Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

12. THE MARRIAGE OF ISAAC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

13. THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

XXV

MELCHIZEDEK

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

S. Athanasius gives a curious tradition of Melchizedek.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Afterwards he is said to have founded Jerusalem.347

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Melchizedek is said to have composed the cx. Psalm, Dixit Dominus.354

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

XXVI

OF ISHMAEL AND THE WELL ZEMZEM

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

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

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

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

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