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LEGENDS
OF THE
PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS.
LEGENDS
OF THE
Patriarchs and Prophets
AND OTHER
OLD TESTAMENT CHARACTERS
FROM VARIOUS SOURCES
BY THE
REV. S. BARING-GOULD, M.A.
Author of “Curious Myths of the Middle Ages,” “The Origin and Development
of Religious Belief,” “In Exitu Israel,” etc.
NEW YORK:
AMERICAN BOOK EXCHANGE,
764 Broadway.
1881.
PREFACE.
An incredible number of legends exists connectedwith the personages whose history is given in the OldTestament. The collection now presented to the publicmust by no means be considered as exhaustive.The compiler has been obliged to limit himself as to thenumber, it being quite impossible to insert all. Hetrusts that few of peculiar interest have been omitted.
The Mussulman traditions are nearly all derived fromthe Talmudic writers, just as the history of Christ in theKoran is taken from the Apocryphal Gospels. TheKoran follows the “Sepher Hajaschar” (Book of theJust) far more closely than the canonical Scriptures;and the “Sepher Hajaschar” is a storehouse of theRabbinic tradition on the subject of the Patriarchs fromAdam to Joshua.
The Jewish traditions are of various value. Somecan be traced to their origin without fail. One class isderived from Persia, as, for instance, those of Asmodeus,the name of the demon being taken, along with hisstory, from Iranian sources. Another class springs fromthe Cabbalists, who, by permutation of the letters of aviname, formed the nuclei, so to speak, from which legendsspread.
Another class, again, is due to the Rabbinic commentators,who, unable to allow for poetical periphrasis,insisted on literal interpretations, and then coined fablesto explain them. Thus the saying of David,“Thou hast heard me from among the horns of the unicorns,”which signified that David was assisted by Godin trouble, was taken quite literally by the Rabbis, anda story was invented to explain it.
Another class, again, is no doubt due to the exaggerationof Oriental imagery, just as that previouslymentioned is due to the deficiency of the poetic fancyin certain Rabbis. Thus, imagination and defect ofimagination, each contributed to add to the store.
But when we have swept all these classes aside, thereremains a residuum, small, no doubt, of genuine tradition.To this class, if I am not mistaken, belong theaccount of Lamech and his wives, and the story of thesacrifice of Isaac. In the latter instance, the typecomes out far clearer in the Talmudic tradition that inthe canonical Scriptures; and this can hardly have beenthe result of Jewish interpolation, knowing, as they did,that Christians pointed triumphantly to this type.
With regard to Jewish traditions, it is unfortuna