of paradise; and the honey was so sweet, that when she had tasted
it she could not doubt whence it had come, and she felt herself
enlightened by the true God; and the angel signed the honey with the
cross, and the trace of his finger was blood. Along with faith and
hope, charity enlightened her heart, and she besought of the angel to
give of this honey to the seven maidens who attended on her; and when
they obtained this favor, they all became like their mistress, servants
of the Most High. Then the angel bade her lay aside her tears and black
garment, and rejoice, for her prayer was heard.
At that moment one of the servants of Potipherah entered, saying,
“Behold, Joseph, the Strength of God, approaches; go ye out to meet
him?”
Now when Joseph had alighted down from his chariot, he came into
the hall; and when he knew that Asenath had cast away her idols, he
rejoiced greatly, and he sought her in marriage of Potipherah, and the
Priest of On made a great supper, and gave his daughter to Joseph, and
he called Joseph the lord of lords, and Asenath he called the daughter
of the Most High.[432]
XXIX.
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.
The “Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs” is one of the seventy-two
apocryphal books of the Old Testament which were at one time in
circulation, and, according to Epiphanius, it formed one of the
twenty-two canonical books sent by the Jews to Ptolemy, king of
Egypt.[433]
It was a work of Jewish origin, which has been tampered with and
interpolated by Christian copyists. S. Augustine numbers it with
the Apocrypha; he says, “There are the apocryphal books of the Old
Testament: the works falsely attributed to Enoch, the Patriarchs, the
Discourse of Joseph, the Assumption of Moses, the pseudographia of
Abraham, Eldad and Medad, Elias the prophet, the prophet Zephaniah,
Zechariah, Baruch, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, and Daniel.”
Curiously enough, the Testament of the Patriarchs contains a large
number of alleged quotations from the book of Enoch, which are not,
however, to be found in that book as we now have it.
This Testament was read by the Jews at the time of Christ’s coming,
and S. Paul seems to have been acquainted with it, for he quotes it,
“_Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead_;”[434] and again
he quotes the Testament of Levi, “_The wrath is come upon them to
the uttermost_.”[435] S. Jerome remarks on this, “The Apostle Paul
quoted from the hidden prophets and from those books which are called
Apocrypha,” and he adds, “That he did so in several other places is
very evident.”[436] And Origen says, “It is evident that many examples
were quoted and inserted in the New Testament by the Apostles and the
Evangelists from those Scriptures which we do not read as canonical,
but these passages are found in the apocryphal books, and it is evident
that these passages were extracted from them;” and he gives the reason
why that was lawful to the Apostles which is not lawful to us.
He says, “It may have been, that the Apostles and Evangelists, filled
with the Holy Ghost, may have known what was to be taken from these
writings and what was to be rejected; but for us to presume to do such
a thing would be full of danger, not having the Spirit in the same
measure to guide us.”[437]
Robert Grostête, Bishop of Lincoln, translated the Testament of the
twelve Patriarchs into Latin, in 1242, according to Matthew Paris.
“Also in this time, Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, a man most skilled in
Latin and Greek, translated accurately the Testaments of the Twelve
Patriarchs from the Greek into Latin; which for many years had been
unknown and concealed, through the jealousy of the Jews, because of the
prophecies concerning our Saviour therein contained. But the Greeks,
the most indefatigable investigators of all writings, being the first
who learnt about this, translated it from Hebrew into Greek, and kept
it to themselves until our own time. For in the time of S. Jerome, or
of any other holy interpreter, it could not in any way whatever come
to the knowledge of the Christians, on account of the scheming malice
of the Jews. Therefore the above-named Bishop, assisted by Master
Nicholas, a Greek, and clerk to the Abbey of S. Albans, translated
clearly, evidently, and word for word, into Latin, that glorious
treatise, to the strengthening of the Christian faith, and to the
greater confusion of the Jews.”[438]
The Testaments were published by Grabe, at Oxford, in 1698, and
were republished by Fabricius in his “Codex Pseudepigraphus Vet.
Testamenti,” at Hamburg, in 1722.[439]
XXX.
JOB.
Job was the great grandson of Esau. He was the son of Amos the son of
Zara, the son of Esau, and he had to wife Rahma, daughter of Ephraim,
son of Joseph. Ephraim left two sons, who were prophets after him; but
amongst the children of Esau there was no prophet, saving Job.
Job was more patient than any other prophet; therefore it is said of
him in the Koran, “Certainly we have found this excellent servant
patient.”[440]
The Rabbis say that Job, Jethro, and Balaam were King Pharaoh’s three
councillors, and they were also his chief magicians. They, by their
enchantments, drew a line round the land of Egypt, so that no slave
could escape out of it; for when he came to the line, he was held back
and could not overleap it. But when the Israelites broke away and
disregarded the enchanted line, Job, Jethro, and Balaam gave up their
witchcrafts, and turned to the service of the living God.[441]
Job lived in Bashan, which lies between Damascus and Ramla, and there
he reigned as a prince. Job had five hundred yoke of oxen, and to every
yoke there was a she-ass to carry the instruments of husbandry. He had
also a thousand flocks of sheep, and a thousand sheep in each flock.
He had ten children, seven sons and three daughters; all were grown
up.[442]
In the “Testament of Job,”[443] we read that this great man, illumined
by the Divine light, comprehended that the idols which his people
adored were no gods, and that there was but one only true God, the
Creator and Preserver of all things. There was near his house an idol
which attracted great worship. He prayed the Lord to show him whether
this idol were a demon or not; and he promised, in that case, to
destroy it and purify the place; and this he was able to do, being a
sovereign.
God sent him an angel, who illumined him, and strengthened him in his
resolution. So he destroyed the idol, and abolished its worship. But
this act drew upon him the wrath of Satan. The angel had foreseen the
disasters which would befall Job if he resolved to strive against the
Evil One, and he had warned Job what to expect; but Job answered that,
being convinced of the truth, he was ready to suffer for it.
Satan presented himself at the door of Job’s house. He had taken upon
him the form of a pilgrim, and he said to the portress, “I desire to
see the faithful servant of the Most High.”
Now Job, who had received the gift of prophecy, knew that this was the
Evil One, and he refused to see him, saying to the gate-keeper when she
brought the message, “Tell him that I am occupied, and that I cannot
receive him.”
Satan retired, but he returned soon after, disguised as a beggar, and
he said to the portress, “Go and ask Job to give me a morsel of bread.”
“Tell him,” replied Job, “that I will not give him of the bread I eat,
because I will not have any thing in common with him. But offer him
this burnt crust, that he may not say I sent him empty away.”
The servant, not venturing to give the burnt crust, because she was
not aware who the beggar was, offered him some good bread. But Satan,
who knew what Job had commanded, thrust it away, saying, “Begone, bad
servant, and bring me the bread you were told to give me.”
The portress replied: “You say well, I am a bad servant, for I have
not done that which I was commanded to do. Here is the crust my master
ordered me to give you. He will not have any thing in common with you;
no! not even the bread he eats; but he sends you this, that it may not
be said of him that he dismissed thee empty from his door without an
alms.”
Satan took the charred crust, and bade the servant tell Job that he
would soon render to him such measure as he had dealt to him.[444]
Then Satan ascended to God, and desired permission to afflict and prove
Job. And when leave was given him, he descended to earth, and breathed
such a hot blast, that all the cattle, and sheep, and servants of Job
were burnt up. Then Satan took the form of a slave, and ran and told
the prophet. Job answered, “_The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken
away; blessed be the name of the Lord!_”
Then Satan went and shook the earth under the house where the sons and
daughters of Job were assembled, and the house fell and destroyed them
all.
Satan immediately hastened in the disguise of a servant to Job, and
told him what had taken place. He said, “O Job! God has shaken down
the house about your children, and they are dead. Had you seen their
bleeding faces and broken limbs, and their brains bespattering the
stones, and had heard their piercing cries, you would have been
heart-broken.”
Job wept, and lifted his eyes to God; and he knew who addressed him,
and he said, “Satan! it is thou who comest to tempt me and to cast
doubt into my heart, and mistrust in the wisdom and goodness of God;
get thee hence.”
Satan then blew a hot breath up the nose of Job, and poisoned all his
blood. His body became scarlet next day, and the day after was covered
with ulcers from head to foot; there was no whole place in him, except
the head, the tongue, the eyes, and the heart; for over these portions
God had not given Satan power.
All Job’s friends deserted him and fled; Rahma,[445] his wife, alone
remained, and she spent on him the rest of his possessions, but he
was not cured of his disease. And this was why all his possessions
went--Satan stole them away; and thus in a short time he was reduced to
penury, and Rahma went from house to house begging alms for his support.
Satan saw that he could not triumph so long as the wife remained with
her husband; she was a comfort and joy to him, and he cared not for
possessions, or children, or health, so long as his wife was at his
side; therefore, he sought occasion to separate them. One day, as Rahma
was carrying food to Job, Satan presented himself before her in the
form of an old man, and asked her, “O Rahma! art thou not the daughter
of Ephraim, the son of Joseph?” She replied, “I am.”
Then said the Evil Angel, “In what condition do I see thee?” She
answered, “My husband Job has fallen into poverty, and I serve him.”
He said, “Do not serve him, for when thou touchest him, the poison of
his disease passes into thy veins.”
She replied, “He is my husband, and I must attend on him as long as I
live, in health or sickness.”
Then Satan retired, despairing of seducing her from her duty. Rahma
told Job all that had been said to her.
The prophet said, “O woman! he whom you have seen is Satan, and he
desired to separate us. Do not speak to him again when he addresses
you.”
Some time after, the Evil One presented himself before the faithful
wife under the form of a beautiful youth; and said to her, “What woman
art thou, who art so radiant in beauty?” She answered, “I am the wife
of a poor man, named Job.”
He said, “O woman! what hast thou, with thy wondrous beauty, to do with
a poor sick husband? Go, be divorced from thy husband, and marry me. I
have great possessions, and I will treat thee as a queen.”
She answered, “I am the wife of a prophet; I desire nothing higher.”
Then Satan withdrew, despairing of seducing her from her duty. Rahma
told Job all that had been said to her.
Job said, “O woman! did I not tell thee to speak with him no more; why
hast thou disobeyed my voice? That was Satan, and he sought to separate
us. Do not speak to him again when he addresses thee.”
Some time after, the Evil One presented himself before the faithful
wife, under the form of an angel; and said to her, “O woman, daughter
of a prophet! I am an angel sent from God with a message to thee.”
She said, “What message?”
He said, “Behold the Most High is wroth with Job, for he renders no
thanks for all the good things He gave to him; therefore hath the Lord
rejected him from being a prophet, and he shall fall from worse to
worse, till he is cast into the flames of hell; we, the angels of God,
curse him, and do thou, daughter of a prophet, avoid him, lest thou
come into the same condemnation.”
When Rahma heard these words, she wept, and said, “After so many
afflictions, shall the name of Job be taken from the number of the
prophets? And after so many sufferings shall he perish everlastingly?”
Then she went to Job and told him all that had been said to her.
Job was greatly angered when she told him the tenor of the words, and
he cried out, “Have I not warned thee these two times not to speak with
him, who is the author of my affliction? Wait till I am well, and I
will give thee a hundred strokes with a rod.”[446]
But the story is told differently by others. It is said that the
third time Satan appeared as a baker, and Rahma wanted bread, but had
nought to pay. Then said the pretended baker, “Thou hast locks of very
beautiful hair; cut off thy hair and give it me, and thou shalt take
the largest of my loaves.”
Then she cut off three locks and gave them to him.
And when Job saw that she had done this, he was filled with fury, and
he swore that when he was well he would beat her for having cut off her
hair.[447]
Thus Satan triumphed in making Job to sin by swearing, and threatening
to ill-treat a true and good woman.
Next the Evil One went as an angel, and announced to all the people of
the land that he came from God to declare to them that Job was no more
reckoned among the prophets; and that they were not to trust his words
and believe his doctrine, but were to return to the worship of those
gods he had blasphemed and cast out.
Soon after, Job heard his three friends, Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar,
converse together, and repeat what had been told them by Satan; and
the thought that he was supposed to be rejected by God from among His
prophets, was so distressing to him, that he cried out, “Truly, O God!
evil has befallen me; but Thou art the most merciful of those who show
mercy.”[448] That is, the words of men are cruel, but Thou, O God, wilt
deliver me out of all my evils.
Job was sick for seven years, and all that while his wife ministered to
him.
But the mediæval commentators draw a very different picture of this
wife, relying on the words of Scripture which make her tempt Job to
“_curse God and die_.” They say that her tongue was one of the plagues
of Job. That he bore patiently the loss of his cattle, of his children,
and of his health, was indeed wonderful; but that he also endured the
nagging of his wife with equanimity,--that was the most wonderful of
all.
Then God looked on Job and had compassion upon him, and he said to
him, “Strike the earth with thy foot.”[449] Job stamped, and from the
dung-heap on which he had been seated a clear stream of water issued,
the sweetest that there is, and the water continued to flow. Then God
said to Job, “Wash in this water.”
Rahma, the wife of Job, poured the water upon his head and over his
body, and he washed himself. All the sores that were on his flesh
disappeared, and he was healed; there was not a scar left, and he
appeared more beautiful than before he was afflicted.
Then God said to Job, “Drink of the water.”
Then all the worms that were in the inside of Job died, and he was
quite whole. Now this took place in Bashan, and the fountain remains
to this day, and is called Qarya-Aïyub, and the city near which it is,
Aïrs-Aïyub. “I have seen the city of the fountain,” says the Persian
translator of Tabari: “every person who goes there, affected by
internal or external maladies, and washes and drinks of that water, is
healed of his disease.”[450]
Then God said to Job, “Fulfil thy vow, and take in thine hand a bundle
of rods.”[451] But the rods God told him to take were light sticks;
and he took a hundred of these, and bound them together and smote
Rahma with them, and he did not hurt her. By this action of Job, the
Mussulman doctors support their advice to those who have taken rash
oaths to clear themselves by a subterfuge. Thus, if a man has sworn
he will not enter his house again, he is recommended to allow himself
to be bound hand and foot and be carried into his home. Or, if he has
sworn to recite the whole Koran, it will be sufficient for him to say
the word “Koran,” and listen to the imaum reading before the assembly.
Then God restored to Job double all that he had lost; and Job lived,
after he was recovered of his disease, twenty years, and he died at the
age of ninety-three.
The worms which had devoured the body of the prophet, God turned into
silk-worms; and the flies which had bitten him and tormented his sores,
converted He into honey-bees; and before this there were neither
silk-worms nor honey-bees on the earth. Also the rain and the snow
which fell within his possessions, were grains of gold and pearl.
Isidore of Seville places the fountain which cured Job in Idumæa. He
says, it is clear during three months of the year, troubled during the
next three, then for three months it is green, and for the last three,
it is red.
In the “Testament of Job,” we read some details concerning his death,
written by his brother Nahor.
After three days of sickness, Job, lying on his bed, saw the angels
come to receive his soul. After having divided his substance between
his seven sons (for, after his troubles, he became the father of seven
sons and three daughters), he gave his daughters three mantles of
inestimable price, which he had received from heaven. To the eldest,
Hemera (Jemima), he gave his harp; to the second, Cassia (Keziah),
he handed his censer; to the third, Keren-happuch, he remitted his
tamborine: and as he sang his last hymn to the Most High on his
death-bed, Hemera and Keren-happuch accompanied him with harp and
timbrel, and Cassia cast up fumes of sweet incense. Thus they greeted
the messengers of heaven who came for the soul of Job.
XXXI.
JETHRO.
As has already been related, Jethro formed one of the council of
Pharaoh till he found that his incantations had no effect on the
Israelites. He escaped from Egypt before Job; for he had found in the
palace of the king the staff of Joseph which had been cut from the Tree
of Life, and therewith he hied him into the land of Midian, along with
his daughter Zipporah.
According to Mussulman tradition, Jethro, whom the Arabs call Schohair
or Schohaib, was a great prophet; and he was sent by God to the
Midianites to call them to repentance and the rejection of polytheism.
Jethro was old and nearly blind. He preached to the people and exhorted
them with many words and for a long season, but all his words were in
vain; the Midianites would not be converted, and at length they openly
accused him of being a false prophet, and denied that God had sent him.
Therefore God gave over this nation to destruction. He sent a fiery
breath upon the land, and the people could not bear the great heat,
and retired into the fields, where there was shadow; for God sent a
cloud to hide the face of the sun, and it cast a blot of shade upon the
fields. But there were old men and women and little children, and the
sick who could not leave the city and take refuge in the shade.
Slowly the cloud came down from heaven, like the lid of a saucepan, and
covered all the Midianites that were in the field, and the cloud was of
fire, and they fried “as fish fry in an oven.” Then the angel Gabriel
gave a great shout, and all that were in the city, saving Jethro and
his family, died of fright when they heard his cry.
Then Jethro lived in the land of Midian till Moses came to him out of
Egypt.[452]
XXXII.
MOSES.[453]
1. ISRAEL IN EGYPT.
After the death of Jacob, his descendants were drawn into servitude by
soft and hypocritical speeches. Fifty-four years had passed since the
death of Joseph.
Joseph had had the good fortune to acquire the favor of Mechron, the
son and successor of that Pharoah who had raised him from the dungeon
to be second in the kingdom. Almost all the inhabitants of Egypt had
loved Joseph; only a few voices were raised in murmurs at a foreigner
exercising such extensive powers.
The successors of the patriarchs mingled among the people of the
land and learned their ways; and many of them abandoned the rite of
circumcision, and spoke the language of Mizraem.
Then God withdrew His protection for a while; and the former love of
the Egyptians towards the Hebrews was turned into implacable hatred. By
degrees the privileges of the children of Israel were encroached upon,
and they were oppressed with heavy taxes, from which hitherto they had
been held exempt.
Afterwards the king exacted from them their labor without pay; he built
a great castle and required the Hebrews to erect it for him at their
own cost.
Twenty-two years after the death of Joseph, Levi died, who had outlived
all his other brothers.
Fields, vineyards, and houses, which Joseph had given to his brethren,
were now reclaimed by the natives of Egypt, and the children of Israel
were enslaved.
The Egyptians, effeminate, and hating work, fond of pleasure and
display, had envied the prosperity of the Hebrews, who had thriven in
Goshen, and whose wives bore sometimes six and sometimes twelve infants
at a birth.
They also feared lest this people, increasing upon them, should become
more numerous than they, and should seize upon the power, and enslave
the native population.
Nine years after the death of Joseph, King Mechron died, and was
succeeded by his son Melol.
But before pursuing the history of the oppression of the Hebrews, we
must relate some events that had occurred before this time.
When the body of Jacob, according to the last will, had been taken to
the cave of Machpelah, Esau and his sons and a large body of followers
hastened to oppose the burial of Jacob. After the death of Isaac, Esau
and Jacob had come to an agreement, by which all the movable property
of the father was made over to Esau, and all that was immovable,
especially the burial cave, was apportioned to Jacob. But now Esau
desired to set aside this agreement, and, as first-born, to claim
the tomb as his, trusting that the sons of Jacob could not prove the
agreement.
But no sooner had he raised this objection, than Naphtali, who was
swift of foot, ran into Egypt, and returned in a few hours with the
writing of agreement.
Esau, seeing himself baffled, had recourse to arms; and a fight took
place, in which Esau was killed, and his followers were put to flight
or taken as captives to Egypt, where they became the slaves of the
Israelites. Amongst those captives was Zepho, son of Eliphaz, son of
Esau.
Even in Joseph’s lifetime, the Edomites made incursions into Egypt to
recover their captive relatives, but their attempts led to no other
result than the tightening of the chains which bound the captives.
Later, however, Zepho succeeded in effecting his escape, and he took
refuge with Angias, king of Dinhaba (Ethiopia), who made him chief
captain of his host.
Zepho persuaded the king to make war upon Egypt. Among the servants of
Angias was a youth of fifteen, named Balaam, son of Beor, very skilful
in the arts of witchcraft. The king bade the youthful necromancer
divine who would succeed in the proposed war. Balaam formed chariots
and horses and fighting men of wax, plunged them in water, which he
stirred with palm twigs; and it was seen by all who stood by, that the
men and horses representing the Egyptians and Hebrews floated, whereas
those representing the Ethiopians sank.
Angias, deterred by this augury, refused to have any thing to do with
a war against Egypt. Then Zepho left him, and betook himself to the
land of the Hittites, and he succeeded in combining that nation, the
Edomites, and the Ishmaelites together in making an invasion of Egypt.
To repel them, the Hebrews were summoned from the land of Goshen, but
the Egyptians would not receive their allies into the camp, fearing
lest they should unite with their kindred nations, and deliver them up
to destruction.