182 Talmud, Tractat. Sanhedrin, fol. 108, col. 1. So also the Book Yaschar, p. 1097.

183 Jalkut, Genesis, fol. 14a.

184 Jalkut Shimoni, Job. fol. 121, col. 2.

185 Eisenmenger, i. p. 385. The Targum of Palestine says the water was hot (i. p. 179).

186 Tractat. Sevachim, fol. 113, col. 2.

187 Or, a unicorn; the Hebrew word is Reém.

188 Midrash, fol. 14.

189 Eutych, Patriarcha Alex., ed. Selden, i. p. 36.

190 Tabari, p. 108.

191 Abulfeda, p. 17.

192 Yaschar, p. 1100.

193 Colin de Plancy, p. 110.

194 Weil, p. 45.

195 Ararat.

196 Tabari, c. xli.

197 Weil, p. 45.

198 Midrash, fol. 15.

199 Tabari, p. 113.

200 Fabricius, i. pp. 74, 243.

201 Ed. Dillmann, c. 67.

202 Ed. Etheridge, i. p. 182.

203 Gen. v. 20.

204 In the Midrash Rabba, this want of connection between the name and the signification is remarked upon, and Solomon Jarki in his commentary says that, for the meaning assigned, the name ought to have been, not Noah, but Menahem.

205 Buttmann, Ueber der Mythus d. Sûndfluth, Berlin, 1819; Lûken Die Traditionen des Menschengeschlechts, Munster, 1856; Bryant, Of the Deluge in Ancient Mythology, London, 1775, etc.

206 Parrot, Journey to Ararat, English Trans. Lond. 1845.

207 Joseph. Antiq., i. 3; see also Ptolem. Geogr. vi. 2.

208 Joseph. Antiq., i. 4.

209 Euseb. Præp. Evang. ix. 19.

210 Lucian, De Dea Syra, c. 12, 13.

211 Georg. Syncellus, Chronographia, p. 29, B., ed. Bonn; or Cory’s Ancient Fragments, p. 26 et seq.

212 Præp. Evang. ix. 12; see also S. Cyril contra Julian, i.

213 Bochart, Geogr. Sacra, p. 231.

214 Ekhel, Doctrina Numm. Vet. iii. p. 132 et seq.; see also Bryant’s New System of Ancient Mythology, Lond. 1775, i. note 3.

215 Orac. Sibvll, i. v. 260, 265-7. Ed. Fiedlieb.

216 Bundehesch, 7.

217 On the Chronology of the Hindus, by Sir W. Jones; Asiatic Researches, ii. pp. 116-7.

218 Bopp, Die Sündfluth; Berlin, 1829, p. 9.

219 Ovid. Metam. i. 240 et seq.

220 Steph. Bryzant., s. voce Ικονιον.

221 Diod. Sicul. lib. i.

222 Mém. concernant les Chinois, i. p. 157.

223 Klaproth, Inschrift, des Yu; Halle, 1811, p. 29.

224 Mém. concernant les Chinois, ix. p. 383.

225 Mart. Martinii, Hist. Sin. p. 26.

226 Steller, Beschreibung v. Kamschatka; Frankf. 1744, p. 273.

227 Serres, Kosmoganie des Moses, übersetzt von F. X. Stech, p. 149.

228 Davies, Mythology of the British Druids, London, 1809; and Celtic Researches, London, 1844: curious works on the Arkite worship and art-ditions of the Kelts.

229 The prose Edda; Mallet, Northern Antiq., ed. Bohn, p. 404.

230 Grimm, Deutsche Mythol.; Göttingen, 1854, p. 545.

231 The same story precisely, is told by the closely allied race of the Chippewas; Atherne Jones, Traditions of the North American Indians, London, 1830, ii. p. 9 et seq.

232 Lütke, Voyage autour du Monde, i. p. 189.

233 Braunschweig, Die alten Amerik. Denkmäler; Berlin, 1840, p. 18.

234 Atherne Jones, Traditions of the North American Indians, ii. 21-33.

235 Catlin, Letters and Notes on the Manners, etc., of the N. American Indians; London, 1841.

236 Mayer, Mytholog. Taschenbuch; Weimar, 1811, p. 245.

237 Schoolcraft, Notes on the Iroquois; New York, 1847, p. 358.

238 Müller, Geschichte des Amerikanischen Urreligionem, Basle, 1855, p. 515; Lüken, Die Traditionem des Menschengeschlechts, p. 223.

239 Humboldt, Anh. des Cordilleren, i. p. 42.

240 Antonio de Herrera, Hist. general de los Hecos, etc.; Madrid, 1601, iii. c. 10.

241 Compare Lüken and Müller.

242 Humboldt, Reise in die Aequinoctial Gegenden, iii. pp. 406-7.

243 Nachrichten aus dem Lande Guiana, v. Salvator Gili; Hamb. 1785 pp. 440-1, quoted by Lüken.

244 Garcilasso de la Vega, Hist. des Yncas; Amst., i. pp. 73 and 326.

245 Ausland, Jan. 1845, No. 1.

246 Jalkut, Genesis, fol. 16 a.

247 Colin de Plancy, p. 121.

248 Tabari, i. c. xli.

249 Hist. Dynastiarum, ed. Pocock; Oxon., 1663, p. 9.

250 Hist. Dynastiarum, ed. Pocock; Oxon., 1663, p. 10.

251 Eutychius, Patr. Alex., Annal., t. i. p. 44.

252 Bereschith Rabba, fol. 22, col. 4.

253 Eutych. Annal., ed. Selden, i. p. 35.

254 Suidas, Lexic. s. v. Σίβυλλα.

255 Tract. Sanhedrin, fol. 108, col. 2.

256 Tabari, i. p. 115.

257 Colin de Plancy, p. 224.

258 Eisenmenger, i. pp. 318-9.

259 Ibid., p. 376.

260 Ibid., p. 395.

261 Adv. Hæres., lib. i.

262 De Tartaris, c. 9.

263 Reliquiæ Arcæ Noæ, in Fabricius, i. art. 33.

264 Tabari, i. c. xlii. xliii.

265 Tabari, i. c. xliii.

266 Gen. xi. 16, 18, 20, 22.

267 Abulfaraj, Hist. Dynastiarum, p. 12.

268 Abulfaraj, Hist. Dynastiarum, p. 13.

269 Gen. x. 21-24.

270 Koran, Sura xi. verse 57.

271 Tabari, i. c. xliv.; Abulfeda, Hist. Ante Islamica, pp. 19-21.

272 Weil, pp. 47, 48.

273 Herbelot, Biblioth. Orientale, s. v. Lokman.

274 Tabari, i. p. 432.

275 Koran, Sura xxvi. v. 153.

276 Ibid., xi. v. 67.

277 Tabari, i. c. xlv.

278 Weil, pp. 48-61; Abulfeda, p. 21.

279 Pirke of Rabbi Eliezer, c. xi.

280 Ibid., c. xxiv.

281 Ibid., c. xi.

282 Targums, ed. Etheridge, i. p. 187.

283 Bechaji, Comm. in 1 Mos. xi.; Pirke of R. Eliezer, c. xi.; Talmud, Sanhedrim, 109a; Targums, i. pp. 189-90, etc.

284 Talmud, Sanhedrim; see also the history of Nimrod in Yaschar, pp. 1107-8.

285 Herbelot, s. v. Nimroud.

286 Hist. Dynast., p. 12.

287 Mémoires conc. les Chinois, i. p. 213.

288 Euseb., Præp. Ev., ix. 14; Cory, Ancient Fragments, pp. 34-50.

289 George Syncellus, Bibl. Græc., v. p. 178.

290 Euseb., Præp. Ev., ix. 17.

291 Mos. Chorene, i. 9.

292 Müller, Glauben u. Wissen. d. Hindus; Mainz, 1822, i. p. 303.

293 Allgem. Hist. d. Reisen, vi. p. 602.

294 Lüken, p. 287; Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 517, etc.

295 Humboldt, Ansichten d. Cordilleren, i. p. 42.

296 For the Rabbinic traditions relating to Abraham I am indebted to the exhaustive monograph of Dr. B. Beer. “Leben Abraham’s nach Auffassung der jüdischen Sage,” Leipzig, 1859, to which I must refer my readers for references to Jewish books, which are given with an exactitude which leaves nothing to be desired.

297 Weil, p. 69.

298 The Mussulman history of the patriarch relates that Azar brought Abraham before Nimrod and said, “This is thy God who made all things.” “Then why did he not make himself less ugly?” asked Abraham,—for Nimrod had bad features.

299 The Mussulman story, which is precisely the same as the Jewish, adds that the camels refused to bear wood to form the pyre, but cast it on the ground; therefore Abraham blessed the camels. But the mules had no compunction, therefore he cursed them that they should be sterile. The birds who flew over the fire were killed, the city was enveloped in its smoke, and the crackling of its flames could be heard a day’s journey off.

300 Weil, p. 73.

301 Both the Rabbinic commentators and the Mussulman historians tell a long story about the discussion carried on between Gabriel and Abraham in the air, as he was being shot into the flames. It is hardly worth repeating.

302 Tabari, i. p. 147.

303 Weil, p. 78.

304 Gen. xv.

305 Tabari, i. p. 156.

306 Gen. xiv. 19. The book Jasher also says that Amraphel and Nimrod are the same.

307 Gen. xiv. 17.

308 Ibid., 19, 20.

309 Gen. xiv. 23, 24.

310 Ps. ix. 8.

311 Tabari, i. c. xlviii.

312 Gittin, fol. 56 b; Pirke of R. Eliezer, fol. 49.

313 Weil, p. 80.

314 Tabari, i. c. lii; Abulfeda, p. 25.

315 Apocrypha de Loto, apud Fabricium, t. i. pp. 428-431.

316 Solomon Jarschi, Comm. on Moses, xx. 5.

317 Josh. xii. 24.

318 Psalm cxiii. 9.

319 This climax of absurdity is found also in the Mussulman histories of the Patriarch.

320 Weil, p. 83.

321 It seems probable that S. Paul alludes to this traditional speech more than once, as for instance Gal. iii. 9.

322 The same story is told by the Mohammedans: Weil, p. 90.

323 Gen. xxi. 24-27.

324 Numbers xxi. 16, 17.

325 Gen. xxi. 33.

326 The Mussulmans tell the story of Ishmael almost in every particular the same as that given below.

327 Exod. iv. 20.

328 Zech. ix. 9.

329 When King Sapor heard the R. Samuel explain that Messiah would come riding on an ass, the king said, “I will give him a horse; it is not seemly that he should ride an ass.” “What,” answered the Rabbi, “hast thou a horse with a hundred colors?” (Talmud, Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 98, col. 1.)

330 The day is uncertain. Some say it was the 3d Nisan; others, it was the first of the seventh month, Tischri, New Year’s day; others, that it was the Day of Atonement. Some say Isaac’s age was 37; others say 36; others 26; others 25; others 16; others 13; others, again, say 5; and others say only 2 years.

331 In the Rabbinic tradition, the type of Christ comes out more distinctly than in Genesis, for here we see Isaac not merely offered by his father, but also giving himself as a free-will offering, immaculate without in his body, and within in his soul.

332 Might not these words be spoken mystically of Christ?

333 And these prophetic. Abraham means that God must take care of him in his old age. But they may also be taken by us thus, God must take thy place as the victim.

334 Here again—it may be fanciful—but I cannot help thinking we have the type continued of Christ’s presence perpetuated in the Church, in the Tabernacle in which the Host is reserved, that all passing by may look thereupon and worship, and “Remember Me” in the adorable Sacrament. With a vast amount of utterly unfounded fable, the Rabbinic traditions may, and probably do, contain much truth.

335 “If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.” (John xvi. 7.)

336 This is one instance out of several in which the honorable and generous conduct of a Gentile is distorted by Rabbinical tradition; the later Rabbis being unwilling to give any but their own nation credit for liberal and just dealing. It may have been observed in the account of Abimelech, how the frank exchange of promises between Abraham and the Philistine prince was regarded by them as sinful.

337 Joshua i. 21.

338 2 Sam. v. 6; 1 Chron. xi. 4.

339 2 Sam. v. 8.

340 2 Sam. xxiv. 24; 1 Chron. xxi. 24. This is, however, in direct contravention of the account in the fifth chapter of the 2d Samuel.

341 Gen. xxiv. 34-49.

342 Gen. xxv. 2.

343 Gen. xxv. 4.

344 Tabari, i. c. lvii.

345 Weil, p. 98.

346 This the Targumim, or pharaphrases of the Sacred Text, distinctly say, “Melchizedek, who was Shem, son of Noah, king of Jerusalem.” (Etheridge, i. p. 199.)

347 Fabricius, Codex Pseud. V. T. t. i. p. 311. The Book of the Combat of Adam says Melchizedek was the son of Canaan.

348 Suidas, Lexic. s. v. Μελχισεδεκ.

349 Πασχάλιον, seu Chronicon Paschale a mundo condito ad Heraclii imp. ann. vicesimum. Ed. C. du Fresne du Cange; Paris, 1688, p. 49.

350 Michael Glycas, Βὶβλος χρονικη, ed. Labbe; Paris, 1660, p. 135.