When David was buried, Solomon put abundant treasures into his tomb.
Thirteen hundred years later the high priest Hyrcanus took a thousand
talents of the money secreted there to use it in preventing the siege
of Jerusalem by the Greek king Antiochus. King Herod also abstracted
great sums. But none of the marauders could penetrate to the
resting-place of the kings,—next to David his successors were
interred,—for it was sunk into the earth so skillfully that it could
not be found. (144)
Once on a time, a Moslem pasha visited the mausoleum, and as he was
looking through the window in it, a weapon of his ornamented with
diamonds and pearls dropped into the tomb. A Mohammedan was lowered
through the window to fetch the weapon. When he was drawn up again, he
was dead, and three other Mohammedans who tried to enter in the same
way met the fate of their comrade. At the instigation of the kadi, the
pasha informed the Rabbi of Jerusalem that the Jews would be held
responsible for the restoration of the weapon. The Rabbi ordered a
three days' fast, to be spent in prayer. Then lots were cast to
designate the messenger who was to be charged with the perilous errand.
The lot fell upon the beadle of the synagogue, a pious and upright man.
He secured the weapon, and returned it to the pasha, who manifested his
gratitude by kindly treatment of the Jews thereafter. The beadle later
told his adventures in the tomb to the Hakam Bashi. When he had
descended, there suddenly appeared before him an old man of dignified
appearance, and handed him what he was seeking. (145)
Another miraculous tale concerning the tomb of David runs as follows: A
poor but very pious Jewish washerwoman was once persuaded by the keeper
of the tomb to enter it. Hardly was she within, when the man nailed up
the entrance, and ran to the kadi to inform him that a Jewess had gone
in. Incensed, the kadi hastened to the spot, with the intention of
having the woman burnt for her presumptuousness. In her terror the poor
creature had begun to weep and implore God for help. Suddenly a flood
of light illumined the dark tomb, and a venerable old man took her by
the hand, and led her downward under the earth until she reached the
open. There he parted from her with the words: "Hasten homeward, and
let none know that thou wert away from thy house." The kadi had the
tomb and its surroundings thoroughly searched by his bailiffs, but not
a trace of the woman could be discovered, although the keeper again and
again swore by the Prophet that the woman had entered. Now the
messengers whom the kadi had sent to the house of the woman returned,
and reported they had found her washing busily, and greatly astonished
at their question, whether she had been at the tomb of David. The kadi
accordingly decided that for his false statements and his perjury, the
keeper must die the very death intended for the innocent woman, and so
he was burnt. The people of Jerusalem suspected a miracle, but the
woman did not divulge her secret until a few hours before her death.
She told her story, and then bequeathed her possessions to the
congregation, under the condition that a scholar recite Kaddish for her
on each anniversary of her death. (146)
V.
SOLOMON