By Nebo’s lonely mountain,On this side Jordan’s wave,In a vale in the land of MoabThere lies a lonely grave.And no man knows that sepulchre,And no man saw it e’er,For the angels of God upturned the sod,And laid the dead man there.That was the grandest funeralThat ever passed on earth;But no man heard the trampling,Or saw the train go forth—Noiselessly as the daylightComes back when night is done,And the crimson streak on Ocean’s cheekGrows into the great sun;Noiselessly as the spring-timeHer crown of verdure weaves,And all the trees on all the hillsOpen their thousand leaves;So without sound of music,Or voice of them that wept,Silently down from the mountain’s crownThe great procession swept.And had he not high honor—The hill-side for a pall,To lie in state, while angels waitWith stars for tapers tall;And the dark rock-pines, like tossing plumes.Over his bier to wave,And God’s own hand in that lonely landTo lay him in the grave?582
By Nebo’s lonely mountain,On this side Jordan’s wave,In a vale in the land of MoabThere lies a lonely grave.And no man knows that sepulchre,And no man saw it e’er,For the angels of God upturned the sod,And laid the dead man there.That was the grandest funeralThat ever passed on earth;But no man heard the trampling,Or saw the train go forth—Noiselessly as the daylightComes back when night is done,And the crimson streak on Ocean’s cheekGrows into the great sun;Noiselessly as the spring-timeHer crown of verdure weaves,And all the trees on all the hillsOpen their thousand leaves;So without sound of music,Or voice of them that wept,Silently down from the mountain’s crownThe great procession swept.And had he not high honor—The hill-side for a pall,To lie in state, while angels waitWith stars for tapers tall;And the dark rock-pines, like tossing plumes.Over his bier to wave,And God’s own hand in that lonely landTo lay him in the grave?582
By Nebo’s lonely mountain,On this side Jordan’s wave,In a vale in the land of MoabThere lies a lonely grave.And no man knows that sepulchre,And no man saw it e’er,For the angels of God upturned the sod,And laid the dead man there.
That was the grandest funeralThat ever passed on earth;But no man heard the trampling,Or saw the train go forth—Noiselessly as the daylightComes back when night is done,And the crimson streak on Ocean’s cheekGrows into the great sun;
Noiselessly as the spring-timeHer crown of verdure weaves,And all the trees on all the hillsOpen their thousand leaves;So without sound of music,Or voice of them that wept,Silently down from the mountain’s crownThe great procession swept.
And had he not high honor—The hill-side for a pall,To lie in state, while angels waitWith stars for tapers tall;And the dark rock-pines, like tossing plumes.Over his bier to wave,And God’s own hand in that lonely landTo lay him in the grave?582
Once when the Persian Empire was at the summit of its power, an attempt was made to discover the body of Moses. A countless host of Persian soldiers was sent to search Mount Nebo. When they had reached the top of the mountain, they saw the sepulchre of Moses distinctly at the bottom. They hastened to reach the valley, and then they clearly distinguished the tomb of Moses at the summit. Thus, whenever they were at the top, they saw it at the foot; and when they were at the foot, it appeared at the top; so they were forced to abandon the prosecution of their search.583
The incident of the contention of Michael with Satan for the body of Moses mentioned by S. Jude is contained in the apocryphal “Assumption of Moses,” now lost, but which has been quoted by Origen and other Fathers.
Hitherto Israel had required a lawgiver, and they had been given one in Moses; now they needed a general, and they were provided with one in Joshua.
After the death of Moses and his brother Aaron, the children of Israel remained seven years in the wilderness, till the fortyyears were accomplished. Then God conferred on Joshua the function of prophet, and ordered him to lead the chosen people out of the desert and to attack the three cities of the giants.
Joshua was of the tribe of Joseph. He was the son of Nun, who was the son of Ephraim, who was the son of Joseph; and his mother was Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron.584
Before Joshua led the people of the Lord to the conquest of the Holy Land, Joshua sent three deputations into Canaan; of these the first proclaimed, “Let any one who will escape death, leave the country.”
Then came the second deputation, and declared, “Let such people as will make an alliance with us, do so, and we will receive them.”
Then came the third deputation, and cried, “Let those who persist in desiring war prepare for it.”
The result of these deputations was that one nation deserted the country and settled in Africa, and that another nation made terms with Israel. But thirty-one princes made ready for war.585
Joshua marched with his army against Jericho, took the city, and slew all the men therein; they were giants, and it took a hundred men to cut off the head of each giant.
After the capture of Jericho, Joshua went against Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Bethel. And as the people went up, the men of Ai came forth, and routed them, and they fled.586
Then Joshua rent his clothes, and fell on his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord, until eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust on their heads.
And the Lord said to Joshua, “Get thee up. I am wroth with the people, for there is amongst them a sin which is not put away, and till that accursed thing is cast out, victory shall not attend their arms.”
Now Joshua had ordered all the plunder of Jericho to be burnt with fire; but although it was heaped up, the fire would not consume it. Then he knew that the pile could not be complete, for the flames danced up, but would consume nothing, as though they waited for the entirety of their prey.
So Joshua made inquisition; and it was found that Achan(Adjezan in Arabic) had concealed a portion of the booty, which he desired to appropriate to his own use.
Then the booty taken by Achan was added to the heap, and instantly the flames roared up, and devoured the whole of the spoil.587
And when Ai was taken, Joshua said: “Enter into this town; for God has taken it from the giants, and has given it to you to be your inheritance. But when you pass through the gates, prostrate yourselves, with your heads in the dust, and adore God, saying, Hittaton, hittaton, which is by interpretation, Pardon our sins.”
Some of those who entered Ai obeyed the voice of Joshua, and God gave them a possession in that city, and their posterity retain it to this day.
But there were some ungodly men who disobeyed the voice of Joshua, and when they passed through the gates, they did not prostrate themselves, but they raised their heads to heaven, and instead of saying “hittaton,” as commanded, they said “hintaton,” asking for corn.
Then the wrath of God was kindled against these men, and fire fell from heaven, and consumed all that had saidhintatonin place ofhittaton.588
Near Ai there were mountains, in which reigned two kings, Kuma and Djion (Sihon). These Amorites were wealthy. When Joshua attacked these kings, they asked to make a league with the people of Israel; and they were accepted, on condition that they believed in the religion of Moses.
Another of these mountain kingdoms was governed by a king called Barak (Adoni-bezek). He also sought by submission to escape ruin, and Joshua accepted him on the same terms as Kuma and Djion.
To the west were five cities, whose inhabitants were also Amorites. The kings of these cities made war on Joshua. Joshua routed them, and these five kings took refuge in a cave. Joshua ordered the cave to be closed with a stone, whilst he pursued the routed army. Then God sent hail from heaven, and each hailstone struck down and killed a man.589
On that day Joshua cried to the Lord, for the sun hastened to go down, and it was a Friday, and he feared that he should not have utterly discomfited the host before the Sabbath came in.Then the Lord lengthened the day one hour, so as to enable him to complete his victory.590
After the battle, it was announced to him that Barak and the other kings who had made submission to him had taken advantage of the rising of the kings of the five cities to renounce their allegiance, and to return to the worship of false gods. Therefore Joshua prayed, “O Lord! because they have become unfaithful, take from them their riches, and make them poor, that they may become bondsmen; and that their king may fall into misery!”
Joshua was sick and unable to march against them. He was aged a hundred and twenty-eight years. He was a hundred years old when Moses died, and he governed Israel twenty-eight years.591
For the benefit of coin-collectors, the following information is inserted. “On the coins struck by Abraham are figured, on the obverse, an old man and an ass; on the reverse, a boy and a girl. On the coins of Joshua are, on one side a bull, on the other a unicorn. On those of David, on one side a staff and wallet, on the other a tower. On those of Mordecai, on the obverse, sackcloth and ashes; and on the reverse a crown.”592
After Joshua, Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Othniel, the son of Kenaz,593Caleb’s brother, governed Israel. They collected the people, and marched against Barak (Adoni-bezek)594and his people who had apostatized, and attacked them, and slew great numbers of them.
They took the king and cut off his thumbs. This Barak had, during his reign, treated seventy kings in like fashion, so that they were unable to pick up any thing off the ground. And when Barak was feasting, these kings were brought before him. Then he cast bread among them, but they were unable to pick it up, having no thumbs, and they were obliged to stoop to the ground, and take it in their mouths like dogs; and this caused huge merriment to the king.595
If Joshua, the first of the Judges, has, to a great extent, escaped the hands of legend manufacturers, the same may be said of his successors, Phinehas, Othniel, Ehud, Deborah and Barak, Gibeon, Abimelech, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. Even Samson has not been surrounded by such a multitude of traditions as might have been expected.
The Mussulmans have little to say of him, and the Jewish legends are not numerous.
The Rabbi Samuel, son of Nahaman, said that Samson once took two mountains, one in each hand, and knocked them together, as a man will strike together two pebbles. The Rabbi Jehuda said that when the Spirit of the Lord rested on him he strode in one stride from Zorah to Eshtaol. The Rabbi Nahaman added that his hair stood up, and one hair tinkled against another, so that the sound could be heard, like that of bells, from Zorah to Eshtaol.596
Abulfaraj says that Phinehas, the son of Eleazer, the son of Aaron, after the death of Joshua, was commanded by an angel to put the manna, the rods, the tables of the covenant, and the five books of Moses in a brazen urn, seal it with lead, and conceal it in a cave, as the Israelites were too wicked to be entrusted with such a treasure.597
Gjalout (Goliath) was king of the Philistines. He was of the race of the ancient giants, the Adites and the Themudites, who were from fifty to a hundred cubits in height.
The children of Israel were grievously oppressed by him, and they besought God to send them a prophet who would reinstruct them in the law of Moses, and in the true religion. For thirty years they besought God, but no prophet was given to them. In the meanwhile, the Philistines oppressed themmore and more, and whenever the Israelites rose against them they defeated the Israelites with great slaughter.
There died a man of the tribe of Levi, Rayyan (Elkanah), son of Elkama, who was descended from Aaron the brother of Moses. The elders of Israel hearing that he had died, leaving his wife pregnant, went to her and surrounded her with the greatest care and comforts.
There was amongst them a wise man named Hil (Eli) who was high-priest; to him they confided the care of the widow. In time she bore a son, who was named Ischmawil (Samuel).
Eli brought up the child Samuel in the temple, to the age of seven years, and he taught him the Pentateuch and the religion of Moses.
Samuel regarded Eli as his father, because he had been brought up by him, and he loved and reverenced him greatly.
One night when he was asleep, Gabriel came into the room and made a noise, so that Samuel awoke.
He saw no one, so he called to Eli, “Master! didst thou summon me?”
Eli replied, “No, my son, I did not summon thee.”
Next night the same occurred; so also the third night.
Then Eli thought that God wished to give to Samuel the gift of prophecy; therefore he said, “My son, if thou art called again in the night, reply, Here am I; what wouldest Thou? I am in Thy hands.”
Samuel did so. Then Gabriel appeared to him and communicated to him the message of God.
Samuel told Eli that the Lord had given him the gift of prophecy, by the mouth of His messenger Gabriel.
Then Eli was rejoiced, and he announced the glad tidings to all Israel.
Eli had two sons whom he had instructed in the art of offering sacrifice according to the law of Moses, but he had taught them nothing else. Eli himself moreover neglected to sacrifice, and he allowed his sons to live after their lusts, unrestrained by his paternal and priestly rebuke.
Therefore God spake to Samuel that He would punish Eli and his sons; but Samuel feared to show it to the high priest.
Then said Eli to him, “Has God given thee a message to me?”
And Samuel answered, “God has said, Why hast thou neglectedto offer sacrifice, so that thy sons add thereto or detract therefrom? And why hast thou not constrained them? Because of this sin, I shall deliver thee into the hands of an enemy, who shall slay thy sons, and take the ark, and cause thee to perish also.”598
Then Gjalout came, and made war against the children of Israel, and there was a great battle, and Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were slain, and the ark was taken; and Eli fell backward from off his seat when he heard the news, and his neck brake, and he died.
In the ark, that now fell into the hands of the Philistines, were preserved the tables of the Law, which God had given to Moses, and a basin in which the angels washed and purified the hearts of the prophets, and the mitre and breastplate and potificial robes of Aaron.
The Israelites had been accustomed, in times of peril, to produce the ark, and it had delivered them from evil by virtue of the sacred relics it contained. As for the Shekinah which rested upon it, and from which the ark took its name of Tabut-Shekinah, the Mussulman authors assure us it had the form of a leopard, which, whenever the ark was carried against the enemies of God’s people, rose on its legs, and uttered so potent a roar, that the foes of Israel fell to the ground. These authors, however, derive this fable from Rabbinic writers.599
The king of the Philistines, having obtained possession of the ark, placed it in a draught-house, purposing thereby to express his hatred of the Jews, and his contempt for that which they regarded as most sacred.
But a terrible disease broke out among the Philistines, and the ark was sent from Gaza to another city. There the plague appeared immediately, and the Philistines were at length obliged to return the ark to the Israelites.
In the mean time, the Israelites, in consternation at the loss of their ark, gathered about Samuel, and besought him to consecrate a king for them, who might go forth to battle before them, and recover for them the ark.
Then Samuel said: “If I consecrate a king for you, will you not desert him, and refuse to obey him?”
But they all protested, “We will follow him wherever he leads, and we will obey all his commands.”600
Then Schareh, who was surnamed Thalout (Saul), on account of the greatness of his stature, was chosen by Samuel to be their king. He was poor, and by trade a water-carrier, and his ancestors had all been water-carriers.
Now the father of Saul had lost an ass, which had escaped into the desert. Saul went after it.
Then Samuel came to meet him, and said to him: “Thou shalt reign as king over the people of Israel.”
Saul replied: “O prophet of God! thou knowest that my tribe is the least among the tribes, and that I am the poorest among the members of my tribe.”
Samuel said: “Nevertheless, God has ordered that so it should be.”
Then he poured on his head the sacred oil which had been brought to Samuel out of heaven by Gabriel.
But some say that this oil belonged to Joseph the son of Jacob, and it was preserved by the prophets. When this oil was poured on Saul’s head and face, it made his skin brilliant and pure.
Now the prophets all came out of the tribe of Levi, and the tribe of Benjamin was despised greatly by the Israelites. And when they heard that their king was from that tribe, and was a water-carrier, they were angry, and exclaimed, “Why should he reign over us? We are as worthy to reign as he!”601
Samuel answered, “God gives power to whom He wills.”
The Israelites said, “Show us a sign.”
Samuel brought the sacred oil forth, and it boiled in the presence of Saul.602
But that did not suffice them. They then asked another sign; and Samuel said, “The ark shall return.”
And they lifted their eyes, and lo! the ark was coming to them attached to the tails of two cows, and angels guided the cows.603
Then the children of Israel doubted no longer, but accepted Saul as their king.
Then said Samuel to the people: “The God of your fathers has sent me unto you, to promise you victory over the Philistines, and deliverance from your bondage, if you will turn and leave your evil ways.”
“What shall we do?” asked one of the elders, “that we may obtain the favor of God?”
Samuel answered, “Ye must pray to God alone, and offer no sacrifices to idols, nor eat the flesh of swine, or blood; neither must you eat any thing which is not slaughtered in the name of the Most High. Ye must assist one another, honor your parents, entreat your wives with kindness, and support the widows, orphans, and poor. Ye shall believe in the prophets who have gone before me, especially in Abraham, for whom God turned a fiery pile into a pleasure garden; in Ishmael, whose neck God made as a flint stone, and for whom He opened a fountain in the stony desert; and in Moses, who with his staff opened twelve clay paths through the sea. Also ye shall believe in the prophets who shall follow after me, especially in Isa Ibn Mariam (Jesus, Son of Mary), the Spirit of God, and in Mohammed Ibn Abd-Allah.”
“And who is this Isa?” asked one of the elders of Israel.
“Isa,” pursued Samuel, “is the prophet foretold in the Tora as the Word of God. His mother Mariam (Mary) shall conceive him by the will of God, and by a breath of the angel Gabriel. In his mother’s womb will he praise the almighty power of God, and testify to the immaculate purity of his mother; afterwards will he heal the sick and crippled, will quicken the dead, and will create living birds out of clay.604His godless cotemporaries will deal cruelly with him, and will crucify him; but God will deceive their eyes and will let another die in his room, and he will be carried up into heaven like the prophet Idris (Enoch).”
“And Mohammed,” asked the same Israelite, “who is he? His name sounds strange in our ears, never have we heard that name before.”
“Mohammed,” answered Samuel, “does not belong to the race of Israel; he will descend from the seed of Ishmael, and he will be the last and greatest of the prophets, before whom Moses and Christ will bend at the Resurrection Day. His name, which signifies the Much Praised, is prophetic of the laud and honor he will receive from all creatures on earth, and all the angels in heaven. The miracles he will work are numberless, so that a man’s life is not long enough to relate themall. I shall be able to tell you only the events of a single night.
“One fearful night of tempest, in which neither cock will crow nor dog bark, Mohammed shall be aroused from sleep by Gabriel, who shall appear to him in the shape he has when he appears before God, with seven hundred wings streaming with light; between each a space such as a fleet-footed horse could scarce traverse in five hundred years. Gabriel will lead the prophet forth into the open air, where the wondrous horse Borak will be ready. That is the horse on which Abraham mounted when he made his pilgrimages from Syria to Mecca. This horse has two wings as an eagle, and feet like a dromedary, and a body like a costly gem, shining like the sun, and a head like the fairest maiden. On this wondrous beast, whose brow bears the inscription, ‘There is no God save God, and Mohammed is his prophet,’ he will mount and ride, first to Medina, then to Sinai, thence to Bethlehem, and finally to Jerusalem, to view the holy places, and at them to offer up his prayers. From Jerusalem he will ascend on a golden ladder, with rungs of rubies, emeralds, and jacinths, into the seventh heaven, where he will be instructed in all the mysteries of the creation, and the governance of the world. He will see the blessed in all their joy, in Paradise, and the sinners, in all their pain, in Hell. There will he see many pasturing wild cattle in unfruitful fields. These are they who in the time of life used the gifts of God without giving to those in need. Others will he see running about, and carrying in one hand fresh, and in the other putrid, meat, and as often as they attempt to taste the former, a fiery rod will smite them on the hand, till they devour the latter. This is the punishment of those who have violated marriage, and have preferred forbidden pleasures. Others have a swollen body, swelling daily more and more; these are the fraudulent and avaricious. Others have their tongues and lips fastened together with iron clamps; these are the slanderers and backbiters. Between Paradise and Hell sits Adam, laughing with joy when the gate of Heaven opens to receive one of his sons, and he hears the songs and shouts of the blessed; weeping with self-reproach when the gate of Hell uncloses to take in one of his descendants, and he hears the sobbing of the damned. On this night will Mohammed also see, besides Gabriel, the other angels, who have each seventy thousand heads, and in each head seventy thousand faces,and in each face seventy thousand mouths, and in each mouth seventy thousand tongues, wherewith they cease not day or night to praise God in seventy thousand diverse languages. He will also see the angel of atonement, who is half fire, half ice; also the angel who watches the treasure of fire with gloomy countenance and flashing eyes; also the angel of death, with a great writing-table in his hand, whereon are inscribed many names, and from which at every instant he wipes off several hundreds; finally, the angel who guards the waters, and weighs in great scales the water allotted to each spring and well, and brook and river; and the angel who bears up the throne of God on his shoulders, and has a horn in his mouth, wherewith he will blow the blast that is to wake the dead. Moreover, the prophet will be conducted through many seas of light near to the throne itself, which is so great that the whole world will be beside it as a link in a coat of mail dropped in the desert. What will be further revealed to him,” answered Samuel, “is unknown to me; this only I know, that, after having contemplated the Majesty of God a bowshot off, he will descend the ladder precipitately, and, mounting Borak, will return to Mecca. Now the whole of this journey, his sojourn in Medina, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and the seventh heaven, will occupy so little time, that a water-pitcher which he upset as he left the house in Mecca will not have run all its waters out by his return.”
The assembled Israelites listened to Samuel, and when he was silent they cried with one voice, “We believe in God and in all the past prophets, and in all those who are yet for to come. Pray for us that we may escape the tyrrany of Gjalout (Goliath).”
Thus Saul was chosen king of Israel, and Samuel was prophet to the people of God.605
Samuel ordered Thalout (Saul) to make war upon Gjalout (Goliath), and to assemble the fighting men of the tribes ofIsrael. Saul summoned all the men and they numbered eighty thousand. Samuel gave Saul a suit of mail, and said to him, “He who can wear this coat with ease will decide the war, and Goliath will perish by his hand.”
Saul started with his army; his way led through a desert, a day’s journey across; and it was very hot weather. On the other side of the desert was a broad river, between Jordan and Palestine, and the children of Israel had to pass this river to reach the army of Goliath. Saul thought that now he would prove his soldiers, for Samuel had bidden him take into battle only as many men as he could rely upon.
The men were faint with heat and thirst as they reached the river of Palestine, and Saul said, “He who drinks of this water shall not come with me, but he who drinks not thereof shall follow after me.”606For he would not have them slake their thirst till they reached Jordan.607
But, according to another version of the story, the men were fainting in the wilderness, and murmured against Saul. Then Samuel prayed, and God brought a water-spring out of the dry, stony ground, and made standing water in the desert, fresh as snow, sweet as honey, and white as milk.608
Samuel spake to the soldiers, and said, “Ye have sinned against your king and against God, by murmuring. Therefore refuse to drink of this water except in the hollow of your hand, and so expiate your fault.”609
Samuel’s words were disregarded. Only three hundred and thirteen men were found who had sufficient control over themselves not to drink except slightly out of the hollow of their hand; but these felt their thirst quenched, whereas those who had laid down and lapped were still parched with thirst.
Saul and his army came before that of Goliath; then said the majority of those who had lain down and lapped, “We have no strength to-day to stand against the Philistines.” So Saul dismissed them to their homes, to the number of seventy-six thousand men; he had still with him four thousand men. Next day, when they saw the array of the Philistines, and the gigantic stature of their king, and their harness flashing in the sun, the hearts of more of the warriors failed, and they wouldnot follow Saul into battle, but said, “We have no strength to-day to stand against the Philistines!”
So Saul dismissed three thousand six hundred men, and there remained to him only three hundred and thirteen, the same number as those who on the day of Bedr remained with the prophet Mohammed.
Then said Saul, “God is favorable to us!” and he advanced, and set his army in array against Goliath. And he prayed, saying, “Grant us, O Lord, perseverance.”610
However, God sent an order by Samuel saying, “Go not into battle this day, for the man who is to slay Goliath is not here; he is Daud (David), son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz; he is a little man, with grey eyes, and little hair, timid of heart, and slender of body. By this shalt thou know him: when thou placest the horn upon his head, the oil will overflow and boil.”
Then Samuel went to Jesse, and said to him, “Amongst thy sons there is one who will slay Goliath.”
Jesse said, “I have eleven sons, men stalwart and comely.”
Samuel placed the horn on their heads, but the oil was not to be seen.
Then God gave him a vision, and he said to him, “Look not at the beauty and strength of these men, but on the purity of their hearts and their fear of God.”
Samuel said to Jesse, “God says thou art a liar, and He says thou hast another son besides these.”
Jesse answered, “It is true; but he is diminutive in stature, and I am ashamed to bring him into the company of men; I make him tend sheep; he is somewhere with the flock to-day.”
Samuel went to the place, and it was a valley into which a torrent fell. He saw David drawing the sheep out of the torrent by twos. Samuel said, “Certainly this is the man I seek.” He placed the horn on his head, and the oil overflowed.
Now Goliath, seeing the small number of the children of Israel, despised them, and scorned to fight them. He sent a messenger to Saul, saying, “Thou hast come out to fight against me with this handful, and I disdain to attack thee with my large army. If thou wilt, come forth that we may fight each other, or send any one out of the army, whom thou wilt, to fight with me.”
None in Saul’s army would venture against the giant, and Saul was himself afraid. He produced the shirt of mail Samuel had given him, and he tried it upon each of his soldiers in turn; but it was too short for one, too long for another, too tight for a third, and too loose for a fourth.
Now the father of David had come with his eleven sons into the host; but he had left David, because he was young and small of stature, to keep the sheep: and he had bidden him, from time to time, bring him supplies of food. David came with the provisions. He was dressed in a woollen shirt, and he bore in his hand the staff, and a pouch attached to his waist.
As he passed over a pebbly strip of soil, a stone cried to him, “Pick me up, and take me with thee.” He stooped and picked up the stone, and placed it in his pouch. And when he had taken a few paces, another stone cried to him, “Pick me up, and take me with thee.” He did so. And a third stone cried in like manner, and was in like manner taken by David. The first stone was that wherewith Abraham had driven away Satan, when he sought to dissuade the patriarch from offering up his son; and the second stone was that on which the foot of Gabriel rested when he opened the fountain in the desert for Hagar and Ishmael; and the third stone was that wherewith Jacob strove against the angel whom his brother Esau had sent against him.611But, according to another account, the first was the stone which Moses cast against the enemies of God, the second was that cast by Aaron, the third was destined to cause the death of Goliath.612When David came into the army, Saul had finished trying on the suit of mail upon the soldiers, and he said, “It fits none of them.” Then he spied David, and he said, “Young man, let me place this shirt of mail on thee.” Then he cast it over him, and it fitted him exactly.
Saul said, “Wilt thou fight Goliath?”
David answered, “I will do so.”
Saul said, “With what horse and arms wilt thou go?”
David answered, “I will have no horse and no arms, save these stones of the brook.”
David was feeble in body, he had grey eyes, was short, yellow-complexioned, thin-faced, and had red hair.613
Saul had little hope that David would overcome the giantbut he thought his example might shame and stimulate others, therefore he let him go.
Now when Goliath came forth and defied the army of Israel, David went to meet him, wearing only his linen shirt, and belt, and pouch, and he had his shepherd’s staff in his hand.
Then cried Goliath, “Who art thou, that comest out to meet me?”
Then David replied, “I am come out to fight with thee.”
Goliath said, “Go back, petty fool, and play with children of thine own age. I despise thee; thou art unarmed.”
“And I despise thee, dog of a Philistine!” cried the stripling; “thou deservest to be dealt with as men deal with dogs,—pelting them with stones till they turn tail.”
Then Goliath was in a rage, and he lifted his spear against David; but David hasted and loosed his belt, and laid in it one of the stones, and slung it; and the wind caught the helmet of Goliath, and lifted it in the air above his head, and the stone struck him on the brow, and sank in, and crushed all his skull, and strewed his brains all over the horse he rode; then the giant fell out of his saddle, and died.
Then again David placed the second stone in his sling, and he cast it, and it smote the right wing of the army of the Philistines; then he cast the third stone, and it smote the left wing, and the host of the Philistines fled before him.614
Saul had promised his daughter to the man who should slay Goliath. When the Philistines had been routed, Saul told Samuel all that had taken place; and the prophet exhorted the king to fulfil his promise, and to give to David his daughter in marriage.
To this Saul agreed, and he gave David his ring, and made him manager of all his affairs, and he exalted him to be his son-in-law.
Several years passed, and Saul became envious of David, whose praise was in everybody’s mouth.
He sent David into the wars, in hopes of his there meeting his death; but it was all in vain. Then he spoke to his daughter Michal, that she should introduce him into her husband’schamber at night, that he might slay David with his own hand.
Michal told David her father’s resolution, with many tears; but David bade her be comforted. “For,” said he, “the God of my fathers, who preserved Abraham and Moses from the hands of the executioner, will deliver me from thy father. But do as he bade thee, open the door at night, and fear not for me.”
Then David went into his smithy and wrought a suit of chain mail. He was the inventor of chain-armor. And he had received from God the power of moulding iron, like wax, in his fingers, without fire and without hammer.
Now he fashioned for himself a whole suit of chain mail; it was so thin that it was like gossamer, and it fitted to his body like his skin, and it was impenetrable to the thrust of every weapon.
David put upon him his armor, and lay down in his bed. He slept, but was awakened at midnight by the knife of Saul stabbing at him as he lay. He sprang up, struck the weapon from the hands of his father-in-law, and thrust him forth out of the house.615
After this, Saul came to Michal and said, “He was not asleep, or I certainly would have slain him. Admit me again into his chamber at night.”
Michal went to David and told him all with many tears.
Then said David, “I must escape from my house, for my life is not in security here. But do thou fill a leather bottle with wine, and lay it in my bed.”
Michal did so; she took a large skin of wine and placed it in the bed, and drew the cover over it. But David fled away to Hebron.
And in the night came Saul, and he felt the clothes, and he thought it was David in the bed, so he stabbed at him with his knife, and the wine ran out in the bed. Then Saul smelt it, and he said, “How much wine the fellow drank for his supper!”616
But when he found that David had escaped him once more, he was wroth, and he gathered men together, and pursued afterhim; in his anger, moreover, he sought to kill Michal, but she fled away and concealed herself.
Saul pursued David in the mountains, but David knew all the caves and lurking-places, and Saul was unable to catch him. One night, David crept into the camp and thrust four arrows, inscribed with his name, into the ground, round the head of Saul. When Saul awoke, he saw these arrows, and he said, “David has been here; he might have slain me had he willed it.”
During the day, Saul came upon his enemy in a narrow valley; he was mounted, and he pursued David, who was on foot. David fled as fast as he could run, and managed to reach a cave a few moments before Saul could reach it. Then God sent a spider, which spun a web over the mouth of the cave; and Saul saw it and passed on, saying, “Certainly David cannot have entered in there, or the web would be torn.”617
One night, Saul and his soldiers lodged in a cavern. And David was there, but they knew it not. In the night David carried off the sword and banner and seal-ring of the king, and he went forth out of the cave, for it had two openings. In the morning, when Saul prepared to continue his search, he saw him on a mountain opposite the mouth of the cave, and David had girded the royal sword to his side, and brandished the flag, and held forth his finger that all might note that he had on it the king’s signet.618
Then Saul said, “His heart is better than mine;” and he was reconciled with David, and he bade him return with him and live at peace. And he did so.
Now when Saul had gone forth against David, the wise men of Israel had gathered themselves together, and had remonstrated with him. But Saul was wroth at this interference, and he slew them all, and there escaped none of them save one wise woman, whom his vizir spared. This vizir was a good man, and he took the woman into his own house, and she lived with his family.
Some time after that, Saul had a dream, and in his dream he was reproached for having slain the wise men. And whenhe awoke he was full of remorse, and he went to his vizir and said, “It repents me that I have put to death all the wise men of my realm; is there none remaining of whom I might ask counsel how I could expiate my crime?”
Then the vizir answered, “There remains but one, and that is a woman.”
Saul said, “Bring her hither before me.”
Now, when the wise woman was come before Saul, the king was troubled in mind, and he said, “Show me how I can make atonement for the great sin that I have committed.”
The woman answered, “Lead me to the tomb of a prophet; I will pray, and may be God will suffer him to speak.”
They went to the tomb of Samuel, and the woman prayed.
Then Samuel spake out of his sepulchre, and said, “Let his expiation be this: He shall go down, he and his sons, to the city of Giants, and they shall fall there.”
Saul had twelve sons. He called them to him and said to them all the words of Samuel. They then answered, “We are ready, let us go down.”
So they went to the city of Giants, and fought against it, and fell there, all in one day.619
David says of himself, “Behold, I was shapen in wickedness; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”620The Rabbis explain this passage by narrating the circumstances of the conception of David, which I shall give in Latin. The mother of David they say was named Nitzeneth. “Dixerunt Rabbini nostri beatæ memoriæ, quod Isai (Jesse) habebat ancillam, eamque sollicitabat ad turpia; quæ, cum esset pudica et fidelis uxori Isai, eidem retulit; quæ seipsam aptavit (loco ancillæ) et congressa est cum Isai, ex quo concubitu egressus est David. Et quia Isai intentio fuerat in ancillam, quamquam res aliter evenerat, idcirco dixit David,—super eum sit pax: Ecce in iniquitate formatus sum, et peccato calefecit me mater mea.”621
On this account, Jesse, having discovered the deception, lightly esteemed his son David, and sent him to keep sheep,and made him as a servant to his brethren. And to this David refers when he says, “The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner;”622for, from being the despised brother, put to menial work, he was exalted before his brethren to be king over Israel.
When David was born he would have died immediately, had not Adam, when he saw his posterity marshalled before him, taken compassion on David, and given him seventy years.623
However, David was without a soul for the first fourteen years of his life, and was so regarded by God, as he was uncircumcised;624but other Rabbinic writers say that he was born circumcised.
The Jewish authors relate, as do the Mussulman historians, that David had red hair. In Jalkut (1 Sam. xvi. 12) it is said, “Samuel sent, and made David come before him, and he had red hair;”625and again in Bereschith Rabba, “When Samuel saw that David had red hair, he feared and said, He will shed blood as did Esau. But the ever-blessed God said, This man will shed it with unimpassioned eyes—this did not Esau. Esau slew out of his own caprice, but this man will execute those sentenced to death by the Sanhedrim.”
David was very small, but when Samuel poured the oil upon his head and anointed him, he grew rapidly, and was soon as tall as was Saul. And this the commentators conclude from the fact of Saul having put his armor upon David, and it fitted him. Now Saul was a head and shoulders taller than any man in Israel; therefore David must have started to equal height since his anointing.626
David was gifted with the evil eye, and was able to give the leprosy by turning a malignant glance upon any man. “When it is written, ‘The Philistine cursed David by his gods,’627David looked at him with the evil eye. For whoever was looked upon by him with the evil eye became leprous, as Joab knew to his cost, for after David had cast the evil glance on him, it is said, ‘Let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or that is a leper.’628
“The same befell the Philistine when he cursed David. David then threw on him the malignant glance, and fixed iton his brow, that he might at once become leprous; and at the same moment the stone and the leprosy struck him.”629
But David was himself afflicted for six months with this loathsome malady, and it is in reference to this that he says, “Thou shalt purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” During this period, he was cast out and separated from the elders of the people, and the Divinity withdrew from him.630And this explains the discrepancy apparent in the account of the number of years he reigned. It is said that he reigned over Israel forty years,631but he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty and three in Jerusalem. In the Second Book of Samuel, however, it is said, he reigned in Hebron seven years and six months;632though the statement that he reigned only forty years in all, that is, thirty-three in Jerusalem, is repeated. Consequently these six months do not count, the reason being that David was at that time afflicted with the disorder, and cut off from society, and reputed as one dead.633
The Rabbis suppose that David sinned in cutting off the skirt of Saul’s robe;634and they say that he expiated this fault in his old age, by finding no warmth in his clothes, wherewith he wrapped himself.635For it is said, “King David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he got no heat.”636
To David is attributed by the Rabbi Solomon the power of calling down the rain, the hail, and the tempest, in vengeance upon his enemies. “Our Rabbis,” says he, “say that these things were formerly stored in heaven, but David came and made them to descend on the earth: for they are means of vengeance, and it is not fitting that they should be garnered in the Treasury of God.”637But the rain and hail fell at the Deluge, in Egypt, and on the Amorites; therefore the signification to be attributed to this opinion of the Rabbis probably is, that David was the first to be able to call them down by his prayer.
David had a lute which he hung up above his head in the bed, and the openings of the lute were turned towards thenorth, and when the cool night air whispered in the room towards dawn, it stirred the strings of the lute, which gave forth such sweet and resonant notes, that David was aroused from his sleep early, before daybreak, that he might occupy himself in the study of the Law. And it is to this that he refers when he cries in his Psalm, “Awake lute and harp: I myself will awake right early.”638
When Absalom was slain, David saw Scheol (Hell) opened, and his son tormented, for his rebellion, in the lowest depths. The sight was so distressing to the king, that he wrapped his mantle about his face and cried, “O my son Absalom! my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” Here it is to be noted that David called Absalom either by name or by his relationship seven times. Now in Hell there are seven mansions, and as each cry escaped the father’s heart, Absalom was released from one of these divisions of the Pit; and he thus effected his escape from Gehenna through the love of his father, which drew him up out of misery.639
David was very desirous to build a temple to the Lord, but God would not suffer him to do so, as he was a man of blood. This is the reason why he so desired to erect a temple. When he was young, and pastured his father’s sheep, he came one day upon a rhinoceros (unicorn) asleep, and he did not know that it was a rhinoceros, but thought it was a mountain, so he drove his flock up its back, and fed them on the grass which grew thereon. But presently the rhinoceros awoke, and stood up, and then David’s head touched the sky. He was filled with terror, and he vowed that if God would save his life and bring him safely to the ground again, he would build to the Lord a temple of the dimensions of the horn of the beast, an hundred cubits. The Talmudists are not agreed as to whether this was the height, or the breadth, of the horn; however, the vow was heard, and the Lord sent a lion against the rhinoceros; and when the unicorn saw the lion, he lay down, and David descended his back, along with his sheep, as fast as possible; but when he saw the lion, his spirit failed him again. However he took the lion by the beard, and smote, and slew him. This adventure the Psalmist recalls when he says, “Save me from the lion’s mouth; Thou hast heard me also from amongthe horns of the unicorn;”640and to his vow he alludes in Psalm cxxxii., “Lord, remember David, and all his trouble; how he sware unto the Lord, and vowed a vow unto the Almighty God of Jacob.”641
One day David was hunting in the wilderness. Then came Satan, in the form of a stag, and David shot an arrow at him, but could not kill him. This astonished him, for on one occasion, in strife with the Philistines, he had transfixed eight hundred men with one arrow.642Then he chased the deer, and it ran before him into the Philistine land. Now when Ishbi-benob, who was of the sons of the giant, knew this, he said, “David has slain my brother Goliath; now he is in my power!” and he came upon him and chained him, and cast him down, and laid a wine-press upon him, that he might crush him, and squeeze all the blood out of him. But God softened the earth beneath him, so that it yielded to his body, and he was uninjured; as he says in the Psalms, “Thou shalt make room enough under me for to go.”643And as David lay under the press, he saw a dove fly by, and he said, “O that I had wings as a dove, that I might flee away, and be at rest;”644and he alludes to his being among the pots, and noting the wings of the dove as silver, in another Psalm.645
Now Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, heard the plaining of the dove, which had seen the trouble of the king, and came into Jerusalem in grief thereat. Then Abishai went to the chamber of David to search for him, but he was not there. Then he knew that the king must be in danger, and the only means of reaching him with speed was to mount the royal mule, which was fleet as the wind; but this Abishai did not venture to do without advice, for he remembered the words of the Mischna, “Thou shalt not ride the king’s horse, nor mount his throne, nor grasp his sceptre.” But as the danger was pressing, Abishai went to the school, and consulted the doctors of the Law, who said, “In an emergency all things are lawful.” Then he mounted the mule of King David, and rode into the desert, and the earth flew under him, and he reached the house of Ishbi-benob. Now the mother of Ishbi-benob—her name was Orpha—sat without the door spinning. And when she saw Abishai galloping up, she brake her thread and flung the spindle at him, with intent to strike him dead. But the spindle fellshort of him. So Orpha cried to him, “Give me my spindle, boy.” Abishai stooped and picked it up, and cast it at her with all his force, and it struck her on the brow, and broke her skull, and she fell back and died.
Then, when Ishbi-benob saw what was done, he said, “These two men will be too much for me!” so he drew David from under the wine-press, and flung him high into the air, and set his lance in the ground, that David might fall upon it, and be transfixed. But Abishai cried the Sacred Name, and David was arrested in his fall, and hung between heaven and earth, and gradually was let down, not on the spear, but at a distance. Then Abishai and David slew Ishbi-benob.646
When David’s life was run out, the Angel of Death came to fetch his soul. But David spent all his time in reading the Law. The angel stood before him, and watched that his lips should cease moving, for he might not interrupt him in this sacred work. But David made no pause. Then the angel went into the garden which was behind the house, and shook violently one of the trees. David heard the noise, and turned his head, and saw that the branches of one of his trees were violently agitated, but no leaf stirred on the other trees; so he closed the book of the Law, and went into his garden, and set a ladder against the tree and ascended into it, that he might see what was agitating the leaves. Then the angel withdrew the ladder, but David knew it not; so he fell and broke his neck, and died. It was the Sabbath day. Then Solomon doubted what he should do, for the body of his father was exposed to the sun, and to the dogs; and he did not venture to remove it, lest he should profane the Sabbath; so he sent to the Rabbis, and said, “My father is dead, and exposed to the sun, and to be devoured by dogs; what shall I do?”
They answered, “Cast the body of a beast before the dogs, and place bread or a boy upon thy father, and bury him.”647
David had such a beautiful voice, that, when he sang the praises of God, the birds came from all quarters and surrounded him, listening to his strains. The mountains even and the hills were moved at his notes.648He could sing with a voice as loud as the most deafening peal of thunder, or warble as sweetly as the tuneful nightingale.
He divided his time, say the Mussulmans, into three parts. One day he occupied himself in the affairs of his kingdom, the second day he devoted to the service of God, and the third day he gave up to the society of his wives.
As he was going home from prayer, one day, he heard two of his servants discussing him and comparing him with Abraham.
“Was not Abraham saved from a fiery furnace?” asked one.
“Did not David slay the giant Goliath?” asked the other.
“But what has David done that will compare with the obedience of Abraham, who was ready to offer his only son to God?” asked the first.
When David reached home, he fell down before God and prayed: “Lord! Thou who didst give to Abraham a trial of his obedience in the pyre, grant that an opportunity may be afforded me of proving before all the people how great also is mine.”649
But others relate this differently. They say that David besought the Lord to endue him with the spirit of prophecy. Then God answered, “When I give great gifts, he who receives them must suffer great trials. I proved Abraham by the fire, and by the sacrifice of one son, and separation from others; Jacob by his children; Joseph by the well and the prison; Moses by Pharaoh; Job by the worms. I afflicted all these, but thee have I not afflicted.” But David said, “O Lord, prove me and try me also, that I may obtain the same degree of celebrity as they.”650
One day, as David sang psalms before God and the congregation, a beautiful bird appeared at the window, and it attracted his whole attention, so that he could scarcely sing. David concluded his recitation of the psalms earlier than usual, and went in pursuit of the bird, which led him from bush to bush, and from tree to tree, till it suddenly disappeared near a secluded lake. Now this bird was Eblis, and he came to tempt David into evil.
When the bird vanished, David saw in the water a beautiful woman, bathing, and when she stood up, her hair covered her whole person.
David hid behind the bushes, that he might not startle her, till she was dressed; then he stood forth, and asked her her name.
“My name,” said she, “is Bathsheba,651daughter of Joshua, and wife of Uriah, son of Hanan, who is with the army.”652
Then David departed, but his heart was inflamed with love, and he sent a message to Joab, the captain of his host, to set Uriah before the ark in every battle. Now those who went before the ark must conquer or fall. Three times Uriah came out of battle victorious, but the fourth time he was killed.
Then David took Uriah’s wife to his own house and made her his own wife. And she consented upon the condition that should she bear him a son, that son was to succeed him in the kingdom. Now David had, before he married her, ninety-nine wives. The day after his marriage, Michael and Gabriel appeared before him in human form, as he was in his court, and Gabriel said to him; “This fellow here possesses ninety and nine sheep, but I have only one, and that I love, and cherish in my bosom. This man claims my little ewe lamb, and will take it from me, and, if I will not give it him, he says that he will slay me; and take my lamb from me by force.”
Then David’s anger was kindled against Michael, and he said, “Thou who hast so many sheep, wherefore lustest thou after the poor man’s ewe lamb? Thou hast an evil heart and an insatiable spirit.”
Then Michael exclaimed, “Thou hast given judgment against thyself: what thou rebukest in this man, thou hast allowed thyself to do!”653
And David knew that God had sent His angels to rebuke him, and he fell upon his face to the ground. But, some say, he drew his sword and rushed upon Michael: then Gabriel held him back, and said, “Thou didst ask to be tried; now thou hast fallen under the temptation.”654
Then the angels vanished, and David fell to the ground, tore off his purple robe, cast aside his golden crown, and wept, for forty days and forty nights. And his tears flowed in suchabundance, that every now and then he plunged a cup into them and drank it off.
At the expiration of forty days Gabriel came to him, and said, “The Lord salutes thee!” But David felt this was an additional reproach, and he wept still more. It is said that during the ensuing forty days and nights David shed more tears than Adam and all his descendants had, and will, shed from the day of the Fall to the day of the Resurrection.
Then God sent Gabriel to him again, and Gabriel said, “The Lord salutes thee!” But David lifted his tearful face and said, “O Gabriel, what will Uriah say to me on the day of the general Resurrection?”
Gabriel answered, “The Lord will give him so great an inheritance in Paradise, that he will not have the heart to reproach thee.”
Then David knew that he was pardoned, and he rejoiced greatly. But he never forgot his sins. He wrote them on the palm of his hand, that he might have them always before him; therefore he says, “My shame is ever before mine eyes.”
Nevertheless David’s heart was lifted up with pride, when he considered that he was a king, a prophet, and a great general. And one day he said to Nathan, “I think I am perfect, I have every thing.”
“Not so,” answered Nathan, “thou exercisest no handicraft.”
Then David was ashamed, and he asked God to teach him a craft; and God made him skilful in fabricating coats of mail of rings twined together; his trade therefore was that of an armorer, and his disgrace was wiped away.
After his judgment between the two angels, David had no confidence in giving sentence in cases pleaded before him; therefore God sent him, by the hand of Gabriel, a reed of iron and a little bell, and the angel said to him, “God is pleased with thy humility, and He has sent thee this reed and this bell to assist thee in giving judgment. Place this reed in thy judgment-hall, and hang up the bell in the middle, and place the accuser on one side, and the accused on the other, and give sentence in favor of him who makes the bell to tinkle when he touches the reed.”
David was highly pleased with his gift, and he gave such righteous judgment, that men feared, throughout the land, to do wrong to one another.
One day, two men came before David, and one said, “I left a goodly pearl in the charge of this man, and when I asked for it again, he denied it me.”
But the other said, “I have returned it to him.”
Then David bade each lay his hand on the reed, but the bell gave the same indication for both. Then David thought, “They both speak the truth, and yet that cannot be; the gift of God must err.”
Then he bade the men try again, and the result was the same. However, he observed that the defendant, when he went up to the reed to lay his hand upon it, gave his walking staff to the plaintiff to hold, and this he did each time, so that David’s suspicion was awakened, and he took the staff, and examined it, and found that it was hollow, and the stolen pearl was concealed in the handle. Thus the bell had given right judgment, for when the accused touched the reed, he had returned the pearl into the hand of the accuser; but David by his doubt in the reed displeased Him who gave it, and the reed and the bell were taken from him.
After that, David often gave wrong judgment till Solomon, his son, was of age to advise him.
One day, when Solomon was aged thirteen, there came two men before the king. The first said, “I sold a house and cellar to this man, and on digging in the cellar he found a treasure hidden there by my forefathers. I sold him the house and cellar but not the treasure. Bid him restore to me what he has found.”
But the other said, “Not so. He sold me the house, the cellar, and all its contents.”
Then King David said, “Let the treasure be divided, and let half go to one, and half go to the other.”
But Solomon stood up and said to the plaintiff, “Hast thou not a son?” He said, “I have.”
Then said Solomon to the defendant, “Hast thou not a daughter?” He answered, “I have.”