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
labour 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.
Footnote 346:
This the Targumim, or paraphrases of the Sacred Text, distinctly say,
“Melchizedek, who was Shem, son of Noah, king of Jerusalem.”
(Etheridge, i. p. 199.)
Footnote 347:
Fabricius, Codex Pseud. V. T. t. i. p. 311. The Book of the Combat of
Adam says Melchizedek was the son of Canaan.
Footnote 348:
Suidas, Lexic. s. v. Μελχισεδέκ.
Footnote 349:
Πασχάλιον, seu Chronicon Paschale a mundo condito ad Heraclii imp.
ann. vicesimum. Ed. C. du Fresne du Cange; Paris, 1688, p. 49.
Footnote 350:
Michael Glycas, Βίβλος χρονική, ed. Labbe; Paris, 1660, p. 135.
Footnote 351:
Georgius Cedrenus, Σύνοψις ἱστοριῶν, ed. Goar; Paris, 1647, t. i. p.
27.
Footnote 352:
Josephus Ben-Gorion, lib. vi. c. 35, apud Fabricium, i. p. 326.
Footnote 353:
S. Epiphanius Hæresi, lv. c. 2.
Footnote 354:
Talmud, Tract. Bava Bathra.
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 neighbouring 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 rites 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
Solomon 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 brightest 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 sun,
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 hundredth, 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 honour 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.
Footnote 355:
Tabari, i. c. liii.
Footnote 356:
Tabari; Weil, Abulfeda, pp. 25-27, &c.
Footnote 357:
Or El Khoudr; he is identified in Arab legend with S. George and
Elias.
Footnote 358:
Weil, pp. 94-6.
Footnote 359:
Tabari, i. p. 181.
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 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 colours. 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 now 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
venison, 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]
Therefore Jacob went out only at night; during the day be hid himself
away. Thus several years passed, and his life became intolerable to him.
So his mother said, “Thy uncle Laban, the son of Bethuel, has great
possessions, and is very old. Go, and ask him to give thee his daughter;
and if he consents, then tarry with him till thy brother’s anger turn
away.” Jacob listened to the advice of his mother, and he fled away
without letting Esau know.