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 they did; and an angel directed them to mount Breitalmakdes
(Jerusalem), where they deposited the bier on a certain hill, and
instantly it sank out of their sight into the ground. Then Shem returned
to his home, but not so Melchizedek, who remained to guard the body of
Adam: and he built there a city called Jerusalem, and he was called
Melek Salim, the King of Peace, and there he spent the rest of his life
in the worship of God; he touched not women, nor shed blood, but offered
to God oblations of bread and wine.[250]
Eutychius, the Egyptian patriarch of Alexandria, in his Annals, which
are rife with Oriental traditions, gives a fuller account of the same
incident.
When Noah was near his death, he bade Shem take the body of Adam, and go
with Melchizedek, son of Peleg, whither the angel of the Lord should
lead. “And,” said he, “thou shalt enjoin on Melchizedek to fix his
habitation there, to take to him no wife, and to spend his life in acts
of devotion, for God has chosen him to preserve His true worship. He
shall build himself no house, nor shall he shed blood of beast, or bird,
or any animal; nor shall he offer there any oblation save bread and
wine; and let the skins of lions be his only vesture; he shall remain
alone there; he shall not clip his hair, or pare his nails; for he is a
priest of the Most High. The angel of God shall go before you, till ye
come to the place where ye shall bury the body of Adam, and know that
that place is the middle of the world.” Now Noah died on Wednesday, at
the second hour, in the second month of Ayar, which is the same as
Bashnes, in the nine hundred and fiftieth year of his age. And this year
Shem was aged forty-five. The sons of Noah buried him, and bewailed him
forty days.[251]
The wife of Noah is said by some to have been called Bath-Enos, or the
daughter of Enos; but the Rabbi Gedaliah says her name was Noema; others
say it was Tethiri, or Tithœa, the nurse of men, as Eve was the mother
of men. The Gnostics called her Noria. She is, however, generally
supposed by the Rabbis to have been Naamah, the sister of
Tubal-cain.[252] But Eutychius, of Alexandria, says she was called
Haical, and was the daughter of Namus, son of Enoch; and that the wives
of Shem, Ham, and Japheth were the three daughters of Methuselah. Shem’s
wife was named Salith; the wife of Ham, Nahlath; and the wife of
Japheth, Arisivah.[253]
The nurse of Noah was an important personage, and must not be forgotten.
She was named Sambethe, and was the first Sibyl. Suidas, the grammarian,
says, “The Chaldee Sibyl, named Sambethi by the Hebrews, and identified
with the Persian Sibyl, was of the race of Noah. She foretold those
things which were to befall Alexander of Macedon. She also predicted the
coming of the Lord Christ, and many other things, through divine
inspiration.”[254]
Footnote 246:
Jalkut Genesis, fol. 16 a.
Footnote 247:
Colin de Plancy, p. 121.
Footnote 248:
Tabari, i. c. xli.
Footnote 249:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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