It will be necessary to add a few words on certain works largely quoted in the following pages.
1. Dr. G. Weil’s “Biblische Legende der Muselmänner,” Frankfurt a. M., 1845, is derived from three Arabic MS. works—“Chamis,” by Husein Ibn Mohammed Ibn Alhasan Addiarbekri; “Dsachirat Alulun wanatidjat Alfuhum,” by Ahmed Ibn zein Alabidin Albekri; and “Kissat Alanbija,” by Mohammed Ibn Ahmed Alkissai.
2. The Chronicle of Abou-djafar Mohammed Tabari was translated into Persian by Abou Ali Mohammed Belami, who added sundry traditions circulating in Persia; and has been rendered into French, in part, by M. Hermann Zolenberg, for the Oriental Translation Fund, Paris, 1867.
3. The “Sepher Hajaschar,” or Book of Jasher (Yaschar), is quoted from the translation by Le Chevalier P. L. B. Drach, inserted in Migne’s “Dictionnaire des Apocryphes.”
4. Eisenmenger, “Neuentdektes Judenthum,” 2 vols. 8vo, Königsburg, 1711, contains a great many Rabbinic traditions collected from sources inaccessible to most persons.
5. Bartolocci, “Bibliotheca Magna Rabbinica,” 4 vols. fol., Rome, 1675–93, is a very valuable storehouse of information, but sadly disfigured by prejudice.
LEGENDS OF THE
PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS.
I.
THE FALL OF THE ANGELS.
In the beginning, before the creation of heaven and earth, God made the angels; free intelligences and free wills; out of His love He made them, that they might be eternally happy. And that their happiness might be complete, He gave them the perfection of a created nature; that is, He gave them freedom.
But happiness is only attained by the free will agreeing in its freedom to accord with the will of God. Some of the angels by an act of free will obeyed the will of God, and in such obedience found perfect happiness; other angels by an act of free will rebelled against the will of God, and in such disobedience found misery.
Such is the catholic theory of the fall of the angels.
Historically, it is represented as a war in heaven. “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”1 The reason of the revolt was that Satan desired to be as great as God. “Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.”2
The war ended in the fall of Satan and those whom he had led into apostasy; and to this fall are referred the words of Christ, “I saw Satan like lightning fall from heaven.”3
Fabricius, in his collections of the apocryphal writings of the Old Testament, has preserved the song of triumph which the Archangel Michael sang on obtaining the victory. This is a portion of it:—
“Glory to our God! Praise to His holy Name! He is our God; glory be to Him! He is our Lord! His be the triumph! He has stretched forth His right hand; He has manifested His power, He has cast down our adversaries. They are mad who resist Him; they are accursed who depart from His commandments! He knoweth all things, and cannot err. His will is sovereignly just, and all that He wills is good, all that He advises is holy. Supreme Intelligence cannot be deceived; Perfect Being cannot will what is evil. Nothing is above that which is supreme, nothing is better than that which is perfect. None is worthy beside Him but him whom He has made worthy. He must be loved above all things and adored as the eternal King. You have abandoned your God, you have revolted against Him, you have desired to be gods; you have fallen from your high estates, you have gone down like a fallen stone. Acknowledge that God is great, that His works are perfect, and that His judgments are just. Glory be to God through ages of ages, praises of joy for all His works!” This song of the Archangel is said to have been revealed to S. Amadeus.4
According to the Talmudists, Satan, whose proper name is Sammael, was one of the Seraphim, with six wings.5 He was not driven out of heaven till after he had led Adam and Eve into sin; then Sammael and his host were precipitated out of the place of bliss, with God’s curse to weigh them down. In the struggle between Michael and Sammael, the falling Seraph caught the wings of Michael and tried to drag him down with him, but God saved him, whence Michael derives his name (the Rescued). This is what the Rabbi Bechai says in his commentary on the Five Books of Moses.6
According to a Talmudic authority, the apostate angels having fallen in a heap, God laid his little finger on them and consumed them.7
Sammael was the regent of the planet Mars, and this he rules still, and therefore it is that those born under the influence of that star are lovers of war and given to strife.8
He was chief among the angels of God, and now he is prince among devils.9 His name is derived from Simmé, which means to blind and deceive. He stands on the left side of men. He goes by various names; such as the Old Serpent, the Unclean Spirit, Satan, Leviathan, and sometimes also Asael. In his fall he spat in his hatred against God, and his spittle stained the moon, and thus it is that the moon has on it spots.
After his fall, Satan took to himself four wives, Lilith and Naama the daughter of Lamech and sister of Tubal-cain, Igereth and Machalath. Each became the mother of a great host of devils, and each rules with her host over a season of the year; and at the change of seasons there is a great gathering of devils about their mothers. Lilith is followed by four hundred and seventy-eight legions of devils, for that number is comprised in her name (לילית —478). According to some, Lilith is identical with Eve. She rules over Damascus, Naama over Tyre, Igereth over Malta and Rhodes, and Machalath over Crete.10
Many traditions date the existence of angels and demons from a remote period before the creation of the world, but some connect the fall of Satan and his host with the creation of man.
Abou-Djafar-Mohammed Tabari says that when God made Adam, He bade all the angels worship him as their king and superior, as says the Koran, “All the angels adored Adam” (xv. 30), but that Satan or Eblis answered God, “I will not adore Adam, for he is made of earth and I of fire, therefore I am better than he” (vii. II), and that God thereupon cursed Eblis and gave him the form of a devil, because of his pride, vain confidence, and disobedience.11
Abulfeda says, “After God had made man He thus addressed the angels. ‘When I have breathed a portion of my spirit into him, bow before him and adore.’ After He had inspired Adam with His spirit, all the angels of every degree adored him, except Eblis; he, through pride and envy, scorned to do this, and disobeyed God. Then God cursed him, and he cut him off from all hope in divine mercy, and He called him Scheithanan redjiman (Satan devoted to misery), and He cast him out who had been before an angel of the earth, and keeper of terrestrial things, and a guardian of Paradise.”12
But the general opinion seems to have been that the fall of the angels preceded the creation of man. Ibn-Ezra dates it on the second day of creation, others on the first day when God “divided the light from the darkness.” Manasseh Ben Israel says that God has placed the devils in the clouds, that they might torment the wicked with thunder and lightnings, and showers of hail and tempests of wind, and that this took place on the second day, when the firmaments were divided.
As the fall of Satan took place through his aspiration to be God, so it is closely connected with the origin of idolatry