Old Testament Legends | Page 5

sin, may be. Thus, there is a book called The Testaments (or Last Words) of the Twelve Patriarchs, in which each of the twelve sons of Jacob, when he comes to die, calls his children to him and tells them about his own life, and warns them against his own besetting sin, or shows how he has been helped by practising some good habit: Simeon speaks about envy, Issachar about simplicity, Zebulun about kindness, and so on. And many others there are which are merely, one would say, meant to tell us more about the lives and deaths of the great men of the old times than we can learn from the Bible.
Perhaps I have now said enough to show of what sort the tales are that are told in this book--some of them told for the first time in English. They are not true, but they are very old; some of them, I think, are beautiful, and all of them seem to me interesting. In case anyone should wish to know more about them, I will put down here the names of the books from which I have taken them.
The first part of the story of Adam is shortened from Mr. S. G. Malan's translation of The Book of Adam and Eve, and from Dillmann's German translation of the same (Das christliche Adambuch des Morgenlandes). The second part is from the Greek Revelation of Moses (in Tischendorf's Apocalypses Apocryphae), and from the Latin Life of Adam, edited by W. Meyer.
The first part of the story of Abraham is from The Apocalypse of Abraham, translated from Slavonic by Professor N. Bonwetsch; the second part is from The Testament of Abraham, edited by me in Texts and Studies.
The story of Aseneth is from the Greek History of Aseneth, edited by Batiffol in Studia Patristica.
The story of Job is taken from The Testament of Job in my Apocrypha Anecdota (ii).
That of Solomon is from The Testament of Solomon as printed by Migne at the end of the works of Michael Psellus.
That of Baruch from The Rest of the Words of Baruch, edited by Dr. J. Rendel Harris.
That of Ahikar principally from the French edition by the Abbe F. Nau, with some few touches borrowed from that by Dr. J. Rendel Harris.
One last word. Not all of the stories in this book are equally old. The oldest is most likely that of Ahikar. Lately some pieces of it have been discovered in Egypt in a very ancient copy. Next, probably, comes the second part of the story of Adam. In each of the others there are some parts which are derived from early Jewish tales, but the books in which we have them now were put into their present shape by Christians. Still, there is not one that is less than fifteen hundred years old.
CONTENTS PAGE ADAM 1 THE DEATH OF ADAM AND EVE . . . 15 ABRAHAM 25 THE STORY OF ASENETH, JOSEPH'S WIFE . 49 JOB. . . . . . . 81 SOLOMON AND THE DEMONS. . 105 THE STORY OF EBEDMELECH THE ETHIOPIAN, AND OF THE DEATH OF JEREMIAH . 121 AHIKAR 135

ILLUSTRATIONS How SATAN DECEIVED EVE IN THE RIVER (see p. 10) Frontispiece THEN CAME ONE OF THE SERAPHIM AND BARE THE SOUL OF ADAM TO THE LAKE OF PURE WATER IN THE GARDEN . . . . Facing p. 22 ABRAHAM AND THE BROKEN IDOLS ? 28 ASENETH DOING HOMAGE TO HER GODS . ? 53 "ASENETH, RISE UP" . . . . . . 63 ASENETH FLIES IN HER CHARIOT FROM THE MEN IN AMBUSH BY THE RIVER ? 76 SATAN DEPARTS, VANQUISHED BY JOB AT LAST . ? 94 JOB'S HAPPY DEATH . . . . , . 102 EPHIPPAS AND THE DEMON OF THE RED SEA BRING THE GREAT PLLLAR TO SOLOMON . . ,, 116 How AHIKAR OUTWITTED THE KING OF EGYPT . ,, 152

OLD TESTAMENT LEGENDS
ADAM
When Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden, they were as helpless as little children. They knew nothing of day or night, heat or cold; they could not kindle a fire to warm themselves, nor till the ground to grow food. They had as yet no clothes to wear and no shelter against rain or sun. As long as they were in the garden, it was always light and warm, and their bodies were so fashioned that they had no need of food or sleep or of protection against the burning of the sun; but since they had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, they had become like us. Moreover, all the beasts and birds were friendly with them; but now they knew that it was not so, and that they had no defence if any fierce animal chose to attack them;