Ibid. p. 404.
Footnote 592:
Berescheth Rabba.
Footnote 593:
The Mussulmans say Khasqîl or Ezechiel.
Footnote 594:
Judges i. 4.
Footnote 595:
Tabari, i. p. 404.
XXXIV.
THE JUDGES.
If Joshua, the first of the Judges, has, to a great extent, escaped the
hands of legend manufacturers, the same may be said of his successors,
Phinehas, Othniel, Ehud, Deborah and Barak, Gibeon, Abimelech, Tola,
Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. Even Samson has not been
surrounded by such a multitude of traditions as might have been
expected.
The Mussulmans have little to say of him, and the Jewish legends are not
numerous.
The Rabbi Samuel, son of Nahaman, said that Samson once took two
mountains, one in each hand, and knocked them together, as a man will
strike together two pebbles. The Rabbi Jehuda said that when the Spirit
of the Lord rested on him, he strode in one stride from Zorah to
Eshtaol. The Rabbi Nahaman added that his hair stood up, and one hair
tinkled against another, so that the sound could be heard, like that of
bells, from Zorah to Eshtaol.[596]
Abulfaraj says that Phinehas, the son of Eleazer, the son of Aaron,
after the death of Joshua, was commanded by an angel to put the manna,
the rod, the tables of the covenant, and the five books of Moses in a
brazen urn, seal it with lead, and conceal it in a cave, as the
Israelites were too wicked to be entrusted with such a treasure.[597]
Footnote 596:
Eisenmenger, i. p. 395.
Footnote 597:
Hist. Dynast. p. 24.
XXXV.
SAMUEL.
Gjalout (Goliath) was king of the Philistines. He was of the race of the
ancient giants, the Adites and the Themudites, who were from fifty to a
hundred cubits in height.
The children of Israel were grievously oppressed by him, and they
besought God to send them a prophet who would reinstruct them in the law
of Moses, and in the true religion. For thirty years they besought God,
but no prophet was given to them. In the meanwhile, the Philistines
oppressed them more and more, and whenever the Israelites rose against
them, they defeated the Israelites with great slaughter.
There died a man of the tribe of Levi, Rayyan (Elkanah) son of Elkama
who was descended from Aaron the brother of Moses. The elders of Israel
hearing that he had died, leaving his wife pregnant, went to her and
surrounded her with the greatest care and comforts.
There was amongst them a wise man named Hil (Eli), who was high-priest;
to him they confided the care of the widow. In time she bore a son, who
was named Ischmawil (Samuel).
Eli brought up the child Samuel in the temple, to the age of seven
years, and he taught him the Pentateuch and the religion of Moses.
Samuel regarded Eli as his father, because he had been brought up by
him, and he loved and reverenced him greatly.
One night when he was asleep, Gabriel came into the room and made a
noise, so that Samuel awoke.
He saw no one, so he called to Eli, “Master! didst thou summon me?”
Eli replied, “No, my son, I did not summon thee.”
Next night the same occurred; so also the third night.
Then Eli thought that God wished to give to Samuel the gift of prophecy;
therefore he said, “My son, if thou art called again in the night,
reply, Here am I; what wouldest Thou? I am in Thy hands.”
Samuel did so. Then Gabriel appeared to him and communicated to him the
message of God.
Samuel told Eli that the Lord had given him the gift of prophecy, by the
mouth of His messenger Gabriel.
Then Eli was rejoiced, and he announced the glad tidings to all Israel.
Eli had two sons whom he had instructed in the art of offering sacrifice
according to the law of Moses, but he had taught them nothing else. Eli
himself moreover neglected to sacrifice, and he allowed his sons to live
after their lusts, unrestrained by his paternal and priestly rebuke.
Therefore God spake to Samuel that He would punish Eli and his sons; but
Samuel feared to show it to the high priest.
Then said Eli to him, “Has God given thee a message to me?”
And Samuel answered, “God has said, Why hast thou neglected to offer
sacrifice, so that thy sons add thereto or detract therefrom? And why
hast thou not constrained them? Because of this sin, I shall deliver
thee into the hands of an enemy, who shall slay thy sons, and take the
ark, and cause thee to perish also.”[598]
Then Gjalout came, and made war against the children of Israel, and
there was a great battle, and Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were
slain, and the ark was taken; and Eli fell backward from off his seat
when he heard the news, and his neck brake, and he died.
In the ark, that now fell into the hands of the Philistines, were
preserved the tables of the Law, which God had given to Moses, and a
basin in which the angels washed and purified the hearts of the
prophets, and the mitre and breastplate and pontifical robes of Aaron.
The Israelites had been accustomed, in times of peril, to produce the
ark, and it had delivered them from evil by virtue of the sacred relics
it contained. As for the Shekinah which rested upon it, and from which
the ark took its name of Tabut-Shekinah, the Mussulman authors assure us
it had the form of a leopard, which, whenever the ark was carried
against the enemies of God’s people, rose on its legs, and uttered so
potent a roar, that the foes of Israel fell to the ground. These
authors, however, derived this fable from Rabbinic writers.[599]
The king of the Philistines, having obtained possession of the ark,
placed it in a draught-house, purposing thereby to express his hatred of
the Jews, and his contempt for that which they regarded as most sacred.
But a terrible disease broke out among the Philistines, and the ark was
sent from Gaza to another city. There the plague appeared immediately,
and the Philistines were at length obliged to return the ark to the
Israelites.
In the meantime, the Israelites, in consternation at the loss of their
ark, gathered about Samuel, and besought him to consecrate a king for
them, who might go forth to battle before them, and recover for them the
ark.
Then Samuel said: “If I consecrate a king for you, will you not desert
him, and refuse to obey him?”
But they all protested, “We will follow him wherever he leads, and we
will obey all his commands.”[600]
Then Schareh, who was surnamed Thalout (Saul), on account of the
greatness of his stature, was chosen by Samuel to be their king. He was
poor, and by trade a water-carrier, and his ancestors had all been
water-carriers.
Now the father of Saul had lost an ass, which had escaped into the
desert. Saul went after it.
Then Samuel came to meet him, and said to him: “Thou shalt reign as king
over the people of Israel.”
Saul replied: “O prophet of God! thou knowest that my tribe is the least
among the tribes, and that I am the poorest among the members of my
tribe.”
Samuel said: “Nevertheless, God has ordered that so it should be.”
Then he poured on his head the sacred oil which had been brought to
Samuel out of heaven by Gabriel.
But some say that this oil belonged to Joseph the son of Jacob, and it
was preserved by the prophets. When this oil was poured on Saul’s head
and face, it made his skin brilliant and pure.
Now the prophets all came out of the tribe of Levi, and the tribe of
Benjamin was despised greatly by the Israelites. And when they heard
that their king was from that tribe, and was a water-carrier, they were
angry and exclaimed, “Why shall he reign over us? We are as worthy to
reign as he!”[601]
Samuel answered, “God gives power to whom He wills.”
The Israelites said, “Show us a sign.”
Samuel brought the sacred oil forth, and it boiled in the presence of
Saul.[602]
But that did not suffice them. Then they asked another sign; and Samuel
said, “The ark shall return.”
And they lifted up their eyes, and lo! the ark was coming to them
attached to the tails of two cows, and angels guided the cows.[603]
Then the children of Israel doubted no longer, but accepted Saul as
their king.
Then said Samuel to the people: “The God of your fathers has sent me
unto you, to promise you victory over the Philistines, and deliverance
from your bondage, if you will turn and leave your evil ways.”
“What shall we do,” asked one of the elders, “that we may obtain the
favour of God?”
Samuel answered, “Ye must pray to God alone, and offer no sacrifices to
idols, nor eat the flesh of swine, or blood; neither must you eat
anything which is not slaughtered in the name of the Most High. Ye must
assist one another, honour your parents, entreat your wives with
kindness, and support the widows, orphans, and poor. Ye shall believe in
the prophets who have gone before me, especially in Abraham, for whom
God turned a fiery pile into a pleasure garden; in Ishmael, whose neck
God made as a flint-stone, and for whom He opened a fountain in the
stony desert; and in Moses, who with his staff opened twelve clay paths
through the sea. Also ye shall believe in the prophets who shall follow
after me, especially in Isa Ibn Mariam (Jesus, Son of Mary), the Spirit
of God, and in Mohammed Ibn Abd-allah.”
“And who is this Isa?” asked one of the elders of Israel.
“Isa,” pursued Samuel, “is the prophet foretold in the Tora as the Word
of God. His mother Mariam (Mary) shall conceive him by the will of God,
and by a breath of the angel Gabriel. In his mother’s womb will he
praise the almighty power of God, and testify to the immaculate purity
of his mother; afterwards will he heal the sick and crippled, will
quicken the dead, and will create living birds out of clay.[604] His
godless cotemporaries will deal cruelly with him, and will crucify him;
but God will deceive their eyes and will let another die in his room,
and he will be carried up into heaven like the prophet Idris (Enoch).”
“And Mohammed,” asked the same Israelite, “who is he? His name sounds
strange in our ears, never have we heard that name before.”
“Mohammed,” answered Samuel, “does not belong to the race of Israel; he
will descend from the seed of Ishmael, and he will be the last and
greatest of the prophets, before whom Moses and Christ will bend at the
Resurrection Day. His name, which signifies the Much Praised, is
prophetic of the laud and honour he will receive from all creatures on
earth, and all the angels in heaven. The miracles he will work are
numberless, so that a man’s life is not long enough to relate them all.
I shall be able to tell you only the events of a single night.
“One fearful night of tempest, in which neither cock will crow nor dog
bark, Mohammed shall be aroused from sleep by Gabriel, who shall appear
to him in the shape he has when he appears before God, with seven
hundred wings streaming with light; between each a space such as a
fleet-footed horse could scarce traverse in five hundred years. Gabriel
will lead the prophet forth into the open air, where the wondrous horse
Borak will be ready. That is the horse on which Abraham mounted when he
made his pilgrimages from Syria to Mecca. This horse has two wings as an
eagle, and feet like a dromedary, and a body like a costly gem, shining
like the sun, and a head like the fairest maiden. On this wondrous
beast, whose brow bears the inscription, ‘There is no God save God, and
Mohammed is his prophet,’ he will mount and ride, first to Medina, then
to Sinai, thence to Bethlehem, and finally to Jerusalem, to view the
holy places, and at them to offer up his prayers. From Jerusalem he will
ascend on a golden ladder, with rungs of rubies, emeralds, and jacinths,
into the seventh heaven, where he will be instructed in all the
mysteries of the creation, and the governance of the world. He will see
the blessed in all their joy, in Paradise, and the sinners, in all their
pain, in Hell. There will he see many pasturing wild cattle in
unfruitful fields. These are they who in the time of life used the gifts
of God without giving to those in need. Others will he see running
about, and carrying in one hand fresh, and in the other putrid, meat,
and as often as they attempt to taste the former, a fiery rod will smite
them on the hand, till they devour the latter. This is the punishment of
those who have violated marriage, and have preferred forbidden
pleasures. Others have a swollen body, swelling daily more and more;
these are the fraudulent and avaricious. Others have their tongues and
lips fastened together with iron clamps; these are the slanderers and
backbiters. Between Paradise and Hell sits Adam, laughing with joy when
the gate of Heaven opens to receive one of his sons, and he hears the
songs and shouts of the blessed; weeping with self-reproach when the
gate of Hell uncloses to take in one of his descendants, and he hears
the sobbing of the damned. On this night will Mohammed also see, besides
Gabriel, the other angels, who have each seventy thousand heads, and in
each head seventy thousand faces, and in each face seventy thousand
mouths, and in each mouth seventy thousand tongues, wherewith they cease
not day or night to praise God in seventy thousand diverse languages. He
will also see the angel of atonement, who is half fire, half ice; also
the angel who watches the treasure of fire with gloomy countenance and
flashing eyes; also the angel of death, with a great writing-table in
his hand, whereon are inscribed many names, and from which at every
instant he wipes off several hundreds; finally, the angel who guards the
waters, and weighs in great scales the water allotted to each spring and
well, and brook and river; and the angel who bears up the throne of God
on his shoulders, and has a horn in his mouth, wherewith he will blow
the blast that is to wake the dead. Moreover, the prophet will be
conducted through many seas of light near to the throne itself, which is
so great that the whole world will be beside it as a link in a coat of
mail dropped in the desert. What will be further revealed to him,”
answered Samuel, “is unknown to me; this only I know, that, after having
contemplated the Majesty of God a bowshot off, he will descend the
ladder precipitately, and, mounting Borak, will return to Mecca. Now the
whole of this journey, his sojourn in Medina, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and
the seventh heaven, will occupy so little time, that a water-pitcher
which he upset as he left the house in Mecca will not have run all its
water out by his return.”
The assembled Israelites listened to Samuel, and when he was silent,
they cried with one voice, “We believe in God and in all the past
prophets, and in all those who are yet for to come. Pray for us that we
may escape the tyranny of Gjalout (Goliath).”
Thus Saul was chosen king of Israel, and Samuel was prophet to the
people of God.[605]
Footnote 598:
Tabari, i. c. lxxxvii.
Footnote 599:
D’Herbelot, Bibl. Orient., s. v. Aschmouil.
Footnote 600:
Koran, Sura ii. v. 247, 248.
Footnote 601:
Koran, Sura ii. v. 248.
Footnote 602:
D’Herbelot, Bib. Orientale, t. i. p. 263.
Footnote 603:
Tabari, i. p. 417.
Footnote 604:
This incident, from the apocryphal gospels of the childhood of Christ,
shall be related in the Legendary Lives of New Testament Characters.
Footnote 605:
Weil, pp. 193-8.
XXXVI.
SAUL.
1. WAR WITH THE PHILISTINES.—GOLIATH SLAIN.
Samuel ordered Thalout (Saul) to make war upon Gjalout (Goliath), and to
assemble the fighting men of the tribes of Israel. Saul summoned all the
men, and they numbered eighty thousand. Samuel gave Saul a suit of mail,
and said to him, “He who can wear this coat with ease will decide the
war, and Goliath will perish by his hand.”
Saul started with his army; his way led through a desert, a day’s
journey across; and it was very hot weather. On the other side of the
desert was a broad river, between Jordan and Palestine, and the children
of Israel had to pass this river to reach the army of Goliath. Saul
thought that now he would prove his soldiers, for Samuel had bidden him
take into battle only as many men as he could rely upon.
The men were faint with heat and thirst as they reached the river of
Palestine, and Saul said, “He who drinks of this water shall not come
with me, but he who drinks not thereof shall follow after me.”[606] For
he would not have them slake their thirst till they reached Jordan.[607]
But, according to another version of the story, the men were fainting in
the wilderness, and murmured against Saul. Then Samuel prayed, and God
brought a water-spring out of the dry, stony ground, and made standing
water in the desert, fresh as snow, sweet as honey, and white as
milk.[608]
Samuel spake to the soldiers, and said, “Ye have sinned against your
king and against God, by murmuring. Therefore refuse to drink of this
water except in the hollow of your hand, and so expiate your
fault.”[609]
Samuel’s words were disregarded. Only three hundred and thirteen men
were found who had sufficient control over themselves not to drink
except slightly out of the hollow of their hand; but these felt their
thirst quenched, whereas those who had lain down and lapped were still
parched with thirst.
Saul and his army came before that of Goliath; then said the majority of
those who had lain down and lapped, “We have no strength to-day to stand
against the Philistines.” So Saul dismissed them to their homes, to the
number of seventy-six thousand men; he had still with him four thousand
men. Next day, when they saw the array of the Philistines, and the
gigantic stature of their king, and their harness flashing in the sun,
the hearts of more of the warriors failed, and they would not follow
Saul into battle, but said, “We have no strength to-day to stand against
the Philistines!”
So Saul dismissed three thousand six hundred men, and there remained to
him only three hundred and thirteen, the same number as those who on the
day of Bedr remained with the prophet Mohammed.
Then said Saul, “God is favourable to us!” and he advanced, and set his
army in array against Goliath. And he prayed, saying, “Grant us, O Lord,
perseverance.”[610]
However, God sent an order by Samuel, saying, “Go not into battle this
day, for the man who is to slay Goliath is not here; he is Daud (David),
son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz; he is a little man, with grey
eyes, and little hair, timid of heart, and slender of body. By this
shalt thou know him: when thou placest the horn upon his head, the oil
will overflow and boil.”
Then Samuel went to Jesse, and said to him, “Amongst thy sons there is
one who will slay Goliath.”
Jesse said, “I have eleven sons, men stalwart and comely.”
Samuel placed the horn on their heads, but the oil was not to be seen.
Then God gave him a vision, and he said to him, “Look not at the beauty
and strength of these men, but on the purity of their hearts and their
fear of God.”
Samuel said to Jesse, “God says thou art a liar, and He says thou hast
another son besides these.”
Jesse answered, “It is true; but he is diminutive in stature, and I am
ashamed to bring him into the company of men; I make him tend sheep; he
is somewhere with the flock to-day.”
Samuel went to the place, and it was a valley into which a torrent fell.
He saw David drawing the sheep out of the torrent by twos. Samuel said,
“Certainly this is the man I seek.” He placed the horn on his head, and
the oil overflowed.
Now Goliath, seeing the small number of the children of Israel, despised
them, and scorned to fight them. He sent a messenger to Saul, saying,
“Thou hast come out to fight against me with this handful, and I disdain
to attack thee with my large army. If thou wilt, come forth that we may
fight each other, or send any one out of the army, whom thou wilt, to
fight with me.”
None in Saul’s army would venture against the giant, and Saul was
himself afraid. He produced the shirt of mail Samuel had given him, and
he tried it upon each of his soldiers in turn; but it was too short for
one, too long for another, too tight for a third, and too loose for a
fourth.
Now the father of David had come with his eleven sons into the host; but
he had left David, because he was young and small of stature, to keep
the sheep; and he had bidden him, from time to time, bring him supplies
of food. David came with the provisions. He was dressed in a woollen
shirt, and he bore in his hand a staff, and a pouch attached to his
waist.
As he passed over a pebbly strip of soil, a stone cried to him, “Pick me
up, and take me with thee.” He stooped and picked up the stone, and
placed it in his pouch. And when he had taken a few paces, another stone
cried to him, “Pick me up, and take me with thee.” He did so. And a
third stone cried in like manner, and was in like manner taken by David.
The first stone was that wherewith Abraham had driven away Satan, when
he sought to dissuade the patriarch from offering up his son; and the
second stone was that on which the foot of Gabriel rested when he opened
the fountain in the desert for Hagar and Ishmael; and the third stone
was that wherewith Jacob strove against the angel whom his brother Esau
had sent against him.[611] But, according to another account, the first
was the stone which Moses cast against the enemies of God, the second
was that cast by Aaron, the third was destined to cause the death of
Goliath.[612] When David came into the army, Saul had finished trying on
the suit of mail upon the soldiers, and he said, “It fits none of them.”
Then he spied David, and he said, “Young man, let me place this shirt of
mail on thee.” Then he cast it over him, and it fitted him exactly.
Saul said, “Wilt thou fight Goliath?”
David answered, “I will do so.”
Saul said, “With what horse and arms wilt thou go?”
David answered, “I will have no horse and no arms, save these stones of
the brook.”
David was feeble in body, he had grey eyes, was short,
yellow-complexioned, thin-faced, and had red hair.[613]
Saul had little hope that David would overcome the giant, but he thought
his example might shame and stimulate others, therefore he let him go.
Now when Goliath came forth and defied the army of Israel, David went to
meet him, wearing only his linen shirt, and belt, and pouch, and he had
his shepherd’s staff in his hand.
Then cried Goliath, “Who art thou, that comest out to meet me?”
Then David replied, “I am come out to fight with thee.”
Goliath said, “Go back, petty fool, and play with children of thine own
age. I despise thee; thou art unarmed.”
“And I despise thee, dog of a Philistine!” cried the stripling; “thou
deservest to be dealt with as men deal with dogs,—pelting them with
stones till they turn tail.”
Then Goliath was in a rage, and he lifted his spear against David; but
David hasted and loosed his belt, and laid in it one of the stones, and
slung it; and the wind caught the helmet of Goliath, and lifted it in
the air above his head, and the stone struck him on the brow, and sank
in, and crushed all his skull, and strewed his brains all over the horse
he rode; then the giant fell out of his saddle, and died.
Then again David placed the second stone in his sling, and he cast it,
and it smote the right wing of the army of the Philistines; then he cast
the third stone, and it smote the left wing, and the host of the
Philistines fled before him.[614]
2. SAUL’S JEALOUSY OF DAVID.
Saul had promised his daughter to the man who should slay Goliath. When
the Philistines had been routed, Saul told Samuel all that had taken
place; and the prophet exhorted the king to fulfil his promise, and to
give to David his daughter in marriage.
To this Saul agreed, and he gave David his ring, and made him manager of
all his affairs, and he exalted him to be his son-in-law.
Several years passed, and Saul became envious of David, whose praise was
in everybody’s mouth.
He sent David into the wars, in hopes of his there meeting his death;
but it was all in vain. Then he spoke to his daughter Michal, that she
should introduce him into her husband’s chamber at night, that he might
slay David with his own hand.
Michal told David her father’s resolution, with many tears; but David
bade her be comforted. “For,” said he, “the God of my fathers, who
preserved Abraham and Moses from the hands of the executioner, will
deliver me from thy father. But do as he bade thee, open the door at
night, and fear not for me.”
Then David went into his smithy and wrought a suit of chain mail. He was
the inventor of chain-armour. And he had received from God the power of
moulding iron, like wax, in his fingers, without fire and without
hammer.