The father of the Israelites, from the land of Canaan which he inhabited, could smell the clothes of Joseph when he was in Egypt, being a prophet; and thus he knew that his son was alive. He was asked how it was that he divined nothing when his beloved son was cast into the pit by his brothers, and sold to the Ishmaelites. He replied that the prophetic power is sudden, like a lightning flash, piercing sometimes to the height of heaven; it is not permanent in its intensity, but leaves at times those favoured with it in such darkness that they do not know what is at their feet.[399] The Arabs say that Jacob, much afflicted with sciatica, was healed by abstaining from the meat he most loved, and that was the flesh of the camel. At Jerusalem, say the Arabs, is preserved the stone on which Jacob laid his head when he slept on his way to Haran. The custom of saying “God bless you!” when a person sneezes, dates from Jacob. The Rabbis say that, before the time that Jacob lived, men sneezed once, and that was the end of them—the shock slew them; but the patriarch, by his intercession, obtained a relaxation of this law, subject to the condition that, in all nations, a sneeze should be consecrated by a sacred aspiration. Footnote 360: Maschmia Jeschua, fol. 19, col. 4. Footnote 361: Nezach Israel, fol. 25, col. 3. Footnote 362: Eisenmenger, ii. pp. 260, 304. Footnote 363: Gen. xxv. 22. Footnote 364: Jer. i. 5. Footnote 365: Bereschith Rabba, fol. 56, col. 2. Footnote 366: Eisenmenger, i. 646. Footnote 367: Ibid. Footnote 368: Ibid., pp. 650-1. Footnote 369: Targums. ed. Etheridge, i. p. 240. Footnote 370: Ibid., p. 241. Footnote 371: Ibid., also R. Bechai’s Comment. on the Five Books of Moses, fol. 35, col. i. Footnote 372: Targum of Palestine and Jerusalem; Etheridge, i. 241, 242. The book Yaschar says the deed of transfer was written by Jacob on a leaf, and that he and Esau sealed it, p. 1151. Footnote 373: Eisenmenger, i. p. 651. Footnote 374: Gen. iii. 21. Footnote 375: Yaschar, p. 1150, where is the story of the assassination of Nimrod by Esau. Footnote 376: Ibid. Footnote 377: Eisenmenger, ii. p. 879. Footnote 378: Eisenmenger, ii. p. 262. Footnote 379: Targums, i. p. 250. Footnote 380: Targums, i. p. 252. Footnote 381: Pirke R. Eliezer, c. 35. Footnote 382: William Sanderson, Vita Mariæ, reg. Scot., et Jacobi, reg. Anglorum; also Beckmann, Notitiar. dignit. Dissert. 3, c. i. § 7. Footnote 383: The whole of the above is from the Targumim. Footnote 384: Jalkut Cadasch, fol. 81, col. 1; Yaschar, p. 1161 et seq. Footnote 385: Eisenmenger, i. p. 486. Footnote 386: Jalkut Rubeni, fol. 61, col. 3. Footnote 387: Jalkut Cadasch, fol. 91, col. 4. Footnote 388: Targum of Palestine, i. p. 272. Footnote 389: