Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets

Targum of Palestine, i. p. 460.

493

Yaschar, p. 1280.

494

Tabari, p. 326.

495

Some say that Pharaoh entreated Moses to spare him for the sake of Asia (Bithia), and that at the mention of his name Moses was softened (Weil, p. 159)

496

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

497

Midrash, fol. 56. The Targums say that the enchanters turned the water of Goshen into blood, so that there was no water to the Israelites as to the Egyptians; i. p. 462.

498

Midrash, fol. 55.

499

Targum of Palestine, i. p. 463.

500

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

501

Targums, i. 464.

502

Targums, i. p. 467.

503

Ibid., i. p. 471.

504

Yaschar, p. 1283.

505

Tabari, i. p. 338.

506

Weil, p. 165.

507

Talmud, Sota, fol. 13.

508

Targum of Palestine, i. p. 1478.

509

Targums, i. p. 475.

510

Ibid., i. p. 485.

511

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

512

Exod. xiv. 13, 14.

513

Koran, Sura xxvi. v. 63.

514

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

515

Exod. xv. 21.

516

Tabari, p. 350.

517

Tabari, i. p. 355.

518

Both the Rabbis and the Mussulmans lay the blame, not on Aaron, but on another. The Rabbis say it was Micah who made the calf; the Mussulmans call him Samiri. (Weil, p. 170.)

519

Targum of Palestine, i. p. 552.

520

Tabari, i. p. 362.

521

Targum of Palestine, ii. p. 685.

522

Pirke R. Eliezer, c. 45.

523

Weil, pp. 172, 173.

524

Koran, Sura vii. v. 139.

525

Tabari, i. p. 364.

526

Ibid., i. c. lxxv.

527

Targum of Palestine, i. p. 561.

528

Jalkut Rubeni, fol. 117, col. 1.

529

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

530

Jalkut Rubeni, fol. 107, col. 3.

531

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

532

Parascha R. Bechai, fol. 116.

533

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

534

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

535

This is sanctioned by Scripture: “Thou feddest Thine own people with angels’ food, and didst send them from heaven bread prepared without their labor, able to content every man’s delight, and agreeing to every taste.” (Wisdom, xvi. 20.)

536

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

537

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

538

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

539

Jalkut Shimoni, fol. 73, col. 4.

540

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

541

Tabari, i. p. 393.

542

Koran, Sura ii. v. 54.

543

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

544

1 Cor. x. 4.

545

Tabari, i. p. 373.

546

See my “Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,” article on S. George. I have no doubt whatever that El Khoudr, identified by the Jews with Elias, is the original of the Wandering Jew. I did not know this when I wrote on the “Wandering Jew” in my “Curious Myths,” but I believe this to be the key to the whole story.

547

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

548

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

549

Targums, ii. pp. 380, 381.

550

Weil, p. 175.

551

Targums, ii. p. 382.

552

Weil, p. 176.

553

Targums, ii. p. 386.

554

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

555

Targums, ii. p. 391.

556

Targum of Palestine, ii. p. 390.

557

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

558

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

559

Eisenmenger, ii. p. 305.

560

Pirke R. Eliezer, c. 45.

561

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

562

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

563

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

564

Talmud, Tract. Sopherim, fol. 42, col. 2.

565

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

566

Jalkut Cadasch, fol. 16, col. 2.

567

Eisenmenger, i. p. 389.

568

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

569

Tabari, i. p. 398.

570

Gen. xxxi. 51.

571

Targums, ii. pp. 419-21.

572

Targums, ii. pp. 432-3.

573

Ibid., pp. 434-5.

574

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

575

Weil, p. 185.

576

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

577

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

578

Weil, pp. 188, 189.

579

Weil, p. 190.

580

Rabboth, fol. 302 b.

581

Weil, pp. 190, 191.

582

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

583

Talmud, Tract. Sota, fol. 14 a.

584

Tabari, i. p. 396.

585

Talmud of Jerusalem; Tract. Terumoth.

586

Josh. vii. 1-5.

587

Tabari, i. p. 402.

588

Koran, Sura ii. v. 55, 56.

589

Tabari, p. 404.

590

Tabari, p. 401.

591

Ibid., p. 404.

592

Berescheth Rabba.

593

The Mussulmans say Khasqîl or Ezechiel.

594

Judges i. 4.

595

Tabari, i. p. 404.

596

Eisenmenger, i. p. 395.

597

Hist. Dynast., p. 24.

598

Tabari, i. c. lxxxvii.

599

D’Herbelot, Bibl. Orient., s. v. Aschmouil.

600

Koran, Sura ii. v. 247, 248.

601

Koran, Sura ii. v. 248.

602

D’Herbelot, Bibl. Orientale, t. i. p. 263.

603

Tabari, i. p. 417.

604

This incident, from the apocryphal gospels of the childhood of Christ, shall be related in the Legendary Lives of New Testament Characters.

605

Weil, pp. 193-8.

606

Koran, Sura ii. v. 250.

607

Tabari, i. p. 418.

608

Perhaps the Passage in Psalm cvii. 35 may refer to this miracle, unrecorded in Holy Scripture.

609

Weil, pp. 200, 201.

610

Koran, Sura ii. v. 251.

611

Weil, p. 203.

612

Tabari, i. p. 421.

613

Ibid.

614

Tabari, i. p. 422; Weil, pp. 202-4; D’Herbelot, i. p. 362.

615

Weil, pp. 205-8.

616

Tabari, i. p. 423. The same story is told of the escape of S. Felix of Nola, in the Decian persecution.

617

Tabari, p. 429.

618

Weil, p. 207.

619

Tabari, i. p. 424.

620

Ps. li. 5.

621

Midrash, fol. 204, col. 1.

622

Ps. cxviii. 22.

623

See the story in the Legends of Adam.

624

Zohar, in Bartolocci, i. fol. 85, col. 2.

625

Jalkut, fol. 32, col. 2 (Parasch. 2, numb. 134).

626

Ibid. (Parasch. 2, numb. 127).

627

1 Sam. xvii. 43.

628

2 Sam. iii. 29.

629

Zohar, in Bartolocci, i. fol. 99, col. 1.

630

Talmud, Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 107.

631

1 Kings ii. 11.

632

2 Sam. v. 5.

633

Bartolocci, i. f. 100.

634

1 Sam. xxiv. 4.

635

Bartolocci, i. f. 122. col. 1.

636

1 Kings i. 1.

637

Bartolocci, i. f. 122. col. 2.

638

Ps. lvii. 9; Bartolocci, i. fol. 125, col. 2.

639

Talmud, Tract. Sota, fol. 10 b

640

Ps. xxii. 21.

641

Midrash Tillim, fol. 21, col. 2.

642

Eisenmenger, i. p. 409.

643

Ps. xviii. 36.

644

Ps. lv. 6.

645

Ps. lxviii. 13.

646

Talmud, Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 95, col 1.

647

Tract. Sabbath, fol. 30, col. 2.

648

Tabari, i. p. 426; Weil, p. 208.

649

Weil, p. 207.

650

Tabari, p. 428.

651

The Arabs call her Saga.

652

The story in the Talmud is almost the same, with this difference: Bathsheba was washing herself behind a beehive, then the beautiful bird perched on the hive, and David shot an arrow at it and broke the hive, and exposed Bathsheba to view. In the Rabbinic tale, David had asked for the gift of prophecy, and God told him he must be tried. This he agreed to, and the temptation to adultery was that sent him. (Talmud, Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 107, col. 2; Jalkut, fol. 22, col. 2).

653

Koran, Sura xxxviii.

654

Weil, pp. 212, 213.

655

Weil, pp. 213-224.

656

Greek text, and Latin translation in Fabricius; Pseudigr. Vet. Test. t. ii. pp. 905-7.

657

סגולות ורתואית; Amst. 1703.

658

Solomon was twelve years old when he succeeded David. (Abulfeda, p. 43; Bartolocci, iv. p. 371.)

659

Weil, pp. 225-231; Eisenmenger, p. 440, etc.

660

Weil, pp. 231-4.

661

The story of the building of the temple, with the assistance of Schamir, has been already related by me in my “Curious Myths of the Middle Ages.”

662

The Rabbinic story and the Mussulman are precisely the same, with the difference that Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, instead of the Jinns, lies in ambush and captures Sachr or Aschmedai (Asmodeus). (Eisenmenger, i. 351-8.) As I have given the Jewish version in my “Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,” I give the Arab story here.

663

Weil, pp. 234-7; Talmud, Tract. Gittin. fol. 68, cols. 1, 2.

664

Jalkut Schimoni, fol. 90, col. 4.

665

Tabari, i. p. 435.

666

Tabari, i. p. 436.

667

Koran, Sura xxvii.; Tabari, i. c. xxviii.; Weil, pp. 237-9.

668

The Jews also believed in a purgatory; see Bartolocci, i. 342.

669

Targum Scheni Esther, fol. 401 tells the same of the moorcock.

670

This is the letter according to Rabbinic authors: “Greeting to thee and to thine; from me, King Solomon. It is known to thee that the holy, ever-blessed God has made me lord and king over the wild beasts and birds of heaven, and over the devils, and spirits, and ghosts of the night, and that all kings, from the rising to the down-setting of the sun, come and greet me. If thou also wilt come and salute me, then I will show thee great honor above all the kings that lie prostrate before me. But if thou wilt not come, and wilt not salute me, then will I send kings, and soldiers, and horsemen against thee. And if thou sayest in thine heart, ‘Hath King Solomon kings, and soldiers, and horsemen?’ then know that the wild beasts are his kings, and soldiers, and horsemen. And if thou sayest, ‘What, then, are his horsemen?’ know that the birds of heaven are his horsemen. His army are ghosts, and devils, and spectres of the night; and they shall torment and slay you at night in your beds, and the wild beasts will rend you in the fields, and the birds will tear the flesh of you.” This letter, the Jews say, was sent to the Queen of Sheba by a moorcock. (Targum Scheni Esther, fol. 401, 440).

671

According to another account, “that she had ass’s legs” (Weil, p. 267). Tabari says, “hairy legs” (i. p. 441).

672

Weil, pp. 246-267; Tabari, i. cc. 94, 95.

673

Weil, pp. 267-9.

674

Tabari, i. c. xcvi. p. 448.

675

Weil, pp. 269-271; Tabari, pp. 450, 451.

676

Koran, Sura xxxviii.

677

Tabari, pp. 460, 461.

678

In the Jewish legend, Asmodeus. In “Curiosities of Olden times” I have pointed out the connection between the story of the disgrace of Solomon and that of Nebuchadnezzar, Jovinian, Robert of Sicily, etc.

679

Deut. xvii. 16, 17.

680

Emek Nammelek, fol. 14; Gittin, fol. 68, col. 2; Eisenmenger, i. pp. 358-60. The Anglo-Saxon story of Havelock the Dane bears a strong resemblance to this part of the story of Solomon.

681

Eisenmenger, i. pp. 358-60; Weil, pp. 271-4; Tabari, c. 96.

682

Weil, p. 274.

683

Eisenmenger, i. 361.

684

Tabari, p. 454.

685

Koran, Sura xxxiv.; Tabari, c. 97; Weil, p. 279.

686

Tabari, i. c. 84.

687

Das Buch der Sagen und Legenden jüdischer Yorzeit, p. 45; Stuttgardt, 1845.

688

Herbelot, Bibl. Orient., s. v. Zerib, iii. p. 607.

689

Gemara, Avoda Sara, c. i. fol. 65.

690

Anabasticon, iv. 2-12.

691

Anabasticon, v. 1-14.

692

Tract. Jebammoth, c. 4.

693

Exod. xxxiii. 20.

694

Isai. vi. 1.

695

Deut. iv. 7.

696

Isai. lv. 6.

697

Tabari, i. c. 83.

698

Bartolocci, i. p. 848.

699

Sura, ii.

700

Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, iii. p. 89.

701

Abulfaraj, p. 57.

702

Hist. Eccles. lib. ix. cap. ult.

703

Ibid., lib. xiv. c. 8.