THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS VOLUME IV BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS

B >> BY LOUIS GINZBERG >> THE LEGENDS OF THE JEWS VOLUME IV BIBLE TIMES AND CHARACTERS

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Her charm would have made David her captive on this occasion, if
her moral strength had not kept him in check. By means of the
expression, "And this shall not be unto thee," she made him
understand that the day had not yet arrived, but that it would come,
when a woman, Bath-sheba, would play a disastrous part in his
life. Thus she manifested her gift of prophecy.

Not even Abigail was free from the feminine weakness of
coquetry. The words "remember thine handmaid" should never
have been uttered by her. As a married woman, she should not
have sought to direct the attention of a man to herself. (137) In the
women's Paradise she supervises the fifth of the seven divisions
into which it is divided, and her domain adjoins that of the wives
of the Patriarchs, Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah. (138)

Among the sons of David, Adonijah, the son of Haggith, must be
mentioned particularly, the pretender to the throne. The fifty men
whom he prepared to run before him had fitted themselves for the
place of heralds by cutting out their spleen and the flesh of the
soles of their feet. That Adonijah was not designated for the royal
dignity, was made manifest by the fact that the crown of David did
not fit him. This crown had the remarkable peculiarity of always
fitting the legitimate king of the house of David. (139)

Chileab was a son worthy of his mother Abigail. The meaning of
his name is "like the father," which had been given him because of
his striking resemblance to David in appearance, a circumstance
that silenced the talk against David's all too hasty marriage with
the widow of Nabal. (140) Intellectually, too, Chileab testified to
David's paternity. In fact, he excelled his father in learning, as he
did even the teacher of David, Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan.
(141) On account of his piety he is one of the few who have
entered Paradise alive. (142)

Tamar cannot be called one of the children of David, because she
was born before her mother's conversion to Judaism.
Consequently, her relation to Amnon is not quite of the grave
nature it would have been, had they been sister and brother in the
strict sense of the terms.

To the immediate household of David belonged four hundred
young squires, the sons of women taken captive in battle. They
wore their hair in heathen fashion, and, sitting in golden chariots,
they formed the vanguard of the army, and terrified the enemy by
their appearance. (143)

HIS TOMB

When David was buried, Solomon put abundant treasures into his
tomb. Thirteen hundred years later the high priest Hyrcanus took a
thousand talents of the money secreted there to use it in preventing
the siege of Jerusalem by the Greek king Antiochus. King Herod
also abstracted great sums. But none of the marauders could
penetrate to the resting-place of the kings,--next to David his
successors were interred,--for it was sunk into the earth so
skillfully that it could not be found. (144)

Once on a time, a Moslem pasha visited the mausoleum, and as he
was looking through the window in it, a weapon of his ornamented
with diamonds and pearls dropped into the tomb. A Mohammedan
was lowered through the window to fetch the weapon. When he
was drawn up again, he was dead, and three other Mohammedans
who tried to enter in the same way met the fate of their comrade.
At the instigation of the kadi, the pasha informed the Rabbi of
Jerusalem that the Jews would be held responsible for the
restoration of the weapon. The Rabbi ordered a three days' fast, to
be spent in prayer. Then lots were cast to designate the messenger
who was to be charged with the perilous errand. The lot fell upon
the beadle of the synagogue, a pious and upright man. He secured
the weapon, and returned it to the pasha, who manifested his
gratitude by kindly treatment of the Jews thereafter. The beadle
later told his adventures in the tomb to the Hakam Bashi. When he
had descended, there suddenly appeared before him an old man of
dignified appearance, and handed him what he was seeking. (145)

Another miraculous tale concerning the tomb of David runs as
follows: A poor but very pious Jewish washerwoman was once
persuaded by the keeper of the tomb to enter it. Hardly was she
within, when the man nailed up the entrance, and ran to the kadi to
inform him that a Jewess had gone in. Incensed, the kadi hastened
to the spot, with the intention of having the woman burnt for her
presumptuousness. In her terror the poor creature had begun to
weep and implore God for help. Suddenly a flood of light
illumined the dark tomb, and a venerable old man took her by the
hand, and led her downward under the earth until she reached the
open. There he parted from her with the words: "Hasten
homeward, and let none know that thou wert away from thy
house." The kadi had the tomb and its surroundings thoroughly
searched by his bailiffs, but not a trace of the woman could be
discovered, although the keeper again and again swore by the
Prophet that the woman had entered. Now the messengers whom
the kadi had sent to the house of the woman returned, and reported
they had found her washing busily, and greatly astonished at their
question, whether she had been at the tomb of David. The kadi
accordingly decided that for his false statements and his perjury,
the keeper must die the very death intended for the innocent
woman, and so he was burnt. The people of Jerusalem suspected a
miracle, but the woman did not divulge her secret until a few hours
before her death. She told her story, and then bequeathed her
possessions to the congregation, under the condition that a scholar
recite Kaddish for her on each anniversary of her death. (146)

SOLOMON PUNISHES JOAB

At the youthful age of twelve (1) Solomon succeeded his father
David as king. His real name was Jedidiah, the "friend of God,"
but it was superseded by the name Solomon on account of the
peace that prevailed throughout the realm during his reign. He
bore three other names besides: Ben, Jakeh, and Ithiel. He was
called Ben because he was the builder of the Temple; Jakeh,
because he was the ruler of the whole world; and Ithiel, because
God was with him. (2)

The rebellion Adonijah intended to lead against the future king
was suppressed during David's lifetime, by having Solomon
anointed in public. On that occasion Solomon rode upon a
remarkable she-mule, remarkable because she was not the product
of cross-breeding, but of a special act of creation. (3)

As soon as he ascended the throne, Solomon set about executing
the instructions his father had given him on his death-bed. The first
of them was the punishment of Joab. (4)

Notwithstanding all his excellent qualities, which fitted him to be
not only David's first general, but also the president of the
Academy, (5) Joab had committed great crimes, which had to be
atoned for. Beside the murder of Abner (6) and Amasa of which he
was guilty, he had incurred wrong against David himself. The
generals of the army suspected him of having had Uriah the Hittite
put out of the way for purposes of his own, whereupon he showed
them David's letter dooming Uriah. David might have forgiven
Joab, but he wanted him to expiate his sins in this world, so that he
might be exempt from punishment in the world to come. (7)

When Joab perceived that Solomon intended to have him
executed, he sought the protection of the Temple. He knew full
well that he could not save his life in this way, for the arm of
justice reaches beyond the doors of the sanctuary, to the altar of
God. What he wished was to be accorded a regular trial, and not
suffer death by the king's order. In the latter case he would lose
fortune as well as life, and he was desirous of leaving his children
well provided for. Thereupon Solomon sent word to him that he
had no intention of confiscating his estates. (8)

Though he was convinced of Joab's guilt, Solomon nevertheless
granted him the privilege of defense. The king questioned him:
"Why didst thou kill Abner?"

Joab: "I was the avenger of my brother Asahel, whom Abner had
slain."

Solomon: "Why, it was Asahel who sought to kill Abner, and
Abner acted in self-defense."

Joab: "Abner might have disabled Asahel without going to
extremes."

Solomon: "That Abner could not do."

Joab: "What! Abner aimed directly at Asahel's fifth rib, and thou
wouldst say he could not have managed to wound him lightly?"

Solomon: "Very well, then, we shall drop Abner's case. But why
didst thou slay Amasa?"

Joab: "He acted rebelliously toward King David. He omitted to
execute his order to gather an army within three days; for that
offense he deserved to suffer the death penalty."

Solomon: "Amasa failed to obey the king's order, because he had
been taught by our sages that even a king's injunctions may be set
at defiance if they involve neglect of the study of the Torah, which
was the case with the order given to Amasa. And, indeed,"
continued Solomon, "it was not Amasa but thou thyself who didst
rebel against the king, for thou wert about to join Absalom, and if
thou didst refrain, it was from fear of David's strong-fisted troops."
(9)

When Joab saw that death was inevitable, he said to Benaiah, who
was charged with the execution of the king's order: "Tell Solomon
he cannot inflict two punishments upon me. If he expects to take
my life, he must remove the curse pronounced by David against
me and my descendants on account of the slaying of Abner. If not,
he cannot put me to death." Solomon realized the justness of the
plea. By executing Joab, he transferred David's curse to his own
posterity: Rehoboam, his son, was afflicted with an issue; Uzziah
suffered with leprosy; Asa had to lean on a staff when he walked;
the pious Josiah fell by the sword of Pharaoh, and Jeconiah lived
off charity. So the imprecations of David were accomplished on
his own family instead of Joab's. (10)

THE MARRIAGE OF SOLOMON

The next to suffer Joab's fate was Shimei ben Gera, whose
treatment of David had outraged every feeling of decency. His
death was of evil portent for Solomon himself. So long as Shimei,
who was Solomon's teacher, was alive, he did not venture to marry
the daughter of Pharaoh. When, after Shimei's death, Solomon
took her to wife, the archangel Gabriel descended from heaven,
and inserted a reed in the sea. About this reed more and more earth
was gradually deposited, and, on the day on which Jeroboam
erected the golden calves, a little hut was built upon the island.
This was the first of the dwelling-places of Rome. (11)

Solomon's wedding-feast in celebration of his marriage with the
Egyptian princess came on the same day as the consecration of the
Temple. (12) The rejoicing over the king's marriage was greater
than over the completion of the Temple. As the proverb has it: "All
pay flattery to a king." Then it was that God conceived the plan of
destroying Jerusalem. It was as the prophet spoke: "This city hath
been to me a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the
day that they built it even unto this day."

In the nuptial night Pharaoh's daughter had her attendants play
upon a thousand different musical instruments, which she had
brought with her from her home, and as each was used, the name
of the idol to which it was dedicated was mentioned aloud. The
better to hold the king under the spell of her charms, she spread
above his bed a tapestry cover studded with diamonds and pearls,
which gleamed and glittered like constellations in the sky.
Whenever Solomon wanted to rise, he saw these stars, and
thinking it was night still, he slept on until the fourth hour of the
morning. The people were plunged in grief, for the daily sacrifice
could not be brought on this very morning of the Temple
dedication, because the Temple keys lay under Solomon's pillow,
and none dared awaken him. Word was sent to Bath-sheba, who
forthwith aroused her son, and rebuked him for his sloth. "Thy
father," she said, "was known to all as a God-fearing man, and now
people will say, 'Solomon is the son of Bath-sheba, it is his
mother's fault if he goes wrong.' Whenever thy father's wives were
pregnant, they offered vows and prayed that a son worthy to reign
might be born unto them. But my prayer was for a learned son
worthy of the gift of prophecy. Take care, 'give not thy strength
unto women nor thy ways to them that destroy kings,' for
licentiousness confounds the reason of man. Keep well in mind the
things that are necessary in the life of a king. (13) 'Not kings,
Lemuel.' Have naught in common with kings who say: 'What need
have we of a God?' It is not meet that thou shouldst do like the
kings who drink wine and live in lewdness. Be not like unto them.
He to whom the secrets of the world are revealed, (14) should not
intoxicate himself with wine." (15)

Apart from having married a Gentile, whose conversion to
Judaism was not dictated by pure motives, Solomon transgressed
two other Biblical laws. He kept many horses, which a Jewish king
ought not to do, and, what the law holds in equal abhorrence, he
amassed much silver and gold. Under Solomon's rule silver and
gold were so abundant among the people that their utensils were
made of them instead of the baser metals. (16) For all this he had
to atone painfully later on.

HIS WISDOM

But Solomon's wealth and pomp were as naught in comparison
with his wisdom. When God appeared to him in Gibeon, in a
dream by night, and gave him leave to ask what he would, a grace
accorded to none beside except King Ahaz of Judah, and promised
only to the Messiah in time to come, (17) Solomon chose
wisdom, knowing that wisdom once in his possession, all else
would come of itself. (18) His wisdom, the Scriptures testify, was
greater than the wisdom of Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and
Calcol, and Darda, the three sons of Mahol. This means that he
was wiser than Abraham, (19) Moses, (20) Joseph, (21) and the
generation of the desert. (22) He excelled even Adam. (23) His
proverbs which have come down to us are barely eight hundred in
number. Nevertheless the Scripture counts them equal to three
thousand, for the reason that each verse in his book admits of a
double and a triple interpretation. In his wisdom he analyzed the
laws revealed to Moses, and he assigned reasons for the ritual and
ceremonial ordinances of the Torah, which without his explanation
had seemed strange. (24) The "forty-nine gates of wisdom" were
open to Solomon as they had been to Moses, but the wise king
sought to outdo even the wise legislator. He had such confidence
in himself that he would have dispensed judgment without resort
to witnesses, had he not been prevented by a heavenly voice. (25)

The first proof of his wisdom was given in his verdict in the case
of the child claimed by two mothers as their own. When the
women presented their difficulty, the king said that God in His
wisdom had foreseen that such a quarrel would arise, and therefore
had created the organs of man in pairs, so that neither of the two
parties to the dispute might be wronged. on hearing these words
from the king, Solomon's counsellors lamented: "Woe to thee, O
land, when thy king is a youth." In a little while they realized the
wisdom of the king, and then they exclaimed: "Happy art thou, O
land, when thy king is a free man." The quarrel had of set purpose
been brought on by God to the end that Solomon's wisdom might
be made known. In reality the two litigants were not women at all,
but spirits. That all doubt about the fairness of the verdict might be
dispelled, a heavenly voice proclaimed: "This is the mother of the
child." (26)

During the lifetime of David, when Solomon was still a lad, he had
settled another difficult case in an equally brilliant way. A wealthy
man had sent his son on a protracted business trip to Africa. On his
return he found that his father had died in the meantime, and his
treasures had passed into the possession of a crafty slave, who had
succeeded in ridding himself of all the other slaves, or intimidating
them. In vain the rightful heir urged his claim before King David.
As he could not bring witnesses to testify for him, there was no
way of dispossessing the slave, who likewise called himself the
son of the deceased. The child Solomon heard the case, and he
devised a method of arriving at the truth. He had the father's corpse
exhumed, and he dyed one of the bones with the blood first of one
of the claimants, and then of the other. The blood of the slave
showed no affinity with the bone, while the blood of the true heir
permeated it. So the real son secured his inheritance. (27)

After his accession to the throne, a peculiar quarrel among heirs
was brought before Solomon for adjudication. Asmodeus, the king
of demons, once said to Solomon: "Thou art the wisest of men, yet
I shall show thee something thou hast never seen." Thereupon
Asmodeus stuck his finger in the ground, and up came a
double-headed man. He was one of the Cainites, who live
underground, and are altogether different in nature and habit from
the denizens of the upper world. (28) When the Cainite wanted to
descend to his dwelling-place again, it appeared that he could not
return thither. Not even Asmodeus could bring the thing about. So
he remained on earth, took unto himself a wife, and begot seven
sons, one of whom resembled his father in having two heads.
When the Cainite died, a dispute broke out among his descendants
as to how the property was to be divided. The double-headed son
claimed two portions. Both Solomon and the Sanhedrin were at a
loss; they could not discover a precedent to guide them. Then
Solomon prayed to God: "O Lord of all, when Thou didst appear to
me in Gibeon, and didst give me leave to ask a gift of Thee, I
desired neither silver nor gold, but only wisdom, that I might be
able to judge men in justice."

God heard his prayer. When the sons of the Cainite again came
before Solomon, he poured hot water on one of the heads of the
double-headed monster, whereupon both heads flinched, and both
mouths cried out: "We are dying, we are dying! We are but one,
not two." Solomon decided that the double-headed son was after
all only a single being. (29)

On another occasion Solomon invented a lawsuit in order to elicit
the truth in an involved case. Three men appeared before him,
each of whom accused the others of theft. They had been travelling
together, and, when the Sabbath approached, they halted and
prepared to rest and sought a safe hiding-place for their money, for
it is not allowed to carry money on one's person on the Sabbath.
They all three together secreted what they had in the same spot,
and, when the Sabbath was over, they hastened thither, only to find
that it had been stolen. It was clear one of the three must have been
the thief, but which one?

Solomon said to them: "I know you to be experienced and
thorough business men. I should like you to help me decide a suit
which the king of Rome has submitted to me. In the Roman
kingdom there lived a maiden and a youth, who promised each
other under oath never to enter into a marriage without obtaining
each other's permission. The parents of the girl betrothed their
daughter to a man whom she loved, but she refused to become his
wife until the companion of her youth gave his consent. She took
much gold and silver, and sought him out to bribe him. Setting
aside his own love for the girl, he offered her and her lover his
congratulations, and refused to accept the slightest return for the
permission granted. On their homeward way the happy couple
were surprised by an old highwayman, who was about to rob the
young man of his bride and his money. The girl told the brigand
the story of her life, closing with these words: 'If a youth controlled
his passion for me, how much more shouldst thou, an old man, be
filled with fear of God, and let me go my way.' Her words took
effect. The aged highwaymen laid hands neither on the girl nor on
the money.

"Now," Solomon continued to the three litigants, "I was asked to
decide which of the three persons concerned acted most nobly, the
girl, the youth, or the highwayman, and I should like to have your
views upon the question."

The first of the three said: "My praise is for the girl, who kept her
oath so faithfully." The second: "I should award the palm to the
youth, who kept himself in check, and did not permit his passion to
prevail." The third said: "Commend me to the brigand, who kept
his hands off the money, more especially as he would have been
doing all that could be expected of him if he had surrendered the
woman he might have taken the money."

The last answer sufficed to put Solomon on the right track. The
man who was inspired with admiration of the virtues of the robber,
probably was himself filled with greed of money. He had him
cross-examined, and finally extorted a confession. He had
committed the theft, and he designated the spot where he had
hidden the money. (30)

Even animals submitted their controversies to Solomon's wise
judgment. A man with a jug of milk came upon a serpent wailing
pitifully in a field. To the man's question, the serpent replied that it
was tortured with thirst. "And what art thou carrying in the jug?"
asked the serpent. When it heard what it was, it begged for the
milk, and promised to reward the man by showing him a hidden
treasure. The man gave the milk to the serpent, and was then led to
a great rock. "Under this rock," said the serpent, "lies the treasure."
The man rolled the rock aside, and was about to take the treasure,
when suddenly the serpent made a lunge at him, and coiled itself
about his neck. "What meanest thou by such conduct?" exclaimed
the man. "I am going to kill thee," replied the serpent, "because
thou art robbing me of all my money." The man proposed that they
put their case to King Solomon, and obtain his decision as to who
was in the wrong. So they did. Solomon asked the serpent to state
what it demanded of the man. "I want to kill him," answered the
serpent, "because the Scriptures command it, saying: 'Thou shalt
bruise the heel of man.'" Solomon said: "First release thy hold upon
the man's neck and descend; in court neither party to a lawsuit may
enjoy an advantage over the other." The serpent glided to the floor,
and Solomon repeated his question, and received the same answer
as before from the serpent. Then Solomon turned to the man and
said: "To thee God's command was to bruise the head of the
serpent do it!" And the man crushed the serpent's head. (31)

Sometimes Solomon's assertions and views, though they sprang
from profound wisdom, seemed strange to the common run of
men. In such cases, the wise king did not disdain to illustrate the
correctness of his opinions. For instance, both the learned and the
ignorant were stung into opposition by Solomon's saying: "One
man among a thousand have I found; but a virtuous woman among
all those have I not found." Solomon unhesitatingly pledged
himself to prove that he was right. He had his attendants seek out a
married couple enjoying a reputation for uprightness and virtue.
The husband was cited before him, and Solomon told him that he
had decided to appoint him to an exalted office. The king
demanded only, as an earnest of his loyalty, that he murder his
wife, so that he might be free to marry the king's daughter, a
spouse comporting with the dignity of his new station. With a
heavy heart the man went home. His despair grew at sight of his
fair wife and his little children. Though determined to do the king's
bidding, he still lacked courage to kill his wife while she was
awake. He waited until she was tight asleep, but then the child
enfolded in the mother's arms rekindled his parental and conjugal
affection, and he replaced his sword in its sheath, saying to
himself: "And if the king were to offer me his whole realm, I
would not murder my wife." Thereupon he went to Solomon, and
told him his final decision. A month later Solomon sent for the
wife, and declared his love for her. He told her that their happiness
could be consummated if she would but do away with her husband.
Then she should be made the first wife in his harem. Solomon
gave her a leaden sword which glittered as though fashioned of
steel. The woman returned home resolved to put the sword to its
appointed use. Not a quiver of her eyelids betrayed her sinister
purpose. On the contrary, by caresses and tender words she sought
to disarm any suspicion that might attack to her. In the night she
arose, drew forth the sword, and proceeded to kill her husband.
The leaden instrument naturally did no harm, except to awaken her
husband, to whom she had to confess her evil intent. The next day
both man and wife were summoned before the king, who thus
convinced his counsellors of the truth of his conviction, that no
dependence can be placed on woman. (32)

The fame of Solomon's wisdom spread far and wide. Many entered
the service of the king, in the hope of profiting by his wisdom.
Three brothers had served under him for thirteen years, and,
disappointed at not having learnt anything, they made up their
minds to quit his service. Solomon gave them the alternative of
receiving one hundred coins each, or being taught three wise saws.
They decided to take the money. They had scarcely left the town
when the youngest of the three, regardless of the protests of his
two brothers, hastened back to Solomon and said to him: "My lord,
I did not take service under thee to make money; I wanted to
acquire wisdom. Pray, take back thy money, and teach me wisdom
instead." Solomon thereupon imparted the following three rules of
conduct to him: "When thou travellest abroad, set out on thy
journey with the dawn and turn in for the night before darkness
falls; do not cross a river that is swollen; and never betray a secret
to a woman." The man quickly overtook his brothers, but he
confided nothing to them of what he had learned from Solomon.
They journeyed on together. At the approach of the ninth hour
three hours after noon they reached a suitable spot in which to
spend the night. The youngest brother, mindful of Solomon's
advice, proposed that they stop there. The others taunted him with
his stupidity, which, they said, he had begun to display when he
carried his money back to Solomon. The two proceeded on their
way, but the youngest arranged his quarters for the night. When
darkness came on, and with it nipping cold, he was snug and
comfortable, while his brothers were surprised by a snow storm, in
which they perished. The following day he continued his journey,
and on the road he found the dead bodies of his brothers. Having
appropriated their money, he buried them, and went on. When he
reached a river that was very much swollen, he bore Solomon's
advice in mind, and delayed to cross until the flood subsided.
While standing on the bank, he observed how some of the king's
servants were attempting to ford the stream with beasts laden with
gold, and how they were borne down by the flood. After the waters
had abated, he crossed and appropriated the gold strapped to the
drowned animals. When he returned home, wealthy and wise, he
told nothing of what he had experienced even to his wife, who was
very curious to find out where her husband had obtained his
wealth. Finally, she plied him so closely with questions that
Solomon's advice about confiding a secret to a woman was quite
forgotten. Once, when his wife was quarrelling with him, she cried
out: "Not enough that thou didst murder thy brothers, thou desirest
to kill me, too." Thereupon he was charged with the murder of
their husbands by his two sisters-in-law. He was tried, condemned
to death, and escaped the hangman only when he told the king the
story of his life, and was recognized as his former retainer. It was
with reference to this man's adventures that Solomon said:
"Acquire wisdom; she is better than gold and much fine gold." (33)

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