for it did not become a chief and prince, like Abraham, to deal with an
inferior; and Emor said in the audience of the people of the land, “_My
Lord, hear me; the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I
give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee;
bury thy dead._”
But this he said with craft, for he sought to take an advantage of
Abraham.[336]
Then Ephron said, “Put thine own price upon the land;” but this Abraham
would not do.
Then Ephron said to Abraham, “_My lord, hearken unto me; the land is
worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee?
bury therefore thy dead._”
Now the land was not worth half that sum, but Emor said in his heart,
“Abraham can afford to pay it, and he is in haste to bury his dead out
of his sight.”
Nevertheless, Abraham paid him in the sight of all his people. And the
transfer of the land and cave was signed by Amigal, son of Abischna the
Hittite; Elichoran, son of Essunass, the Hivite; Abdon, son of Ahirah,
the Gomorrhite; and Akdil, son of Abdis, the Sidonian.
Machpelah (double cave) was so called, because, say some, it contained
two chambers; or, say others, because Abraham paid double its value; or,
say others, because it became doubly holy; but others again observe,
with the highest probability, because Adam’s body had to be doubled up
to get it into the cave.
Because the Hittites dealt honourably, and sought to procure a place for
Abraham, where he might lay Sarah, their name is written ten times in
the Holy Scriptures.
They took also an oath of Abraham, that he and his seed should never
attack their city Jebus with violence; and they wrote his promise on
brazen pillars, and set them up in the market-place of Jebus. Therefore,
when the Israelites conquered Canaan, they left the Jebusites
unmolested.[337] But when David sought to take the stronghold of
Jebus,[338] its inhabitants said to him, “Thou canst not storm our city,
because of the covenant of Abraham, which is engraven on these pillars
of brass.”
David removed these brazen pillars, for they were in time honoured as
idols; therefore the inhabitants of Jebus were _hated of David’s
soul_;[339] but he did not break the covenant of Abraham, for he
obtained the city of Jebus, not by force of arms, but by purchase.[340]
Sarah was buried with the utmost honour; Shem (Melchizedek), his
grandson Eber, Abimelech, Aner, Eshcol and Mamre, together with all the
great men of the land, followed the bier. Abraham caused a great
mourning throughout the country to be made for seven days. After that,
Abraham returned to Beer-sheba, and Isaac went to be instructed in the
law by Melchizedek. A year after, died Abimelech, king of Gerar, and
Abraham attended his funeral. Soon after, also, died Nahor, Abraham’s
brother.
12. THE MARRIAGE OF ISAAC.
After the death of Sarah, say some, Abraham had a daughter named Bakila,
by Hagar, who returned to him now that her enemy was dead; but,
according to others, the great blessing of Abraham consisted in this,
that he had no daughters. Ishmael abandoned his disorderly ways, and
loved and respected his brother.
Isaac mourned his mother three years. When this time was elapsed,
Abraham called to him his faithful servant Eliezer, and said to him, “I
am old, and I know not the day of my death; therefore must I no longer
delay the marriage of my son Isaac. Lay thine hand upon my thigh, and
swear to me by God Almighty to fulfil my commission. Do not take for my
son a wife of the daughters of the Canaanites, but go to Haran, to the
place whence I came, and bring thence a wife for my son Isaac.” And he
added the proverb, “When you have wheat of your own, do not sow your
field with your neighbour’s corn.”
Eliezer asked, “But how, if a woman of that place will not accompany me
hither?”
But Abraham said, “Fear not; go, and the Lord be with thee.”
So the servant of Abraham went with ten camels, and he reached Haran in
three hours, for the earth fled under the feet of his camels, and
Michael, the angel, protected him on his way.
When he reached Haran, he besought the Lord to give him a sign, by which
he might know the maiden who was to be the wife of Isaac. “_Let it come
to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I
pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give
thy camels drink also; let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for
Thy servant Isaac._”
And there were many damsels by the fountain. And the servant said to
them, “Let down the pitcher that I may drink.” But they all said, “We
may not tarry, for we must take the water home.”
Then came Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of
Nahor, Abraham’s brother, out to the well, and she chid the maidens for
their churlishness; and lo! the water in the well leaped to the margin,
and she let down her pitcher and offered it to the man, and said,
“_Drink; and I will give thy camels drink also._” Then Eliezer leaped
from his camel, and he brought forth his gifts, and he gave her a nose
ring with a jewel of half a shekel weight, and bracelets of ten shekels
weight. And he asked if he might lodge in her house one night.
She answered, “Not one night only, but many.”
Now Rebekah’s brother, Laban, so called from the paleness of his
face,—or, say some, from the cowardice of his breast, which made him
pale,—coveted the man’s gold, and resolved to kill him. Therefore he put
poison in the bowl of meat which was offered him. But the bowl was
changed by accident, and it fell to the portion of Bethuel, and he ate,
and died that same night.
And Laban would have fallen upon Eliezer with his own hand, but that he
saw him lead the two camels at once over the brook, and he knew thereby
that he was stronger than he.
After the engagement had been drawn up, as is written in the first book
of Moses,[341] Eliezer urged for a speedy departure. Mother and brother
consented, but on the following day they asked that, besides the seven
days of mourning for Bethuel, they should tarry a year, or at least ten
months, according to the usual custom. But Rebekah opposed them, and
said that she would go at once.
It was noon when Eliezer and his retinue, together with Rebekah and her
nurse Deborah, left Haran, and in three hours they were at Hebron.
At the self-same time Isaac was abroad in the fields, returning from the
school of Seth, lamenting over his mother, and saying his evening
prayer. Rebekah saw him with his hands outspread, and his angel walking
behind him, and she said, “Who is that with a shining countenance, with
another walking behind him?”
At the same moment she knew who it was, and with prophetic vision she
saw that she would become the mother of Esau, and she trembled and fell
from the camel.
Isaac took Rebekah to wife and led her into the tent of Sarah, and the
door was once more open, and the perpetual lamp was again kindled, and
it seemed to Isaac as if all the happiness that had gone with Sarah, had
returned with Rebekah, so he was comforted for his mother.
Eliezer was rewarded for his faithful service, for Abraham gave him his
freedom, and he was taken into Paradise without having tasted of death.
13. THE DEATH OF ABRAHAM.
Abraham, after the death of Sarah, had brought back Hagar, and she was
called Keturah, which signifies “the Bond-woman,” and this she was
called because she had ever regarded herself as bound to Abraham, though
he had cast her away. But others say that Keturah was not Hagar, but was
a daughter of one of Abraham’s slaves. She bare him six sons,[342] all
strong, and men of clear understandings.
According to Mussulman traditions, she was the daughter of Jokdan, and
was a Canaanitish woman.
Abraham said to the Most High, in gratitude of heart, “Thou didst
promise me one son, Isaac, and thou hast given me many!”
All his substance he gave to Isaac; but some say he gave him a double
portion only, and the rest he made over to his other sons. And to Isaac
only he gave the right to be buried in the cave of Machpelah, and along
with that, his blessing. But others say that he did not give his
blessing to Isaac, lest it should cause jealousy to spring up between
him and his brothers. He said, “I am a mortal man; to-day here, and
to-morrow in the grave; I have done all I can do for my children, and
now I will depart when it pleases my heavenly Father.”
He sent the sons of Keturah away, that they might not dwell near Isaac,
lest his greatness should swallow them up; and he built them a city of
iron, with walls of iron. But the walls were so high that the light of
the sun could not penetrate the streets, therefore he set in them
diamonds and pearls to illumine the iron city.
Epher, a grandson of Abraham and Keturah,[343] went with an army into
Libya and conquered it, and founded there a kingdom, and the land he
called after his own name, Africa.
Abraham was alive when Rebekah, after twenty years of barrenness, bare
to Isaac his sons, Esau and Jacob; and he saw them grow up before him
till their fifteenth year, and he died on the day that Esau sold his
birthright.
The days of his life had been 175 years; he reached not the age of 180,
to which Isaac attained, because God shortened his life by five years,
lest he should know the evil deeds of Esau.
The Angel of Death did not smite him, but God kissed him, and he died by
that kiss; and because the sword of the angel touched him not, but his
soul parted to the kiss of God, his body saw no corruption.
This is the Mussulman story of his death. The Angel of Death, when
bidden to take the soul of the prophet, hesitated about doing so without
his consent. So he took upon him the form of a very old man, and came to
Abraham’s door. The patriarch invited him in and gave him to eat, but he
noted with surprise the great infirmity of the old man, how his limbs
tottered, how dull was his sight, and how incapable he was of feeding
himself, for his hands shook, and how little he could eat, for his teeth
were gone. And he asked him how old he was. Then the angel answered, “I
am aged 202.” Now Abraham was then 200 years old. So he said, “What! in
two years shall I be as feeble and helpless as this? O Lord, suffer me
to depart; now send the Angel of Death to me, to remove my soul.” Then
the angel took him,[344] having first watched till he was on his knees
in prayer.[345]
Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the double cave by the side of Sarah;
and he was followed to his grave by all the inhabitants of Canaan, and
Shem and Eber went before the bier. And all the people wailed and said,
“Woe to the vessel when the pilot is gone! woe to the pilgrims when
their guide is lost!”
A whole year was Abraham lamented by the inhabitants of the land; men,
and women, and young children joined in bewailing him.
Never was there a man like Abraham in perfect righteousness, serving
God, and walking in His way from the earliest youth to the day of his
death.
Abraham was the first, say the Mussulmans, whose beard became white. He
asked God when it became so, “What is this?” The Lord replied, “It is a
token of gentleness, my son.”
Footnote 296:
For the Rabbinic traditions relating to Abraham I am indebted to the
exhaustive monograph of Dr. B. Beer, “Leben Abraham’s nach Auffassung
der jüdischen Sage,” Leipzig, 1859, to which I must refer my readers
for references to Jewish books, which are given with an exactitude
which leaves nothing to be desired.
Footnote 297:
Weil, p. 69.
Footnote 298:
The Mussulman history of the patriarch relates that Azar brought
Abraham before Nimrod and said, “This is thy God who made all things.”
“Then why did he not make himself less ugly?” asked Abraham,—for
Nimrod had bad features.
Footnote 299:
The Mussulman story, which is precisely the same as the Jewish, adds
that the camels refused to bear wood to form the pyre, but cast it on
the ground; therefore Abraham blessed the camels. But the mules had no
compunction, therefore he cursed them that they should be sterile. The
birds who flew over the fire were killed, the city was enveloped in
its smoke, and the crackling of its flames could be heard a day’s
journey off.
Footnote 300:
Weil, p. 73.
Footnote 301:
Both the Rabbinic commentators and the Mussulman historians tell a
long story about the discussion carried on between Gabriel and Abraham
in the air, as he was being shot into the flames. It is hardly worth
repeating.
Footnote 302:
Tabari, i. p. 147.
Footnote 303:
Weil, p. 78.
Footnote 304:
Gen. xv.
Footnote 305:
Tabari, i. p. 156.
Footnote 306:
Gen. xiv. 19. The book Jasher also says that Amraphel and Nimrod are
the same.
Footnote 307:
Gen. xiv. 17.
Footnote 308:
Gen. xiv. 19, 20.
Footnote 309:
Gen. xiv. 23, 24.
Footnote 310:
Ps. ix. 8.
Footnote 311:
Tabari, i. c. xlviii.
Footnote 312:
Gittin, fol. 56 b; Pirke of R. Eliezer, fol. 49.
Footnote 313:
Weil, p. 80.
Footnote 314:
Tabari, i. c. lii.; Abulfeda, p. 25.
Footnote 315:
Apocrypha de Loto, apud Fabricium, t. i. pp. 428-431.
Footnote 316:
Solomon Jarschi, Comm. on Moses, xx. 5.
Footnote 317:
Josh. xii. 24.
Footnote 318:
Psalm cxiii. 9.
Footnote 319:
This climax of absurdity is found also in the Mussulman histories of
the Patriarch.
Footnote 320:
Weil, p. 83.
Footnote 321:
It seems probable that S. Paul alludes to this traditional speech more
than once, as for instance Gal. iii. 9.
Footnote 322:
The same story is told by the Mohammedans: Weil, p. 90.
Footnote 323:
Gen. xxi. 24-27.
Footnote 324:
Numbers xxi. 16, 17.
Footnote 325:
Gen. xxi. 33.
Footnote 326:
The Mussulmans tell the story of Ishmael almost in every particular
the same as that given below.
Footnote 327:
Exod. iv. 20.
Footnote 328:
Zech. ix. 9.
Footnote 329:
When King Sapor heard the R. Samuel explain that Messiah would come
riding on an ass, the king said, “I will give him a horse; it is not
seemly that he should ride an ass.” “What,” answered the Rabbi, “hast
thou a horse with a hundred colours?” (Talmud, Tract. Sanhedrim, fol.
98, col. 1.)
Footnote 330:
The day is uncertain. Some say it was the 3rd Nisan; others, it was
the first of the seventh month, Tischri, New Year’s day; others, that
it was the Day of Atonement. Some say Isaac’s age was 37; others say
36; others 26; others 25; others 16; others 13; others, again, say 5;
and others say only 2 years.
Footnote 331:
In the Rabbinic tradition, the type of Christ comes out more
distinctly than in Genesis, for here we see Isaac not merely offered
by his father, but also giving himself as a free-will offering,
immaculate without in his body, and within in his soul.
Footnote 332:
Might not these words be spoken mystically of Christ?
Footnote 333:
And these prophetic. Abraham means that God must take care of him in
his old age. But they may also be taken by us thus, God must take thy
place as the victim.
Footnote 334:
Here again—it may be fanciful—but I cannot help thinking we have the
type continued of Christ’s presence perpetuated in the Church, in the
Tabernacle in which the Host is reserved, that all passing by may look
thereupon and worship, and “Remember Me” in the adorable Sacrament.
With a vast amount of utterly unfounded fable, the Rabbinic traditions
may, and probably do, contain much truth.
Footnote 335:
“If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I
depart, I will send Him unto you.” (John xvi. 7.)
Footnote 336:
This is one instance out of several in which the honourable and
generous conduct of a Gentile is distorted by Rabbinical tradition;
the later Rabbis being unwilling to give any but their own nation
credit for liberal and just dealing. It may have been observed in the
account of Abimelech, how the frank exchange of promises between
Abraham and the Philistine prince was regarded by them as sinful.
Footnote 337:
Joshua i. 21.
Footnote 338:
2 Sam. v. 6; 1 Chron. xi. 4.
Footnote 339:
2 Sam. v. 8.
Footnote 340:
2 Sam. xxiv. 24; 1 Chron. xxi. 24. This is, however, in direct
contravention of the account in the fifth chapter of the 2nd Samuel.
Footnote 341:
Gen. xxiv. 34-49.
Footnote 342:
Gen. xxv. 2.
Footnote 343:
Gen. xxv. 4.
Footnote 344:
Tabari, i. c. lvii.
Footnote 345:
Weil, p. 98.
XXV.
MELCHIZEDEK.
We have seen that, according to Jewish traditions, Melchizedek is Shem,
the son of Noah, whom God consecrated to be a priest for ever, and who
set up a kingdom on Salem.[346]
It is also said that, before he died, Lamech ordered his son, Noah, to
transport the body of Adam to the centre of the earth. Now the centre or
navel of the earth is Salem, afterwards called Jerusalem.
Lamech also bade Noah confide to one of his children the custody of the
body of Adam, obliging him to remain all his life in the service of God,
and in the practice of celibacy, never to shed blood, and to offer to
God only the sacrifice of bread and wine.
Noah chose, according to some, Shem; according to others, Melchizedek,
the son of Shem. He did not suffer him to wear other garments than the
skins of beasts; nor to shave his head nor cut his nails, nor to build a
house.
A Christian tradition is that Adam was buried on Golgotha, and that when
Christ died, His blood flowed down upon the head of Adam, and cleansed
him of his sin.
Dom Calmet, in one of his dissertations, gives various curious opinions
which have been entertained on the subject of Melchizedek: some affirmed
that he was identical with the patriarch Enoch, who came from the
Terrestrial Paradise to confer with Abraham; and others, that the Magi
who adored the infant Christ were Enoch, Melchizedek, and Elias.
And some have supposed that Melchizedek was created before Adam, and was
of celestial race. Others again have supposed that he was our Lord Jesus
Christ who appeared to Abraham.
S. Athanasius gives a curious tradition of Melchizedek.
A queen, named Salem, had a grandson named Melchi. He was an idolater.
Where he reigned is unknown; but it is supposed that it was where now
stands the city Jerusalem. Melchi married a princess named Salem, like
his grandmother. By her he had two sons, of whom the younger was called
Melchizedek.
One day that Melchi was about to sacrifice to idols, he said to his son
Melchizedek, “Bring me here seven calves to sacrifice to the gods.”
Whilst going to execute his father’s order, Melchizedek raised his eyes
to heaven and said, “He who made heaven and earth, the sea and the
stars, is the only God to whom sacrifice should be offered.”
Then he returned to his father, who asked him, “Where are the calves?”
“My father,” he replied, “hearken to me, and be not angry. Instead of
offering thy victims to those gods which are no gods, offer them to Him
who is above the heavens, and who rules all things.”
King Melchi replied,“Go and do what I have commanded thee, as thou
valuest thy life.”
After that he turned to his wife Salem, and he told her that he purposed
sacrificing one of his sons. The queen wept bitterly, because she knew
that the king designed the immolation of Melchizedek, and she said,
“Alas! I have suffered and laboured in vain.”
“Do not weep,” said Melchi, somewhat touched. “We will draw the lot: if
it is mine, I will choose which of the sons is to die; if it be thine,
thou shalt keep the one dearest to thee.”
Now the lot fell to the queen, so she chose Melchizedek, whom she loved;
and the king adorned his elder son for sacrifice.
There were in the temple troops of oxen and flocks of sheep, and five
hundred and three children, destined by their parents to be sacrificed.
The queen was at home weeping, and she said to Melchizedek, “Dost thou
not weep for thy brother, whom we have brought up with so much care, and
who is led to the slaughter?”
Melchizedek wept, and he said to his mother, “I will go and invoke the
Lord, the only true God Most High.”
He ascended Tabor, and kneeling down, he prayed, saying, “My God, Lord
of all, Creator of heaven and earth, I adore Thee as the only true God;
hearken now unto my prayer. May the earth open her mouth and swallow up
all those who assist at the sacrifice of my brother!”
God heard the cry of Melchizedek, and the earth parted asunder, and
swallowed up the temple and all who were therein; and the city of Salem
also, and not a stone was left standing where it had been.
When Melchizedek came down from Tabor, and saw what God had done, he was
filled with dismay, and retired into a forest, where he spent seven
years, feeding on herbs and drinking the dew.
At the end of that time, a voice from heaven called Abraham, and said,
“Take thine ass, lade it with rich garments, go to Tabor and cry thrice,
O man of God! Then a man of a savage appearance will come forth to thee
out of the forest. And after thou hast cut his hair and pared his nails,
clothe him with the garments thou hast taken with thee, and ask him to
bless thee.”
Abraham did as he was bidden. He went to Tabor and called thrice, “O man
of God!” and there came out to him Melchizedek. Then a voice was heard
from heaven, which said, “As there remains no one on earth of the family
of Melchizedek, it shall be said of him that he is without father and
without mother, without beginning of days or end of life.”
Therefore it is said of him, as of Enoch and Elias, that having been
created a priest for ever, he is not dead.
Afterwards he is said to have founded Jerusalem.[347]
Suidas the Grammarian gives the following account of this mysterious
personage.
“Melchizedek, priest of God, king of Canaan, built a city on a mountain
called Sion, and named it Salem; which is the same as Εἰρηνόπολις, the
City of Peace. In which, when he had reigned a hundred and thirteen
years, he died, righteous and single. For this reason he is said to have
been without generation, because he was not of the seed of Abraham, but
of the race of Canaan, and of abhorred seed. Therefore he was without
honourable generation. Nor did it beseem him, the essence of all
righteousness, to unite with the race of all unrighteousness. Therefore
he is said to have been without father or mother. But that he was a
Canaanite, both as to country, of which he was lord; and as to nation,
of which he was king; and as to neighbourhood, joining that of the
iniquitous Sodomites,—that is evident enough. Nevertheless Salem, of
which he was king, is that celebrated Jerusalem, which, however, did not
bear then the complete name of Hierusalem, but the adjective ἱεροῦ was
added to Σαλήμ afterwards, and compounded into Hierusalem. And because
no genealogy is given to him, he is said to be without father and
mother. Therefore, when you hear him spoken of as God, by the sect of
the Melchizedekites, remember the saying of the Apostle, that he was of
another race, to wit, that of Canaan.”[348]
Another apocryphal account of Melchizedek is in the “Chronicon
Paschale:”—
“A certain ancient relates and affirms, concerning Melchizedek, this. 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.