Legends of Old Testament characters, from the Talmud and other sourcesBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
Legends of Old Testament characters, from the Talmud and other sources
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Bible. Old Testament -- Legends; Jewish legends
This is also a Rabbinical tradition, for the Talmudists say that Esau
had a son named Eliphaz, who had a son, Zepho, from whom Vespasian and
his son Titus were descended, and thus they attribute the destruction of
Jerusalem to the struggle of Esau to break the yoke of Jacob from off
his neck.
Esau is said by the Rabbis to have had four wives, in imitation of
Satan, or Sammael, as has been already related.
Abulfaraj says that Esau made war with Jacob, and was killed by him with
an arrow.
Jacob feared Esau, for Esau said in his heart, “I will not do as Cain
did, who slew his brother Abel in the lifetime of his father, after
which his father begat Seth; but I will wait till the days of mourning
for my father are accomplished, and then I will kill Jacob, and so I
shall be the sole heir.”[379]
Therefore Jacob went out only at night; during the day be hid himself
away. Thus several years passed, and his life became intolerable to him.
So his mother said, “Thy uncle Laban, the son of Bethuel, has great
possessions, and is very old. Go, and ask him to give thee his daughter;
and if he consents, then tarry with him till thy brother’s anger turn
away.” Jacob listened to the advice of his mother, and he fled away
without letting Esau know.
Five miracles were wrought for the patriarch Jacob, at the time when he
went forth from Beer-sheba. First, the hours of the day were shortened,
and the sun went down before its time, because the Word desired to speak
with him; secondly, the four stones, which Jacob had set for his pillow,
he found in the morning had coagulated into one stone; thirdly, the
stone which, when all the flocks were assembled, the shepherds rolled
from the mouth of the well, he rolled away with one of his arms;
fourthly, the well overflowed, and the water continued to flow all the
days he was in Haran. The fifth sign—the country was shortened before
him, so that in one day he went forth and came to Haran.[380]
And he prayed in the place where he rested, and took four stones of that
place, and set them for a pillow, and went asleep. Of these stones this
is the history. They were twelve in number, and Adam had set them up as
an altar. On them Abel had offered his sacrifice. The Deluge had thrown
them down, but Noah reared them once more. They had been again
overthrown, but Abraham set them in their places, and of them built the
altar on which to sacrifice Isaac. These twelve stones Jacob now found,
and he placed them under his head as a pillow. But a great wonder was
wrought, and in the morning the twelve stones had melted together into
one stone.[381]
Finally, this stone, so ancient and with such a history, was carried to
Scotland, by whom I do not know, where it was placed at Scone, and was
used for the consecration of the Scottish kings. Edward I. of England
brought it to London, and it was set beneath the chair of the Confessor,
as the following lines, inscribed on a tablet, announced:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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