Old Testament Legends

                       OLD TESTAMENT LEGENDS
     BEING STORIES OUT OF SOME OF THE LESS-KNOWN APOCRYPHAL BOOKS
                         OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
                                  BY
                         M. R. JAMES, LITT.D.
                 PROVOST OF KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

                      WITH TEN ILLUSTRATIONS BY
                              H. J. FORD
                       LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
                      39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
                    NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
                                 1913
                         All rights reserved




PREFACE

If you read the title-page of this book--a thing which young persons
very seldom do--you will see that it (the book) contains stories
taken "out of some of the less-known apocryphal books of the Old
Testament." You will very possibly not understand what that means;
but if you will read this preface--another thing which young persons
do even seldomer than they read a title-page--you will find the best
explanation that I can give.

I have to begin by talking about the word apocryphal. The newspapers
are fond of saying that a statement made by the Prime Minister (or
the leader of the Opposition, according to which side in politics the
newspaper takes) is apocryphal. By this, the newspaper means to say
that the statement was untrue. Or, you will read that someone
obtained money or goods by saying that he possessed large estates
abroad; and that the estates turned out to be apocryphal. By this is
meant that they did not exist. But when you read of a book being
apocryphal, something rather different is meant: either that it is
"spurious," i.e. that it pretends to be written by someone who did
not write it; or that what is in it is fabulous and untrue, like the
stories of King Arthur; or both.

Now this word apocryphal is specially used, and perhaps most often
used, in connection with the Bible. Probably you have at least heard
of something called "the Apocrypha," even if you have not read it,
and even if you have mixed it up in your mind with another word,
Apocalypse, which has nothing whatever to do with it. Well, what is
"the Apocrypha"? It is to be found in many Bibles, bound up between
the Old and the New Testaments. It is a set of books, looking just
like the other books of the Bible, with chapters and verses. Some of
it is read in church as weekday lessons in the months of October and
November, as you may see by looking at the Table of Lessons in any
Prayer Book. Now, are all these books of "the Apocrypha" fabulous or
spurious? No. Some of them are. The Second Book of Esdras (that is,
Ezra) was not written by Ezra; The Book of Baruch (the companion of
the prophet Jeremiah) was not written by Baruch; The Wisdom of
Solomon was not written by Solomon. These and some others are
spurious. Also, the books of Tobit and of Judith are fabulous
stories. On the other hand, the book Ecclesiasticus was really
written by Sirach (who is mentioned in the Preface), and The First
Book of Maccabees is a true and valuable history.

Then why, if apocryphal means fabulous or spurious, or both, are
these books, some of which are true and genuine, lumped all together
and called "Apocrypha"? I am sorry to disappoint you, but I cannot go
through the whole history. It is long, it is difficult, and though it
interests me, I am inclined to think it would not interest you unless
I spread it over a great many pages, and filled it out with stories;
and for this I have no time. Let me tell you what strikes me as being
the important thing to bear in mind. Nearly all of these books have
been at some time or another read in church and treated as Scripture.
Nearly all of them are now treated as Scripture by the Roman Church,
but not by most of the Protestant, or Reformed, Churches. They are on
the borderland of the Bible. From having been so long kept together
in a group by themselves, they have come to be thought of as being
all of one uniform kind. But they are not so; they are of very
different sorts and merits.

Let us keep the old name for them and call them "the Apocrypha." It
will be convenient to do so, because I have now to speak of other
apocryphal books, which have never been bound up in our Bibles, but
in older times, before Bibles were printed, were (some of them at
least) read in churches and thought to be sacred books. There are a
great many of these: perhaps, if they were all put together, they
would make up a volume as large as the Old Testament itself; but at
present there is no book in which they are all printed together. Some
are stories, others are visions like those in the Revelation of St.
John, others are psalms and prophecies. But all of them, I think, may
fairly be called either fabulous or spurious, or both.

I can give you an example from the Bible itself to show that there
were such books as long ago as the times of the Apostles, and that
they were read and valued. In the 9th verse of the Epistle of Jude,
you read something very curious about Satan contending with Michael
about the body of Moses. Ancient writers whom we may trust tell us
that this is taken from a book called The Assumption of Moses (that
is, the story of Moses being taken up out of this world at the end of
his life).

We have pieces of this book still, but we have not got the whole
story of the dispute between Satan and Michael. However, we know that
it was represented as having taken place when Michael and the other
angels were burying the body of Moses among the mountains in a place
which was kept secret from all men, and that Satan said that though
the soul of Moses might belong to God, the body belonged to him; and,
moreover, that Moses was a murderer, because, long before, he had
killed an Egyptian (as we read in Exodus ii. 12); whereupon Michael
answered Satan in the words, "The Lord rebuke thee," and Satan fled.
That is one example. Another is in the 14th verse of the same
Epistle, where it is said that Enoch, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied of the coming of the Lord to judge sinners. This verse is
taken out of a long book of prophecies and visions called The Book of
Enoch, which still exists, and we may read the very words in it.

In this present book, I am only concerned with the apocryphal
stories; with the prophecies and visions and psalms I have nothing to
do. Now, how and why did the stories come to be written?

It is likely enough that after reading some history in the Bible you
may have wondered whether there was anything more to be known about
the people of whom it told you. You would have liked to find out what
happened to Adam, or Joseph, or David, besides the things which are
written in the Bible. It was just so in ancient times --the times
when our Lord was on earth, and even long before that. The Jews
naturally thought a great deal about the people who are mentioned in
the Old Testament; and just as there are a great many stories about
the heroes of English history--such as that of King Alfred and the
cakes--which, we are told now, are not true, so stories grew up about
the great men of the Bible. Perhaps they were invented, some of them,
in answer to questions which had been asked. Some of them were
certainly made up in order to explain parts of the Bible which were
difficult to understand. I will give an example of this. In the Book
of Genesis (iv. 23, 24) you are told how the patriarch Lamech spoke
to his wives and said, "I have slain a man to my wounding, and a
young man to my hurt." Nothing is said in explanation of this; we are
not told whom Lamech had killed. So a story was made up--no one knows
when--which gives this explanation: Lamech was blind, and he used to
amuse himself by shooting birds and beasts with bow and arrow. When
he went out shooting, he used to take with him his young nephew
Tubal; and Tubal used to spy the game for him and guide his hands
that he might aim his arrow right. One day, when they were out
together, Tubal saw, as he thought, a beast moving in the thicket;
and he told Lamech, and made him aim at it, and Lamech's arrow smote
the beast and killed it. But when Tubal ran to see what kind of beast
it was, he found that it was not a wild beast at all. It was his
ancestor Gain. For after Gain had killed Abel, and God had pronounced
a curse upon him, he wandered about the earth, never able to remain
in one place; and a great horn grew out of his head, and his body was
covered with hair; so that Tubal, seeing him in the distance among
the trunks of the trees and the brushwood, was deceived, and mistook
him for a beast of chase. But when Tubal saw what had happened, he
was terrified, and ran back to Lamech, crying out, "You have slain
our forefather Cain!" And Lamech also was struck with horror, and
raised his hands and smote them together with a mighty blow. And in
so doing he struck the head of Tubal with his full strength, and
Tubal fell down dead. Then Lamech returned to his house, and spoke to
his wives the words that are written in the Book of Genesis. This
story, a very ancient one, as I said, was invented by the Jews to
explain the difficult passage in Genesis; and the early Christian
writers learnt it from the Jews, and it passed into many commentaries
which were written in later times; so that you may still see
representations of it carved in stone in churches, both in England
and elsewhere. In England it may be seen on the inside of the stone
roof of Norwich Cathedral, and on the west front of Wells Cathedral;
but you have to look carefully before you can find it.

There are other stories which pretend to explain texts that do not
seem so difficult. For instance, in the 18th Psalm there is a verse,
"Thou hast made room enough under me for to go." And about this there
is a long tale of how King David went to fight the giant Ishbi-benob,
and was nearly killed by him; for the giant took David and cast him
to the ground, and put a heavy wine-press upon him, which would have
crushed him, but that the earth beneath him suddenly became soft and
yielded room for his body, and thus room was made under him.

Then again, there are others which are like parables.

At this point I will put in two short stories of the parable-kind,
neither of which I think you are likely to have seen. One of them is
certainly taken from an apocryphal book which is lost; and the other
I suspect to have been taken either from the same book or from one
like it.

First I will tell the one about the source of which I am not certain.

In the days of King Hezekiah there was in Israel a rich man who was a
miser and gave nothing to the poor. But one day it happened that he
took up the book of the proverbs of King Solomon; and his eye fell
upon the place where it is said, "He that hath pity upon the poor,
lendeth unto the Lord; and look what he layeth out, it shall be paid
him again." "So," thought he to himself, "this is a good security!"
And forthwith he sold all that he had, and distributed the price
among the poor, keeping for himself only two pieces of money. But, to
his disappointment, he did not only become poor himself by this
means, but he remained poor. The money he had given away did not come
back, and no one else would give him any. So he was reduced to
despair, and said, "I will go straight to Jerusalem, and demand of
God why He has deceived me, and induced me to give away all my
possessions by promises that are false." And he set forth. And on his
way, not far from Jerusalem, he saw two men fighting, and said to
them, "Brethren, what is your quarrel?" And one said, "We were
journeying together, and I saw a shining stone lying in the road, and
pointed it out to this man; and because he was swifter on his feet
than I, he got to it first. And now he says he will keep it for
himself, but I say it belongs to me, for I saw it first." Then said
the traveller, "What is the value of the stone?" They said, "We do
not know." And he said, "Will you take these two pieces of money for
it and let me have it?" And to this they consented. So when the man
got to Jerusalem, he took the stone to a jeweller and showed it to
him; and no sooner had the jeweller seen it than he fell on his face
and gave thanks to God. And then he said to the man, "Where did you
find this? For three whole years all Jerusalem has been ransacked
for this stone. Go quickly to the High Priest and give it to him, and
see what he will give you!" At the same hour there came an angel to
the High Priest, and said to him, "Within a few moments there will
come to you a man bringing the gem which three years ago was lost out
of the breastplate of Aaron the priest. Receive it at his hands, and
give him for it a great sum of gold; and when you have given it,
smite him lightly upon the cheek and say, 'Be not distrustful in thy
heart, and slow to believe the word which says, 'He that hath pity
upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord.' For thus saith the Lord,
'Have I not now in this present world repaid thee many times over that
which thou didst lend to Me? And, if thou have faith, thou shalt in
the world to come receive a recompense yet many times greater than
this.'" And when the man came, the High Priest did and said as he had
been commanded; and the man's heart was moved, and he left in the
temple all that great sum which had been given him, and for the rest
of his life put his whole trust in the promises of God.

The other short story is taken out of an apocryphal book under the
name of the prophet Ezekiel, and is a parable of the soul and the
body of man at the day of judgment.

There was a certain king, it says, who made a marriage feast for his
eldest son, and invited all his soldiers to his palace to share it.
Now every one of his subjects was a soldier and served in his army,
except only two, one of whom was blind and the other lame; and these
two were not invited to the feast, but remained in their huts--which
were near to one another--very angry and disappointed. After a while
the blind man called to the lame man, "It is a shame that we are not
sitting down to the feast along with the rest! I should like to treat
the king as ill as he has treated us." "How can we?" said the lame
man. "You know his garden," said the other; "let us go and spoil it!"
"All very well," said the lame man, "but how are we to get there?
I cannot walk." "Neither can I see; but we will contrive a way." So
they devised a plan. The lame man plucked the grass that he could
reach, and plaited it into a string, and threw one end to the blind
man, who guided himself by it to the lame man. Then he took the lame
man on his back, and carried him to the king's garden, and there they
did all the mischief they could, trampling down and tearing up plants
and flowers; and they went back to their houses and remained there.
When the rest of the people came out from the banquet into the
garden, they were appalled at the sight of the damage, and were much
perplexed, saying, "Were not all the soldiers of the king bidden to
the feast? and is not every man in the kingdom a soldier? Whence
then are these tracks in the garden, and who has wrought this
mischief?" After a while the king bethought him of the blind and the
lame man; they were brought before him, and he said to the blind man,
"Have you been into my garden?" He answered, "Alas, sire! you see my
infirmity, and that I have no eyes wherewith to find my way!" Then
said the king to the lame man, "And you, have you been into my garden?"
And he answered, "Surely my lord has forgotten my infirmity; it
cannot be that he desires to hurt my feelings by mocking me!" So the
king was perplexed, and went apart to consider how the two could have
contrived the business--for he was sure that they were guilty. At
last a thought came to him, and he set the lame man on the blind
man's shoulders, and scourged them both together. Then indeed did
they cry out, and the lame said to the blind, "Did you not lend me
your feet to take me to the king's garden?" And the blind to the
lame, "Did you not lend me your eyes to show me the way?" And in like
manner at the judgment the soul will say to the body, "I could not
have sinned if you had not given me the limbs with which I did evil."
And the body to the soul, "But it was you who thought of the evil
which I carried out." Thus one will try to throw the blame on the
other; but is either of them free from guilt?

Others of these apocryphal books are designed to show how important
some special virtue, or how dangerous some particular sin, may be.
Thus, there is a book called The Testaments (or Last Words) of the
Twelve Patriarchs, in which each of the twelve sons of Jacob, when he
comes to die, calls his children to him and tells them about his own
life, and warns them against his own besetting sin, or shows how he
has been helped by practising some good habit: Simeon speaks about
envy, Issachar about simplicity, Zebulun about kindness, and so on.
And many others there are which are merely, one would say, meant to
tell us more about the lives and deaths of the great men of the old
times than we can learn from the Bible.

Perhaps I have now said enough to show of what sort the tales are
that are told in this book--some of them told for the first time in
English. They are not true, but they are very old; some of them, I
think, are beautiful, and all of them seem to me interesting. In case
anyone should wish to know more about them, I will put down here the
names of the books from which I have taken them.

The first part of the story of Adam is shortened from Mr. S. G.
Malan's translation of The Book of Adam and Eve, and from Dillmann's
German translation of the same (Das christliche Adambuch des
Morgenlandes). The second part is from the Greek Revelation of Moses
(in Tischendorf's Apocalypses Apocryphae), and from the Latin Life of
Adam, edited by W. Meyer.

The first part of the story of Abraham is from The Apocalypse of
Abraham, translated from Slavonic by Professor N. Bonwetsch; the
second part is from The Testament of Abraham, edited by me in Texts
and Studies.

The story of Aseneth is from the Greek History of Aseneth, edited by
Batiffol in Studia Patristica.

The story of Job is taken from The Testament of Job in my Apocrypha
Anecdota (ii).

That of Solomon is from The Testament of Solomon as printed by Migne
at the end of the works of Michael Psellus.

That of Baruch from The Rest of the Words of Baruch, edited by Dr. J.
Rendel Harris.

That of Ahikar principally from the French edition by the Abbe F.
Nau, with some few touches borrowed from that by Dr. J. Rendel
Harris.

One last word. Not all of the stories in this book are equally old.
The oldest is most likely that of Ahikar. Lately some pieces of it
have been discovered in Egypt in a very ancient copy. Next, probably,
comes the second part of the story of Adam. In each of the others
there are some parts which are derived from early Jewish tales, but
the books in which we have them now were put into their present shape
by Christians. Still, there is not one that is less than fifteen
hundred years old.


CONTENTS
PAGE
ADAM                                                                    1
THE DEATH OF ADAM AND EVE .    .    .                                15
ABRAHAM                                                          25
THE STORY OF ASENETH, JOSEPH'S WIFE         .                        49
JOB.    .       .       .       .       .       .                                  81
SOLOMON AND THE DEMONS. .                                             105
THE STORY OF EBEDMELECH THE     ETHIOPIAN,
AND OF THE  DEATH OF JEREMIAH   .                                     121
AHIKAR                                                          135



ILLUSTRATIONS
How SATAN DECEIVED EVE IN THE RIVER (see p. 10)  Frontispiece
THEN CAME ONE OF THE SERAPHIM AND BARE THE SOUL OF ADAM TO THE LAKE OF PURE WATER IN THE GARDEN         .        .        .        .    Facing p.    22
ABRAHAM AND THE BROKEN IDOLS    „                                            28
ASENETH DOING HOMAGE TO HER GODS         .      „                          53
"ASENETH, RISE UP" .        .        .        .        .        .       63
ASENETH FLIES  IN  HER CHARIOT FROM THE MEN
IN AMBUSH BY THE RIVER  „                                                  76
SATAN DEPARTS, VANQUISHED BY JOB AT LAST      . „                          94
JOB'S HAPPY DEATH     .        .        .        .        ,        .    102
EPHIPPAS   AND  THE   DEMON   OF  THE   RED   SEA
BRING THE GREAT PLLLAR TO SOLOMON .         .   ,,                        116
How AHIKAR OUTWITTED THE KING OF EGYPT    .     ,,                        152




OLD TESTAMENT LEGENDS

ADAM

When Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden, they were as
helpless as little children. They knew nothing of day or night, heat
or cold; they could not kindle a fire to warm themselves, nor till
the ground to grow food. They had as yet no clothes to wear and no
shelter against rain or sun. As long as they were in the garden, it
was always light and warm, and their bodies were so fashioned that
they had no need of food or sleep or of protection against the
burning of the sun; but since they had eaten of the Tree of
Knowledge, they had become like us. Moreover, all the beasts and
birds were friendly with them; but now they knew that it was not so,
and that they had no defence if any fierce animal chose to attack
them; and, more than all, they knew that they had a cruel enemy lying
in wait for them outside the garden, even Satan, who had hated them
from the first, and had brought about their fall by means of the
serpent. And so it was that when they came out of the gate of the
garden and saw the earth stretched out before them, covered with
rocks and sand, and found themselves in a strange land where there
was no one to guide them, they fell down on their faces, and became
as dead, because of the misery and sorrow which they felt. But God
looked upon them and sent His Word to raise them up and comfort them;
and showed them a place not very far from the garden where there was
a cave; and told them that they were to live there. Now this was the
cave which was afterwards called the Gave of Treasures.

When first they entered into the cave, they did nothing but weep and
lament: not only because they had lost the garden, but also because
for the first time the sky was hidden from them by the roof of the
cave; for as yet they had never been in any place where they could
not see it. But when the sun set and there was darkness outside the
cave as well as inside, they were frightened beyond measure; for they
said, "It is because of what we have done: the light is gone out of
the heavens, and will come back no more." Then the Word of God spake
to them and said, "Be comforted; it is only so for a few hours, and
the light will return to you." And they remained praying and weeping
in the cave until the darkness began to grow less. After that the sun
rose, and Adam went to the mouth of the cave, and it shone full upon
him, and he felt the burning heat of it on his body for the first
time, and thought that it was God who had come to afflict and punish
him; and he beat upon his breast and prayed for mercy. But God said,
"This sun is not God; it is created to give light to the world, and
every day it will rise in like manner, and travel over the heavens
and set, as you have seen it. _I_ am God, who comforted you in the
night."

Then Adam and Eve took courage, and came out of the cave, and thought
they would go towards the garden; and when they came near to the gate
by which they had been driven out of it, they met the serpent. Now
before it tempted Eve and became accursed, the serpent had been the
most beautiful of all the creatures. Its head was of all the colours
of the most beautiful jewels; it had eyes like emeralds, and a
melodious voice; it had slender and graceful legs, and it fed on
perfumed flowers and delicious fruits. Now it was loathsome to look
upon; it wriggled on its belly in the dust, and all creatures spurned
and hated it. And when it saw Eve it was enraged to think of the
curse that had come upon it through her, and it raised itself up and
darted at her, and its eyes became blood-red with anger. Then Adam,
who had nothing in his hand wherewith to defend Eve, ran and caught
it by the tail, but it turned upon him and coiled about him and Eve
with its body and began to crush them; and it said, "It is because of
you that I am compelled to trail in the dust and have lost my
beauty." And they cried out for fear. But God sent an angel who
caught hold of the serpent and loosed them, and smote the serpent
with dumbness, so that thereafter it could only hiss. And a great
wind came and took it up, and cast it away upon the seashore of
India.

And when Adam and Eve had a little recovered themselves from their
fear, they went on towards the garden; but at the gate of it there
stood a great cherub holding a sword of fire; and when they were able
to look upon his face, they saw that he was angry and that he frowned
upon them, and raised his sword as if he would smite them with it;
but he said nothing. So they were in great fear, and turned from him
and went back in great sorrow of heart, wandering they knew not
whither, until they found themselves standing on the top of a rock,
and before their feet was a precipice. And Adam was so miserable that
he desired to live no longer; and he cast himself down from the top
of the rock, and lay on the ground below without moving; and Eve
thought that he was dead, and said, "I will not live after him; it is
through my fault that all these evils have come upon him." And she
also threw herself down from the top of the rock; but though both of
them were torn and bruised, they were not wounded to death. And after
a long time they came to themselves.

Then they bethought them that they had done wrong in trying to put an
end to their own lives before it pleased God to set them free from
this world. Therefore Adam took stones and piled them up in the shape
of an altar, and then they gathered leaves from the trees and wiped
off the blood that had been spilt upon the face of the rock, and
gathered up the dust that was mingled with their blood and laid it
upon the altar, and prayed to God to forgive their trespass. And this
was the first offering that they made to God. And God looked upon
them with pity and forgave them, and said, "As you have shed your
blood, so after five thousand and five hundred years have passed will
I take your flesh upon Me and shed My blood for you and for your
children; and it shall have power to quench the flame of the sword
which is in the hand of the angel, and you shall enter again into the
garden, and dwell there until the time when I shall make a new heaven
and a new earth."

But when Satan saw that God had pity upon Adam and Eve and accepted
their humble offering--for he was all this time keeping watch to see
what would become of them--he was filled with dismay and hate, and
began to contrive means by which he might lead them astray and put an
end to them; for he thought, "If these creatures were destroyed,
the earth would remain to me and to my hosts, and I should reign over
it alone." He called therefore for some of his host, and made them
appear like angels of light. And when they were all disguised in this
fashion, they rose into the air and flew towards the cave, from which
Adam and Eve were just coming out, meaning to go once again towards
the garden. When they caught sight of these bright ones in the air,
they stopped and raised their hands towards them, thinking that they
were angels coming to them with a message. Satan called to Adam,
"Adam, we are angels come from God; He has sent us to bring you to
the lake of pure water that is on the north side of Eden, that you
may wash yourselves in it and be cleansed from your sin, and return
once more to the garden. Come therefore and follow us." And they
turned and began flying towards the north; but Adam and Eve were glad
beyond measure, and followed the troop of angels as quickly as they
could, till they came to the mountain on the north side of Eden which
overhung the lake. Then Satan lighted on the ground, and guided them
to the top of the mountain, which was very steep. And when they were
at the summit, they stood for a while and looked down upon the waters
of the lake; and while they were doing so, Satan vanished away
silently, and all his host with him; so that when Adam and Eve looked
round, they found themselves left alone and in great peril. And they
saw that they had been brought into this danger by Satan, and that he
had deceived them once again. And they cried aloud for help.

Then God had pity on them, and commanded the angels Sariel and
Salathiel to bear them in their arms and carry them back to their
cave. And when they were come there, Adam prayed to God that, if they
might not be permitted to go into the garden any more, He would at
least give them something for a remembrance of it to comfort them. So
God commanded the archangel Michael to go as far as the Sea of India,
and fetch thence some gold, and dip it in the water that flows from
under the Tree of Life, and give it to Adam. Likewise He commanded
Gabriel to speak to the cherub that kept the gate of the garden, and
go in and fetch some frankincense; and Raphael to bring myrrh also
from the garden. And they did so. And Michael brought seventy rods of
gold, and Gabriel twelve pounds weight of frankincense, and Raphael
three pounds of myrrh; and these were all laid up in the cave where
Adam and Eve lived: wherefore it was called the Gave of Treasures.
And when the appointed time was fulfilled, and the Word took upon Him
the flesh of the sons of Adam, three kings came from the East to do
Him honour, and offered to Him that same gold and frankincense and
myrrh, which had come down to them through many generations.

After some days, Adam and Eve made a vow that they would go, one of
them to the river Tigris and the other to the river Euphrates, and
would wade into the water up to the neck, and stand there for forty
whole days and nights, praying earnestly that they might be forgiven;
for even yet they went on hoping that, if they accomplished some
great act of repentance, they might be permitted to return into Eden.
They separated, therefore, and stood in the water of the river,
fasting and praying. But Satan suspected that they had made such a
vow, and it frightened him, for he did not feel sure that God would
not change His purpose and forgive them; and he said to himself, "I
will take care that they shall not keep their vow." Accordingly, on
the thirty-fifth day, as Eve stood praying in the water, she heard a
voice as of an angel praising God, and she looked and saw one in
bright raiment coming to her, and he called to her and said, "God has
forgiven Adam! All is well. I have just now brought the good tidings
to Adam, and he bade me come and tell you; and lest you should doubt
of the truth, he said, 'Remind her of the sign which was given to us
in the cave: how the angels brought the gold and laid it on the
south side, and the incense on the east, and the myrrh on the west.'"
Then Eve was sure that the messenger spoke true, and she rejoiced
greatly, and came, as well as she could, out of the water, and
followed him. But when they came in sight of the river Euphrates, she
saw Adam still standing in the water praying, and she knew that she
had been deceived; and at that moment Satan vanished away, and Eve
fell upon the ground, for she was stiff with the cold, and weak with
fasting. As for Adam, when he saw her, he cried out and smote upon
his breast, and sank down into the water, and would have perished but
that God sent His angel and drew him up out of the water. And he
showed Adam that he could not by these means gain admittance to the
garden before the time appointed was fulfilled.

After these things God showed Adam and Eve the things that were
necessary for their life. For as yet they had eaten nothing since
they came out of the garden; because the food which they had when
they were there was heavenly food, and it sustained them through all
these many days. Neither had they any clothes. Therefore God told
them to go to the seashore, and there they should find the skins of
some sheep whose flesh had been devoured by lions, and these skins
they should take and make them into raiment. But Satan heard the
words of God, and immediately went to the place where the skins were,
with intent to throw them into the sea, or burn them with fire; only,
just as he was about to seize them, God spake a word, and Satan was
bound there immovable, in his own hideous form. And when Adam and Eve
came to the place, they saw him crouching beside the skins; and they
were afraid at the horrible look of him. Then the Word came to them,
saying, "This is he who promised to make you as gods. What have you
gained, think you, by hearkening to his words?" And Satan was
cowed, and fled away in shame.

Adam and Eve therefore took the sheep-skins, and there came an angel
who showed them how to sew them together with palm-thorns and sinews,
and they made them into raiment.

Again, God showed them a land where corn was growing, and told them
how they might use it for bread; for it was ripe, and they gathered
the ears and made an offering of the first ears. And Satan came and
burnt part of the corn; but the angels drove him away.

Many other times also did Satan try to destroy Adam and Eve, coming
to them disguised as an angel and enticing them into the wilderness;
and again, when they were sleeping on the side of a mountain outside
their cave, he loosened a great rock above them that it might fall
and crush them; but the angels of God caught it and fixed it like a
roof over the heads of Adam and Eve, and when they awoke they were
astonished. And once he fell upon Adam and smote him in the side with
a sharp stone so that he almost slew him. Nevertheless, in all these
perils Adam and Eve put their trust in God, and He protected them and
healed them. And after a time Satan perceived that he would not be
able to destroy them by injuring their bodies, and that they would
not listen to him when he tempted them to disobey God. So Satan's war
against Adam was defeated.

This is the first part of the story of Adam, as it is told in an old
book called The Conflict of Adam and Eve. It is only part of the
story; I have left out a great deal. The second part of the story is
taken from a Greek book called The Revelation of Moses, and a Latin
one called The Life of Adam and Eve. It tells how Adam died and was
buried.





THE DEATH OF ADAM AND EVE

Adam lived for 930 years; and there were born to him thirty sons and
thirty daughters. And when he was 930 years old he fell sick, and
sent for all his children, and for their children also, saying, "Come
and let me see you before I die." They all gathered together
therefore at the door of his dwelling, saving Gain, who was a
wanderer upon the face of the earth; but Seth was the eldest of those
that came, and he was the most beloved son of Adam and Eve.

And Seth said to his father, "Father, what is the matter with you?"
And Adam answered, "Great pain and sickness is upon me." And his
children said, "What mean you by pain and sickness?" For as yet no
one had died upon the earth except Abel, whom Gain slew. Then said
Seth, "Father, is it because you long after the garden and desire the
fruit of it? If it be so, command me, and I will go to the gate, and
cast dust upon my head, and weep and pray; and God will send His
angel, and it may be He will suffer me to bring you some of the fruit
of the garden, and you shall eat it and recover." Eve also wept and
said, "My lord Adam, give me the half of your disease, and let me
bear it for you; because it is through my fault that this evil has
come upon you." Then said Adam, "I will tell you what you shall do,
even you and my son Seth: you shall go to the garden and pray there
as you have said, and ask the angel to give me some of the oil of
mercy that flows from the Tree of Life, and bring it to me that I may
anoint my body with it, and be eased from my pain."

So Eve and Seth departed and went towards the garden; and as they
were going through the woods, a wild beast leaped out and attacked
Seth. And Eve was terrified and cried out, "Alas! alas! what will
become of me at the last day? Surely all that have done evil will
curse me, saying, 'Woe unto Eve, because she kept not the
commandment of God!'" And she cried out upon the wild beast, "How
wast thou not afraid to fight against the image of God? How is thy
mouth opened against Him? Dost thou not remember that God put thee
in subjection to us?" And the beast spake with a man's voice and
said, "What have we to do with thy weeping and complaints? How was
it that thy mouth was opened to eat of the fruit? Accuse me not,
lest I begin to accuse thee." Then said Seth to the beast, "Shut thy
mouth: be silent: dare not to touch the image of God." And the beast
answered, "Thee will I obey, O Seth." And it fled and left him
wounded, and went back to its den.

So Eve and Seth went on to the garden and wept before the gate,
beseeching God to send them the oil of mercy for Adam. And God sent
Michael the archangel to them, who said, "Seth, thou man of God,
weary not thyself with making supplication for the oil of mercy, for
it cannot be given to thee now. But when the times are fulfilled,
then shall come One who shall anoint thy father with that oil, and he
shall rise up and return to the garden, he and all his seed; and the
evil heart shall be taken from them, and a new heart shall be given
them to understand that which is good, and God shall dwell in the
midst of them, and they shall be His people. But now go back to thy
father, for his end is near, even within three days, and tell him
these words; and watch what shall come to pass when he is taken from
thee." They returned therefore to Adam, and told him; and he groaned
and said, "Alas! O Eve, what is this that thou hast done, to bring
upon us the dominion of death? Now therefore call together our
children and our children's children, and tell them concerning our
sin, from first to last." So, when they were assembled, Eve spoke to
them, and told them the whole story of how Satan came to the serpent
and taunted it for paying homage to Adam and Eve, forasmuch as they
were neither so beautiful nor so wise as itself; and he persuaded the
serpent to let him speak through its mouth; and at the hour when the
angels go up to the heavens to worship God, the serpent slipped over
the wall and found Eve by the Tree of Knowledge; and of what happened
after that, until the time when they were cast out of the garden. And
when she ceased speaking, her children departed.

Then she went in to Adam, and said to him,

"How can I live when you are dead? and how long will it be before I
also die? Tell me." Adam answered, "Trouble not yourself; for you
will not tarry long after me, and I believe that the same grave will
hold both of us. But now, when I die, leave me alone, and let no one
touch me until the will of God is made known concerning me. For I am
sure that God will not forget me, but will visit the creature which
His hands have made. Now therefore go and pray to Him until I give up
my spirit to Him that gave it; for we know not how we shall meet Him,
whether He will yet be wroth with us, or whether He will turn and
have mercy upon us." She went out therefore and fell upon the ground
and prayed a long time.









THE DEATH OF ADAM AND EVE

And at last the Angel of Mankind came to her and said, "Rise up, Eve;
for Adam thy husband is departing out of this life, and is going to
meet Him that made him."

Eve therefore arose and looked up into the sky; and she saw a chariot
of light coming, drawn by four shining eagles, and angels on either
side escorting the chariot. And when it came above the place where
our father Adam lay, it stayed. And the angels came bearing censers,
and they stood about it and lighted their censers, and the smoke of
the incense rose up and hid the firmament; and the angels bowed and
worshipped, saying, "Holy One, have mercy, for he is Thine image and
the work of Thy hands."

Also Eve beheld two great and fearful ones standing in the heavens,
and she was afraid and called upon Seth, saying, "Rise up, O Seth,
and come to me, and behold that which no eye of man hath looked
upon." So he came to her, and she said, "Seest thou the seven heavens
open, and thy father Adam lying upon his face and the holy angels
interceding for him?" She said, moreover, "Who are the two dark ones
that stand praying for thy father?" And Seth answered, "They are the
Sun and the Moon, who are entreating the Most High for my father
Adam." And Eve said, "Where then is their light, and why is their
aspect black?" And he said, "They cannot shine in the presence of
the Light of all things: therefore is their light departed from
them."

Now as Seth was speaking to his mother, behold, the angels blew with
the trumpets, and fell on their faces, and cried with a loud voice,
"Blessed be the glory of the Lord over all His works; for He hath had
compassion upon Adam, the work of His hands." Then came one of the
Seraphim, having six wings, and caught up the soul of Adam and bare
it to the lake of pure water which is on the north side of Eden, and
washed it before the face of God. And the Most High commanded him to
deliver it unto Michael the archangel, that he should bear it into
Paradise until the day of the visitation of all things.

After that the holy archangel entreated the Most High concerning the
body of Adam. And God commanded all the angels to come before Him,
every one in his order; and they gathered themselves together,
bearing censers and trumpets and vials full of odours. And the Lord
of Hosts went up, and the great winds before Him, and the Cherubim
flying upon the winds, and the angels of heaven round about Him. And
they bore up the body of Adam and carried it into the garden. And all
the trees of the garden bowed and swayed and gave forth their odours.
And because of the greatness of that sight, and of the sweetness of
the odours of Paradise, all the sons of Adam, and all that were on
the earth, were cast into a deep sleep, saving Seth only.

Now as the body of Adam lay in Paradise, God said, "O Adam, why didst
thou transgress My commandment? For if thou hadst kept it, they that
persecute thee would not have rejoiced against thee. Nevertheless I
say unto thee, that hereafter I will turn their joy into sorrow, and
thy sorrow into joy."

Then the angels brought shrouds of silk and fine linen, and God
commanded Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael, and they wrapped up
the body of Adam therein, and anointed it with sweet odours. And the
Lord said, "Bring hither also the body of Abel." For since the day
when Gain slew him, the body of Abel had not been buried: because
Gain often sought to hide it, but the earth would not receive it,
until the dust that was first taken out of her and made into a body,
that is, the body of Adam, should be restored to her.

So the body of Abel was brought and wrapped in grave-clothes like
that of Adam; and they were both of them buried in the place from
which God took the dust when He formed Adam at the first, and the
angels dug the grave and covered it in.

And when this was done, God called to the body, saying, "Adam, Adam!"
And the body answered, "Here am I, Lord." And the Lord said, "I
said unto thee, 'Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.'
Behold now I promise thee that in the last days I will raise thee up
yet again out of the dust, even thee and all thy seed with thee." And
God sealed the tomb that no man should touch it until six days were
fulfilled, and the rib which was taken out of Adam should be given
back to him.

After these things Eve awoke out of her sleep, and was troubled
because she knew not what had become of the body of Adam; and she
prayed, saying, "Lord, as Thou didst make me out of the flesh of
Adam, and as I was with him in the garden, and after we were cast out
I was never parted from him, so now, I beseech thee, suffer me to be
buried with him, and let no man part us asunder." And on the seventh
day after the death of Adam, Eve was thus praying; and when she had
ended her prayer, she looked up into heaven and smote her breast and
said, "Lord God of all things, receive my spirit." And so she gave up
her soul to God.

And immediately the angels came and took her body, and buried it in
the place where the bodies of Adam and Abel were laid.







ABRAHAM

Abraham was the son of Terah, and Terah was a maker of idols which he
sold to the people round about him. Now this is the story of how
Abraham came to believe in the true God; and in the ancient book the
story is put into the mouth of Abraham himself, and he tells it in
this way:

I was troubled in my mind because I desired to know who was in truth
the strongest of all the Gods. And one day when I was attending to
the gods of my father Terah, gods of wood and stone, gold and silver,
iron and brass, I went into the temple where they stood, and found
that one of them, the god named Marumath, who was carved out of
stone, had fallen over and was lying at the feet of the god Zucheus.
When I saw that, I was alarmed, and thought that I should never be
able to put him back in his place by myself, because he was so heavy;
so I went and told my father, and he came, and the two of us could
hardly manage to move him; but as we were doing so, the head of the
god broke off in my hands. At that my father said, "Abraham", and I
said, "Here am I, bring me the chisels out of the house." And
when I had done so, he fashioned another Marumath out of stone,
without a head, and fixed the head that had come off the first
Marumath upon it; and the rest of the old Marumath he broke in
pieces.

After that he made five more gods, and bade me take them and sell
them in the streets of the city; and I saddled the ass, and put them
upon it, and went to the river to sell them; and there I found
merchants coming from Fandana in Syria with camels, on their way to
Egypt to bring papyrus from the Nile. And as I was talking with them
one of their camels belched, and the donkey took fright and ran off,
and the gods fell off its back, and three of them were broken, and
only two remained whole. But when the Syrians saw what had happened,
they said, "Why did you not tell us that you had gods to sell? We
might have bought them before the donkey took fright, and they would
not have been destroyed; at least we will take the gods that remain,
and pay you the price of them all." And they did so; and the broken
gods I cast into the river Gur, and they sank and were seen no more.

But as I returned home, I was bewildered and divided in my mind. I
said to myself, "What an evil trade is this that my father
practises! Is not he in truth the god of his own gods which he makes
with his chisels and lathes and his skill? Ought they not rather to
worship him than he them? Surely it is all deceit. Look at Marumath,
who fell and could not get up again, and these five other gods which
could not punish the donkey for running away with them, nor keep
themselves from being broken and thrown into the river."

And as I was thinking of all these things, I arrived at my father's
house. Then I gave the ass his hay and water, and went in and gave
the price of the gods to my father Terah, and he was pleased and
said, "Blessed be thou of my gods: my labour has not been in vain."
But I said, "It is rather thou, father, that givest blessing to the
gods, for thou art their god; their own blessing is vain and their
help is naught: if they cannot help themselves, how should they help
thee or bless me?" But he was very angry with me for speaking
lightly of his gods.

Then I went out of the house, and after a while my father called me
and said, "Gather up the chips of the fig-wood wherewith I was
making gods before you came in, and see about preparing dinner."

And as I was doing so, I found a little god lying among the straw and
the rubbish, and on his forehead was written: "The god Barisat." So I
kept him, and did not tell my father; and when I had kindled the fire
to cook the dinner, and was going out to fetch the food, I set
Barisat down in front of the fire and said to him, "Barisat, take
care that the fire does not go out before I come back; and if it
does, blow upon it and revive it." Then I went out and did my errand,
and when I returned I found Barisat fallen over backwards, and his
feet were in the fire and were badly burnt; and I laughed to myself
and said, "You are in truth a good fireman and cook, Barisat." Just
then the fire caught upon his body and burnt him all up.

When the time was come, I brought food to my father and he ate, and I
gave him wine and milk and he drank, and rejoiced and praised his god
Marumath; and I said, "Father, you should not praise Marumath, but
rather Barisat, for he has done more for you: he has thrown himself
into the fire to cook your dinner." "And where is he now?" said my
father. "He has been burnt to ashes," I said, "in the heat of the
fire, and nothing but dust is left of him." And my father said,
"Great is the strength of Barisat! I will make another one to-day,
and he shall prepare my food for me to-morrow." Now when I heard my
father say these words, I laughed in myself, and yet I was troubled
and angry in my soul. And at last I answered and said, "Whichever of
these things you honour as a god, it is folly. The god Zucheus, who
is the god of my brother Nahor, is more honourable than your god
Marumath, for he is adorned with gold finely wrought, and when he is
old he will be fashioned over again; but if Marumath is broken or
injured he will not be renewed, for he is only of stone. And again
the god Joauv, who stands next to Zucheus, is more honourable than
Barisat, for he is covered with silver; but as for Barisat, you made
him yourself with your axe, and, look, he is fallen upon the earth,
and the fashion of his likeness is destroyed, and he is burnt to
ashes, and you say, 'To-day I will make another, and he shall
prepare my food to-morrow.'

"But I say to you, my father, the fire is mightier than all your gods
of gold and silver and stone and wood, for it can devour them all.
Yet I call not the fire god, for it is weaker than the water which
can subdue it. Yet again I call not the water god, for the earth
swallows it up. Neither call I the earth god, for it is subject to
men that till it, and to the sun that gives light to it. Neither call
I the sun god, for it is overcome by the darkness of night. But I say
that there is one true God who hath made all these things; who hath
made the heavens blue, and the sun golden, and the moon and stars
white and shining, and hath raised up the earth from among the
waters, and breathed into thee the breath of life, and hath sought me
out in the trouble of my soul; and would that He might reveal Himself
unto us!"

And as I was speaking these words to my father in the court of his
house, there came from heaven the voice of a Mighty One speaking out
of a cloud of fire, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And I said,
"Behold, here am I!" And He said, "In the thought of thy heart thou
seekest after the God of Gods and the Maker of all things: I am He.
Depart from thy father Terah and go out of his house, lest thou be
consumed in his wickedness." And I went out; and it came to pass, as
I came to the door of the house, that there fell a noise of a great
thundering, and the fire fell and burnt up my father Terah and his
house and all that was therein.

This is the story of the beginning of the life of Abraham; and that
which is told about the end of his life is as follows:

Abraham had lived out the measure of his days. He was now a hundred
and seventy-five years old, and all the days of his life he had lived
in kindness and meekness and uprightness: and especially was he
hospitable and courteous to strangers. He dwelt by the cross-roads
near the oak of Mamre, and entertained all the wayfarers who came
that way, rich and poor, lame and sound, friends or strangers. But at
last to him, as to all other men, there came the bitter cup of death,
which none can put away. So when the time was come, the Most High
called to him the archangel Michael and said to him, "Michael, prince
of the host, go down to Abraham and speak to him concerning his
death, that he may set his house in order: for his possessions are
great. Announce to him therefore that he is to depart speedily out of
the earthly life, and come to his Lord in peace and happiness."

Michael therefore went forth from the presence of the Lord and went
down to Abraham at the oak of Mamre, and found him in the fields hard
by, watching his husbandmen ploughing with their oxen. And Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw Michael coming towards him in the dress
and fashion of a soldier--for he was the captain of the Lord's
host--very beautiful to look upon. And Abraham rose and went to meet
him, as was his custom with all strangers; and when they had saluted
one another, Abraham asked Michael whence he came; and Michael
answered, "I come from the Great City, and my errand is to fetch a
certain friend of the Great King, whom He is inviting to come to
Him." Then said Abraham, "My lord, come with me to my house." And
when Michael consented, Abraham called one of his men and bade him
fetch two quiet horses that he and the stranger might ride home on
them. But Michael refused, for he knew that no earthly horse could
bear him; so he said, "Nay, but rather let us go on foot to your
house."

And as they went up from the fields, they came to a cypress-tree
growing by the wayside; and as they passed by it there came from it a
human voice, which said, "Holy is the Lord who calleth to Himself
them that love Him." Now this happened by the commandment of God, to
be a sign to Abraham, and he marvelled; but when he looked at his
companion and saw that he seemed to take no notice of it, he said
nothing, thinking that only he had heard the voice. Soon after they
came to the house, and Isaac and Sarah came to greet them, and they
sat down in the courtyard of the house. But Isaac said to his mother
Sarah, "Mother, I am sure that the man who is sitting with my father
is not of the race of men that live on the earth." Just then Abraham
called to Isaac, "Isaac, my son, draw water from the well, and bring
it to me in a basin, that we may wash the stranger's feet, for he has
come a long journey." So Isaac ran and fetched the water to his
father; and Abraham said to him secretly, "My child, something says
to me that this will be the last time that I shall wash the feet of
any stranger coming to this house." And Isaac was greatly distressed
and said, "What mean you, father, by these words?" Abraham said
nothing, but stooped down and began to wash the feet of Michael; and
Isaac wept. Abraham too shed tears, and Michael seeing it, was moved
with pity, and wept also; and his tears fell into the basin of water
and became precious pearls. When Abraham saw that, he marvelled; but
he gathered up the pearls secretly and said nothing.

After that he told Isaac to go and prepare the banqueting-room,
spread two couches, light the lamps, burn sweet odours, and fetch
fragrant herbs and flowers from the garden. "For," said he, "this
man who is come to us is worthy of all the honour we can do him." So
Isaac went to make ready the room, and Sarah also set about preparing
a feast. Then, while they were all busying themselves with
preparation, the sun began to set, and the hour came at which all the
angels appear before God and worship Him; and Michael also flew up
into the heavens in the twinkling of an eye, and stood before the
Lord. And when all the angels had done their worship and gone forth
again, Michael remained and said to the Lord, "Lord, I cannot speak
to Abraham about his death; for I have never seen his like upon the
earth, kind, courteous, hospitable, fearing God, and keeping himself
pure from all evil. I cannot grieve his heart by telling him that he
is to die." And the Lord said, "Go down again to my friend Abraham,
and whatsoever he would have thee do, do it; and I will put the
thought of his death into the mind of his son Isaac in a dream. Then
Isaac shall tell the dream, and thou shalt interpret it, and so
Abraham shall be certified of his death."

So Michael returned to Abraham's house, and sat at meat with him, and
Isaac waited on them; and after supper, Abraham offered up prayer as
he was wont, and the archangel prayed with him, and they went to
their beds. Isaac also asked his father if he might sleep with them,
for he desired exceedingly to be near the wonderful stranger and to
hear his words; but Abraham said, "Nay, my son, lest we be burdensome
to the stranger." Therefore Isaac bowed down and received his
father's blessing, and went to his own chamber.

And about the third hour of the night Isaac dreamed a dream, and it
frightened him, so that he leapt out of bed and ran hastily to the
room where Abraham and Michael were sleeping, and beat upon the door
and said, "Father, open to me quickly! let me kiss you once again
before they take you away from me." Then Abraham opened the door, and
Isaac ran in and hung upon his neck, weeping loudly. And Sarah was
awakened by the noise of the weeping, and came quickly to them; and
she also wept and said, "What is the matter? Has our brother who is
come to us brought you evil tidings of Lot, your nephew?" But Michael
said, "No, lady, it is not so; but, as I think, your son Isaac has
dreamed a dream which has troubled him, so he came to us weeping, and
we were moved at the sight of his tears, and wept with him."

Now Sarah, when she heard the sound of the voice of Michael, became
sure in her own mind that it was an angel of God who was speaking.
She beckoned therefore to Abraham to come to her at the door of the
house, and took him aside and said to him, "Do you know who this man
is?" and he said, "No." "Do you remember," said she, "the three men
who came to us once at the oak of Mamre; and how you killed a calf
and prepared a feast for them; and how when the calf was eaten, it
suddenly became whole again and sprang up and ran and suckled its
mother? I am sure that this is one of those three men." Abraham
answered, "Sarah, you have hit the truth; praised be God for His
wonders. Now I tell you that last night when I was washing the feet
of this man, I said to myself, 'Surely these are the feet that I
washed long ago under the oak-tree?' And furthermore, he shed tears,
and they fell into the water and became these pearls." And he drew
the pearls out of his bosom and showed them to her, and she bowed her
head and praised God and said, "Be sure, Abraham, that he is come to
reveal some matter to us, whether for evil or for good."

Then Abraham left Sarah and went in and said to Isaac, "Come here, my
child, and tell me what you saw, and what caused you to come to us in
such haste?" And Isaac said, "It was this, father. I saw in a dream
this night the sun and the moon upon my head, and the rays of the sun
were all about me and enlightened me, and I rejoiced in them; then I
saw the heavens opening, and a shining man, brighter than seven suns,
came down; and he approached me and took the sun from off my head
and carried it up into heaven; and again after a little while, as I
was sorrowing over it, he came and took the moon from me. Then I was
greatly distressed, and I besought him, saying, 'Nay, my lord, do
not take all my glory from me; have pity upon me; if thou must needs
take the sun, yet leave me the moon.' But he said, 'Suffer them to
be taken up to the King above, for He desires them to be with Him.'
So he took them away, saying, 'They are removed from toil unto rest,
and from darkness unto light.' But their glory he left upon me. Then
I awoke." And Isaac ceased speaking.

Then Michael said, "Hear me, righteous Abraham. The sun which Isaac
saw is you, his father; the moon likewise is Sarah, his mother; and
the shining one who came down out of heaven and took them away is
myself. And now be it known to you that the time is come for you to
leave this earthly life and go to God." But Abraham said, "Why, here
is a marvel indeed! And are you the one appointed to take my soul
from me?" He answered, "I am Michael, the captain of the host of
God, and I am sent to speak to you concerning your death." Then said
Abraham, "I know that you are an angel of God, and that you are sent
to take away my soul. But I shall not follow you!"

When Michael heard that word he vanished away from them and went up
to the heavens and stood before the Lord, and told Him what Abraham
had said; and the Lord answered, "Return to Abraham My friend and
speak yet again to him, Thus saith the Lord: 'I brought thee out of
thy father's house into the land of promise: I have blessed thee and
increased thee more than the sands of the seashore and more than the
stars of heaven. Why dost thou resist My decree? Knowest thou not
that Adam and Eve died, and all their offspring; none of the
forefathers escaped death; they are all of them gone unto the place
of spirits, all of them have been gathered by the sickle of death.
And I have not suffered the angel of death to approach thee: I have
not permitted any evil disease to come upon thee, but instead I have
sent mine own prince Michael to speak peaceably unto thee, that thou
mayest set thine house in order and bless thy son Isaac and depart in
peace; and now thou sayest, "I will in nowise follow him." Knowest
thou not that if I send Death unto thee, thou must needs come whether
thou wilt or no?'" So Michael returned to Abraham, and found him
weeping, and told him all these words; and Abraham besought him,
saying, "Speak yet once again to my Lord and say to Him, 'Thus saith
Abraham Thy servant: Lord, Thou hast been gracious to me all my life
long, and now, behold, I do not resist Thy word, for I know that I am
a mortal man; but this one thing I ask of Thee, that while I am yet
in my body Thou wouldst suffer me to see Thy world and all the
creatures that Thou hast made. Then shall I depart out of this life
without any trouble of mind.'" And Michael returned and spake all
these words before the Lord, and the Lord said, "Take a cloud of
light and angels that have power over the chariots, and bear Abraham
in the chariot of the cherubim into the air of heaven and let him see
all the world before he dies."

And it was done; and Michael showed Abraham all the regions of the
world. He saw men ploughing and carting, keeping flocks, dancing,
sporting, and playing the harp, wrestling, going to law, weeping,
dying, and being carried out to burial: even all the things that are
done in the earth, both good and evil. And in one place they saw men
with swords in their hands, and Abraham asked Michael, "Who are these?"
And Michael said, "These are thieves who are going out to steal
and to kill and to destroy." Then Abraham said, "O that God would
hear me and send evil beasts out of the forest to devour them!" And
in that moment wild beasts rushed out upon them and tore them to
pieces. Then in another place he saw men and women feasting and
drinking before their idols, and he said, "O that the earth might
open and swallow them up!" And immediately it happened as he had
said. And in yet another place he saw me breaking through the wall of
a house to enter it and rob it; and he prayed again, and fire fell
from heaven and burnt them up. Then there came a voice which said,
"Michael, prince of My host, turn the chariot and bring Abraham back,
lest, if he sees any more of the sinners upon earth, he destroy the
whole race of men. For he is a righteous man, and has no compassion
upon sinners. But I created the world, and I would not have any
perish. Bring Abraham therefore to the entering in of the gate of
heaven, that he may see the judgment and the recompensing of men, and
may have pity upon the souls whom he has blotted out."

Michael therefore turned the chariot and brought Abraham across the
great river of Ocean to the entering in of the gate of heaven, and
showed him the judgments. And Abraham saw the narrow gate of life and
the broad gate of destruction, and between the gates he saw our
father Adam sitting upon a throne, and clad in a glorious robe of
many colours; and he saw how Adam lamented when the souls went in
through the broad gate, and how he rejoiced when they attained to the
narrow gate, and how his weeping exceeded his rejoicing. Moreover,
Michael showed him how the souls of men are examined concerning their
works and how their acts are re-corded and weighed. But when he saw
how hard it is to enter in at the strait gate, it repented him that
he had prayed for the punishment of the sinners, and he said to
Michael, "O prince of the host, let us entreat the Lord that He
would have mercy upon the souls of the men whom I cursed in my anger;
for now I know that I sinned before God when I prayed against them."
Then they both prayed earnestly to God; and after a long time there
came a voice saying, "Abraham, I have heard thy prayer, and I have
given back life to the men whom thou didst destroy."

Moreover, the voice bade Michael take Abraham back to his house. And
when he was come thither, he went up to the great chamber, and sat
upon the couch; and Sarah and Isaac came and fell on his neck, and
all his servants gathered about him, rejoicing at his return. And
Michael said, "Hearken, Abraham: here is Sarah your wife and Isaac
your son, and here are all your manservants and maidservants about
you. Now therefore set in order your house and bless them, and make
ready to depart with me, for your hour is come." Abraham answered,
"Did the Lord command you to say this, or do you say it of yourself?"
Michael said, "The Lord commanded me, and I give the message to you."
Yet for all that Abraham answered, "I will not follow you." So
Michael went forth and stood before the Most High again and told him
the words of Abraham; and he said besides, "I cannot lay hands upon
him, for there is not his like upon the earth, no, not even the
righteous Job. Tell me therefore, Lord, what I must do."

And God said, "Call Death, and bid him come hither." Michael went and
found Death, and said to him, "Come, for the Lord of all things, the
Immortal King, calleth for thee." And Death trembled and feared
exceedingly when he heard that; but he followed Michael and came and
stood before the Lord, quivering and shaking with fear, awaiting the
commands of his Master. And God said to him, "Hide thy hideous
appearance, cover up thy corruption, put away from thee all thy
terror, and put on a glorious and beautiful aspect, and go down to
Abraham My friend and take him and bring him to Me: only see that
thou make him not afraid, but bring him peaceably, for he is My
friend." So Death went forth from the presence of God, and made
himself like an angel of light, beautiful to look upon, and departed
to seek Abraham. Now Abraham had come down from his chamber and was
sitting under the trees of Mamre, leaning his head upon his hand,
expecting the return of Michael the archangel. And suddenly he was
aware of a sweet perfume, and of a light shining near him; and he
turned round and saw Death coming towards him in a form of great
glory and beauty, and rose to meet him, supposing him to be an angel
of God. And they greeted one another, and Abraham said, "Whence come
you to me, and who are you?" Death answered, "Abraham, I tell you the
truth: I am the bitter cup of death." Abraham said, "Rather you are
the beauty of the world; a fairer than you I have never seen, and how
say you, 'I am the bitter cup of death'?" He answered, "I have told
you the truth; the name by which God named me is that which I have
spoken." Abraham said, "And why have you come to this place?" Death
answered, "I am come to take your soul, O righteous one." Abraham
said, "I hear what you say, but I shall not come with you." But
Death was silent and answered him not a word.

Then Abraham rose up and went towards his house: and Death followed
him. And he went up into his chamber: and Death went with him; and he
laid himself on his bed: and Death came and sat by his feet. And
Abraham said, "Go, depart from me: I wish to rest here on my couch."
Death answered, "I shall not depart till I have taken thy soul from
thy body." Abraham said, "I adjure thee by the living God: art thou
in very truth Death?" He said, "I am." Then said Abraham, "Comest
thou to all men in such a beautiful shape as this?" He said, "Nay,
my lord Abraham; it is thy righteousness and thy good deeds which
make as it were a crown of glory upon my head; it is only to such as
thou art that I come thus peaceably, but to sinners I show myself
much otherwise." "Show me then," said Abraham, "in what form thou
comest to them: let me see all thy fierceness and bitterness."
"No," said Death, "for thou couldst not bear to look upon it."
"Verily, I am able to bear it," he said, "for the strength of the
God of heaven is with me."

Then Death let fall from him all his beauty, and Abraham saw him as
he was. And where there had been a shining angel, he saw a cloud of
darkness, and in it the shapes of horrible wild beasts and all
unclean creatures; and he saw the heads of fiery dragons, and flames
of consuming fire darting out; and he seemed to see a dreadful
precipice before him, and then a rushing river, and flashes of
lightning, and crackling of thunder, and thereafter a tempestuous
raging sea; and again weapons brandished, and venomous basilisks and
serpents, and bowls of poison; and there came a horrible odour, so
that all the servants of Abraham that were in the chamber fainted and
died, and Abraham himself swooned and his senses left him.

When he came to himself, Death had hidden his terrible aspect and put
on his beautiful form again. And Abraham saw his servants lying dead,
and said to Death, "How is it that thou hast slain these?" And Death
said, "They died at the sight of my countenance, and in truth it is a
marvel that thou also didst not die with them." "Yea," said Abraham,
"now I know how it was that I came by this faintness of spirit that
is upon me; but I pray thee, Death, inasmuch as these have been cut
off before their time, let us entreat God that he would raise them up
again." So Abraham and Death prayed together; and the spirit of life
returned into the servants that had been killed, and they rose up
again. After that Abraham conversed with Death.

Then Sarah and Isaac came in and talked with Abraham as he lay on his
bed. And Abraham said to Death, "I beseech thee, depart from me for a
little, for since I looked upon thee weakness is come upon me, and my
breath labours and my heart is troubled." Then said Death, "Kiss my
right hand and thy strength will return to thee, and thou wilt be
filled with joy." So Abraham kissed the hand of Death, and the soul
of Abraham clave to the hand of Death and left his body; and
straightway Michael was there and a multitude of angels with him, and
they accompanied the holy soul of Abraham and brought it into the
heavens into the presence of the Most High, there to abide
everlastingly in gladness and brightness in the place from which all
sorrow and sighing are fled away.



THE STORY OF ASENETH, JOSEPH'S WIFE



I

There was once a great man named Potipherah, who was high priest of
the city of On in Egypt; and he and his wife had no children. One day
he went into the temple to offer sacrifice, as was his custom. He
went alone, and when he entered the great courtyard of the temple, in
the middle of which stood the altar, he was astonished to see a
little child lying upon the altar. Without waiting to offer his
sacrifice, he hurried back to his wife. "What is the matter," said
she, "that you come back so hastily?" "I have seen a wonderful
thing," he said; "the gods have given us a child. The gates of the
temple were locked, so that no one could get into the court; yet
there is a child there, lying on the altar!" "What say you?" said his
wife; "what can be the meaning of it?" So they both hastened to the
temple, and when Potipherah opened the door of the courtyard, they
saw, partly at least, how the wonder had happened; for now there was
an eagle perched upon the altar with its wings spread out over the
child--it was a little girl, quite newly born--to protect it. They
guessed that it was the eagle that had brought the child, but, of
course, they could not tell whose it was. It was wrapped in
swaddling-clothes, and these Potipherah's wife kept carefully by her;
for she thought the time might come when they might be recognised by the
parents of the little child; and indeed, years afterwards, this proved
to be the case.

In the meantime Potipherah and his wife kept the child and brought
her up, and treated her as their daughter; and they called her
Aseneth.

She grew up to be very beautiful; she was quite unlike an Egyptian
girl, and might have been taken for a Hebrew maiden: tall as Sarah
and lovely as Rebekah or Rachel; so beautiful, in fact, that all the
sons of the princes and nobles of Egypt were in love with her, and
even the son of King Pharaoh himself said to his father, "Give me
Aseneth, the daughter of Potipherah, to wife." But Pharaoh said,
"Nay, my son, she is not of your rank; you must marry a queen;
remember, the daughter of the King of Moab is affianced to you."

But besides being very beautiful, Aseneth was exceedingly proud.
There was not a man of all the young nobles whom she would hear of,
much less look at. Indeed, hardly any man in Egypt except her own
father had ever seen her face; for she lived apart with the maidens
who waited on her, in a lofty tower which her father had built
specially for her. It was really a noble palace, with ten great
rooms, one over the other. The first room was paved with porphyry and
lined with slabs of coloured marbles, and the roof was of gold: and
it was a kind of chapel for Aseneth. It had golden and silver images
of all the gods of Egypt, and Aseneth worshipped them and burnt
incense to them every day. The second chamber was Aseneth's own. In
it were all her jewels and rich robes and fine linen. In the third
were stored the provisions of the house and every delicious fruit or
sweetmeat that could be got from any part of the world. The other
seven chambers belonged to the seven maidens who lived with Aseneth
and tended her. They were all of one age, and as fair as the stars of
heaven, and Aseneth loved them dearly.

But to come back to Aseneth's own chamber, which was the most
splendid of all. It had three windows, one looking out upon the
garden of the tower towards the east, and another towards the south,
and the third towards the high-road. Opposite the eastern window
stood a golden bed, with a coverlet woven of gold and purple and fine
linen.

And no one but Aseneth herself had ever even sat upon that bed, so
magnificent and so sacred was it.

Besides all this, the tower had all around it a garden with a high
wall of squared blocks of stone. The gates (there were four of them)
were of iron, and each was guarded by eighteen stalwart men in
armour. The garden itself was full of shady trees, bearing splendid
fruit; and there was a springing fountain at one side of it, whose
water ran first into a marble trough, and then out of that into a
stream which watered all the garden and kept it fresh and green.

Here Aseneth lived until she was eighteen years old, beautiful and
proud and caring for no one except her father and mother and her
seven maidens. Now the year in which she became eighteen was the
first of the seven years of plenty, of which King Pharaoh had dreamt
in the dream of the seven cows and the seven ears of corn, which is
written in the Bible. And Joseph was now travelling over all the land
of Egypt to gather together corn to store up against the seven years
of famine which were to follow the seven of plenty. And upon a
certain day in harvest-time, Potipherah and his wife, who had been
away at an estate which they possessed in the country, returned to
the city of On; and no sooner had they done so than they received a
message from Joseph, saying, "Let me come and rest at your house
during the heat of the day." Whereupon Potipherah was greatly
rejoiced, and thanked the gods for the honour which Joseph did him by
visiting him, and ordered a great banquet to be prepared.

Just at this time, Aseneth, who had heard that her father and mother
were returned, came to meet them. She had put on her most beautiful
robe, of linen woven with gold, and a golden girdle, and necklace and
bracelets of precious stones upon which were engraved the names of
the gods of Egypt. And she had a golden diadem on her head, and over
it a delicate veil. She hastened to meet her father and mother, and
they rejoiced at her wonderful beauty, and made her sit by them, and
showed her the gifts they had brought to her from the country--grapes
and figs, pomegranates and fresh dates, and young doves and quails
for her to tame, to her great delight. Then her father said to her,
"My child, sit here with us: I want to speak to you." So she sat down
between her father and mother, and her father took her hand and
kissed her, and said, "My darling child, do you know that Joseph, the
lord of all this land, the man who is going to save the country from
the famine that is coming the man whom Pharaoh trusts and honours
above all others, is coming to this house to-day? What would you say
if I were to offer to give you in marriage to him, to live happily
with him for the rest of your life?"

Then Aseneth was very angry; she blushed as red as fire, and darted
an ugly glance at her father sideways, and said, "How can you talk to
me so, father? Would you give me to a creature like that, the son of
a Ganaanitish labourer, who has been in prison--yes, and sold as a
slave--and only got out of prison because he contrived to explain a
dream of Pharaoh's, for all the world like the old women? Certainly
not! If I marry any one it will be Pharaoh's eldest son." So
Potipherah, disappointed as he was, said no more; and Aseneth
hurried away to her own chamber. But she looked out of the window.

As she went out, there ran in a young man, one of Potipherah's
servants, and said, "My lord, Joseph is just stopping before our
gates." So Potipherah and his wife and all their retinue rose and
went forth to meet Joseph; and the gates of the court towards the
east were thrown open, and the chariot drove in, drawn by four
milk-white horses with harness of gold; and in the chariot stood
Joseph, clad in a tunic of white linen and a blood-red mantle shot
with gold. On his head was a crown with twelve great gems, and above
each gem was a ray of gold; in his hand was an olive branch with
leaves and fruit. But fairer than all his equipment was his face, for
he was more beautiful than any of the sons of men. And just as all
the young nobles of Egypt were mad about Aseneth, so all the ladies
of Egypt were in love with Joseph; but he had not a word to say to
any of them, for they were all worshippers of idols, and Joseph
worshipped the true God--the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So the chariot entered the courtyard of Poti-pherah's palace, and the
gates were shut. Now Aseneth stood at her window, and when she saw
Joseph and the beauty of his countenance, she was smitten to the
heart, her knees trembled, and she almost swooned. A great fear came
upon her, and she heaved a deep sigh and said, "Alas, alas, what have
I said? what have I done? Pity me, O God of Joseph, for it was in
ignorance that I spoke against him. Did I not call him a Canaanitish
labourer's son? and lo, now he has come into our house like the sun
out of heaven. Fool that I was to rail against him as I did! If only
my father would give me to him as his slave and drudge, I would serve
him till I dropped dead at his feet."

Meanwhile Joseph, who had caught sight of Aseneth standing at her
window, had come into the house, and they had washed his feet and set
a table for him by himself (for Joseph would not eat with the
Egyptians). And he said to Potipherah, "Who was the woman whom I saw
looking out of the window when I came in? Some stranger? If so, she
must leave this house." "Nay, my lord," said Potipherah, "she is our
daughter." And he went on to tell how Aseneth disliked the company of
men, and indeed had hardly seen a strange man before that day; and
Joseph was glad to hear that she hated strange men, and said, "If she
be your daughter, I will love her from this day forth as a sister."

Accordingly, Aseneth's mother went and fetched Aseneth, and she
greeted Joseph, and he her. Then said Potipherah, "Come near, my
child, and kiss your brother." But when she drew near, Joseph put out
his hand and thrust her away, and spoke thus: "It is not right for
one who worships the living God, and eats the bread of life and
drinks the cup of immortality, to kiss one that praises with her lips
dead idols, and eats the bread of death from their tables and drinks
the cup of deceit." At these harsh words Aseneth was bitterly grieved:
she shrank back and looked piteously at Joseph, and her eyes filled
with tears; and when he saw how hurt she was, Joseph, who was full of
kindness raised his hand over her head and blessed her, praying that
God, who gives life to all and brings us out of darkness into light,
might give life and light to her soul, and number her among His
chosen people, and bring her into the everlasting rest which He has
promised to them. So Aseneth went back to her chamber, full of
mingled joy and sorrow; and she cast herself down on her bed and
wept. And that same evening Joseph left the house of Potipherah and
set forth on his journey again. "But," said he, "I will come back to
you in eight days' time." Potipherah also and his wife and their
servants went back to their country house; and Aseneth and her seven
maidens were left alone. And the sun went down and all was quiet.

II

When everyone else in the tower was asleep, Aseneth, who had remained
weeping on her bed, rose up stealthily and crept downstairs to the
gate of the tower, where the woman who kept the door was asleep with
her children; and as quietly as she could she unhooked the heavy
leather curtain that hung in the doorway, and spreading it out on the
floor, heaped up upon it all the cinders and ashes out of the hearth,
folded the corners together, dragged it upstairs and threw it down on
the floor. Then she barred the door of her room securely, and burst
into bitter weeping. It so happened that the maiden whom Aseneth
loved the best of all her seven companions was awake, and heard the
sounds of crying. She was alarmed, and flew to wake up the other
attendants, and all of them came to the door of Aseneth's chamber,
which was locked and barred. They called to her, "What is the matter,
dear mistress? Open to us and let us come in and comfort you." But
Aseneth answered from within, "It is nothing but a violent headache.
I am in bed, and too tired and ill to get up and open the door. Go
back all of you to your beds. I shall be well to-morrow." So they
dispersed to their rooms.

And when they were safely gone, Aseneth got up and opened the door of
the room in which she kept her dresses and jewels, taking care to
make no noise; and from among all her robes she chose out a black
one which she had worn, years before, when the only son of Potipherah
had died. And she cast off her royal robe and her diadem and veil and
girdle, and put on the black robe and girded it with a rope. Next she
went to the shrine wherein stood all the golden and silver images of
her gods, and took them and threw them out of the window for the
wayfarers to pick up; and she took the supper that had been laid out
for her of all manner of delicate meats, and threw that into the
highway for the dogs to eat. And she emptied the ashes out of the
leather curtain upon the floor; she let down her hair and cast some
of the ashes upon her head; she smote her breast and wept; and thus
she sat in silence and misery till seven days and nights were
accomplished.

And on the morning of the eighth day, when it was just dawning, and
the birds had begun to twitter in the trees of the garden, and the
dogs to bark at the passers-by, Aseneth raised herself a little from
her crouching posture among the ashes and turned herself to the
window that looked towards the east. She was faint and ill and weary
from her long fasting and watching; her tongue was dry as horn, her
eyes were glazed, and her fair face was haggard. She bent her head
down and clasped her hands together, and crouched down again among
the ashes, and said to herself, "It is all over. I have no one to
turn to now. My father and mother will cast me off, for I have
dishonoured their gods; they will say, 'Aseneth is no daughter of
ours.' My kindred will hate me, and all the youths whom I have
despised and rejected will rejoice at my humiliation; and Joseph
will have nothing to say to me because I am a foul worshipper of
idols. Yet," she went on to say, "I have heard that the God of the
Hebrews is a merciful God, long-suffering and compassionate, not hard
upon those that have sinned ignorantly, if they are sorry for what
they have done. Why should I not turn to Him? Who knows if He will
not have pity upon my loneliness and protect me? For they say He is
the Father of the fatherless, and cares for those who are in
trouble." So she rose and knelt upon her knees, with her face turned
towards the east, and looked up into heaven and prayed. "Save me,"
she said, "from those who are pursuing me, before I am caught by them;
as a little child when it is frightened runs to its father, and the
father stretches out his arms and catches it to his breast, so I flee
to Thee. I know that Satan, the Old Lion, is hunting me; for he is
the father of the gods of Egypt, and I have insulted them and
destroyed their images. I have no hope but in Thee. See, I have cast
off all my beautiful robes and ornaments; I sit here in sackcloth and
ashes; I have fasted and wept these seven days, because I know that
I have done wrong in worshipping dumb idols, and in speaking
scornfully against Joseph. But, Lord, I did it in ignorance; save me,
and above all watch over Joseph, whom I love more than my own life.
Keep him, Lord, in safety, and let me be his handmaid and his slave,
if Thou wilt, so that I may minister to him all the days I have to
live."

Much more did Aseneth say in her prayer, but it is not written down
here. When she had ended, the morning star was just coming up in the
east, and Aseneth rejoiced when she saw it and said, "Can it be that
God has heard my prayer, and that this star is the herald of the
light of the great day?" Then, in that part of the sky where the star
was shining, there opened a little cleft in the heavens, and a bright
light shone out of it: so dazzling that she fell on her face upon the
ashes. And in the next instant there stood over her a man who was all
flashing with light; and he called to her, "Aseneth, rise up." "Who
can this be who calls me?" she said; "my door is barred and the tower
is high. No one can have come into my chamber." So she did not look
up; but the man called to her again, "Aseneth, Aseneth!" And at last
she answered, "Here am I, lord: tell me, who art thou?" He
answered, "I am the Prince of all the army of heaven; rise up and
stand on your feet, and hear my words." Then for the first time she
looked at him, and saw that he was in all things like Joseph, with
royal robe, and crown and sceptre; but his face, and hair, and hands
and feet were bright like the sun, and his eyes pierced like
lightning; and again she was afraid, and fell on her face. But he
said, "Do not be afraid; hear what I am come to say to you."
Thereupon she rose and stood up, weak as she was; and he bade her go
into her inner chamber and put off her black robe, and the sackcloth
and ashes, and bathe herself in clear water, and array herself in the
noblest of her robes, and come back to him.

Now when this was done, and she had returned to him, fresh and
beautiful as formerly, he spoke kindly to her, and blessed her and
said, "God has heard your prayer: He has looked upon your sorrow and
tears, and has forgiven your sin. Be of good cheer, for your name is
written in the Book of Life, and shall no more be blotted out. From
this day forth you shall eat the bread of life and drink the cup of
immortality, and be anointed with the oil of joy. And a new name
shall be given you, even the name of the City of Refuge; for as you
have come to God for refuge, many shall in like manner come to Him
through your example by repentance. And now, behold, this day I shall
go to Joseph, and tell him that which has befallen you, and he shall
come to you this very day and make you his bride. Make ready
therefore and array yourself in the bridal robe that is laid up in
your chamber, and put upon you all your elect ornaments, and prepare
yourself to meet him."

When Aseneth heard this joyful news, she fell on her face at the feet
of the messenger and gave thanks to God; and, said she, "My lord,
stay yet a little while, I pray you, and sit upon this couch, and I
will set a table before you, and bread, and you shall eat; and I will
bring you wine old and fragrant, and you shall drink, and so go on
your way." For she did not know that it was an angel who had come to
her. And he said, "I will do so: hasten therefore and make ready."

So first she set before him a table; and as she was going to fetch
the bread he said to her, "Bring a honeycomb also." But at this she
stopped, and was troubled in her mind, for she knew that there was no
honeycomb in her store-room. "Why do you stop?" said the angel.
"Sir," she answered, "let me send a boy to the farm which is near by,
and he shall fetch you a honeycomb in a moment." "No," said he, "you
need only go into your store-room, and you will find one upon the
table; bring that to me." "Sir," she answered, "I know that there is
none there." But he said, "Go and you will find it." She went
therefore and found the honeycomb, as he had said; it was large, and
as white as snow, and full of honey, and the smell of it was as the
breath of life. She wondered greatly, but she would not delay, and
she brought it out and put it on the table before the angel. Then he
called her to him, and as she moved towards him he stretched out his
right hand over her head, and again she was afraid, for she saw
sparks and flashes of fire coming from it, as if it were of heated
iron; so that she gazed upon him earnestly in astonishment. But he
smiled and said, "You are blessed, Aseneth, for you have seen some of
the secret things of God; it is of this honeycomb that the angels eat
in Paradise, and the bees of Paradise have made it of the dew of the
roses of life in the garden of God; and whosoever tastes it shall not
die for ever." Then he put forth his right hand and took a piece of
the honeycomb, and tasted it, and gave a portion to Aseneth, and she
ate it; and he said, "Now you have received the food of life, and
your youth shall know no old age, and your beauty shall never fade."
And again he stretched forth his right hand and drew his finger
across the honeycomb from the east side of it to the west, and from
the north side to the south, and where his finger touched it there
was left a track of the colour of blood. And immediately there came
out of the honeycomb a multitude of bees. They were white like snow,
and their wings were purple and scarlet, and they swarmed about
Aseneth and made honey upon her lips. Among them there were some that
made as though they would have stung her, but these the angel
rebuked, and they fell to the ground dead. But after a while the
angel said to the bees, "Go to your place," and at that they rose up
in a swarm and flew out of the window and up into the sky. Then he
touched with his rod the dead bees upon the floor, and said to them,
"Go ye also to your place," and they came to life and flew out of the
window, and settled upon the trees in the garden of Aseneth. And for
the third time he stretched out his hand and touched the honeycomb
upon the table, and straightway there burst forth a flame, and
consumed the honeycomb--but upon the table it left no mark--and the
sweet smell of the burning filled all the chamber.

Then said Aseneth, "Sir, I have seven companions, maidens who have
been brought up with me, and I love them as sisters: may I not call
them, and you shall bless them as you have blessed me?" So she called
them in, and made them stand before the angel, and he blessed them;
and thereafter he said to Aseneth, "Take away the table." And as she
turned aside to lift it, he was gone. But through the window she saw
in the sky a chariot and four horses shining like fire, going into
the heavens towards the east, and the angel standing in the chariot.
Then she said, "Ah, foolish that I am! I knew not that it was an
angel out of heaven that came into my chamber, and now, behold, he is
going back into heaven to his own place. Pardon me, my lord, and
spare thy handmaid, for it was in ignorance that I spoke so boldly
before thee!"

While she was still wondering, there came in a messenger and said,
"Joseph, the mighty one of God, is on his way hither." And
immediately Aseneth sent for the steward of the palace and bade him
prepare a great banquet, and make all things ready; but she herself,
remembering the words of the angel, went into her inner chamber and
adorned herself as a bride, in shining robes, and upon her head she
put a crown of gold which had in the midst, over her forehead, a
great jacinth stone and six other precious stones round it; and she
covered her head with a veil of wonderful beauty. Then she called to
one of her maidens, who brought her a basin of pure water, and when
she saw the reflection of her face in the water she was astonished at
the beauty and freshness and brightness of it. Just then the steward
of the palace came in to say that all was ready, and he too was
struck with amazement at the sight of her, and said, "Lady, what is
the cause of this wonderful beauty? Can it be that the God of heaven
has chosen you to be the bride of Joseph, His elect?" And while he
was yet speaking, the sound of Joseph's chariot-wheels was heard
without.

Then Aseneth hastened and went down to meet Joseph, and her seven
maidens followed her, and they all stood in the porch of the palace.
And when Joseph saw Aseneth he also marvelled, and said, "Who art
thou, maiden?" And she answered, "Thy handmaid Aseneth; and I have
cast away all my idols and they are gone." And she went on and told
him of the coming of the angel to her. And he rejoiced. Then they
came near and embraced one another, and she led him into her father's
house and made him sit on her father's throne; and Joseph said, "Let
one of the maidens come and wash my feet." But Aseneth said, "No;
from henceforth I am your handmaid: your hands are my hands, your
feet are my feet, and your soul is my soul: none other shall wash
your feet but I." So she compelled him, and washed his feet. And
after that he kissed her again, and made her sit down beside him, on
his right hand.

And as they were talking together, Potipherah and his wife and their
household entered the palace, having returned from the country; and
they were amazed, and rejoiced at the sight of Joseph and Aseneth.
And when they learnt all that had happened, they rejoiced yet more;
and Potipherah said, "To-morrow I will call together all my kinsfolk
and prepare your marriage feast." But Joseph said, "Nay, but I will
first go to Pharaoh and speak to him concerning Aseneth, that I may
take her to wife; for he is to me as a father."

So on the next day Joseph departed to see Pharaoh, and forthwith
Pharaoh sent for Potipherah and his wife and Aseneth; and in their
presence he blessed Aseneth, and joined her hand with the hand of
Joseph, and crowned them with golden crowns, and made a great feast
for them lasting seven days; and all the land of Egypt rejoiced. So
Joseph and Aseneth were married; and after that two sons were born
to them, even Ephraim and Manasseh, in the house of Joseph.

III

Now when the seven years of plenty were over, the years of famine
began, and Jacob and his sons came to dwell in Egypt in the land of
Goshen, as it is told in the Bible. Then Aseneth said to Joseph, "Let
me go and see your father and greet him." So Joseph brought her to
Jacob, and his brethren met him and did him obeisance at the door of
the house, and they entered in. And when they saw Jacob, who was
sitting upon his bed, Aseneth was struck with amazement at the sight
of him, for he was noble to look upon. His head was white as snow,
his beard was long, flowing over his bosom, his eyes were bright and
flashing, and his muscles and limbs were those of a giant. And
Aseneth fell on her face before him; and Israel said, "Is this thy
wife, my son Joseph? Blessed shall she be of the Most High God."
Then he called her to him, and she fell on his breast and he kissed
her, and they rejoiced together. After that he inquired of her
concerning her parents; and Aseneth told him how an eagle had
brought her and laid her upon the altar of the temple of On; and she
showed him the swaddling-clothes in which she had been wrapped. And
Jacob knew that they belonged to his own daughter Dinah; and thus it
was made known to him that Aseneth was of his own race, and he was
the more glad.

And when they departed from him, Simeon and Levi accompanied them
with the other sons of Leah and Rachel; but the sons of Bilhah and
Zilpah would not go with them, for they hated Joseph. And of all
Joseph's brethren, Aseneth loved Levi the most, for he was a prophet
and a seer, and could read the signs of the stars of heaven.

Now it happened that as they were on their way to visit Jacob, the
eldest son of Pharaoh was on the city wall, and he saw Aseneth and
loved her immediately, and could think of nothing but how he might
make away with Joseph and take Aseneth for his own wife. And after a
few days he sent secretly to Simeon and Levi, and said to them, "I
know that you are mighty men, and that with your two swords alone you
defeated the men of Shechem and overthrew their city. I have sent for
you because I wish to make you my friends, and, if you will do what I
ask you, I will give you riches and lands and houses--in a word, all
that you can desire. Now what I would have you do is this. You must
know that I have been bitterly wronged by your brother Joseph: he has
married Aseneth, who was betrothed to me long ago. Join with me
therefore and help me to kill him, and I will take Aseneth to wife,
and you shall be my brothers. If you refuse, I will slay you." And
with these words he drew his sword and flourished it at them. At this
Simeon, who was a man of hot temper, was enraged, and would have
drawn his own sword and cut down the prince; but Levi, who could read
his thoughts, trod upon his foot and made signs to him to be quiet,
and whispered, "Why be angry with this fellow? We are God-fearing
men, and must not render evil for evil." Then Levi said calmly and
mildly to Pharaoh's son, "Why does my lord speak thus to his
servants? We can do no such wickedness against our brother and
against our God. Let us hear no more such evil words; but, if you
will not be persuaded, know that our swords will be drawn against
you." With that both the brothers drew their swords, and when the son
of Pharaoh saw them he crouched upon the ground in terror, for they
flashed like flames of fire and dazzled his eyes. But Levi said, "Get
up and do not be frightened: only take care that you say nothing more
of this kind against our brother Joseph." And they went forth from
his presence.

But he could not restrain himself, for he was half-mad with anger and
fear and with love of Aseneth. And after some days his servants said
to him, "Do you know that the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah are at enmity
with Joseph and Aseneth? They will do all that you ask of them." So
he sent for them, for Dan and Gad and Naphtali and Asher, and they
came to him in the first hour of the night; and after he had greeted
them he sent away his servants, and said to the brethren, "Listen
to me. Life and death are before you; choose which you will have:
will you die like women or fight like men? I overheard your brother
Joseph saying to my father Pharaoh, 'Dan and Gad and Naphtali and
Asher are no brethren of mine; they are the sons of my father's
handmaids, and I am only waiting till my father dies to make an end
of them and their families. It was they who sold me to the
Ishmaelites, and I am going to repay it into their bosom.' And my
father said, 'It is well spoken: you have leave to take any of my
bodyguard and deal with them as you will.'" Then Dan and Gad and
their brothers were sorely troubled, and they said, "O sir, help us,
and we will be your servants for ever." And he said, "I will. Hear me
now: this night I will kill my father Pharaoh--for he is the helper
of Joseph--and do you for your part slay Joseph. Then I will take
Aseneth to wife, and you shall be my brethren and joint heirs with me
in the kingdom." So they said, "We will do so, and thus it shall be:
we heard Joseph say to Aseneth that she should go to-morrow into the
vineyard, for it is the time of vintage. We therefore will go this
night into the bed of the river and hide among the reeds; and do you
take with you fifty archers upon horses, and go on before. Then will
Aseneth come and fall into our ambush, and we will kill the men that
are with her, and she will flee in her chariot and fall into your
hands, and you shall do to her as seems good to you. As for Joseph,
while he is mourning for Aseneth we will kill him; but first we will
slay his children before his face." And Pharaoh's son rejoiced
greatly, and sent them forth with a great body of mighty men, and
they went and hid themselves in four companies among the reeds of the
river on either side of the road.

Yet Naphtali and Asher murmured against their elder brothers Dan and
Gad, saying, "To what purpose are you conspiring again? Did you not
sell Joseph for a slave before, and, lo! he is become lord over all
Egypt? Now therefore, if you imagine evil against him, he will call
upon God, and fire will come down out of heaven and devour you, and
the angels of God will fight against you." But their elder brothers
were angry and said, "What then would you have? Are we to die like
women? Not so!" And the counsel of Naphtali and Asher did not
prevail with them.

In the same night the son of Pharaoh rose up and went to his father's
chamber with intent to slay him, as he had promised; but when he came
to the door the guards stopped him and said, "What is my lord's
will?" He said, "I desire to see my father, for I am going away
to-morrow to visit my vine-yard which I have newly planted." And they
said, "Your father is ill and has not slept until now, and he gave
us commandment that no man should come into his chamber, no, not if
it were his firstborn son." So he went away in a rage, and took fifty
archers with him on horses and went on before, as Dan and Gad had
said.

Aseneth also arose early in the morning and said to Joseph, "Lo, I
go to the vineyard as you appointed; but my soul is troubled greatly
at being parted from you." But Joseph said, "Be of good cheer; the
Lord is with you and will keep you as the apple of an eye. As for me,
I go to distribute corn to the people of the land, that no man in
Egypt may perish of hunger." So Aseneth went her way; and as she came
to the place of the ambush by the river, the men that were in hiding
rushed out upon her, and slew all the guard that were with her, even
six hundred soldiers and fifty runners; and Aseneth fled away upon
her chariot.

Now Levi, though he was afar off, saw in the spirit what was being
done--for he was a seer--and told his brethren of the peril of
Aseneth; and they girded every man his sword upon his thigh, and took
up their shields and their spears and ran swiftly after Aseneth.

And as she fled on before, suddenly she saw the son of Pharaoh in the
way, and the horsemen that were with him. Then was Aseneth in great
fear, and she called upon the name of her God.

But Benjamin was in the chariot with her. Now he was a lad of
nineteen years, beautiful exceedingly, and strong as a lion's whelp.
And when he saw the men, he leapt down from the chariot and caught up
a round stone out of the brook and threw it at the son of Pharaoh,
and smote him on the left temple, so that he fell from his horse
half-dead.

Then Benjamin leapt up upon a rock by the way-side, and called to the
driver of the chariot, "Give me stones out of the river bed." And he
gave them; and with fifty stones Benjamin slew