Bathsheba was washing herself behind a beehive, then the beautiful bird
perched on the hive, and David shot an arrow at it and broke the hive,
and exposed Bathsheba to view. In the Rabbinic tale, David had asked
for the gift of prophecy, and God told him he must be tried. This he
agreed to, and the temptation to adultery was that sent him. (Talmud,
Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 107, col. 2; Jalkut, fol. 22, col. 2).
[653] Koran, Sura xxxviii.
[654] Weil, pp. 212, 213.
[655] Weil, pp. 213-224.
[656] Greek text, and Latin translation in Fabricius; Pseudigr. Vet.
Test. t. ii. pp. 905-7.
[657] סגולות ורתואית; Amst. 1703.
[658] Solomon was twelve years old when he succeeded David. (Abulfeda,
p. 43; Bartolocci, iv. p. 371.)
[659] Weil, pp. 225-231; Eisenmenger, p. 440, etc.
[660] Weil, pp. 231-4.
[661] The story of the building of the temple, with the assistance of
Schamir, has been already related by me in my “Curious Myths of the
Middle Ages.”
[662] The Rabbinic story and the Mussulman are precisely the same,
with the difference that Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, instead of the
Jinns, lies in ambush and captures Sachr or Aschmedai (Asmodeus).
(Eisenmenger, i. 351-8.) As I have given the Jewish version in my
“Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,” I give the Arab story here.
[663] Weil, pp. 234-7; Talmud, Tract. Gittin. fol. 68, cols. 1, 2.
[664] Jalkut Schimoni, fol. 90, col. 4.
[665] Tabari, i. p. 435.
[666] Tabari, i. p. 436.
[667] Koran, Sura xxvii.; Tabari, i. c. xxviii.; Weil, pp. 237-9.
[668] The Jews also believed in a purgatory; see Bartolocci, i. 342.
[669] Targum Scheni Esther, fol. 401 tells the same of the moorcock.
[670] This is the letter according to Rabbinic authors: “Greeting to
thee and to thine; from me, King Solomon. It is known to thee that the
holy, ever-blessed God has made me lord and king over the wild beasts
and birds of heaven, and over the devils, and spirits, and ghosts of
the night, and that all kings, from the rising to the down-setting of
the sun, come and greet me. If thou also wilt come and salute me, then
I will show thee great honor above all the kings that lie prostrate
before me. But if thou wilt not come, and wilt not salute me, then will
I send kings, and soldiers, and horsemen against thee. And if thou
sayest in thine heart, ‘Hath King Solomon kings, and soldiers, and
horsemen?’ then know that the wild beasts are his kings, and soldiers,
and horsemen. And if thou sayest, ‘What, then, are his horsemen?’ know
that the birds of heaven are his horsemen. His army are ghosts, and
devils, and spectres of the night; and they shall torment and slay you
at night in your beds, and the wild beasts will rend you in the fields,
and the birds will tear the flesh of you.” This letter, the Jews say,
was sent to the Queen of Sheba by a moorcock. (Targum Scheni Esther,
fol. 401, 440).
[671] According to another account, “that she had ass’s legs” (Weil, p.
267). Tabari says, “hairy legs” (i. p. 441).
[672] Weil, pp. 246-267; Tabari, i. cc. 94, 95.
[673] Weil, pp. 267-9.
[674] Tabari, i. c. xcvi. p. 448.
[675] Weil, pp. 269-271; Tabari, pp. 450, 451.
[676] Koran, Sura xxxviii.
[677] Tabari, pp. 460, 461.
[678] In the Jewish legend, Asmodeus. In “Curiosities of Olden times”
I have pointed out the connection between the story of the disgrace of
Solomon and that of Nebuchadnezzar, Jovinian, Robert of Sicily, etc.
[679] Deut. xvii. 16, 17.
[680] Emek Nammelek, fol. 14; Gittin, fol. 68, col. 2; Eisenmenger, i.
pp. 358-60. The Anglo-Saxon story of Havelock the Dane bears a strong
resemblance to this part of the story of Solomon.
[681] Eisenmenger, i. pp. 358-60; Weil, pp. 271-4; Tabari, c. 96.
[682] Weil, p. 274.
[683] Eisenmenger, i. 361.
[684] Tabari, p. 454.
[685] Koran, Sura xxxiv.; Tabari, c. 97; Weil, p. 279.
[686] Tabari, i. c. 84.
[687] Das Buch der Sagen und Legenden jüdischer Yorzeit, p. 45;
Stuttgardt, 1845.
[688] Herbelot, Bibl. Orient., s. v. Zerib, iii. p. 607.
[689] Gemara, Avoda Sara, c. i. fol. 65.
[690] Anabasticon, iv. 2-12.
[691] Anabasticon, v. 1-14.
[692] Tract. Jebammoth, c. 4.
[693] Exod. xxxiii. 20.
[694] Isai. vi. 1.
[695] Deut. iv. 7.
[696] Isai. lv. 6.
[697] Tabari, i. c. 83.
[698] Bartolocci, i. p. 848.
[699] Sura, ii.
[700] Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, iii. p. 89.
[701] Abulfaraj, p. 57.
[702] Hist. Eccles. lib. ix. cap. ult.
[703] Ibid., lib. xiv. c. 8.
TRANSCRIBERS NOTES:
Punctuation has been standardized to modern usage for better
readability. Unbalanced quotation marks were repaired. Obviously
missing periods at ends of sentences were repaired. Punctuation in
chapter and section headings was made consistent. Punctuation in
footnotes was made consistent.
Spelling of non-dialect wording in the text was made consistent when
a predominant preference was found in this book; if no predominant
preference was found, or if there is only one occurrence of the word,
spelling was not changed. Simple typographical errors were corrected.
Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.
Single, oddly spelled words that could not be confirmed as
typographical errors, such as “namad” for “named”, “vension” for
“venison”, “touehed” for “touched”, and “dedrived” for “deprived”,
were left unchanged.
Obviously missing hyphens at the ends of printed lines were repaired
and the words rejoined.
“Pharaoh” and “Pharoah” both appear multiple times. Pharoah occurs 17
times and 90+ for Pharaoh. No changes were made.
Page xi – Original text does not give the chapter number for “Abraham”.
Chapter number should be “XXIV”. Missing chapter number was added to
the TOC.
Page xi – Table of Contents gives chapter number for “Joseph” as
XXXIII. Chapter number should be XXVIII. It was corrected in the TOC.
Page xii – The table of contents shows Chapter XXXII Moses, Section
7. The Manna starting on page 392. The section actually starts on page
292. This has been corrected.
Page 217 – (Sammael ; ... missing the closing parenthesis, which was
added to the text.
Page 298 - Send thou keen-sighted men men who may explore the land of
Canaan, ... Should likely be either “men, men”, or else the word was
duplicated. Without supporting evidence, it was rendered as per the
original text with no change.
Page 349 - The angel sho***ike a column of flame into heaven, ...
Unreadable even in high resolution. Appears it may have been intended
to be “shot like” and was rendered accordingly.
IN THE FOOTNOTES:
Missing and incorrect footnote numbers were repaired. Other footnote
oddities are mentioned below:
Page 64 - Footnote 92: Gen., v. i. ... likely a typographical error
for “Gen., v. 1.” - left unchanged as found in the original text.
Page 77 – Chapter title ... “DEATH OF ADAM[1]” ... No footnote is
given in the text to go with the anchor. Anchor was removed.
Page 83 - Footnote 147: Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, ed. Parthey; pp. 72,
88, and notes pp. 183[**] 238. ... Unclear mark after “183” assumed to
be a comma, and comma added at that point.
Page 114 - Footnote 228: Davies, Mythology of the British Druids,
London, 1809; and Celtic Researches, London, 1844: curious works on
the Arkite worship and art-ditions of the Kelts. ... Smudge after
word “Celtic” was repaired. The word “art-ditions” ... seems to be a
misprint. Possibly typo for “traditions”. Without confirmation, it was
rendered as found in the original.
Page 186 - _Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye
unto it._”[324] ... In original text, footnote anchor is not visible.
However, the biblical reference in footnote 324 matches this phrase
and therefor the anchor was inserted here.
Page 314 - Footnote 581: Well, pp. 190, 191. ... “Well” is not given
as a source anywhere else in the text, however, “Weil” is referenced
more than 55 times. “Well” was treated as a typographical error and
changed to “Weil”.
IN THE HEBREW AND GREEK:
Except where noted, Greek and Hebrew passages have been rendered as
they appear in the original publication. Some Hebrew vowels were
omitted by the Author. These have been left as found.
Page 110 - but on its crest rested the ark κιβωτός when the rain
abated. ... The last letter is actually a ‘z’ with which Greek words
do not end; but, since the propensity in this text is to use stigma in
place of final sigma, it can perhaps be understood as ‘s’.
Page 124 - Footnote 254: Suidas, Lexic. s. v. Σίβυλλα. ... In the
text, the Greek is rendered as Σιβνλλα, which is a typo for Sibylla.
This was corrected.
Page 209 - Footnote 350: Michael Glycas, Βὶβλος χρονικη ... In the
original text biblos is shown with grave, which is incorrect. However,
this has been rendered as shown in the text, without change.
Page 346 - having in the corner the word ט״יר, and in the middle אנ״לא
... The ‘gershayim’ mark, shown as double quote, indicates that these
are acronyms rather than words. The ‘apostrophe’ is a glottal stop
letter, which is not available in English.
Page 346 – Illustration (Shield of David) ... The Illustration lacks the
acronym marks. In the corners the letters agree with the text; in the
center there is disagreement in the 2nd letter: 'YL’.