Among the many benevolent deeds of Elijah, special mention ought to be
made of his rescue of those doomed by a heavenly decree to fall into
the clutches of the Angel of Death. He brought these rescues about by
warning the designated victims of their impending fate, and urging them
to do good deeds, which would prove protection against death.
There was once a pious and rich man with a beautiful and saintly
daughter. She had had the misfortune of losing three husbands in
succession, each on the day after the wedding. These sorrows determined
her never again to enter into the marriage state. A cousin of hers, the
nephew of her father, induced by the poverty of his parents, journeyed
from his distant home to apply for help to his rich uncle. Scarcely had
he laid eyes upon his lovely cousin when he fell victim to her charms.
In vain her father sought to dissuade his nephew from marrying his
daughter. But the fate of his predecessors did not affright him, and
the wedding took place. While he was standing under the wedding canopy,
Elijah came to him in the guise of an old man, and said: "My son, I
want to give thee a piece of advice. While thou are seated at the
wedding dinner, thou wilt be approached by a ragged, dirty beggar, with
hair like nails. As soon as thou catchest sight of him, hasten to seat
him beside thee, set food and drink before him, and be ready to grant
whatever he may ask of thee. Do as I say, and thou wilt be protected
against harm. Now I shall leave thee and go my way." At the wedding
feast, a stranger as described by Elijah appeared, and the bridegroom
did according to Elijah's counsel. After the wedding the stranger
revealed his identity, introducing himself as the messenger of the Lord
sent to take the young husband's life. The supplications of the
bridegroom failed to move him; he refused to grant a single day's
respite. All he yielded was permission to the young husband to bid
farewell to his newly-wed wife. When the bride saw that what she had
feared was coming to pass, she repaired to the Angel of Death and
argued with him: "The Torah distinctly exempts the newly-wed from all
duties for a whole year. If thou deprivest my husband of life, thou
wilt give the lie to the Torah." Thereupon God commanded the Angel of
Death to desist, and, when the relatives of the bride came to prepare
the grave of the groom, they found him well and unharmed. (96)
A similar thing befell the son of the great and extremely pious scholar
Rabbi Reuben. To him came the Angel of Death and announced that his
only son would have to die. The pious man was resigned: "We mortals can
do nothing to oppose a Divine decree," he said, "but I pray there, give
him thirty days' respite, that I may see him married." The Angel of
Death acquiesced. The Rabbi told no one of this encounter, waited until
the appointed time was drawing to a close, and, on the very last day,
the thirtieth, he arranged his son's wedding feast. On that day, the
bridegroom-to-be met Elijah, who told him of his approaching death. A
worthy son of his father, he said: "Who may oppose God? And am I better
than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? They, too, had to die." Elijah told him
furthermore, that the Angel of Death would appear to him in the guise
of a ragged, dirty beggar, and he advised him to receive him in the
kindliest possible manner, and in particular he was to insist upon his
taking food and drink from him. All happened as Elijah had predicted,
and his advice, too, proved efficacious, for the heart of the Angel of
Death, who finally revealed his identity with the beggar, was softened
by the entreaties of the father, combined with the tears of the young
wife, who resorted to the argument cited above, of the year of
exemption from duty granted to the newly-married. The Angel of Death,
disarmed by the amiable treatment accorded to him, himself went before
the throne of God and presented the young wife's petition. The end was
God added seventy years to the life of Rabbi Reuben's son. (97)