Ishmael grew up, and became skilful with his bow; he was rough and undisciplined, and he occasionally lapsed into idolatry, but without his father knowing it. But Sarah was aware of his sin, and was grieved thereat.
Ishmael often boasted, “I am the eldest son, and I shall have a double portion of my father’s inheritance.” These words were reported to Sarah, and she hated Ishmael for them in her heart.
One day when Isaac was five years old, but others say fifteen, Ishmael said to him, “Come forth into the field and let us shoot.” Isaac was well pleased. And when they were in the field, Ishmael turned his bow against his brother, but he did it in jest. Sarah saw him from the tent door, and she ran out, and caught away her son Isaac, and she went to Abraham and told him all the evil she knew of Ishmael; how he had gone after idols and had learnt the ways of the Canaanites that were in the land, how he had boasted of his majority, and how he had sought Isaac’s life. And she said, “Give the maid-servant a writing of divorcement, and send her away. Cast out this bond-woman and her son; for the son of this bond-woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. Then she will no more vex Isaac. Do thou leave to Isaac all thy possessions. Never shall Ishmael inherit any thing from thee, for he is not my son.”
Abraham was grieved at heart, for he loved Ishmael his son, but nothing that he said could alter Sarah’s determination. She insisted on the expulsion of Hagar and her son, and she stirred up the wrath of Abraham against Ishmael, because he had fallen into idolatry.
Sarah, say the Mussulmans, was so fierce in her jealousy, that she would not be satisfied till she had washed her hands in the blood of Hagar. Then Abraham quickly pierced Hagar’s ears, and drew a ring through them, so that Sarah could fulfil her oath, without endangering the life of Hagar.320
It was long before Abraham could be brought to consent to Sarah’s desire, but God appeared to him in a dream and said, “Fear not to obey the voice of Sarah, for she is the wife of thy youth, and was chosen for thee from her mother’s womb. But Hagar is not thy wife; she is but a bond-woman. Sarah also is a prophetess, and sees into things that shall be in the latter days, further than thou. Unto Isaac and those of his seed who believe in the Two Worlds are the promises made; and they alone shall be accounted as thy seed.”321
Abraham now did what he was commanded. Next morning he gave Hagar a writing of dismissal, and took twelve loaves of bread and a pitcher of water, and laid them upon Hagar, for Sarah had cast an evil eye upon Ishmael, so that he was ill, and unable to carry any burden. And Abraham attached the pitcher by a cord to the hips of Hagar, that all might know she was a slave, and the pitcher hung down and trailed on the sand. Ishmael was sent away without garments; he went forth naked as he came into the world: thus it may be seen how implacable was the anger of Sarah, because he had boasted of his birthright, and the wrath of Abraham, because he had fallen into idolatry.
But when they went along their way, Abraham looked after them for long, standing in the door of his tent, for his bowels yearned after his son, and he saw the trail in the sand of the water pitcher which Hagar had dragged sadly along, and thereby Abraham knew the direction which they had taken.
Now God forsook not the outcast in her affliction, but filled the pitcher with water as fast as she and her son drank out of it, and the water was always sweet and cold. Thus they penetrated the wilderness, and there they lost their way, and Hagar forgot the God of Abraham, and in her distress turned to the false gods of her father Pharaoh, and besought their protection, for she said, “Where are the promises of the God of Abraham, that of Ishmael would He make a great nation?”
Now Ishmael was sick of a burning fever, and the water in the pitcher failed when Hagar forsook the God of Abraham. So she cast him under a thorn bush, and went from him the space of two thousand ells, that she might not hear his cries. But Ishmael prayed to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth, and said, “O Lord God of my father Abraham! thou canst send death in so many forms; take my life speedily or give me a drop of water, that I suffer this agony no longer.”
And the Lord in His compassion heard the prayer of the weeping child, and He sent His angel and showed Hagar that fountain which He had created on the sixth day at dusk, and of which the children of Israel were destined to drink when they came forth out of Egypt.
But the accusing angel murmured against this judgment of God, and said, “O Lord of the whole earth! shall this one, of whom a nation of robbers shall arise, who will war upon thine elect people, and be a scourge upon the face of the earth, shall he be delivered now, and given to drink of a fountain destined for thine elect?”
The Lord answered, “Is the youth guilty, or is he not guilty?”
The angel answered, “He is not himself guilty, but his posterity will sin.”
Then God said, “I punish men for what they have done, and not for what their children will do. Ishmael hath not merited a death of suffering, therefore shall he not die.” And God opened the eyes of Hagar, and she saw the spring of water, and filled her pitcher, and took it to Ishmael to drink. She filled the pitcher before she gave her son a draught of water, for she had little faith, and thought that the fountain would be withdrawn before she could return to it again.
Then Ishmael was strengthened and could go, and he and his mother went further, and were fed by the shepherds; and they reached Paran, and there they found springs of water, and they settled there. Ishmael took a wife, a daughter of Moab, named Aischa, or Aifa, or Asiah; but others say she was an Egyptian woman, and was named Meriba (the quarrelsome), and by her he had four sons and one daughter.
Ishmael lived a wandering life in tents with his wife and cattle; and the Lord blessed his flocks, and he had great possessions. But his heart remained the same; and he was a master of archery, and instructed his neighbors in making bows.
After three years, Abraham, whose heart longed after his son, said to Sarah, “I must see how my son Ishmael fares.” And she answered, “Thou shalt go if thou wilt swear to me not to alight from off thy camel,” for she hated Hagar, and feared to suffer her husband to meet her once more. So Abraham swore. Then he went to Paran, over the desert, seeking Ishmael’s tent; and he reached it at noon, but neither Hagar nor her son were at home. Only Ishmael’s wife was within, and she was scolding and beating the children.
So Abraham halted on his camel before the tent door, and the sun was hot in the blue sky above, and the sand was white and glaring beneath. And he called to her, “Is thy husband within?”
She answered, without rising from her seat, “He is hunting.” Or, say others, she said without looking at him or rising, “He is gathering dates.”
Then Abraham said, “I am faint and hungry; bring me a little bread and a drop of water.”
But the woman answered, “I have none for such as thee.”
So Abraham said to her, “Say to thy husband, even to Ishmael, these words: ‘An old man hath come to see thee out of the land of the Philistines, and he says, The nail that fastens thy tent is bad; cast it away or thy tent will fall, and get thee a better nail.’” Then he departed, and went home.
Now when Ishmael returned, his wife told him all these words, and he knew that his father had been there, and he understood the tenor of his words, so he sent away his wife, and he took another, with his mother’s advice, out of Egypt, and her name was Fatima.
And after three years, Abraham’s bowels yearned once more after his son, and he said to Sarah, “I must see how Ishmael fares.” And she answered, “Thou shalt go, if thou wilt swear to me not to alight from off thy camel.” So Abraham swore.
Then he went to Paran, over the desert, seeking Ishmael’s tent, and he reached it at noon; but neither Hagar nor her son was at home. Only Ishmael’s wife, Fatima, was within, and she was singing to the children.
So Abraham halted on his camel before the tent door, and the sun was hot in the blue sky above, and the sand was white and glaring beneath. And when Fatima saw a stranger at the door, she rose from her seat, and veiled her face, and came out and greeted him.
Then said Abraham, “Is thy husband within?”
She answered, “My lord, he is pasturing the camels in the desert;” and she added, “Enter, my lord, into the cool of the tent and rest, and suffer me to bring thee a little meat.”
But Abraham said, “I may not alight from off my camel, for my journey is hasty; but bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread and a drop of water, for I am hungry and faint.”
Then she ran and brought him of the best of all that she had in the tent, and he ate and drank, and was glad.
So he said to her, “Say to thy husband, even to Ishmael, that an old man out of the land of the Philistines hath been here, and he says, The nail that fastens thy tent is very good; let it not be stirred out of its place, and thy tent will stand.”
And he returned. And when Ishmael came home, Fatima related to him all the words that the old man had spoken, and he understood the tenor of the words.
Ishmael was glad that his father had visited him, for he knew thereby that his love to him was not extinguished.322
Shortly after, he left his wife and children, and went across the desert to see his father in the land of the Philistines. And Abraham related to him all that had taken place with the first wife, and why he had exhorted him to put her away.
Abraham lived twenty-six years in the land of the Philistines; then he went to Hebron, and there his servants dug wells, and there they encamped.
When Abimelech’s servants heard of these wells that they had dug, they came with their flocks, and desired to use them also, and the largest of the wells they claimed as their own. But Abraham’s shepherds said, “Let the well belong to those to whom it gives water. The Lord shall decide between us!”
To this the servants of Abimelech agreed. And when the flocks of Abraham came to drink, the well sprang up and overflowed; but when the flocks of Abimelech drew near, the water sank and disappeared.
Now when Abimelech heard of the strife, he came with Phicol, his chief captain, to seek Abraham, and to be reconciled with him. “God is with all that thou doest,” said Abimelech; “He protected thee when Sodom was destroyed. He has given thee a son in thine old age. He rescued thy first-born when perishing in the desert. Swear to me, as I have offered thee my whole land, my own palace not excepted, in which to dwell, that thou wilt show equal love and liberality to my descendants to the third generation.”
Abraham swore to him, and they made a covenant together.323
And Abraham set apart seven lambs as a witness and token, that just as the well had sprung up when his flocks had come to water at it, so, in after days should it spring up to water the descendants of Abraham; as it is said, “From thence they went to Beer, that is, the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it.”324
But such condescension and courtesy ill became Abraham in his dealings with a rude and savage people, and therefore there came to him a voice from heaven which said: “Because thou hast given these seven innocent lambs into the hands of a barbarous nation, therefore seven of thy descendants shall be slain by their hands (Samson, Hophni and Phinehas, Saul and his three sons); also seven dwellings that thy people shall raise to my Name shall they destroy (the Tabernacle, Gilgal, Nob, Gibeon, Shiloh, and twice the Temple at Jerusalem), and seven months shall the ark of my covenant remain in the land of the Philistines.”
“And Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of the Lord.”325 The reason was as follows:—
Once Abraham asked Shem the son of Noah, otherwise called Melchizedek, king of Salem, what service he and his father and brethren rendered to the Lord in the ark, which was so acceptable to God that He preserved them alive and brought them in safety to Ararat; and Shem answered, “The service we rendered to God, all the time of our sojourn in the ark, was charity.”
And when Abraham wondered and asked how that could possibly be, as there were none in the ark save themselves and the beasts, Shem answered,—
“Even so; we showed charity and forethought and hospitality to the animals. We fed them regularly, and we slept not at night; so busy were we with them in making them comfortable. Once, when we had delayed somewhat, the lion was hungry and bit Noah, my father.”
Then said Abraham to himself, “In very truth, if it was reckoned to Noah and his sons as so great righteousness, that they fed and tended the dumb and senseless beasts, how much more pleasing must it be to the Most High, to be kind and generous to men who are made in His image, after His likeness!”
Filled with this thought, Abraham settled at Beer-sheba, where was an abundant spring of fresh water, and there he resolved to do service acceptable to the living God, and to honor His name, as Noah and his sons had done Him service and honored Him in the ark.
So Abraham planted a grove in Beer-sheba, one hundred ells long and one hundred ells broad, and he planted it with vines and figs, pomegranates and other fruit trees; and he built a guest-house adjoining this garden, and he made in it four doors, one towards each quarter of the heavens; and when a hungry man came by, Abraham gave him food; if there came a man who was thirsty, he gave him drink; if one who was naked, he clothed him; if one who was sick, he took him in and nursed him; and he gave to every man who passed by what he most needed for his journey.
He would receive neither thanks nor payment; and when any one thanked him, he said hastily, “Give thanks, not to me the servant but to the Master of this house, who openeth His hand, and filleth all things living with plenteousness.”
Then when the traveller asked, “Who, and where is this Master?”
Abraham answered, “He is the God who rules over heaven and earth; He is Lord of all; He kills and makes alive; He wounds and heals; He forms the fruit in the mother’s womb, and gives it life; He makes the plants and trees to grow; He brings man to destruction, and raises him from his grave again.”
Thus Abraham instructed those whom he relieved. And if a traveller asked further, how he was to worship the great God, Abraham answered, “Say only these words, Praised be the Eternal One who reigns over heaven and earth! Praised be the Lord of the whole world, who filleth all things living with plenteousness.” And no traveller went on his way without thanking God.
Thus that guest-house was a great school, in which men were taught the true religion, and gratitude to the Almighty God.
Abraham loved the son of his old age, and Isaac grew up in the fear of God, and his good conduct heightened the love Abraham bore him; but the Patriarch thought in his heart, “I prepare gifts to give of my abundance to every man that asks of me, and to every passer-by; but to my Lord and God, the Giver of all good things, have I given nothing!”
There was a day when the sons of God (the angels) stood before the Eternal One, and amongst them was the accusing angel, Satan or Sammael. The Lord asked them, “Whence comest thou?”
“From walking to and fro upon the face of the earth,” he replied.
“And what hast thou beheld there of the doings of the sons of men?”
The accuser answered, “I saw that the sons of earth no longer praise Thee, and adore Thee; when they have obtained their petition, then they forget to give Thee thanks. I saw that Abraham, the son of Terah, as long as he was childless, built altars and proclaimed Thy name to all the world: now he has been given a son at the age of a hundred, and he forgets Thee. I went to his door as a beggar, on the day that Isaac was weaned, and I was turned away without an alms. I have seen him strike alliance with the king of the Philistines, a nation that knows Thee not, and to him has he given seven lambs. He has built a large house and he gives to strangers, but to Thee he gives no sacrifice of value. Ask of him any sacrifice that is costly, and he will refuse it.”
“What shall I ask?” inquired the Almighty.
“Ask of him now his son, and he will refuse him to Thy face.”
“I will do so, and thou shalt be confounded,” answered the Holy One.
The self-same night God appeared to Abraham, and addressed him gently so as not to alarm him, and He said to him, “Abraham!”
The patriarch in deep humility answered, “Here am I, Lord what willest Thou of Thy servant?”
The Lord answered, “I have come to ask of thee something. I have saved thee in all dangers; I delivered thee out of the furnace of Babylon; I rescued thee from the army of Nimrod; I brought thee into this land, and gave thee men-servants and maid-servants and cattle and sheep and horses, and I have given thee a son in thine old age, and victory over all thine enemies, and new temptations await thee, for I must prove thee, and see if thou art grateful in thy heart, and that thy righteousness may be manifest unto all, and that thy obedience may be perfected. Take therefore thy son—”
Abraham answered trembling, “Which son? I have two.”
The voice of God.—“That son which alone counteth with thee.”
Abraham.—“Each is the only son of his mother.”
The voice of God.—“The one you love.”
Abraham.—“I love both.”
The voice of God.—“The one you love best.”
Abraham.—“I love both alike.”
The voice of God.—“Then I demand Isaac.”
Abraham.—“And what shall I do with him, O Lord?”
The voice of God.—“Go to the place that I shall tell thee, where, unexpectedly, hills shall arise in sight out of the valley bottom. Go to that place whence once My Light, My Teaching issued, which My eye watches over untiringly, and where the smoke of incense shall arise to Me, to the place where prayer is heard and sacrifice shall be offered, where at the end of time I shall judge the nations, and cast the ungodly into the pit of Gehinom;—to the land of Moriah that I shall show thee, there shalt thou take thy son Isaac as a whole burnt offering.”
Abraham.—“Shall I bring Thee such an offering as this, O Lord? Where is the priest to prepare the sacrifice?”
The voice of God.—“I have taken from Shem his priesthood, and thou art clothed therewith.”
Abraham.—“But in that country there are many hills; which shall I ascend?”
The voice of God.—“A mountain on which shall rest my Glory; there shall it be told thee further what thou must do.”
Abraham prepared to fulfil the command of God, but he dreaded the separation between Sarah and her son. If he took Isaac away secretly, then he feared that, in the excess of her distress, she would do herself harm. At last he decided on this course; he went to Sarah’s tent, and he said to her, “My dearest, prepare this day a little banquet, that in our old days we may rejoice our hearts.”
Sarah answered, “Wherefore this day, my husband? Are you about to lose any thing this day?”
Abraham said, “Think, my wife, Sarah! how good God has been to us; therefore it behoves us to thank Him all the days of our life.”
Sarah did as Abraham had commanded.
As they sat and ate, Abraham said, “Thou knowest well, dear wife, that I knew the one true God from the time that I was three years old. Isaac is older, and it behoves him to know more of the law of God. Therefore I design to take him with me to Shem and Eber, our ancestors, who live not far from here, that they may instruct him. Hast thou any thing to object to this, Sarah?”
She answered, “No; do that which is pleasing in thine eyes; only let not Isaac be away too long, for thou knowest how precious the sight of him is to me.”
Then Sarah put her arms round her son, and kissed him, and they parted with many tears; and she exhorted Abraham to have great care of the youth, that the journey might not be too great for him.
Next morning, very early, Abraham rose, and he saddled the ass himself, though he had many slaves, for he was eager to be gone, and to go where the Lord called him. This was the ass, born of the she-ass created by God on the eve of the sixth day, upon which Moses afterwards rode when he went to Egypt:327 it is the ass which spake to Balaam, and it is the ass of which the prophet Zechariah has spoken, that on it Messiah shall ride.328
This ass was of a hundred colors.329
Sarah clothed Isaac in the garment that Abimelech had given her, and placed a jewel-studded fillet about his head. She provided the travellers with food for their journey, and accompanied them with her maids, till Abraham bade them return. Then she clasped Isaac once more to her breast, and said with tears, “God be gracious to thee, my son; how know I that I shall see thee again?”
Abraham had two to accompany him, Eliezer and Ishmael; he had cut fig and palm wood and made a fagot. On the way this discourse took place between Eliezer and Ishmael.
Ishmael said, “I perceive clearly that my father is about to offer Isaac as a whole burnt offering; therefore I, his eldest son, will inherit his possessions.”
But Eliezer said, “That is false: I am his trusty servant! Did not thy father drive thee away from home? He will leave all to me.”
Whilst they thus spake, there came a voice from heaven, “O ye fools! neither of you knows the truth.”
Abraham in the mean time walked forward. Then came Satan to him in the form of an old man bowed upon a staff, and said to him, “Whither goest thou?”
He answered, “I go to offer up my prayers.”
“Wherefore this knife, and fuel, and fire?” asked Satan.
“I take them in case we have to spend much time on the mountain, that we may bake bread and slay beasts.”
“Old man, thou deceivest me,” said Satan. “Was I not by when a voice bade thee slay thy son, thine only son; ane now, what art thou about to do? Thinkest thou that thou shalt have another son, now that thou art a hundred years old? Art thou then about to cut down with thine own hands the main pillar of thy tent, the staff on which thou mayest lean in thine old age? Knowest thou not the proverb, ‘He who destroys his own goods, how shall he get more?’ That was not the voice of God, it was the voice of the Tempter, and thou didst listen to it. Dost thou think that God, who promised to make of thee a great nation, and to bless all generations through Isaac, would thus persuade thee to make void His own promises?”
Abraham answered, “No, it was not the Tempter who spake, it was the voice of God; therefore I will not hearken to thy words, but walk on still in mine uprightness.”
“But if God were to ask of thee some further sacrifice, wouldst thou grant it?”
“Of a truth would I,” answered Abraham.
“Thy piety is folly,” said Satan impatiently. “To-morrow God will punish thee for this murder thou art about to commit, since thou wilt shed the blood of thine own son.”
But when Satan saw that Abraham was not to be moved from his purpose, then he took the form of a blooming youth, and joined himself to Isaac, and asked him the object of his journey.
Isaac replied that he was going to receive instruction in the law of the Most High.
“Art thou going to receive this instruction living or dead?” asked Satan, scornfully.
Isaac.—“Can a man receive instruction after he is dead?”
Satan.—“O thou son of a mother much to be pitied, knowest thou not that thy father is leading thee to death?”
Isaac.—“Nevertheless I shall follow him.”
Satan.—“Then all the tears and prayers of thy mother, beseeching Heaven to grant her a son, end in this! All the pains and grief in child-bearing! All the afflictions she laid on Hagar and Ishmael! All the care she has taken of thy youth! All the love she has expended upon thee! All these things for nothing!”
Isaac.—“As my father wills.”
Satan.—“Then the inheritance passes to Ishmael. How he will glory in being the first-born, and his mother Hagar will despise Sarah, and maybe will drive her out!”
Isaac.—“I obey the command of my father and the will of God, be they what they may.”
But these words were not without some effect on Isaac. With piteous voice he urged his father to suspend or delay what he had undertaken. But Abraham exhorted his son not to listen or give credence to the words he had heard, for they were the temptations of Satan to draw him from the path of obedience and the fear of God.
They went a little further and came to a broad stream. Abraham, Isaac, and their followers sought to wade it; the water at first reached their knees, but when they were in the middle, it rose to their necks.
Abraham, who knew well the spot, and that there was neither brook nor river there by nature, recognized this as a deception of Satan, to divert them from the right way. He told Isaac that this was his opinion, and raising his eyes to heaven he prayed; “Thou, O Lord, didst declare to me Thy will, that I should take Isaac my son and offer him to Thee in pledge of my obedience. I did not hesitate, I did not refuse, and now the water overwhelms us and we sink; how then can I perform that which Thou badest me do?”
The Lord answered, “Fear not, through thee shall My Name be known.”
Then the stream vanished away, and they stood upon dry land.
But now Satan made another attempt to turn Abraham from his purpose. He drew him aside and said, “The object of thy journey has failed. I caught a whisper in heaven, and it was this—God will prepare a lamb for the sacrifice, and not thy son.”
Abraham answered, “Even if thy words be true, it matters not; for this is the penalty of liars, that when they speak the truth they are not believed.”
Abraham journeyed on the rest of that day, without seeing his appointed place. Next day he retraced his steps, but could find no signs of the place. The Almighty had so ordered it, that men might not say Abraham was hasty and acted precipitately, but might see that he had leisure and time for reflection on what he was about to do.
On the morning of the third day,330 they reached the height of Zophim, and thence Abraham saw a beautiful mountain-land, and on the top of one of the mountains was a fiery pillar, which reached from earth to heaven,—it was the Glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.
When Abraham asked Isaac if he beheld this sight, he answered that he did so: but when he asked his other companions, they replied that they saw nothing save the brown hills and purple valleys. Some say they answered that one hill was to them like every other hill.
From this, Abraham concluded that God was well pleased with Isaac as a victim. Then he said to Eliezer and Ishmael:
“Tarry ye here with the ass, for you are not worthy to behold the Shekinah nearer. But I and the youth will go on, so many only shall go.”
Now, as he said these words, it suddenly came to his mind that God had promised him a great people descended from Isaac, so many as the stars for multitude, and with prophetic voice he said, “If the Lord will, so many as go on, so many shall return.”
Then Abraham laid the wood of the sacrifice on his son Isaac, and took the fire and the knife in his hand; and they went on both together, Abraham joyous, and Isaac without fear or thought.
But after they had gone some way, Isaac turned to his father and said, “Father, whither are we going alone?”
Abraham.—“My son, we go to offer a sacrifice?”
Isaac.—“But art thou a priest to execute this undertaking?”
Abraham.—“Shem, the High Priest, will prepare the victim.”
A great fear fell upon Isaac when he saw that they had no animal with them to offer, and he said, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is a lamb for the whole offering?”
Abraham.—“The lamb which is to be offered is foreknown to the Almighty. He will provide the lamb; and if none other is here, then must thou be the offering, my son.”
Isaac was silent, for the fear of death came over him. But presently he recovered himself and said, “If God chooses me, I place my soul in His hands.”
Abraham.—“My son! Is there any blemish in thee within? For the offering must be without blemish of any sort.”
Isaac.—“My father! There is none. I swear by God and by thy life, that in my heart there is not the least resistance to the Divine will. My limbs do not tremble, and there is no quaking at my heart. With gladness do I say, The Lord be praised, who has chosen me for a whole sacrifice.”331
Abraham.—“O my son, with many a wish wast thou brought into this world. Since thou hast been in it, every care has been lavished on thee. I hoped to have had thee to follow me and make a great nation. But now I must, myself, offer thee. Wondrous was thy coming into this world, and wondrous will be thy going out of it!332 Not by sickness, not by war, but as a sacrifice. I had designed thee to be my comfort and stay in old age; now God himself must take thy place.”333
Isaac.—“It were unworthy of thee were I to think to withstand the decree of God, and of thee. Had the decision been thine alone, I would have obeyed.”
When they reached the top of Moriah, God said to Abraham,—
“This is the place where once Adam, when driven out of Paradise, built an altar to My name. Here also Cain and Abel offered their sacrifice. Then came the Flood, and when it was passed away, Noah offered victims to Me here. When the people were scattered from the tower of Babel, then this altar was overthrown. Now it is for thee, friend of God, to set it up again!”
Abraham built the altar, and Isaac brought him the stones. But, according to some authors, this was not so. Abraham hid his son in a cave, lest Satan should take advantage of the opportunity, with a stone or clod of earth, to blemish him.
And when all was ready and the wood laid in order, then Isaac said to his father, “Bind me hand and foot, lest in the fear of death I start and thou wound me, and so I be blemished. Fold thy garments together, and gird thy loins, and bare thine arm, and strike me with the knife and then burn me to ashes, and lay up my ashes in a coffer, and let this coffer be preserved as a memorial of me in thy house, before my mother; and when thou passest by it, bid her remember me. But remind her not of it near a well, or on the edge of a precipice, lest she cast herself down in her grief.”334
And he continued, “When thou returnest home, how wilt thou console my mother?”
Abraham answered, “Well I know that he who comforted us before thou camest, will comfort us after thou art gone from us.”335
Abraham now stood over his son, who was bound with his hands to his feet, upon the wood laid in order; and the eyes of Abraham rested on the eyes of his son. But Isaac looked up into heaven, and saw the Angel hosts crowded about God’s throne. Abraham saw not this, and he lifted the knife; but he trembled and the knife fell from his hand, and he cried aloud, “O my son! Would that another offering were found instead of thee! But my help cometh only from the Lord who hath made heaven and earth?”
Then he gathered up his resolution, and took the knife and held it once more to strike; and Isaac’s spirit left him, and he swooned away.
But the angels of God, who stood round about His throne, announced to the Most High all that took place, and they cried and wept, and even the fiery seraphim exclaimed, “Woe! He slays his son.” And the tears of the angels fell upon the face of Isaac, and made him ever after sad of countenance.
Then God said, “Behold and see how great is the faith of My servant Abraham, how on earth a man can hallow My great name, and devote his best and dearest to My service; see that, ye, who at the creation exclaimed, What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou so regardest him?”
Then He ordered Michael to fly swiftly, and stay the hand of Abraham.
And the archangel, when he came near, cried aloud, “Abraham! Abraham! what doest thou?”
Abraham looked in the direction of the voice, in doubt, and said, “Here am I.”
Then said the angel, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him.”
And Abraham said, “Who art thou?”
Michael told him who he was. Then said Abraham, “The Most High appeared to me in a vision, and bade me take my son as a whole offering to the place which He should say, and I may take no command from a servant of God, against that which God Himself hath laid upon me.”
Then heaven opened, and he saw the glory of God, and God said to him, “Touch not the lad to do him harm, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me.”
And Abraham said, “How is this, O Lord! that Thou changest Thy purpose, and sayest one day, Do this, and the next, Do it not?”
And the Lord answered, and said, “I said not unto thee, Slay the lad as a burnt offering, but I said, Take thy son to the place that I shall tell thee, as a whole burnt offering. This hast thou done; thou hast fulfilled My command, I exact no more of thee. I change not my purpose, but I did suffer thee to misunderstand the purport of My command, and to think that I exacted more of thee; and this I did to prove thee. And now, by Myself have I sworn; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.”
Then Isaac revived, and Abraham cut his cords, and he stood up and said, “Praised be the eternal One, who quickeneth those that be dead.”
And Abraham turned to the Shekinah and said, “Lord! how shall I depart hence without having offered to Thee a sacrifice?” The Lord answered, “Lift thine eyes, and thou shalt see a beast for sacrifice behind thee.”
In the thicket of the wood was that ram which God created at dusk on the sixth day, that it might serve this purpose. An angel had brought it out of Paradise, where it had lived since its creation, and had fed under the shadow of the Tree of Life, and had drunk of the River that there flows. And when the ram was brought into this earth, all the earth was filled with the fragrance from its fleece, on which hung the odors of the flowers on which it had lain in Paradise.
But by Satan’s fraud, the animal was frightened and strayed away, and Abraham tracked it by its foot-prints. Then Satan decoyed the beast behind some bushes and entangled its horns in the thicket; and Abraham would have passed by, and not seen it, but the ram caught him by his cloak. So Abraham slew it, and offered it in sacrifice, and sprinkled with its blood the altar he had made.
Now the Last Trumpets that shall sound, the one to call the just, the other the unjust, are made of the horns of this wondrous ram.
Sarah,—who, as we have seen, accompanied Abraham and Isaac part of the way to Moriah,—on her return to the tent, found an old man awaiting her. It was Satan.
He greeted her with profound respect, and asked after her husband and son.
She answered that they had gone forth on a journey.
“Whither have they gone?” asked Satan.
“My lord has gone to visit the school of Shem and Eber, our grandsires, there to leave my son Isaac to be instructed in the law of God.”
“Alas! alas!” exclaimed the Apostate Angel; “thou art greatly deceived.”
Sarah was alarmed; and she asked wherefore he spake thus.
“Know then,” said Satan, “that Abraham has gone forth with Isaac to sacrifice him, upon a mountain, to the Most High.”
When she heard this, Sarah laid her head on the bosom of a slave and fainted. When she came to herself she hurried with her maidens to the school of Shem and Eber, and inquired after her husband and son, but they had neither seen nor heard any thing of them. So Sarah was convinced that what had been told her was true, and there was no spirit left in her.
Now when Satan knew that Abraham was bringing back his son, and that God had accepted the will for the deed, he was moved with envy and spite, and he could not rest to think of the joy that this would cause; so he went hastily to Sarah, and she was weeping in her tent, and sorely cast down and broken in spirit. Then he said suddenly to her, “Thy son liveth and is returning. God hath spared him!”
And she rose up and uttered a cry, and fell, and was dead; for the joy had killed her.
Abraham and Isaac, in the mean time had returned from Moriah, and they sought Sarah at Beer-sheba, but she was not there; therefore they went to Hebron, and there they found her corpse. Isaac fell weeping upon the face of his mother, and he cried, “Mother, mother! why hast thou forsaken me? why hast thou gone away?”
Abraham wept aloud, and all the dwellers in Hebron wept and lamented over Sarah, and ceased from their labors, that they might mourn with Abraham and Isaac. Sarah’s age was one hundred and seven-and-twenty years, and she was as fair to look upon when she died as in the bloom of her youth.
And as Abraham was bowed over the body of his wife, he heard the laugh of the Angel of Death, and his words, “Wherefore weepest thou? Thou bearest the blame of her death. Hadst thou not taken her son from her, she would have been alive now.”
Abraham sought a place where to bury her; and he went to the Hittites and asked them to suffer him to buy for his possession a parcel of land, where he might bury one dead body. But they said, “Nay, we will give thee land;” but he would not. So they said, “Choose now a place where thou wouldst have thy sepulchre, and we will entreat the owner for thee.”
Then Abraham said, “I desire the double cave of Ephron the son of Zohar. If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath; for as much money as is worth he shall give it me, for a possession of a burying-place amongst you.”
And this was the reason why Abraham desired that cave. When he had gone after the calf, to slay it for the three angels that came to him before the destruction of Sodom, the calf had fled from him, and he had pursued it into this cave; and on entering it, he found that it was roomy, and in the inner recesses he saw the bodies of Adam and Eve laid out with burning tapers around them, and the air was fragrant with incense.
The Hittites elected Emor their chief that he might deal with Abraham, for it did not become a chief and prince, like Abraham, to deal with an inferior; and Emor said in the audience of the people of the land, “My Lord, hear me; the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee; bury thy dead.”
But this he said with craft, for he sought to take an advantage of Abraham.336
Then Ephron said, “Put thine own price upon the land;” but this Abraham would not do.
Then Ephron said to Abraham, “My lord, Hearken unto me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.”
Now the land was not worth half that sum, but Emor said in his heart, “Abraham can afford to pay it, and he is in haste to bury his dead out of his sight.”
Nevertheless, Abraham paid him in the sight of all his people. And the transfer of the land and cave was signed by Amigal, son of Abischna the Hittite; Elichoran, son of Essunass, the Hivite; Abdon, son of Ahirah, the Gomorrhite; and Akdil, son of Abdis, the Sidonian.
Machpelah (double cave) was so called, because, say some, it contained two chambers; or, say others, because Abraham paid double its value; or, say others, because it became doubly holy; but others again observe, with the highest probability, because Adam’s body had to be doubled up to get it into the cave.
Because the Hittites dealt honorably, and sought to procure a place for Abraham, where he might lay Sarah, their name is written ten times in the Holy Scriptures.
They took also an oath of Abraham, that he and his seed should never attack their city Jebus with violence; and they wrote his promise on brazen pillars, and set them up in the market-place of Jebus. Therefore, when the Israelites conquered Canaan, they left the Jebusites unmolested.337 But when David sought to take the stronghold of Jebus,338 its inhabitants said to him, “Thou canst not storm our city, because of the covenant of Abraham, which is engraven on these pillars of brass.”
David removed these brazen pillars, for they were in time honored as idols; therefore the inhabitants of Jebus were hated of David’s soul;339 but he did not break the covenant of Abraham, for he obtained the city of Jebus, not by force of arms, but by purchase.340
Sarah was buried with the utmost honor; Shem (Melchizedek), his grandson Eber, Abimelech, Aner, Eschol and Mamre, together with all the great men of the land, followed the bier. Abraham caused a great mourning throughout the country to be made for seven days. After that, Abraham returned to Beer-Sheba, and Isaac went to be instructed in the law by Melchizedek. A year after, died Abimelech, king of Gerar, and Abraham attended his funeral. Soon after, also, died Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
After the death of Sarah, say some, Abraham had a daughter named Bakila, by Hagar, who returned to him now that her enemy was dead; but, according to others, the great blessing of Abraham consisted in this, that he had no daughters. Ishmael abandoned his disorderly ways, and loved and respected his brother.
Isaac mourned his mother three years. When this time was elapsed, Abraham called to him his faithful servant Eliezer, and said to him, “I am old, and I know not the day of my death; therefore must I no longer delay the marriage of my son Isaac. Lay thine hand upon my thigh, and swear to me by God Almighty to fulfil my commission. Do not take for my son a wife of the daughters of the Canaanites, but go to Haran, to the place whence I came, and bring thence a wife for my son Isaac.” And he added the proverb, “When you have wheat of your own, do not sow your field with your neighbor’s corn.”
Eliezer asked, “But how, if a woman of that place will not accompany me hither?”
But Abraham said, “Fear not; go, and the Lord be with thee.”
So the servant of Abraham went with ten camels, and he reached Haran in three hours, for the earth fled under the feet of his camels, and Michael, the angel, protected him on his way.
When he reached Haran, he besought the Lord to give him a sign, by which he might know the maiden who was to be the wife of Isaac. “Let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also; let the same be she that Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac.”
And there were many damsels by the fountain. And the servant said to them, “Let down the pitcher that I may drink.” But they all said, “We may not tarry, for we must take the water home.”
Then came Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, out of the well, and she chid the maidens for their churlishness; and lo! the water in the well leaped to the margin, and she let down her pitcher and offered it to the man, and said, “Drink; and I will give thy camels drink also.” Then Eliezer leaped from his camel, and he brought forth his gifts, and he gave her a nose ring with a jewel of half a shekel weight, and bracelets of ten shekels weight. And he asked if he might lodge in her house one night.
She answered, “Not one night only, but many.”
Now Rebekah’s brother, Laban, so called from the paleness of his face, or, say some, from the cowardice of his breast, which made him pale,—coveted the man’s gold, and resolved to kill him. Therefore he put poison in the bowl of meat which was offered him. But the bowl was changed by accident, and it fell to the portion of Bethuel, and he ate, and died that same night.
And Laban would have fallen upon Eliezer with his own hand, but that he saw him lead the two camels at once over the brook, and he knew thereby that he was stronger than he.
After the engagement had been drawn up, as it is written in the first book of Moses,341 Eliezer urged for a speedy departure. Mother and brother consented, but on the following day they asked that, besides the seven days of mourning for Bethuel, they should tarry a year, or at least ten months, according to the usual custom. But Rebekah opposed them, and said that she would go at once.
It was noon when Eliezer and his retinue, together with Rebekah and her nurse Deborah, left Haran, and in three hours they were at Hebron.
At the self-same time Isaac was abroad in the fields, returning from the school of Seth, lamenting over his mother, and saying his evening prayer. Rebekah saw him with his hands outspread, and his angel walking behind him, and she said, “Who is that with a shining countenance, with another walking behind him?”
At the same moment she knew who it was, and with prophetic vision she saw that she would become the mother of Esau, and she trembled and fell from the camel.
Isaac took Rebekah to wife and led her into the tent of Sarah, and the door was once more open, and the perpetual lamp was again kindled, and it seemed to Isaac as if all the happiness that had gone with Sarah, had returned with Rebekah, so he was comforted for his mother.
Eliezer was rewarded for his faithful service, for Abraham gave him his freedom, and he was taken into Paradise without having tasted of death.
Abraham, after the death of Sarah, had brought back Hagar, and she was called Keturah, which signifies “the Bond-woman,” and this she was called because she had ever regarded herself as bound to Abraham, though he had cast her away. But others say that Keturah was not Hagar, but was a daughter of one of Abraham’s slaves. She bare him six sons,342 all strong, and men of clear understandings.
According to Mussulman traditions, she was the daughter of Jokdan, and was a Canaanitish woman.
Abraham said to the Most High, in gratitude of heart, “Thou didst promise me one son, Isaac, and thou hast given me many!”
All his substance he gave to Isaac; but some say he gave him a double portion only, and the rest he made over to his other sons. And to Isaac only he gave the right to be buried in the cave of Machpelah, and along with that, his blessing. But others say that he did not give his blessing to Isaac, lest it should cause jealousy to spring up between him and his brothers. He said, “I am a mortal man; to-day here and to-morrow in the grave; I have done all I can do for my children, and now I will depart when it pleases my heavenly Father.”
He sent the sons of Keturah away, that they might not dwell near Isaac, lest his greatness should swallow them up; and he built them a city of iron, with walls of iron. But the walls were so high that the light of the sun could not penetrate the streets, therefore he set in them diamonds and pearls to illumine the iron city.
Epher, a grandson of Abraham and Keturah,343 went with an army into Libya and conquered it, and founded there a kingdom, and the land he called after his own name, Africa.
Abraham was alive when Rebekah, after twenty years of barrenness, bare to Isaac his sons, Esau and Jacob; and he saw them grow up before him till their fifteenth year, and he died on the day that Esau sold his birthright.
The days of his life had been 175 years; he reached not the age of 180, to which Isaac attained, because God shortened his life by five years, lest he should know the evil deeds of Esau.
The Angel of Death did not smite him, but God kissed him, and he died by that kiss; and because the sword of the angel touched him not, but his soul parted to the kiss of God, his body saw no corruption.
This is the Mussulman story of his death. The Angel of Death, when bidden to take the soul of the prophet, hesitated about doing so without his consent. So he took upon him the form of a very old man, and came to Abraham’s door. The patriarch invited him in and gave him to eat, but he noted with surprise the great infirmity of the old man, how his limbs tottered, how dull was his sight, and how incapable he was of feeding himself, for his hands shook, and how little he could eat, for his teeth were gone. And he asked him how old he was. Then the angel answered, “I am 202.” Now Abraham was then 200 years old. So he said, “What! in two years shall I be as feeble and helpless as this? O Lord, suffer me to depart; now send the Angel of Death to me, to remove my soul.” Then the angel took him,344 having first watched till he was on his knees in prayer.345
Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the double cave by the side of Sarah; and he was followed to his grave by all the inhabitants of Canaan, and Shem and Eber went before the bier. And all the people wailed and said, “Woe to the vessel when the pilot is gone! woe to the pilgrims when their guide is lost!”
A whole year was Abraham lamented by the inhabitants of the land; men, and women, and young children joined in bewailing him.
Never was there a man like Abraham in perfect righteousness, serving God, and walking in His way from the earliest youth to the day of his death.
Abraham was the first, say the Mussulmans, whose beard became white. He asked God when it became so, “What is this?” The Lord replied, “It is a token of gentleness, my son.”
We have seen that, according to Jewish traditions, Melchizedek is Shem, the son of Noah, whom God consecrated to be a priest forever, and who set up a kingdom on Salem.346
It is also said that, before he died, Lamech ordered his son, Noah, to transport the body of Adam to the centre of the earth. Now the centre or navel of the earth is Salem, afterwards called Jerusalem.
Lamech also bade Noah confide to one of his children the custody of the body of Adam, obliging him to remain all his life in the service of God, and in the practice of celibacy, never to shed blood, and to offer to God only the sacrifice of bread and wine.
Noah chose, according to some, Shem; according to others, Melchizedek, the son of Shem. He did not suffer him to wear other garments than the skins of beasts; nor to shave his head nor cut his nails, nor to build a house.
A Christian tradition is that Adam was buried on Golgotha, and that when Christ died, His blood flowed down upon the head of Adam, and cleansed him of his sin.
Dom Calmet, in one of his dissertations, gives various curious opinions which have been entertained on the subject of Melchizedek: some affirmed that he was identical with the patriarch Enoch, who came from the Terrestrial Paradise to confer with Abraham; and others, that the Magi who adored the infant Christ were Enoch, Melchizedek, and Elias.
And some have supposed that Melchizedek was created before Adam, and was of celestial race. Others again have supposed that he was our Lord Jesus Christ who appeared to Abraham.
S. Athanasius gives a curious tradition of Melchizedek.
A queen, named Salem, had a grandson named Melchi. He was an idolater. Where he reigned is unknown; but it is supposed that it was where now stands the city Jerusalem. Melchi married a princess named Salem, like his grandmother. By her he had two sons, of whom the younger was called Melchizedek.
One day that Melchi was about to sacrifice to idols, he said to his son Melchizedek, “Bring me here seven calves to sacrifice to the gods.”
Whilst going to execute his father’s order, Melchizedek raised his eyes to heaven and said, “He who made heaven and earth, the sea and the stars, is the only God to whom sacrifice should be offered.”
Then he returned to his father, who asked him, “Where are the calves?”
“My father,” he replied, “hearken to me, and be not angry. Instead of offering thy victims to those gods which are no gods, offer them to Him who is above the heavens, and who rules all things.”
King Melchi replied, “Go and do what I have commanded thee, as thou valuest thy life.”
After that he turned to his wife Salem, and he told her that he purposed sacrificing one of his sons. The queen wept bitterly, because she knew that the king designed the immolation of Melchizedek, and she said, “Alas! I have suffered and labored in vain.”
“Do not weep,” said Melchi, somewhat touched. “We will draw the lot: if it is mine, I will choose which of the sons is to die; if it be thine, thou shalt keep the one dearest to thee.”
Now the lot fell to the queen, so she chose Melchizedek, whom she loved: and the king adorned his eldest son for sacrifice.
There were in the temple troops of oxen and flocks of sheep and five hundred and three children, destined by their parents to be sacrificed. The queen was at home weeping, and she said to Melchizedek, “Dost thou not weep for thy brother, whom we have brought up with so much care, and who is led to the slaughter?”
Melchizedek wept, and he said to his mother, “I will go and invoke the Lord, the only true God Most High.”
He ascended Tabor, and kneeling down, he prayed, saying, “My God, Lord of all, Creator of heaven and earth, I adore Thee as the only true God; hearken now unto my prayer. May the earth open her mouth and swallow up all those who assist at the sacrifice of my brother!”
God heard the cry of Melchizedek, and the earth parted asunder, and swallowed up the temple and all who were therein; and the city of Salem also, and not a stone was left standing where it had been.
When Melchizedek came down from Tabor, and saw what God had done, he was filled with dismay, and retired into a forest, where he spent seven years, feeding on herbs and drinking the dew.
At the end of that time, a voice from heaven called Abraham, and said, “Take thine ass, lade it with rich garments, go to Tabor and cry thrice, O man of God! Then a man of a savage appearance will come forth to thee out of the forest. And after thou hast cut his hair and pared his nails, clothe him with the garments thou hast taken with thee, and ask him to bless thee.”
Abraham did as he was bidden. He went to Tabor and called thrice, “O man of God!” and there came out to him Melchizedek. Then a voice was heard from heaven, which said, “As there remains no one on earth of the family of Melchizedek, it shall be said of him that he is without father and without mother, without beginning of days or end of life.”
Therefore it is said of him, as of Enoch and Elias, that having been created a priest forever, he is not dead.
Afterwards he is said to have founded Jerusalem.347
Suidas the Grammarian gives the following account of this mysterious personage.
“Melchizedek, priest of God, king of Canaan, built a city on a mountain called Sion, and named it Salem; which is the same as Εἰρηόπολις, the City of Peace. In which, when he had reigned a hundred and thirteen years, he died, righteous and single. For this reason he is said to have been without generation, because he was not of the seed of Abraham, but of the race of Canaan, and of abhorred seed. Therefore he was without honorable generation. Nor did it beseem him, the essence of all righteousness, to unite with the race of all unrighteousness. Therefore he is said to have been without father or mother. But that he was a Caananite, both as to country, of which he was lord; and as to nation, of which he was king: and as to neighborhood, joining that of the iniquitous Sodomites,—that is evident enough. Nevertheless Salem, of which he was king, is that celebrated Jerusalem, which, however, did not bear then the complete name of Hierusalem, but the adjective ἱεροῦ was added to Σαλήμ afterwards, and compounded into Hierusalem. And because no genealogy is given to him, he is said to be without father and mother. Therefore, when you hear him spoken of as God, by the sect of the Melchizedekites, remember the saying of the Apostle, that he was of another race, to wit, that of Canaan.”348
Another apocryphal account of Melchizedek is in the “Chronicon Paschale:”—
“A certain ancient relates and affirms, concerning Melchizedek, this. He was a man of the tribe of Ham, who, being found a holy seed in his tribe, pleased God; and God called him into the land beyond Jordan, even as He called Abraham out of the land of the Chaldeans. And as this man was holy and just, he was made a priest of the Most High God, to offer bread and wine, and holy prayers to the Most High God. He prayed for his tribe, saying, Lord, thou hast brought me from my own people, and hast had mercy on me; have mercy on them also. But God answered him, and said, I will save them when I call my Son out of Egypt. This promise God gave to Melchizedek. The same ancient relates also that at this time it happened that Lot was carried away captive from Sodom by those who were of the tribe Gothologomos, whom Abraham pursued and destroyed, and he liberated all the captives; and Lot also, the son of his brother Aram, he delivered from their hands. Therefore Abraham said within himself, Lord, if in my days Thou sendest Thy angel upon the earth, grant me to see that day! The Lord said, It cannot be, but I will show thee a figure of that day; go down and cross the river Jordan and thou shalt behold it.
“Therefore Abraham crossed Jordan with his men, and Melchizedek came forth to meet him, called by the Holy Ghost, having in his hands the bread of Eucharists and the wine of thanksgiving. Abraham did not see Melchizedek till he had passed over Jordan, which is the symbol of Baptism.
“Abraham then, seeing Melchizedek coming to meet him having the bread of Eucharists and the cup of thanksgiving, fell on his face upon the earth, and adored, since he saw the day of the Lord, and was glad.
“Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, blessed Abraham and said, Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be the Most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hands. And Abraham gave him tithes of all.”349
Michael Glycas says: “Melchizedek, though he is said in the Sacred Scriptures to have been without father and mother, yet sprung from Sidos, son of Ægyptos, who built Sidon. When he had built a city on Mount Sion, named Salem, he reigned there thirteen years, and died a just man and a virgin.”350 And Cedrenus: “Melchizedek was the son of King Sidos, son of Ægyptos, but he was said to be without father and mother and of uncertain generation, because he was not of Jewish extraction, and because his parents were bad and not reckoned among the righteous.”351
Joseph Ben-Gorion writes: “O Jerusalem! once the city of the great King, by what name shall I designate thee? Anciently thou wast called Jebus, after thy founder; then thou didst acquire the name of Zedek, and from thence did thy king Jehoram take his title Melchi-zedek (or Melech-zedek, Lord of Zedek), for he was a just king, and he reigned in thee justly. And thou didst obtain the name of Justice, and in thee justice dwelt, and the star that did illumine thee; thou wast called Zedek, and in the same king’s reign, to thee was given the title Salem, as it is written in the Law: and Melchizedek was king of Salem, so called because thus the measure of the iniquity of the people was accomplished. But Abraham, our father, of pious memory, chose thee, to labor in thee and to acquire in thee a possession, and in thee to lay a root of good works, and because the majesty of God dwelt in thee, when Abraham, our father, flourished.”352
S. Epiphanius, however, says: “Although no names of the parents of Melchizedek are given, yet some assert that his father was called Heraclas, and his mother Astaroth, or Asteria.”353 The “Catena Arabica” on Genesis says: “Melchizedek was the son of Heraclis, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber; and the name of his mother was Salathiel, the daughter of Gomer, the son of Japheth, the son of Noah.”