child remained in his father’s house, and no attempts were made against
his life.
Here must be inserted a legend of the childhood of Abraham, which I have
ventured to render into verse.
THE GIFT OF THE KING.
Nimrod the Cushite sat upon a throne
Of gold, encrusted with the sapphire stone,
And round the monarch stood, in triple rank,
Three hundred ruddy pages, like a bank
Of roses all a-blow.
Two gentle boys, with blue eyes clear as glass,
And locks as light as tufted cotton grass,
And faces as the snow
That lies on Ararat, and flushes pink
On summer evenings, as the sun doth sink,
Were stationed by the royal golden chair
With fillets of carnation in their hair,
And clothed in silken vesture, candid, clean,
To flutter fans of burnished blue and green,
Fashioned of peacock’s plume.
A little lower, on a second stage
On either side, was placed a graceful page,
To raise a fragrant fume—
With costly woods and gums on burning coals
That glowed on tripods, in bright silver bowls;
And at the basement of the marble stair,
Sweet singing choirs and harping minstrels were,
In amber kirtles purple gilt and sashed.
The throbbing strings in silver ripples flashed,
Where slaves the choral song
Accompanied with psaltery and lyre,
In red and saffron, like to men of fire,
Whilst hoarsely boomed the gong:
Or silver cymbals clashed, or, waxing shrill,
Danced up the scale a flute’s melodious thrill.
Now at the monarch’s signal, pages twain,
With sunny hair as ripened autumn grain,
And robed in lustrous silver tissue, shot
With changing hues of blue forget-me-not,
Start nimbly forth, and bend
Before the monarch, at his gilded stool,
And crystal goblets brimming, sweet and cool,
Obsequiously extend;
But Nimrod, slightly stirring, stately, calm,
Towards the right-hand beaker thrusts his arm,
And, languid, raises it towards his lips;
Yet ere he of the ruby liquor sips,
He notices upon the surface lie—
Fallen in and fluttering—a feeble fly,
With draggled wings outspread.
Then shot from Nimrod’s eyes an angry flare,
And passionately down the marble stair
The costly draught he shed.
He spoke no word, but with a finger wave,
Made signal to a scarlet-vested slave;
And as the lad before him, quaking, kneels,
Above him swift the gleaming falchion wheels,
Then flashes down, and, with one leap, his head
Bounds from his shoulders, and bespirts with red
The alabaster floor.
And, mingled with the outpoured Persian wine,
Descends the steps a sliding purple line
Of smoking, dribbled gore;
And floats the little midge upon a flood
Of fragrant grape-juice, and of roseate blood.
Then Nimrod said: “I would yon ugly stain
Were wiped away; and thou, my chamberlain,
Obtain for me a stripling, to replace
This petty fool. Let him have comely face,
And be of slender mould:
Be lithely built, of noble birth; a youth,
The choicest thou canst find. His cost, in sooth!
I heed not. Stint no gold,
But buy a goodly slave: for I, a king,
Will have the best, the best of everything—
Of gems, of slaves, of fabrics, meats, or wine;
The best, the very best on earth be mine.”
Then, prostrate flung before his master’s throne,
The servant said, “Sire! Terah hath a son
Whose equal in the whole round world is none,
Belovèd as himself.
But, Sire! I fear the father will not deign
To yield his son as slave through love of gain,
For great is he in wealth.”
“Go!” said the monarch, “I must have the child:
Be sure the father can be reconciled,
If you expend of gold a goodly store,
And, if he haggles at your price, bid more;
I will it, chamberlain!
I care not what the cost. I’ll have the lad!”
And then, he leaned him idly back, and bade
The slaves to fan again.
Now on the morrow, to the royal court,
Terah Ben-Nahor from old Ur was brought—
Protesting loud he would not yield his son
As slave, at any price, to any one.
“My flesh and blood be sold!
Fie on you! Do you reckon that I prize
My first-begotten as mere merchandise,
To barter him for gold!
A curse on him who would the old man’s stay,
That bears him up, with money buy away!
Require me not to offer child of mine
To serve and brim a tyrant’s cup with wine;
To waste a life from morning to its grave,
Branded in mind and soul and body ‘Slave!’
How could I be repaid?
His artless fondlings, all his childish ways:
The reminiscences of olden days,
That sudden flash and fade,
Of her who bore him—her, my boyhood’s choice—
Resemblances in feature, figure, voice,
In gesture, manner, ay! in very tone
Of pealing laugh, of that dear partner gone?
Thou, Nimrod, to an old man condescend
To hear his story; your attention lend,
And judge if acted well.
Last year to me thou gav’st a goodly steed,
From thine own stud, of purest Yemen breed:
And thus it me befel.
A stranger offered me a price so fair
That I accepted it, and sold the mare.”
“My gift disposed of!” with an angry start,
King Nimrod thundered: “Thou, old man, shalt smart
For this thy avarice. A royal gift,
Thou knowest well, must never owners shift,
As thing of little worth.”
Then Terah raised his trembling hands, and said,
“From thine own mouth, O King, has judgment sped.
The Lord of Heaven and Earth,
The King of Kings to me my offspring gave,
And shall I sell His gift to be a slave?
Nimrod! that child, which is His royal gift,—
Thy mouth hath said it,—may not owners shift.”
At this time idolatry was commonly practised by all. Nimrod and his
servants, Terah and his whole house, worshipped images of wood and
stone. Terah had not only twelve idols of the twelve months which he
adored, but he manufactured images and sold them.
One day, when Terah was absent, and Abraham was left to manage the shop,
he thought the time had come when he must make his protest against
idolatry. This he did as follows. Every purchaser who came, was asked by
Abraham his age; if he answered fifty or sixty years old, Abraham
exclaimed, “Woe to a man of such an age who adores the work of one day!”
and the purchaser withdrew in shame.
Another version of the incident is more full.
A strong lusty fellow came one day to buy an idol, the strongest that
there was. As he was going away with it, Abraham called after him, “How
old are you?”
“Seventy years,” he answered.
“Oh, you fool!” said Abraham, “to adore a god younger than yourself.”
“What do you mean?” asked the purchaser.
“Why, you were born seventy years ago, and this god was made only
yesterday.”
Hearing this, the buyer threw the idol away.
Shortly after, an old woman brought a dish of meal to set before the
idols. Abraham took it, and then with a stick smashed all the gods
except the biggest, into whose hands he placed the stick.
Terah, who was returning home, heard the noise of blows, and quickened
his pace. When he entered, his gods were in pieces.
He accused Abraham angrily; but Abraham said, “My father, a woman
brought this dish of meal for the gods: they all wanted to have it, and
the strongest knocked the heads off the rest, lest they should eat it
all.” And this, say the Mussulmans, was the _first_ lie that Abraham
told, but it was not a lie, but a justifiable falsehood.
Terah said this could not be true, for the images were of wood and
stone.
“Let thine ear hear what thy mouth hath spoken,” said Abraham, and then
he exhorted his father against idolatry.
Terah complained to Nimrod, who sent for Abraham, and he said to him,
“Wilt thou not worship these idols? Well then, adore fire.”
“Why not water which quenches fire?” asked Abraham.
_Nimrod._—“Very well; then worship water.”
_Abraham._—“Why not the clouds which swallow the water?”
_Nimrod._—“So be it; adore the clouds.”
_Abraham._—“Rather let me adore wind which blows the clouds about.”
_Nimrod._—“So be it; pray to the wind.”
_Abraham._—“But man can stand up against the wind, and build it out of
his house.”
Then Nimrod in a fury exclaimed, “Fire is my god, and that shall consume
you.”
According to another version, a woman came to Abraham to buy a god,
because thieves had stolen her former god; this gave the patriarch a
text for his homily against idolatry. The woman was convinced.
“Believe in the true God,” said he, “and you will recover the things the
thieves stole from your house.”
A few days after, the woman recovered all her lost goods, amongst them
her image. Then she took a stone, and smashed its head, saying, “Oh,
thou blockhead, not to be able to preserve my property and thyself from
thieves!”
The report of what she had said and done reached the king, who ordered
her to be executed. But Nimrod was uneasy, and he announced a grand
ceremony to last for seven days, during which every one was to produce
his gods and carry them about the streets, which were to be hung with
gold and silks. His object was to dazzle Abraham’s eyes by the splendour
of idol worship. He sent for Terah and Abraham, but the latter refused
to attend. The Mussulmans say that Abraham excused himself thus: “I see
in the stars that I am going to be very sick to-day.” This was the
_second_ lie Abraham told, but it was not a lie, it was a justifiable
falsehood. Then the king sent his guard, who arrested him and cast him
into a dungeon.
He lay in the dungeon ten days. The angel Gabriel brought him food, and
a crystal fountain bubbled up through the soil of his cell.
Nimrod called his council together, and it was unanimously decided that
Abraham should be burnt alive. The king therefore published a decree
ordering every man to bring wood or other fuel for the heating of the
kiln.[299] The wood was piled about the furnace to the height of five
ells, for a circle of five ells diameter, and for three days and three
nights the fire was kept up, and the flames licked the heavens, so that
the oven was at a white heat. Then Nimrod ordered his jailer to produce
Abraham. The prison-keeper humbly answered, that it was impossible that
Abraham could be alive, for he had been given neither meat nor drink.
But Nimrod answered, “Produce him alive or dead.”
Then the jailer went to the prison door and cried, “Abraham, livest
thou?”
“I live,” answered the prisoner, “and am hearty.”
“How is that possible?” asked the jailer, astonished.
“Because the Almighty has wrought a miracle on my behalf. He is sole
God, invisible, the Creator of the world, and the Lord of Nimrod.”
The jailer believed.
The news was conveyed to Nimrod, who ordered the immediate execution of
the jailer; but as the executioner was about to smite off his head, he
cried, “The Eternal One is alone the true God of the world, and the God
of Nimrod who denies him.” And lo! the sword was blunted, and shivered
into a thousand fragments.
Here we must add a few particulars from Mussulman sources.
“Who is your God?” asked Nimrod of Abraham, when brought before him.
“He who kills and makes alive again,” said Abraham.
“I can do that,” exclaimed Nimrod, and he ordered two prisoners before
him; one he slew, the other he spared.
But Abraham said, “Behold the power of my God!” and he bade a dead man
who had been four years in his grave, rise and bring him a white cock, a
black raven, a green pigeon, and a gaily-coloured peacock. The dead man
rose and obeyed. Then Abraham cut up the birds, but preserved their
heads; and lo! from the heads new bodies sprouted.
“Now,” said Abraham, “do the same.”
But Nimrod could not.
“If thou art a God,” said Abraham again, “command the sun to rise
to-morrow in the west and set in the east.”
But this he could not do.[300]
Nimrod was highly incensed, and ordered that Abraham should be at once
precipitated into the fire. When he was brought before the king, say the
Rabbis, the soothsayers recognized him as the boy at whose birth they
had warned the king that one was come into the world who would be the
father of a great nation which would subdue that of Nimrod, and would
possess the whole earth and heaven.
“This is the man against whom we cautioned you,” they said; “his father
Terah must have deceived you, O king, and not have given you up the
right child.”
Terah, on being questioned, owned the truth.
“Who gave you this advice?” asked the king; “confess it, and your life
shall be spared.”
Out of fear Terah told a lie, and said that Haran, his other son, had
suggested the deception.
“For having given this advice,” said Nimrod, “Haran shall perish along
with Abraham. Cast them both into the flames.” Abraham and Haran were
now to be stripped and their hands and feet bound by ropes, and then
they were to be thrown into the fire. But the servants of Nimrod who
approached the brothers were caught by the flames which, like the
tongues of serpents, shot out, curled round them, drew them into the
fire, and consumed them.
Then Satan appeared to Nimrod, and instructed him how to make a catapult
which would throw stones to a distance, and by means of which Abraham
and Haran could be projected into the midst of the fire.
Haran was undecided in his mind whether to worship God or idols;
sometimes he sided with Abraham, and sometimes with Terah. Now, the
moment Haran was shot into the flames, his heart failed him, and he
cried out that he would worship idols if his life were spared. But it
was too late, he was burnt to ashes. But Abraham was unharmed. The cords
which bound him were consumed, but for three days and nights he walked
about in the flames, and felt no inconvenience.[301]
Then the king cried aloud, “Abraham, servant of the God of Heaven, come
forth from the furnace to me.”
And Abraham came forth. Then the king said to him, “How is it that thou
art not consumed?” And Abraham answered, “The Lord God of Heaven and
Earth, whom I serve, hath delivered me.”
Instantly the flames were extinguished, and the wood burst forth into
flower and fruit; and the pile was like a grove of flowering shrubs to
look upon, and Angels descended and took Abraham and seated him in the
midst.
The Arabic version of this part of the story is something different.
Nimrod could not see into the fire, so he ascended a high tower in his
palace, and from the top looked down into the furnace, and saw that in
the midst was a garden with flowers and a fountain of sparkling water,
and Abraham seated on the grass beside the spring, conversing with an
angel.[302]
Nimrod now loaded Abraham with presents, amongst which were two slaves
named Oni and Eliezer; according to some, the latter was a son of the
tyrant. Many followed Abraham home, and brought their children to him
and said, “Now we see that the God in whom thou trustest, is the only
true God; teach our children the truth, that they may serve Him in
righteousness.” Thus three hundred persons accompanied Abraham home,
most of whom were servants of the king, and of noble race.
Here follows in the Mussulman account the story of Nimrod’s attempt to
reach heaven in a box, to which were attached four vultures. His object
was, says Tabari, to kill the God of Abraham. He went up along with his
vizir. After a night and day in the air, the king said to his vizir,
“Open the window of the box towards the earth and tell me what you see.”
He did so, and replied, “I see the earth.” After another day and night,
he again looked out and saw the earth still; on the third day, at the
king’s command he looked out and saw nothing. Then said Nimrod, “Open
the window towards heaven and look out.” He did so and saw nothing. Then
Nimrod shot three arrows into the sky, and they fell back with blood on
them. So Nimrod said, “I have killed the God of Abraham.” But whence the
blood came is unsettled. Some say that the arrows hit a bird which flew
higher than the vultures; but others, with more probability, say they
struck a fish, which was being carried by the wind, that had caught it
up with the rain out of the sea.[303]
Abraham now married the daughter of his brother Haran, named Sarai or
Jisha, “the seeress,” because she was endowed with the spirit of
prophecy, say some, or, say others, because she was so beautiful that
every one wanted to see her. At the time of his marriage, Abraham was
aged fifty; others, however, suggest twenty-five.
Two years later, Nimrod was visited with a dream. He saw himself and all
his army in a valley, near the furnace into which he had cast Abraham. A
man resembling the latter stepped out of the furnace and approached the
king, holding a naked sword. When Nimrod recoiled, the man cast an egg
at his head; the egg broke and became a mighty river, which swept all
his host away, saving only three men; and on looking at them, the king
saw that they wore royal robes, and exactly resembled himself. Then the
stream retreated into the egg, and when all the water was gathered into
it, from the egg hopped out a chicken, which seated itself on Nimrod’s
head, and pecked out one of his eyes.
Next morning the king sent for his soothsayers to explain the dream, and
this was their interpretation: “Hear, O king! this dream presages to
thee great misfortune, which Abraham and his posterity shall bring upon
thee. The time will come when he will war with his forces against thee
and thy forces, and will overcome them and put them to the sword. Thou
alone wilt escape with three of thy confederates; but a messenger of
Abraham will cause thy death. Therefore, O king! remember that thy
council of wise men foretold this fifty-two years ago, in the stars at
Abraham’s birth. As long as Abraham lives thou art in jeopardy.
Wherefore should he be suffered to live any longer?”
Nimrod believing what was said, sent a servant to assassinate Abraham.
But Eliezer, the slave, whom Nimrod had given to the patriarch, had been
with the councillors when this advice was given, and he fled and told
Abraham before the emissary of the tyrant arrived; and Abraham left his
house and took refuge with Noah and Shem, and remained hidden with them
for the space of one month.
Here Terah sought him in secret; and Abraham addressed him a long
discourse on the vanity of idol-worship, and the evil of serving the
godless tyrant Nimrod. And Noah and Shem supported him.
Then Terah, who grieved over the death of his son Haran, consented to
all that Abraham had said, and he went forth with Abraham and his wife
Sarah, and Lot his grandson, the son of Haran, and all his household,
and they settled at Charan, where the land was fruitful and well
watered. The dwellers in Charan associated themselves with Abraham, who
instructed them in the knowledge and fear of the Lord.
2. THE CALL OF ABRAHAM, AND THE VISIT TO EGYPT.
For three years Abraham dwelt in Charan, till God called him to go
further with his wife Sarah, and to take up his abode in Canaan; but
Terah and Lot remained at Charan. Abraham reached Canaan and pitched his
tent among the inhabitants of that land; and on the spot where God
promised that He would give him all that pleasant country for his
inheritance, he erected an altar to the Eternal One.
For fifteen years he had dwelt in Canaan, and Abraham was now aged 70,
when, on the 15th day of the first month (Nisan), on the self-same day
on which, in after years, the children of Israel went out of Egypt, the
voice of God came to him saying, “I am the Lord that brought thee out of
the furnace of Chaldæa; to thee will I give this land to inherit it.”
And he said, “Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
Shall my descendants be faithful and true, and serve Thee the living
God, or will they rebel against God, against Thee, as did the men before
the Flood, and as did the men of Shinar who builded the tower?”
Then God bade him take an heifer of three years old, or a she-goat of
three years old, and a ram, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon. And
he took all these and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one
against another; but the birds divided he not.[304] And God said to him,
“When, in after days, thy descendants shall build me a temple, in it
shall these five kinds of victims be offered to me.”
“But,” said Abraham, “should the temple be destroyed, what then shall
they do?”
“Then,” answered the Most Holy, “they shall offer to me in spirit, and I
will pardon their sins.” The beasts and birds also signified the races
over which his seed was to reign; the beasts he divided, and they
betokened the Gentile races, from which they were to purge away their
idolatry: but _the birds divided he not_; for the birds signified the
elect nation.
Then came ravens and vultures down upon the carcases, but Abraham drove
them away (ver. 11); a symbol of the protection which God would accord
to the people, for His promise sake, and the sake of their father
Abraham, when the powers of evil, or mighty princes, menaced them.
And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abraham (ver.
12), and he saw the four realms,—the horror-awakening Babylonian,
Medo-Persian, Syro-Grecian, and Roman empires. And God said to Abraham
(ver. 13), “_Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a
land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict
them four hundred years._ But in the fourth generation thy seed shall
come hither again, after I have plagued the nation that has held them in
bondage with 250 plagues.”
“Is this decree spoken to punish me for my crimes?” asked Abraham.
“No,” answered the Almighty: “_Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace;
thou shalt be buried in a good old age_ (ver. 15); and Terah, who now
bewails his former idolatry, has a share in the eternal happiness; also
Ishmael, thy son, who shall be born to thee, will, in thy lifetime,
repent and return to good, and the profanity of thy grandson Esau shalt
thou not see.”’
And when the sun was set, it was dark, and the various periods of
futurity passed before the eyes of the seer. He beheld _a smoking
furnace_ (ver. 17); this was the flaming Gehinom, Hell, where sinners
shall expiate their iniquities. Then he saw _a burning lamp_: that was
the Law given on Sinai, and it _passed between those pieces_; that is,
he saw Israel go through the Red Sea.
Then said the voice of God to the patriarch, “I have showed thee the
Temple-worship, Law, Bondage, and Hell. I must tell thee that in the
times to come, through the sins of thy children, the Temple will be
destroyed, and the Law will be disregarded.
“Choose now, whether thou wilt have for their punishment, Bondage or
Hell.”
And Abraham after long hesitation answered, “I choose Hell;” for he
thought, “It is better to fall into the hands of God, than into the
hands of men.”
But the Lord answered and said, “Not so; thou hast chosen wrongly, for
from Bondage there will come deliverance, but from Gehinom, never.”
After that, Abraham returned to the land of Charan, and dwelt there many
years; and he instructed the men, and Sarah the women, in the true
religion. And when his father Terah was dead, God called him again, and
bade him go forth to the land which God had promised him; and he went
obediently, and Lot his brother’s son accompanied him. And he reached
the land of Canaan, and pitched first his wife’s tent, and then his own,
on the plain between Gerizim and Ebal; and he erected three altars in
thanks to God for His call, for His having brought him into the promised
land, and for having cast down his enemies before him. Then he went
south, and pitched on the spot where stands Jerusalem.
And now a famine came upon the land; this was the third famine since the
world was formed, and it was sent to prove Abraham. He murmured not, but
went down with Sarah his wife, and his servants.
When he reached the River of Egypt (Wadi el Arisch), Abraham rested some
days. As Abraham and Sarah walked together by the water-side, Abraham
saw for the first time, reflected in the water, the beauty of Sarah; for
he was so modest that he had never lifted his eyes to her face, and knew
not what she was like, till he saw her in the water. Then, when he saw
how beautiful she was, he persuaded her to pass as his sister in Egypt,
for he feared lest he should be slain for her sake; but as a further
precaution he shut her up in a chest.
On the frontier, the Custom-house officers insisted on his paying the
customs due for the box, and required that it should be opened. Abraham
offered to pay for the box as if it contained gold dust or gems, if only
they would not enforce their right of search.
“Does it contain silk?” asked the officers.
“I will pay the tenth, as of silk,” he answered.
“Does it contain silver?” they further asked.
“I will pay for it as silver.”
“Nay, then it must contain gold.”
“I will pay for it as gold.”
“Maybe it contains the most rare and costly gems.”
“I will pay for it as for gems.”