Part 32

When the bird vanished, David saw in the water a beautiful woman, bathing, and when she stood up, her hair covered her whole person.

David hid behind the bushes, that he might not startle her, till she was dressed; then he stood forth, and asked her her name.

“My name,” said she, “is Bathsheba,[651] daughter of Joshua, and wife of Uriah, son of Hanan, who is with the army.”[652]

Then David departed, but his heart was inflamed with love, and he sent a message to Joab, the captain of his host, to set Uriah before the ark in every battle. Now those who went before the ark must conquer or fall. Three times Uriah came out of battle victorious, but the fourth time he was killed.

Then David took Uriah’s wife to his own house and made her his own wife. And she consented upon the condition that should she bear him a son, that son was to succeed him in the kingdom. Now David had, before he married her, ninety-nine wives. The day after his marriage, Michael and Gabriel appeared before him in human form, as he was in his court, and Gabriel said to him: “This fellow here possesses ninety and nine sheep, but I have only one, and that I love, and cherish in my bosom. This man claims my little ewe lamb, and will take it from me, and, if I will not give it him, he says that he will slay me; and take my lamb from me by force.”

Then David’s anger was kindled against Michael, and he said, “Thou who hast so many sheep, wherefore lustest thou after the poor man’s ewe lamb? Thou hast an evil heart and an insatiable spirit.”

Then Michael exclaimed, “Thou hast given judgment against thyself; what thou rebukest in this man, thou hast allowed thyself to do!”[653]

And David knew that God had sent His angels to rebuke him, and he fell upon his face to the ground. But, some say, he drew his sword and rushed upon Michael: then Gabriel held him back, and said, “Thou didst ask to be tried; now thou hast fallen under the temptation.”[654]

Then the angels vanished, and David fell to the ground, tore off his purple robe, cast aside his golden crown, and wept for forty days and forty nights. And his tears flowed in such abundance, that every now and then he plunged a cup into them and drank it off.

At the expiration of forty days Gabriel came to him, and said, “The Lord salutes thee!” But David felt this was an additional reproach, and he wept still more. It is said that during the ensuing forty days and nights David shed more tears than Adam and all his descendants had, and will, shed from the day of the Fall to the day of the Resurrection.

Then God sent Gabriel to him again, and Gabriel said, “The Lord salutes thee!” But David lifted his tearful face and said, “O Gabriel, what will Uriah say to me on the day of the general Resurrection?”

Gabriel answered, “The Lord will give him so great an inheritance in Paradise, that he will not have the heart to reproach thee.”

Then David knew that he was pardoned, and he rejoiced greatly. But he never forgot his sins. He wrote them on the palm of his hand, that he might have them always before him; therefore he says, “My shame is ever before mine eyes.”

Nevertheless David’s heart was lifted up with pride, when he considered that he was a king, a prophet, and a great general. And one day he said to Nathan, “I think I am perfect, I have everything.”

“Not so,” answered Nathan, “thou exercisest no handicraft.”

Then David was ashamed, and he asked God to teach him a craft; and God made him skilful in fabricating coats of mail of rings twined together; his trade therefore was that of an armourer, and his disgrace was wiped away.

After his judgment between the two angels, David had no confidence in giving sentence in cases pleaded before him; therefore God sent him, by the hand of Gabriel, a reed of iron and a little bell, and the angel said to him, “God is pleased with thy humility, and He has sent thee this reed and this bell to assist thee in giving judgment. Place this reed in thy judgment-hall, and hang up the bell in the middle, and place the accuser on one side, and the accused on the other, and give sentence in favour of him who makes the bell to tinkle when he touches the reed.”

David was highly pleased with this gift, and he gave such righteous judgment, that men feared, throughout the land, to do wrong to one another.

One day, two men came before David, and one said, “I left a goodly pearl in the charge of this man, and when I asked for it again, he denied it me.”

But the other said, “I have returned it to him.”

Then David bade each lay his hand on the reed, but the bell gave the same indication for both. Then David thought, “They both speak the truth, and yet that cannot be; the gift of God must err.”

Then he bade the men try again, and the result was the same. However, he observed that the defendant, when he went up to the reed to lay his hand upon it, gave his walking staff to the plaintiff to hold, and this he did each time, so that David’s suspicion was awakened, and he took the staff, and examined it, and found that it was hollow, and the stolen pearl was concealed in the handle. Thus the bell had given right judgment, for when the accused touched the reed, he had returned the pearl into the hand of the accuser; but David by his doubt in the reed displeased Him who gave it, and the reed and the bell were taken from him.

After that, David often gave wrong judgment, till Solomon, his son, was of age to advise him.

One day, when Solomon was aged thirteen, there came two men before the king. The first said, “I sold a house and cellar to this man, and on digging in the cellar he found a treasure hidden there by my forefathers. I sold him the house and cellar, but not the treasure. Bid him restore to me what he has found.”

But the other said, “Not so. He sold me the house, the cellar, and all its contents.”

Then King David said, “Let the treasure be divided, and let half go to one, and half go to the other.”

But Solomon stood up and said to the plaintiff, “Hast thou not a son?” He said, “I have.”

Then said Solomon to the defendant, “Hast thou not a daughter?” He answered, “I have.”

“Then,” said Solomon, “give thy daughter to the son of this man who sold thee the house, and let the treasure go as a marriage gift to thy daughter and his son.” And all applauded this judgment.

On another occasion, a husbandman came before the judgment-seat to lay complaint against a herdsman, whose sheep had broken into his field, and had pastured on his young wheat.

Then King David said, “Let some of the sheep be given to the husbandman.”

But Solomon stood up, and said, “Not so; let the husbandman have the wool, and the milk of the flock, till the wheat is grown up again as it was before the sheep destroyed it.”

And all wondered at his wisdom.

But the king’s elders and councillors were filled with envy, because this child’s opinion was preferred before theirs; and they complained to King David.

Then David said, “Call an assembly of the people, and prove Solomon before them, whether he be learned in the Law, and whether he have understanding and wit.”

So the people were assembled, and the elders took council together how they might perplex him with hard questions. But or ever they asked him, he answered what they had devised, and they were greatly confounded, so that the people supposed this was a preconcerted scene arranged by the king. Then, when the elders were silenced, Solomon turned to their chief, and said, “I too will prove you with questions. What you have asked me have been trials of my learning, but what I will ask you shall put to proof the readiness of your wits. What is all, and what is nothing? What is something, and what is naught?”

The elder was silent; he thought, but he knew not what was the answer. And all the people perplexed themselves to discover the riddle, but they could not. Then said Solomon, “God is all, and the world He made is as nothing before Him. The faithful is something, but the hypocrite is naught.”

Thereupon he turned to a second, and he said: “What are most, and what are fewest? What is the sweetest, and what is the bitterest?” But when the second could find no solution to these questions, Solomon answered, “Most men are unbelievers, the fewest have true faith. The sweetest thing is the possession of a virtuous wife, good children, and a competence; the bitterest thing is to have a disreputable wife, disorderly children, and penury.”

Then Solomon turned to a third elder and asked: “What is the most odious sight, and what is the most beautiful sight? What is the surest thing, and what is that which is most insecure?”

And when this elder also was unable to give an answer, Solomon interpreted his riddle once more, “The most odious sight is to see a righteous man fall away; the most beautiful sight is to see a sinner repent. The surest thing is death, the most insecure thing is life.” After that Solomon said to all the people, “Ye see that the oldest and the most learned men are not always the wisest. True wisdom comes not with years, nor is derived from books, but is a gift of God the All-wise.”

Solomon by his words threw the whole assembly into astonishment, and all the heads of the people cried with one voice, “Praised be the Lord, who has given to our king a son who surpasses all in wisdom, and who is worthy to ascend the throne of his father David.”

And David thanked God that He had given him such a wise son, and now he desired but one thing further of God, and that was to see him who was to be his companion in Paradise; for to every man is allotted by God one man to be his friend and comrade in the Land of Bliss.

So David prayed to God, and his prayer was heard, and a voice fell from heaven and bade him confer the kingdom upon his son Solomon, and then to go forth, and the Lord would lead him to the place where his companion dwelt.

David therefore had his son Solomon crowned king, and then he went forth out of Jerusalem, and he was in pilgrim’s garb, with a staff in his hand; and he went from city to city, and from village to village, but he found not the man whom he sought. One day, after the lapse of many weeks, he drew near to a village upon the borders of the Mediterranean Sea, and alongside of him walked a poorly dressed man laden with a heavy bundle of faggots. This man was very old and reverend of aspect, and David watched him. He saw him dispose of his wood and then give half the money he had obtained by the sale of it to a poor person. After that he bought a piece of bread and retired from the town. As he went, there passed a blind woman, and the old man broke his bread in half, and gave one portion to the woman; and he continued his course till he reached the mountains from which he had brought his load in the morning.

David thought, “This man well deserves to be my companion for eternity, for he is pious, charitable, and reverend of aspect: I must ask his name.”

He went after the old man, and he found him in a cave among the rocks, which was lighted by a rent above. David stood without and heard the hermit pray, and read the Tora and the Psalms, till the sun went down. Then he lighted a lamp and began his evening prayers; and when they were finished, he drew forth the piece of bread, and ate the half of it.

David, who had not ventured to interrupt the devotions of the old hermit, now entered the cave and saluted him.

The hermit asked, “Who art thou? I have seen no man here before, save only Mata, son of Johanna, the companion destined to King David in Paradise.”

David told his name, and asked after this Mata. But the aged man could give him no information of his whereabouts. “But,” said he, “go over these mountains, and observe well what thou lightest upon, and it may be thou wilt find Mata.”

David thanked him, and continued his search. For long it was profitless. He traversed the stony dales and the barren mountains, and saw no trace of human foot. At last, just as hope was abandoning him, on the summit of a rugged peak he saw a wet spot. Then he stood still in surprise. “How comes there to be a patch of soft and sloppy ground here?” he asked; “the topmost peak of a stony mountain is not the place where springs bubble up.”

As he thus mused, an aged man came up the other side of the mountain. His eyes were depressed to the earth, so that he saw not David. And when he came to the wet patch, he stood still, and prayed with such fervour, that rivulets of tears flowed out of his eyes, and sank into the soil; and thus David learnt how it was that the mountain-top was wet.

Then David thought, “Surely this man, whose eyes are such copious fountains of tears, must be my companion in Paradise.”

Yet he ventured not to interrupt him in his prayer, till he heard him ask, “O my God! pardon King David his sins, and save him from further trespass! for my sake be merciful to him, for Thou hast destined him to be my comrade for all eternity!”

Then David ran towards him, but the old man tottered and fell, and before the king reached him he was dead.

So David dug into the ground which had been moistened by the tears of Mata, and laid him there, and said the funeral prayer over him, and covered him with the earth, and then returned to Jerusalem.

And when he came into his harem, the Angel of Death stood there and greeted him with the words, “God has heard thy supplications; now has thy life reached its end.”

Then David said, “The Lord’s will be done!” and he fell down upon the ground, and expired.

Gabriel descended to comfort Solomon, and to give him a heavenly shroud in which to wrap David. And all Israel followed the bier to Machpelah, where Solomon laid him by the side of Abraham and Joseph.[655]

It will doubtless interest the reader to have an English version of the Psalm supposed to have been composed by David after the slaying of Goliath, which is not included in the Psalter, as it is supposed to be apocryphal.

Psalm CLI. (_Pusillus eram_).

1. I was small among my brethren; and growing up in my father’s house I kept my father’s sheep.

2. My hands made the organ: and my fingers shaped the psaltery.

3. And who declared unto my Lord! He, the Lord, He heard all things.

4. He sent His angel, and He took me from my father’s sheep: He anointed me in mercy with His unction.

5. Great and goodly are my brethren: but with them the Lord was not well pleased.

6. I went to meet the stranger: and he cursed me by all his idols.

7. But I smote off his head with his own drawn sword: and I blotted out the reproach of Israel.

This simple and beautiful psalm does not exist in Hebrew, but is found, in Greek, in some psalters of the Septuagint version, headed “A Psalm of David when he had slain Goliath.” S. Athanasius mentions it with praise, in his address to Marcellinus on the Interpretation of the Psalms, and in the Synopsis of Holy Scripture. It was versified in Greek in A.D. 360, by Apollinarius Alexandrinus.[656]

The subjoined shield of David is given in a Hebrew book on the properties and medicaments of things. It is said to be a certain protection against fire. A cake of bread must be made, and on it must be impressed the seal or shield of David, having in the corner the word ט״יר and in the middle אנ״לא (Thou art mighty to everlasting, O Jehovah); and it must be cast aside into the fire with the words of Psalm cvi. 30, “_Then stood up Phinees and prayed; and so the plague ceased_;” and also Exod. xii. 27, “_It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s pass-over, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our homes._”[657]

Footnote 620:

Ps. li. 5.

Footnote 621:

Midrash, fol. 204, col. 1.

Footnote 622:

Ps. cxviii. 22.

Footnote 623:

See the story in the Legends of Adam.

Footnote 624:

Zohar, in Bartolocci, i. fol. 85, col. 2.

Footnote 625:

Jalkut, fol. 32, col. 2 (Parasch 2, numb. 134).

Footnote 626:

Ibid. (Parasch. 2, numb. 127).

Footnote 627:

1 Sam. xvii. 43.

Footnote 628:

2 Sam. iii. 29.

Footnote 629:

Zohar, in Bartolocci, i. fol. 99, col. 1.

Footnote 630:

Talmud, Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 107.

Footnote 631:

1 Kings ii. 11.

Footnote 632:

2 Sam. v. 5.

Footnote 633:

Bartolocci, i. f. 100.

Footnote 634:

1 Sam. xxiv. 4.

Footnote 635:

Bartolocci, i. f. 122, col. 1.

Footnote 636:

1 Kings i. 1.

Footnote 637:

Bartolocci, i. f. 122, col. 2.

Footnote 638:

Ps. lvii. 9; Bartolocci, i. fol. 125, col. 2.

Footnote 639:

Talmud, Tract. Sota, fol. 10 b.

Footnote 640:

Ps. xxii. 21.

Footnote 641:

Midrash Tillim, fol. 21, col. 2.

Footnote 642:

Eisenmenger, i. p. 409.

Footnote 643:

Ps. xviii. 36.

Footnote 644:

Ps. lv. 6.

Footnote 645:

Ps. lxviii. 13.

Footnote 646:

Talmud, Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 95, col. 1.

Footnote 647:

Tract. Sabbath, fol. 30, col. 2.

Footnote 648:

Tabari, i. p. 426; Weil, p. 208.

Footnote 649:

Weil, p. 207.

Footnote 650:

Tabari, p. 428.

Footnote 651:

The Arabs call her Saga.

Footnote 652:

The story in the Talmud is almost the same, with this difference: Bathsheba was washing herself behind a beehive, then the beautiful bird perched on the hive, and David shot an arrow at it and broke the hive, and exposed Bathsheba to view. In the Rabbinic tale, David had asked for the gift of prophecy, and God told him he must be tried. This he agreed to, and the temptation to adultery was that sent him. (Talmud, Tract. Sanhedrim, fol. 107, col. 2; Jalkut, fol. 22, col. 2.)

Footnote 653:

Koran, Sura xxxviii.

Footnote 654:

Weil, pp. 212, 213.

Footnote 655:

Weil, pp. 213-224.

Footnote 656:

Greek text, and Latin translation in Fabricius: Pseudigr. Vet. Test. t. ii. pp. 905-7.

Footnote 657:

סגולות ורפואות; Amst. 1703.

XXXVIII. SOLOMON.[658]

1. HOW SOLOMON OBTAINED POWER.

After Solomon had executed the last offices for his father, he rested in a dale betwixt Hebron and Jerusalem, and fell asleep. As he returned to himself, there stood before him eight angels, each with countless wings, diverse in kinds and colours; and the angels bowed themselves before him three times.

“Who are ye?” asked Solomon, with eyes still closed.

“We are the angels ruling over the eight winds of heaven,” was their reply. “God hath sent us to give thee dominion over ourselves and over the winds subject to us. They will storm and bluster, or breathe softly, at thy pleasure. At thy command they will swoop down on earth, and bear thee over the highest mountains.”

The greatest of the angels gave him a jewel inscribed with “God is Power and Greatness,” and said, “When thou hast a command for us, then raise this stone towards heaven, and we shall appear before thee as thy servants.”

When these angels had taken their departure, there appeared four more, of whom each was unlike the other. One was in fashion as a great whale, another as an eagle, the third as a lion, and the fourth as a serpent. And they said, “We are they who rule over all the creatures that move in the earth, and air, and water; and God hath sent us to give thee dominion over all creatures, that they may serve thee and thy friends with all good, and fight against thine enemies with all their force.”

The angel who ruled over the winged fowls extended to Solomon a precious stone, with the inscription, “Let all creatures praise the Lord!” and said, “By virtue of this stone, raised above thy head, canst thou call us to thy assistance, and to fulfil thy desire.”

Solomon immediately ordered the angels to bring before him a pair of every living creature that moves in the water, flies in the air, and walks or glides or creeps on the earth.

The angels vanished, and in an instant they were before Solomon once more, and there were assembled in his sight pairs of every creature, from the elephant to the smallest fly.

Solomon conversed with the angels, and was instructed by them in the habits, virtues, and names of all living creatures; he listened to the complaints of the beasts, birds, and fishes, and by his wisdom he rectified many evil customs amongst them.

He entertained himself longest with the birds, both on account of their beautiful speech, which he understood, and also because of the wise sentences which they uttered.

This is the signification of the cry of the peacock: “With what measure thou judgest others, thou shalt thyself be judged.”

This is the song of the nightingale: “Contentment is the greatest happiness.”

The turtle dove calls, “Better were it for some created things that they had never been created.”

The peewit pipes, “He that hath no mercy, will not find mercy himself.”

The bird syrdar cries, “Turn to the Lord, ye sinners!”

The swallow screams, “Do good, and ye shall receive a reward.”

This is the pelican’s note: “Praise the Lord in heaven and earth.”

The dove chants, “The fashion of this world passeth away, but God remaineth eternal.”

The kata says, “Silence is the best safeguard.”

The cry of the eagle is, “However long life may be, yet its inevitable term is death.”

The croak of the raven is, “The further from man, the happier I.”

The cock crows before the dawn and in the day, “Remember thy Creator, O thoughtless man!”

Solomon chose the cock and the peewit to be his constant companions—the first because of its cry, and the second because it can see through the earth as through glass, and could therefore tell him where fountains of water were to be found.

After he had stroked the dove, he bade her dwell with her young in the temple he was about to build to the honour of the Most High. This pair of doves, in a few years, multiplied to such an extent, that all who sought the temple moved through the quarter of the town it occupied under the shadow of the wings of doves.

When Solomon was again alone, an angel appeared to him, whose upper half was like to earth, and whose lower half was like to water. He bowed himself before the king and said, “I am created by God to do His will on the dry land and in the watery sea. Now, God has sent me to serve thee, and thou canst rule over earth and water. At thy command the highest mountains will be made plain, and the level land will rise into steep heights. Rivers and seas will dry up, and the desert will stream with water at thy command.” Then he gave to him a precious stone, with the legend engraved thereon, “Heaven and earth serve God.”

Finally, an angel presented to him another stone, whereon was cut, “There is no God save God, and Mohammed is the messenger of God.”

“By means of this stone,” said the angel, “thou shalt have dominion over the whole world of spirits, which is far greater than that of men and beasts, and occupies the space between earth and heaven. One portion of the spirits is faithful, and praises the One only God; the other portion is unfaithful: some adore fire, others the sun, others worship the planets, many revere winter. The good spirits surround the true believers among men, and protect them from all evil; the evil spirits seek to injure them and deceive them.”

Solomon asked to see the Jinns in their natural and original shape. The angel shot like a column of flame into heaven, and shortly returned with the Satans and Jinns in great hosts: and Solomon, though he had power over them, shuddered with disgust at their loathsome appearance. He saw men’s heads attached to the necks of horses, whose feet were those of an ass; the wings of an eagle attached to the hump of a dromedary; the horns of a gazelle on the head of a peacock.[659]

2. HOW SOLOMON FEASTED ALL FLESH.

When Solomon returned home, he placed the four stones, which the angels had given him, in a ring, so that he might at any moment exercise his authority over the realms of spirits and beasts, the earth, the winds, and the sea.