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]
Then God said to Abraham, “Go to Mecca along with Ishmael, and build me
the temple there.”
At Mecca had been the “Visited-house,” to which Adam went in
pilgrimage, and round which he walked in procession every year. When
the Flood came, this house had been caught up into heaven.
When Abraham went in obedience to the command of God to visit Ishmael,
and to call him to build the temple, he found him on a mountain engaged
in making arrows. He said to him, “O my son, God has ordered me to
build a house along with thee.”
Ishmael replied, “I am ready to obey, O my father.”
Then they prepared to build. But Abraham knew nothing of architecture.
God sent a cloud of the size of the Kaaba, to show them, by its shadow
on the ground, what were to be the dimensions of the house, and to give
them shade in which to build.
But some say that the Serpent arrived and instructed Abraham in the
proportions of the house. After that, Abraham and Ishmael began to
dig the trenches which were to receive the foundations; and they gave
them the depth of a man’s stature. Then they raised them to the level
of the soil; after that, they cut stones out of the neighboring rocks
for the walls of the edifice. Abraham built, and Ishmael handed the
stones. Now, when the wall got above his reach, Abraham placed a stone
on the ground, and stood upon that to build, and he left thereon the
impression of his foot. The stone remains to this day, and is called
Makam Ibrahîm.
And when the temple was built, God sent Gabriel to instruct Abraham
in all the rights of pilgrimage, and how to visit Mina and Mount
Arafat, and how to go processionally round the Kaaba, and to cast the
stones, and to wear the pilgrim’s dress, and to make sacrifice, and to
shave the head, to visit the holy places, and all that concerns the
pilgrimage.
That same year Abraham made the pilgrimage, and he confided the care of
the temple to Ishmael, his son, and he said to him, “This land belongs
to thee and to thy children till the Judgment Day.”
Then Abraham, turning him about, went at God’s command to the top of
a high mountain, and cried, “O men, God has built you a house, and He
calls you to visit it.”
And all men and women, and the children yet unborn, answered from every
quarter of the world, “We will visit it.”
Then Abraham returned into Syria.[356]
Now the well of Zemzem was formed when Hagar and Ishmael were in the
desert. The angel Gabriel trod in the ground and the water bubbled up.
At first it was sweet as honey, and as nourishing as milk. This well is
one of the wonders of Mecca. We shall relate more of it presently.
And the stone that was white and shining, but now is black, that stone
was an angel who wept over the sins of men till he has grown dark; that
also is one of the wonders of Mecca.
Whilst Ishmael was engaged one day in building the Kaaba, there came to
him Alexander the Two-horned, and asked him what he was doing.
Then Abraham answered, “We build a temple to the only God in whom we
believe.” And Alexander knew that he was a prophet of God; and he went
on foot seven times round the temple.
About this Alexander authorities differ. Some say that he was a Greek,
and that he was lord of the whole earth as Nimrod was before him, and
as Soloman was after him.
Alexander was lord of light and darkness; when he went forth with his
hosts, he had light before him, and behind him was darkness: thus he
could overtake his enemies, but could not be overtaken by them. He had
also two banners, one white and the other black, and when he unfurled
the white one, it was instantly broad day; and when he unfurled the
black one, it was instantly midnight. Thus he could have day in the
darkest night, and night in the brighest day.
He was also unconquerable; for he could, at will, make his army
invisible, and fall upon his enemies and destroy them, without their
being able to see who were opposed to them. He went through the whole
world in quest of the Fountain of Immortality, of which, as he read in
his sacred books, a descendant of Shem was pre-ordained to drink, and
become immortal.
But his vizir Al Hidhr[357] lighted on the fountain before him and
drank, not knowing what were the virtues of this spring; and when
Alexander came afterwards, the water had sunk away, for by God’s
command only one man was destined to drink thereof.
Alexander was called the Two-horned, according to some, because he went
through the world from one end to the other; according to others,
because he wore two long locks of hair which stood up like horns;
according to others, because he had two gold horns on his crown which
symbolized the kingdoms of Grecia and Persia over which he reigned. But
according to others, he once dreamed that he had got so near to the
son, that he caught it by its two ends, and therefore he was given his
name.
Learned men are also equally disagreed as to the time in which he
lived, and as to the place of his birth and residence.
Most think that there were two Alexanders. One was descended from Shem,
and went with El Khoudr to the end of the world after the Fountain of
Immortality, and who was ordered by God to build an indestructible wall
against the incursions of the children of Gog and Magog. The other
Alexander was the son of Philip of Macedon, and was descended from
Japheth, and was the pupil of Aristotle at Athens.[358]
And now let us return to the fountain or well of Zemzem, and relate
what befel that.
Nabajoth, the eldest son of Ishmael, succeeded his father in the
custody of the Kaaba, of the tombs of Adam and Eve, of the stone and
the well. But having left only very young children to succeed him,
Madad-ben-Amron, their maternal grandfather, took charge of their
education, and at the same time became the protector of the Kaaba and
of the well of Zemzem.
The children of Nabajoth, when they grew old, would not contest with
their foster-father the possession of the Holy places, therefore it
remained to him and his sons till the time when the Giorhamides took
them by violence.
Then the posterity of Ishmael having attacked them, defeated them, and
recovered the city and temple of Mecca. But the stone, and the two
gazelles of gold which a king of Arabia had given to the Kaaba, had
been lost, for they had been thrown into the well of Zemzem, which had
been filled up.
The well remained choked and unregarded till the times of
Abd-el-Motalleb, grandfather of Mohammed, who one day heard a voice bid
him dig the well of Zemzem.
Abd-el-Motalleb asked the voice what Zemzem was.
Then the voice replied: “It is the well that sprang up to nourish
Ishmael in the desert, whereof he and his children drank.”
Abd-el-Motalleb, not knowing whereabouts to dig, asked further, and
the voice answered, “The well of Zemzem is near two idols of the
Koraïschites named Assaf and Nailah; dig on the spot where you shall
see a magpie pecking in the ground and turning up a nest of ants.”
Abd-el-Motalleb set about obeying the voice, in spite of the opposition
of the Koraïschites, who objected to the overthrow of their idols.
However, he dug, along with his ten sons, and he vowed that if God
would show him the water, he would sacrifice one of his sons. And when
he came to water, he found the gazelles of gold and the Black Stone.
Then he summoned his children before him and told them his vow. And he
drew lots which of them should die, and the lot fell on Abd-Allah, the
father of the prophet.
Then said Abd-el-Motalleb, “I am in a great strait; how shall I perform
my vow?” For he loved Abd-Allah best of his ten sons. Now the mother
of Abd-Allah belonged to the family of Benu-Zora, which is one of the
chief in Mecca.
The Benu-Zora family assembled and said, “We will not suffer you to
slay your son.” But he said, “I must perform my vow.” Then he consulted
two Jewish astrologers, who said, “Go, and put on one side your child,
and on the other your camel, and draw the lot; and if the lot fall on
Abd-Allah, add a second camel to the first, and draw the lot again, and
continue adding camels till the lot falls on them; then you will know
how many camels will be accepted by God as an equivalent for your son.”
He did so, and he put one camel, then two, then three, up to fifty.
The lot fell on Abd-Allah up to the ninety-ninth camel; but when
Abd-el-Motalleb had added the hundreth, then the lot fell on those
animals, and he knew that they were accepted in place of his son, and
he sacrificed them to the Lord; and this custom has continued among
the Arabs, to redeem a man who is to be sacrificed by one hundred
camels.[359]
Now when the Koraïschites saw what Abd-el-Motalleb had drawn from
the well, they demanded a share of the treasure he had found. But he
refused it, saying that all belonged to the temple that Abraham and
Ishmael had built.
To decide this quarrel, they agreed to consult a dervish who dwelt on
the confines of Syria, and passed for a prophet. It fell out that, on
the way, Abd-el-Motalleb, exhausted with thirst, was obliged to ask
water of the Koraïschites, but they fearing that they would not have
enough for themselves, were obliged to refuse.
Then, from the ground pressed by the foot of the camel of
Abd-el-Motalleb, a fountain gushed forth, which quenched the thirst
of himself and of those who had refused to give him water, and they,
seeing the miracle, recognized him as a prophet sent from God, and they
relinquished their pretensions to the well of Zemzem.
And when the well was cleared out, Abd-el-Motalleb gave to the temple
of the Kaaba the two gazelles of gold, and all the silver, and the
arms and precious things he found in the well. For long, Mecca was
supplied with water from the well of Zemzem alone, till the concourse
of pilgrims became so great, that the Khalifs were obliged to construct
an aqueduct to bring abundance of water into the city.
Mohammed, to honor the town of Mecca, where he was born, gave great
praise to the water of the well. It is believed among the Arabs that
a draught of that water gives health, and that to drink much thereof
washes away sin. It is related of a certain Mussulman teacher, who knew
a great many traditions, that, having been interrogated on his memory,
he replied, “Since I have drunk long draughts of the water of Zemzem, I
have forgotten nothing that I learnt.”
To conclude what we have to say of Ishmael.
He had a daughter named Basemath, whom he married to Esau, and many
sons; two, Nabajoth and Kedar, were his sons who dwelt in Mecca. He
was a hundred and thirty years old when he died, and he was buried at
Mecca, after having appointed Isaac his executor.
XXVII.
ESAU AND JACOB.
There are few Oriental traditions, whether Rabbinic or Mussulman,
concerning Isaac’s life after he was married and his father died.
Those touching his birth, early life, and marriage, have been given in
the article on Abraham.
We proceed therefore, to his history as connected with Esau and Jacob.
Isaac, says Tabari, lived a hundred years after Ishmael. God granted
him the gift of prophecy, and sent him to the inhabitants of Syria,
in the country of Canaan, for he could not change his place of abode
on account of his blindness; for Abimelech had wished him to be dim
of sight, because Abraham had deceived him by saying, “Sarah is my
sister;” and, say the Rabbis, Isaac’s eyes were made dim by the tears
of the angels falling into them as he was stretched upon the altar by
his father; or because he had then looked upon the Throne of God, and
had been dazzled thereby.
But others say he went blind through grief and tears at his son Esau
having taken four Canaanitish women to wife.
Isaac had two sons, twins, by Rebekah his wife--Esau and Jacob.
The Cabbalists say that the soul of Esau, whom the Arabs call Aïs,
passed into the body of Jesus Christ by metempsychosis, and that Jesus
and Esau are one; and this they attempt to prove by showing that the
Hebrew letters composing the name of Jesus are the same as those of
which Esau is compounded.[360]
The following curious story is told of the brothers by the Rabbi
Eliezer:--“It is said that when Jacob and Esau were in their mother’s
womb, Jacob said to Esau, ‘My brother, there are two worlds before
us, this world and the world to come. In this world, men eat, and
drink, and traffic, and marry, and bring up sons and daughters; but
all this does not take place in the world to come. If you like, take
this world, and I will take the other.’ And Esau denied that there was
a resurrection of the dead, and said, ‘_Behold I am at the point to
die; and what profit shall this birthright do to me?_’ And he gave over
to Jacob in that hour his right to the other world.”[361] Therefore
Esau and his descendants have no part or lot in Paradise, and none are
admitted there.[362]
It is also said that the religious predilections of the children were
developed before they were born. On the words of Genesis, “_The
children struggled together within her_,”[363] a Rabbinic commentator
says that when Rebekah passed before a synagogue, then Jacob made great
efforts to escape into the world, that he might attend the synagogue,
and this is the meaning of the words of the prophet Jeremiah, when God
says of Jacob, “_Before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified
thee_:”[364] But whenever she went before an idol temple, Esau became
excited, and desired to come forth.[365]
When Esau was born, he had on his heel the likeness of a serpent, and
his name indicates that he was closely connected with Satan (Sammael);
for, says the Rabbi Isaiah, if you write the name Sammael in Hebrew
characters, you will find it to be identical with that of Esau; for the
four letters of Esau turned one way make Sammael, and turned another
way make Edom.[366] Esau had also a serpent in his inside coiled in his
bowels.[367]
Esau was called Edom, or Red, because, say some, he sucked his mother’s
blood before he was born; or, say others, because he was to shed
blood; or again, because he was born under the ruddy planet Mars; or
again, because he liked to eat his meat underdone and red;[368] but
the Targumim say that Esau had red hair over his body like a garment;
therefore he was called Esau.[369]
The lads grew; and Esau was a man of idleness to catch birds and
beasts, a man going forth into the field to kill, as Nimrod had
killed, and Anak, his son. But Jacob was a man peaceful in his works,
a minister of the school of Eber, seeking instruction before the Lord.
And Isaac loved Esau, for words of deceit were in his mouth; but
Rebekah loved Jacob.[370]
On the day that Abraham died, Jacob dressed pottage of lentiles, and
was going to comfort his father. And Esau came from the wilderness,
exhausted; for in that day he had committed five transgressions--he
had worshipped with strange worship, he had shed innocent blood, he
had pursued a betrothed damsel, he had denied the life of the world to
come, and he had despised his birthright.[371]
And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me now taste that red pottage, for I am
faint.” Therefore he called his name Edom.
And Jacob said, “Sell to me to-day what thou wouldst hereafter
appropriate--thy birthright.”
And Esau said, “Behold, I am going to die, and in another world I shall
have no life; and what then to me is the birthright, or the portion in
the world of which thou speakest?”
And Jacob said, “Swear to me to-day that so it shall be.”
And he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave
to Esau bread, and pottage of lentiles. And he ate and drank, and arose
and went. And Esau scorned the birthright, and the portion of the world
that cometh, and denied the resurrection of the dead.[372]
But according to certain Rabbinic authorities Esau sold his birthright
not only for the mess of lentiles, but also for a sword that Jacob
had--to wit, the sword of Methuselah, wherewith he had slain a thousand
devils.[373]
Esau had the garment which God had made for Adam,[374] on which were
embroidered the forms of all the wild beasts and birds that were on the
face of the earth, in their proper colors. This garment had been stolen
by Ham from Noah in the ark, and had been given by him to Cush, who
gave it to Nimrod. Esau killed Nimrod, and took from him his painted
dress, and thenceforth all the success in hunting which had attended
Nimrod devolved upon Esau.[375]
The story of the blessing of Jacob and Esau has not become surrounded
with many fables. The following are the most remarkable. Esau on that
occasion went forth in such haste to catch the venison, that he forgot
to take with him Nimrod’s garment, and therefore was not successful
in hunting, as on former occasions, and Jacob took advantage of this
forgetfulness to assume the embroidered coat.[376]
And when the meat was ready, and Isaac began to eat thereof, he was
thirsty, and there was no wine for him in the house. So an angel was
sent to him out of Paradise, and brought him the juice of the grape
that grows there on the vine that was created before the foundations of
the earth were laid.[377]
Isaac was so angry at having been deceived by Jacob, that he was about
to doom him to Gehinnom, after he said, “_Where is he that hath taken
vension, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest,
and have blessed him?_” But he paused to prepare his curse.
Then God suddenly opened hell to him beneath his feet, and he looked
into it, and saw the abyss of fire and darkness, and his horror
rendered him speechless; but when he recovered his voice, he resolved
that no child of his should descend there; therefore he added, “_Yea,
and he shall be blessed._”[378]
The Mussulmans relate the history of Esau and Jacob much as it stands
in the Book of Genesis. They add that the benediction of Esau was
fulfilled in his having a son named Roum, from whom sprang the Greek
and Roman empires.
This is also a Rabbinical tradition, for the Talmudists say that Esau
had a son named Eliphaz, who had a son, Zepho, from whom Vespasian and
his son Titus were descended, and thus they attribute the destruction
of Jerusalem to the struggle of Esau to break the yoke of Jacob from
off his neck.
Esau is said by the Rabbis to have had four wives, in imitation of
Satan, or Sammael, as has been already related.
Abulfaraj says that Esau made war with Jacob, and was killed by him
with an arrow.
Jacob feared Esau, for Esau said in his heart, “I will not do as Cain
did, who slew his brother Abel in the lifetime of his father, after
which his father begat Seth; but I will wait till the days of mourning
for my father are accomplished, and then I will kill Jacob, and so I
shall be the sole heir.”[379]