonstration of respect, and when Abraham protested that
+it was unbecoming to sit in the presence of the Lord, God said, "As
+thou livest, thy descendants at the age of four and five will sit in
+days to come in the schools and in the synagogues while I reside
+therein."[131]
+
+Meantime Abraham beheld three men. They were the angels Michael,
+Gabriel, and Raphael. They had assumed the form of human beings to
+fulfil his wish for guests toward whom to exercise hospitality. Each of
+them had been charged by God with a special mission, besides, to be
+executed on earth. Raphael was to heal the wound of Abraham, Michael
+was to bring Sarah the glad tidings that she would bear a son, and
+Gabriel was to deal destruction to Sodom and Gomorrah. Arrived at the
+tent of Abraham, the three angels noticed that he was occupied in
+nursing himself, and they withdrew.[132] Abraham, however, hastened
+after them through another door of the tent, which had wide open
+entrances on all sides.[133] He considered the duty of hospitality more
+important than the duty of receiving the Shekinah. Turning to God, he
+said, "O Lord, may it please Thee not to leave Thy servant while he
+provides for the entertainment of his guests."[134] Then he addressed
+himself to the stranger walking in the middle between the other two,
+whom by this token he considered the most distinguished,—it was the
+archangel Michael—and he bade him and his companions turn aside into
+his tent. The manner of his guests, who treated one another politely,
+made a good impression upon Abraham. He was assured that they were men
+of worth whom he was entertaining.[135] But as they appeared outwardly
+like Arabs, and the people worshipped the dust of their feet, he bade
+them first wash their feet, that they might not defile his tent.[136]
+
+He did not depend upon his own judgment in reading the character of his
+guests. By his tent a tree was planted, which spread its branches out
+over all who believed in God, and afforded them shade. But if idolaters
+went under the tree, the branches turned upward, and cast no shade upon
+the ground. Whenever Abraham saw this sign, he would at once set about
+the task of converting the worshippers of the false gods. And as the
+tree made a distinction between the pious and the impious, so also
+between the clean and the unclean. Its shade was denied them as long as
+they refrained from taking the prescribed ritual bath in the spring
+that flowed out from its roots, the waters of which rose at once for
+those whose uncleanness was of a venial character and could be removed
+forthwith, while others had to wait seven days for the water to come
+up. Accordingly, Abraham bade the three men lean against the trunk of
+the tree. Thus he would soon learn their worth or their
+unworthiness.[137]
+
+Being of the truly pious, "who promise little, but perform much,"[133]
+Abraham said only: "I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your
+heart, seeing that ye chanced to pass my tent at dinner time. Then,
+after ye have given thanks to God, ye may pass on."[139] But when the
+meal was served to the guests, it was a royal banquet, exceeding
+Solomon's at the time of his most splendid magnificence. Abraham
+himself ran unto the herd, to fetch cattle for meat. He slaughtered
+three calves, that he might be able to set a "tongue with mustard"
+before each of his guests.[140] In order to accustom Ishmael to
+God-pleasing deeds, he had him dress the calves,[141] and he bade Sarah
+bake the bread. But as he knew that women are apt to treat guests
+niggardly, he was explicit in his request to her. He said, "Make ready
+quickly three measures of meal, yea, fine meal." As it happened, the
+bread was not brought to the table, because it had accidentally become
+unclean, and our father Abraham was accustomed to eat his daily bread
+only in a clean state.[142] Abraham himself served his guests, and it
+appeared to him that the three men ate. But this was an illusion. In
+reality the angels did not eat,[143] only Abraham, his three friends,
+Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, and his son Ishmael partook of the banquet,
+and the portions set before the angels were devoured by a heavenly
+fire.[144]
+
+Although the angels remained angels even in their human disguise,
+nevertheless the personality of Abraham was so exalted that in his
+presence the archangels felt insignificant.[145]
+
+After the meal the angels asked after Sarah, though they knew that she
+was in retirement in her tent, but it was proper for them to pay their
+respects to the lady of the house and send her the cup of wine over
+which the blessing had been said.[146] Michael, the greatest of the
+angels, thereupon announced the birth of Isaac. He drew a line upon the
+wall, saying, "When the sun crosses this point, Sarah will be with
+child, and when he crosses the next point, she will give birth to a
+child." This communication, which was intended for Sarah and not for
+Abraham, to whom the promise had been revealed long before,[147] the
+angels made at the entrance to her tent, but Ishmael stood between the
+angel and Sarah, for it would not have been seemly to deliver the
+message in secret, with none other by. Yet, so radiant was the beauty
+of Sarah that a beam of it struck the angel, and made him look up. In
+the act of turning toward her, he heard her laugh within herself:[148]
+"Is it possible that these bowels can yet bring forth a child, these
+shrivelled breasts give suck? And though I should be able to bear, yet
+is not my lord Abraham old?"[149]
+
+And the Lord said unto Abraham: "Am I too old to do wonders? And
+wherefore doth Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child,
+which am old?"[150] The reproach made by God was directed against
+Abraham as well as against Sarah, for he, too, had showed himself of
+little faith when he was told that a son would be born unto him. But
+God mentioned only Sarah's incredulity, leaving Abraham to become
+conscious of his defect himself.[151]
+
+Regardful of the peace of their family life, God had not repeated
+Sarah's words accurately to Abraham. Abraham might have taken amiss
+what his wife had said about his advanced years, and so precious is the
+peace between husband and wife that even the Holy One, blessed be He,
+preserved it at the expense of truth.[152]
+
+After Abraham had entertained his guests, he went with them to bring
+them on their way, for, important as the duty of hospitality is, the
+duty of speeding the parting guest is even more important.[153] Their
+way lay in the direction of Sodom, whither two of the angels were
+going, the one to destroy it, and the second to save Lot, while the
+third, his errand to Abraham fulfilled, returned to heaven.[154]
+
+THE CITIES OF SIN
+
+The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah and the three other cities of the
+plain were sinful and godless. In their country there was an extensive
+vale, where they foregathered annually with their wives and their
+children and all belonging to them, to celebrate a feast lasting
+several days and consisting of the most revolting orgies. If a stranger
+merchant passed through their territory, he was besieged by them all,
+big and little alike, and robbed of whatever he possessed. Each one
+appropriated a bagatelle, until the traveller was stripped bare. If the
+victim ventured to remonstrate with one or another, he would show him
+that he had taken a mere trifle, not worth talking about. And the end
+was that they hounded him from the city.
+
+Once upon a time it happened that a man journeying from Elam arrived in
+Sodom toward evening. No one could be found to grant him shelter for
+the night. Finally a sly fox named Hedor invited him cordially to
+follow him to his house. The Sodomite had been attracted by a rarely
+magnificent carpet, strapped to the stranger's ass by means of a rope.
+He meant to secure it for himself. The friendly persuasions of Hedor
+induced the stranger to remain with him two days, though he had
+expected to stay only overnight. When the time came for him to continue
+on his journey, he asked his host for the carpet and the rope. Hedor
+said: "Thou hast dreamed a dream, and this is the interpretation of thy
+dream: the rope signifies that thou wilt have a long life, as long as a
+rope; the varicolored carpet indicates that thou wilt own an orchard
+wherein thou wilt plant all sorts of fruit trees." The stranger
+insisted that his carpet was a reality, not a dream fancy, and he
+continued to demand its return. Not only did Hedor deny having taken
+anything from his guest, he even insisted upon pay for having
+interpreted his dream to him. His usual price for such services, he
+said, was four silver pieces, but in view of the fact that he was his
+guest, he would, as a favor to him, content himself with three pieces
+of silver.
+
+After much wrangling, they put their case before one of the judges of
+Sodom, Sherek by name, and he said to the plaintiff, "Hedor is known in
+this city as a trustworthy interpreter of dreams, and what he tells
+thee is true." The stranger declared himself not satisfied with the
+verdict, and continued to urge his side of the case. Then Sherek drove
+both the plaintiff and the defendant from the court room. Seeing this,
+the inhabitants gathered together and chased the stranger from the
+city, and lamenting the loss of his carpet, he had to pursue his way.
+
+As Sodom had a judge worthy of itself, so also had the other
+cities—Sharkar in Gomorrah, Zabnak in Admah, and Manon in Zeboiim.
+Eliezer, the bondman of Abraham, made slight changes in the names of
+these judges, in accordance with the nature of what they did: the first
+he called Shakkara, Liar; the second Shakrura, Arch-deceiver; the third
+Kazban, Falsifier; and the fourth, Mazle-Din, Perverter of Judgment. At
+the suggestion of these judges, the cities set up beds on their
+commons. When a stranger arrived, three men seized him by his head, and
+three by his feet, and they forced him upon one of the beds. If he was
+too short to fit into it exactly, his six attendants pulled and
+wrenched his limbs until he filled it out; if he was too long for; it,
+they tried to jam him in with all their combined strength, until the
+victim was on the verge of death. Hit outcrles were met with the words,
+"Thus will be done to any man that comes into our land."
+
+After a while travellers avoided these cities, but if some poor devil
+was betrayed occasionally into entering them, they would give him gold
+and silver, but never any bread, so that he was bound to die of
+starvation. Once he was dead, the residents of the city came and took
+back the marked gold and silver which they had given him, and they
+would quarrel about the distribution of his clothes, for they would
+bury him naked.
+
+Once Eliezer, the bondman of Abraham, went to Sodom, at the bidding of
+Sarah, to inquire after the welfare of Lot. He happened to enter the
+city at the moment when the people were robbing a stranger of his
+garments. Eliezer espoused the cause of the poor wretch, and the
+Sodomites turned against him; one threw a stone at his forehead and
+caused considerable loss of blood. Instantly, the assailant, seeing the
+blood gush forth, demanded payment for having performed the operation
+of cupping. Eliezer refused to pay for the infliction of a wound upon
+him, and he was haled before the judge Shakkara. The decision went
+against him, for the law of the land gave the assailant the right to
+demand payment. Eliezer quickly picked up a stone and threw it at the
+judge's forehead. When he saw that the blood was flowing profusely, he
+said to the judge, "Pay my debt to the man and give me the balance."
+
+The cause of their cruelty was their exceeding great wealth. Their soil
+was gold, and in their miserliness and their greed for more and more
+gold, they wanted to prevent strangers from enjoying aught of their
+riches. Accordingly, they flooded the highways with streams of water,
+so that the roads to their city were obliterated, and none could find
+the way thither. They were as heartless toward beasts as toward men.
+They begrudged the birds what they ate, and therefore extirpated
+them.[155] They behaved impiously toward one another, too, not
+shrinking back from murder to gain possession of more gold. If they
+observed that a man owned great riches, two of them would conspire
+against him. They would beguile him to the vicinity of ruins, and while
+the one kept him on the spot by pleasant converse, the other would
+undermine the wall near which he stood, until it suddenly crashed down
+upon him and killed him. Then the two plotters would divide his wealth
+between them.
+
+Another method of enriching themselves with the property of others was
+in vogue among them. They were adroit thieves. When they made up their
+minds to commit theft, they would first ask their victim to take care
+of a sum of money for them, which they smeared with strongly scented
+oil before handing it over to him. The following night they would break
+into his house, and rob him of his secret treasures, led to the place
+of concealment by the smell of the oil.
+
+Their laws were calculated to do injury to the poor. The richer a man,
+the more was he favored before the law. The owner of two oxen was
+obliged to render one day's shepherd service, but if he had but one ox,
+he had to give two days' service. A poor orphan, who was thus forced to
+tend the flocks a longer time than those who were blessed with large
+herds, killed all the cattle entrusted to him in order to take revenge
+upon his oppressors, and he insisted, when the skins were assigned,
+that the owner of two head of cattle should have but one skin, but the
+owner of one head should receive two skins, in correspondence to the
+method pursued in assigning the work. For the use of the ferry, a
+traveller had to pay four zuz, but if he waded through the water, he
+had to pay eight zuz.[156]
+
+The cruelty of the Sodomites went still further. Lot had a daughter,
+Paltit, so named because she had been born to him shortly after he
+escaped captivity through the help of Abraham. Paltit lived in Sodom,
+where she had married. Once a beggar came to town, and the court issued
+a proclamation that none should give him anything to eat, in order that
+he might die of starvation. But Paltit had pity upon the unfortunate
+wretch, and every day when she went to the well to draw water, she
+supplied him with a piece of bread, which she hid in her water pitcher.
+The inhabitants of the two sinful cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, could not
+understand why the beggar did not perish, and they suspected that some
+one was giving him food in secret. Three men concealed themselves near
+the beggar, and caught Paltit in the act of giving him something to
+eat. She had to pay for her humanity with death; she was burnt upon a
+pyre.
+
+The people of Admah were no better than those of Sodom. Once a stranger
+came to Admah, intending to stay overnight and continue his journey the
+next morning. The daughter of a rich man met the stranger, and gave him
+water to drink and bread to eat at his request. When the people of
+Admah heard of this infraction of the law of the land, they seized the
+girl and arraigned her before the judge, who condemned her to death.
+The people smeared her with honey from top to toe, and exposed her
+where bees would be attracted to her. The insects stung her to death,
+and the callous people paid no heed to her heartrending cries. Then it
+was that God resolved upon the destruction of these sinners.[157]
+
+ABRAHAM PLEADS FOR THE SINNERS
+
+When God saw that there was no righteous man among the inhabitants of
+the sinful cities, and there would be none among their descendants, for
+the sake of whose merits the rest might be treated with lenient
+consideration, He resolved to annihilate them one and all.[158] But
+before judgment was executed, the Lord made known unto Abraham what He
+would do to Sodom, Gomorrah, and the other cities of the plain, for
+they formed a part of Canaan, the land promised unto Abraham, and
+therefore did God say, "I will not destroy them without the consent of
+Abraham."[159]
+
+Like a compassionate father, Abraham importuned the grace of God in
+behalf of the sinners. He spoke to God, and said: "Thou didst take an
+oath that no more should all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood.
+Is it meet that Thou shouldst evade Thy oath and destroy cities by
+fire? Shall the Judge of all the earth not do right Himself? Verily, if
+Thou desirest to maintain the world, Thou must give up the strict line
+of justice. If Thou insistest upon the right alone, there can be no
+world." Whereupon God said to Abraham: "Thou takest delight in
+defending My creatures, and thou wouldst not call them guilty.
+Therefore I spoke with none but thee during the ten generations since
+Noah."[160] Abraham ventured to use still stronger words in order to
+secure the safety of the godless. "That be far from Thee," he said, "to
+slay the righteous with the wicked, that the dwellers on the earth say
+not, 'It is His trade to destroy the generations of men in a cruel
+manner; for He destroyed the generation of Enosh, then the generation
+of the flood, and then He sent the confusion of tongues. He sticks ever
+to His trade.'"
+
+God made reply: "I will let all the generations I have destroyed pass
+before thee, that thou mayest see they have not suffered the extreme
+punishment they deserved. But if thou thinkest that I did not act
+justly, then instruct thou Me in what I must do, and I will endeavor to
+act in accordance with thy words." And Abraham had to admit that God
+had not diminished in aught the justice due to every creature in this
+world or the other world.[161] Nevertheless he continued to speak, and
+he said: "Wilt Thou consume the cities, if there be ten righteous men
+in each?" And God said, "No, if I find fifty righteous therein, I will
+not destroy the cities."[162]
+
+Abraham: "I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, I who would have
+been turned long since into dust of the ground by Amraphel and into
+ashes by Nimrod, had it not been for Thy grace.[163] Peradventure there
+shall lack five of the fifty righteous for Zoar, the smallest of the
+five cities. Wilt Thou destroy all the city for lack of five?"
+
+God: "I will not destroy it, if I find there forty and five."
+
+Abraham: "Peradventure there be ten pious in each of the four cities,
+then forgive Zoar in Thy grace, for its sins are not so great in number
+as the sins of the others."
+
+God granted his petition, yet Abraham continued to plead, and he asked
+whether God would not be satisfied if there were but thirty righteous,
+ten in each of the three larger cities, and would pardon the two
+smaller ones, even though there were no righteous therein, whose merits
+would intercede for them. This, too, the Lord granted, and furthermore
+He promised not to destroy the cities if but twenty righteous were
+found therein; yes, God conceded that He would preserve the five cities
+for the sake of ten righteous therein.[164] More than this Abraham did
+not ask, for he knew that eight righteous ones, Noah and his wife, and
+his three sons and their wives, had not sufficed to avert the doom of
+the generation of the flood, and furthermore he hoped that Lot, his
+wife, and their four daughters, together with the husbands of their
+daughters, would make up the number ten. What he did not know was that
+even the righteous in these sin-laden cities, though better than the
+rest, were far from good.[165]
+
+Abraham did not cease to pray for the deliverance of the sinners even
+after the Shekinah had removed from him. But his supplications and his
+intercessions were in vain.[166] For fifty-two years God had warned the
+godless; He had made mountains to quake and tremble. But they hearkened
+not unto the voice of admonition. They persisted in their sins, and
+their well-merited punishment overtook them.[167] God forgives all
+sins, only not an immoral life. And as all these sinners led a life of
+debauchery, they were burnt with fire.[168]
+
+THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SINFUL CITIES
+
+The angels left Abraham at noon time, and they reached Sodom at the
+approach of evening. As a rule, angels proclaim their errand with the
+swiftness of lightning, but these were angels of mercy, and they
+hesitated to execute their work of destruction, ever hoping that the
+evil would be turned aside from Sodom.[169] With nightfall, the fate of
+Sodom was sealed irrevocably, and the angels arrived there.[170]
+
+Bred in the house of Abraham, Lot had learnt from him the beautiful
+custom of extending hospitality, and when he saw the angels before him
+in human form, thinking they were wayfarers, he bade them turn aside
+and tarry all night in his house. But as the entertainment of strangers
+was forbidden in Sodom on penalty of death, he dared invite them only
+under cover of the darkness of night,[171] and even then he had to use
+every manner of precaution, bidding the angels to follow him by devious
+ways.
+
+The angels, who had accepted Abraham's hospitality without delay, first
+refused to comply with Lot's request, for it is a rule of good breeding
+to show reluctance when an ordinary man invites one, but to accept the
+invitation of a great man at once. Lot, however, was insistent, and
+carried them into his house by main force.[172] At home he had to
+overcome the opposition of his wife, for she said, "If the inhabitants
+of Sodom hear of this, they will slay thee."
+
+Lot divided his dwelling in two parts, one for himself and his guests,
+the other for his wife, so that, if aught happened, his wife would be
+spared.[173] Nevertheless it was she who betrayed him. She went to a
+neighbor and borrowed some salt, and to the question, whether she could
+not have supplied herself with salt during daylight hours, she replied,
+"We had enough salt, until some guests came to us; for them we needed
+more." In this way the presence of strangers was bruited abroad in the
+city.[174]
+
+In the beginning the angels were inclined to hearken to the petition of
+Lot in behalf of the sinners, but when all the people of the city, big
+and little, crowded around the house of Lot with the purpose of
+committing a monstrous crime, the angels warded off his prayers,
+saying, "Hitherto thou couldst intercede for them, but now no longer."
+It was not the first time that the inhabitants of Sodom wanted to
+perpetrate a crime of this sort. They had made a law some time before
+that all strangers were to be treated in this horrible way. Lot, who
+was appointed chief judge on the very day of the angels' coming, tried
+to induce the people to desist from their purpose, saying to them, "My
+brethren, the generation of the deluge was extirpated in consequence of
+such sins as you desire to commit, and you would revert to them?" But
+they replied: "Back! And though Abraham himself came hither, we should
+have no consideration for him. Is it possible that thou wouldst set
+aside a law which thy predecessors administered?"[175]
+
+Even Lot's moral sense was no better than it should have been. It is
+the duty of a man to venture his life for the honor of his wife and his
+daughters, but Lot was ready to sacrifice the honor of his daughters,
+wherefor he was punished severely later on.[176]
+
+The angels told Lot who they were, and what the mission that had
+brought them to Sodom, and they charged him to flee from the city with
+his wife and his four daughters, two of them married, and two
+betrothed.[177] Lot communicated their bidding to his sons-in-law, and
+they mocked at him, and said: "O thou fool! Violins, cymbals, and
+flutes resound in the city, and thou sayest Sodom will be destroyed!"
+Such scoffing but hastened the execution of the doom of Sodom.[178] The
+angel Michael laid hold upon the hand of Lot, and his wife and his
+daughters, while with his little finger the angel Gabriel touched the
+rock whereon the sinful cities were built, and overturned them. At the
+same time the rain that was streaming down upon the two cities was
+changed into brimstone.[179]
+
+When the angels had brought forth Lot and his family and set them
+without the city, he bade them run for their lives, and not look
+behind, lest they behold the Shekinah, which had descended to work the
+destruction of the cities. The wife of Lot could not control herself.
+Her mother love made her look behind to see if her married daughters
+were following. She beheld the Shekinah, and she became a pillar of
+salt. This pillar exists unto this day. The cattle lick it all day
+long, and in the evening it seems to have disappeared, but when morning
+comes it stands there as large as before.[180]
+
+The savior angel had urged Lot himself to take refuge with Abraham. But
+he refused, and said: "As long as I dwelt apart from Abraham, God
+compared my deeds with the deeds of my fellow-citizens, and among them
+I appeared as a righteous man. If I should return to Abraham, God will
+see that his good deeds outweigh mine by far."[181] The angel then
+granted his plea that Zoar be left undestroyed. This city had been
+founded a year later than the other four; it was only fifty-one years
+old, and therefore the measure of its sins was not so full as the
+measure of the sins of the neighboring cities.[182]
+
+The destruction of the cities of the plain took place at dawn of the
+sixteenth day of Nisan, for the reason that there were moon and sun
+worshippers among the inhabitants. God said: "If I destroy them by day,
+the moon worshippers will say, Were the moon here, she would prove
+herself our savior; and if I destroy them by night, the sun worshippers
+will say, Were the sun here, he would prove himself our savior. I will
+therefore let their chastisement overtake them on the sixteenth day of
+Nisan at an hour at which the moon and the sun are both in the
+skies."[183]
+
+The sinful inhabitants of the cities of the plain not only lost their
+life in this world, but also their share in the future world. As for
+the cities themselves, however, they will be restored in the Messianic
+time.[184]
+
+The destruction of Sodom happened at the time at which Abraham was
+performing his morning devotions, and for his sake it was established
+as the proper hour for the morning prayer unto all times.[185] When he
+turned his eyes toward Sodom and beheld the rising smoke, he prayed for
+the deliverance of Lot, and God granted his petition—the fourth time
+that Lot became deeply indebted to Abraham. Abraham had taken him with
+him to Palestine, he had made him rich in flocks, herds, and tents, he
+had rescued him from captivity, and by his prayer he saved him from the
+destruction of Sodom. The descendants of Lot, the Ammonites and the
+Moabites, instead of showing gratitude to the Israelites, the posterity
+of Abraham, committed four acts of hostility against them. They sought
+to compass the destruction of Israel by means of Balaam's curses, they
+waged open war against him at the time of Jephthah, and also at the
+time of Jehoshaphat, and finally they manifested their hatred against
+Israel at the destruction of the Temple. Hence it is that God appointed
+four prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Zephaniah, to proclaim
+punishment unto the descendants of Lot, and four times their sin is
+recorded in Holy Writ.[186]
+
+Though Lot owed his deliverance to the petition of Abraham, yet it was
+at the same time his reward for not having betrayed Abraham in Egypt,
+when he pretended to be the brother of Sarah.[187] But a greater reward
+still awaits him. The Messiah will be a descendant of his, for the
+Moabitess Ruth is the great-grandmother of David, and the Ammonitess
+Naamah is the mother of Rehoboam, and the Messiah is of the line of
+these two kings.[188]
+
+AMONG THE PHILISTINES
+
+The destruction of Sodom induced Abraham to journey to Gerar.
+Accustomed to extend hospitality to travellers and wayfarers, he no
+longer felt comfortable in a district in which all traffic had ceased
+by reason of the ruined cities. There was another reason for Abraham's
+leaving his place; the people spoke too much about the ugly incident
+with Lot's daughters.[189]
+
+Arrived in the land of the Philistines, he again, as aforetime in
+Egypt, came to an understanding with Sarah, that she was to call
+herself his sister. When the report of her beauty reached the king, he
+ordered her to be brought before him, and he asked her who her
+companion was, and she told him that Abraham was her brother. Entranced
+by her beauty, Abimelech the king took Sarah to wife, and heaped marks
+of honor upon Abraham in accordance with the just claims of a brother
+of the queen. Toward evening, before retiring, while he was still
+seated upon his throne, Abimelech fell into a sleep, and he slept until
+the morning, and in the dream he dreamed he saw an angel of the Lord
+raising his sword to deal him a death blow. Sore frightened, he asked
+the cause, and the angel replied, and said: "Thou wilt die on account
+of the woman thou didst take into thy house this day, for she is the
+wife of Abraham, the man whom thou didst cite before thee. Return his
+wife unto him! But if thou restore her not, thou shalt surely die, thou
+and all that are thine."
+
+In that night the voice of a great crying was heard in the whole land
+of the Philistines, for they saw the figure of a man walking about,
+with sword in hand, slaying all that came in his way. At the same time
+it happened that in men and beasts alike all the apertures of the body
+closed up, and the land was seized with indescribable excitement. In
+the morning, when the king awoke, in agony and terror, he called all
+his servants and told his dream in their ears. One of their number
+said: "O lord and king! Restore this woman unto the man, for he is her
+husband. It is but his way in a strange land to pretend that she is his
+sister. Thus did he with the king of Egypt, too, and God sent heavy
+afflictions upon Pharaoh when he took the woman unto himself. Consider,
+also, O lord and king, what hath befallen this night in the land; great
+pain, wailing, and confusion there was, and we know that it came upon
+us only because of this woman."[190]
+
+There were some among his servants who spake: "Be not afraid of dreams!
+What dreams make known to man is but falsehood." Then God appeared unto
+Abimelech again and commanded him to let Sarah go free, otherwise he
+would be a dead man.[191] Abimelech replied: "Is this Thy way? Then, I
+ween, the generation of the flood and the generation of the confusion
+of tongues were innocent, too! The man himself did say unto me, She is
+my sister, and she, even she herself said, He is my brother, and all
+the people of their household said the same words." And God said unto
+him: "Yea, I know that thou hast not yet committed a trespass, for I
+withheld thee from sinning. Thou didst not know that Sarah was a man's
+wife.[192] But is it becoming to question a stranger, no sooner does he
+set foot upon thy territory, about the woman accompanying him, whether
+she be his wife or his sister? Abraham, who is a prophet, knew
+beforehand the danger to himself if he revealed the whole truth.[193]
+But, being a prophet, he also knows that thou didst not touch his wife,
+and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live."
+
+The smoke was still rising from the ruins of Sodom, and Abimelech and
+his people, seeing it, feared that a like fate might overtake
+them.[194] The king called Abraham and reproached him for having caused
+such great misfortune through his false statements concerning Sarah.
+Abraham excused his conduct by his apprehension that, the fear of God
+not being in the place, the inhabitants of the land slay him for his
+wife.[195] Abraham went on and told the history of his whole life, and
+he said: "When I dwelt in the house of my father, the nations of the
+world sought to do me harm, but God proved Himself my Redeemer. When
+the nations of the world tried to lead me astray to idolatry, God
+revealed Himself to me, and He said, 'Get thee out of thy country, and
+from thy kindred, and from thy father's house.' And when the nations of
+the world were about to go astray, God sent two prophets, my kinsmen
+Shem and Eber, to admonish them."[196]
+
+Abimelech gave rich gifts to Abraham, wherein he acted otherwise than
+Pharaoh in similar circumstances. The Egyptian king gave gifts to
+Sarah, but Abimelech was God fearing, and desired that Abraham pray for
+him.[197] To Sarah he gave a costly robe that covered her whole person,
+hiding her seductive charms from the view of beholders. At the same
+time it was a reproach to Abraham, that he had not fitted Sarah out
+with the splendor due to his wife.[198]
+
+Though Abimelech had done him great injury, Abraham not only granted
+him the forgiveness he craved, but also he prayed for him to God. Thus
+he is an exemplar unto all. "Man should be pliant as a reed, not hard
+like the cedar." He should be easily appeased, and slow to anger, and
+as soon as he who has sinned against him asks for pardon, he should
+forgive him with all his heart. Even if deep and serious injury has
+been done to him, he should not be vengeful, nor bear his brother a
+grudge in his heart.[199]
+
+Abraham prayed thus for Abimelech: "O Lord of the world! Thou hast
+created man that he may increase and propagate his kind. Grant that
+Abimelech and his house may multiply and increase!"[200] God fulfilled
+Abraham's petition in behalf of Abimelech and his people, and it was
+the first time it happened in the history of mankind that God fulfilled
+the prayer of one human being for the benefit of another.[201]
+Abimelech and his subjects were healed of all their diseases, and so
+efficacious was the prayer offered by Abraham that the wife of
+Abimelech, barren hitherto, bore a child.[202]
+
+THE BIRTH OF ISAAC
+
+When the prayer of Abraham for Abimelech was heard, and the king of the
+Philistines recovered, the angels raised a loud cry, and spoke to God
+thus: "O Lord of the world! All these years hath Sarah been barren, as
+the wife of Abimelech was. Now Abraham prayed to Thee, and the wife of
+Abimelech hath been granted a child. It is just and fair that Sarah
+should be remembered and granted a child." These words of the angels,
+spoken on the New Year's Day, when the fortunes of men are determined
+in heaven for the whole year, bore a result. Barely seven months later,
+on the first day of the Passover, Isaac was born.
+
+The birth of Isaac was a happy event, and not in the house of Abraham
+alone. The whole world rejoiced, for God remembered all barren women at
+the same time with Sarah. They all bore children. And all the blind
+were made to see, all the lame were made whole, the dumb were made to
+speak, and the mad were restored to reason. And a still greater miracle
+happened: on the day of Isaac's birth the sun shone with such splendor
+as had not been seen since the fall of man, and as he will shine again
+only in the future world.[203]
+
+To silence those who asked significantly, "Can one a hundred years old
+beget a son?" God commanded the angel who has charge over the embryos,
+to give them form and shape, that he fashion Isaac precisely according
+to the model of Abraham, so that all seeing Isaac might exclaim,
+"Abraham begot Isaac."[204]
+
+That Abraham and Sarah were blessed with offspring only after they had
+attained so great an age, had an important reason. It was necessary
+that Abraham should bear the sign of the covenant upon his body before
+he begot the son who was appointed to be the father of Israel.[205] And
+as Isaac was the first child born to Abraham after he was marked with
+the sign, he did not fail to celebrate his circumcision with much pomp
+and ceremony on the eighth day.[206] Shem, Eber, Abimelech king of the
+Philistines, and his whole retinue, Phicol the captain of his host in
+it—they all were present, and also Terah and his son Nahor, in a word,
+all the great ones round about.[207] On this occasion Abraham could at
+last put a stop to the talk of the people, who said, "Look at this old
+couple! They picked up a foundling on the highway, and they pretend he
+is their own son, and to make their statement seem credible, they
+arrange a feast in his honor." Abraham had invited not only men to the
+celebration, but also the wives of the magnates with their infants, and
+God permitted a miracle to be done. Sarah had enough milk in her
+breasts to suckle all the babes there,[208] and they who drew from her
+breasts had much to thank her for. Those whose mothers had harbored
+only pious thoughts in their minds when they let them drink the milk
+that flowed from the breasts of the pious Sarah, they became proselytes
+when they grew up; and those whose mothers let Sarah nurse them only in
+order to test her, they grew up to be powerful rulers, losing their
+dominion only at the revelation on Mount Sinai, because they would not
+accept the Torah. All proselytes and pious heathen are the descendants
+of these infants.[209]
+
+Among the guests of Abraham were the thirty-one kings and thirty-one
+viceroys of Palestine who were vanquished by Joshua at the conquest of
+the Holy Land. Even Og king of Bashan was present, and he had to suffer
+the teasing of the other guests, who rallied him upon having called
+Abraham a sterile mule, who would never have offspring. Og, on his
+part, pointed at the little boy with contempt, and said, "Were I to lay
+my finger upon him, he would be crushed." Whereupon God said to him:
+"Thou makest mock of the gift given to Abraham! As thou livest, thou
+shalt look upon millions and myriads of his descendants, and in the end
+thou shalt fall into their hands."[210]
+
+ISHMAEL CAST OFF
+
+When Isaac grew up, quarrels broke out between him and Ishmael, on
+account of the rights of the first-born. Ishmael insisted he should
+receive a double portion of the inheritance after the death of Abraham,
+and Isaac should receive only one portion. Ishmael, who had been
+accustomed from his youth to use the bow and arrow, was in the habit of
+aiming his missiles in the direction of Isaac, saying at the same time
+that he was but jesting.[211] Sarah, however, insisted that Abraham
+make over to Isaac all he owned, that no disputes might arise after his
+death,[212] "for," she said, "Ishmael is not worthy of being heir with
+my son, nor with a man like Isaac, and certainly not with my son
+Isaac."[213] Furthermore, Sarah insisted that Abraham divorce himself
+from Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, and send away the woman and her son,
+so that there be naught in common between them and her own son, either
+in this world or in the future world.
+
+Of all the trials Abraham had to undergo, none was so hard to bear as
+this, for it grieved him sorely to separate himself from his son. God
+appeared to him in the following night, and said to him: "Abraham,
+knowest thou not that Sarah was appointed to be thy wife from her
+mother's womb? She is thy companion and the wife of thy youth, and I
+named not Hagar as thy wife, nor Sarah as thy bondwoman. What Sarah
+spoke unto thee was naught but truth, and let it not be grievous in thy
+sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman." The next
+morning Abraham rose up early, gave Hagar her bill of divorcement, and
+sent her away with her son, first binding a rope about her loins that
+all might see she was a bondwoman.[214]
+
+The evil glance cast upon her stepson by Sarah made him sick and
+feverish, so that Hagar had to carry him, grown-up as he was. In his
+fever he drank often of the water in the bottle given her by Abraham as
+she left his house, and the water was quickly spent. That she might not
+look upon the death of her child, Hagar cast Ishmael under the willow
+shrubs growing on the selfsame spot whereon the angels had once spoken
+with her and made known to her that she would bear a son. In the
+bitterness of her heart, she spoke to God, and said, "Yesterday Thou
+didst say to me, I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be
+numbered for multitude, and to-day my son dies of thirst." Ishmael
+himself cried unto God, and his prayer and the merits of Abraham
+brought them help in their need, though the angels appeared against
+Ishmael before God. They said, "Wilt Thou cause a well of water to
+spring up for him whose descendants will let Thy children of Israel
+perish with thirst?" But God replied, and said, "What is Ishmael at
+this moment—righteous or wicked?" and when the angels called him
+righteous, God continued, "I treat man according to his deserts at each
+moment."[215]
+
+At that moment Ishmael was pious indeed, for he was praying to God in
+the following words: "O Lord of the world! If it be Thy will that I
+shall perish, then let me die in some other way, not by thirst, for the
+tortures of thirst are great beyond all others." Hagar, instead of
+praying to God, addressed her supplications to the idols of her youth.
+The prayer of Ishmael was acceptable before God, and He bade Miriam's
+well spring up, the well created in the twilight of the sixth day of
+creation.[216] Even after this miracle Hagar's faith was no stronger
+than before. She filled the bottle with water, because she feared it
+might again be spent, and no other would be nigh. Thereupon she
+journeyed to Egypt with her son, for "Throw the stick into the air as
+thou wilt, it will always land on its point." Hagar had come from
+Egypt, and to Egypt she returned, to choose a wife for her son.[217]
+
+THE TWO WIVES OF ISHMAEL
+
+The wife of Ishmael bore four sons and a daughter, and afterward
+Ishmael, his mother, and his wife and children went and returned to the
+wilderness. They made themselves tents in the wilderness in which they
+dwelt, and they continued to encamp and journey, month by month and
+year by year. And God gave Ishmael flocks, and herds, and tents, on
+account of Abraham his father, and the man increased in cattle. And
+some time after, Abraham said to Sarah, his wife, "I will go and see my
+son Ishmael; I yearn to look upon him, for I have not seen him for a
+long time." And Abraham rode upon one of his camels to the wilderness,
+to seek his son Ishmael, for he heard that he was dwelling in a tent in
+the wilderness with all belonging to him. And Abraham went to the
+wilderness, and he reached the tent of Ishmael about noon, and he asked
+after him. He found the wife of Ishmael sitting in the tent with her
+children, and her husband and his mother were not with them. And
+Abraham asked the wife of Ishmael, saying, "Where has Ishmael gone?"
+And she said, "He has gone to the field to hunt game." And Abraham was
+still mounted upon the camel, for he would not alight upon the ground,
+as he had sworn to his wife Sarah that he would not get off from the
+camel. And Abraham said to Ishmael's wife, "My daughter, give me a
+little water, that I may drink, for I am fatigued and tired from the
+journey." And Ishmael's wife answered, and said to Abraham, "We have
+neither water nor bread," and she was sitting in the tent, and did not
+take any notice of Abraham. She did not even ask him who he was. But
+all the while she was beating her children in the tent, and she was
+cursing them, and she also cursed her husband Ishmael, and spoke evil
+of him, and Abraham heard the words of Ishmael's wife to her children,
+and it was an evil thing in his eyes. And Abraham called to the woman
+to come out to him from the tent, and the woman came out, and stood
+face to face with Abraham, while Abraham was still mounted upon the
+camel. And Abraham said to Ishmael's wife, "When thy husband Ishmael
+returns home, say these words to him: A very old man from the land of
+the Philistines came hither to seek thee, and his appearance was thus
+and so, and thus was his figure. I did not ask him who he was, and
+seeing thou wast not here, he spoke unto me, and said, When Ishmael thy
+husband returns, tell him, Thus did the man say, When thou comest home,
+put away this tent-pin which thou hast placed here, and place another
+tent-pin in its stead." And Abraham finished his instructions to the
+woman, and he turned and went off on the camel homeward. And when
+Ishmael returned to the tent, he heard the words of his wife, and he
+knew that it was his father, and that his wife had not honored him. And
+Ishmael understood his father's words that he had spoken to his wife,
+and he hearkened to the voice of his father, and he divorced his wife,
+and she went away. And Ishmael afterward went to the land of Canaan,
+and he took another wife, and he brought her to his tent, to the place
+where he dwelt.
+
+And at the end of three years, Abraham said, "I will go again and see
+Ishmael my son, for I have not seen him for a long time." And he rode
+upon his camel, and went to the wilderness, and he reached the tent of
+Ishmael about noon. And he asked after Ishmael, and his wife came out
+of the tent, and she said, "He is not here, my lord, for he has gone to
+hunt in the fields and feed the camels," and the woman said to Abraham,
+"Turn in, my lord, into the tent, and eat a morsel of bread, for thy
+soul must be wearied on account of the journey." And Abraham said to
+her, "I will not stop, for I am in haste to continue my journey, but
+give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty," and the woman
+hastened and ran into the tent, and she brought out water and bread to
+Abraham, which she placed before him, urging him to eat and drink, and
+he ate and drank, and his heart was merry, and he blessed his son
+Ishmael. And he finished his meal, and he blessed the Lord, and he said
+to Ishmael's wife: "When Ishmael comes home, say these words to him: A
+very old man from the land of the Philistines came hither, and asked
+after thee, and thou wast not here, and I brought him out bread and
+water, and he ate and drank, and his heart was merry. And he spoke
+these words to me, When Ishmael thy husband comes home, say unto him,
+The tent-pin which thou hast is very good, do not put it away from the
+tent." And Abraham finished commanding the woman, and he rode off to
+his home, to the land of the Philistines, and when Ishmael came to his
+tent, his wife went forth to meet him with joy and a cheerful heart,
+and she told him the words of the old man. Ishmael knew that it was his
+father, and that his wife had honored him, and he praised the Lord. And
+Ishmael then took his wife and his children and his cattle and all
+belonging to him, and he journeyed from there, and he went to his
+father in the land of the Philistines. And Abraham related to Ishmael
+all that had happened between him and the first wife that Ishmael had
+taken, according to what she had done. And Ishmael and his children
+dwelt with Abraham many days in that land, and Abraham dwelt in the
+land of the Philistines a long time.[218]
+
+THE COVENANT WITH ABIMELECH
+
+After a sojourn of twenty-six years in the land of the Philistines,
+Abraham departed thence, and he settled in the neighborhood of Hebron.
+There he was visited by Abimelech with twenty of his grandees,[219] who
+requested him to make an alliance with the Philistines.
+
+As long as Abraham was childless, the heathen did not believe in his
+piety, but when Isaac was born, they said to him, "God is with thee."
+But again they entertained doubt of his piety when he cast off Ishmael.
+They said, "Were he a righteous man, he would not drive his first-born
+forth from his house." But when they observed the impious deeds of
+Ishmael, they said, "God is with thee in all thou doest." That Abraham
+was the favorite of God, they saw in this, too, that although Sodom was
+destroyed and all traffic had come to a standstill in that region, yet
+Abraham's treasure chambers were filled. For these reasons, the
+Philistines sought to form an alliance with him, to remain in force for
+three generations to come, for it is to the third generation that the
+love of a father extends.
+
+Before Abraham concluded the covenant with Abimelech, king of the
+Philistines, he reproved him on account of a well, for "Correction
+leads to love," and "There is no peace without correction." The herdmen
+of Abraham and those of Abimelech had left their dispute about the well
+to decision by ordeal: the well was to belong to the party for whose
+sheep the waters would rise so that they could drink of them. But the
+shepherds of Abimelech disregarded the agreement, and they wrested the
+well for their own use.[220] As a witness and a perpetual sign that the
+well belonged to him, Abraham set aside seven sheep, corresponding to
+the seven Noachian laws binding upon all men alike.[221] But God said,
+"Thou didst give him seven sheep. As thou livest, the Philistines shall
+one day slay seven righteous men, Samson, Hophni, Phinehas, and Saul
+with his three sons, and they will destroy seven holy places, and they
+will keep the holy Ark in their country as booty of war for a period of
+seven months, and furthermore only the seventh generation of thy
+descendants will be able to rejoice in the possession of the land
+promised to them."[222] After concluding the alliance with Abimelech,
+who acknowledged Abraham's right upon the well, Abraham called the
+place Beer-sheba, because there they swore both of them unto a covenant
+of friendship.
+
+In Beer-sheba Abraham dwelt many years, and thence he endeavored to
+spread the law of God. He planted a large grove there, and he made four
+gates for it, facing the four sides of the earth, east, west, north,
+and south, and he planted a vineyard therein. If a traveller came that
+way, he entered by the gate that faced him, and he sat in the grove,
+and ate, and drank, until he was satisfied, and then he departed. For
+the house of Abraham was always open for all passers-by, and they came
+daily to eat and drink there. If one was hungry, and he came to
+Abraham, he would give him what he needed, so that he might eat and
+drink and be satisfied; and if one was naked, and he came to Abraham,
+he would clothe him with the garments of the poor man's choice, and
+give him silver and gold, and make known to him the Lord, who had
+created him and set him on earth.[223] After the wayfarers had eaten,
+they were in the habit of thanking Abraham for his kind entertainment
+of them, whereto he would reply: "What, ye give thanks unto me! Rather
+return thanks to your host, He who alone provides food and drink for
+all creatures." Then the people would ask, "Where is He?" and Abraham
+would answer them, and say: "He is the Ruler of heaven and earth. He
+woundeth and He healeth, He formeth the embryo in the womb of the
+mother and bringeth it forth into the world, He causeth the plants and
+the trees to grow, He killeth and He maketh alive, He bringeth down to
+Sheol and bringeth up." When the people heard such words, they would
+ask, "How shall we return thanks to God and manifest our gratitude unto
+Him?" And Abraham would instruct them in these words: "Say, Blessed be
+the Lord who is blessed! Blessed be He that giveth bread and food unto
+all flesh!" In this manner did Abraham teach those who had enjoyed his
+hospitality how to praise and thank God.[224] Abraham's house thus
+became not only a lodging-place for the hungry and thirsty, but also a
+place of instruction where the knowledge of God and His law were
+taught.[225]
+
+SATAN ACCUSES ABRAHAM
+
+In spite of the lavish hospitality practiced in the house of Abraham,
+it happened once that a poor man, or rather an alleged poor man, was
+turned away empty-handed, and this was the immediate reason for the
+last of Abraham's temptations, the sacrifice of his favorite son Isaac.
+It was the day on which Abraham celebrated the birth of Isaac with a
+great banquet, to which all the magnates of the time were bidden with
+their wives. Satan, who always appears at a feast in which no poor
+people participate, and keeps aloof from those to which poor guests are
+invited, turned up at Abraham's banquet in the guise of a beggar asking
+alms at the door. He had noticed that Abraham had invited no poor man,
+and he knew that his house was the right place for him.
+
+Abraham was occupied with the entertainment of his distinguished
+guests, and Sarah was endeavoring to convince their wives, the matrons,
+that Isaac was her child in very truth, and not a spurious child. No
+one concerned himself about the beggar at the door, who thereupon
+accused Abraham before God.[226]
+
+Now, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves
+before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.[227] And the Lord said
+unto Satan, "From whence comest thou?" and Satan answered the Lord, and
+said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down
+in it." And the Lord said unto Satan, "What hast thou to say concerning
+all the children of the earth?" and Satan answered the Lord, and said:
+"I have seen all the children of the earth serving Thee and remembering
+Thee, when they require aught from Thee. And when Thou givest them what
+they require from Thee, then they forsake Thee, and they remember Thee
+no more. Hast Thou seen Abraham, the son of Terah, who at first had no
+children, and he served Thee and erected altars to Thee wherever he
+came, and he brought offerings upon them, and he proclaimed Thy name
+continually to all the children of the earth? And now his son Isaac is
+born to him, he has forsaken Thee. He made a great feast for all the
+inhabitants of the land, and the Lord he has forgotten. For amidst all
+that he has done, he brought Thee no offering, neither burnt offering
+nor peace offering, neither one lamb nor goat of all that he had killed
+in the day that his son was weaned. Even from the time of his son's
+birth till now, being thirty-seven years, he built no altar before
+Thee, nor brought up any offering to Thee, for he saw that Thou didst
+give what he requested before Thee, and he therefore forsook Thee." And
+the Lord said to Satan: "Hast thou considered My servant Abraham? For
+there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man
+before Me for a burnt offering, and that feareth God and escheweth
+evil. As I live, were I to say unto him, Bring up Isaac thy son before
+Me, he would not withhold him from Me, much less if I told him to bring
+up a burnt offering before Me from his flocks or herds." And Satan
+answered the Lord, and said, "Speak now unto Abraham as Thou hast said,
+and Thou wilt see whether he will not transgress and cast aside Thy
+words this day."[228]
+
+God wished to try Isaac also. Ishmael once boasted to Isaac, saying, "I
+was thirteen years old when the Lord spoke to my father to circumcise
+us, and I did not transgress His word, which He commanded my father."
+And Isaac answered Ishmael, saying, "What dost thou boast to me about
+this, about a little bit of thy flesh which thou didst take from thy
+body, concerning which the Lord commanded thee? As the Lord liveth, the
+God of my father Abraham, if the Lord should say unto my father, Take
+now thy son Isaac and bring him up as an offering before Me, I would
+not refrain, but I would joyfully accede to it."
+
+THE JOURNEY TO MORIAH
+
+And the Lord thought to try Abraham and Isaac in this matter.[229] And
+He said to Abraham, "Take now thy son."
+
+Abraham: "I have two sons, and I do not know which of them Thou
+commandest me to take."
+
+God: "Thine only son."
+
+Abraham: "The one is the only son of his mother, and the other is the
+only son of his mother."
+
+God: "Whom thou lovest."
+
+Abraham: "I love this one and I love that one."
+
+God: "Even Isaac."[230]
+
+Abraham: "And where shall I go?"
+
+God: "To the land I will show thee, and offer Isaac there for a burnt
+offering."
+
+Abraham: "Am I fit to perform the sacrifice, am I a priest? Ought not
+rather the high priest Shem to do it?"
+
+God: "When thou wilt arrive at that place, I will consecrate thee and
+make thee a priest."[231]
+
+And Abraham said within himself, "How shall I separate my son Isaac
+from Sarah his mother?" And he came into the tent, and he sate before
+Sarah his wife, and he spake these words to her: "My son Isaac is grown
+up, and he has not yet studied the service of God. Now, to-morrow I
+will go and bring him to Shem and Eber his son, and there he will learn
+the ways of the Lord, for they will teach him to know the Lord, and to
+know how to pray unto the Lord that He may answer him, and to know the
+way of serving the Lord his God." And Sarah said, "Thou hast spoken
+well. Go, my lord, and do unto him as thou hast said, but remove him
+not far from me, neither let him remain there too long, for my soul is
+bound within his soul." And Abraham said unto Sarah, "My daughter, let
+us pray to the Lord our God that He may do good with us." And Sarah
+took her son Isaac, and he abode with her all that night, and she
+kissed and embraced him, and she laid injunctions upon him till
+morning, and she said to Abraham: "O my lord, I pray thee, take heed of
+thy son, and place thine eyes over him, for I have no other son nor
+daughter but him. O neglect him not. If he be hungry, give him bread,
+and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink; do not let him go on
+foot, neither let him sit in the sun, neither let him go by himself on
+the road, neither turn him from whatever he may desire, but do unto him
+as he may say to thee."
+
+After spending the whole night in weeping on account of Isaac, she got
+up in the morning and selected a very fine and beautiful garment from
+those that Abimelech had given to her. And she dressed Isaac therewith,
+and she put a turban upon his head, and she fastened a precious stone
+in the top of the turban, and she gave them provisions for the road.
+And Sarah went out with them, and she accompanied them upon the road to
+see them off, and they said to her, "Return to the tent." And when
+Sarah heard the words of her son Isaac, she wept bitterly, and Abraham
+wept with her, and their son wept with them, a great weeping, also
+those of their servants who went with them wept greatly. And Sarah
+caught hold of Isaac, and she held him in her arms, and she embraced
+him, and continued to weep with him, and Sarah said, "Who knoweth if I
+shall ever see thee again after this day?"
+
+Abraham departed with Isaac amid great weeping, while Sarah and the
+servants returned to the tent.[232] He took two of his young men with
+him, Ishmael and Eliezer, and while they were walking in the road, the
+young men spoke these words to each other. Said Ishmael to Eliezer:
+"Now my father Abraham is going with Isaac to bring him up for a burnt
+offering to the Lord, and when he returneth, he will give unto me all
+that he possesses, to inherit after him, for I am his first-born."
+Eliezer answered: "Surely, Abraham did cast thee off with thy mother,
+and swear that thou shouldst not inherit anything of all he possesses.
+And to whom will he give all that he has, all his precious things, but
+unto his servant, who has been faithful in his house, to me, who have
+served him night and day, and have done all that he desired me?" The
+holy spirit answered, "Neither this one nor that one will inherit
+Abraham."[233]
+
+And while Abraham and Isaac were proceeding along the road, Satan came
+and appeared to Abraham in the figure of a very aged man, humble and of
+contrite spirit, and said to him: "Art thou silly or foolish, that thou
+goest to do this thing to thine only son? God gave thee a son in thy
+latter days, in thine old age, and wilt thou go and slaughter him, who
+did not commit any violence, and wilt thou cause the soul of thine only
+son to perish from the earth? Dost thou not know and understand that
+this thing cannot be from the Lord? For the Lord would not do unto man
+such evil, to command him, Go and slaughter thy son." Abraham, hearing
+these words, knew that it was Satan, who endeavored to turn him astray
+from the way of the Lord, and he rebuked him that he went away. And
+Satan returned and came to Isaac, and he appeared unto him in the
+figure of a young man, comely and well-favored, saying unto him: "Dost
+thou not know that thy silly old father bringeth thee to the slaughter
+this day for naught? Now, my son, do not listen to him, for he is a
+silly old man, and let not thy precious soul and beautiful figure be
+lost from the earth." And Isaac told these words to his father, but
+Abraham said to him, "Take heed of him, and do not listen to his words,
+for he is Satan endeavoring to lead us astray from the commands of our
+God." And Abraham rebuked Satan again, and Satan went from them, and,
+seeing he could not prevail over them, he transformed himself into a
+large brook of water in the road, and when Abraham, Isaac, and the two
+young men reached that place, they saw a brook large and powerful as
+the mighty waters. And they entered the brook, trying to pass it, but
+the further they went, the deeper the brook, so that the water reached
+up to their necks, and they were all terrified on account of the water.
+But Abraham recognized the place, and he knew that there had been no
+water there before, and he said to his son: "I know this place, on
+which there was no brook nor water. Now, surely, it is Satan who doth
+all this to us, to draw us aside this day from the commands of God."
+And Abraham rebuked Satan, saying unto him: "The Lord rebuke thee, O
+Satan. Begone from us, for we go by the command of God." And Satan was
+terri fied at the voice of Abraham, and he went away from them, and the
+place became dry land again as it was at first. And Abraham went with
+Isaac toward the place that God had told him.[234]
+
+Satan then appeared unto Sarah in the figure of an old man, and said
+unto her, "Where did thine husband go?" She said, "To his work." "And
+where did thy son Isaac go?" he inquired further, and she answered, "He
+went with his father to a place of study of the Torah." Satan said: "O
+thou poor old woman, thy teeth will be set on edge on account of thy
+son, as thou knowest not that Abraham took his son with him on the road
+to sacrifice him." In this hour Sarah's loins trembled, and all her
+limbs shook. She was no more of this world. Nevertheless she aroused
+herself, and said, "All that God hath told Abraham, may he do it unto
+life and unto peace."[235]
+
+On the third day of his journey, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the
+place at a distance, which God had told him. He noticed upon the
+mountain a pillar of fire reaching from the earth to heaven, and a
+heavy cloud in which the glory of God was seen. Abraham said to Isaac,
+"My son, dost thou see on that mountain which we perceive at a distance
+that which I see upon it?" And Isaac answered, and said unto his
+father, "I see, and, lo, a pillar of fire and a cloud, and the glory of
+the Lord is seen upon the cloud." Abraham knew then that Isaac was
+accepted before the Lord for an offering. He asked Ishmael and Eliezer,
+"Do you also see that which we see upon the mountain?" They answered,
+"We see nothing more than like the other mountains," and Abraham knew
+that they were not accepted before the Lord to go with them.[236]
+Abraham said to them, "Abide ye here with the ass, you are like the
+ass—as little as it sees, so little do you see.[237] I and Isaac my son
+go to yonder mount, and worship there before the Lord, and this eve we
+will return to you."[238] An unconscious prophecy had come to Abraham,
+for he prophesied that he and Isaac would both return from the
+mountain.[239] Eliezer and Ishmael remained in that place, as Abraham
+had commanded, while he and Isaac went further.
+
+THE 'AKEDAH
+
+And while they were walking along, Isaac spake unto his father,
+"Behold, the fire and the wood, but where then is the lamb for a burnt
+offering before the Lord?" And Abraham answered Isaac, saying, "The
+Lord hath chosen thee, my son, for a perfect burnt offering, instead of
+the lamb." And Isaac said unto his father, "I will do all that the Lord
+hath spoken to thee with joy and cheerfulness of heart." And Abraham
+again said unto Isaac his son, "Is there in thy heart any thought or
+counsel concerning this which is not proper? Tell me, my son, I pray
+thee! O my son, conceal it not from me." And Isaac answered, "As the
+Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is nothing in my heart to
+cause me to deviate either to the right or the left from the word that
+He hath spoken unto thee. Neither limb nor muscle hath moved or stirred
+on account of this, nor is there in my heart any thought or evil
+counsel concerning this. But I am joyful and cheerful of heart in this
+matter, and I say, Blessed is the Lord who has this day chosen me to be
+a burnt offering before Him."
+
+Abraham greatly rejoiced at the words of Isaac, and they went on and
+came together to that place that the Lord had spoken of.[240] And
+Abraham approached to build the altar in that place, and Abraham did
+build, while Isaac handed him stones and mortar, until they finished
+erecting the altar. And Abraham took the wood and arranged it upon the
+altar, and he bound Isaac, to place him upon the wood which was upon
+the altar, to slay him for a burnt offering before the Lord.[241] Isaac
+spake hereupon: "Father, make haste, bare thine arm, and bind my hands
+and feet securely, for I am a young man, but thirty-seven years of age,
+and thou art an old man. When I behold the slaughtering knife in thy
+hand, I may perchance begin to tremble at the sight and push against
+thee, for the desire unto life is bold. Also I may do myself an injury
+and make myself unfit to be sacrificed. I adjure thee, therefore, my
+father, make haste, execute the will of thy Creator, delay not. Turn up
+thy garment, gird thy loins, and after that thou hast slaughtered me,
+burn me unto fine ashes. Then gather the ashes, and bring them to
+Sarah, my mother, and place them in a casket in her chamber. At all
+hours, whenever she enters her chamber, she will remember her son Isaac
+and weep for him."
+
+And again Isaac spoke: "As soon as thou hast slaughtered me, and hast
+separated thyself from me, and returnest to Sarah my mother, and she
+asketh thee, Where is my son Isaac? what wilt thou answer her, and what
+will you two do in your old age?" Abraham answered, and said, "We know
+we can survive thee by a few days only. He who was our Comfort before
+thou wast born, will comfort us now and henceforth."
+
+After he had laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac on the altar, upon
+the wood, Abraham braced his arms, rolled up his garments, and leaned
+his knees upon Isaac with all his strength. And God, sitting upon His
+throne, high and exalted, saw how the hearts of the two were the same,
+and tears were rolling down from the eyes of Abraham upon Isaac, and
+from Isaac down upon the wood, so that it was submerged in tears. When
+Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son,
+God spoke to the angels: "Do you see how Abraham my friend proclaims
+the unity of My Name in the world? Had I hearkened unto you at the time
+of the creation of the world, when ye spake, What is man, that Thou art
+mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him? who would
+there have been to make known the unity of My Name in this world?" The
+angels then broke into loud weeping, and they exclaimed: "The highways
+lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth, he hath broken the covenant.
+Where is the reward of Abraham, he who took the wayfarers into his
+house, gave them food and drink, and went with them to bring them on
+the way? The covenant is broken, whereof Thou didst speak to him,
+saying, 'For in Isaac shall thy seed be called,' and saying, 'My
+covenant will I establish with Isaac,' for the slaughtering knife is
+set upon his throat."
+
+The tears of the angels fell upon the knife, so that it could not cut
+Isaac's throat, but from terror his soul escaped from him. Then God
+spoke to the archangel Michael, and said: "Why standest thou here? Let
+him not be slaughtered." Without delay, Michael, anguish in his voice,
+cried out: "Abraham! Abraham! Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither
+do thou any thing unto him!" Abraham made answer, and he said: "God did
+command me to slaughter Isaac, and thou dost command me not to
+slaughter him! The words of the Teacher and the words of the
+disciple—unto whose words doth one hearken?"[242] Then Abraham heard it
+said: "By Myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, 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 heaven, and as the sand which is upon the
+sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in
+thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou
+hast obeyed My voice."
+
+At once Abraham left off from Isaac, who returned to life, revived by
+the heavenly voice admonishing Abraham not to slaughter his son.
+Abraham loosed his bonds, and Isaac stood upon his feet, and spoke the
+benediction, "Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who quickenest the dead."[243]
+
+Then spake Abraham to God, "Shall I go hence without having offered up
+a sacrifice?" Whereunto God replied, and said, "Lift up thine eyes, and
+behold the sacrifice behind thee."[244] And Abraham lifted up his eyes,
+and, behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket, which God had
+created in the twilight of Sabbath eve in the week of creation, and
+prepared since then as a burnt offering instead of Isaac. And the ram
+had been running toward Abraham, when Satan caught hold of him and
+entangled his horns in the thicket, that he might not advance to
+Abraham. And Abraham, seeing this, fetched him from the thicket, and
+brought him upon the altar as an offering in the place of his son
+Isaac. And Abraham sprinkled the blood of the ram upon the altar, and
+he exclaimed, and said, "This is instead of my son, and may this be
+considered as the blood of my son before the Lord." And whatsoever
+Abraham did by the altar, he exclaimed, and said, "This is instead of
+my son, and may it be considered before the Lord in place of my son."
+And God accepted the sacrifice of the ram, and it was accounted as
+though it had been Isaac.[245]
+
+As the creation of this ram had been extraordinary, so also was the use
+to which all parts of his carcass were put. Not one thing went to
+waste. The ashes of the parts burnt upon the altar formed the
+foundation of the inner altar, whereon the expiatory sacrifice was
+brought once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the day on which the
+offering of Isaac took place. Of the sinews of the ram, David made ten
+strings for his harp upon which he played. The skin served Elijah for
+his girdle, and of his two horns, the one was blown at the end of the
+revelation on Mount Sinai, and the other will be used to proclaim the
+end of the Exile, when the "great horn shall be blown, and they shall
+come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and they that
+were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they shall worship the Lord in
+the holy mountain at Jerusalem."[246]
+
+When God commanded the father to desist from sacrificing Isaac, Abraham
+said: "One man tempts another, because he knoweth not what is in the
+heart of his neighbor. But Thou surely didst know that I was ready to
+sacrifice my son!"
+
+God: "It was manifest to Me, and I foreknew it, that thou wouldst
+withhold not even thy soul from Me."
+
+Abraham: "And why, then, didst Thou afflict me thus?"
+
+God: "It was My wish that the world should become acquainted with thee,
+and should know that it is not without good reason that I have chosen
+thee from all the nations. Now it hath been witnessed unto men that
+thou fearest God."[247]
+
+Hereupon God opened the heavens, and Abraham heard the words, "By
+Myself I swear!"
+
+Abraham: "Thou swearest, and also I swear, I will not leave this altar
+until I have said what I have to say."
+
+God: "Speak whatsoever thou hast to speak!"
+
+Abraham: "Didst Thou not promise me Thou wouldst let one come forth out
+of mine own bowels, whose seed should fill the whole world?"
+
+God: "Yes."
+
+Abraham: "Whom didst Thou mean?"
+
+God: "Isaac."
+
+Abraham: "Didst Thou not promise me to make my seed as numerous as the
+sand of the sea-shore?"
+
+God: "Yes."
+
+Abraham: "Through which one of my children?"
+
+God: "Through Isaac."
+
+Abraham: "I might have reproached Thee, and said, O Lord of the world,
+yesterday Thou didst tell me, In Isaac shall Thy seed be called, and
+now Thou sayest, Take thy son, thine only son, even Isaac, and offer
+him for a burnt offering. But I refrained myself, and I said nothing.
+Thus mayest Thou, when the children of Isaac commit trespasses and
+because of them fall upon evil times, be mindful of the offering of
+their father Isaac, and forgive their sins and deliver them from their
+suffering."
+
+God: "Thou hast said what thou hadst to say, and I will now say what I
+have to say. Thy children will sin before me in time to come, and I
+will sit in judgment upon them on the New Year's Day. If they desire
+that I should grant them pardon, they shall blow the ram's horn on that
+day, and I, mindful of the ram that was substituted for Isaac as a
+sacrifice, will forgive them for their sins."[248]
+
+Furthermore, the Lord revealed unto Abraham that the Temple, to be
+erected on the spot of Isaac's offering, would be destroyed,[249] and
+as the ram substituted for Isaac extricated himself from one tree but
+to be caught in another, so his children would pass from kingdom to
+kingdom—delivered from Babylonia they would be subjugated by Media,
+rescued from Media they would be enslaved by Greece, escaped from
+Greece they would serve Rome—yet in the end they would be redeemed in a
+final redemption, at the sound of the ram's horn, when "the Lord God
+shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the
+south."[250]
+
+The place on which Abraham had erected the altar was the same whereon
+Adam had brought the first sacrifice, and Cain and Abel had offered
+their gifts to God—the same whereon Noah raised an altar to God after
+he left the ark;[251] and Abraham, who knew that it was the place
+appointed for the Temple, called it Yireh, for it would be the abiding
+place of the fear and the service of God.[252] But as Shem had given it
+the name Shalem, Place of Peace, and God would not give offence to
+either Abraham or Shem, He united the two names, and called the city by
+the name Jerusalem.[253]
+
+After the sacrifice on Mount Moriah, Abraham returned to Beer-sheba,
+the scene of so many of his joys.[254] Isaac was carried to Paradise by
+angels, and there he sojourned for three years. Thus Abraham returned
+home alone, and when Sarah beheld him, she exclaimed, "Satan spoke
+truth when he said that Isaac was sacrificed," and so grieved was her
+soul that it fled from her body.[255]
+
+THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF SARAH
+
+While Abraham was engaged in the sacrifice, Satan went to Sarah, and
+appeared to her in the figure of an old man, very humble and meek, and
+said to her: "Dost thou not know all that Abraham has done unto thine
+only son this day? He took Isaac, and built an altar, slaughtered him,
+and brought him up as a sacrifice. Isaac cried and wept before his
+father, but he looked not at him, neither did he have compassion upon
+him." After saying these words to Sarah, Satan went away from her, and
+she thought him to be an old man from amongst the sons of men who had
+been with her son. Sarah lifted up her voice, and cried bitterly,
+saying: "O my son, Isaac, my son, O that I had this day died instead of
+thee I It grieves me for thee! After that I have reared thee and have
+brought thee up, my joy is turned into mourning over thee. In my
+longing for a child, I cried and prayed, till I bore thee at ninety.
+Now hast thou served this day for the knife and the fire. But I console
+myself, it being the word of God, and thou didst perform the command of
+thy God, for who can transgress the word of our God, in whose hands is
+the soul of every living creature? Thou art just, O Lord our God, for
+all Thy works are good and righteous, for I also rejoice with the word
+which Thou didst command, and while mine eye weepeth bitterly, my heart
+rejoiceth." And Sarah laid her head upon the bosom of one of her
+handmaids, and she became as still as a stone.
+
+She rose up afterward and went about making inquiries concerning her
+son, till she came to Hebron, and no one could tell her what had
+happened to her son. Her servants went to seek him in the house of Shem
+and Eber, and they could not find him, and they sought throughout the
+land, and he was not there. And, behold, Satan came to Sarah in the
+shape of an old man, and said unto her, "I spoke falsely unto thee, for
+Abraham did not kill his son, and he is not dead," and when she heard
+the word, her joy was so exceedingly violent that her soul went out
+through joy.
+
+When Abraham with Isaac returned to Beer-sheba, they sought for Sarah
+and could not find her, and when they made inquiries concerning her,
+they were told that she had gone as far as Hebron to seek them. Abraham
+and Isaac went to her to Hebron, and when they found that she was dead,
+they cried bitterly over her, and Isaac said: "O my mother, my mother,
+how hast thou left me, and whither hast thou gone? O whither hast thou
+gone, and how hast thou left me?" And Abraham and all his servants wept
+and mourned over her a great and heavy mourning, even that Abraham did
+not pray, but spent his time in mourning and weeping over Sarah.[257]
+And, indeed, he had great reason to mourn his loss, for even in her old
+age Sarah had retained the beauty of her youth and the innocence of her
+childhood.[258]
+
+The death of Sarah was a loss not only for Abraham and his family, but
+for the whole country. So long as she was alive, all went well in the
+land. After her death confusion ensued. The weeping, lamenting, and
+wailing over her going hence was universal, and Abraham, instead of
+receiving consolation, had to offer consolation to others. He spoke to
+the mourning people, and said: "My children, take not the going hence
+of Sarah too much to heart. There is one event unto all, to the pious
+and the impious alike. I pray you now, give me a burying-place with
+you, not as a gift, but for money."[259]
+
+In these last few words Abraham's unassuming modesty was expressed. God
+had promised him the whole land, yet when he came to bury his dead, he
+had to pay for the grave, and it did not enter his heart to cast
+aspersions upon the ways of God. In all humility he spake to the people
+of Hebron, saying, "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you."
+Therefore spake God to him, and said, "Thou didst bear thyself
+modestly. As thou livest, I will appoint thee lord and prince over
+them."[260]
+
+To the people themselves he appeared an angel, and they answered his
+words, saying: "Thou art a prince of God among us. In the choice of our
+sepulchres bury thy dead, among the rich if thou wilt, or among the
+poor if thou wilt."[261]
+
+Abraham first of all gave thanks to God for the friendly feeling shown
+to him by the children of Heth, and then he continued his negotiations
+for the Cave of Machpelah.[262] He had long known the peculiar value of
+this spot. Adam had chosen it as a burial-place for himself. He had
+feared his body might be used for idolatrous purposes after his death;
+he therefore designated the Cave of Machpelah as the place of his
+burial, and in the depths his corpse was laid, so that none might find
+it.[263] When he interred Eve there, he wanted to dig deeper, because
+he scented the sweet fragrance of Paradise, near the entrance to which
+it lay, but a heavenly voice called to him, Enough! Adam himself was
+buried there by Seth, and until the time of Abraham the place was
+guarded by angels, who kept a fire burning near it perpetually, so that
+none dared approach it and bury his dead therein.[264] Now, it happened
+on the day when Abraham received the angels in his house, and he wanted
+to slaughter an ox for their entertainment, that the ox ran away, and
+in his pursuit of him Abraham entered the Cave of Machpelah. There he
+saw Adam and Eve stretched out upon couches, candles burning at the
+head of their resting-places, while a sweet scent pervaded the cave.
+
+Therefore Abraham wished to acquire the Cave of Machpelah from the
+children of Heth, the inhabitants of the city of Jebus. They said to
+him. "We know that in time to come God will give these lands unto thy
+seed, and now do thou swear a covenant with us that Israel shall not
+wrest the city of Jebus from its inhabitants without their consent."
+Abraham agreed to the condition, and he acquired the field from Ephron,
+in whose possession it lay.[265]
+
+This happened the very day on which Ephron had been made the chief of
+the children of Heth, and he had been raised to the position so that
+Abraham might not have to have dealings with a man of low rank. It was
+of advantage to Abraham, too, for Ephron at first refused to sell his
+field, and only the threat of the children of Heth to depose him from
+his office, unless he fulfilled the desire of Abraham, could induce him
+to change his disposition.[266]
+
+Dissembling deceitfully, Ephron then offered to give Abraham the field
+without compensation, but when Abraham insisted upon paying for it,
+Ephron said: "My lord, hearken unto me. A piece of land worth four
+hundred shekels of silver, what is that betwixt me and thee?" showing
+only too well that the money was of the greatest consequence to him.
+Abraham understood his words, and when he came to pay for the field, he
+weighed out the sum agreed upon between them in the best of current
+coin.[267] A deed, signed by four witnesses, was drawn up, and the
+field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, the field, and the cave which
+was therein, were made sure unto Abraham and his descendants for all
+times.
+
+The burial of Sarah then took place, amid great magnificence and the
+sympathy of all. Shem and his son Eber, Abimelech king of the
+Philistines, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, as well as all the great of the
+land, followed her bier. A seven days' mourning was kept for her, and
+all the inhabitants of the land came to condole with Abraham and
+Isaac.[268]
+
+When Abraham entered the cave to place the body of Sarah within, Adam
+and Eve refused to remain there, "because," they said, "as it is, we
+are ashamed in the presence of God on account of the sin we committed,
+and now we shall be even more ashamed on account of your good deeds."
+Abraham soothed Adam. He promised to pray to God for him, that the need
+for shame be removed from him. Adam resumed his place, and Abraham
+entombed Sarah, and at the same time he carried Eve, resisting, back to
+her place.[269]
+
+One year after the death of Sarah, Abimelech king of the Philistines
+died, too, at the age of one hundred and ninety-three years. His
+successor upon the throne was his twelve-year old son Benmelek, who
+took the name of his father after his accession. Abraham did not fail
+to pay a visit of condolence at the court of Abimelech.
+
+Lot also died about this time, at the age of one hundred and forty-two.
+His sons, Moab and Ammon, both married Canaanitish wives. Moab begot a
+son, and Ammon had six sons, and the descendants of both were numerous
+exceedingly.
+
+Abraham suffered a severe loss at the same time in the death of his
+brother Nahor, whose days ended at Haran, when he had reached the age
+of one hundred and seventy two years.[270]
+
+ELIEZER'S MISSION
+
+The death of Sarah dealt Abraham a blow from which he did not recover.
+So long as she was alive, he felt himself young and vigorous, but after
+she had passed away, old age suddenly overtook him.[271] It was he
+himself who made the plea that age be betrayed by suitable signs and
+tokens. Before the time of Abraham an old man was not distinguishable
+externally from a young man, and as Isaac was the image of his father,
+it happened frequently that father and son were mistaken for each
+other, and a request meant for the one was preferred to the other.
+Abraham prayed therefore that old age might have marks to distinguish
+it from youth, and God granted his petition, and since the time of
+Abraham the appearance of men changes in old age. This is one of the
+seven great wonders that have occurred in the course of history.[272]
+
+The blessing of God did not forsake Abraham in old age, either. That it
+might not be said it had been granted to him only for the sake of
+Sarah, God prospered him after her death, too. Hagar bore him a
+daughter, and Ishmael repented of his evil ways and subordinated
+himself to Isaac. And as Abraham enjoyed undisturbed happiness in his
+family, so also outside, in the world. The kings of the east and the
+west eagerly besieged the door of his house in order to derive benefit
+from his wisdom. From his neck a precious stone was suspended, which
+possessed the power of healing the sick who looked upon it. On the
+death of Abraham, God attached it to the wheel of the sun. The greatest
+blessing enjoyed by him, and by none beside except his son Isaac and
+Jacob the son of Isaac, was that the evil inclination had no power over
+him, so that in this life he had a foretaste of the future world.[273]
+
+But all these Divine blessings showered upon Abraham were not
+undeserved. He was clean of hand, and pure of heart, one that did not
+lift up his soul unto vanity.[274]
+
+He fulfilled all the commands that were revealed later, even the
+Rabbinical injunctions, as, for instance, the one relating to the
+limits of a Sabbath day's journey, wherefor his reward was that God
+disclosed to him the new teachings which He expounded daily in the
+heavenly academy.[275]
+
+But one thing lacked to complete the happiness of Abraham, the marriage
+of Isaac. He therefore called his old servant Eliezer unto himself.
+Eliezer resembled his master not only externally, in his appearance,
+but also spiritually. Like Abraham he possessed full power over the
+evil inclination,[276] and like the master, the servant was an adept in
+the law.[277] Abraham spake the following words to Eliezer: "I am
+stricken in age, and I know not the day of my death. Therefore prepare
+thyself, and go unto my country, and to my kindred, and fetch hither a
+wife for my son."[278] Thus he spake by reason of the resolution he had
+taken immediately after the sacrifice of Isaac on Moriah, for he had
+there said within himself, that if the sacrifice had been executed,
+Isaac would have gone hence childless. He was even ready to choose a
+wife for his son from among the daughters of his three friends, Aner,
+Eshcol, and Mamre, because he knew them to be pious, and he did not
+attach much importance to aristocratic stock. Then spake God to him,
+and said: "Concern thyself not about a wife for Isaac.[279] One has
+already been provided for him," and it was made known to Abraham that
+Milcah, the wife of his brother Nahor, childless until the birth of
+Isaac, had then been remembered by God and made fruitful. She bore
+Bethuel, and he in turn, at the time of Isaac's sacrifice, begot the
+daughter destined to be the wife of Isaac.[280]
+
+Mindful of the proverb, "Even if the wheat of thine own place be
+darnel, use it for seed," Abraham determined to take a wife for Isaac
+from his own family. He argued that as any wife he chose would have to
+become a proselyte, it would be best to use his own stock, which had
+the first claim upon him.[281]
+
+Eliezer now said to his master: "Peradventure no woman will be willing
+to follow me unto this land. May I then marry my own daughter to
+Isaac?" "No," replied Abraham, "thou art of the accursed race, and my
+son is of the blessed race, and curse and blessing cannot be
+united.[282] But beware thou that thou bring not my son again unto the
+land from whence I came, for if thou broughtest him thither again, it
+were as though thou tookest him to hell. God who sets the heavens in
+motion, He will set this matter right, too,[283] and He that took me
+from my father's house, and that spake unto me, and that swore unto me
+in Haran, and at the covenant of the pieces, that He would give this
+land unto my seed, He shall send His excellent angel before thee, and
+thou shalt take a wife for my son from thence." Eliezer then swore to
+his master concerning the matter, and Abraham made him take the oath by
+the sign of the covenant.[284]
+
+THE WOOING OF REBEKAH
+
+Attended by ten men,[285] mounted upon ten camels laden with jewels and
+trinkets, Eliezer betook himself to Haran under the convoy of two
+angels, the one appointed to keep guard over Eliezer, the other over
+Rebekah.[286]
+
+The journey to Haran took but a few hours, at evening of the same day
+he reached there, because the earth hastened to meet him in a wonderful
+way.[287] He made a halt at the well of water, and he prayed to God to
+permit him to distinguish the wife appointed for Isaac among the
+damsels that came to draw water, by this token, that she alone, and not
+the others, would give him drink.[288] Strictly speaking, this wish of
+his was unseemly, for suppose a bondwoman had given him water to
+drink![289] But God granted his request. All the damsels said they
+could not give him of their water, because they had to take it home.
+Then appeared Rebekah, coming to the well contrary to her wont, for she
+was the daughter of a king, Bethuel her father being king of Haran.
+When Eliezer addressed his request for water to drink to this young
+innocent child, not only was she ready to do his bidding, but she
+rebuked the other maidens on account of their discourtesy to a
+stranger.[290] Eliezer noticed, too, how the water rose up to her of
+its own accord from the bottom of the well, so that she needed not to
+exert herself to draw it. Having scrutinized her carefully, he felt
+certain that she was the wife chosen for Isaac. He gave her a nose
+ring, wherein was set a precious stone, half a shekel in weight,
+foreshadowing the half-shekel which her descendants would once bring to
+the sanctuary year by year. He gave her also two bracelets for her
+hands, of ten shekels weight in gold, in token of the two tables of
+stone and the Ten Commandments upon them.[291]
+
+When Rebekah, bearing the jewels, came to her mother and to her brother
+Laban, this one hastened to Eliezer in order to slay him and take
+possession of his goods. Laban soon learnt that he would not be able to
+do much harm to a giant like Eliezer. He met him at the moment when
+Eliezer seized two camels and bore them across the stream.[292]
+Besides, on account of Eliezer's close resemblance to Abraham, Laban
+thought he saw Abraham before him, and he said: "Come in, thou blessed
+of the Lord! It is not becoming that thou shouldst stand without, I
+have cleansed my house of idols."[293]
+
+But when Eliezer arrived at the house of Bethuel, they tried to kill
+him with cunning. They set poisoned food before him. Luckily, he
+refused to eat before he had discharged himself of his errand. While he
+was telling his story, it was ordained by God that the dish intended
+for him should come to stand in front of Bethuel, who ate of it and
+died.[294]
+
+Eliezer showed the document he had in which Abraham deeded all his
+possessions to Isaac, and he made it known to the kindred of Abraham,
+how deeply attached to them his master was, in spite of the long years
+of separation.[295] Yet he let them know at the same time that Abraham
+was not dependent wholly upon them. He might seek a wife for his son
+among the daughters of Ishmael or Lot. At first the kindred of Abraham
+consented to let Rebekah go with Eliezer, but as Bethuel had died in
+the meantime, they did not want to give Rebekah in marriage without
+consulting her. Besides, they deemed it proper that she should remain
+at home at least during the week of mourning for her father.[296] But
+Eliezer, seeing the angel wait for him, would brook no delay, and he
+said, "The man who came with me and prospered my way, waits for me
+without," and as Rebekah professed herself ready to go at once with
+Eliezer, her mother and brother granted her wish and dismissed her with
+their blessings.[297] But their blessings did not come from the bottom
+of their hearts. Indeed, as a rule, the blessing of the impious is a
+curse, wherefore Rebekah remained barren for years.
+
+Eliezer's return to Canaan was as wonderful as his going to Haran had
+been. A seventeen days' journey he accomplished in three hours. He left
+Haran at noon, and he arrived at Hebron[299] at three o'clock in the
+afternoon, the time for the Minhah Prayer, which had been introduced by
+Isaac. He was in the posture of praying when Rebekah first laid eyes
+upon him, wherefore she asked Eliezer what man this was. She saw he was
+not an ordinary individual. She noticed the unusual beauty of Isaac,
+and also that an angel accompanied him. Thus her question was not
+dictated by mere curiosity.[300] At this moment she learnt through the
+holy spirit, that she was destined to be the mother of the godless
+Esau. Terror seized her at the knowledge, and, trembling, she fell from
+the camel and inflicted an injury upon herself.[301]
+
+After Isaac had heard the wonderful adventures of Eliezer, he took
+Rebekah to the tent of his mother Sarah, and she showed herself worthy
+to be her successor. The cloud appeared again that had been visible
+over the tent during the life of Sarah, and had vanished at her death;
+the light shone again in the tent of Rebekah that Sarah had kindled at
+the coming in of the Sabbath, and that had burnt miraculously
+throughout the week; the blessing returned with Rebekah that had
+hovered over the dough kneaded by Sarah; and the gates of the tent were
+opened for the needy, wide and spacious, as they had been during the
+lifetime of Sarah.[302]
+
+For three years Isaac had mourned for his mother, and he could find no
+consolation in the academy of Shem and Eber, his abiding-place during
+that period. But Rebekah comforted him after his mother's death,[303]
+for she was the counterpart of Sarah in person and in spirit.[304]
+
+As a reward for having executed to his full satisfaction the mission
+with which he had charged him, Abraham set his bondman free.[305] The
+curse resting upon Eliezer, as upon all the descendants of Canaan, was
+transformed into a blessing, because he ministered unto Abraham
+loyally.[306] Greatest reward of all, God found him worthy of entering
+Paradise alive, a distinction that fell to the lot of very few.[307]
+
+THE LAST YEARS OF ABRAHAM
+
+Rebekah first saw Isaac as he was coming from the way of
+Beer-lahai-roi, the dwelling-place of Hagar, whither he had gone after
+the death of his mother, for the purpose of reuniting his father with
+Hagar,[308] or, as she is also called, Keturah.[309]
+
+Hagar bore him six sons, who, however, did scant honor to their father,
+for they all were idolaters.[310] Abraham, therefore, during his own
+lifetime, sent them away from the presence of Isaac, that they might
+not be singed by Isaac's flame, and gave them the instruction to
+journey eastward as far as possible.[311] There he built a city for
+them, surrounded by an iron wall, so high that the sun could not shine
+into the city. But Abraham provided them with huge gems and pearls,
+their lustre more brilliant than the light of the sun, which will be
+used in the Messianic time when "the moon shall be confounded and the
+sun ashamed."[312] Also Abraham taught them the black art, wherewith
+they held sway over demons and spirits. It is from this city in the
+east that Laban, Balaam, and Balaam's father Beor derived their
+sorceries.[313]
+
+Epher, one of the grandsons of Abraham and Keturah, invaded Lybia with
+an armed force, and took possession of the country. From this Epher the
+whole land of Africa has its name.[314] Aram is also a country made
+habitable by a kinsman of Abraham. In his old age Terah contracted a
+new marriage with Pelilah, and from this union sprang a son Zoba, who
+was the father in turn of three sons. The oldest of these, Aram, was
+exceedingly rich and powerful, and the old home in Haran sufficed not
+for him and his kinsmen, the sons of Nahor, the brother of Abraham.
+Aram and his brethren and all that belonged to him therefore departed
+from Haran, and they settled in a vale, and they built themselves a
+city there which they called Aram-Zoba, to perpetuate the name of the
+father and his first-born son. Another Aram, Aram-naharaim, on the
+Euphrates, was built by Aram son of Kemuel, a nephew of Abraham. Its
+real name was Petor, after the son of Aram, but it is better known as
+Aram-naharaim. The descendants of Kesed, another nephew of Abraham, a
+son of his brother Nahor, established themselves opposite to Shinar,
+where they founded the city of Kesed, the city whence the Chaldees are
+called Kasdim.[315]
+
+Though Abraham knew full well that Isaac deserved his paternal blessing
+beyond all his sons, yet he withheld it from him, that no hostile
+feelings be aroused among his descendants. He spake, and said: "I am
+but flesh and blood, here to-day, to-morrow in the grave. What I was
+able to do for my children I have done. Henceforth let come what God
+desires to do in His world," and it happened that immediately after the
+death of Abraham God Himself appeared unto Isaac, and gave him His
+blessing.[316]
+
+A HERALD OF DEATH
+
+When the day of the death of Abraham drew near, the Lord said to
+Michael, "Arise and go to Abraham and say to him, Thou shalt depart
+from life!" so that he might set his house in order before he died. And
+Michael went and came to Abraham and found him sitting before his oxen
+for ploughing. Abraham, seeing Michael, but not knowing who he was,
+saluted him and said to him, "Sit down a little while, and I will order
+a beast to be brought, and we will go to my house, that thou mayest
+rest with me, for it is toward evening, and arise in the morning and go
+whithersoever thou wilt." And Abraham called one of his servants, and
+said to him: "Go and bring me a beast, that the stranger may sit upon
+it, for he is wearied with his journey." But Michael said, "I abstain
+from ever sitting upon any fourfooted beast, let us walk therefore,
+till we reach the house."
+
+On their way to the house they passed a huge tree, and Abraham heard a
+voice from its branches, singing, "Holy art thou, because thou hast
+kept the purpose for which thou wast sent." Abraham hid the mystery in
+his heart, thinking that the stranger did not hear it. Arrived at his
+house, he ordered the servants to prepare a meal, and while they were
+busy with their work, he called his son Isaac, and said to him, "Arise
+and put water in the vessel, that we may wash the feet of the
+stranger." And he brought it as he was commanded, and Abraham said, "I
+perceive that in this basin I shall never again wash the feet of any
+man coming to us as a guest." Hearing this, Isaac began to weep, and
+Abraham, seeing his son weep, also wept, and Michael, seeing them weep,
+wept also, and the tears of Michael fell into the water, and became
+precious stones.
+
+Before sitting down to the table, Michael arose, went out for a moment,
+as if to ease nature, and ascended to heaven in the twinkling of an
+eye, and stood before the Lord, and said to Him: "Lord and Master, let
+Thy power know that I am unable to remind that righteous man of his
+death, for I have not seen upon the earth a man like him,
+compassionate, hospitable, righteous, truthful, devout, refraining from
+every evil deed." Then the Lord said to Michael, "Go down to My friend
+Abraham, and whatever he may say to thee, that do thou also, and
+whatever he may eat, eat thou also with him, and I will cast the
+thought of the death of Abraham into the heart of Isaac, his son, in a
+dream, and Isaac will relate the dream, and thou shalt interpret it,
+and he himself will know his end." And Michael said, "Lord, all the
+heavenly spirits are incorporeal, and neither eat nor drink, and this
+man has set before me a table with an abundance of all good things
+earthly and corruptible. Now, Lord, what shall I do?" The Lord answered
+him, "Go down to him and take no thought for this, for when thou
+sittest down with him, I will send upon thee a devouring spirit, and it
+will consume out of thy hands and through thy mouth all that is on the
+table."
+
+Then Michael went into the house of Abraham, and they ate and drank and
+were merry. And when the supper was ended, Abraham prayed after his
+custom, and Michael prayed with him, and each lay down to sleep upon
+his couch in one room, while Isaac went to his chamber, lest he be
+troublesome to the guest. About the seventh hour of the night, Isaac
+awoke and came to the door of his father's chamber, crying out and
+saying, "Open, father, that I may touch thee before they take thee away
+from me." And Abraham wept together with his son, and when Michael saw
+them weep, he wept likewise. And Sarah, hearing the weeping, called
+forth from her bedchamber, saying: "My lord Abraham, why this weeping?
+Has the stranger told thee of thy brother's son Lot, that he is dead?
+or has aught befallen us?" Michael answered, and said to her, "Nay, my
+sister Sarah, it is not as thou sayest, but thy son Isaac, methinks,
+beheld a dream, and came to us weeping, and we, seeing him, were moved
+in our hearts and wept." Sarah, hearing Michael speak, knew straightway
+that it was an angel of the Lord, one of the three angels whom they had
+entertained in their house once before, and therefore she made a sign
+to Abraham to come out toward the door, to inform him of what she knew.
+Abraham said: "Thou hast perceived well, for I, too, when I washed his
+feet, knew in my heart that they were the feet that I had washed at the
+oak of Mamre, and that went to save Lot." Abraham, returning to his
+chamber, made Isaac relate his dream, which Michael interpreted to
+them, saying: "Thy son Isaac has spoken truth, for thou shalt go and be
+taken up into the heavens, but thy body shall remain on earth, until
+seven thousand ages are fulfilled, for then all flesh shall arise. Now,
+therefore, Abraham, set thy house in order, for thou wast heard what is
+decreed concerning thee." Abraham answered, "Now I know thou art an
+angel of the Lord, and wast sent to take my soul, but I will not go
+with thee, but do thou whatever thou art commanded." Michael returned
+to heaven and told God of Abraham's refusal to obey his summons, and he
+was again commanded to go down and admonish Abraham not to rebel
+against God, who had bestowed many blessings upon him, and he reminded
+him that no one who has come from Adam and Eve can escape death, and
+that God in His great kindness toward him did not permit the sickle of
+death to meet him, but sent His chief captain, Michael, to him.
+"Wherefore, then," he ended, "hast thou said to the chief captain, I
+will not go with thee?" When Michael delivered these exhortations to
+Abraham, he saw that it was futile to oppose the will of God, and he
+consented to die, but wished to have one desire of his fulfilled while
+still alive. He said to Michael: "I beseech thee, lord, if I must
+depart from my body, I desire to be taken up in my body, that I may see
+the creatures that the Lord has created in heaven and on earth."
+Michael went up into heaven, and spake before the Lord concerning
+Abraham, and the Lord answered Michael, "Go and take up Abraham in the
+body and show him all things, and whatever he shall say to thee, do to
+him as to My friend."
+
+ABRAHAM VIEWS EARTH AND HEAVEN
+
+The archangel Michael went down, and took Abraham upon a chariot of the
+cherubim, and lifted him up into the air of heaven, and led him upon
+the cloud, together with sixty angels, and Abraham ascended upon the
+chariot over all the earth, and saw all things that are below on the
+earth, both good and bad. Looking down upon the earth, he saw a man
+committing adultery with a wedded woman, and turning to Michael he
+said, "Send fire from heaven to consume them." Straightway there came
+down fire and consumed them, for God had commanded Michael to do
+whatsoever Abraham should ask him to do. He looked again, and he saw
+thieves digging through a house, and Abraham said, "Let wild beasts
+come out of the desert, and tear them in pieces," and immediately wild
+beasts came out of the desert and devoured them. Again he looked down,
+and he saw people preparing to commit murder, and he said, "Let the
+earth open and swallow them," and, as he spoke, the earth swallowed
+them alive. Then God spoke to Michael: "Turn away Abraham to his own
+house and let him not go round the whole earth, because he has no
+compassion on sinners, but I have compassion on sinners, that they may
+turn and live and repent of their sins, and be saved."
+
+So Michael turned the chariot, and brought Abraham to the place of
+judgment of all souls. Here he saw two gates, the one broad and the
+other narrow, the narrow gate that of the just, which leads to life,
+they that enter through it go into Paradise. The broad gate is that of
+sinners, which leads to destruction and eternal punishment. Then
+Abraham wept, saying, "Woe is me, what shall I do? for I am a man big
+of body, and how shall I be able to enter by the narrow gate?" Michael
+answered, and said to Abraham, "Fear not, nor grieve, for thou shalt
+enter by it unhindered, and all they who are like thee." Abraham,
+perceiving that a soul was adjudged to be set in the midst, asked
+Michael the reason for it, and Michael answered, "Because the judge
+found its sins and its righteousness equal, he neither committed it to
+judgment nor to be saved." Abraham said to Michael, "Let us pray for
+this soul, and see whether God will hear us," and when they rose up
+from their prayer, Michael informed Abraham that the soul was saved by
+the prayer, and was taken by an angel and carried up to Paradise.
+Abraham said to Michael, "Let us yet call upon the Lord and supplicate
+His compassion and entreat His mercy for the souls of the sinners whom
+I formerly, in my anger, cursed and destroyed, whom the earth devoured,
+and the wild beasts tore in pieces, and the fire consumed, through my
+words. Now I know that I have sinned before the Lord our God."
+
+After the joint prayer of the archangel and Abraham, there came a voice
+from heaven, saying, "Abraham, Abraham, I have hearkened to thy voice
+and thy prayer, and I forgive thee thy sin, and those whom thou
+thinkest that I destroyed, I have called up and brought them into life
+by My exceeding kindness, because for a season I have requited them in
+judgment, and those whom I destroy living upon earth, I will not
+requite in death."
+
+When Michael brought Abraham back to his house, they found Sarah dead.
+Not seeing what had become of Abraham, she was consumed with grief and
+gave up her soul. Though Michael had fulfilled Abraham's wish, and had
+shown him all the earth and the judgment and recompense, he still
+refused to surrender his soul to Michael, and the archangel again
+ascended to heaven, and said unto the Lord: "Thus speaks Abraham, I
+will not go with thee, and I refrain from laying my hands on him,
+because from the beginning he was Thy friend, and he has done all
+things pleasing in Thy sight. There is no man like him on earth, not
+even Job, the wondrous man." But when the day of the death of Abraham
+drew nigh, God commanded Michael to adorn Death with great beauty and
+send him thus to Abraham, that he might see him with his eyes.
+
+While sitting under the oak of Mamre, Abraham perceived a flashing of
+light and a smell of sweet odor, and turning around he saw Death coming
+toward him in great glory and beauty. And Death said unto Abraham:
+"Think not, Abraham, that this beauty is mine, or that I come thus to
+every man. Nay, but if any one is righteous like thee, I thus take a
+crown and come to him, but if he is a sinner, I come in great
+corruption, and out of their sins I make a crown for my head, and I
+shake them with great fear, so that they are dismayed." Abraham said to
+him, "And art thou, indeed, he that is called Death?" He answered, and
+said, "I am the bitter name," but Abraham answered, "I will not go with
+thee." And Abraham said to Death, "Show us thy corruption." And Death
+revealed his corruption, showing two heads, the one had the face of a
+serpent, the other head was like a sword. All the servants of Abraham,
+looking at the fierce mien of Death, died, but Abraham prayed to the
+Lord, and he raised them up. As the looks of Death were not able to
+cause Abraham's soul to depart from him, God removed the soul of
+Abraham as in a dream, and the archangel Michael took it up into
+heaven. After great praise and glory had been given to the Lord by the
+angels who brought Abraham's soul, and after Abraham bowed down to
+worship, then came the voice of God, saying thus: "Take My friend
+Abraham into Paradise, where are the tabernacles of My righteous ones
+and the abodes of My saints Isaac and Jacob in his bosom, where there
+is no trouble, nor grief, nor sighing, but peace and rejoicing and life
+unending."[317]
+
+Abraham's activity did not cease with his death, and as he interceded
+in this world for the sinners, so will he intercede for them in the
+world to come. On the day of judgment he will sit at the gate of hell,
+and he will not suffer those who kept the law of circumcision to enter
+therein.[318]
+
+THE PATRON OF HEBRON
+
+Once upon a time some Jews lived in Hebron, few in number, but pious
+and good, and particularly hospitable. When strangers came to the Cave
+of Machpelah to pray there, the inhabitants of the place fairly
+quarrelled with each other for the privilege of entertaining the
+guests, and the one who carried off the victory rejoiced as though he
+had found great spoil.
+
+On the eve of the Day of Atonement, it appeared that, in spite of all
+their efforts, the dwellers at Hebron could not secure the tenth man
+needed for public Divine service, and they feared they would have none
+on the holy day. Toward evening, when the sun was about to sink, they
+descried an old man with silver white beard, bearing a sack upon his
+shoulder, his raiment tattered, and his feet badly swollen from much
+walking. They ran to meet him, took him to one of the houses, gave him
+food and drink, and, after supplying him with new white garments, they
+all together went to the synagogue for worship. Asked what his name
+was, the stranger replied, Abraham.
+
+At the end of the fast, the residents of Hebron cast lots for the
+privilege of entertaining the guest. Fortune favored the beadle, who,
+the envy of the rest, bore his guest away to his house. On the way, he
+suddenly disappeared, and the beadle could not find him anywhere. In
+vain all the Jews of the place went on a quest for him. Their sleepless
+night, spent in searching, had no result. The stranger could not be
+found. But no sooner had the beadle lain down, toward morning, weary
+and anxious, to snatch some sleep, than he saw the lost guest before
+him, his face luminous as lightning, and his garments magnificent and
+studded with gems radiant as the sun. Before the beadle, stunned by
+fright, could open his mouth, the stranger spake, and said: "I am
+Abraham the Hebrew, your ancestor, who rests here in the Cave of
+Machpelah. When I saw how grieved you were at not having the number of
+men prescribed for a public service, I came forth to you. Have no fear!
+Rejoice and be merry of heart!"[319]
+
+On another occasion Abraham granted his assistance to the people of
+Hebron. The lord of the city was a heartless man, who oppressed the
+Jews sorely. One day he commanded them to pay a large sum of money into
+his coffers, the whole sum in uniform coins, all stamped with the same
+year. It was but a pretext to kill the Jews. He knew that his demand
+was impossible of fulfilment.
+
+The Jews proclaimed a fast and day of public prayer, on which to
+supplicate God that He turn aside the sword suspended above them. The
+night following, the beadle in a dream saw an awe-inspiring old man,
+who addressed him in the following words: "Up, quickly! Hasten to the
+gate of the court, where lies the money you need. I am your father
+Abraham. I have beheld the affliction wherewith the Gentiles oppress
+you, but God has heard your groans." In great terror the beadle arose,
+but he saw no one, yet he went to the spot designated by the vision,
+and he found the money and took it to the congregation, telling his
+dream at the same time. Amazed, they counted the gold, precisely the
+amount required of them by the prince, no more and no less. They
+surrendered the sum to him, and he who had considered compliance with
+his demand impossible, recognized now that God is with the Jews, and
+thenceforth they found favor in his eyes.[320]
+
+
+
+
+VI
+JACOB
+
+THE BIRTH OF ESAU AND JACOB
+
+Isaac was the counterpart of his father in body and soul. He resembled
+him in every particular—"in beauty, wisdom, strength, wealth, and noble
+deeds."[1] It was, therefore, as great an honor for Isaac to be called
+the son of his father as for Abraham to be called the father of his
+son, and though Abraham was the progenitor of thirty nations, he is
+always designated as the father of Isaac.[2]
+
+Despite his many excellent qualities, Isaac married late in life. God
+permitted him to meet the wife suitable to him only after he had
+successfully disproved the mocking charges of Ishmael, who was in the
+habit of taunting him with having been circumcised at the early age of
+eight days, while Ishmael had submitted himself voluntarily to the
+operation when he was thirteen years old. For this reason God demanded
+Isaac as a sacrifice when he had attained to full manhood, at the age
+of thirty-seven, and Isaac was ready to give up his life. Ishmael's
+jibes were thus robbed of their sting, and Isaac was permitted to
+marry. But another delay occurred before his marriage could take place.
+Directly after the sacrifice on Mount Moriah, his mother died, and he
+mourned her for three years.[3] Finally he married Rebekah, who was
+then a maiden of fourteen.[4]
+
+Rebekah was "a rose between thorns." Her father was the Aramean
+Bethuel, and her brother was Laban, but she did not walk in their
+ways.[5] Her piety was equal to Isaac's.[6] Nevertheless their marriage
+was not entirely happy, for they lived together no less than twenty
+years without begetting children.[7] Rebekah besought her husband to
+entreat God for the gift of children, as his father Abraham had done.
+At first Isaac would not do her bidding. God had promised Abraham a
+numerous progeny, and he thought their childlessness was probably
+Rebekah's fault, and it was her duty to supplicate God, and not his.
+But Rebekah would not desist, and husband and wife repaired to Mount
+Moriah together to pray to God there. And Isaac said: "O Lord God of
+heaven and earth, whose goodness and mercies fill the earth, Thou who
+didst take my father from his father's house and from his birthplace,
+and didst bring him unto this land, and didst say unto him, To thee and
+thy seed will I give the land, and didst promise him and declare unto
+him, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand of
+the sea, now may Thy words be verified which Thou didst speak unto my
+father. For Thou art the Lord our God, our eyes are toward Thee, to
+give us seed of men as Thou didst promise us, for Thou art the Lord our
+God, and our eyes are upon Thee."[8] Isaac prayed furthermore that all
+children destined for him might be born unto him from this pious wife
+of his, and Rebekah made the same petition regarding her husband Isaac
+and the children destined for her.
+
+Their united prayer was heard.[9] Yet it was chiefly for the sake of
+Isaac that God gave them children. It is true, Rebekah's piety equalled
+her husband's, but the prayer of a pious man who is the son of a pious
+man is far more efficacious than the prayer of one who, though pious
+himself, is descended from a godless father.
+
+The prayer wrought a great miracle, for Isaac's physique was such that
+he could not have been expected to beget children, and equally it was
+not in the course of nature that Rebekah should bear children.[10]
+
+When Rebekah had been pregnant seven months,[11] she began to wish that
+the curse of childlessness had not been removed from her.[12] She
+suffered torturous pain, because her twin sons began their lifelong
+quarrels in her womb. They strove to kill each other. If Rebekah walked
+in the vicinity of a temple erected to idols, Esau moved in her body,
+and if she passed a synagogue or a Bet ha-Midrash, Jacob essayed to
+break forth from her womb.[13] The quarrels of the children turned upon
+such differences as these. Esau would insist that there was no life
+except the earthly life of material pleasures, and Jacob would reply:
+"My brother, there are two worlds before us, this world and the world
+to come. In this world, men eat and drink, and traffic and marry, and
+bring up sons and daughters, but all this does not take place in the
+world to come. If it please thee, do thou take this world, and I will
+take the other."[14] Esau had Samael as his ally, who desired to slay
+Jacob in his mother's womb. But the archangel Michael hastened to
+Jacob's aid. He tried to burn Samael, and the Lord saw it was necessary
+to constitute a heavenly court for the purpose of arbitrating the case
+of Michael and Samael.[15] Even the quarrel between the two brothers
+regarding the birthright had its beginning before they emerged from the
+womb of their mother. Each desired to be the first to come into the
+world. It was only when Esau threatened to carry his point at the
+expense of his mother's life that Jacob gave way.[16]
+
+Rebekah asked other women whether they, too, had suffered such pain
+during their pregnancy, and when they told her they had not heard of a
+case like hers, except the pregnancy of Nimrod's mother, she betook
+herself to Mount Moriah, whereon Shem and Eber had their Bet
+ha-Midrash. She requested them as well as Abraham to inquire of God
+what the cause of her dire suffering was.[17] And Shem replied: "My
+daughter, I confide a secret to thee. See to it that none finds it out.
+Two nations are in thy womb, and how should thy body contain them,
+seeing that the whole world will not be large enough for them to exist
+in it together peaceably? Two nations they are, each owning a world of
+its own, the one the Torah, the other sin. From the one will spring
+Solomon, the builder of the Temple, from the other Vespasian, the
+destroyer thereof. These two are what are needed to raise the number of
+nations to seventy. They will never be in the same estate. Esau will
+vaunt lords, while Jacob will bring forth prophets, and if Esau has
+princes, Jacob will have kings.[18] They, Israel and Rome, are the two
+nations destined to be hated by all the world.[19] One will exceed the
+other in strength. First Esau will subjugate the whole world, but in
+the end Jacob will rule over all.[20] The older of the two will serve
+the younger, provided this one is pure of heart, otherwise the younger
+will be enslaved by the older."[21]
+
+The circumstances connected with the birth of her twin sons were as
+remarkable as those during the period of Rebekah's pregnancy. Esau was
+the first to see the light, and with him all impurity came from the
+womb;[22] Jacob was born clean and sweet of body. Esau was brought
+forth with hair, beard, and teeth, both front and back,[23] and he was
+blood-red, a sign of his future sanguinary nature.[24] On account of
+his ruddy appearance he remained uncircumcised. Isaac, his father,
+feared that it was due to poor circulation of the blood, and he
+hesitated to perform the circumcision. He decided to wait until Esau
+should attain his thirteenth year, the age at which Ishmael had
+received the sign of the covenant. But when Esau grew up, he refused to
+give heed to his father's wish, and so he was left uncircumcised.[25]
+The opposite of his brother in this as in all respects, Jacob was born
+with the sign of the covenant upon his body, a rare distinction.[26]
+But Esau also bore a mark upon him at birth, the figure of a serpent,
+the symbol of all that is wicked and hated of God.[27]
+
+The names conferred upon the brothers are pregnant with meaning. The
+older was called Esau, because he was 'Asui, fully developed when he
+was born, and the name of the younger was given to him by God, to point
+to some important events in the future of Israel by the numerical value
+of each letter. The first letter in Ya'akob, Yod, with the value of
+ten, stands for the decalogue; the second, 'Ayin, equal to seventy, for
+the seventy elders, the leaders of Israel; the third, Kof, a hundred,
+for the Temple, a hundred ells in height; and the last, Bet, for the
+two tables of stone.[28]
+
+THE FAVORITE OF ABRAHAM
+
+While Esau and Jacob were little, their characters could not be judged
+properly. They were like the myrtle and the thorn-bush, which look
+alike in the early stages of their growth. After they have attained
+full size, the myrtle is known by its fragrance, and the thorn-bush by
+its thorns.
+
+In their childhood, both brothers went to school, but when they reached
+their thirteenth year, and were of age, their ways parted. Jacob
+continued his studies in the Bet ha Midrash of Shem and Eber, and Esau
+abandoned himself to idolatry and an immoral life.[29] Both were
+hunters of men, Esau tried to capture them in order to turn them away
+from God, and Jacob, to turn them toward God.[30] In spite of his
+impious deeds, Esau possessed the art of winning his father's love. His
+hypocritical conduct made Isaac believe that his first-born son was
+extremely pious. "Father," he would ask Isaac, "what is the tithe on
+straw and salt?" The question made him appear God-fearing in the eyes
+of his father, because these two products are the very ones that are
+exempt from tithing.[31] Isaac failed to notice, too, that his older
+son gave him forbidden food to eat. What he took for the flesh of young
+goats was dog's meat.[32]
+
+Rebekah was more clear-sighted. She knew her sons as they really were,
+and therefore her love for Jacob was exceeding great. The oftener she
+heard his voice, the deeper grew her affection for him.[33] Abraham
+agreed with her. He also loved his grandson Jacob, for he knew that in
+him his name and his seed would be called. And he said unto Rebekah,
+"My daughter, watch over my son Jacob, for he shall be in my stead on
+the earth and for a blessing in the midst of the children of men, and
+for the glory of the whole seed of Shem." Having admonished Rebekah
+thus to keep guard over Jacob, who was destined to be the bearer of the
+blessing given to Abraham by God, he called for his grandson, and in
+the presence of Rebekah he blessed him, and said: "Jacob, my beloved
+son, whom my soul loveth, may God bless thee from above the firmament,
+and may He give thee all the blessing wherewith He blessed Adam, and
+Enoch, and Noah, and Shem, and all the things of which He told me, and
+all the things which He promised to give me may He cause to cleave to
+thee and to thy seed forever, according to the days of the heavens
+above the earth. And the spirit of Mastema shall not rule over thee or
+over thy seed, to turn thee from the Lord, who is thy God from
+henceforth and forever. And may the Lord God be a father to thee, and
+mayest thou be His first-born son, and may He be a father to thy people
+always. Go in peace, my son."[34]
+
+And Abraham had good reason to be particularly fond of Jacob, for it
+was due to the merits of his grandson that he had been rescued from the
+fiery furnace.[35]
+
+Isaac and Rebekah, knowing of Abraham's love for their young son, sent
+their father a meal by Jacob on the last Feast of Pentecost which
+Abraham was permitted to celebrate on earth, that he might eat and
+bless the Creator of all things before he died. Abraham knew that his
+end was approaching, and he thanked the Lord for all the good He had
+granted him during the days of his life, and blessed Jacob and bade him
+walk in the ways of the Lord, and especially he was not to marry a
+daughter of the Canaanites. Then Abraham prepared for death. He placed
+two of Jacob's fingers upon his eyes, and thus holding them closed he
+fell into his eternal sleep, while Jacob lay beside him on the bed. The
+lad did not know of his grandfather's death, until he called him, on
+awakening next morning, "Father, father," and received no answer.[36]
+
+THE SALE OF THE BIRTHRIGHT
+
+Though Abraham reached a good old age, beyond the limit of years
+vouchsafed later generations, he yet died five years before his
+allotted time. The intention was to let him live to be one hundred and
+eighty years old, the same age as Isaac's at his death, but on account
+of Esau God brought his life to an abrupt close. For some time Esau had
+been pursuing his evil inclinations in secret. Finally he dropped his
+mask, and on the day of Abraham's death he was guilty of five crimes:
+he ravished a betrothed maiden, committed murder, doubted the
+resurrection of the dead, scorned the birthright, and denied God. Then
+the Lord said: "I promised Abraham that he should go to his fathers in
+peace. Can I now permit him to be a witness of his grandson's rebellion
+against God, his violation of the laws of chastity, and his shedding of
+blood? It is better for him to die now in peace."[37]
+
+The men slain by Esau on this day were Nimrod and two of his adjutants.
+A long-standing feud had existed between Esau and Nimrod, because the
+mighty hunter before the Lord was jealous of Esau, who also devoted
+himself assiduously to the chase. Once when he was hunting it happened
+that Nimrod was separated from his people, only two men were with him.
+Esau, who lay in ambush, noticed his isolation, and waited until he
+should pass his covert. Then he threw himself upon Nimrod suddenly, and
+felled him and his two companions, who hastened to his succor. The
+outcries of the latter brought the attendants of Nimrod to the spot
+where he lay dead, but not before Esau had stripped him of his
+garments, and fled to the city with them.[38]
+
+These garments of Nimrod had an extraordinary effect upon cattle,
+beasts, and birds. Of their own accord they would come and prostrate
+themselves before him who was arrayed in them. Thus Nimrod and Esau
+after him were able to rule over men and beasts.[39]
+
+After slaying Nimrod, Esau hastened cityward in great fear of his
+victim's followers. Tired and exhausted he arrived at home to find
+Jacob busy preparing a dish of lentils. Numerous male and female slaves
+were in Isaac's household. Nevertheless Jacob was so simple and modest
+in his demeanor that, if he came home late from the Bet ha-Midrash, he
+would disturb none to prepare his meal, but would do it himself.[40] On
+this occasion he was cooking lentils for his father, to serve to him as
+his mourner's meal after the death of Abraham. Adam and Eve had eaten
+lentils after the murder of Abel, and so had the parents of Haran, when
+he perished in the fiery furnace. The reason they are used for the
+mourner's meal is that the round lentil symbolizes death: as the lentil
+rolls, so death, sorrow, and mourning constantly roll about among men,
+from one to the other.[41]
+
+Esau accosted Jacob thus, "Why art thou preparing lentils?"
+
+Jacob: "Because our grandfather passed away; they shall be a sign of my
+grief and mourning, that he may love me in the days to come."
+
+Esau: "Thou fool! Dost thou really think it possible that man should
+come to life again after he has been dead and has mouldered in the
+grave?"[42] He continued to taunt Jacob. "Why dost thou give thyself so
+much trouble?" he said. "Lift up thine eyes, and thou wilt see that all
+men eat whatever comes to hand—fish, creeping and crawling creatures,
+swine's flesh, and all sorts of things like these, and thou vexest
+thyself about a dish of lentils."
+
+Jacob: "If we act like other men, what shall we do on the day of the
+Lord, the day on which the pious will receive their reward, when a
+herald will proclaim: Where is He that weigheth the deeds of men, where
+is He that counteth?"
+
+Esau: "Is there a future world? Or will the dead be called back to
+life? If it were so, why hath not Adam returned? Hast thou heard that
+Noah, through whom the world was raised anew, hath reappeared? Yea,
+Abraham, the friend of God, more beloved of Him than any man, hath he
+come to life again?"
+
+Jacob: "If thou art of opinion that there is no future world, and that
+the dead do not rise to new life, then why dost thou want thy
+birthright? Sell it to me, now, while it is yet possible to do so. Once
+the Torah is revealed, it cannot be done. Verily, there is a future
+world, in which the righteous receive their reward. I tell thee this,
+lest thou say later I deceived thee."[43]
+
+Jacob was little concerned about the double share of the inheritance
+that went with the birthright. What he thought of was the priestly
+service, which was the prerogative of the first-born in ancient times,
+and Jacob was loth to have his impious brother Esau play the priest, he
+who despised all Divine service.[44]
+
+The scorn manifested by Esau for the resurrection of the dead he felt
+also for the promise of God to give the Holy Land to the seed of
+Abraham. He did not believe in it, and therefore he was willing to cede
+his birthright and the blessing attached thereto in exchange for a mess
+of pottage.[45] In addition, Jacob paid him in coin,[46] and, besides,
+he gave him what was more than money, the wonderful sword of
+Methuselah, which Isaac had inherited from Abraham and bestowed upon
+Jacob.[47]
+
+Esau made game of Jacob. He invited his associates to feast at his
+brother's table, saying, "Know ye what I did to this Jacob? I ate his
+lentils, drank his wine, amused myself at his expense, and sold my
+birthright to him." All that Jacob replied was, "Eat and may it do thee
+good!" But the Lord said, "Thou despisest the birthright, therefore I
+shall make thee despised in all generations." And by way of punishment
+for denying God and the resurrection of the dead, the descendants of
+Esau were cut off from the world.[48]
+
+As naught was holy to Esau, Jacob made him swear, concerning the
+birthright, by the life of their father, for he knew Esau's love for
+Isaac, that it was strong.[49] Nor did he fail to have a document made
+out, duly signed by witnesses, setting forth that Esau had sold him the
+birthright together with his claim upon a place in the Cave of
+Machpelah.[50]
+
+Though no blame can attach to Jacob for all this, yet he secured the
+birthright from him by cunning, and therefore the descendants of Jacob
+had to serve the descendants of Esau.[51]
+
+ISAAC WITH THE PHILISTINES
+
+The life of Isaac was a faithful reflex of the life of his father.
+Abraham had to leave his birthplace; so also Isaac. Abraham was exposed
+to the risk of losing his wife; so also Isaac. The Philistines were
+envious of Abraham; so also of Isaac. Abraham long remained childless;
+so also Isaac. Abraham begot one pious son and one wicked son; so also
+Isaac. And, finally, as in the time of Abraham, so also in the time of
+Isaac, a famine came upon the land.[52]
+
+At first Isaac intended to follow the example of his father and remove
+to Egypt, but God appeared unto him, and spake: "Thou art a perfect
+sacrifice, without a blemish, and as a burnt offering is made unfit if
+it is taken outside of the sanctuary, so thou wouldst be profaned if
+thou shouldst happen outside of the Holy Land. Remain in the land, and
+endeavor to cultivate it. In this land dwells the Shekinah, and in days
+to come I will give unto thy children the realms possessed by mighty
+rulers, first a part thereof, and the whole in the Messianic time."[53]
+
+Isaac obeyed the command of God, and he settled in Gerar. When he
+noticed that the inhabitants of the place began to have designs upon
+his wife, he followed the example of Abraham, and pretended she was his
+sister.[54] The report of Rebekah's beauty reached the king himself,
+but he was mindful of the great danger to which he had once exposed
+himself on a similar occasion, and he left Isaac and his wife
+unmolested.[55] After they had been in Gerar for three months,
+Abimelech noticed that the manner of Isaac, who lived in the outer
+court of the royal palace, was that of a husband toward Rebekah.[56] He
+called him to account, saying, "It might have happened to the king
+himself to take the woman thou didst call thy sister."[57] Indeed,
+Isaac lay under the suspicion of having illicit intercourse with
+Rebekah, for at first the people of the place would not believe that
+she was his wife. When Isaac persisted in his statement,[58] Abimelech
+sent his grandees for them, ordered them to be arrayed in royal
+vestments, and had it proclaimed before them, as they rode through the
+city: "These two are man and wife. He that toucheth this man or his
+wife shall surely be put to death."
+
+Thereafter the king invited Isaac to settle in his domains, and he
+assigned fields and vineyards to him for cultivation, the best the land
+afforded.[59] But Isaac was not self-interested. The tithe of all he
+possessed he gave to the poor of Gerar. Thus he was the first to
+introduce the law of tithing for the poor, as his father Abraham had
+been the first to separate the priests' portion from his fortune.[60]
+Isaac was rewarded by abundant harvests; the land yielded a hundred
+times more than was expected, though the soil was barren and the year
+unfruitful. He grew so rich that people wished to have "the dung from
+Isaac's she-mules rather than Abimelech's gold and silver."[61] But his
+wealth called forth the envy of the Philistines, for it is
+characteristic of the wicked that they begrudge their fellow-men the
+good, and rejoice when they see evil descend upon them, and envy brings
+hatred in its wake, and so the Philistines first envied Isaac, and then
+hated him. In their enmity toward him, they stopped the wells which
+Abraham had had his servants dig. Thus they broke their covenant with
+Abraham and were faithless, and they have only themselves to blame if
+they were exterminated later on by the Israelites.
+
+Isaac departed from Gerar, and began to dig again the wells of water
+which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father, and which the
+Philistines had stopped. His reverence for his father was so great that
+he even restored the names by which Abraham had called the wells. To
+reward him for his filial respect, the Lord left the name of Isaac
+unchanged, while his father and his son had to submit to new names.[62]
+
+After four attempts to secure water, Isaac was successful; he found the
+well of water that followed the Patriarchs. Abraham had obtained it
+after three diggings. Hence the name of the well, Beer-sheba, "the well
+of seven diggings," the same well that will supply water to Jerusalem
+and its environs in the Messianic time.[63]
+
+Isaac's success with his wells but served to increase the envy of the
+Philistines, for he had come upon water in a most unlikely spot and,
+besides, in a year of drouth. But "the Lord fulfils the desire of them
+that fear Him." As Isaac executed the will of his Creator, so God
+accomplished his desire.[64] And Abimelech, the king of Gerar, speedily
+came to see that God was on the side of Isaac, for, to chastise him for
+having instigated Isaac's removal from Gerar, his house was ravaged by
+robbers in the night, and he himself was stricken with leprosy.[65] The
+wells of the Philistines ran dry as soon as Isaac left Gerar, and also
+the trees failed to yield their fruit. None could be in doubt but that
+these things were the castigation for their unkindness.
+
+Now Abimelech entreated his friends, especially the administrator of
+his kingdom, to accompany him to Isaac and help him win back his
+friendship.[66] Abimelech and the Philistines spake thus to Isaac: "We
+have convinced ourselves that the Shekinah is with thee, and therefore
+we desire thee to renew the covenant which thy father made with us,
+that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we also did not touch thee." Isaac
+consented. It illustrates the character of the Philistines strikingly
+that they took credit unto themselves for having done him no hurt. It
+shows that they would have been glad to inflict harm upon him, for "the
+soul of the wicked desireth evil."
+
+The place in which the covenant was made between Isaac and the
+Philistines was called Shib'ah, for two reasons, because an oath was
+"sworn" there, and as a memorial of the fact that even the heathen are
+bound to observe the "seven" Noachian laws.[67]
+
+For all the wonders executed by God for Isaac, and all the good he
+enjoyed throughout his life, he is indebted to the merits of his
+father. For his own merits he will be rewarded in future.[68] On the
+great day of judgment it will be Isaac who will redeem his descendants
+from Gehenna. On that day the Lord will speak to Abraham, "Thy children
+have sinned," and Abraham will make reply, "Then let them be wiped out,
+that Thy Name be sanctified." The Lord will turn to Jacob, thinking
+that he who had suffered so much in bringing his sons to manhood's
+estate would display more love for his posterity. But Jacob will give
+the same answer as Abraham. Then God will say: "The old have no
+understanding, and the young no counsel. I will now go to Isaac.
+Isaac," God will address him, "thy children have sinned," and Isaac
+will reply: "O Lord of the world, sayest Thou my children, and not
+THINE? When they stood at Mount Sinai and declared themselves ready to
+execute all Thy bidding before even they heard it, Thou didst call
+Israel 'My first-born,' and now they are MY children, and not THINE!
+Let us consider. The years of a man are seventy. From these twenty are
+to be deducted, for Thou inflictest no punishment upon those under
+twenty. Of the fifty years that are left, one-half are to be deducted
+for the nights passed in sleep. There remain only twenty-five years,
+and these are to be diminished by twelve and a half, the time spent in
+praying, eating, and attending to other needs in life, during which men
+commit no sins. That leaves only twelve years and a half. If Thou wilt
+take these upon Thyself, well and good. If not, do Thou take one-half
+thereof, and I will take the other half." The descendants of Isaac will
+then say, "Verily, thou art our true father!" But he will point to God,
+and admonish them, "Nay, give not your praises to me, but to God
+alone," and Israel, with eyes directed heavenward, will say, "Thou, O
+Lord, art our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is Thy name."[69]
+
+It was Isaac, or, as he is sometimes called, Elihu the son of Barachel,
+who revealed the wonderful mysteries of nature in his arguments with
+Job.[70]
+
+At the end of the years of famine, God appeared unto Isaac, and bade
+him return to Canaan. Isaac did as he was commanded, and he settled in
+Hebron. At this time he sent his younger son Jacob to the Bet
+ha-Midrash of Shem and Eber, to study the law of the Lord. Jacob
+remained there thirty-two years. As for Esau, he refused to learn, and
+he remained in the house of his father. The chase was his only
+occupation, and as he pursued beasts, so he pursued men, seeking to
+capture them with cunning and deceit.
+
+On one of his hunting expeditions, Esau came to Mount Seir, where he
+became acquainted with Judith, of the family of Ham, and he took her
+unto himself as his wife, and brought her to his father at Hebron.
+
+Ten years later, when Shem his teacher died, Jacob returned home, at
+the age of fifty. Another six years passed, and Rebekah received the
+joyful news that her sister-in-law 'Adinah, the wife of Laban, who,
+like all the women of his house, had been childless until then, had
+given birth to twin daughters, Leah and Rachel.[71] Rebekah, weary of
+her life on account of the woman chosen by her older son, exhorted
+Jacob not to marry one of the daughters of Canaan, but a maiden of the
+family of Abraham. He assured his mother that the words of Abraham,
+bidding him to marry no woman of the Canaanites, were graven upon his
+memory, and for this reason he was still unmarried, though he had
+attained the age of sixty-two, and Esau had been urging him for
+twenty-two years past to follow his example and wed a daughter of the
+people of the land in which they lived. He had heard that his uncle
+Laban had daughters, and he was resolved to choose one of them as his
+wife. Deeply moved by the words of her son, Rebekah thanked him and
+gave praise unto God with the words: "Blessed be the Lord God, and may
+His Holy Name be blessed for ever and ever, who hath given me Jacob as
+a pure son and a holy seed; for he is Thine, and Thine shall his seed
+be continually and throughout all the generations for evermore. Bless
+him, O Lord, and place in my mouth the blessing of righteousness, that
+I may bless him."
+
+And when the spirit of the Lord came over her, she laid her hands upon
+the head of Jacob and gave him her maternal blessing. It ended with the
+words, "May the Lord of the world love thee, as the heart of thy
+affectionate mother rejoices in thee, and may He bless thee."[72]
+
+ISAAC BLESSES JACOB
+
+Esau's marriage with the daughters of the Canaanites was an abomination
+not only in the eyes of his mother, but also in the eyes of his father.
+He suffered even more than Rebekah through the idolatrous practices of
+his daughters in-law. It is the nature of man to oppose less resistance
+than woman to disagreeable circumstances. A bone is not harmed by a
+collision that would shiver an earthen pot in pieces. Man, who is
+created out of the dust of the ground, has not the endurance of woman
+formed out of bone. Isaac was made prematurely old by the conduct of
+his daughters-in-law, and he lost the sight of his eyes. Rebekah had
+been accustomed in the home of her childhood to the incense burnt
+before idols, and she could therefore bear it under her own roof-tree.
+Unlike her, Isaac had never had any such experience while he abode with
+his parents, and he was stung by the smoke arising from the sacrifices
+offered to their idols by his daughters-in-law in his own house.[73]
+Isaac's eyes had suffered earlier in life, too. When he lay bound upon
+the altar, about to be sacrificed by his father, the angels wept, and
+their tears fell upon his eyes, and there they remained and weakened
+his sight.
+
+At the same time he had brought the scourge of blindness down upon
+himself by his love for Esau. He justified the wicked for a bribe, the
+bribe of Esau's filial love, and loss of vision is the punishment that
+follows the taking of bribes. "A gift," it is said, "blinds the eyes of
+the wise."
+
+Nevertheless his blindness proved a benefit for Isaac as well as Jacob.
+In consequence of his physical ailments, Isaac had to keep at home, and
+so he was spared the pain of being pointed out by the people as the
+father of the wicked Esau.[74] And, again, if his power of vision had
+been unimpaired, he would not have blessed Jacob. As it was, God
+treated him as a physician treats a sick man who is forbidden to drink
+wine, for which, however, he has a strong desire. To placate him, the
+physician orders that warm water be given him in the dark, and he be
+told that it is wine.[75]
+
+When Isaac reached the age of one hundred and twenty three, and was
+thus approaching the years attained by his mother, he began to meditate
+upon his end. It is proper that a man should prepare for death when he
+comes close to the age at which either of his parents passed out of
+life. Isaac reflected that he did not know whether the age allotted to
+him was his mother's or his father's, and he therefore resolved to
+bestow his blessing upon his older son, Esau, before death should
+overtake him.[76] He summoned Esau, and he said, "My son," and Esau
+replied, "Here am I," but the holy spirit interposed: "Though he
+disguises his voice and makes it sound sweet, put no confidence in him.
+There are seven abominations in his heart. He will destroy seven holy
+places—the Tabernacle, the sanctuaries at Gilgal, Shiloh, Nob, and
+Gibeon, and the first and the second Temple."
+
+Gently though Esau continued to speak to his father, he yet longed for
+his end to come.[77] But Isaac was stricken with spiritual as well as
+physical blindness. The holy spirit deserted him, and he could not
+discern the wickedness of his older son. He bade him sharpen his
+slaughtering knives and beware of bringing him the flesh of an animal
+that had died of itself, or had been torn by a beast, and he was to
+guard also against putting an animal before Isaac that had been stolen
+from its rightful owner. "Then," continued Isaac, "will I bless him who
+is worthy of being blessed."[78]
+
+This charge was laid upon Esau on the eve of the Passover, and Isaac
+said to him: "To-night the whole world will sing the Hallel unto God.
+It is the night when the storehouses of dew are unlocked. Therefore
+prepare dainties for me, that my soul may bless thee before I die." But
+the holy spirit interposed, "Eat not the bread of him that hath an evil
+eye."[79] Isaac's longing for tidbits was due to his blindness. As the
+sightless cannot behold the food they eat, they do not enjoy it with
+full relish, and their appetite must be tempted with particularly
+palatable morsels.
+
+Esau sallied forth to procure what his father desired, little recking
+the whence or how, whether by robbery or theft.[80] To hinder the quick
+execution of his father's order, God sent Satan on the chase with Esau.
+He was to delay him as long as possible. Esau would catch a deer and
+leave him lying bound, while he pursued other game. Immediately Satan
+would come and liberate the deer, and when Esau returned to the spot,
+his victim was not to be found. This was repeated several times. Again
+and again the quarry was run down, and bound, and liberated, so that
+Jacob was able meanwhile to carry out the plan of Rebekah whereby he
+would be blessed instead of Esau.
+
+Though Rebekah had not heard the words that had passed between Isaac
+and Esau, they nevertheless were revealed to her through the holy
+spirit,[81] and she resolved to restrain her husband from taking a
+false step. She was not actuated by love for Jacob, but by the wish of
+keeping Isaac from committing a detestable act.[82] Rebekah said to
+Jacob: "This night the storehouses of dew are unlocked; it is the night
+during which the celestial beings chant the Hallel unto God, the night
+set apart for the deliverance of thy children from Egypt, on which
+they, too, will sing the Hallel. Go now and prepare savory meat for thy
+father, that he may bless thee before his death.[83] Do as I bid thee,
+obey me as thou art wont, for thou art my son whose children, every
+one, will be good and God-fearing—not one shall be graceless."
+
+In spite of his great respect for his mother,[84] Jacob refused at
+first to heed her command. He feared he might commit a sin,[85]
+especially as he might thus bring his father's curse down upon him. As
+it was, Isaac might still have a blessing for him, after giving Esau
+his. But Rebekah allayed his anxieties, with the words: "When Adam was
+cursed, the malediction fell upon his mother, the earth, and so shall
+I, thy mother, bear the imprecation, if thy father curses thee.
+Moreover, if the worst comes to the worst, I am prepared to step before
+thy father and tell him, 'Esau is a villain, and Jacob is a righteous
+man.'"
+
+Thus constrained by his mother, Jacob, in tears and with body bowed,
+went off to execute the plan made by Rebekah.[86] As he was to provide
+a Passover meal, she bade him get two kids, one for the Passover
+sacrifice and one for the festival sacrifice.[87] To soothe Jacob's
+conscience, she added that her marriage contract entitled her to two
+kids daily. "And," she continued, "these two kids will bring good unto
+thee, the blessing of thy father, and they will bring good unto thy
+children, for two kids will be the atoning sacrifice offered on the Day
+of Atonement."
+
+Jacob's hesitation was not yet removed. His father, he feared, would
+touch him and convince himself that he was not hairy, and therefore not
+his son Esau. Accordingly, Rebekah tore the skins of the two kids into
+strips and sewed them together, for Jacob was so tall a giant that
+otherwise they would not have sufficed to cover his hands.[88] To make
+Jacob's disguise complete, Rebekah felt justified in putting Esau's
+wonderful garments on him. They were the high priestly raiment in which
+God had clothed Adam, "the first-born of the world," for in the days
+before the erection of the Tabernacle all the first-born males
+officiated as priests. From Adam these garments descended to Noah, who
+transmitted them to Shem, and Shem bequeathed them to Abraham, and
+Abraham to his son Isaac, from whom they reached Esau as the older of
+his two sons. It was the opinion of Rebekah that as Jacob had bought
+the birthright from his brother, he had thereby come into possession of
+the garments as well.[89] There was no need for her to go and fetch
+them from the house of Esau. He knew his wives far too well to entrust
+so precious a treasure to them; they were in the safe-keeping of his
+mother. Besides, he used them most frequently in the house of his
+parents. As a rule, he did not lay much stress upon decent apparel. He
+was willing to appear on the street clad in rags, but he considered it
+his duty to wait upon his father arrayed in his best. "My father," Esau
+was in the habit of saying, "is a king in my sight, and it would ill
+become me to serve before him in any thing but royal apparel." To the
+great respect he manifested toward his father, the descendants of Esau
+owe all their good fortune on earth. Thus doth God reward a good deed.
+
+Rebekah led Jacob equipped and arrayed in this way to the door of
+Isaac's chamber. There she parted from him with the words,
+"Henceforward may thy Creator assist thee."[90] Jacob entered,
+addressing Isaac with "Father," and receiving the response, "Here am I!
+Who art thou, my son?" he replied equivocally, "It is I, thy first-born
+son is Esau." He sought to avoid a falsehood, and yet not betray that
+he was Jacob.[91] Isaac then said: "Thou art greatly in haste to secure
+thy blessing. Thy father Abraham was seventy-five years old when he was
+blessed, and thou art but sixty-three." Jacob replied awkwardly,
+"Because the Lord thy God sent me good speed." Isaac concluded at once
+that this was not Esau, for he would not have mentioned the name of
+God, and he made up his mind to feel the son before him and make sure
+who he was. Terror seized upon Jacob at the words of Isaac, "Come near,
+I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son." A cold sweat covered his
+body, and his heart melted like wax. Then God caused the archangels
+Michael and Gabriel to descend. The one seized his right hand, the
+other his left hand, while the Lord God Himself supported him, that his
+courage might not fail him. Isaac felt him, and, finding his hands
+hairy, he said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the
+hands of Esau," words in which he conveyed the prophecy that so long as
+the voice of Jacob is heard in the houses of prayer and of learning,
+the hands of Esau will not be able to prevail against him. "Yes," he
+continued, "it is the voice of Jacob, the voice that imposes silence
+upon those on earth and in heaven," for even the angels may not raise
+their voices in praise of God until Israel has finished his prayers.
+
+Isaac's scruples about blessing the son before him were not yet
+removed, for with his prophetical eye he foresaw that this one would
+have descendants who would vex the Lord. At the same time, it was
+revealed to him that even the sinners in Israel would turn penitents,
+and then he was ready to bless Jacob. He bade him come near and kiss
+him, to indicate that it would be Jacob who would imprint the last kiss
+upon Isaac before he was consigned to the grave—he and none other. When
+Jacob stood close to him, he discerned the fragrance of Paradise
+clinging to him, and he exclaimed, "See, the smell of my son is as the
+smell of the field which the Lord hath blessed."[92]
+
+The fragrance emanating from Jacob was not the only thing about him
+derived from Paradise. The archangel Michael had fetched thence the
+wine which Jacob gave his father to drink,[93] that an exalted mood
+might descend upon him, for only when a man is joyously excited the
+Shekinah rests upon him.[94] The holy spirit filled Isaac, and he gave
+Jacob his tenfold blessing: "God give thee of the dew of heaven," the
+celestial dew wherewith God will awaken the pious to new life in days
+to come; "and of the fatness of the earth," the goods of this world;
+"and plenty of corn and wine," the Torah and the commandments which
+bestow the same joy upon man as abundant harvests;[95] "peoples shall
+serve thee," the Japhethites and the Hamites; "nations shall bow down
+to thee," the Shemite nations; "thou wilt be lord over thy brethren,"
+the Ishmaelites and the descendants of Keturah; "thy mother's sons will
+bow down to thee," Esau and his princes; "cursed be every one that
+curseth thee," like Balaam; "and blessed be every one that blesseth
+thee," like Moses.[96]
+
+For each blessing invoked upon Jacob by his father Isaac, a similar
+blessing was bestowed upon him by God Himself in the same words. As
+Isaac blessed him with dew, so also God: "And the remnant of Jacob
+shall be in the midst of many peoples as dew from the Lord." Isaac
+blessed him with the fatness of the earth, so also God: "And he shall
+give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and
+bread of the increase of the ground, and it shall be fat and
+plenteous." Isaac blessed him with plenty of corn and wine, so also
+God: "I will send you corn and wine." Isaac said, "Peoples shall serve
+thee," so also God: "Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their
+queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow down to thee with their
+faces to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet." Isaac said,
+"Nations shall bow down to thee," so also God: "And He will make thee
+high above all nations which He hath made, in praise, and in name, and
+in honor."
+
+To this double blessing his mother Rebekah joined hers: "For He shall
+give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They
+shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy feet against a
+stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the
+serpent shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love
+upon me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because
+he hath known my name."
+
+The holy spirit added in turn: "He shall call upon me, and I will
+answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and
+honor him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my
+salvation."[97]
+
+Jacob left the presence of his father crowned like a bridegroom,
+adorned like a bride, and bathed in celestial dew, which filled his
+bones with marrow, and transformed him into a hero and a giant.[98]
+
+Of a miracle done for him at that very moment Jacob himself was not
+aware. Had he tarried with his father an instant longer, Esau would
+have met him there, and would surely have slain him. It happened that
+exactly as Jacob was on the point of leaving the tent of his father,
+carrying in his hands the plates off which Isaac had eaten, he noticed
+Esau approaching, and he concealed himself behind the door.
+Fortunately, it was a revolving door, so that though he could see Esau,
+he could not be seen by him.
+
+ESAU'S TRUE CHARACTER REVEALED
+
+Esau arrived after a delay of four hours.[99] In spite of all the
+efforts he had put forth, he had not succeeded in catching any game,
+and he was compelled to kill a dog and prepare its flesh for his
+father's meal.[100] All this had made Esau ill-humored, and when he
+bade his father partake of the meal, the invitation sounded harsh. "Let
+my father arise," he said, "and eat of his son's venison." Jacob had
+spoken differently; he had said, "Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my
+venison." The words of Esau terrified Isaac greatly. His fright
+exceeded that which he had felt when his father was about to offer him
+as a sacrifice, and he cried out, "Who then is he that hath been the
+mediator between me and the Lord, to make the blessing reach
+Jacob?"—words meant to imply that he suspected Rebekah of having
+instigated Jacob's act.
+
+Isaac's alarm was caused by his seeing hell at the feet of Esau.
+Scarcely had he entered the house when the walls thereof began to get
+hot on account of the nearness of hell, which he brought along with
+him. Isaac could not but exclaim, "Who will be burnt down yonder, I or
+my son Jacob?" and the Lord answered him, "Neither thou nor Jacob, but
+the hunter."
+
+Isaac told Esau that the meat set before him by Jacob had had
+marvellous qualities. Any savor that one desired it possessed, it was
+even endowed with the taste of the food that God will grant the pious
+in the world to come. "I know not," he said, "what the meat was. But I
+had only to wish for bread, and it tasted like bread, or fish, or
+locusts, or flesh of animals, in short, it had the taste of any dainty
+one could wish for." When Esau heard the word "flesh," he began to
+weep, and he said: "To me Jacob gave no more than a dish of lentils,
+and in payment for it he took my birthright. What must he have taken
+from thee for flesh of animals?" Hitherto Isaac had been in great
+anguish on account of the thought that he had committed a wrong in
+giving his blessing to his younger son instead of the first-born, to
+whom it belonged by law and custom. But when he heard that Jacob had
+acquired the birthright from Esau, he said, "I gave my blessing to the
+right one!"
+
+In his dismay, Isaac had had the intention of cursing Jacob for having
+wrested the blessing from him through cunning. God prevented him from
+carrying out his plan. He reminded him that he would but curse himself,
+seeing that his blessing contained the words, "Cursed be every one that
+curseth thee." But Isaac was not willing to acknowledge his blessing
+valid as applied to Jacob, until he was informed that his second son
+was the possessor of the birthright. Only then did he say, "Yea, he
+shall be blessed," whereat Esau cried with an exceeding great and
+bitter cry. By way of punishment for having been the cause of such
+distress, a descendant of Jacob, Mordecai, was also made to cry with a
+loud and bitter cry, and his grief was brought forth by the Amalekite
+Haman, the descendant of Esau. At the words of Isaac, "Thy brother came
+with wisdom, and hath taken away thy blessing," Esau spat out in
+vexation, and said, "He took away my birthright, and I kept silence,
+and now that he takes away my blessing, should I also keep
+silence?[101] Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me
+these two times."[102]
+
+Isaac continued to speak to Esau: "Behold, I have made him thy lord, he
+is thy king, and do what thou wilt, thy blessings will still belong to
+him; all his brethren have I given to him for slaves, and what slaves
+possess belongs to their owner. There is nothing for it, thou must be
+content that thou wilt receive thy bread baked from thy master." The
+Lord took it ill of Isaac that he cheered him with such kind words. "To
+Mine enemy," He reproached him, "thou sayest, 'What shall I do for
+thee, my son?'" Isaac replied, "O that he might find grace with Thee!"
+God: "He is a recreant." Isaac: "Doth he not act righteously when he
+honors his parents?" God: "In the land of uprightness will he deal
+wrongfully, he will stretch his hand forth in days to come against the
+Temple." Isaac: "Then let him enjoy much good in this world, that he
+may not behold the abiding-place of the Lord in the world to
+come."[103]
+
+When it became plain to Esau that he could not induce his father to
+annul the blessing bestowed upon Jacob, he tried to force a blessing
+for himself by an underhand trick. He said: "Hast thou but one
+blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father, else it will
+be said thou hast but one blessing to bestow. Suppose both Jacob and I
+had been righteous men, had not then thy God had two blessings, one for
+each?" The Lord Himself made reply: "Silence! Jacob will bless the
+twelve tribes, and each blessing will be different from every other."
+But Isaac felt great pity for his older son, and he wanted to bless
+him, but the Shekinah forsook him, and he could not carry out what he
+purposed. Thereupon Esau began to weep. He shed three tears—one ran
+from his right eye, the second from his left eye, and the third
+remained hanging from his eyelash. God said, "This villain cries for
+his very life, and should I let him depart empty-handed?" and then He
+bade Isaac bless his older son.[104]
+
+The blessing of Isaac ran thus: "Behold, of the fat of the earth shall
+be thy dwelling," by which he meant Greater Greece, in Italy; "and of
+the dew of heaven from above," referring to Bet-Gubrin; "and by thy
+sword shalt thou live, and thou shalt serve thy brother," but when he
+casts off the yoke of the Lord, then shalt thou "shake his yoke from
+off thy neck," and thou wilt be his master.[105]
+
+The blessing which Isaac gave to his older son was bound to no
+condition whatsoever. Whether he deserved them or not, Esau was to
+enjoy the goods of this world. Jacob's blessing, however, depended upon
+his pious deeds; through them he would have a just claim upon earthly
+prosperity. Isaac thought: "Jacob is a righteous man, he will not
+murmur against God, though it should come to pass that suffering be
+inflicted upon him in spite of his upright life. But that reprobate
+Esau, if he should do a good deed, or pray to God and not be heard, he
+would say, 'As I pray to the idols for naught, so it is in vain to pray
+to God.'" For this reason did Isaac bestow an unconditional blessing
+upon Esau.[106]
+
+JACOB LEAVES HIS FATHER'S HOUSE
+
+Esau hated his brother Jacob on account of the blessing that his father
+had given him, and Jacob was very much afraid of his brother Esau, and
+he fled to the house of Eber, the son of Shem, and he concealed himself
+there fourteen years on account of his brother Esau, and he continued
+there to learn the ways of the Lord and His commandments. When Esau saw
+that Jacob had fled and escaped from him, and Jacob had cunningly
+obtained the blessing, then Esau grieved exceedingly, and he was also
+vexed at his father and mother. He also rose up and took his wife, and
+went away from his father and mother to the land of Seir. There he
+married his second wife, Basemath, the daughter of Elon the Hittite,
+and he called her name Adah, saying that the blessing had in that time
+passed from him. After dwelling in Seir for six months, Esau returned
+to the land of Canaan, and placed his two wives in his father's house
+in Hebron. And the wives of Esau vexed and provoked Isaac and Rebekah
+with their works, for they walked not in the ways of the Lord, but
+served their fathers' gods of wood and stone, as their fathers had
+taught them, and they were more wicked than their fathers. They
+sacrificed and burnt incense to the Baalim, and Isaac and Rebekah
+became weary of them. And at the end of fourteen years of Jacob's
+residing in the house of Eber, Jacob desired to see his father and his
+mother, and he returned home. Esau had forgotten in those days what
+Jacob had done to him, in having taken the blessing from him, but when
+Esau saw Jacob returning to his parents, he remembered what Jacob had
+done to him, and he was greatly incensed against him, and he sought to
+slay him.[107]
+
+But Esau would not kill Jacob while his father was yet alive, lest
+Isaac beget another son. He wanted to be sure of being the only
+heir.[108] However, his hatred against Jacob was so great that he
+determined to hasten the death of his father and then dispatch Jacob.
+Such murderous plans Esau cherished in his heart, though he denied that
+he was harboring them. But God spoke, "Probably thou knowest not that I
+examine the hearts of men, for I am the Lord that searcheth the heart."
+And not God alone knew the secret desires of Esau. Rebekah, like all
+the Mothers, was a prophetess, and she delayed not to warn Jacob of the
+danger that hung over him. "Thy brother," she said to him, "is as sure
+of accomplishing his wicked purpose as though thou wert dead. Now
+therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee thou to Laban my
+brother, to Haran, and tarry with him for seven years, until thy
+brother's fury turn away." In the goodness of her heart, Rebekah could
+not but believe that the anger of Esau was only a fleeting passion, and
+would disappear in the course of time. But she was mistaken, his hate
+persisted until the end of his life.[109]
+
+Courageous as he was, Jacob would not run away from danger. He said to
+his mother, "I am not afraid; if he wishes to kill me, I will kill
+him," to which she replied, "Let me not be bereaved of both my sons in
+one day."[110] By words Rebekah again showed her prophetic gift. As she
+spoke, so it happened—when their time came, Esau was slain while the
+burial of Jacob was taking place.[111]
+
+And Jacob said to Rebekah: "Behold, thou knowest that my father has
+become old and does not see, and if I leave him and go away, he will be
+angry and will curse me. I will not go; if he sends me, only then will
+I go."[112]
+
+Accordingly, Rebekah went to Isaac, and amid tears she spoke to him
+thus: "If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, what good shall
+my life do me?"[113] And Isaac called Jacob, and charged him, and said
+unto him: "Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan, for
+thus did our father Abraham command us according to the word of the
+Lord, which He had commanded him, saying, 'Unto thy seed will I give
+the land; if thy children keep My covenant that I have made with thee,
+then will I also perform to thy children that which I have spoken unto
+thee, and I will not forsake them.' Now therefore, my son, hearken to
+my voice, to all that I shall command thee, and refrain from taking a
+wife from amongst the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Haran, to the
+house of Bethuel, thy mother's father, and take thee a wife from thence
+of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother. Take heed lest thou
+shouldst forget the Lord thy God and all His ways in the land to which
+thou goest, and shouldst join thyself to the people of the land, and
+pursue vanity, and forsake the Lord thy God. But when thou comest to
+the land, serve the Lord. Do not turn to the right or to the left from
+the way which I commanded thee, and which thou didst learn. And may the
+Almighty God grant thee favor before the people of the land, that thou
+mayest take a wife there according to thy choice, one who is good and
+upright in the way of the Lord. And may God give unto thee and thy seed
+the blessing of thy father Abraham and make thee fruitful and multiply
+thee, and mayest thou become a multitude of people in the land whither
+thou goest, and may God cause thee to return to thy land, the land of
+thy father's dwelling, with children and with great riches, with joy
+and with pleasure."[114]
+
+As the value of a document is attested by its concluding words, the
+signature of the witnesses, so Isaac confirmed the blessing he had
+bestowed upon Jacob.[116] That none might say Jacob had secured it by
+intrigue and cunning, he blessed him again with three blessings, in
+these words, "In so far as I am endowed with the power of blessing, I
+bestow blessing upon thee. May God, with whom there is endless
+blessing, give thee His, and also the blessing wherewith Abraham
+desired to bless me, desisting only in order not to provoke the
+jealousy of Ishmael."[116]
+
+Seeing with his prophetic eye that the seed of Jacob would once be
+compelled to go into exile, Isaac offered up one more petition, that
+God would bring the exiles back again. He said, "He shall deliver thee
+in six troubles, and in the seventh there shall no evil touch thee."
+And also Rebekah prayed to God in behalf of Jacob: "O Lord of the
+world, let not the purpose prosper which Esau harbors against Jacob.
+Put a bridle upon him, that he accomplish not all he wills to do."[117]
+
+When Esau observed that even his father's love had passed from him to
+Jacob, he went away, to Ishmael, and he addressed him as follows: "Lo,
+as thy father gave all his possessions to thy brother Isaac, and
+dismissed thee with empty hands, so my father purposeth to do to me.
+Make thyself ready then, go forth and slay thy brother, and I will slay
+mine, and then we two shall divide the whole world between us." And
+Ishmael replied: "Why dost thou want me to slay thy father? thou canst
+do it thyself." Esau said: "It hath happened aforetime that a man
+killed his brother—Cain murdered Abel. But that a son should kill his
+father is unheard of."
+
+Esau did not really shrink back from parricide, only it chanced not to
+fit the plan he had hatched. "If Ishmael slays my father," he said to
+himself, "I am the rightful redeemer, and I shall kill Ishmael to
+avenge my father, and if, then, I murder Jacob, too, everything will
+belong to me, as the heir of my father and my uncle."[118] This shows
+that Esau's marriage with Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael and
+grandchild of Abraham, was not concluded out of regard for his parents,
+who were opposed to his two other wives, daughters of the Canaanites.
+All he desired was to enter into amicable relations with Ishmael in
+order to execute his devilish plan.[119]
+
+But Esau reckoned without his host. The night before his wedding with
+Mahalath Ishmael died, and Nebaioth, the son of Ishmael, stepped into
+his father's place, and gave away his sister.[120] How little it had
+been in Esau's mind to make his parents happy by taking a granddaughter
+of Abraham to wife, appears from the fact that he kept his two other
+wives, the Canaanitish women. The daughter of Ishmael followed the
+example of her companions, and thus she but added to the grief caused
+the parents of Esau by their daughters-in-law.[121] And the opportunity
+might have been a most favorable one for Esau to turn aside from his
+godless ways and amend his conduct, for the bridegroom is pardoned on
+his wedding day for all his sins committed in years gone by.[122]
+
+Scarcely had Jacob left his father's house, when Rebekah began to weep,
+for she was sorely distressed about him. Isaac comforted her, saying:
+"Weep not for Jacob! In peace doth he depart, and in peace will he
+return. The Lord, God Most High, will guard him against all evil and be
+with him. He will not forsake him all the days of his life. Have no
+fear for him, for he walketh on the right path, he is a perfect man,
+and he hath faith in God—he will not perish."[123]
+
+JACOB PURSUED BY ELIPHAZ AND ESAU
+
+When Jacob went away to go to Haran, Esau called his son Eliphaz, and
+secretly spoke unto him, saying: "Now hasten, take thy sword in thy
+hand and pursue Jacob, and pass before him in the road, and lurk for
+him and slay him with thy sword in one of the mountains, and take all
+belonging unto him, and come back." And Eliphaz was dexterous and
+expert with the bow, as his father had taught him, and he was a noted
+hunter in the field and a valiant man. And Eliphaz did as his father
+had commanded him. And Eliphaz was at that time thirteen years old, and
+he arose and went and took ten of his mother's brothers with him, and
+pursued Jacob. And he followed Jacob closely, and when he overtook him,
+he lay in ambush for him on the borders of the land of Canaan, opposite
+to the city of Shechem. And Jacob saw Eliphaz and his men pursuing
+after him, and Jacob stood in the place in which he was going in order
+to know what it was, for he did not understand their purpose. Eliphaz
+drew his sword and went on advancing, he and his men, toward Jacob, and
+Jacob said unto them, "Wherefore have you come hither, and why do you
+pursue with your swords?" Eliphaz came near to Jacob, and answered as
+follows, "Thus did my father command me, and now therefore I will not
+deviate from the orders which my father gave me." And when Jacob saw
+that Esau had impressed his command urgently upon Eliphaz, he
+approached and supplicated Eliphaz and his men, saying, "Behold, all
+that I have, and that which my father and mother gave unto me, that
+take unto thee and go from me, and do not slay me, and may this thing
+that thou wilt do with me be accounted unto thee as righteousness." And
+the Lord caused Jacob to find favor in the sight of Eliphaz and his
+men, and they hearkened to the voice of Jacob, and they did not put him
+to death, but took all his belongings, together with the silver and
+gold that he had brought with him from Beer-sheba. They left him
+nothing. When Eliphaz and his men returned to Esau, and told him all
+that had happened to them with Jacob, he was wroth with his son Eliphaz
+and with his men, because they had not put Jacob to death. And they
+answered, and said unto Esau, "Because Jacob supplicated us in this
+matter, not to slay him, our pity was moved toward him, and we took all
+belonging to him, and we came back." Esau then took all the silver and
+gold which Eliphaz had taken from Jacob, and he put them by in his
+house.[124]
+
+Nevertheless Esau did not give up the hope of intercepting Jacob on his
+flight and slaying him. He pursued him, and with his men occupied the
+road along which he had to journey to Haran. There a great miracle
+happened to Jacob. When he observed what Esau's intention was, he
+turned off toward the Jordan river, and, with eyes directed to God, he
+cleft the waters with his wanderer's staff, and succeeded in crossing
+to the other side. But Esau was not to be deterred. He kept up the
+pursuit, and reached the hot springs at Baarus before his brother, who
+had to pass by there. Jacob, not knowing that Esau was on the watch for
+him, decided to bathe in the spring, saying, "I have neither bread nor
+other things needful, so I will at least warm my body in the waters of
+the well." While he was in the bath, Esau occupied every exit, and
+Jacob would surely have perished in the hot water, if the Lord had not
+caused a miracle to come to pass. A new opening formed of itself, and
+through it Jacob escaped. Thus were fulfilled the words, "When thou
+passest through the waters, I will be with thee; when thou walkest
+through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt," for Jacob was saved from
+the waters of the Jordan and from the fire of the hot spring.
+
+At the same time with Jacob, a rider, leaving his horse and his clothes
+on the shore, had stepped into the river to cool off, but he was
+overwhelmed by the waves, and he met his death. Jacob put on the dead
+man's clothes, mounted his horse, and went off. It was a lucky chance,
+for Eliphaz had stripped him of everything, even his clothes, and the
+miracle of the river had happened only that he might not be forced to
+appear naked among men.[125]
+
+Though Jacob was robbed of all his possessions, his courage did not
+fail him. He said: "Should I lose hope in my Creator? I set my eyes
+upon the merits of my fathers. For the sake of them the Lord will give
+me His aid." And God said: "Jacob, thou puttest thy trust in the merits
+of thy fathers, therefore I will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He
+that keepeth thee will not slumber. Yea, still more! While a keeper
+watcheth only by day as a rule, and sleepeth by night, I will guard
+thee day and night, for, behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither
+slumber nor sleep. The Lord will keep thee from all evil, from Esau as
+well as Laban; He will keep thy soul, that the Angel of Death do thee
+no hurt; He will keep thy going out and thy coming in, He will support
+thee now thou art leaving Canaan, and when thou returnest to
+Canaan."[126]
+
+Jacob was reluctant to leave the Holy Land before he received direct
+permission from God. "My parents," he reflected, "bade me go forth and
+sojourn outside of the land, but who knows whether it be the will of
+God that I do as they say, and beget children outside of the Holy
+Land?"[127] Accordingly, he betook himself to Beer-sheba. There, where
+the Lord had given permission to Isaac to depart from Canaan and go to
+Philistia, he would learn the will of the Lord concerning himself.
+
+He did not follow the example of his father and grandfather and take
+refuge with Abimelech, because he feared the king might force also him
+into a covenant, and make it impossible for his descendants of many
+generations to take possession of the Philistine land. Nor could he
+stay at home, because of his fear that Esau might wrest the birthright
+and the blessing from him, and to that he would not and could not
+agree.[128] He was as little disposed to take up the combat with Esau,
+for he knew the truth of the maxim, "He who courts danger will be
+overcome by it; he who avoids danger will overcome it." Both Abraham
+and Isaac had lived according to this rule. His grandfather had fled
+from Nimrod, and his father had gone away from the Philistines.[129]
+
+THE DAY OF MIRACLES
+
+Jacob's journey to Haran was a succession of miracles. The first of the
+five that befell for his sake in the course of it was that the sun sank
+while Jacob was passing Mount Moriah, though it was high noon at the
+time. He was following the spring that appeared wherever the Patriarchs
+went or settled. It accompanied Jacob from Beer-sheba to Mount Moriah,
+a two days' journey. When he arrived at the holy hill, the Lord said to
+him: "Jacob, thou hast bread in thy wallet, and the spring of waters is
+near by to quench thy thirst. Thus thou hast food and drink, and here
+thou canst lodge for the night." But Jacob replied: "The sun has barely
+passed the fifth of its twelve day stages, why should I lie down to
+sleep at so unseemly an hour?" But then Jacob perceived that the sun
+was about to sink, and he prepared to make ready his bed.[130] It was
+the Divine purpose not to let Jacob pass the site of the future Temple
+without stopping; he was to tarry there at least one night. Also, God
+desired to appear unto Jacob, and He shows Himself unto His faithful
+ones only at night.[131] At the same time Jacob was saved from the
+pursuit of Esau, who had to desist on account of the premature
+darkness.[132]
+
+Jacob took twelve stones from the altar on which his father Isaac had
+lain bound as a sacrifice, and he said: "It was the purpose of God to
+let twelve tribes arise, but they have not been begotten by Abraham or
+Isaac. If, now, these twelve stones will unite into a single one, then
+shall I know for a certainty that I am destined to become the father of
+the twelve tribes." At this time the second miracle came to pass, the
+twelve stones joined themselves together and made one, which he put
+under his head, and at once it became soft and downy like a pillow. It
+was well that he had a comfortable couch. He was in great need of rest,
+for it was the first night in fourteen years that he did not keep
+vigils. During all those years, passed in Eber's house of learning, he
+had devoted the nights to study. And for twenty years to come he was
+not to sleep, for while he was with his uncle Laban, he spent all the
+night and every night reciting the Psalms.[133]
+
+On the whole it was a night of marvels. He dreamed a dream in which the
+course of the world's history was unfolded to him. On a ladder set up
+on the earth, with the top of it reaching to heaven, he beheld the two
+angels who had been sent to Sodom. For one hundred and thirty-eight
+years they had been banished from the celestial regions, because they
+had betrayed their secret mission to Lot. They had accompanied Jacob
+from his father's house thither, and now they were ascending
+heavenward. When they arrived there, he heard them call the other
+angels, and say, "Come ye and see the countenance of the pious Jacob,
+whose likeness appears on the Divine throne, ye who yearned long to see
+it," and then he beheld the angels descend from heaven to gaze upon
+him.[134] He also saw the angels of the four kingdoms ascending the
+ladder. The angel of Babylon mounted seventy rounds, the angel of
+Media, fifty-two, that of Greece, one hundred and eighty, and that of
+Edom mounted very high, saying, "I will ascend above the heights of the
+clouds, I will be like the Most High," and Jacob heard a voice
+remonstrating, "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the
+uttermost parts of the pit." God Himself reproved Edom, saying, "Though
+thou mount on high as the eagle, and though thy nest be set among the
+stars, I will bring thee down from thence."[135]
+
+Furthermore, God showed unto Jacob the revelation at Mount Sinai, the
+translation of Elijah, the Temple in its glory and in its spoliation,
+Nebuchadnezzar's attempt to burn the three holy children in the fiery
+furnace, and Daniel's encounter with Bel.[136]
+
+In this, the first prophetic dream dreamed by Jacob,[137] God made him
+the promise that the land upon which he was lying would be given to
+him, but the land he lay upon was the whole of Palestine, which God had
+folded together and put under him. "And," the promise continued, "thy
+seed will be like unto the dust of the earth. As the earth survives all
+things, so thy children will survive all the nations of the earth. But
+as the earth is trodden upon by all, so thy children, when they commit
+trespasses, will be trodden upon by the nations of the earth."[138]
+And, furthermore, God promised that Jacob should spread out to the west
+and to the east, a greater promise than that given to his fathers
+Abraham and Isaac, to whom He had allotted a limited land. Jacob's was
+an unbounded possession.[139]
+
+From this wondrous dream Jacob awoke with a start of fright, on account
+of the vision he had had of the destruction of the Temple.[140] He
+cried out, "How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the
+house of God, wherein is the gate of heaven through which prayer
+ascends to Him." He took the stone made out of the twelve, and set it
+up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it, which had flowed
+down from heaven for him, and God sank this anointed stone unto the
+abyss, to serve as the centre of the earth, the same stone, the Eben
+Shetiyah,[141] that forms the centre of the sanctuary, whereon the
+Ineffable Name is graven, the knowledge of which makes a man master
+over nature, and over life and death.[142]
+
+Jacob cast himself down before the Eben Shetiyah, and entreated God to
+fulfil the promise He had given him, and also he prayed that God grant
+him honorable sustenance. For God had not mentioned bread to eat and
+raiment to put on, that Jacob might learn to have faith in the Lord.
+Then he vowed to give the tenth of all he owned unto God, if He would
+but grant his petition. Thus Jacob was the first to take a vow upon
+himself,[143] and the first, too, to separate the tithe from his
+income.[144]
+
+God had promised him almost all that is desirable, but he feared he
+might forfeit the pledged blessings through his sinfulness,[145] and
+again he prayed earnestly that God bring him back to his father's house
+unimpaired in body, possessions, and knowledge,[146] and guard him, in
+the strange land whither he was going, against idolatry, an immoral
+life, and bloodshed.[147]
+
+His prayer at an end, Jacob set out on his way to Haran, and the third
+wonder happened. In the twinkling of an eye he arrived at his
+destination. The earth jumped from Mount Moriah to Haran. A wonder like
+this God has executed only four times in the whole course of
+history.[148]
+
+The first thing to meet his eye in Haran was the well whence the
+inhabitants drew their supply of water. Although it was a great city,
+Haran suffered from dearth of water, and therefore the well could not
+be used by the people free of charge. Jacob's sojourn in the city
+produced a change. By reason of his meritorious deeds the water springs
+were blessed, and the city had water enough for its needs.
+
+Jacob saw a number of people by the well, and he questioned them, "My
+brethren, whence be ye?" He thus made himself a model for all to
+follow. A man should be companionable, and address others like brothers
+and friends, and not wait for them to greet him. Each one should strive
+to be the first to give the salutation of peace, that the angels of
+peace and compassion may come to meet him. When he was informed that
+the by-standers hailed from Haran, he made inquiry about the character
+and vocation of his uncle Laban, and whether they were on terms of
+friendly intercourse with him. They answered briefly: "There is peace
+between us, but if thou art desirous of inquiring further, here comes
+Rachel the daughter of Laban. From her thou canst learn all thou hast a
+mind to learn." They knew that women like to talk, wherefore they
+referred him to Rachel.[149]
+
+Jacob found it strange that so many should be standing idle by the
+well, and he questioned further: "Are you day laborers? then it is too
+early for you to put by your work. But if you are pasturing your own
+sheep, why do you not water your flocks and let them feed?"[150] They
+told him they were waiting until all the shepherds brought their flocks
+thither, and together rolled the stone from the mouth of the well.
+While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's
+sheep, for Laban had no sons, and a pest having broken out shortly
+before among his cattle, so few sheep were left that a maiden like
+Rachel could easily tend them. Now, when Jacob saw the daughter of his
+mother's brother approaching, he rolled the great stone from the mouth
+of the well as easily as a cork is drawn from a bottle—the fourth
+wonder of this extraordinary day. Jacob's strength was equal to the
+strength of all the shepherds; with his two arms alone he accomplished
+what usually requires the united forces of a large assemblage of men.
+He had been divinely endowed with this supernatural strength on leaving
+the Holy Land. God had caused the dew of the resurrection to drop down
+upon him, and his physical strength was so great that even in a combat
+with the angels he was victorious.[152]
+
+The fifth and last wonder of the day was that the water rose from the
+depths of the well to the very top, there was no need to draw it up,
+and there it remained all the twenty years that Jacob abode in
+Haran.[153]
+
+JACOB WITH LABAN
+
+Rachel's coming to the well at the moment when Jacob reached the
+territory belonging to Haran was an auspicious omen. To meet young
+maidens on first entering a city is a sure sign that fortune is
+favorable to one's undertakings. Experience proves this through
+Eliezer, Jacob, Moses, and Saul. They all encountered maidens when they
+approached a place new to them, and they all met with success.[154]
+
+Jacob treated Rachel at once as his cousin, which caused significant
+whispering among the by-standers. They censured Jacob for his demeanor
+toward her, for since God had sent the deluge upon the world, on
+account of the immoral life led by men, great chastity had prevailed,
+especially among the people of the east. The talk of the men reduced
+Jacob to tears. Scarcely had he kissed Rachel when he began to weep,
+for he repented of having done it.
+
+There was reason enough for tears. Jacob could not but remember sadly
+that Eliezer, his grandfather's slave, had brought ten camels laden
+with presents with him to Haran, when he came to sue for a bride for
+Isaac, while he had not even a ring to give to Rachel. Moreover, he
+foresaw that his favorite wife Rachel would not lie beside him in the
+grave, and this, too, made him weep.
+
+As soon as Rachel heard that Jacob was her cousin, she ran home to tell
+her father about his coming. Her mother was no longer among the living,
+else she would naturally have gone to her. In great haste Laban ran to
+receive Jacob. He reflected, if Eliezer, the bondman, had come with ten
+camels, what would not the favorite son of the family bring with him,
+and when he saw that Jacob was unattended, he concluded that he carried
+great sums of money in his girdle, and he threw his arms about his
+waist to find out whether his supposition was true. Disappointed in
+this, he yet did not give up hope that his nephew Jacob was a man of
+substance. Perhaps he concealed precious stones in his mouth, and he
+kissed him in order to find out whether he had guessed aright. But
+Jacob said to him: "Thou thinkest I have money. Nay, thou art mistaken,
+I have but words."[155] Then he went on to tell him how it had come
+about that he stood before him empty-handed. He said that his father
+Isaac had sent him on his way provided with gold, silver, and money,
+but he had encountered Eliphaz, who had threatened to slay him. To this
+assailant Jacob had spoken thus: "Know that the descendants of Abraham
+have an obligation to meet, they will have to serve four hundred years
+in a land that is not theirs. If thou slayest me, then you, the seed of
+Esau, will have to pay the debt. It were better, therefore, to take all
+I have, and spare my life, so that what is owing may be paid by me.
+Hence," Jacob continued, "I stand before thee bare of all the substance
+carried off by Eliphaz."[156]
+
+This tale of his nephew's poverty filled Laban with dismay. "What," he
+exclaimed, "shall I have to give food and drink for a month or,
+perhaps, even a year to this fellow, who has come to me empty-handed!"
+He betook himself to his teraphim, to ask them for counsel upon the
+matter, and they admonished him, saying: "Beware of sending him away
+from thy house. His star and his constellation are so lucky that good
+fortune will attend all his undertakings, and for his sake the blessing
+of the Lord will rest upon all thou doest, in thy house or in thy
+field."
+
+Laban was satisfied with the advice of the teraphim, but he was
+embarrassed as to the way in which he was to attach Jacob to his house.
+He did not venture to offer him service, lest Jacob's conditions be
+impossible of fulfilment. Again he resorted to the teraphim, and asked
+them with what reward to tempt his nephew, and they replied: "A wife is
+his wage; he will ask nothing else of thee but a wife. It is his nature
+to be attracted by women, and whenever he threatens to leave thee, do
+but offer him another wife, and he will not depart."
+
+Laban went back to Jacob, and said, "Tell me, what shall thy wages be?"
+and he replied, "Thinkest thou I came hither to make money? I came only
+to get me a wife,"[158] for Jacob had no sooner beheld Rachel than he
+fell in love with her and made her a proposal of marriage. Rachel
+consented, but added the warning: "My father is cunning, and thou art
+not his match." Jacob: "I am his brother in cunning." Rachel: "But is
+deception becoming unto the pious?" Jacob: "Yes, 'with the righteous
+righteousness is seemly, and with the deceiver deception.' But,"
+continued Jacob, "tell me wherein he may deal cunningly with me."
+Rachel: "I have an older sister, whom he desires to see married before
+me, and he will try to palm her off on thee instead of me." To be
+prepared for Laban's trickery, Jacob and Rachel agreed upon a sign by
+which he would recognize her in the nuptial night.[159]
+
+Thus warned to be on his guard against Laban, Jacob worded his
+agreement with him regarding his marriage to Rachel with such precision
+that no room was left for distortion or guile. Jacob said: "I know that
+the people of this place are knaves, therefore I desire to put the
+matter very clearly to thee. I will serve thee seven years for Rachel,
+hence not Leah; for thy daughter, that thou bringest me not some other
+woman likewise named Rachel; for the younger daughter, that thou
+exchangest not their names in the meantime."
+
+Nothing of all this availed: "It profits not if a villain is cast into
+a sawmill"—neither force nor gentle words can circumvent a rascal.
+Laban deceived not only Jacob, but also the guests whom he invited to
+the wedding.
+
+THE MARRIAGE OF JACOB
+
+After Jacob had served Laban seven years, he said to his uncle: "The
+Lord destined me to be the father of twelve tribes. I am now
+eighty-four years old, and if I do not take thought of the matter now,
+when can I?"[160] Thereupon Laban consented to let him have his
+daughter Rachel to wife, and he was married forty-four years after his
+brother Esau. The Lord often defers the happiness of the pious, while
+He permits the wicked to enjoy the fulfilment of their desires
+soon.[161] Esau, however, had purposely chosen his fortieth year for
+his marriage; he had wanted to indicate that he was walking in the
+footsteps of his father Isaac, who had likewise married at forty years
+of age. Esau was like a swine that stretches out its feet when it lies
+down, to show that it is cloven-footed like the clean animals, though
+it is none the less one of the unclean animals. Until his fortieth year
+Esau made a practice of violating the wives of other men, and then at
+his marriage he acted as though he were following the example of his
+pious father. Accordingly, the woman he married was of his own kind,
+Judith, a daughter of Heth, for God said: "This one, who is designed
+for stubble, to be burnt by fire, shall take unto wife one of a people
+also destined for utter destruction." They, Esau and his wife,
+illustrated the saying, "Not for naught does the raven consort with the
+crow; they are birds of a feather."[162]
+
+Far different it was with Jacob. He married the two pious and lovely
+sisters, Leah and Rachel, for Leah, like her younger sister, was
+beautiful of countenance, form, and stature. She had but one defect,
+her eyes were weak, and this malady she had brought down upon herself,
+through her own action. Laban, who had two daughters, and Rebekah, his
+sister, who had two sons, had agreed by letter, while their children
+were still young, that the older son of the one was to marry the older
+daughter of the other, and the younger son the younger daughter. When
+Leah grew to maidenhood, and inquired about her future husband, all her
+tidings spoke of his villainous character, and she wept over her fate
+until her eyelashes dropped from their lids. But Rachel grew more and
+more beautiful day by day, for all who spoke of Jacob praised and
+extolled him, and "good tidings make the bones fat."
+
+In view of the agreement between Laban and Rebekah, Jacob refused to
+marry the older daughter Leah. As it was, Esau was his mortal enemy, on
+account of what had happened regarding the birthright and the paternal
+blessing. If, now, Jacob married the maiden appointed for him, Esau
+would never forgive his younger brother. Therefore Jacob resolved to
+take to wife Rachel, the younger daughter of his uncle.[163]
+
+Laban was of another mind. He purposed to marry of his older daughter
+first, for he knew that Jacob would consent to serve him a second
+period of seven years for love of Rachel. On the day of the wedding he
+assembled the inhabitants of Haran, and addressed them as follows: "Ye
+know well that we used to suffer from lack of water, and as soon as
+this pious man Jacob came to dwell among us, we had water in
+abundance." "What hast thou in mind to do?" they asked Laban. He
+replied: "If ye have naught to say against it, I will deceive him and
+give him Leah to wife. He loves Rachel with an exceeding great love,
+and for her sake he will tarry with us yet seven other years." "Do as
+it pleaseth thee," his friends said. "Well, then," said Laban, "let
+each one of you give me a pledge that ye will not betray my purpose."
+
+With the pledges they left with him, Laban bought wine, oil, and meat
+for the wedding feast, and he set a meal before them which they had
+themselves paid for. Because he deceived his fellow-citizens thus,
+Laban is called Arami, "the deceiver." They feasted all day long, until
+late at night, and when Jacob expressed his astonishment at the
+attention shown him, they said to him: "Through thy piety thou didst a
+great service of lovingkindness unto us, our supply of water was
+increased unto abundance, and we desire to show our gratitude
+therefor." And, indeed, they tried to give him a hint of Laban's
+purpose. In the marriage ode which they sang they used the refrain
+"Halia," in the hope that he would understand it as Ha Leah, "This is
+Leah." But Jacob was unsuspicious and noticed nothing.
+
+When the bride was led into the nuptial chamber, the guests
+extinguished all the candles, much to Jacob's amazement. But their
+explanation satisfied him. "Thinkest thou," they said, "we have as
+little sense of decency as thy countrymen?" Jacob therefore did not
+discover the deception practiced upon him until morning. During the
+night Leah responded whenever he called Rachel, for which he reproached
+her bitterly when daylight came. "O thou deceiver, daughter of a
+deceiver, why didst thou answer me when I called Rachel's name?" "Is
+there a teacher without a pupil?" asked Leah, in return. "I but
+profited by thy instruction. When thy father called thee Esau, didst
+thou not say, Here am I?"[164]
+
+Jacob was greatly enraged against Laban, and he said to him: "Why didst
+thou deal treacherously with me? Take back thy daughter, and let me
+depart, seeing thou didst act wickedly toward me."[165] Laban pacified
+him, however, saying, "It is not so done in our place, to give the
+younger before the first-born," and Jacob agreed to serve yet seven
+other years for Rachel, and after the seven days of the feast of Leah's
+wedding were fulfilled, he married Rachel.[166]
+
+With Leah and Rachel, Jacob received the handmaids Zilpah and Bilhah,
+two other daughters of Laban, whom his concubines had borne unto
+him.[167]
+
+THE BIRTH OF JACOB'S CHILDREN
+
+The ways of God are not like unto the ways of men. A man clings close
+to his friend while he has riches, and forsakes him when he falls into
+poverty. But when God sees a mortal unsteady and faltering, He reaches
+a hand out to him, and raises him up. Thus it happened with Leah. She
+was hated by Jacob, and God visited her in mercy. Jacob's aversion to
+Leah began the very morning after their wedding, when his wife taunted
+him with not being wholly free from cunning and craft himself. Then God
+said, "Help can come to Leah only if she gives birth to a child; then
+the love of her husband will return to her."[168] God remembered the
+tears she had shed when she prayed that her doom, chaining her to that
+recreant Esau, be averted from her, and so wondrous are the uses of
+prayer that Leah, besides turning aside the impending decree, was
+permitted to marry Jacob before her sister and be the first to bear him
+a child. There was another reason why the Lord was compassionately
+inclined toward Leah. She had gotten herself talked about. The sailors
+on the sea, the travellers along the highways, the women at their
+looms, they all gossiped about Leah, saying, "She is not within what
+her seeming is without. She appears to be pious, but if she were, she
+would not have deceived her sister."[169] To put an end to all this
+tattle, God granted her the distinction of bearing a son at the end of
+seven months after her marriage. He was one of a pair of twins, the
+other child being a daughter. So it was with eleven of the sons of
+Jacob, all of them except Joseph were born twins with a girl, and the
+twin sister and brother married later on.[170] Altogether it was an
+extraordinary childbirth, for Leah was barren, not formed by nature to
+bear children.
+
+She called her first-born son Reuben, which means "See the normal man,"
+for he was neither big nor little, neither dark nor fair, but exactly
+normal.[171] In calling her oldest child Reuben, "See the son," Leah
+indicated his future character. "Behold the difference," the name
+implied, "between my first-born son and the first-born son of my father
+in-law. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob of his own free will, and yet
+he hated him. As for my first-born son, although his birthright was
+taken from him without his consent, and given to Joseph, it was
+nevertheless he who rescued Joseph from the hands of his
+brethren."[172]
+
+Leah called her second son Shime'on, "Yonder is sin," for one of his
+descendants was that Zimri who was guilty of vile trespasses with the
+daughters of Moab.[173]
+
+The name of her third son, Levi, was given him by God Himself, not by
+his mother. The Lord summoned him through the angel Gabriel, and
+bestowed the name upon him as one who is "crowned" with the twenty-four
+gifts that are the tribute due to the priests.[174]
+
+At the birth of her fourth son, Leah returned thanks to God for a
+special reason. She knew that Jacob would beget twelve sons, and if
+they were distributed equally among his four wives, each would bear
+three. But now it appeared that she had one more than her due share,
+and she called him Jehudah, "thanks unto God." She was thus the first
+since the creation of the world to give thanks to God,[175] and her
+example was followed by David and Daniel, the descendants of her son
+Judah.
+
+When Rachel saw that her sister had borne Jacob four sons, she envied
+Leah. Not that she begrudged her the good fortune she enjoyed, she only
+envied her for her piety, saying to herself that it was to her
+righteous conduct that she owed the blessing of many children.[176]
+Then she besought Jacob: "Pray unto God for me, that He grant me
+children, else my life is no life. Verily, there are four that may be
+regarded as though they were dead, the blind, the leper, the childless,
+and he who was once rich and has lost his fortune." Jacob's anger was
+kindled against Rachel, and he said: "It were better thou shouldst
+address thy petition to God, and not to me, for am I in God's stead,
+who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?"[177] God was
+displeased with this answer that Jacob made to his sad wife. He rebuked
+him with the words: "Is it thus thou wouldst comfort a grief-stricken
+heart? As thou livest, the day will come when thy children will stand
+before the son of Rachel, and he will use the same words thou hast but
+now used, saying, 'Am I in the place of the Lord?'"
+
+Rachel also made reply to Jacob, saying: "Did not thy father, too,
+entreat God for thy mother with earnest words, beseeching Him to remove
+her barrenness?" Jacob: "It is true, but Isaac had no children, and I
+have several." Rachel: "Remember thy grandfather Abraham, thou canst
+not deny that he had children when he supplicated God in behalf of
+Sarah!" Jacob: "Wouldst thou do for me what Sarah did for my
+grandfather?" Rachel: "Pray, what did she?" Jacob: "She herself brought
+a rival into her house." Rachel: "If that is all that is necessary, I
+am ready to follow the example of Sarah, and I pray that as she was
+granted a child for having invited a rival, so may I be blessed,
+too."[178] Thereupon Rachel gave Jacob Bilhah, her freed handmaid, to
+wife, and she bore him a son, whom Rachel called Dan, saying, "As the
+Lord was gracious unto me and gave me a son according to my petition,
+so He will permit Samson, the descendant of Dan, to judge his people,
+that it fall not into the hands of the Philistines."[179] Bilhah's
+second son Rachel named Naphtali, saying, "Mine is the bond that binds
+Jacob to this place, for it was for my sake that he came to Laban." At
+the same time she wanted to convey by this name that the Torah, which
+is as sweet as Nofet, "honeycomb," would be taught in the territory of
+Naphtali.[180] And the name had still a third meaning: "As God hath
+heard my fervent prayer for a son, so He will hearken unto the fervent
+prayer of the Naphtalites when they are beset by their enemies."[181]
+
+Leah, seeing that she had left bearing, while Bilhah, her sister's
+handmaid, bore Jacob two sons, concluded that it was Jacob's destiny to
+have four wives, her sister and herself, and their half-sisters Bilhah
+and Zilpah. Therefore she also gave him her handmaid to wife.[182]
+Zilpah was the youngest of the four women. It was the custom of that
+time to give the older daughter the older handmaid, and the younger
+daughter the younger handmaid, as their dowry, when they got married.
+Now, in order to make Jacob believe that his wife was the younger
+daughter he had served for, Laban had given Leah the younger handmaid
+as her marriage portion. This Zilpah was so young that her body
+betrayed no outward signs of pregnancy, and nothing was known of her
+condition until her son was born. Leah called the boy Gad, which means
+"fortune," or it may mean "the cutter," for from Gad was descended the
+prophet Elijah, who brings good fortune to Israel, and he also cuts
+down the heathen world.[183] Leah had other reasons, too, for choosing
+this name of double meaning. The tribe of Gad had the good fortune of
+entering into possession of its allotment in the Holy Land before any
+of the others,[184] and, also, Gad the son of Jacob was born
+circumcised.[185]
+
+To Zilpah's second son Leah gave the name of Asher, "praise," for, she
+said, "Unto me all manner of praise is due, for I brought my handmaid
+into the house of my husband as wife. Sarah did likewise, but only
+because she had no children, and so it was also with Rachel. But as for
+me, I had children, and nevertheless I subdued my passion, and without
+jealousy I gave my handmaid to my husband for wife. Verily, all will
+praise and extol me."[186] Furthermore she spoke: "As the women will
+praise me, so the sons of Asher will in time to come praise God for
+their fruitful possession in the Holy Land."[187]
+
+The next son born unto Jacob was Issachar, "a reward," and once more it
+was Leah who was permitted to bring forth the child, as a reward from
+God for her pious desire to have the twelve tribes come into the world.
+To secure this result, she left no means untried.[188]
+
+It happened once that her oldest son Reuben was tending his father's
+ass during the harvest, and he bound him to a root of dudaim, and went
+his way. On returning, he found the dudaim torn out of the ground, and
+the ass lying dead beside it. The beast had uprooted it in trying to
+get loose, and the plant has a peculiar quality, whoever tears it up
+must die.[189] As it was the time of the harvest, when it is permitted
+for any one to take a plant from a field, and as dudaim is, besides, a
+plant which the owner of a field esteems lightly, Reuben carried it
+home. Being a good son, he did not keep it for himself, but gave it to
+his mother. Rachel desired the dudaim, and she asked the plant of Leah,
+who parted with it to her sister, but on the condition that Jacob, when
+he returned from work in the evening, should tarry with her for a
+while. It was altogether unbecoming conduct in Rachel to dispose thus
+of her husband. She gained the dudaim, but she lost two tribes. If she
+had acted otherwise, she would have borne four sons instead of two. And
+she suffered another punishment, her body was not permitted to rest in
+the grave beside her husband's.
+
+Jacob came home from the field after night had fallen, for he observed
+the law obliging a day laborer to work until darkness sets in, and
+Jacob's zeal in the affairs of Laban was as great in the last seven
+years, after his marriage, as in the first seven, while he was serving
+for the hand of Rachel.[190] When Leah heard the braying of Jacob's
+ass, she ran to meet her husband,[191] and without giving him time to
+wash his feet, she insisted upon his turning aside into her tent.[192]
+At first Jacob refused to go, but God compelled him to enter, for unto
+God it was known that Leah acted from pure, disinterested motives.[193]
+Her dudaim secured two sons for her, Issachar, the father of the tribe
+that devotes itself to the study of the Torah, whence his name meaning
+"reward," and Zebulon, whose descendants carried on commerce, using
+their profits to enable their brethren of Issachar to keep at their
+studies.[194] Leah called this last-born son of hers Zebulon,
+"dwelling-place," for she said, "Now will my husband dwell with me,
+seeing that I have borne him six sons, and, also, the sons of Zebulon
+will have a goodly dwelling-place in the Holy Land."[195]
+
+Leah bore once more, and this last time it was a daughter, a man child
+turned into a woman by her prayer. When she conceived for the seventh
+time, she spake as follows: "God promised Jacob twelve sons. I bore him
+six, and each of the two handmaids has borne him two. If, now, I were
+to bring forth another son, my sister Rachel would not be equal even
+unto the handmaids." Therefore she prayed to God to change the male
+embryo in her womb into a female, and God hearkened unto her
+prayer.[196]
+
+Now all the wives of Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah, united
+their prayers with the prayer of Jacob, and together they besought God
+to remove the curse of barrenness from Rachel. On New Year's Day, the
+day whereon God sits in judgment upon the inhabitants of the earth, He
+remembered Rachel, and granted her a son.[197] And Rachel spake, "God
+hath taken away my reproach," for all the people had said that she was
+not a pious woman, else had she borne children, and now that God had
+hearkened to her, and opened her womb, such idle talk no longer had any
+reason.[198]
+
+By bearing a son, she had escaped another disgrace. She had said to
+herself: "Jacob hath a mind to return to the land of his birth, and my
+father will not be able to hinder his daughters who have borne him
+children from following their husband thither with their children. But
+he will not let me, the childless wife, go, too, and he will keep me
+here and marry me to one of the uncircumcised."[199] She said
+furthermore, "As my son hath removed my reproach, so Joshua, his
+descendant, will roll away a reproach from the Israelites, when he
+circumcises them beyond Jordan."[200]
+
+Rachel called her son Joseph, "increase," saying, "God will give me an
+additional son." Prophetess as she was, she foresaw she would have a
+second son. But an increase added on by God is larger than the original
+capital itself. Benjamin, the second son, whom Rachel regarded merely
+as a supplement, had ten sons, while Joseph begot only two. These
+twelve together may be considered the twelve tribes borne by
+Rachel.[201] Had Rachel not used the form of expression, "The Lord add
+to me another son," she herself would have begotten twelve tribes with
+Jacob.[202]
+
+JACOB FLEES BEFORE LABAN
+
+Jacob had only been waiting for Joseph to be born to begin preparations
+for his journey home. The holy spirit had revealed to him that the
+house of Joseph would work the destruction of the house of Esau, and,
+therefore, Jacob exclaimed at the birth of Joseph, "Now I need not fear
+Esau or his legions."[203]
+
+About this time, Rebekah sent her nurse Deborah, the daughter of Uz,
+accompanied by two of Isaac's servants, to Jacob, to urge him to return
+to his father's house, now that his fourteen years of service had come
+to an end. Then Jacob approached Laban, and spoke, "Give me my wives
+and my children, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country,
+for my mother has sent messengers unto me, bidding me to return to my
+father's house."[204] Laban answered, saying, "O that I might find
+favor in thine eyes! By a sign it was made known unto me that God
+blesseth me for thy sake." What Laban had in mind was the treasure he
+had found on the day Jacob came to him, and he considered that a token
+of his beneficent powers.[205] Indeed, God had wrought many a thing in
+the house of Laban that testified to the blessings spread abroad by the
+pious. Shortly before Jacob came, a pest had broken out among Laban's
+cattle, and with his arrival it ceased.[206] And Laban had had no son,
+but during Jacob's sojourn in Haran sons were born unto him.[207]
+
+All the hire he asked in return for his labor and for the blessings he
+had brought Laban was the speckled and spotted among the goats of his
+herd, and the black among the sheep. Laban assented to his conditions,
+saying, "Behold, I would it might be according to thy word." The
+arch-villain Laban, whose tongue wagged in all directions, and who made
+all sorts of promises that were never kept, judged others by himself,
+and therefore suspected Jacob of wanting to deceive him.[208] And yet,
+in the end, it was Laban himself who broke his word. No less than a
+hundred times he changed the agreement between them. Nevertheless his
+unrighteous conduct was of no avail. Though a three days' journey had
+been set betwixt Laban's flocks and Jacob's, the angels were wont to
+bring the sheep belonging to Laban down to Jacob's sheep, and Jacob's
+droves grew constantly larger and better.[209] Laban had given only the
+feeble and sick to Jacob, yet the young of the flock, raised under
+Jacob's tendance, were so excellent in quality that people bought them
+at a heavy price.[210] And Jacob had no need to resort to the peeled
+rods. He had but to speak, and the flocks bare according to his
+desire.[211] What Laban deserved was utter ruin, for having permitted
+the pious Jacob to work for him without hire, and after his wages had
+been changed ten times, and ten times Laban had tried to overreach him,
+God rewarded him in this way.[212] But his good luck with the flocks
+was only what Jacob deserved. Every faithful laborer is rewarded by God
+in this world, quite regardless of what awaits him in the world to
+come.[213] With empty hands Jacob had come to Laban, and he left him
+with herds numbering six hundred thousand. Their increase had been
+marvellous, an increase that will be equalled only in the Messianic
+time.[214]
+
+The wealth and good fortune of Jacob called forth the envy of Laban and
+his sons, and they could not hide their vexation in their intercourse
+with him. And the Lord said unto Jacob, "Thy father-in-law's
+countenance is not toward thee as beforetime, and yet thou tarriest
+with him? Do thou rather return unto the land of thy fathers, and there
+I will let My Shekinah rest upon thee, for I cannot permit the Shekinah
+to reside outside of the Holy Land."[215] Immediately Jacob sent the
+fleet messenger Naphtali[216] to Rachel and Leah to summon them to a
+consultation, and he chose as the place of meeting the open field,
+where none could overhear what was said.[217]
+
+His two wives approved the plan of returning to his home, and Jacob
+resolved at once to go away with all his substance, without as much as
+acquainting Laban with his intention. Laban was gone to shear his
+sheep, and so Jacob could execute his plan without delay.
+
+That her father might not learn about their flight from his teraphim,
+Rachel stole them, and she took them and concealed them upon the camel
+upon which she sat, and she went on. And this is the manner they used
+to make the images: They took a man who was the first-born, slew him
+and took the hair off his head, then salted the head, and anointed it
+with oil, then they wrote "the Name" upon a small tablet of copper or
+gold, and placed it under his tongue. The head with the tablet under
+the tongue was then put in a house where lights were lighted before it,
+and at the time when they bowed down to it, it spoke to them on all
+matters that they asked of it, and that was due to the power of the
+Name which was written upon it.[218]
+
+THE COVENANT WITH LABAN
+
+Jacob departed and crossed the Euphrates, and set his face toward
+Gilead, for the holy spirit revealed to him that God would bring help
+there to his children in the days of Jephthah. Meantime the shepherds
+of Haran observed that the well, which had been filled to overflowing
+since the arrival of Jacob in their place, ran dry suddenly. For three
+days they watched and waited, in the hope that the waters would return
+in the same abundance as before. Disappointed, they finally told Laban
+of the misfortune, and he divined at once that Jacob had departed
+thence, for he knew that the blessing had been conferred upon Haran
+only for the sake of his son-in-law's merits.[219]
+
+On the morrow Laban rose early, assembled all the people of the city,
+and pursued Jacob with the intention of killing him when he overtook
+him. But the archangel Michael appeared unto him, and bade him take
+heed unto himself, that he do not the least unto Jacob, else would he
+suffer death himself.[220] This message from heaven came to Laban
+during the night, for when, in extraordinary cases, God finds it
+necessary to reveal Himself unto the heathen, He does it only in the
+dark, clandestinely as it were, while He shows Himself to the prophets
+of the Jews openly, during daylight.
+
+Laban accomplished the journey in one day for which Jacob had taken
+seven,[221] and he overtook him at the mountain of Gilead. When he came
+upon Jacob, he found him in the act of praying and giving praise unto
+God.[222] Immediately Laban fell to remonstrating with his son-in-law
+for having stolen away unawares to him. He showed his true character
+when he said, "It is in the power of my hand to do thee hurt, but the
+God of thy father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take heed to
+thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad." That is the
+way of the wicked, they boast of the evil they can do. Laban wanted to
+let Jacob know that only the dream warning him against doing aught that
+was harmful to Jacob prevented him from carrying out the wicked design
+he had formed against him.[223]
+
+Laban continued to take Jacob to task, and he concluded with the words,
+"And now, though thou wouldst needs be gone, because thou sore longedst
+after thy father's house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?" When
+he pronounced the last words, his grandchildren interrupted him,
+saying, "We are ashamed of thee, grandfather, that in thy old age thou
+shouldst use such words as 'my gods.'" Laban searched all the tents for
+his idols, going first to the tent of Jacob, which was Rachel's at the
+same time, for Jacob always dwelt with his favorite wife. Finding
+nothing, he went thence to Leah's tent, and to the tents of the two
+handmaids, and, noticing that Rachel was feeling about here and there,
+his suspicions were aroused, and he entered her tent a second time. He
+would now have found what he was looking for, if a miracle had not come
+to pass. The teraphim were transformed into drinking vessels, and Laban
+had to desist from his fruitless search.
+
+Now Jacob, who did not know that Rachel had stolen her father's
+teraphim in order to turn him aside from his idolatrous ways, was wroth
+with Laban, and began to chide with him. In the quarrel between them,
+Jacob's noble character manifested itself. Notwithstanding his
+excitement, he did not suffer a single unbecoming word to escape him.
+He only reminded Laban of the loyalty and devotion with which he had
+served him, doing for him what none other would or could have done. He
+said: "I dealt wrongfully with the lion, for God had appointed of
+Laban's sheep for the lion's daily sustenance, and I deprived him
+thereof. Could another shepherd have done thus? Yes, the people abused
+me, calling me robber and sneak thief, for they thought that only by
+stealing by day and stealing by night could I replace the animals torn
+by wild beasts. And as to my honesty," he continued, "is it likely
+there is another son-in-law who, having lived with his father-in-law,
+hath not taken some little thing from the household of his
+father-in-law, a knife, or other trifle? But thou hast felt about all
+my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Not so much
+as a needle or a nail."
+
+In his indignation, and conscious of his innocence, Jacob exclaimed,
+"With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live," words which
+contained a curse—the thief was cursed with premature death, and
+therefore Rachel had to die in giving birth to Benjamin. Indeed, the
+curse would have taken effect at once, had it not been the wish of God
+that Rachel should bear Jacob his youngest son.[224]
+
+After the quarrel, the two men made a treaty, and with his gigantic
+strength Jacob set up a huge rock as a memorial, and a heap of stones
+as a sign of their covenant. In this matter Jacob followed the example
+of his fathers, who likewise had covenanted with heathen nations,
+Abraham with the Jebusites, and Isaac with the Philistines. Therefore
+Jacob did not hesitate to make a treaty with the Arameans.[225] Jacob
+summoned his sons, calling them brethren, for they were his peers in
+piety and strength, and he bade them cast up heaps of stones. Thereupon
+he swore unto his father-in-law that he would take no wives beside his
+four daughters, either while they were alive or after their death, and
+Laban, on his part, swore that he would not pass over the heaps or over
+the pillar unto Jacob with hostile intent,[226] and he took the oath by
+the God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, while Jacob made mention of
+the Fear of Isaac. He refrained from using the term "the God of Isaac,"
+because God never unites His name with that of a living person, for the
+reason that so long as a man has not ended his years, no trust may be
+put in him, lest he be seduced by the evil inclination. It is true,
+when He appeared unto Jacob at Beth-el, God called Himself "the God of
+Isaac." There was a reason for the unusual phrase. Being blind, Isaac
+led a retired life, within his tent, and the evil inclination had no
+power over him any more. But though God had full confidence in Isaac,
+yet Jacob could not venture to couple the name of God with the name of
+a living man, wherefore he took his oath by "the Fear of Isaac."[227]
+
+Early in the morning after the day of covenanting, Laban rose up, and
+kissed his grandchildren and his daughters, and blessed them. But these
+acts and words of his did not come from the heart; in his innermost
+thoughts he regretted that Jacob and his family and his substance had
+escaped him.[228] His true feelings he betrayed in the message which he
+sent to Esau at once upon his return to Haran, by the hand of his son
+Beor and ten companions of his son. The message read: "Hast thou heard
+what Jacob thy brother has done unto me, who first came to me naked and
+bare, and I went to meet him, and took him to my house with honor, and
+brought him up, and gave him my two daughters for wives, and also two
+of my maids? And God blessed him on my account, and he increased
+abundantly, and had sons and daughters and maid-servants, and also an
+uncommon stock of flocks and herds, camels and asses, also silver and
+gold in abundance. But when he saw that his wealth increased, he left
+me while I went to shear my sheep, and he rose up and fled in secrecy.
+And he put his wives and children upon camels, and he led away all his
+cattle and substance which he acquired in my land, and he resolved to
+go to his father Isaac, to the land of Canaan. And he did not suffer me
+to kiss my sons and daughters, and he carried away my daughters as
+captives of the sword, and he also stole my gods, and he fled. And now
+I have left him in the mountain of the brook of Jabbok, he and all
+belonging to him, not a jot of his substance is lacking. If it be thy
+wish to go to him, go, and there wilt thou find him, and thou canst do
+unto him as thy soul desireth."[229]
+
+Jacob had no need to fear either Laban or Esau, for on his journey he
+was accompanied by two angel hosts, one going with him from Haran to
+the borders of the Holy Land, where he was received by the other host,
+the angels of Palestine.[230] Each of these hosts consisted of no less
+than six hundred thousand angels,[231] and when he beheld them, Jacob
+said: "Ye belong neither to the host of Esau, who is preparing to go
+out to war against me, nor the host of Laban, who is about to pursue me
+again. Ye are the hosts of the holy angels sent by the Lord." And he
+gave the name Mahanaim, Double-Host, to the spot on which the second
+army relieved the first.[232]
+
+JACOB AND ESAU PREPARE TO MEET
+
+The message of Laban awakened Esau's old hatred toward Jacob with
+increased fury, and he assembled his household, consisting of sixty
+men. With them and three hundred and forty inhabitants of Seir, he went
+forth to do battle with Jacob and kill him. He divided his warriors
+into seven cohorts, giving to his son Eliphaz his own division of
+sixty, and putting the other six divisions under as many of the
+Horites.
+
+While Esau was hastening onward to meet Jacob, the messengers which
+Laban had sent to Esau came to Rebekah and told her that Esau and his
+four hundred men were about to make war upon Jacob, with the purpose of
+slaying him and taking possession of all he had. Anxious lest Esau
+should execute his plan while yet Jacob was on the journey, she hastily
+dispatched seventy-two of the retainers of Isaac's household, to give
+him help. Jacob, tarrying on the banks of the brook Jabbok, rejoiced at
+the sight of these men, and he greeted them with the words, "This is
+God's helping host," wherefore he called the place of their meeting
+Mahanaim, Host.
+
+After the warriors sent by Rebekah had satisfied his questions
+regarding the welfare of his parents, they delivered his mother's
+message unto him, thus: "I have heard, my son, that thy brother Esau
+hath gone forth against thee on the road, with men of the children of
+Seir the Horite, and therefore, my son, hearken to my voice, and take
+counsel with thyself what thou wilt do, and when he cometh up to thee,
+supplicate him, and do not speak roughly to him, and give him a present
+from what thou possessest, and from what God has favored thee with. And
+when he asketh thee concerning thy affairs, conceal nothing from him,
+perhaps he may turn from his anger against thee, and thou wilt thereby
+save thy soul, thou and all belonging to thee, for it is thy duty to
+honor him, since he is thy elder brother."
+
+And when Jacob heard the words of his mother which the messengers had
+spoken to him, he lifted up his voice and wept bitterly, and did as his
+mother commanded him.
+
+He sent messengers to Esau to placate him, and they said unto him:
+"Thus speaketh thy servant Jacob: My lord, think not that the blessing
+which my father bestowed upon me profited me. Twenty years I served
+Laban, and he deceived me, and changed my hire ten times, as thou well
+knowest. Yet did I labor sorely in his house, and God saw my
+affliction, my labor, and the work of my hands, and afterward He caused
+me to find grace and favor in the sight of Laban. And through God's
+great mercy and kindness, I acquired oxen and asses and cattle and
+men-servants and maid servants. And now I am coming to my country and
+to my home, to my father and mother, who are in the land of Canaan. And
+I have sent to let my lord know all this in order to find favor in the
+eyes of my lord, so that he may not imagine that I have become a man of
+substance, or that the blessing with which my father blessed me has
+benefited me."[233]
+
+Furthermore spake the messengers: "Why dost thou envy me in respect to
+the blessing wherewith my father blessed me? Is it that the sun shineth
+in my land, and not in thine? Or doth the dew and the rain fall only
+upon my land, and not upon thine? If my father blessed me with the dew
+of heaven, he blessed thee with the fatness of the earth, and if he
+spoke to me, Peoples will serve thee, he hath said unto thee, By thy
+sword shalt thou live. How long, then, wilt thou continue to envy me?
+Come, now, let us set up a covenant between us, that we will share
+equally all the vexations that may occur."
+
+Esau would not agree to this proposal, his friends dissuaded him
+therefrom, saying, "Accept not these conditions, for God hath said to
+Abraham, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land
+that is not theirs, and shall serve the people thereof, and the aliens
+shall afflict them four hundred years. Wait, therefore, until Jacob and
+his family go down into Egypt to pay off this debt."
+
+Jacob also sent word to Esau, saying: "Though I dwelt with that heathen
+of the heathen, Laban, yet have I not forgotten my God, but I fulfil
+the six hundred and thirteen commandments of the Torah.[234] If thy
+mind be set upon peace, thou wilt find me ready for peace. But if thy
+desire be war, thou wilt find me ready for war. I have with me men of
+valor and strength, they have but to utter a word, and God fulfils it.
+I tarried with Laban until Joseph should be born, he who is destined to
+subdue thee.[235] And though my descendants be held in bondage in this
+world, yet a day will come when they will rule over their rulers."[236]
+
+In reply to all these gentle words, Esau spoke with arrogance: "Surely
+I have heard, and truly it has been told unto me what Jacob has been to
+Laban, who brought him up in his house, and gave him his daughters for
+wives, and he begot sons and daughters, and abundantly increased in
+wealth and riches in Laban's house and with his help. And when he saw
+that his wealth was abundant and his riches were great, he fled with
+all belonging to him from Laban's house, and he carried away Laban's
+daughters from their father as captives of the sword, without telling
+him of it. And not only to Laban hath Jacob done thus, but also unto me
+hath he done so, and he hath twice supplanted me, and shall I be
+silent? Now, I have this day come with my camp to meet him, and I will
+do unto him according to the desire of my heart."
+
+The messengers dispatched by Jacob now returned to him, and reported
+these words of Esau unto him.[237] They also told him that his brother
+was advancing against him with an army consisting of four hundred
+crowned heads, each leading a host of four hundred men.[238] "It is
+true, thou art his brother, and thou treatest him as a brother should,"
+they said to Jacob, "but he is an Esau, thou must be made aware of his
+villainy."[239]
+
+Jacob bore in mind the promise of God, that He would bring him back to
+his father's house in peace, yet the report about his brother's purpose
+alarmed him greatly. A pious man may never depend upon promises of
+earthly good. God does not keep the promise if he is guilty of the
+smallest conceivable trespass, and Jacob feared that he might have
+forfeited happiness by reason of a sin committed by him. Moreover, he
+was anxious lest Esau be the one favored by God, inasmuch as he had
+these twenty years been fulfilling two Divine commands that Jacob had
+had to disregard. Esau had been living in the Holy Land, Jacob outside
+of it; the former had been in attendance upon his parents, the latter
+dwelling at a distance from them. And much as he feared defeat, Jacob
+also feared the reverse, that he might be victorious over Esau, or
+might even slay his brother, which would be as bad as to be slain by
+him. And he was depressed by another apprehension, that his father had
+died, for he reasoned that Esau would not take such warlike steps
+against his own brother, were his father still alive.[240]
+
+When his wives saw the anxiety that possessed Jacob, they began to
+quarrel with him, and reproach him for having taken them away from
+their father's house, though he knew that such danger threatened from
+Esau.[241] Then Jacob determined to apply the three means that might
+save him from the fate impending: he would cry to God for help, appease
+Esau's wrath with presents, and hold himself in readiness for war if
+the worst came to the worst.[242]
+
+He prayed to God: "O Thou God of my father Abraham, and God of my
+father Isaac, God of all who walk in the ways of the pious and do like
+unto them! I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all
+the truth, which Thou hast showed unto Thy servant. O Lord of the
+world, as Thou didst not suffer Laban to execute his evil designs
+against me, so also bring to naught the purpose of Esau, who desireth
+to slay me. O Lord of the world, in Thy Torah which Thou wilt give us
+on Mount Sinai it is written, And whether it be cow or ewe, ye shall
+not kill it and her young both in one day. If this wretch should come
+and murder my children and their mothers at the same time, who would
+then desire to read Thy Torah which Thou wilt give us on Mount Sinai?
+And yet Thou didst speak, For the sake of thy merits and for the merits
+of thy fathers I will do good unto thee, and in the future world thy
+children shall be as numerous as the sand of the sea."
+
+As Jacob prayed for his own deliverance, so also he prayed for the
+salvation of his descendants, that they might not be annihilated by the
+descendants of Esau.
+
+Such was the prayer of Jacob when he saw Esau approaching from afar,
+and God heard his petition and looked upon his tears, and He gave him
+the assurance that for his sake his descendants, too, would be redeemed
+from all distress.[243]
+
+Then the Lord sent three angels, and they went before Esau, and they
+appeared unto Esau and his people as hundreds and thousands of men
+riding upon horses. They were furnished with all sorts of weapons, and
+divided into four columns. And one division went on, and they found
+Esau coming with four hundred men, and the division ran toward them,
+and terrified them. Esau fell off his horse in alarm, and all his men
+separated from him in great fear, while the approaching column shouted
+after them, "Verily, we are the servants of Jacob, the servant of God,
+and who can stand against us?" Esau then said unto them, "O, then my
+lord and brother Jacob is your lord, whom I have not seen these twenty
+years, and now that I have this day come to see him, do you treat me in
+this manner?" The angels answered, "As the Lord liveth, were not Jacob
+thy brother, we had not left one remaining of thee and thy people, but
+on account of Jacob we will do nothing to thee." This division passed
+from Esau, and when he had gone from there about a league, the second
+division came toward him, and they also did unto Esau and his men as
+the first had done to them, and when they permitted him to go on, the
+third came and did like the first, and when the third had passed also,
+and Esau still continued with his men on the road to Jacob, the fourth
+division came and did to them as the others had done. And Esau was
+greatly afraid of his brother, because he thought that the four columns
+of the army which he had encountered were the servants of Jacob.
+
+After Jacob had made an end of praying, he divided all that journeyed
+with him into two companies, and he set over them Damesek and Alinus,
+the two sons of Eliezer, the bondman of Abraham, and their sons.[244]
+Jacob's example teaches us not to conceal the whole of our fortune in
+one hiding-place, else we run the danger of losing everything at one
+stroke.
+
+Of his cattle he sent a part to Esau as a present, first dividing it
+into three droves in order to impress his brother more. When Esau
+received the first drove, he would think he had the whole gift that had
+been sent to him, and suddenly he would be astonished by the appearance
+of the second portion, and again by the third. Jacob knew his brother's
+avarice only too well.[245]
+
+The men who were the bearers of Jacob's present to Esau were charged
+with the following message, "This is an offering to my lord Esau from
+his slave Jacob." But God took these words of Jacob in ill part,
+saying, "Thou profanest what is holy when thou callest Esau lord."
+Jacob excused himself; he was but flattering the wicked in order to
+escape death at his hands.[246]
+
+JACOB WRESTLES WITH THE ANGEL
+
+The servants of Jacob went before him with the present for Esau, and he
+followed with his wives and his children. As he was about to pass over
+the ford of Jabbok, he observed a shepherd, who likewise had sheep and
+camels. The stranger approached Jacob and proposed that they should
+ford the stream together, and help each other move their cattle over,
+and Jacob assented, on the condition that his possessions should be put
+across first. In the twinkling of an eye Jacob's sheep were transferred
+to the other side of the stream by the shepherd. Then the flocks of the
+shepherd were to be moved by Jacob, but no matter how many he took over
+to the opposite bank, always there remained some on the hither shore.
+There was no end to the cattle, though Jacob labored all the night
+through. At last he lost patience, and he fell upon the shepherd and
+caught him by the throat, crying out, "O thou wizard, thou wizard, at
+night no enchantment succeeds!" The angel thought, "Very well, let him
+know once for all with whom he has had dealings," and with his finger
+he touched the earth, whence fire burst forth. But Jacob said, "What!
+thou thinkest thus to affright me, who am made wholly of fire?"[247]
+
+The shepherd was no less a personage than the archangel Michael, and in
+his combat with Jacob he was assisted by the whole host of angels under
+his command. He was on the point of inflicting a dangerous wound upon
+Jacob, when God appeared, and all the angels, even Michael himself,
+felt their strength ooze away. Seeing that he could not prevail against
+Jacob, the archangel touched the hollow of his thigh, and injured him,
+and God rebuked him, saying, "Dost thou act as is seemly, when thou
+causest a blemish in My priest Jacob?" Michael said in astonishment,
+"Why, it is I who am Thy priest!" But God said, "Thou art My priest in
+heaven, and he is My priest on earth." Thereupon Michael summoned the
+archangel Raphael, saying, "My comrade, I pray thee, help me out of my
+distress, for thou art charged with the healing of all disease," and
+Raphael cured Jacob of the injury Michael had inflicted.
+
+The Lord continued to reproach Michael, saying, "Why didst thou do harm
+unto My first-born son?" and the archangel answered, "I did it only to
+glorify Thee," and then God appointed Michael as the guardian angel of
+Jacob and his seed unto the end of all generations, with these words:
+"Thou art a fire, and so is Jacob a fire; thou art the head of the
+angels, and he is the head of the nations; thou art supreme over all
+the angels, and he is supreme over all the peoples. Therefore he who is
+supreme over all the angels shall be appointed unto him who is supreme
+over all the peoples, that he may entreat mercy for him from the
+Supreme One over all."
+
+Then Michael said unto Jacob, "How is it possible that thou who couldst
+prevail against me, the most distinguished of the angels, art afraid of
+Esau?"
+
+When the day broke, Michael said to Jacob, "Let me go, for the day
+breaketh," but Jacob held him back, saying, "Art thou a thief, or a
+gambler with dice, that thou fearest the daylight?" At that moment
+appeared many different hosts of angels, and they called unto Michael:
+"Ascend, O Michael, the time of song hath come, and if thou art not in
+heaven to lead the choir, none will sing." And Michael entreated Jacob
+with supplications to let him go, for he feared the angels of 'Arabot
+would consume him with fire, if he were not there to start the songs of
+praise at the proper time. Jacob said, "I will not let thee go, except
+thou bless me," whereto Michael made reply: "Who is greater, the
+servant or the son? I am the servant, and thou art the son. Why, then,
+cravest thou my blessing?"[248] Jacob urged as an argument, "The angels
+that visited Abraham did not leave without blessing him," but Michael
+held, "They were sent by God for that very purpose, and I was not." Yet
+Jacob insisted upon his demand, and Michael pleaded with him, saying,
+"The angels that betrayed a heavenly secret were banished from their
+place for one hundred and thirty eight years. Dost thou desire that I
+should acquaint thee with what would cause my banishment likewise?" In
+the end the angel nevertheless had to yield; Jacob could not be moved,
+and Michael took counsel with himself thus: "I will reveal a secret to
+him, and if God demands to know why I revealed it, I will make answer,
+Thy children stand upon their wishes with Thee, and Thou dost yield to
+them. How, then, could I have left Jacob's wish unfulfilled?"
+
+Then Michael spoke to Jacob, saying: "A day will come when God will
+reveal Himself unto thee, and He will change thy name, and I shall be
+present when He changeth it.[249] Thy name shall be called no more
+Jacob, but Israel, for happy thou, of woman born, who didst enter the
+heavenly palace, and didst escape thence with thy life." And Michael
+blessed Jacob with the words, "May it be the will of God that thy
+descendants be as pious as thou art."[250]
+
+At the same time the archangel reminded Jacob that he had promised to
+give a tithe of his possessions unto God, and at once Jacob separated
+five hundred and fifty head of cattle from his herds, which counted
+fifty-five hundred. Then Michael went on, "But thou hast sons, and of
+them thou hast not set apart the tenth." Jacob proceeded to pass his
+sons in review: Reuben, Joseph, Dan, and Gad being the first-born, each
+of his mother, were exempt, and there remained but eight sons, and when
+he had named them, down to Benjamin, he had to go back and begin over
+again with Simon, the ninth, and finish with Levi as the tenth.
+
+Michael took Levi with him into heaven, and presented him before God,
+saying, "O Lord of the world, this one is Thy lot, and the tenth
+belonging unto Thee," and God stretched forth His hand and blessed Levi
+with the blessing that his children should be the servants of God on
+earth as the angels were His servants on high. Michael spoke again,
+"Doth not a king provide for the sustenance of his servants?" whereupon
+God appointed for the Levites all that was holy unto the Lord.[251]
+
+Then Jacob spoke to the angel: "My father conferred the blessing upon
+me that was intended for Esau, and now I desire to know whether thou
+wilt acknowledge the blessing as mine, or wilt bring charges against me
+on account of it." And the angel said: "I acknowledge the blessing to
+be thine by right. Thou didst not gain it by craft and cunning, and I
+and all the heavenly powers recognize it to be valid, for thou hast
+shown thyself master over the mighty powers of the heavens as over Esau
+and his legions."[252]
+
+And even then Jacob would not let the angel depart, he had to reveal
+his name to him first, and the angel made known to him that it was
+Israel, the same name that Jacob would once bear.[253]
+
+At last the angel departed, after Jacob had blessed him, and Jacob
+called the place of wrestling Penuel, the same place to which before he
+had given the name Mahanaim, for both words have but one meaning, the
+place of encounter with angels.[254]
+
+THE MEETING BETWEEN ESAU AND JACOB
+
+At the break of day the angel left off from wrestling with Jacob. The
+dawn on that day was of particularly short duration. The sun rose two
+hours before his time, by way of compensation for having set early, on
+the day on which Jacob passed Mount Moriah on his journey to Haran, to
+induce him to turn aside and lodge for a night on the future Temple
+place.[255] Indeed, the power of the sun on this same day was
+altogether remarkable. He shone with the brilliance and ardor with
+which he was invested during the six days of the creation, and as he
+will shine at the end of days, to make whole the halt and the blind
+among the Jews and to consume the heathen. This same healing and
+devastating property he had on that day, too, for Jacob was cured,
+while Esau and his princes were all but burnt up by his terrible
+heat.[256]
+
+Jacob was in dire need of healing lotions for the injury he had
+sustained in the encounter with the angel. The combat between them had
+been grim, the dust whirled up by the scuffle rose to the very throne
+of God.[257] Though Jacob prevailed against his huge opponent, as big
+as one-third of the whole world, throwing him to the ground and keeping
+him pinned down, yet the angel had injured him by clutching at the
+sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, so that it was
+dislocated, and Jacob halted upon his thigh.[258] The healing power of
+the sun restored him, nevertheless his children took it upon themselves
+not to eat the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh,
+for they reproached themselves with having been the cause of his
+mishap, they should not have left him alone in that night.[259]
+
+Now, although Jacob had prepared for the worst, for open hostilities
+even, yet when he saw Esau and his men, he thought it discreet to make
+separate divisions of the households of Leah, Rachel, and the
+handmaids, and divide the children unto each of them. And he put the
+handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after,
+and Rachel and Joseph hindermost. It was the stratagem which the fox
+used with the lion. Once upon a time the king of beasts was wroth with
+his subjects, and they looked hither and thither for a spokesman who
+mastered the art of appeasing their ruler. The fox offered himself for
+the undertaking, saying, "I know three hundred fables which will allay
+his fury." His offer was accepted with joy. On the way to the lion, the
+fox suddenly stood still, and in reply to the questions put to him, he
+said, "I have forgotten one hundred of the three hundred fables."
+"Never mind," said those accompanying him, "two hundred will serve the
+purpose." A little way further on the fox again stopped suddenly, and,
+questioned again, he confessed that he had forgotten half of the two
+hundred remaining fables. The animals with him still consoled him that
+the hundred he knew would suffice. But the fox halted a third time, and
+then he admitted that his memory had failed him entirely, and he had
+forgotten all the fables he knew, and he advised that every animal
+approach the king on his own account and endeavor to appease his anger.
+At first Jacob had had courage enough to enter the lists with Esau in
+behalf of all with him. Now he came to the conclusion to let each one
+try to do what he could for himself.
+
+However, Jacob was too fond a father to expose his family to the first
+brunt of the danger. He himself passed over before all the rest,
+saying, "It is better that they attack me than my children."[260] After
+him came the handmaids and their children. His reason for placing them
+there was that, if Esau should be overcome by passion for the women,
+and try to violate them, he would thus meet the handmaids first, and in
+the meantime Jacob would have the chance of preparing for more
+determined resistance in the defense of the honor of his wives.[261]
+Joseph and Rachel came last, and Joseph walked in front of his mother,
+though Jacob had ordered the reverse. But the son knew both the beauty
+of his mother and the lustfulness of his uncle, and therefore he tried
+to hide Rachel from the sight of Esau.[262]
+
+In the vehemence of his rage against Jacob, Esau vowed that he would
+not slay him with bow and arrow, but would bite him dead with his
+mouth, and suck his blood. But he was doomed to bitter disappointment,
+for Jacob's neck turned as hard as ivory, and in his helpless fury Esau
+could but gnash his teeth.[263] The two brothers were like the ram and
+the wolf. A wolf wanted to tear a ram in pieces, and the ram defended
+himself with his horns, striking them deep into the flesh of the wolf.
+Both began to howl, the wolf because he could not secure his prey, and
+the ram from fear that the wolf renew his attacks. Esau bawled because
+his teeth were hurt by the ivory-like flesh of Jacob's neck, and Jacob
+feared that his brother would make a second attempt to bite him.[264]
+
+Esau addressed a question to his brother. "Tell me," he said, "what was
+the army I met?" for on his march against Jacob he had had a most
+peculiar experience with a great host of forty thousand warriors. It
+consisted of various kinds of troops, armor-clad soldiers walking on
+foot, mounted on horses, and seated in chariots, and they all threw
+themselves upon Esau when they met. He demanded to know whence they
+came, and the strange soldiers hardly interrupted their savage
+onslaught to reply that they belonged to Jacob. Only when Esau told
+them that Jacob was his brother did they leave off, saying, "Woe to us
+if our master hears that we did thee harm." This was the army and the
+encounter Esau inquired about as soon as he met his brother. But the
+army was a host of angels, who had the appearance of warriors to Esau
+and his men.[265] Also the messengers sent by Jacob to Esau had been
+angels, for no mere human being could be induced to go forth and face
+the recreant.[266]
+
+Jacob now gave Esau the presents intended for him, a tenth of all his
+cattle,[267] and also pearls and precious stones,[268] and, besides, a
+falcon for the chase.[269] But even the animals refused to give up
+their gentle master Jacob and become the property of the villain Esau.
+They all ran away when Jacob wanted to hand them over to his brother,
+and the result was that the only ones that reached Esau were the feeble
+and the lame, all that could not make good their escape.[270]
+
+At first Esau declined the presents offered to him. Naturally, that was
+a mere pretense. While refusing the gifts with words, he held his hand
+outstretched ready to receive them.[271] Jacob took the hint, and
+insisted that he accept them, saying: "Nay, I pray thee, if now I have
+found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand, forasmuch
+as I have seen thy face, as I have seen the face of angels, and thou
+art pleased with me." The closing words were chosen with
+well-calculated purpose. Jacob wanted Esau to derive the meaning that
+he had intercourse with angels, and to be inspired with awe. Jacob was
+like the man invited to a banquet by his mortal enemy who has been
+seeking an opportunity to slay him. When the guest divines the purpose
+for which he has been brought thither, he says to the host: "What a
+magnificent and delicious meal this is! But once before in my life did
+I partake of one like it, and that was when I was bidden by the king to
+his table"—enough to drive terror to the heart of the would-be slayer.
+He takes good care not to harm a man on such intimate terms with the
+king as to be invited to his table![272]
+
+Jacob had valid reason for recalling his encounter with the angel, for
+it was the angel of Esau who had measured his strength with Jacob's,
+and had been overcome.[273]
+
+As Esau accepted the presents of Jacob willingly on this first
+occasion, so he continued to accept them for a whole year; daily Jacob
+gave him presents as on the day of their meeting, for, he said, "'A
+gift doth blind the eyes of the wise,' and how much more doth it blind
+the wicked! Therefore will I give him presents upon presents, perhaps
+he will let me alone." Besides, he did not attach much value to the
+possessions he had acquired outside of the Holy Land. Such possessions
+are not a blessing, and he did not hesitate to part with them.
+
+Beside the presents which Jacob gave Esau, he also paid out a large sum
+of money to him for the Cave of Machpelah. Immediately upon his arrival
+in the Holy Land he sold all he had brought with him from Haran, and a
+pile of gold was the proceeds of the sale. He spoke to Esau, saying:
+"Like me thou hast a share in the Cave of Machpelah, wilt thou take
+this pile of gold for thy portion therein?" "What care I for the Cave?"
+returned Esau. "Gold is what I want," and for his share in Machpelah he
+took the gold realized from the sale of the possessions Jacob had
+accumulated outside of the Holy Land. But God "filled the vacuum
+without delay," and Jacob was as rich as before.[274]
+
+Wealth was not an object of desire to Jacob. He would have been well
+content, in his own behalf and in behalf of his family, to resign all
+earthly treasures in favor of Esau and his family. He said to Esau: "I
+foresee that in future days suffering will be inflicted by thy children
+upon mine. But I do not demur, thou mayest exercise thy dominion and
+wear thy crown until the time when the Messiah springs from my loins,
+and receives the rule from thee." These words spoken by Jacob will be
+realized in days to come, when all the nations will rise up against the
+kingdom of Edom, and take away one city after another from him, one
+realm after another, until they reach Bet-Gubrin, and then the Messiah
+will appear and assume his kingship. The angel of Edom will flee for
+refuge to Bozrah, but God will appear there, and slay him, for though
+Bozrah is one of the cities of refuge, yet will the Lord exercise the
+right of the avenger therein. He will seize the angel by his hair, and
+Elijah will slaughter him, letting the blood spatter the garments of
+God.[275] All this Jacob had in mind when he said to Esau, "Let my
+lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant, until I come unto my
+lord unto Seir." Jacob himself never went to Seir. What he meant was
+the Messianic time when Israel shall go to Seir, and take possession
+thereof.[276]
+
+Jacob tarried in Succoth a whole year, and he opened a house of
+learning there.[277] Then he journeyed on to Shechem, while Esau betook
+himself to Seir, saying to himself, "How long shall I be a burden to my
+brother?" for it was during Jacob's sojourn at Succoth that Esau
+received daily presents from Jacob.[278]
+
+And Jacob, after abiding these many years in a strange land, came to
+Shechem in peace, unimpaired in mind and body. He had forgotten none of
+the knowledge he had acquired before; the gifts he gave to Esau did not
+encroach upon his wealth; the injury inflicted by the angel that
+wrestled with him had been healed, and likewise his children were sound
+and healthy.[279]
+
+Jacob entered Shechem on a Friday, late in the afternoon, and his first
+concern was to lay out the boundaries of the city, that the laws of the
+Sabbath might not be transgressed. As soon as he was settled in the
+place, he sent presents to the notables. A man must be grateful to a
+city from which he derives benefits. No less did the common people
+enjoy his bounty. For them he opened a market where he sold all wares
+at low prices.[280]
+
+Also he lost no time in buying a parcel of ground, for it is the duty
+of every man of substance who comes to the Holy Land from outside to
+make himself the possessor of land there.[281] He gave a hundred lambs
+for his estate, a hundred yearling sheep, and a hundred pieces of
+money, and received in return a bill of sale, to which he attached his
+signature, using the letters Yod-He for it. And then he erected an
+altar to God upon his land, and he said, "Thou art the Lord of all
+celestial things, and I am the lord of all earthly things." But God
+said, "Not even the overseer of the synagogue arrogates privileges in
+the synagogue, and thou assumest lordship with a high hand? Forsooth,
+on the morrow thy daughter will go abroad, and she shall be
+humbled."[282]
+
+THE OUTRAGE AT SHECHEM
+
+While Jacob and his sons were sitting in the house of learning,
+occupied with the study of the Torah,[283] Dinah went abroad to see the
+dancing and singing women, whom Shechem had hired to dance and play in
+the streets in order to entice her forth.[284] Had she remained at
+home, nothing would have happened to her. But she was a woman, and all
+women like to show themselves in the street.[285] When Shechem caught
+sight of her, he seized her by main force, young though she was,[286]
+and violated her in beastly fashion.[287]
+
+This misfortune befell Jacob as a punishment for his excessive
+self-confidence. In his negotiations with Laban, he had used the
+expression, "My righteousness shall answer for me hereafter." Besides,
+on his return to Palestine, when he was preparing to meet his brother,
+he concealed his daughter Dinah in a chest, lest Esau desire to have
+her for wife, and he be obliged to give her to him. God spoke to him,
+saying: "Herein hast thou acted unkindly toward thy brother, and
+therefore Dinah will have to marry Job, one that is neither circumcised
+nor a proselyte. Thou didst refuse to give her to one that is
+circumcised, and one that is uncircumcised will take her. Thou didst
+refuse to give her to Esau in lawful wedlock, and now she will fall a
+victim to the ravisher's illicit passion."[288]
+
+When Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter, he sent twelve
+servants to fetch Dinah from Shechem's house, but Shechem went out to
+them with his men, and drove them from his house, and he would not
+suffer them to come unto Dinah, and he kissed and embraced her before
+their eyes. Jacob then sent two maidens of his servants' daughters to
+remain with Dinah in the house of Shechem. Shechem bade three of his
+friends go to his father Hamor, the son of Haddakum, the son of Pered,
+and say, "Get me this damsel to wife." Hamor tried at first to persuade
+his son not to take a Hebrew woman to wife, but when Shechem persisted
+in his request, he did according to the word of his son, and went forth
+to communicate with Jacob concerning the matter. In the meanwhile the
+sons of Jacob returned from the field, and, kindled with wrath, they
+spoke unto their father, saying, "Surely death is due to this man and
+his household, because the Lord God of the whole earth commanded Noah
+and his children that man shall never rob nor commit adultery. Now,
+behold, Shechem has ravaged and committed fornication with our sister,
+and not one of all the people of the city spake a word to him." And
+whilst they were speaking, Hamor came to speak to Jacob the words of
+his son concerning Dinah, and after he ceased to speak, Shechem himself
+came to Jacob and repeated the request made by his father. Simon and
+Levi answered Hamor and Shechem deceitfully, saying: "All you have
+spoken unto us we will do. And, behold, our sister is in your house,
+but keep away from her until we send to our father Isaac concerning
+this matter, for we can do nothing without his counsel. He knows the
+ways of our father Abraham, and whatever he saith unto us we will tell
+you, we will conceal nothing from you."
+
+Shechem and his father went home thereafter, satisfied with the result
+achieved, and when they had gone, the sons of Jacob asked him to seek
+counsel and pretext in order to kill all the inhabitants of the city,
+who had deserved this punishment on account of their wickedness. Then
+Simon said to them: "I have good counsel to give you. Bid them be
+circumcised. If they consent not, we shall take our daughter from them,
+and go away. And if they consent to do this, then, when they are in
+pain, we shall attack them and slay them." The next morning Shechem and
+his father came again to Jacob, to speak concerning Dinah, and the sons
+of Jacob spoke deceitfully to them, saying: "We told our father Isaac
+all your words, and your words pleased him, but he said, that thus did
+Abraham his father command him from God, that any man that is not of
+his descendants, who desireth to take one of his daughters to wife,
+shall cause every male belonging to him to be circumcised."
+
+Shechem and his father hastened to do the wishes of the sons of Jacob,
+and they persuaded also the men of the city to do likewise, for they
+were greatly esteemed by them, being the princes of the land.
+
+On the next day, Shechem and his father rose up early in the morning,
+and they assembled all the men of the city, and they called for the
+sons of Jacob, and they circumcised Shechem, his father, his five
+brothers, and all the males in the city, six hundred and forty-five men
+and two hundred and seventy-six lads. Haddakum, the grandfather of
+Shechem, and his six brothers would not be circumcised, and they were
+greatly incensed against the people of the city for submitting to the
+wishes of the sons of Jacob.
+
+In the evening of the second day, Shechem and his father sent to have
+eight little children whom their mothers had concealed brought to them
+to be circumcised. Haddakum and his six brothers sprang at the
+messengers, and sought to slay them, and sought to slay also Shechem,
+Hamor, and Dinah. They chided Shechem and his father for doing a thing
+that their fathers had never done, which would raise the ire of the
+inhabitants of the land of Canaan against them, as well as the ire of
+all the children of Ham, and that on account of a Hebrew woman.
+Haddakum and his brothers finished by saying: "Behold, to-morrow we
+will go and assemble our Canaanitish brethren, and we will come and
+smite you and all in whom you trust, that there shall not be a remnant
+left of you or them."
+
+When Hamor and his son Shechem and all the people of the city heard
+this, they were sore afraid, and they repented what they had done, and
+Shechem and his father answered Haddakum and his brothers: "Because we
+saw that the Hebrews would not accede to our wishes concerning their
+daughter, we did this thing, but when we shall have obtained our
+request from them, we will then do unto them that which is in your
+hearts and in ours, as soon as we shall become strong."
+
+Dinah, who heard their words, hastened and dispatched one of her
+maidens whom her father had sent to take care of her in Shechem's
+house, and informed Jacob and his sons of the conspiracy plotted
+against them. When the sons of Jacob heard this, they were filled with
+wrath, and Simon and Levi swore, and said, "As the Lord liveth, by
+to-morrow there shall not be a remnant left In the whole city."
+
+They began the extermination by killing eighteen of the twenty young
+men who had concealed themselves and were not circumcised, and two of
+them fled and escaped to some lime pits that were in the city. Then
+Simon and Levi slew all the city, not leaving a male over, and while
+they were looking for spoils outside of the city, three hundred women
+rose against them and threw stones and dust upon them, but Simon
+single-handed slew them all, and returned to the city, where he joined
+Levi. Then they took away from the people outside of the city their
+sheep, their oxen, their cattle, and also the women and the little
+children, and they led all these away, and took them to the city to
+their father Jacob. The number of women whom they did not slay, but
+only took captive, was eighty-five virgins, among them a young damsel
+of great beauty by the name of Bunah, whom Simon took to wife. The
+number of the males which they took captive and did not slay was
+forty-seven, and all these men and women were servants to the sons of
+Jacob, and to their children after them, until the day they left Egypt.
+
+A WAR FRUSTRATED
+
+When Simon and Levi had gone from the city, the two young men who had
+concealed themselves in the lime pits, and were not slain amongst the
+people of the city, rose up, and they found the city desolate, without
+a man, only weeping women, and they cried out, saying, "Behold, this is
+the evil which the sons of Jacob did who destroyed one of the Canaanite
+cities, and were not afraid of all the land of Canaan."
+
+They left the city and went to Tappuah, and told the inhabitants all
+that the sons of Jacob had done to the city of Shechem. Jashub, the
+king of Tappuah, sent to Shechem to see whether these young men told
+the truth, for he did not believe them, saying, "How could two men
+destroy a large city like Shechem?" The messengers of Jashub returned,
+and they reported, "The city is destroyed, not a man is left there,
+only weeping women, neither are there flocks and cattle there, for all
+that was in the city was taken away by the sons of Jacob."
+
+Jashub wondered thereat, for the like had not been heard from the days
+of Nimrod, and not even from the remotest times, that two men should be
+able to destroy so large a city, and he decided to go to war against
+the Hebrews, and avenge the cause of the people of Shechem. His
+counsellors said to him: "If two of them laid waste a whole city,
+surely if thou goest against them, they all will rise up against us,
+and destroy us. Therefore, send to the kings round about, that we all
+together fight against the sons of Jacob, and prevail against them."
+
+The seven kings of the Amorites, when they heard the evil that the sons
+of Jacob had done to the city of Shechem, assembled together, with all
+their armies, ten thousand men, with drawn swords, and they came to
+fight against the sons of Jacob. And Jacob was greatly afraid, and he
+said to Simon and Levi, "Why have you brought such evil upon me? I was
+at rest, and you provoked the inhabitants of the land against me by
+your acts."
+
+Then Judah spoke to his father: "Was it for naught that Simon and Levi
+killed the inhabitants of Shechem? Verily, it was because Shechem
+dishonored our sister, and transgressed the command of our God to Noah
+and his children, and not one of the inhabitants of the city interfered
+in the matter. Now, why art thou afraid, and why art thou displeased at
+my brethren? Surely, our God, who delivered the city of Shechem and its
+people into their hand, He will also deliver into our hands all the
+Canaanitish kings who are coming against us. Now cast away thy fears,
+and pray to God to assist us and deliver us."
+
+Judah then addressed his brethren, saying: "The Lord our God is with
+us! Fear naught, then! Stand ye forth, each man girt with his weapons
+of war, his bow and his sword, and we will go and fight against the
+uncircumcised. The Lord is our God, He will save us."
+
+Jacob, his eleven sons, and one hundred servants belonging to Isaac,
+who had come to their assistance, marched forward to meet the Amorites,
+a people exceedingly numerous, like unto the sand upon the sea-shore.
+The sons of Jacob sent unto their grandfather Isaac, at Hebron,
+requesting him to pray unto the Lord to protect them from the hand of
+the Canaanites, and he prayed as follows: "O Lord God, Thou didst
+promise my father, saying, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of
+heaven, and also me Thou didst promise that Thou wouldst establish Thy
+word to my father. Now, O Lord, God of the whole world, pervert, I pray
+Thee, the counsel of these kings, that they may not fight against my
+sons, and impress the hearts of their kings and their people with the
+terror of my sons, and bring down their pride that they turn away from
+my sons. Deliver my sons and their servants from them with Thy strong
+hand and outstretched arm, for power and might are in Thy hands to do
+all this."
+
+Jacob also prayed unto God, and said: "O Lord God, powerful and exalted
+God, who hast reigned from days of old, from then until now and
+forever! Thou art He who stirreth up wars and causeth them to cease. In
+Thy hand are power and might to exalt and to bring low. O may my prayer
+be acceptable unto Thee, that Thou mayest turn to me with Thy mercies,
+to impress the hearts of these kings and their people with the terror
+of my sons, and terrify them and their camps, and with Thy great
+kindness deliver all those that trust in Thee, for Thou art He who
+subdues the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet."
+
+God heard the prayers of Isaac and Jacob, and He filled the hearts of
+all the advisers of the Canaanite kings with great fear and terror, and
+when the kings, who were undecided whether to undertake a campaign
+against the sons of Jacob, consulted them, they said: "Are you silly,
+or is there no understanding in you, that you propose to fight with the
+Hebrews? Why do you take delight in your own destruction this day?
+Behold, two of them came to the city of Shechem without fear or terror,
+and they put all the inhabitants of the city to the sword, no man stood
+up against them, and how will you be able to fight with them all?"
+
+The royal counsellors then proceeded to enumerate all the mighty things
+God had done for Abraham, Jacob, and the sons of Jacob, such as had not
+been done from days of old and by any of the gods of the nations. When
+the kings heard all the words of their advisers, they were afraid of
+the sons of Jacob, and they would not fight against them. They turned
+back with their armies on that day, each to his own city. But the sons
+of Jacob kept their station that day till evening, and seeing that the
+kings did not advance to do battle with them in order to avenge the
+inhabitants of Shechem whom they had killed, they returned home.[289]
+
+The wrath of the Lord descended upon the inhabitants of Shechem to the
+uttermost on account of their wickedness. For they had sought to do
+unto Sarah and Rebekah as they did unto Dinah, but the Lord had
+prevented them. Also they had persecuted Abraham when he was a
+stranger, and they had vexed his flocks when they were big with young,
+and Eblaen, one born in his house, they had handled most shamefully.
+And thus they did to all strangers, taking away their wives by
+force.[290]
+
+THE WAR WITH THE NINEVITES
+
+The destruction of Shechem by Simon and Levi terrified the heathen all
+around. If two sons of Jacob had succeeded in ruining a great city like
+Shechem, they argued, what would Jacob and all his sons accomplish
+acting together? Jacob meanwhile left Shechem, hindered by none, and
+with all his possessions he set out, to betake himself to his father
+Isaac. But after an eight days' march he encountered a powerful army,
+which had been dispatched from Nineveh to levy tribute upon the whole
+world and subjugate it. On coming in the vicinity of Shechem, this army
+heard to what the city had been exposed at the hands of the sons of
+Jacob, and fury seized the men, and they resolved to make war upon
+Jacob.
+
+But Jacob said to his sons: "Fear not, God will be your helper, and He
+will fight for you against your enemies. Only you must put away from
+you the strange gods in your possession, and you must purify
+yourselves, and wash your garments clean."
+
+Girt with his sword, Jacob advanced against the enemy, and in the first
+onslaught he slew twelve thousand of the weak in the army. Then Judah
+spake to him, and said, "Father, thou art tired and exhausted, let me
+fight the enemy alone." And Jacob replied, saying, "Judah, my son, I
+know thy strength and thy bravery, that they are exceeding great, so
+that none in the world is like unto thee therein." His countenance like
+a lion's and inflamed with wrath, Judah attacked the army, and slew
+twelve myriads of tried and famous warriors. The battle raged hot in
+front and in the rear, and Levi his brother hastened to his aid, and
+together they won a victory over the Ninevites. Judah alone slew five
+thousand more soldiers, and Levi dealt blows right and left with such
+vigor that the men of the enemy's army fell like grain under the scythe
+of the reaper.
+
+Alarmed about their fate, the people of Nineveh said: "How long shall
+we fight with these devils? Let us return to our land, lest they
+exterminate us root and branch, without leaving a remnant." But their
+king desired to restrain them, and he said: "O ye heroes, ye men of
+might and valor, have you lost your senses that you ask to return to
+your land? Is this your bravery? After you have subdued many kingdoms
+and countries, ye are not able to hold out against twelve men? If the
+nations and the kings whom we have made tributary to ourselves hear of
+this, they will rise up against us as a man, and make a laughing-stock
+of us, and do with us according to their desire. Take courage, ye men
+of the great city of Nineveh, that your honor and your name be exalted,
+and you become not a mockery in the mouth of your enemies."
+
+These words of their king inspired the warriors to continue the
+campaign. They sent messengers to all the lands to ask for help, and,
+reinforced by their allies, the Ninevites assaulted Jacob a second
+time. He spoke to his sons, saying, "Take courage and be men, fight
+against your enemies." His twelve sons then took up their stand in
+twelve different places, leaving considerable intervals between one and
+another, and Jacob, a sword in his right hand and a bow in his left,
+advanced to the combat. It was a desperate encounter for him. He had to
+ward off the enemy to the right and the left. Nevertheless he inflicted
+a severe blow, and when a band of two thousand men beset him, he leapt
+up in the air and over them and vanished from their sight. Twenty-two
+myriads he slew on this day, and when evening came he planned to flee
+under cover of darkness. But suddenly ninety thousand men appeared, and
+he was compelled to continue the fight. He rushed at them with his
+sword, but it broke, and he had to defend himself by grinding huge
+rocks into lime powder, and this he threw at the enemy and blinded them
+so that they could see nothing. Luckily, darkness was about to fall,
+and he could permit himself to take rest for the night.
+
+In the morning, Judah said to Jacob, "Father, thou didst fight the
+whole of yesterday, and thou art weary and exhausted. Let me fight this
+day." When the warriors caught sight of Judah's lion face and his lion
+teeth, and heard his lion voice, they were greatly afraid. Judah hopped
+and jumped over the army like a flea, from one warrior to the next,
+raining blows down upon them incessantly, and by evening he had slain
+eighty thousand and ninety-six men, armed with swords and bows. But
+fatigue overcame him, and Zebulon took up his station at his brother's
+left hand, and mowed down eighty thousand of the enemy. Meantime Judah
+regained some of his strength, and, rising up in wrath and fury, and
+gnashing his teeth with a noise like unto thunder claps in midsummer,
+he put the army to flight. It ran a distance of eighteen miles, and
+Judah could enjoy a respite that night.
+
+But the army reappeared on the morrow, ready for battle again, to take
+revenge on Jacob and his children. They blew their trumpets, whereupon
+Jacob spake to his sons, "Go forth and fight with your enemies."
+Issachar and Gad said that this day they would take the combat upon
+themselves, and their father bade them do it while their brothers kept
+guard and held themselves in readiness to aid and relieve the two
+combatants when they showed signs of weariness and exhaustion.
+
+The leaders of the day slew forty-eight thousand warriors, and put to
+flight twelve myriads more, who concealed themselves in a cave.
+Issachar and Gad fetched trees from the woods, piled the trunks up in
+front of the opening of the cave, and set fire to them. When the fire
+blazed with a fierce flame, the warriors spoke, saying: "Why should we
+stay in this cave and perish with the smoke and the heat? Rather will
+we go forth and fight with our enemies, then we may have a chance of
+saving ourselves." They left the cave, going through openings at the
+side, and they attacked Issachar and Gad in front and behind. Dan and
+Naphtali saw the plight of their brothers and ran to their assistance.
+They laid about with their swords, hewing a way for themselves to
+Issachar and Gad, and, united with them, they, too, opposed the foe.
+
+It was the third day of the conflict, and the Ninevites were reinforced
+by an army as numerous as the sand on the sea-shore. All the sons of
+Jacob united to oppose it, and they routed the host. But when they
+pursued after the enemy, the fugitives faced about and resumed the
+battle, saying: "Why should we run away? Let us rather fight them,
+perhaps we may be victorious, now they are weary." A stubborn combat
+ensued, and when Jacob saw the vehement attack upon his children, he
+himself sprang into the thick of the battle and dealt blows right and
+left. Nevertheless the heathen were victorious, and succeeded in
+separating Judah from his brethren. As soon as Jacob was aware of the
+peril of his son, he whistled, and Judah responded, and his brethren
+hastened to his aid. Judah was fatigued and parched with thirst, and
+there was no water for him to drink, but he dug his finger into the
+ground with such force that water gushed out in the sight of the whole
+army. Then said one warrior to another, "I will flee before these
+devils, for God fights on their side," and he and all the army fled
+precipitately, pursued by the sons of Jacob. Soldiers without number
+they slew, and then they went back to their tents. On their return they
+noticed that Joseph was missing, and they feared he had been killed or
+taken captive. Naphtali ran after the retreating enemy, to make search
+for Joseph, and he found him still fighting against the Ninevite army.
+He joined Joseph, and killed countless soldiers, and of the fugitives
+many drowned, and the men that were besetting Joseph ran off and left
+him in safety.
+
+At the end of the war Jacob continued his journey, unhindered, to his
+father Isaac.[291]
+
+THE WAR WITH THE AMORITES
+
+At first the people that lived round about Shechem made no attempt to
+molest Jacob, who had returned thither after a while, together with his
+household, to take up his abode there and establish himself. But at the
+end of seven years the heathen began to harass him. The kings of the
+Amorites assembled together against the sons of Jacob to slay them in
+the Valley of Shechem. "Is it not enough," they said, "that they have
+slain all the men of Shechem? Should they be permitted now to take
+possession of their land, too?" and they advanced to render battle.
+
+Judah leapt into the midst of the ranks of the foot soldiers of the
+allied kings, and slew first of all Jashub, the king of Tappuah, who
+was clad in iron and brass from top to toe. The king was mounted, and
+from his horse he cast his spears downward with both hands, in front of
+him and in back, without ever missing his aim, for he was a mighty
+warrior, and he could throw javelins with one hand or the other.
+Nevertheless Judah feared neither him nor his prowess. He ran toward
+him, snatching a stone of sixty sela'im from the ground and hurling it
+at him. Jashub was at a distance of one hundred and seventy-seven ells
+and one-third of an ell, and, protected with iron armor and throwing
+spears, he moved forward upon Judah. But Judah struck him on his shield
+with the stone, and unhorsed him. When the king attempted to rise,
+Judah hastened to his side to slay him before he could get on his feet.
+But Jashub was nimble, he stood ready to attack Judah, shield to
+shield, and he drew his sword to cut off Judah's head. Quickly Judah
+raised his shield to catch the blow upon it, but it broke in pieces.
+What did Judah now? He wrested the shield of his opponent away from
+him, and swung his sword against Jashub's feet, cutting them off above
+the ankles. The king fell prostrate, his sword slipped from his grasp,
+and Judah hastened to him and severed his head from his body.
+
+While Judah was removing the armor of his slain adversary, nine of
+Jashub's followers appeared. Judah slung a stone against the head of
+the first of them that approached him, with such force that he dropped
+his shield, which Judah snatched from the ground and used to defend
+himself against his eight assailants. His brother Levi came and stood
+next to him, and shot off an arrow that killed Elon, king of Gaash, and
+then Judah killed the eight men. And his father Jacob came and killed
+Zerori king of Shiloh. None of the heathen could prevail against these
+sons of Jacob, they had not the courage to stand up before them, but
+took to flight, and the sons of Jacob pursued after them, and each slew
+a thousand men of the Amorites on that day, before the going down of
+the sun. And the other sons of Jacob set forth from the Hill of
+Shechem, where they had taken up their stand, and they also pursued
+after them as far as Hazor. Before this city they had another severe
+encounter with the enemy, more severe than that in the Valley of
+Shechem. Jacob let his arrows fly, and slew Pirathon king of Hazor, and
+then Pasusi king of Sartan, Laban king of Aram, and Shebir king of
+Mahanaim.
+
+Judah was the first to mount the walls of Hazor. As he approached the
+top, four warriors attacked him, but he slew them without stopping in
+his ascent, and before his brother Naphtali could bring him succor.
+Naphtali followed him, and the two stood upon the wall, Judah to the
+right and Naphtali to the left, and thence they dealt out death to the
+warriors. The other sons of Jacob followed their two brothers in turn,
+and made an end of exterminating the heathen host on that day. They
+subjugated Hazor, slew the warriors thereof, let no man escape with his
+life, and despoiled the city of all therein.
+
+On the day following they went to Sartan, and again a bloody battle
+took place. Sartan was situated upon high land, and the hill before the
+city was likewise very high, so that none could come near unto it, and
+also none could come near unto the citadel, because the wall thereof
+was high. Nevertheless they made themselves masters of the city. They
+scaled the walls of the citadel, Judah on the east side being the first
+to ascend, then Gad on the west side, Simon and Levi on the north, and
+Reuben and Dan on the south, and Naphtali and Issachar set fire to the
+hinges upon which the gates of the city were hung.
+
+In the same way the sons of Jacob subdued five other cities, Tappuah,
+Arbel, Shiloh, Mahanaim, and Gaash, making an end of all of them in
+five days. On the sixth day all the Amorites assembled, and they came
+to Jacob and his sons unarmed, bowed down before them, and sued for
+peace. And the sons of Jacob made peace with the heathen, who ceded
+Timna to them, and all the land of Harariah. In that day also Jacob
+concluded peace with them, and they made restitution to the sons of
+Jacob for all the cattle they had taken, two head for one, and they
+restored all the spoil they had carried off. And Jacob turned to go to
+Timna, and Judah went to Arbel, and thenceforth the Amorites troubled
+them no more.[292]
+
+ISAAC BLESSES LEVI AND JUDAH
+
+If a man voweth a vow, and he does not fulfil it in good time, he will
+stumble through three grave sins, idolatry, unchastity, and bloodshed.
+Jacob had been guilty of not accomplishing promptly the vow he had
+taken upon himself at Beth-el, and therefore punishment overtook
+him—his daughter was dishonored, his sons slew men, and they kept the
+idols found among the spoils of Shechem.[293] Therefore, when Jacob
+prostrated himself before God after the bloody outrage at Shechem, He
+bade him arise, and go to Beth-el and accomplish the vow he had vowed
+there.[294] Before Jacob set out for the holy place to do the bidding
+of God, he took the idols which were in the possession of his sons, and
+the teraphim which Rachel had stolen from her father, and he shivered
+them in pieces, and buried[295] the bits under an oak upon Mount
+Gerizim,[296] uprooting the tree with one hand, concealing the remains
+of the idols in the hollow left in the earth, and planting the oak
+again with one hand.[297]
+
+Among the destroyed idols was one in the form of a dove, and this the
+Samaritans dug up later and worshipped.
+
+On reaching Beth-el he erected an altar to the Lord, and on a pillar he
+set up the stone whereon he had rested his head during the night which
+he had passed there on his journey to Haran.[298] Then he bade his
+parents come to Beth-el and take part in his sacrifice. But Isaac sent
+him a message, saying, "O my son Jacob, that I might see thee before I
+die," whereupon Jacob hastened to his parents, taking Levi and Judah
+with him. When his grandchildren stepped before Isaac, the darkness
+that shrouded his eyes dropped away, and he said, "My son, are these
+thy children, for they resemble thee?" And the spirit of prophecy
+entered his mouth, and he grasped Levi with his right hand and Judah
+with his left in order to bless them, and he spoke these words to Levi:
+"May the Lord bring thee and thy seed nigh unto Him before all flesh,
+that ye serve in His sanctuary like the Angel of the Face and the Holy
+Angels. Princes, judges, and rulers shall they be unto all the seed of
+the children of Jacob. The word of God they will proclaim in
+righteousness, and all His judgments they will execute in justice, and
+they will make manifest His ways unto the children of Jacob, and unto
+Israel His paths." And unto Judah he spake, saying: "Be ye princes,
+thou and one of thy sons, over the sons of Jacob. In thee shall be the
+help of Jacob, and the salvation of Israel shall be found in thee. And
+when thou sittest upon the throne of the glory of thy justice, perfect
+peace shall reign over all the seed of the children of my beloved
+Abraham."
+
+On the morrow, Isaac told his son that he would not accompany him to
+Beth-el on account of his great age, but he bade him not delay longer
+to fulfil his vow, and gave him permission to take his mother Rebekah
+with him to the holy place. And Rebekah and her nurse Deborah went to
+Beth-el with Jacob.[299]
+
+JOY AND SORROW IN THE HOUSE OF JACOB
+
+Deborah, the nurse of Rebekah, and some of the servants of Isaac had
+been sent to Jacob by his mother, while he still abode with Laban, to
+summon him home at the end of his fourteen years' term of service. As
+Jacob did not at once obey his mother's behest, the two servants of
+Isaac returned to their master, but Deborah remained with Jacob then
+and always. Therefore, when Deborah died in Beth-el, Jacob mourned for
+her, and he buried her below Beth-el under the palm-tree,[300] the same
+under which the prophetess Deborah sat later, when the children of
+Israel came to her for judgment.[301]
+
+But a short time elapsed after the death of the nurse Deborah, and
+Rebekah died, too. Her passing away was not made the occasion for
+public mourning. The reason was that, as Abraham was dead, Isaac blind,
+and Jacob away from home, there remained Esau as the only mourner to
+appear in public and represent her family, and beholding that villain,
+it was feared, might tempt a looker-on to cry out, "Accursed be the
+breasts that gave thee suck." To avoid this, the burial of Rebekah took
+place at night.
+
+God appeared unto Jacob to comfort him in his grief,[302] and with Him
+appeared the heavenly family. It was a sign of grace, for all the while
+the sons of Jacob had been carrying idols with them the Lord had not
+revealed Himself to Jacob.[303] At this time God announced to Jacob the
+birth of Benjamin soon to occur, and the birth of Manasseh and Ephraim,
+who also were to be founders of tribes, and furthermore He told him
+that these three would count kings among their descendants, Saul and
+Ish-bosheth, of the seed of Benjamin, Jeroboam the Ephraimite, and Jehu
+of the tribe of Manasseh. In this vision, God confirmed the change of
+his name from Jacob to Israel, promised him by the angel with whom he
+had wrestled on entering the Holy Land, and finally God revealed to him
+that he would be the last of the three with whose names the Name of God
+would appear united, for God is called only the God of Abraham, the God
+of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and never the God of any one else.[304]
+
+In token of this revelation from God, Jacob set up a pillar of stone,
+and he poured out a drink offering thereon, as in a later day the
+priests were to offer libations in the Temple on the Feast of
+Tabernacles,[305] and the libation brought by Jacob at Beth-el was as
+much as all the waters in the Sea of Tiberias.[306]
+
+At the time when Deborah and Rebekah died, occurred also the death of
+Rachel, at the age of thirty-six,[307] but not before her prayer was
+heard, that she bear Jacob a second son, for she died in giving birth
+to Benjamin. Twelve years she had borne no child, then she fasted
+twelve days, and her petition was granted her. She brought forth the
+youngest son of Jacob, whom he called Benjamin, the son of days,
+because he was born in his father's old age,[308] and with him a twin
+sister was born.[309]
+
+Rachel was buried in the way to Ephrath, because Jacob, gifted with
+prophetic spirit, foresaw that the exiles would pass this place on
+their march to Babylon, and as they passed, Rachel would entreat God's
+mercy for the poor outcasts.[310]
+
+Jacob journeyed on to Jerusalem.[311]
+
+During Rachel's lifetime, her couch had always stood in the tent of
+Jacob. After her death, he ordered the couch of her handmaid Bilhah to
+be carried thither. Reuben was sorely vexed thereat, and he said, "Not
+enough that Rachel alive curtailed the rights of my mother, she must
+needs give her annoyance also after death!" He went and took the couch
+of his mother Leah and placed it in Jacob's tent instead of Bilhah's
+couch.[312] Reuben's brothers learned of his disrespectful act from
+Asher. He had found it out in one way or another, and had told it to
+his brethren, who ruptured their relations with him, for they would
+have nothing to do with an informer, and they did not become reconciled
+with Asher until Reuben himself confessed his transgression.[313] For
+it was not long before Reuben recognized that he had acted
+reprehensibly toward his father, and he fasted and put on sackcloth,
+and repented of his misdeed. He was the first among men to do penance,
+and therefore God said to him: "Since the beginning of the world it
+hath not happened that a man hath sinned and then repented thereof.
+Thou art the first to do penance, and as thou livest, a prophet of thy
+seed, Hosea, shall be the first to proclaim, 'O Israel, return.' "[314]
+
+ESAU'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST JACOB
+
+When Isaac felt his end approaching, he called his two sons to him, and
+charged them with his last wish and will, and gave them his blessing.
+He said: "I adjure you by the exalted Name, the praised, honored,
+glorious, immutable, and mighty One, who hath made heaven and earth and
+all things together, that ye fear Him, and serve Him, and each shall
+love his brother in mercy and justice, and none wish evil unto the
+other, now and henceforth unto all eternity, all the days of your life,
+that ye may enjoy good fortune in all your undertakings, and that ye
+perish not."
+
+Furthermore he commanded them to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah, by
+the side of his father Abraham, in the grave which he had dug for
+himself with his own hands. Then he divided his possessions between his
+two sons, giving Esau the larger portion, and Jacob the smaller. But
+Esau said, "I sold my birthright to Jacob, and I ceded it to him, and
+it belongs unto him." Isaac rejoiced greatly that Esau acknowledged the
+rights of Jacob of his own accord, and he closed his eyes in
+peace.[315]
+
+The funeral of Isaac was not disturbed by any unseemly act, for Esau
+was sure of his heritage in accordance with the last wishes expressed
+by his father. But when the time came to divide Isaac's possessions
+between the two brothers, Esau said to Jacob, "Divide the property of
+our father into two portions, but I as the elder claim the right of
+choosing the portion I desire." What did Jacob do? He knew well that
+"the eye of the wicked never beholds treasures enough to satisfy it,"
+so he divided their common heritage in the following way: all the
+material possessions of his father formed one portion, and the other
+consisted of Isaac's claim upon the Holy Land, together with the Cave
+of Machpelah, the tomb of Abraham and Isaac. Esau chose the money and
+the other things belonging to Isaac for his inheritance, and to Jacob
+were left the Cave and the title to the Holy Land. An agreement to this
+effect was drawn up in writing in due form, and on the strength of the
+document Jacob insisted upon Esau's leaving Palestine. Esau acquiesced,
+and he and his wives and his sons and daughters journeyed to Mount
+Seir, where they took up their abode.[316]
+
+Though Esau gave way before Jacob for the nonce, he returned to the
+land to make war upon his brother. Leah had just died, and Jacob and
+the sons borne by Leah were mourning for her, and the rest of his sons,
+borne unto him by his other wives, were trying to comfort them, when
+Esau came upon them with a powerful host of four thousand men, well
+equipped for war, clad in armor of iron and brass, all furnished with
+bucklers, bows, and swords. They surrounded the citadel wherein Jacob
+and his sons dwelt at that time with their servants and children and
+households, for they had all assembled to console Jacob for the death
+of Leah, and they sat there unconcerned, none entertained a suspicion
+that an assault upon them was meditated by any man. And the great army
+had already encircled their castle, and still none within suspected any
+harm, neither Jacob and his children nor the two hundred servants. Now
+when Jacob saw that Esau presumed to make war upon them, and sought to
+slay them in the citadel, and was shooting darts at them, he ascended
+the wall of the citadel and spake words of peace and friendship and
+brotherly love to Esau. He said: "Is this the consolation which thou
+hast come to bring me, to comfort me for my wife, who hath been taken
+by death? Is this in accordance with the oath thou didst swear twice
+unto thy father and thy mother before they died? Thou hast violated thy
+oath, and in the hour when thou didst swear unto thy father, thou wast
+judged." But Esau made reply: "Neither the children of men nor the
+beasts of the field swear an oath to keep it unto all eternity, but on
+every day they devise evil against one another, when it is directed
+against an enemy, or when they seek to slay an adversary. If the boar
+will change his skin and make his bristles as soft as wool, or if he
+can cause horns to sprout forth on his head like the horns of a stag or
+a ram, then shall I observe the tie of brotherhood with thee."
+
+Then spoke Judah to his father Jacob, saying: "How long wilt thou stand
+yet wasting words of peace and friendship upon him? And he attacks us
+unawares, like an enemy, with his mail-clad warriors, seeking to slay
+us." Hearing these words, Jacob grasped his bow and killed Adoram the
+Edomite, and a second time he bent his bow, and the arrow struck Esau
+upon the right thigh. The wound was mortal, and his sons lifted Esau up
+and put him upon his ass, and he came to Adora, and there he died.
+
+Judah made a sally to the south of the citadel, and with him were
+Naphtali and Gad, aided by fifty of Jacob's servants; to the east Levi
+and Dan went forth with fifty servants; Reuben, Issachar, and Zebulon
+with fifty servants, to the north; and Simon, Benjamin, and Enoch, the
+last the son of Reuben, with fifty servants, to the west. Judah was
+exceedingly brave in battle. Together with Naphtali and Gad he pressed
+forward into the ranks of the enemy, and captured one of their iron
+towers. On their bucklers they caught the sharp missiles hurled against
+them in such numbers that the light of the sun was darkened by reason
+of the rocks and darts and stones. Judah was the first to break the
+ranks of the enemy, of whom he killed six valiant men, and he was
+accompanied on the right by Naphtali and by Gad on the left. They also
+hewed down two soldiers each, while their troop of servants killed one
+man each. Nevertheless they did not succeed in forcing the army away
+from the south of the citadel, not even when all together, Judah and
+his brethren, made an united attack upon the enemy, each of them
+picking out a victim and slaying him. And they were still unsuccessful
+in a third combined attack, though this time each killed two men.
+
+When Judah saw now that the enemy remained in possession of the field,
+and it was impossible to dislodge them, he girded himself with
+strength, and an heroic spirit animated him. Judah, Naphtali, and Gad
+united, and together they pierced the ranks of the enemy, Judah slaying
+ten of them, and his brothers each eight. Seeing this, the servants
+took courage, and they joined their leaders and fought at their side.
+Judah laid about him to right and to left, always aided by Naphtali and
+Gad, and so they succeeded in forcing the enemy one ris further to the
+south, away from the citadel. But the hostile army recovered itself,
+and maintained a brave stand against all the sons of Jacob, who were
+faint from the hardships of the combat, and could not continue to
+fight. Thereupon Judah turned to God in prayer, and God hearkened unto
+his petition, and He helped them. He set loose a storm from one of His
+treasure chambers, and it blew into the faces of the enemy, and filled
+their eyes with darkness, and they could not see how to fight. But
+Judah and his brothers could see clearly, for the wind blew upon their
+backs. Now Judah and his two brothers wrought havoc among them, they
+hewed the enemy down as the reaper mows down the stalks of grain and
+heaps them up for sheaves.
+
+After they had routed the division of the army assigned to them on the
+south, they hastened to the aid of their brothers, who were defending
+the east, north, and west of the citadel with three companies. On each
+side the wind blew into the faces of the enemy, and so the sons of
+Jacob succeeded in annihilating their army. Four hundred were slain in
+battle, and six hundred fled, among the latter Esau's four sons, Reuel,
+Jeush, Lotan, and Korah. The oldest of his sons, Eliphaz, took no part
+in the war, because he was a disciple of Jacob, and therefore would not
+bear arms against him.
+
+The sons of Jacob pursued after the fleeing remnant of the army as far
+as Adora. There the sons of Esau abandoned the body of their father,
+and continued their flight to Mount Seir. But the sons of Jacob
+remained in Adora over night, and out of respect for their father they
+buried the remains of his brother Esau. In the morning they went on in
+pursuit of the enemy, and besieged them on Mount Seir. Now the sons of
+Esau and all the other fugitives came and fell down before them, bowed
+down, and entreated them without cease, until they concluded peace with
+them. But the sons of Jacob exacted tribute from them.[317]
+
+THE DESCENDANTS OF ESAU
+
+The worthiest among the sons of Esau was his first-born Eliphaz. He had
+been raised under the eyes of his grandfather Isaac, from whom he had
+learnt the pious way of life.[318] The Lord had even found him worthy
+of being endowed with the spirit of prophecy, for Eliphaz the son of
+Esau is none other than the prophet Eliphaz, the friend of Job. It was
+from the life of the Patriarchs that he drew the admonitions which he
+gave unto Job in his disputes with him. Eliphaz spake: "Thou didst ween
+thyself the equal of Abraham, and thou didst marvel, therefore, that
+God should deal with thee as with the generation of the confusion of
+tongues. But Abraham stood the test of ten temptations, and thou
+faintest when but one toucheth thee. When any that was not whole came
+to thee, thou wouldst console him. To the blind thou wouldst say, If
+thou didst build thyself a house, thou wouldst surely put windows in
+it, and if God hath denied thee light, it is but that He may be
+glorified through thee in the day when 'the eyes of the blind shall be
+opened.' To the deaf thou wouldst say, If thou didst fashion a water
+pitcher, thou wouldst surely not forget to make ears for it, and if God
+created thee without hearing, it is but that He may be glorified
+through thee in the day when 'the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.'
+In such wise thou didst endeavor to console the feeble and the maimed.
+But now it is come unto thee, and thou art troubled. Thou sayest, I am
+an upright man, why doth He chastise me? But who, I pray thee, ever
+perished, being innocent? Noah was saved from the flood, Abraham from
+the fiery furnace, Isaac from the slaughtering knife, Jacob from
+angels, Moses from the sword of Pharaoh, and Israel from the Egyptians
+that were drowned in the Sea. Thus shall all the wicked fare."
+
+Job answered Eliphaz, and said, "Look at thy father Esau!"
+
+But Eliphaz returned: "I have nothing to do with him, the son should
+not bear the iniquity of the father. Esau will be destroyed, because he
+executed no good deeds, and likewise his dukes will perish. But as for
+me, I am a prophet, and my message is not unto Esau, but unto thee, to
+make thee render account of thyself." But God rebuked Eliphaz, and
+said: "Thou didst speak harsh words unto My servant Job. Therefore
+shall Obadiah, one of thy descendants, utter a prophecy of denunciation
+against thy father's house, the Edomites."[319]
+
+The concubine of Eliphaz was Timna, a princess of royal blood, who had
+asked to be received into the faith of Abraham and his family, but they
+all, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had rejected her, and she said, "Rather
+will I be a maid servant unto the dregs of this nation, than mistress
+of another nation," and so she was willing to be concubine to Eliphaz.
+To punish the Patriarchs for the affront they had offered her, she was
+made the mother of Amalek, who inflicted great injury upon Israel.[320]
+
+Another one of Esau's descendants, Anah, had a most unusual experience.
+Once when he was pasturing his father's asses in the wilderness, he led
+them to one of the deserts on the shores of the Red Sea, opposite the
+wilderness of the nations, and while he was feeding the beasts, a very
+heavy storm came from the other side of the sea, and the asses could
+not move. Then about one hundred and twenty great and terrible animals
+came out from the wilderness at the other side of the sea, and they all
+came to the place where the asses were, and they placed themselves
+there. From the middle down, these animals were in the shape of a man,
+and from the middle up some had the likeness of bears, some of apes,
+and they all had tails behind them like the tail of the dukipat, from
+between their shoulders reaching down to the earth. The animals mounted
+the asses, and they rode away with them, and unto this day no eye hath
+seen them. One of them approached Anah, and smote him with its tail,
+and then ran off.
+
+When Anah saw all this, he was exceedingly afraid on account of his
+life, and he fled to the city, where he related all that had happened
+to him. Many sallied forth to seek the asses, but none could find them.
+Anah and his brothers went no more to the same place from that day
+forth, for they were greatly afraid on account of their lives.[321]
+
+This Anah was the offspring of an incestuous marriage; his mother was
+at the same time the mother of his father Zibeon. And as he was born of
+an unnatural union, so he tried to bring about unnatural unions among
+animals. He was the first to mix the breed of the horse and the ass and
+produce the mule. As a punishment, God crossed the snake and the
+lizard, and they brought forth the habarbar, whose bite is certain
+death, like the bite of the white she-mule.[322]
+
+The descendants of Esau had eight kings before there reigned any king
+over the descendants of Jacob. But a time came when the Jews had eight
+kings during whose reign the Edomites had none and were subject to the
+Jewish kings. This was the time that intervened between Saul, the first
+Israelitish king, who ruled over Edom, and Jehoshaphat, for Edom did
+not make itself independent of Jewish rule until the time of Joram, the
+son of Jehoshaphat. There was a difference between the kings of Esau's
+seed and the kings of Jacob's seed. The Jewish people always produced
+their kings from their own midst, while the Edomites had to go to alien
+peoples to secure theirs.[323] The first Edomite king was the Aramean
+Balaam,[324] called Bela in his capacity as ruler of Edom. His
+successor Job, called Jobab also, came from Bozrah, and for furnishing
+Edom with a king this city will be chastised in time to come. When God
+sits in judgment on Edom, Bozrah will be the first to suffer
+punishment.[325]
+
+The rule of Edom was of short duration, while the rule of Israel will
+be unto all times, for the standard of the Messiah shall wave forever
+and ever.[326]
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS, VOLUME I ***
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