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THE SAMARITAN 
 CHRONICLE 
 
 OR 
 
 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA 
 
 THE SOX OF NUN 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE ARABIC, WITH NOTES 
 BY 
 
 OLIVER TURNBULL CRANE, M.A 
 
 MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 JOHN B. ALDEN, PUBLISHER 
 
 1890 
 
Copyright, 1890, 
 
 BY 
 
 OLIVER TURNBULL CRANE. 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 
 Chapter. Page. 
 I. Prologue 13 
 
 II. The account of the investiture of Yush'a the son 
 of Nun with the Khalifate of the Prophet — 
 peace be upon him 15 
 
 III. The affair of Bila'am with the king of Mab. ... 17 
 
 IV. The account of the stratagem and artifice used 
 
 by Bila'am against the children of Israil 24 
 
 V. The history of Midyan 26 
 
 VI. The account of what our master Musa, the Pro- 
 phet — peace be upon him — expounded, before 
 his death , 29 
 
 VII. The account of what Yush'a, his disciple, said, 
 after the disappearance of his lord and mas- 
 ter 31 
 
 VIII. The account of what was done after the return 
 
 of Yush'a to the people 33 
 
 IX. The beginning of the book of Yush'a the son of 
 Nun, the disciple of the master Musa, the Pro- 
 phet — peace be upon him 34 
 
 X. The account of Yiish'a's assembling the children 
 of Israil, and his renewing the covenant with 
 them 35 
 
 XI. The accoimt of how they answered him, and the 
 
 covenant that they entered into at that time . . 38 
 
 XII. The account of what Yush'a the son of Nun did 
 in organizing the army, and the members 
 thereof. 38 
 
 XIII. The account of the spies whom Yush'a the king 
 
 sent forth - 41 
 
 XIV. The accoimt of the summoning of the children 
 
 of Israil to undertake the journey 45 
 
 XV. The account of the passage of the children of 
 
 Israil through the Urdun (Jordan) 46 
 
i v CONTENTS. 
 
 XVI. An account of the hymn of praise which Yush'a 
 
 the king offered up 48 
 
 XVII. An aecount of ancient Yariha (Jericho), at the 
 
 time of its conquest 50 
 
 XVIII. An account of the discovery of the one who 
 
 took the devoted thing 53 
 
 XIX. The account of how certain peoples of the 
 Kana'anites practiced a stratagem, and obtain- 
 ed protection of the king 55 
 
 XX. An account of the Kana'anites, whose territories 
 
 the land was 57 
 
 XXI. The account of this army, and its triumph, and 
 
 the destruction of its enemies 59 
 
 XXII. An account of the apportionment of the territo- 
 ries belonging to the children of Israil, and 
 their boundaries 61 
 
 XXIII. The account of what Yush'a did imtil the sur- 
 
 veyors returned unto him 63 
 
 XXIV. The account of the return of the men who were 
 
 eminent in making surveys and estimating 
 just proportions unto Yush'a the son of Nun 
 
 the king 66 
 
 XXV. An account of the circumstances of the children 
 
 of Israil, after the distribution 68 
 
 XXVI. The history of Shaubak the son of Haman, the 
 
 king of the Persians 69 
 
 XXVII. Statement of a copy of the letter which the 
 giants sent unto Yush'a the son of Nun, the 
 king 71 
 
 XXVIII. The history of the messenger, and what came of 
 
 him 73 
 
 XXIX. An account of the reply sent to the giants 75 
 
 XXX. The account of what happened before the de- 
 parture of the messenger from Yush'a the 
 king 81 
 
 XXXI. An account of the return of the messenger, and 
 what he did when he reached them (i. e., the 
 
 enemies) 83 
 
 XXXII. The account of the reading of the letter, and 
 
 what the enemy did when it was read 83 
 
 XXXIII. The account of the setting out of Yush'a the 
 
 king upon his expedition 86 
 
 XXXIV. The account of what happened to the children 
 
 of Israil in this place , 87 
 
CONTENTS. V 
 
 XXXV. The account of how God facilitated the escape 
 
 of the children of Israi'l from the magicians. . . 89 
 
 XXXVI. A statement of a copy of the letter 89 
 
 XXXVII. An account of Nabih, and what he did 90 
 
 XXXVIII. An account of what was done during the days of 
 
 Divine favor 95 
 
 XXXIX. The history of the duration of the days of Divine 
 
 favor, up to the time of the beginning of error. 98 
 
 XL. The history of the vicegerents of the Lord, and 
 of the ministers of the days of Divine favor, 
 during the preceding period that has been 
 mentioned ] 00 
 
 XLI. The history of the beginning of error after the 
 
 death of Shamsham, the king of that time. . . . 102 
 
 XLII. An account of how the beginning of error was 
 
 stopped among the people 104 
 
 XLIII. The history of the erring man who was envious 
 of the descendant of Finahas — peace be upon 
 him 10S 
 
 XLIV. The account of the cause of the destruction of 
 
 this erring man, and of his sons and company. 110 
 
 XLV. The history of Bokhtonassar (Nebuchadnezzar), 
 the king of el-Mausil (Mosul) ; which is found 
 in the books of the chronicles of his deeds. . . Ill 
 
 XLVI. The history of el-Iskandar ( Alexander the Great) 116 
 
 XL VII. The history of Adrinus (Hadrian), and how he 
 destroyed el-Quds (Jerusalem), and what hap- 
 pened to him with Afrim (Ephraim) and Man- 
 ashshih (Manasseh) 120 
 
 XLVIII. The history of 'Aqbun the imam 126 
 
 XLIX. The history of what happened unto Natanal 
 from the Romans, after the death of his 
 father 128 
 
 L. The history of Baba Rabba, and what hap- 
 pened to him with the Romans 130 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The Samaritan Book of Joshua was first 
 brought to the notice of European scholars by 
 the eminent Orientalist, Joseph J. Scaliger, who 
 obtained a manuscript of it from the Samari- 
 tans of Cairo, in the year 1584. This MS. was 
 deposited by him in the library of the Uni- 
 versity of Leyden, and for a long period re- 
 mained the only copy of the work in Europe ; 
 in fact, it is only within the last half of the pres- 
 ent century that other MSS. have been obtain- 
 ed ; one of these is now in the possession of the 
 British Museum, and another is said to be in 
 the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. To 
 the celebrated Swiss theologian and scholar, 
 Johann Heinrich Hottinger, is due the credit 
 of first making the contents of this work fully 
 known to scholars ; this he did in his Exer- 
 citationes Anti-Morinianoe de Pentateucho Sa- 
 maritano, published in 1644, wherein he gave 
 a condensed Latin translation, or rather epitome, 
 of the whole chronicle : he likewise treated of 
 it in other of his writings, especially in his 
 Smegma Orient, (1657), which contains a fair 
 resume* of its contents. Hottinger's works re- 
 mained the principal source from which scholars 
 drew their information of the character and con- 
 tents of this chronicle of the Samaritans, until 
 in the year 1848, T. W. J. Juynboll edited the 
 Arabic text of the Leyden MS. with a complete 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 Latin translation to which were added elaborate 
 dissertations and copious critical notes. This 
 translation of Juynboll's at once superseded all 
 that had preceded it, and has ever since re- 
 mained the standard. 
 
 The translation now offered — the first that has 
 ever been attempted in English — is made directly 
 from the Arabic text as printed by Juynboll, while 
 the MS. in the British Museum has been examin- 
 ed and consulted in many cases. To those who 
 may take the trouble to compare this English 
 translation with Juynboll's Latin, it may occa- 
 sion surprise to find that, in the interpretation 
 of a considerable number of passages they ma- 
 terially differ ; if such will, however, only turn 
 to the original Arabic and consult it, the writer 
 confidently believes that the English rendering 
 will be found to more exactly represent the origi- 
 nal than the Latin. It should be borne in mind, 
 however, that the Leyden MS. is in the Samaritan 
 characters, though written in the Arabic language, 
 which the scribe often wrote in a most careless 
 and negligent manner, and hence the MS. is in 
 many places exceedingly difficult to decipher. 
 Juynboll edited it in Arabic characters, but, on 
 account of the wretchedness of the writing, was 
 often driven to conjectural readings and emenda- 
 tions, yet he always placed in the margin the 
 exact, or supposed, words of the text, thus 
 affording the student an opportunity to form an 
 independent judgment as to the justice and 
 accuracy of his emendations, and upon careful 
 consideration one is sometimes forced to the 
 conclusion that Juynboll has unintentionally 
 erred, both in his reading of the text and in his 
 conjectural corrections, and that the discarded 
 words in the margin are in some cases to be 
 preferred to his attempted improvements. These 
 facts will explain some of the variations which 
 
PREFACE. 9 
 
 distinguish this translation from the Latin one of 
 Juynboll. 
 
 It is not the intention of the writer to detract 
 one whit from the great praise which is due to 
 Juynboll, for the care he bestowed upon his work 
 and for his truly able translation and the schol- 
 arly and erudite notes that he added to it ; to 
 all of which the writer here makes acknowledg- 
 ment of his great indebtedness. 
 
 Next to the Jews there is scarcely any people 
 that excite the interest of biblical students more 
 warmly than the Samaritans. Their origin, their 
 history, their literature and their traditions are 
 questions that have brought to their investigation 
 a succession of able scholars, and are to day still 
 subjects of intense interest and research. The 
 present translation is put forth with the hope that 
 it may not be unwelcome to the many who are 
 interested in these subjects, but to whom this 
 Chronicle in the original language has been a 
 sealed book. 
 
 Among the Samaritans themselves this book is 
 not held to be of Divine inspiration — for they 
 believe that only the five books of Moses are in- 
 spired — nevertheless, they greatly revere it and 
 hold it in the highest estimation, and believe it to 
 contain a true and authentic history of the period 
 of which it treats. As to when it was composed 
 and who was its author we have no positive 
 knowledge. From the inscription which the Ley- 
 den MS. bears we learn that the first part of 
 that codex, as it now stands, was written in 
 A. D. 1362-3, and the latter part in A. D. 1513. 
 Juynboli's researches led him to the conclusion 
 that it was redacted into its present form about 
 A. D. 1300, out of earlier documents, This is 
 probably the fact, and it is all that can be safely 
 predicated as to the time of its compilation. 
 
 A marked feature of the book is the number 
 
10 PREFACE. 
 
 of legends and traditions it contains, some of 
 which — so far as we are aware — are to be met 
 with nowhere else. Most of them, however, are 
 intimately connected with similar legends cur- 
 rent in the East, and show a common origin with 
 those of the Jews, and frequently with those of 
 the Mohammedans. In the notes an effort has 
 been made to notice such Jewish or Moslem 
 legends and traditions as are identical or show 
 an affinity with those mentioned in the text, in 
 order that the reader may see wherein the vari- 
 ous versions agree or differ. Care has been taken 
 also to identify, so far as it was possible, all places 
 or localities mentioned in the Chronicle, and to 
 give their ancient Hebrew names. This, it is be- 
 lieved, will not be without value to all such as 
 are unfamiliar with the modern Arabic names of 
 places in Palestine, and who might otherwise be 
 at a loss to know what were the places that are 
 hidden under the Arabic names in the Chronicle. 
 
 To all who are interested in the history, geo- 
 graphy and legends of Palestine this Chronicle 
 of the Samaritans will be of particular interest ; 
 and while it is not to be denied that many of its 
 statements are incredible, still the fact remains 
 that much that it contains is of true value and 
 is not to be ignored, but may be used discrimi- 
 nately to good advantage by scholars to shed 
 light upon a large range of subjects, our knowl- 
 edge of which is and always has been extremely 
 limited ; in support of this we might refer to the 
 recognition it has received at the hands of such 
 writers as Bishop Patrick, Dean Stanley, Capt. 
 Conder and others. 
 
 In conclusion, the translator wishes to express 
 his obligation to his father, Rev. Oliver Crane, 
 DD. , LL.D. , for his kindly interest and encour- 
 agement throughout, and for many good criti- 
 cisms and suggestions in revising the manuscript, 
 
PREFACE. 11 
 
 and also to his friend Antun 'Abdallah Salih of 
 Beirut, Syria, for valuable assistance in interpre- 
 ting certain obscure and corrupt passages in the 
 original. 
 
 O. T. 0. 
 Morristown, N. J., December, 1889. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE COMPASSIONATE. 1 
 
 This is the book narrating the chronicles of 
 the children of Israil, from the time that our 
 master Musa (Moses), the prophet — peace be 
 upon him — the son of 'Ainran, invested Yush'a 
 (Joshua) the son of Nun with the Khalifate 2 
 over his people. All of this is translated from the 
 Hebrew language into the Arabic language, after 
 the manner of a rapid translation by word of 
 mouth, and giving only the statement of the nar- 
 rative, and nothing more : even what God — Pow- 
 erful and Glorious — showed forth of signs and 
 miracles and wonders, which man is too weak to 
 adequately specify and describe ; such as, what 
 happened at the Urdun (Jordan), and also at the 
 time when the giants were humbled, and with 
 what victory and power and might and authority 
 God came to his (Joshua's) assistance ; also what 
 they (the children of Israel) witnessed at the 
 time of their entering the land, besides what they 
 witnessed in Wady el-Mujib. 3 and on mount Sin A. 
 (Sinai) and its vast wilderness, with the essential 
 incidents of this event which God made manifest, 
 even the quaking of its mountains, together with 
 what there was of thunders and lightnings con- 
 nected with this, and the joining of fires to the 
 very heaven, and their hearing the code of their 
 laws from the divine and eternal voice, from 
 
 1 Note 1. 2 Note 2. 8 Note 3. 
 
14 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 whom shone forth flashes of light, representing 
 the form of its writer, even the Creator. After- 
 wards what happened to them at the greater 
 Sea, 4 not to mention what their adversaries wit- 
 nessed in Greater Misr (Egypt 5 ), and what cal- 
 amities overtook their enemies, such as Fir'aun 
 (Pharaoh)and his army, and 'Amlaq (the Ama- 
 lekites) and its host, and Sihun (Sihon) and his 
 kingdom, and 'Uj (Og) the father of 'Anaq 6 with 
 his haughtiness, and Bila'am (Balaam) with his 
 sorcery, and the kings of Mab (Moab) with their 
 greatness. Also what happened unto Qarun 
 (Korah) the son of the uncle of Harun (Aaron) 7 
 and to the company who were with him, namely 
 that some of them the earth opened its mouth 
 and swallowed, and they went down alive 
 to the deepest depths, while as to others of 
 them the divine fire came forth and consumed 
 their bodies. And also what happened to the 
 people while they were in the wilderness forty 
 years, suffering want, without a guide and with 
 no provisions or clothing, and barely living and 
 existing ; whom the cloud overshadowed by day 
 and the pillar of fire protected from cold by 
 night, 8 and whose food was the manna from 
 heaven ; and when there was need of water, our 
 master Musa — peace be upon him — the son of 
 ? Amran, brought it forth for them from the rock s 
 and from the parched ground and stone, until 
 they themselves had drank, and all that were in 
 their company both of living souls and animals. 
 And it shall come to pass, that when they who 
 are possessed of intelligence, but are yet un- 
 believing, shall have heard of what God did 
 bountifully bestow upon them (the children of 
 Israil), and with what happiness He did surround 
 them, and how He lifted off of them all calami- 
 
 * Note 4. 6 Note 5. 6 Note 6. 
 
 7 Note 7. 8 Note 8. 9 Note 9. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 15 
 
 ties, whether heavenly or earthly, and also what 
 new things He revealed unto them, then they 
 will know that, there is no Lord but their (the 
 children of Israil's) Lord and no prophet, but 
 their prophet, and no book but their Book, and 
 no true religion but their religion ; and (they 
 shall also understand) the excellency of the per- 
 fect creed, and the certainty of its validity, and 
 that it is greatest in rendering praise to the 
 Creator — Mighty and Glorious — the One who 
 is omnipotent to do whatsoever He pleaseth. 
 And when one shall hear of the decline of the 
 kingdom of the children of Israil, and what cal- 
 amities and misfortunes and exiles and disper- 
 sions overtook them by reason of their disobe- 
 dient doings and their rebellious actions, his 
 fear will be increased for Him from Whom noth- 
 ing escapes and of Whose kingdom nothing is 
 destroyed — Blessed be He and exalted! And 
 now of Him do we implore complete right- 
 guidance and all-embracing favor in His mercy. 
 Verily He is a hearer and answerer (of prayer). 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF THE INVESTURE OF YUSH'A 
 THE SUN OF NUN WITH THE KHALIFATE OF 
 THE PROPHET — PEACE BE UPON HIM. 
 
 At the completion of the hundred and nine- 
 teenth year, on the first day of the eleventh 
 month, of the life of our master Musa 1 the 
 Prophet — peace be upon him — God revealed unto 
 him in the plain of Mab (Moab), that he should 
 lay his hand upon the head of Yush'a, the son of 
 
 1 Note 10. 
 
16 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 Nun, the spiritual man 2 ; meaning by this, that he 
 (Moses) should give him (Joshua) information 
 of the profound secret, and reveal to him the 
 vision of his dream and the science of knowl- 
 edge, 3 as much as he was capable of bearing ; by 
 the which his heart would be strengthened and 
 his spirit perfected and his soul elevated, and the 
 rule over the creatures (the children of Israil) 
 be rendered easy unto him ; and that he should 
 also inform him of the Name, 4 by which he should 
 put to flight hostile armies, and by which a na- 
 tion that no country could contain and whose 
 numbers were countless might be confounded. 
 And He ordered him (Moses) to set him (Josh- 
 ua) before el-'Azar (Eleazar) the imam — 5 
 peace be upon him — and to assemble unto him 
 (Joshua) the people of learning and knowledge 
 with the nobles and rulers, and ratify a compact 
 with him, and make anew a covenant with him, 
 and invest him with the kingly authority, and in- 
 stall him in the rule over all the children of 
 Israil. Thereupon the Prophet laid on el-'Azar 
 the imam — peace be upon him — the command, 
 which rested on him, to superintend the affair with 
 completeness and splendor, and not to enter upon 
 any affair or turn aside under any circumstance, 
 except after he had seen to this. And at the 
 completion of his inauguration, the priests sound- 
 ed with the trumpets, and the heralds made proc- 
 lamation for his standard, and the banners and 
 flags were unfurled to his reign. Our master, 
 the prophet Musa — peace be upon him — had seen 
 that he (Joshua) was wont to go forth in the 
 front line of battle during his (Moses') days, in 
 order that he might by actual trial gain expe- 
 rience of what he knew and had observed. And 
 immediately he (Moses) gave command that, 
 
 2 Note 11. 8 Note 12. 4 Note 13. 5 Note 14. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 17 
 
 there should be selected out from the children of 
 Israil — meaning by this, that there should be 
 chosen from among them — twelve thousand men ; 
 from each tribe one thousand men ; and there- 
 upon he would with these make an attack upon 
 the Midyanites, to take satisfaction for Israil out 
 of them and their country. Now, before men- 
 tion is made of the cause of this retaliation, we 
 would remark, that the children of Israil had 
 been restrained from intermeddling in any way 
 with the affairs of the 'Ammanites and Mabites, 
 and were under orders not to appropriate to 
 themselves any of their territory 6 ; and they did 
 do only what necessity compelled them to do 
 with them. Hereafter we will explain and elu- 
 cidate this, by the will of God and His assist- 
 ance, and the goodness of His guidance and 
 favor. 
 
 CHAPTER IE. 
 
 THE AFFAIR OF BILA'AM WITH THE KING OP 
 MAB. 
 
 When the children of Israil went down into 
 the plain of Mab, God revealed unto our master 
 Musa, the Prophet — upon him be the most ex- 
 cellent peace — that he should not have anything 
 to do with the 'Ammanites and Mabites, nor 
 should he wage war with them; "Because I," 
 said God, "will not appropriate any of their 
 lands to the children of Israil." 1 And he (Moses) 
 obeyed this and did accordingly. Now when it 
 reached the ears of the kings of Mab and 'Am- 
 man and Midyan what had happened unto Sihun 
 
 6 See Deut. ii : 9 and 19. 1 Deut. ii. 9 and 19. 
 
 2 
 
18 TEE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSEUA. 
 
 and 'Ug, of destruction and ruin and the taking 
 captive of people and the taking of cities, for- 
 sooth they were sore distressed and feared ex- 
 ceedingly because of this; and they sent mes- 
 sages unto Bila'am, the son of B'aur 2 (Beor), by 
 men pre-eminent in sorcery and wisdom — for all 
 the soldiers knew of him by reason of his invoca- 
 tions. And the delegates came into his presence, 
 and said unto him : " The five kings of Mab and 
 'Amman send unto thee their salutations, and 
 say to thee : O, our master and our chief, we 
 know that circumstances are brought about by 
 thee, a knowledge of which the people of learn- 
 ing fall short of attaining unto, and that whatso- 
 ever thou blessest, is blessed, and whomsoever 
 thou cursest, is cursed ; and that thou canst put 
 to rout all armies by thy invocations and words. 
 Now, perchance, there has already reached thee 
 what has happened in Misr through the children 
 of Israil, and in the sea and in the wilderness, 
 and what has happened unto 'Amlaq, the chief 
 of tribes, by reason of them, and what they did 
 with Sihun and 'Ug, and what they have resolved 
 upon in reference to their permanent dwelling- 
 places. And now their army has descended 
 upon our border, and they are working for our 
 destruction, and already they cover the face of 
 the land; and we have come unto thee and hope 
 to obtain relief of thee and security from them, 
 through thy own free blessing and propitious 
 aid, and also through what we have decided upon 
 of happiness for thee, and the rendering of thy 
 will absolute. Perchance now, our condition 
 will be improved through thy agency, and thou 
 wilt curse this people, and wilt prevail over them 
 and effect a change in present circumstances 
 through thy renown which is spread abroad, and 
 
 2 Note 15. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSIIUA. 19 
 
 the dignity of thy authority in consequence of thy 
 circumstances, riches and servants ; and there 
 will be glory to us and to thee among all kings, 
 in addition to what reward will be added unto 
 this, in consideration for thy grand beneficence 
 toward a people whom no country can contain, 
 and whose numbers are countless and beyond 
 reckoning; for thou wilt have prevented a mul- 
 titude from being murdered by fire. For the 
 character and manner of this army is, that it is 
 not restrained by a feeling of shame from an old 
 man, nor does it accord protection to a woman, 
 or have pity on a child, or show compassion to- 
 ward an animal; for they do nothing else but 
 murder with the sword, and stone to death with 
 stones, and crucify, and burn with fire : yea, this 
 is its custom, and it does not allow any mercy to 
 be shown, or protection to be granted, unto any, 
 and it spares not even a leafless palm branch in 
 its annihilating and destroying. By God, O our 
 master, hasten unto us, bringing with tbee what- 
 ever is necessary, and be not wanting unto us in 
 this matter which involves the preservation of 
 life; and we will reward a good deed with its 
 like, and an evil deed with its like. And now, 
 peace." 
 
 And when Bila'am heard this message, he 
 made reply to the company of wise and trained 
 men, and said unto them : "I will treat with 
 due respect your rights, and the rights of those 
 who urge you on in this message ; but my action 
 is controlled by the One whom I serve, if He 
 gives me permission to go with you, I would ac- 
 complish your desire and the desire of those who 
 urge you on in the message, and I would accom- 
 plish their (the children of Israil's) destruction, 
 and in the end complete their annihilation, and 
 would leave unto you a memor} r , for which you 
 would praise me to the end of the ages. And 
 
20 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 now decide to lodge with me this night, and 1 
 will hear what shall be addressed unto me, and 
 we will wholly act in accordance therewith, 
 whether it be of good or evil." And the people 
 consented, and lodged with him. And he began 
 to offer worship to the One whom he was accus- 
 tomed to serve, and it was said unto him : " Do 
 not thou go with the people, nor curse Israil, 
 for they are blessed." And he came to them 
 with these words ; thereupon they returned to 
 the kings, and informed them of what had hap- 
 pened ; but this only increased the more their 
 desire after him, and this was high honor to him. 
 And now there rode unto Bila'am more illus- 
 trious delegates than those who had gone before, 
 and greater by far than they; yet they made 
 less promises to him, and said in the second 
 message : " Now see to it that thou comest 
 unto us ; for we are able to honor thee, and to 
 give bountifully unto thee." Thereupon the 
 people came unto him with this message; and 
 Bila'am answered the messengers and said : " It 
 is necessary that ye understand that, if the 
 kings should give unto me their houses full 
 of silver or gold, I cannot transgress what my 
 Lord commands; but now abide this night with 
 me, and I will hear What communication shall 
 be addressed to me, and I will act in accordance 
 with it, whether it be favorable or unfavorable." 
 So the people lodged with him ; and the man 
 started in on the beginning of his performance 
 and service and worship. And when God per- 
 ceived his inclination, and what his secret 
 thoughts were bent upon, and how he was exalted 
 in self-glorification. God then desired to make a 
 manifestation of His mysteries : now behold 
 He could not do this Himself, nor could He do 
 it through one who worshipped Him after the 
 manner of anyone of the children of Israil, nor 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSIIUA. 21 
 
 could He do it by writing, or by the agency 01 
 any of His angels, but forsooth only by sending 
 unto him His very Command. 3 And the com- 
 panion of Bila'am 4 upon beholding the spectre of 
 the Command of God, fled away from it, and he 
 became the visible form of the agent of the 
 Creator who addressed Bila'am; for this was the 
 device employed to communicate with him. 
 And the Command of God said to him : "Did 
 not I say unto thee, O Bila'am, when the people 
 came unto thee; 'go with them'?"; making 
 inquiry to see what craving Bila'am had for the 
 journey. But he answered him not a syllable, 
 though his usual custom was to say : " Not so ; 
 for without my God I give ear to nothing." And 
 he did not fully believe that he had heard the 
 correct interpretation of the speech, until He 
 commanded him to mount and ride, and then he 
 made haste to saddle his ass, and went along 
 with the wise men of Mab. And the anger of 
 the Creator was aroused, because of his starting 
 out on the journey before he had sought instruc- 
 tion (of God), and He placed Himself in the way 
 to make an attack upon him. Now he (Balaam) 
 was riding upon his she- ass, and boasting of her 
 before the people of learning, that he had no 
 need of a guide when with her, and that he had 
 no necessity ever to beat her. But when she 
 espied the Agency of the Creator — Mighty and 
 Glorious — standing in the way, with His drawn 
 sword in His hand, she swerved aside out of the 
 way through fear of Him ; and this was the first 
 of the putting to shame of Bila'am and of his 
 remorse ; and he beat her with his staff. And 
 the Agency of the Creator removed to a place 
 between walls in a field, 5 and stood still ; and 
 when the ass beheld Him, she shied into one of 
 
 8 Note 16. * Note 17. 6 Note 18. 
 
22 THE SAMA1UTAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 the walls and injured Bila'am's foot, and he beat 
 her more violently. And when the learned and 
 wise men beheld this, they said unto him : " O 
 our master, it cannot be that there is a cause for 
 her opposition to the execution of this mandate 
 of the Divine Word ? " And he answered and 
 said unto them : " It was desired that this man- 
 date should be carried out," And the Agency 
 of God again passed on, until He stopped in a 
 narrow place where there was no way of turning 
 out either to the right or to the left ; and when 
 the ass beheld Him, she lay down under him 
 (Balaam), and he again beat her violently. And 
 God put speech on the tongue of the animal, 6 
 and thereupon she said to Bila'am : "What have 
 I done unto thee that thou shouldst beat me 
 these three times ? Am not I thine ass upon 
 whom thou hast ridden since thou wast created 
 up till now ? Have I ever acted badly toward 
 thee like as this time ? " And he said : " No." 
 Then God opened the eyes of Bila'anuso that he 
 saw the Agency of God, even an angel standing 
 in the way with His drawn sword in His hand, and 
 he threw himself down before Him ; and He said 
 unto him : " Why hast thou beaten thine ass 
 three times ? If thou hadst got right in front of 
 me, I would have killed thee and saved her alive ; 
 for I have seen the wickedness of thy inclina- 
 tion. Now however, go along with the people, 
 but keep carefully to what I shall say unto thee, 
 and do not overstep it." Thereupon Bila'am 
 journeyed on ; and when the kings heard of his 
 journeying, they came out to meet him, and they 
 found him perplexed in his affair, and he in- 
 formed them as to what had happened, and that 
 in accordance with it he could not do anything 
 except by the command of God — Mighty and 
 
 « Note 19. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 23 
 
 Glorious. And the people took him to the cliff 
 which is described in the holy Pentateuch, 7 
 that he might behold all the children of Israil. 
 Now after the man had been thus met and 
 honored and made much of, his zeal was in- 
 creased to obtain to the uttermost degree the 
 love of the people. Thereupon he built on the 
 cliff that has been described seven altars, and 
 offered up on every altar a calf and a ram, and 
 began worshipping that lie might hear what would 
 be addressed unto him. And he heard what did 
 not please him, and he announced what he had 
 heard to the company of the kings ; and they 
 said to him : " Remove unto another place, and 
 perhaps there the cursing of this people will 
 be easier." And he obeyed them, and he did 
 like as he had done the first time, and he heard 
 greater things than the first communication ; and 
 he began to go to the extreme in glorifying the 
 children of Israil and honoring them. And the 
 king of Mab said to him : " If thou dost not 
 curse them, do not bless them." Then he be- 
 sought them that he might remove unto another 
 place, and he went and did as he had done the 
 second time. And his eyes fell upon the desert 
 and he saw the tribes of the children of Israil, 
 and divine spirits were guarding them, that is, 
 the angels were protecting them from every soul ; 
 and he turned away the evil eye from them, 8 and 
 hastened to glorify and bless them, until he 
 said concerning them : " O Israil, cursed be 
 he who curseth thee, and blessed be he who 
 blesseth thee." And the anger of the king was 
 aroused against him ; but Bila'am said unto him : 
 " Let not thine anger be aroused against me ; 
 did I not say unto thee that I could not act 
 contrary to what I am commanded ? But now 
 
 7 Num. xxii. 41. 8 Note 20. 
 
24 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 assemble the kings with thee, that I may inform 
 your company of what will happen unto you and 
 others besides you of the people, and I will give 
 you information about a device, which, if carried 
 out, will occasion their annihilation. Thereupon 
 the kings assembled, and he made known unto 
 them marvellous news, the explanation of which 
 would be long ; and he said to them : " Round 
 about these people the holy angels keep guard, 
 and the King of the heavens and the earth is 
 witli them, and it is not allowable to make use 
 of sorcery against them, nor the science of astrol- 
 ogy ; 9 nor will His heart repudiate them, except 
 when they give themselves over to unbelief, or are 
 led to do so by some stratagem, then the Creator 
 will become angry with them and they will 
 perish, and not a single one of them will sur- 
 vive." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF THE STRATAGEM AND ARTIFICE 
 USED BY BILA'AM AGAINST THE CHILDREN OF 
 ISRAIL. 
 
 When the kings heard him relate what has 
 preceded, they said to him : " How is the way 
 to accomplish what thou hast mentioned con- 
 cerning their destruction ? " And he looked up 
 the last resource of infidelity and pollution, and 
 made it known unto them, and said to them : 
 " Select of the most beautiful and fair women as 
 many as ye can, and the king shall be the first 
 to send forth his daughter with them ; there- 
 upon give unto each one of them an idol which 
 she may worship, and an ornament which she 
 may look at, and perfume which she may inhale, 
 
 9 See Num. xxiii. 21 and 23. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 25 
 
 and food and drink ; and the daughter of the 
 king should be in a chariot which is wafted along 
 with the wind, and it should be enjoined upon 
 her that she should make it her aim to go to the 
 tabernacle, and pay her respects to no one ex- 
 cept to their chief unto whom the crowd show 
 deference, for he is their chief. And if in this 
 she meets his approval, then she shall say unto 
 him : " Wilt thou not receive me, or eat of my 
 food and drink of my drink and offer service 
 unto my god ? for after this I will be thine, and 
 with thee will do whatsoever thou desirest." 
 For know, O king, that by the chief of this 
 people being polluted, both he and his company 
 will perish, and of them there will not remain a 
 survivor." And the kings did what he recom- 
 mended unto them 1 ; and there were collected to 
 them twenty-four thousand girls, and they sent 
 them away on the Sabbath day. And as they 
 descended opposite the tabernacle, the chief of 
 the tribe of Shim'aun (Simeon) 2 rose up ; for 
 he was the chief of fifty -nine thousand men, and 
 was in the advance. And the daughter of the 
 king 3 advanced unto him, for she on beholding 
 the great deference shown to him by his com- 
 panions supposed him to be the prophet Musa — 
 peace be upon him, and he ate of her food and 
 drank of her drink and worshipped the idol which 
 was in her hand, and after this she was submis- 
 sive to him in his desire. Thereupon every one 
 of them — I mean this particular tribe — took one 
 girl for himself ; and the Creator became angry 
 at the people, and destroyed of them in the wink 
 of an eye four thousand men 4 together with four 
 thousand girls. And had not Finahas (Phine- 
 has) the irciani 5 — peace be upon him — rushed 
 from the presence of Musa the Prophet — peace 
 
 1 Note 21. 2 Note 22. 8 Note 23. 4 Note 24. 5 Note 25. 
 
26 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 be upon him — while he and his assembly were 
 weeping at the door of the tabernacle, and seized 
 in his hand a lance and bursting in upon them 
 thrust through the man and girl — I mean the 
 daughter of the king — and dispatched them, 
 assuredly would the wrath of the Creator have 
 destroyed the whole people ; but by this action 
 he removed and warded off the Divine anger 
 from the children of Israil. And to Finahas — 
 peace be upon him — there resulted from this 
 noble fame and an excellent remembrance, and a 
 covenant to the end of the ages. And praise be 
 to God the Creator without cessation ! 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE HISTOEY OF MTDYAN. 
 
 When the stratagem of Bila'&m against the 
 children of Israil was accomplished and there 
 had perished of them this great number, and they 
 had been overtaken by this calamity, God re- 
 vealed to the prophet Musa — peace be upon him 
 — that he should take vengeance for the children 
 of Israil upon the people of Midyan, before that 
 he should return to his elements (meaning by 
 this, before his decease). So he commanded 
 Yush'a the son of Nun, 1 at the time of his in- 
 vesting him with his successorship, that he should 
 go forth with the company which he specially 
 mentioned, and with him Finahas, the im&m, for 
 he had gained the victory and a name, and he it 
 was who had averted the Divine anger, and not 
 anyone else, for he had hastened to obey his 
 Lord. Now Bila'am had returned unto the king 
 of Mab to congratulate him over the calamity of 
 
 1 Note 26. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 27 
 
 the children of Israil, and he found the kings 
 collected together and indulging in joy and mer- 
 riment, and before they were aware, 12,000 men 
 had surrounded their city, whereupon they made 
 haste in sending out the harlots with ornaments 
 and censers and perfumes, taking for granted 
 that what they had made a successful beginning 
 in would be carried out to perfect completion. 
 But they (»• e., the Israelites) slaughtered these 
 (the women) with the sword. Then Finahas — 
 peace be upon him — with his cousin, went in 
 advance and sounded with the trumpets, and the 
 walls of the fortress fell down in ruins, and the 
 army entered into Midyan, and they killed 
 simultaneously the five kings and every man 
 whom they found in it. And they began to 
 make inquiries about Bila'am, and they found 
 him in a house of worship, and, lo, he was engaged 
 in worship and was performing service. And 
 they brought him out, and he was talking in 
 speech that was unintelligible and could not be 
 understood, because of the greatness of his con- 
 fusion and bewilderment and the aberration of 
 his mental faculties. And Yusha, the son of 
 Nun, exerted himself to preserve him alive, that 
 our master Musa — the peace of God be upon 
 him — might behold him ; but they of the tribe 
 of Shima'un who beheld him were not obedient, 
 nay, even, they cried out the Law against him, 
 and put him to death. 2 And Yusha said : 
 " Who killed him ? Why have ye done this, 
 seeing we had taken him under our protection ? 
 And they said unto liim : " O our master, there 
 should be no protection granted to an infidel, 
 nor security to a sorcerer ; had we not killed 
 him, he might have effected the accomplishment 
 of a stratagem against thee and against thy 
 
 2 Note 27. 
 
28 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 people. And we have dared to go contrary to 
 thee in killing him, because of what was in our 
 hearts concerning his deed, and if there be sin in 
 our action in violating the protection accorded 
 to him, lo, we assume it ; but to our master belongs 
 such exalted sentiments that he will look with 
 liberality upon our excuse." And he approved 
 of what they said and justified their action. 
 And the people plundered Midyan, and drove 
 away its cattle and took captive its women and 
 children ; and not a thing remained in it but 
 they took it. And they returned laden with 
 booty, victorious and safe ; not a single man of 
 them was missing. And our master Musa, the 
 prophet — peace be upon him — with el-'Azar 
 (Eleazar), the imam, the son of Harun (Aaron), 
 and a crowd of the chiefs went out to meet them. 
 And when they beheld what there was among 
 their number of captive women, our master 
 Musa, the Prophet — upon him be the most excel- 
 lent peace — became angry at them, and said to 
 them : " This crowd has been the cause of your 
 destruction." Thereupon he commanded them 
 to kill every woman who had known a man, and 
 every boy child, and that none should remain 
 except female children who had not known a 
 man ; and that they, together with the company 
 that was with them, should separate themselves 
 seven days for the purpose of purification. And 
 they did so. And the number of the female 
 captives who remained over after those who 
 were killed, was thirty-two thousand girls ; and 
 of sheep there was 675,000 head, and of cattle 
 there was 72,000 head ; and of horses and mules 
 and camels, 61,000 head ; and of gold and silver 
 and vessels and general goods, such a quantity 
 as is impossible to define and describe. But, 
 more wonderful than this, was the unharmed 
 condition of the 12,000 men who had entered a 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 29 
 
 province such as this was, without the loss of a 
 single man of them, or even oue of them being 
 overtaken by the blow of a sword or hit with a 
 stone. Blessed be God, the One who is able to 
 do whatsoever He pleaseth, and of Him do I ask 
 assistance, and upon Him do I put my trust, and 
 unto Him do I return penitently. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF WHAT OUR MASTER MUSA, 
 THE PROPHET — PEACE BE UPON HIM — EX- 
 POUNDED, BEFORE HIS DEATH. 
 
 When God informed our master Musa, the 
 Prophet, of the time when he could no longer 
 remain alive, He commanded him to go up unto 
 the mountain known as Nabah (Nebo). And he 
 (Moses) proceeded to give instructions to Yusha, 
 the son of Nun, and to the children of his brother, 
 and to the assembly of the leaders, with regard 
 to all necessary matters. And they remained 
 with him some time, along with all the officers 
 of the army and the people of wisdom ; and he 
 put them under a covenant that they would go 
 with the children of Israil in the way which he 
 had commanded unto them, and not swerve from 
 it either to the right or to the left ; and he 
 ordered the priests to sound upon the trumpets, 
 and to send forth heralds who should proclaim 
 throughout the congregation of the children of 
 Israil : " Whoever desires to see our master 
 Musa the Prophet — the most excellent, peace be 
 upon him — let him come, that he may hear his 
 blessing and whatever he shall reveal, and look 
 upon him and bid him farewell, before he goes 
 to the place which God has chosen for him." 
 Thereafter he entered into the tabernacle and 
 
30 THE SAMABITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 offered on the brazen altar the sacrifices, and 
 lifted up the veil, even the veil of the holy house, 
 and cast incense upon the golden altar, and 
 worshipped his Lord ; and then he bid farewell to 
 the temple and what there was in it of omnipo- 
 tence and divine majesty, and went out. And all 
 the children of Israil according to their ranks 
 were gathered together unto him, and he sat 
 down upon an exalted seat, as was his custom, 
 whereon he was elevated above the people, and 
 the light of his countenance shone as the rays 
 of the sun. And he began to deliver an address 
 unto the congregation of the children of Israil, 
 in which he gathered together just as many as 
 a servant of God could, of passages of praise to 
 God, whose names are holy : and in it he ex- 
 pounded intelligence of the days of Divine favor 
 which were to come, and the cause of Wrath and 
 Error. And he informed the children of Israil 
 concerning the deluge of fire, and the day of 
 vengeance and reward, a and defined the time of 
 his return unto them. 2 Then he announced unto 
 them what should happen unto every tribe, and 
 that he would marshal them complete in the 
 days of final perfection and completion. And 
 he blessed them altogether, and they listened 
 unto him. And, when the time came to bid 
 farewell to each individual army, the} T began to 
 cry aloud and wail and weep ; and after a space 
 of time he commanded them to be quiet and to 
 sit down. Then he departed, walking slowly up 
 the ascent of the mountain unto which God had 
 ordered him to ascend, and with him were Yusha 
 the son of Nun, and el'Azar the im&m, and the 
 assembly of the leaders who were bidding him 
 farewell and weeping at the approach of his 
 separation from them and clinging to him. And 
 
 1 Note 28. 2 Note 29. 
 
TUB SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 31 
 
 when the farewells were prolonged with them, 
 and the night drew near, a pillar of divine fire 
 descended 3 and separated between them and 
 their master — peace be upon him — and no one 
 knows what happened to him after this, even 
 unto this time. His allotted period of life had 
 reached its limit, and the term of his existence 
 among men — peace be unto him — and now his 
 dealings were directly with his Lord and His 
 angels. And of God do we beg that He would 
 unite us to him through His mercy. Behold He 
 is over all things powerful, and He is my suffi- 
 ciency and illustrious Protector. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF WHAT YTJSH'A, HIS DISCIPLE, 
 SAID, AFTER THE DISAPPEARANCE OF HIS 
 LORD AND MASTER. 
 
 When the master Musa, the Prophet — 
 peace be upon him — disappeared from him and 
 from the congregation of the children of Israel, and 
 the command separated him from them, which 
 event he was unable to avert from himself, and 
 there passed away from them the sight of him, 
 and when all had completely despaired of his re- 
 turn, Yush'a, the son of Nun, wept for him and 
 proclaimed with his loudest voice, saying: "O 
 Master ! the death of every one of the children 
 of Adam, from first to last, was witnessed, and 
 his grave seen ; but thou ! who has seen thy 
 grave ? What prophet of the prophet can attain 
 unto thy glory, or prolong his memory unto the 
 extent thy memory is prolonged ? Where is 
 one who has brought to life the dead and caused 
 
 8 Note 30. 
 
32 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 the living to die, through the permission of his 
 Lord, besides thee ? 1 Unto what prophet do the 
 infidels bear testimony as to his prophetic office, 
 except thee ? What prophet, in the ages past or 
 yet to come, did cause his congregation to hear 
 the voice of the Creator from the regions of the 
 heavens, except thee ? Where is one who shall 
 arise, and his words ascend on high, and ward off 
 the Divine anger, and bring down Divine mercy, 
 except thee ? What prophet fasted before his 
 Lord, until he fasted one hundred and twenty 
 days including the nights, 2 except thee ? What 
 prophet boasted of his being the one who held 
 converse with God without anything interven- 
 ing between them, except thee ? Where is one, 
 who has trodden the fire, and cleft the darkness, 
 and rent the clouds, and reached unto the cur- 
 tain of omnipotence, besides thee ? What book 
 ascribed to any prophet has in it the teaching of 
 the worship of the Creator, and of how access 
 may be had to Him, except thy book ? O one 
 who killed the Nil (Nile) with his rod ! 3 O one 
 who did reveal new things ! O one who showed 
 forth wonders ! O one who manifested signs ! 
 O one who lighted up the darkness ! O one 
 who cleft the sea with his rod ! O one-who put 
 to rout armies with his hand ! O one who 
 warded off the Divine anger by his petitions ! 
 O one who brought down Divine mercy by his 
 intercessions ! O one whose very sustenance 
 was the worship of his Lord ! O one who went 
 out from the boundaries of humanity and human 
 power into the Divine power ! O one who un- 
 derstood the past and knew what was to come ! 
 O one who ruled his enemies by his invocation ! 
 O my master and my lord ! How can I exist 
 and how can thy people exist, now that thou art 
 
 1 Note 31. 2 Note 32. 8 Note 33. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 33 
 
 gone ? " After this his weeping increased as 
 did also the weeping of the congregation that 
 was with him, and when the grief and wailing 
 had been long indulged in, with submission and 
 humility, it was announced to Yush'a, the son of 
 Nun, saying : Return thou and those that are 
 with thee of the army, and do not oppose the 
 command of God " — May His name be glorious. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF WHAT WAS DONE AFTER THE 
 RETURN OF YUSH'A, TO THE PEOPLE. 
 
 When Yush'a, and the priests returned after 
 bidding farewell to the prophet — peace be upon 
 him, — the congregation of the children of Israil 
 met them, and they commenced weeping for 
 their master, yea, every company "by company, 
 and they continued weeping for him thirty days 
 and nights. And the nations heard their clamor 
 and wailing and crying, and they assembled to- 
 gether in confederation on the borders and re- 
 joiced exceedingly when they were informed of the 
 death of the prophet — peace be upon him, — and 
 they resolved to encounter the children of Israil. 
 But when God — Powerful and Mighty — per- 
 ceived the conspiracy of the Canaanites, of those 
 who were assembled unto them, He made a mani- 
 festation of Divine power and revealed unto 
 Yusha, the son, of Nun, that he should strengthen 
 his own and the people's courage, by saying unto 
 them : " That as He had been with them in the 
 past, so would He be with them in the future so 
 long as they continued in worshipful submis' 
 sion." Praise he unto Him to Whom belongs 
 the kingdom and the majesty and the power and 
 eternal existence. There is no God but He, and 
 no kingdom but His kingdom. 
 
 3 
 
34 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE BOOK YUSH'A, THE 
 SON OP NUN, THE DISCIPLE OF THE MASTER 
 MUSA, THE PROPHET — PEACE BE UPON HIM. 
 
 After the death of Musa, Kalimu'1-lah, 1 God 
 made a revelation unto Yush'a, the son of Nun, 
 the disciple of Musa the servant of God, say- 
 ing unto him: " O Yush'a, arise, start out, 
 and with thy people pass over the Urdun 
 (Jordan) unto the land which I am about to 
 give unto the children of Israil ; all the places 
 which your feet shall tread shall belong to you. 
 Your boundary shall be from the wilderness to 
 el-Lubnan (Lebanon), and from the river el- 
 Farah (Euphrates) unto the uttermost sea ; and 
 no enemy shall stand before you. O Yush'a, as I 
 was with Musa — peace be upon him — so will I be 
 with thee, and I will not forsake thee nor desert 
 thee. Be strong and exalt thyself exceedingly. 
 Fear not nor be dismayed, for I am with thee and 
 with thy people in every place. O Yush'a, do 
 not abolish the reading of what Musa the prophet 
 inscribed and wrote, with what is intrusted unto 
 the Liwanites (Levites) in the place in the holy 
 house, and learn from it night and day, even all 
 the days of thy life, that thou mayest be in- 
 structed; for if thou observest the same and 
 dost not swerve from what is commanded thee to 
 the right or to the left, thou wilt succeed and 
 prosper, and thy enemies will be put to rout by 
 thee, and thou shalt tread upon their necks." 
 And at this time the communication ended. 
 
 1 Note 34. 
 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 35 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF YUSHA'S ASSEMBLING THE 
 CHILDREN OF ISRAIL, AND HIS RENEWING 
 THE COVENANT WITH THEM. 
 
 After Yush'a, had heard what God revealed 
 unto him, he joined unto himself el-'Azar, the 
 imam — peace be upon him, and he sat down upon 
 his sacred chair, while Yush'a, sat upon his royal 
 chair. And there gathered unto them, the holy 
 priests, and the Liwanites who offered the sac- 
 rifices, and the twelve chiefs who always attended 
 them, and the chief judges, and the seventy 
 chosen wise men, and the officers over the thou- 
 sands, and hundreds, and fifties, and tens. And 
 with the assembling of this congress, the trum- 
 pets sounded and the heralds went forth pro- 
 claiming a general assembling of the children of 
 Israil. And it was not but an hour before there 
 were gathered unto them the old men and the 
 young, with many of the women and children 
 and all the army. And then Yush'a, began to 
 enumerate to them the things that God — Power- 
 ful and Mighty — had manifested by the hand of 
 our master Musa the Prophet — peace be upon him 
 — in their behalf and that of their predecessors. 
 Next he recalled to them wherein they had acted 
 contrary to Him, and tried Him, and rebelled 
 against Him. And he said unto them : " O as- 
 sembled men, I am going to bind you to the 
 covenant and compact which existed before the 
 death of the Prophet — peace be upon him — that 
 you will not associate others with God, and that 
 you will see to the promulgation of the laws upon 
 which this covenant is founded, and it is, namely, 
 the explanation of the law, and the explanation 
 
36 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 of what the obedient will receive and what shall 
 befall the disobedient. And now this covenant 
 in which I do confirm you is not with you and 
 you alone, but includes you and those whom ye 
 shall beget unto the end of the ages." And he 
 told them what the other nations were wedded 
 to, concerning the worship of idols ; and in- 
 formed them that God was with them as long 
 as they remained in obedience, but that He would 
 remove His favor from them upon their acting 
 disobediently, and that then their ways would not 
 prosper, nor would there be a united nation. 
 Then he proclaimed in his loudest voice : " As- 
 sembled men, let there not be among you a 
 disseminator of corrupt designs, spikes of corn 
 and wormwood, 1 (meaning by this, one who asso- 
 ciates others with God and unites the worship 
 of others with His worship) ; nor let there be 
 among you one who cogitates in his heart wicked 
 doctrines, or opposition to the command of God 
 — Powerful and Mighty — lest there be a de- 
 struction of this mighty, holy nation and all its 
 greatness, and separation from the Creator — may 
 His name be holy — and your enemies attain unto 
 their desires and plunder you of your cattle, 
 and wives and children. For whoever adopts 
 these views, or any part of them, there shall fall 
 upon him all the calamities which are written in 
 the Holy Law, and God will blot out the remem- 
 brance of him from under the heaven, and will 
 make him distinguished by reason of his calam- 
 ities, apart from all the tribes of Israil. And 
 so, be sincere with your souls and your con- 
 science, that I may renew the covenant with 
 you in accordance with what you may say ; and 
 God and His heavens and His earth, and His 
 angels, shall bear witness against you in what hap- 
 
 1 See Deut. xxix. 18. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 37 
 
 pens between us and you ; may the sentence be 
 in your favor and not against you. And now if 
 ye continue in keeping what has been commanded 
 you, God — may He be blessed and exalted — will 
 bless you and keep you and protect you and lead 
 you to victory and will subdue your enemies and 
 give you the land, concerning which He swore, by 
 His own omnipotence, unto your ancestors, Ibra- 
 him and Ishaq (Isaac) and Yaqub (Jacob) — peace 
 be upon them. And He will keep you, and will 
 keep the land in all happiness, and He will remove 
 calamities and all disasters, and multiply you; but 
 when ye shall have been disobedient and rebel- 
 lious, the Divine favor will be removed from you, 
 and the Divine power from jour side, and from 
 your support, and the angels will be removed 
 from your side, and the name of the greatest King 
 depart from giving you assistance, and there shall 
 fall upon you those tilings which are written in 
 the book of Wrath and Curse, and He will scatter 
 your troops, and forget your affairs, and the 
 enemies will take possession of you, and there will 
 remain no longer to you a king, or shrine, or 
 possessions, or men, and God will disperse you 
 throughout the regions of the earth from one ex- 
 tremity of it to the other, and He will make you 
 servants and subjects. So now, whatever ye 
 say and believe and covenant, let it be the real 
 covenant binding upon you, and let this second 
 covenant be added unto that which He cove- 
 nanted with you through our master Musa the 
 Prophet — peace be upon him. Therefore act 
 sincere from your souls, and the secret thoughts 
 of your hearts. 
 
38 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF HOW THEY ANSWERED HIM, 
 AND THE COVENANT THAT THEY ENTEEED 
 INTO AT THAT TIME. 
 
 The congregation of the children of Israii 
 answered him, while crying out, weeping and 
 humbling themselves before God, and casting 
 their souls into His hands, saying: "O our 
 master and our lord, we hear and will obey the 
 command of God — Mighty and Powerful — and of 
 His true and faithful Prophet, and also thy 
 command, O king, and the command of our 
 imam and our rulers, and there will be no oppo- 
 sition to what ye order, and no deviation from 
 what ye say either to the right or to the left, nor 
 from whatever our master Musa, the Prophet — 
 peace be upon him — has ordained, and there shall 
 be no rejection of a single part of it ; and who- 
 ever shall rebel or deviate, and act treacherously, 
 let upon him be the Curse and "Wrath, for after 
 this manner did our master Musa the Prophet 
 — peace be upon him — agree with us and im- 
 pose conditions upon us, and put us under oath, 
 and covenant with us, and offer up for us the 
 sacrifices, and we answered him as we have an- 
 swered you. And God is the witness over us in 
 this, and He is our sufficiency and bountiful Pro- 
 tector." 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF WHAT YUSH'A, THE SON OF 
 NUN, DID IN ORGANIZING THE ARMY, AND 
 THE MEMBERS THEREOF. 
 
 When Yush'a, beheld the zeal of the people 
 he said : " The One who has insight into you 
 and your purposes is God." And he renewed 
 with them the covenant and compact, and offer- 
 ed for them the offerings, and the imam blessed 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 39 
 
 them. Thereupon he and the imam, each of 
 them, sat down on his throne ; and he summon- 
 ed the leaders, and demanded of them that they 
 should make out a census of the children of 
 Israil, tribe by tribe, and that the enumeration 
 throughout the congregation, should embrace 
 all men from the age of twenty years up to the 
 age of fifty years, excepting the tribe of Lawi 
 (Levi). And he ordered that this tribe should 
 be enumerated, from the boy of a month old up- 
 wards : for so had our master Musa, the Pro- 
 phet — peace be upon him — given orders before 
 his death. But such as were under twenty years 
 of age and over fifty years of age were not to 
 be included in the enumeration. And the lead- 
 ers made out the census, and the whole 
 amounted to 601,730 men, although of this 
 number the tribe of Rawban (Reuben), and the 
 tribe of Gad, and the half tribe of Manashshah 
 (Manasseh), had their landed possessions be- 
 hind the Urdun (Jordan), even nine cities with 
 their districts, which had belonged to Sihun 
 and T T g, the sons of Anaq ; three cities and 
 their provinces had been conquered by Nabih 
 and his cousin of the tribe of Manashshah 1 
 For it did come to pass that, when our mas- 
 ter Musa, the Prophet — peace be upon him — 
 conquered these cities and destroyed their in- 
 habitants, that there gathered unto him the lead- 
 ers of these two tribes and a half, and they • 
 said unto him : " O our master and our lord, 
 these cities suit us, for we have many animals 
 and cattle, even though they be approximately 
 less than one sixth of the assigned lands, while 
 the whole number of the census of our men 
 comes close on to one fifth of the army of the 
 children of Israil." And he rebuked them, sup- 
 
 1 Note 35. 
 
40 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 posing that they preferred settling apart from 
 their brethren. But they answered: "Behold 
 we will leave our luggage and our cattle in these 
 cities, and we will march forward under one 
 enrolment, thrusting aside every pretext, and 
 we will not return to our assigned lands until 
 our brethren have got possession of all their 
 assigned lands, and after that we will return un- 
 to our assigned lands and to our own places." 
 And our master Musa the Prophet — the most 
 excellent, peace be upon him — answered them 
 favorably, in reply to what they had asked of 
 him, and assigned to them while he was alive 
 this region. And the first of those whom 
 Yush'&, the son of Nun, enrolled in his army, 
 were the two and a half tribes, and the whole 
 number of their enrolment was 110, 580 men. 
 And the whole number of the enrolment of the 
 nine and a half tribes was 491,150 men ; and — 
 according to these figures — the chiefs appor- 
 tioned out the land from the Urdun to the sea< 
 And this is the enrolment, based on the census, 
 of the prosperous, victorious, holy, triumphant 
 and blessed army. And the census of the tribe 
 of Lawi was apart from the company of which 
 mention has been made before; for the mem- 
 bers of this tribe did not engage in the wars, 
 nor did they separate from the service of their 
 Lord; and the whole of their census, from a 
 boy one month old and upwards, was 23,000 
 men. And when the leaders came with the en- 
 rolment of the census, Yusha the son of Nun 
 made them appear before him, and he announced 
 good tidings unto them, namely, that God would 
 bless them so as that there would result from 
 one, a thousand 2 as our master Musa the 
 Prophet — peace be upon him — promised them 
 from God — may His name be blessed. 
 
 2 See Joshua xxiii. 10, and Deut. xxxii. 30. 
 
 
THE SAMARITAN LOOK OF JOSHUA. 41 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TH«E ACCOUNT OF THE SPIES WHOM YUSHA, 
 THE KING, SENT FORTH. 
 
 When Yush'a, the son of Nun, heard about the 
 mustering of the Kanaanites, and the assembling 
 of the giants, he sent out spies from the men of 
 experience, intelligence, prudence and piety, to 
 see the army of the enemies and make an in- 
 vestigation, and to proceed to Yar'ha (Jericho) 
 and make an investigation as to the number of 
 its men, and of those who were collected unto 
 them, and then returning make it known to him. 
 So the spies bid the army farewell, and invoked 
 God's favor, and started out on their journey, 
 having changed their outward appearance to the 
 condition of ones who had come from far distant 
 places. Now the spies knew all the languages 
 spoken in the army of the enemies. And when 
 they arrived at it they began to weep, and the 
 enemy asked them, what news they had, and 
 they said : " We are men from the people of 
 the east, our companions have heard tidings of 
 this great nation, winch was for forty years in the 
 wilderness without a guide or provisions, and the 
 report reached our company that they have a Lord 
 whom they speak of as ' The King of the heav- 
 ens and earth,' and that He has appropriated 
 unto them both our country and your country, 
 and so our companions have sent us out, that we 
 may find out the truth of what has been reported 
 unto us, and make it known to them. And we 
 have journeyed and already passed by you along 
 time ago, while ye were busily engrossed in your 
 occupations, and we did come to the army of 
 
42 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 that nation and found them perplexed, wander- 
 ing round and round in the wilderness, and the 
 secret among them was, that their God had be- 
 come angry at them, and would not bring any of 
 them into the land except two men ; so we have 
 returned with this good news, gladdened and re- 
 joicing. 
 
 Now when it was so at this time that, we 
 know what this nation had done with Sihun and 
 'Ug, and with their lands and territories, and also 
 what they did with the kings of Midyan and Mab, 
 and the taking captive of their women and chil- 
 dren, and that this nation was bent upon entering 
 your country and then our country, we made 
 haste that we might make known to our compan- 
 ions the truth of this. And we journeyed unto 
 them from the mountains, and we had but just 
 reached the vicinity of the camps, when there 
 came forth unto us three or four men, and each 
 of them took hold of one of us, and fetched us 
 into the presence of the new king, who had been 
 invested with the kingdom as successor to Musa 
 the Prophet — the best of peace be upon him. 
 Now his companion was merciful who lifted not 
 up his glance to any one ; but this one was as a 
 giant man, whose conversation broke souls, and 
 whose speech split hearts, and whose reproach 
 struck astonishment into minds. And we had 
 but just stood in his presence when he knew our 
 name and our origin and our country, and when we 
 started out, and the places at which we had 
 encamped, and in all that he mentioned unto us 
 he was correct. And we at once believed in 
 him and his Lord, through fear of him, but he 
 answered us, that : This faith is not a faith to 
 be accepted, when ye do so through fear ; yet 
 there is no fear for you ; go, return and say to 
 all whom ye meet and to your companions : Look 
 out for your own welfare, and whoever flees 
 
THE SAMABITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 43 
 
 away is safe, but whoever remains shall perish. 1 
 For after the space of a week, the water of the 
 Urdun will stand still for me by the command of 
 our Lord — the Highest — until His people shall 
 cross over ; and not a fortress shall be shut in 
 their faces, when they shall have gone around it 
 seven circuits, for its walls will fall, and all they 
 who remain, who are found inside, will perish : 
 and the city and the territory will be our ter- 
 ritory, and the assigned lands shall become 
 ours, assigned unto us by the King of the 
 heavens and earth ; whose creatures and ser- 
 vants all kings are. And this is the whole of 
 what we heard from him, and we know that his 
 name is Yush'a the son of Nun, and that he is 
 the one who put to rout the Aml&q (the Ama- 
 lekites), and is the slayer of Sihun and the 
 destroyer of 'Ug, and the one who ruined the 
 kings of Midyan and Mab. O woe unto us and 
 woe unto you, and whatever is attached unto our 
 country and your country; for they are a people 
 who have no pity, nor do they leave survivors 
 or show compassion, nor do they make a truce, 
 except with those who are outside of us and you, 
 for we stand, in their estimation, in the character 
 of infidels and profligates and as a haughty and 
 rebellious people ; and the one who js lucky 
 among us and among you is he who takes his 
 own people between his hands and flees away 
 with all speed, until he shall have got out be- 
 yond all their assigned lands, ere he feels regret 
 where regret will profit him nothing." And the 
 men rode on and pursued their journey, and 
 after this manner did they speak with all whom 
 they met until they returned to Yariha (Jericho), 
 and here it became known about them, and they 
 were sought after to be destroyed, and they 
 begged protection of a woman who was called 
 1 Note 36. 
 
44 TBE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 Rahab the innkeeper, 2 whose house was beside 
 the walls of the city, and she took them out and 
 concealed them, and gave excuse unto those who 
 sought them, saying, that they had already re- 
 turned. Then she made a covenant with them 
 and they with her, that, if God — Mighty and 
 Powerful — should vanquish for them this city, 
 they would spare her, and spare whatever souls 
 were in her courtyard, of her own people. And 
 the spies enjoined upon her to fix upon the roof 
 of her house a sign which they should know, 
 so that when she knew they were drawing nigh 
 unto the city, she should display it ; but they 
 stipulated with her, that they would be innocent 
 of the blood of all such as were found, of her 
 own people, outside of the courtyard. And she 
 brought them out, by night, and God willed 
 their safe escape, and they returned to the army. 
 And they told the king and the imam and their 
 congregation, what they had witnessed and what 
 had happened to them, and what favor the woman 
 had done in their behalf. And the congregation 
 answered them that they would spare the woman, 
 in accordance with what they had covenanted 
 with her. And the report of her spread abroad 
 throughout the army, and the whole congrega- 
 tion of them knew about her. 
 
 2 Note 37. 
 
THE SAMAU1TAX BOOK OF JOSHUA. 45 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF THE SUMMONING OF THE CHIL- 
 DREN OF ISRAEL TO UNDERTAKE THE JOUR- 
 NEY. 
 
 When Yush'a, the king, heard the statement 
 of the spies, he sent forth the leaders, to pro- 
 claim throughout the army that they should 
 proceed on the journey, having with them pro- 
 visions for three days, and also to say in the pro- 
 clamation : " O assemblies of men ? Fear not, 
 nor be dismayed, for God, your God, is about to 
 journey with you, that He may show forth with 
 you a miracle at this time, to make you success- 
 ful over your enemies ; and as to the miracle 
 which God will show forth with you at the 
 Urdun, the like of it has not been heard of in 
 the ages past, nor shall the like of it be heard of 
 in the ages yet to come. And it is the first 
 terror of you that shall fall upon the hearts of 
 your enemies. Therefore, know, that the holy 
 priests shall carry the golden ark, which is the 
 ark of the covenant, which covenant is celestial 
 substance, for it is the tablets wdiose writing was 
 of Divine light : : lo they are celestial substance ; 
 and when the priests with the ark shall enter the 
 water of the Urdun, the water will stand still, 
 and subside by the power of the ALMIGHTY, 
 until that the water below flows away, while the 
 water above shall mount up and increase upon 
 itself, until all the children of Israil, and those 
 who are in their company, shall pass over in 
 absolute dryness." 
 
 1 Note 38. 
 
46 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 Then Yush'&, the son of Nun, himself called 
 out and said : " assemblies of men ! God 
 commands you that there should be between you 
 and the priests who carry the ark an extent of 
 space equal to two thousand yards, so do not 
 approach unto it within this distance, that God 
 may complete His work with you." Then he 
 ordered the twelve chiefs to take from under the 
 feet of the priests, twelve stones, after that the 
 children of Israil had finished the passage over 
 the Urdun, and that each one of them should 
 write his name upon his stone, 2 in order that 
 what had happened might be preserved and per- 
 petuated through the eternity of the ages to come, 
 even the miracle which God — may His name be 
 glorious — would show on the Urdun. And the 
 Liwanites (Levites) proclaimed with loudest 
 voice : " Praise be to the God of Gods, and Lord 
 of Lords, to Whose commands, animate and 
 inanimate things are obedient, and the heavens 
 and the earth and the seas and the rivers and all 
 that therein is. There is no God but He, and 
 no kingdom lasts but His kingdom, nor any 
 power but His power, nor is there any lord but 
 under His lordship, nor any sovereign except 
 under His sovereignty. Praised be He and ex- 
 alted and holy be His names. Perish whoever 
 deny Him and believe in another than He, for 
 He is the God. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF THE PASSAGE OF THE CHILDREN 
 OF ISRAIL THROUGH THE URDUN (JORDAN.) 
 
 And the children of Israil did as the king 
 commanded them. And the cloud was lifted up, 
 on the first (day) of the first month, of the first 
 2 Note 39. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 47 
 
 year, of the first period of seven years of the 
 Jubil (Jubilee) 1 even from the beginning of the 
 entering in of the children of Israil within the 
 boundaries of the assigned lands. And up to 
 this time there had elapsed, of the days of the 
 world as established by the law, two thousand, 
 seven hundred and ninety-four complete years, 
 and this reckoning of time is correct, which the 
 learned know by chronological computations 
 based on the era of the flood. And the priests 
 proceeded forward when the cloud was lifted up, 
 and attained to the distance from the army which 
 he prescribed unto them. And when the priests 
 with the ark approached the water of the Urdun. 
 the Liwanites shouted aloud, and the congrega- 
 tion of the children of Israil joined in with them, 
 saying 'with one voice : " There is no power or 
 strength in the presence of Thy power, O Lord 
 of worlds ! " And the water stood still, and rose 
 up in accumulation, by the power of its Creator ; 
 He who is almighty over whatever He wills, the 
 Worker of miracles and wonders. And con- 
 tinued to be heaped up, wave upon wave, until 
 it became like unto huge mountains, while the 
 priests stood praising God, and shouting halle- 
 luiahs and saying: " Praise be unto Him, in obe- 
 dience to whom every thing exists." And they 
 stood, with the ark, on the dry ground in the 
 midst of the Urdun, until all the children of 
 Israil, with their large throng, and their cattle, 
 had passed over on the dry ground through the 
 midst of the Urdun, on its bottom, and it was 
 dry like as in the days of harvest. And the 
 Liwanites were praising and shouting halleluiahs, 
 and saying : " Praise be unto Him in obedience 
 to whom every thing exists. Praise be unto 
 Him by whose will this is come to pass." And 
 when the people came out of the Urdun they ob- 
 
 1 Note 40. 
 
48 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 served the commandment, and took the twelve 
 stones from under the feet of the priests, and 
 each man wrote his name upon his stone, and the 
 king also took a similar stone. And when the 
 priests with the ark came up out, the waters 
 rushed down with great tumult, and winds blew 
 violently with the rushing down of the waters. 
 And the nations heard about this great miracle, 
 and their hearts were broken up, and their con- 
 federated troops were scattered. And the water 
 of the Urdun destroyed, at that time, many places 
 which were near it, by reason of the great vio- 
 lence of the wind which accompanied it. And 
 God does whatever He wishes — Glorious be 
 His name. And of Him do I ask assistance, and 
 upon Him do I put my trust, and unto Him be 
 the praise for what He has bestowed. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE HYMN OF PRAISE, WHICH 
 YUSHA THE KING OFFERED UP. 
 
 Then Yush'a, the son of Nun, and the children 
 of Israil offered up the hymn of praise, which our 
 master Miisa the Prophet — peace be upon him — 
 offered up at the sea of el-Qulzum, 1 and they 
 added thereunto praises and halleluiahs, and ren- 
 dered praise and thanksgiving for what God had 
 generously bestowed upon them. And among 
 the number of the hymns of praise which they 
 offered up, they said : " Who is like unto Thee, 
 O Thou who art perfect in holiness? O Thou 
 who dost inspire terror ! O Thou who dost re- 
 veal secret things ! O Thou who dost perform 
 new things ! O Thou worker of miracles ! O 
 Thou displayer of wonders ! How, O our Lord, 
 
 i Note 41. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 49 
 
 shall we address Thee ? O Thou revealer of signs ! 
 O Thou who makest light the darkness ! Who is 
 like unto Thee? There is no likeness like unto 
 thy likeness, for Thou art the origin of actions 
 and likenesses and bodies, and forms, and shapes, 
 and spiritual things, which are endowed with the 
 attributes of Thy nature." On that day Yush'a, 
 the son of Nun, was magnified in honor among 
 the children of Israil, and they feared him as 
 they had feared Musa the Prophet — peace be 
 upon him, — and they knew that God was with 
 him. And Yush'a, the son of Nun, set up twelve 
 stones as a monument, rising up in the Urdun. 
 And the chiefs erected the twelve stones in a 
 place called Jalil (Gilgal), that the generations 
 to come might behold them, and remember the 
 drying up of the Urdun, and so praise the Doer 
 of miracles ; and that fathers might tell sons of 
 this deed, and that kings and nations might hear 
 that our God is the one conquering God. And 
 when all the kings of esh-Sham (Syria) heard of 
 the children of Israil's crossing over into the land 
 appointed unto them, and about the stoppage of 
 the water of the Urdun, and its drying up, they 
 arrayed themselves in funeral robes, and were 
 smitten with fear, and some of them died through 
 fear of the children of Israil, on account of the 
 greatness of the awe which they inspired, And 
 God made a revelation to Yush'a, the son of Nun, 
 saying : " To-day have I spread awe of you and 
 of your people over these nations, and I have 
 lifted off from thee, and from thy people, every 
 impurity and infirmity." And Yush'a named the 
 place Jalil, and it is its name unto the end of the 
 ages. And praise be unto God, the One who en- 
 dureth without cessation. 
 
 4 
 
50 THE SAM ABIT AN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OP ANCIENT YAEIHA (JERICHO), 
 AT THE TIME OF ITS CONQUEST. 
 
 Upon the departure of the king from the place 
 which he had named Jalil, they encamped in the 
 districts of Yariha, on the first day (of the feast 
 of unleavened bread), the fourteenth day (of the 
 first month). 1 And they kept the passover at 
 this time, and ate unleavened bread from the 
 new crops. And the manna ceased with their 
 entrance into the land, and their eating of its 
 crops, and of the fruit of its trees. And when 
 the army had drawn near round about the city. 
 Yush'& the son of Nun, retired apart from the 
 camps, that he might worship his Lord by night, 
 and when he had finished his devotions, he lifted 
 up his eyes, and, behold, the figure of a man 
 standing, with his sword drawn in his hand, and 
 he called out to him : " Yush'a ! " Thereupon 
 he (Joshua) replied : " Art thou of us, or of our 
 adversaries ? " And he answered him, and said : " I 
 am of the messengers of God, who rule over pun- 
 ishments." 2 And he (Joshua) cast himself before 
 him on the ground, because of his majesty. Then 
 he rose up and said to him : " Lay upon thy 
 servant the command which has been brought 
 unto him." And he said unto him : " King, take 
 off thy shoes from off thy feet ; for the place 
 whereon thou standest is a holy place. God — 
 Powerful and Mighty — says unto thee ; O Yush'a, 
 look before thee, behold I am about to place in 
 thy hand this disobedient city, even Yariha, 
 with its Ling and its people ; now therefore 
 
 1 See Joshua v. 10. Compare LXX in loco. 2 Note 42. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 51 
 
 choose for thyself, from among the children of 
 Israil, men of might, from every tribe a thousand 
 men. And they shall go round about the city, 
 six circuits in six days, with the golden ark, the 
 ark of the covenant, before them ; and they shall 
 not talk in conversation, or be intent upon any- 
 thing except offering up praises and halleluiahs, 
 nor shall they make an intermission in this, or 
 raise any gieat tumult during the space of six 
 days ; yet the two priests shall be along with the 
 two clamorous trumpets. 1 But on the seventh 
 day they shall go round about the city the 
 seventh time, and the two priests shall sound 
 with the two trumpets, and when the company 
 hear the sound of the trumpets ; then let them 
 shout with a loud voice, three times, saying : 
 4 God is omnipotent in battles. God is His 
 name.' And at the completion of this act, the 
 wall of the city will be demolished, and the fort- 
 resses will fall down before the people, and the 
 army shall enter the city and destroy it." And 
 Yush'a returned and assembled the leaders of his 
 people, and commanded that they should select 
 twelve thousand men. And when they came 
 unto him, he gave orders to them to march, and 
 with them should be the saintly priests, bearing 
 the ark and the two trumpets. And he gave in- 
 structions unfb the company, that they should 
 offer up halleluiahs and praises, during the six 
 da} T s, in a low tone of voice : but on the seventh 
 day they should go round about the city six 
 times, " And on the seventh time around the 
 priests shall sound with the two trumpets, and 
 upon their hearing the trumpets, the whole army 
 shall shout with a loud voice, and instantly ad- 
 vance: and then the fortifications will be de- 
 molished, and God will put the city in your 
 hands. And when this has been successfully ac- 
 1 See Note 42. 
 
52 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 complished by you, and ye have attained the city, 
 ye shall put to death every breathing thing 
 which ye find in it, whether of men or animals. 
 And ye shall destroy it and burn it, and shall 
 not leave in it any, except the woman who is 
 known as Rahab the innkeeper ; her ye shall 
 spare, and also those souls that are in her court- 
 yard, according as the spies made covenant with 
 her. O assemblies of men ! Be watchful of your- 
 selves ; do not take anything from the city; burn 
 its gold and silver and brass and iron, and all its 
 appurtenances, and do not meddle with anything 
 that is devoted ; for then would ye and the army 
 perish." And the people did as he instructed 
 them. And in the seventh circuit the priests 
 sounded with the two trumpets, and they cried 
 out with a great shout ; and at that, the walls of 
 the city fell down, and the army entered in, and 
 put to death every breathing thing in it, from 
 man even to animals. And they collected all 
 the furniture which was in it, and placed it in the 
 middle of the city, and burned it ; and it became a 
 mound never to be rebuilt. And Yilsh'a proclaimed 
 in the loudest voice ; " O assemblies of men ! It 
 is forbidden unto you, and unto those who shall 
 rise up of your seed, to build up in this city one 
 single stone." And it is the first of the rebellious 
 cities, known as Ancient Yariha f and this city 
 was devoted, destroyed, burned and converted 
 into a mound, never to be built up or restored, 
 throughout eternal ages. 3 And this was done 
 after the spies had entered the courtyard of the 
 woman, and brought out her and every soul that 
 was in her courtyard, and preserved them from 
 death. And the name of Yush'a, by this act of his, 
 was spread abroad unto the different regions of 
 the earth. And a man of the children of Israil 
 committed a trespass, and entered into the temple 
 
 3 Note 43. 
 
THE 8AMABITAJS BOOK OF JOSIIUA. 53 
 
 of the idols of this city, and he found therein a 
 goodly thing of gold, and a tongue of gold, their 
 weight was two thousand, two hundred and fifty 
 mithqals, 4 and he took them and concealed them 
 in his tent; now it had been forbidden him to 
 even touch it, not to mention his taking it in 
 theft, and hiding it in his place of abode. And 
 the Lord became angry with the children of 
 Jsrail, on account of him. And neither the 
 leaders nor the king knew about this deed. But 
 praise be unto Him who knows secrets, and who 
 shows forth miracles. Blessed be His name, and 
 exalted be His fame. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE ONE 
 WHO TOOK THE DEVOTED THING. 
 
 When it was morning of the day of which 
 mention has already been made, Yush'a the king, 
 and all the army, came before the temple, and he 
 made the chiefs present themselves before el- 
 'Azar, the imam — peace be upon him, and upon 
 him were the jewels. And the jewel which was 
 inscribed with the name of Yahudah (Judah) 
 grew black 1 ; a*nd he, in succession, presented the 
 tribe of Yahudah, in its companies, name by 
 name, before the jewel ; and it grew black at the 
 name which was called Aichan (Achan), of the 
 family of Zarah (Zerah), the son of Yahudah. 
 And the man at once presented himself and stood 
 before Yush'a the king. And the king said unto 
 him : " O man ! lift up thy face to the King of 
 the heavens and earth, and know that He knows 
 secrets, and, O, woe be to the one who imagines 
 that he can conceal from Him anything, or cover 
 4 Note 44. i Note 45. 
 
54 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSIIUA, 
 
 up from Him a matter. So now confess as to 
 how you have sinned, and what you have taken 
 of the devoted thing ; for God has become angry 
 with His people on your account." And the 
 man answered him, and said : " I know, O king, 
 that I have committed a great sin before God, 
 Who knows what is secret and concealed, and 
 I^have been a traitor to the covenant of God, and 
 of His messenger ; for I entered the temple of 
 the chief idol of Yariha, and there found a goodly 
 thing of gold, and a tongue of gold, and their 
 weight was two thousand two hundred and fifty 
 mithqals, and my soul became greedy for this, 
 and I took it and buried it in my tent. And now 
 if a crime like mine can be pardoned, well and 
 good, seeing that God is merciful and compas- 
 sionate; but if there is no pardon for it, then let 
 there be executed what thou shalt command in my 
 affair." Then the king sent immediately trust- 
 worthy people, and they brought what the man 
 had mentioned he had felt greedy after, and so had 
 taken it. And the governor and his associates, 
 the chiefs, brought him before the temple of the 
 Creator, and command was given that he should 
 be burned outside the camp. And he took the 
 man and burned both him and whatever children 
 he had, and cattle, and all that he possessed, and 
 he placed all in a deep valley, and commanded 
 the whole army to stone it with stones. And he 
 named the valley : The valley of 'Akur (Achor). 
 And after this God removed His anger from the 
 children of Israil ; for what they did appeased 
 Him. And unto Him be praise ; for His bounty 
 and the excellency of His favor and goodness. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 55 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF HOW CERTAIN PEOPLES OF THE 
 KANAANITES PRACTICED A STRATAGEM, AND 
 OBTAINED PROTECTION OF THE KING. 
 
 After the capture of the city, the king and 
 his people returned unto the place which was 
 named J alii. And they took no notice until 
 there came unto them a company of men whose 
 faces were blackened, and their garments and 
 shoes worn out, and with them was bread that 
 had become putrid. And they approached unto 
 the king and unto the chiefs of the children of 
 Israil, in this place, and saluted them, as the like 
 of them were wont to salute, and they prostrated 
 themselves before the assembly ; then they said 
 to the king : " We seek protection of thee and of 
 thy people, that we may exist in your company ; 
 for we are of those who choose for ourselves, God 
 your Lord." And he answered them : "Verily 
 I will not grant protection unto you, unless ye 
 inform me who ye are and from what place ye 
 come." And they answered him : " We are peo- 
 ple from a far distance, we have heard of your 
 fame, and what signs and wonders God — Power- 
 ful and Mighty — lias revealed to the children of 
 Israil, even in the sea, and in the desert, and 
 in Wady el-Mujib, 1 and what has happened unto 
 the kings through you. And now, O king, we 
 have repaired unto thee that we might be in the 
 company of those who beg protection with thee ; 
 for we believe in thy Lord, and we will not re- 
 sist whatever thou shalt prescribe unto us, be it 
 small or great. And behold thou seest our 
 
 1 Note 46. 
 
56 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 blackened faces, and our worn-out clothes, and 
 our dried-out food ; for we did not start out from 
 our places, to come here, in garments of old 
 clothes, but this is the necessary result after the 
 long journey. And now trust us with protection, 
 that we may exist in the company of this great, 
 blessed, holy people." And Yush'a bid some of 
 his people advance unto them, and he entered 
 into a covenant with them, and swore unto them 
 by the God of Isr&il, that they would not kill 
 them, nor those who were members of their com- 
 pany. And when it was after three days, the 
 king found out, that they were of his enemies, 
 from three towns near by him, on the south of 
 the blessed mountain, 2 and they were : Jaba'un 
 (Gibeon), and Qiryah 3 (Kirjath-jearim), and 
 Birut (Beeroth). And no one of the army was 
 able to go to this place, because of the protection 
 granted, and the oath, and covenant. Thereupon 
 the king Summoned the men, and said unto them : 
 " Why did ye conceal from me, and say that 
 ye were from a distance, while ye were neigh- 
 bors ? " And they answered him, and said : 
 " We knew that the God of the children of Israil, 
 had commanded you to destroy these places, and 
 not to spare the sword in any place in which a 
 soul was, and we feared for ourselves, and did 
 what we did ; and now we are in thy hands, 
 O king, do with us whatever you decide upon." 
 And he set them at liberty, and made proclama- 
 tion throughout the children of Israil, saying : 
 " Do not kill them ; but they shall become among 
 the class of those cutting wood and drawing 
 water for the beasts." And they did this with 
 them, according to what he commanded. 
 
 2 Note 47. 8 Note 48. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 57 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE KANAANITES, WHOSE TER- 
 RITORIES THE LAND WAS. 
 
 Some of the Kana'anites, when they heard of 
 the children of Israel's passing over the Urdun, 
 had fled to one people and another; but when 
 they had been informed of what had befallen 
 Yariha and its people, all those who were dwel- 
 ling around the Urdun, and the great sea, gath- 
 ered themselves together, and entered into an 
 agreement, and made preparation to meet the 
 children of Israil, and join in battle with them. 
 And they sent five of their chiefs, with the ma- 
 jority of the army with them ; and they- were 
 bidden to advance and make an attack upon the 
 three towns which had sued for themselves pro- 
 tection with the children of Israil. And they 
 began with Jaba'un, and put its people to great 
 straits. And the inhabitants of Jaba'un sent unto 
 Yush'a, the king, to inform him of the truth con- 
 cerning the intentions of the kings, and that they 
 had already commenced by destroying them, and 
 that they were now in a state of severe siege and 
 extreme distress ; and they pled their cause with 
 him with the greatest emphasis, and begged him 
 to deliver them from this enemy, who was carry- 
 ing out the designs against them. And while 
 they proceeded on their journey, the king col- 
 lected his assembly, and God made a revelation 
 to him in that night, saying : " Do not fear, O 
 Yush'a, behold I am about to give over into thy 
 hands these five chiefs ; do not let a single man of 
 them, or of their soldiers, escape safe." So he 
 marched forward and surprised the army of the 
 
58 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 enemies by night, and the watchword of the chil- 
 dren of Israil was God the Omnipotent in bat- 
 tles, God is His Name. And the five kings 
 were driven in flight before them unto Kasahah, 1 
 and unto Maqadah (Makkedah). And when the 
 children of Israil came up with them, they con- 
 quered them, and did not spare in killing them. 
 And Yush'a spoke unto the day to stand still, and 
 it stood still; and the day was great, for God 
 heard the voice of the children of Israil, and sent 
 forth the angels with them. And the five kings, 
 the chiefs already mentioned, fled and found a 
 cave in Maqadah. Then the king ordered to place 
 great stones on the mouth of the cave, that he 
 might keep them under guard, until they (the 
 children of Israil) should return, when they 
 should have made an end of destroying the rest 
 of the army. And he killed the multitude of the 
 people, and not a single man of them did escape 
 safe. Then they returned to the cave, and the 
 king gave command to bring them (the five kings) 
 out, and to throw them down upon their faces, 
 and he ordered the prominent leaders of the army 
 to tread with the soles of their shoes upon their 
 necks ; and he said to the children of Israil : " Be 
 strong and of good courage, and fear not, nor be 
 dismayed, for thus shall God do with your ene- 
 mies." Then he gave command that the kings 
 should be killed, and be crucified until the set- 
 ting of the sun ; and after sunset he gave orders, 
 that they should be placed in the cave to which 
 they had fled, along with the wood upon which 
 they had been crucified, and also that there 
 should be placed over the mouth of the cave, a 
 mound of stones, to perpetuate the knowledge of 
 this unto the end of the ages. And they did 
 what he ordered, and then, being gladdened, as- 
 sembled together. 
 
 1 Note 49. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 59 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF THIS ARMY, AND ITS TRIUMPH, 
 AND THE DESTRUCTION OF ITS ENEMIES. 
 
 When it was in the beginning of the eighth 
 month (now this is the time of the journeying 
 of this army), the king divided the infantry and 
 cavalry into three bands, and sent each band in 
 a different direction, while he and they who were 
 with him journeyed along in the highway, tend- 
 ing towards the hostile people ; and he first alone 
 was the one who surprised the enemies' camp, and 
 he held them for a considerable time in an en- 
 gagement, and they were not as yet recovered 
 from the surprise, when there arose a cloud of dust, 
 and the army approached from every side. And 
 when the children of Israil beheld one another, 
 they shouted out with loudest voice : God is 
 our Lord, who wages instead of us the war." 
 And God on that day showed miracles with the 
 enemy, for it came to pass that every one who 
 would flee fire met him and burned him up. 
 And a spectre appeared among them, so that the 
 horses did stampede with them, upon hearing the 
 shouts of the children of Israil and carried them 
 down to death; and the hours of the day were 
 lengthened out for them, as God had promised 
 them, until they had accomplished in it the results 
 of a whole year, and not a remnant of the enemies 
 was left after this battle. And the king fromMah- 
 zun 1 wrote a letter unto el-'Azar, the imam, bind- 
 ing it on the wing of a bird ; telling him in it the 
 good news about what God had bestowed upon 
 them, and what He had shown forth among them 
 
 1 Note 50. 
 
60 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 of miracles and signs, which should be eulogized. 
 And he also informed him that he would not 
 return until he should have taken possession of 
 the remaining territorial districts for the children 
 of Israil. And he set the bird at liberty on the 
 morning of the fifth day, and it immediately 
 proceeded on its journey, under the blessing of 
 God and the goodness of His guidance and grace. 
 And he (Yush'a) continued descending upon 
 one city after another, and taking possession of 
 them, and doing with the rebellious like unto 
 what we have already mentioned, until he had 
 completed the subjugation of the territories, and 
 then he returned in the first month of the second 
 year. And it resulted, that he, in one year, took 
 possession of all their territories, and this was 
 the region of the seven Kana'anites, whose fame is 
 enduring, well known and spread abroad. Then 
 he and all who were with him removed apart for 
 purification ; now there descended from the 
 blessed mountain a great river which watered 
 the lowlands, and to it the king went down with 
 all his army. And when he had completed his 
 purification, el-'Azar the imam offered up for 
 them the sacrifices, and they celebrated a grand 
 feast, 2 the carrying out of which was complete 
 and consummate. Never was there witnessed a 
 better feast than it; for the people were united, 
 not having as yet dispersed throughout their 
 territorial sections, and when they did shout, 
 and praise, and exult with halleluiahs, they were 
 heard in the most distant and remote places. 
 And when the feast was over, the king and his 
 assembly gathered together, and began to arrange 
 the distribution of the territories among their 
 people ; and they asked God, Mighty and Power- 
 ful, for His favor and guidance. 
 
 2 Note 51. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 61 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE APPORTIONMENT OF THE 
 TERRITORIES BELONGING TO THE CHILDREN 
 OF ISRAIL, AND THEIR BOUNDARIES. 
 
 The king selected men from the geometricians 
 and their associates, and from the land sur- 
 veyors, and those who were well skilled in mat- 
 ters pertaining to lands, and from those who 
 assisted in surveying, and those who were expert 
 in estimating. And he gave instructions that 
 they should divide it into ten parts ; and he him- 
 self set about equitably distributing the nine and 
 one half tribes over the ten sections. There- 
 upon he defined unto them the boundaries of the 
 lands, according to what our master Milsa the 
 Prophet — peace be upon him — explained in the 
 chapter of the boundaries, which is mentioned 
 in the Law, 1 where he says : " When ye come 
 into the land of Kana'an (and this is the land 
 that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, 
 according to the boundaries thereof), then your 
 south quarter shall be from the wilderness of 
 Sin along by the places of Edum." And this is 
 the boundary of the lands of the two and one 
 half tribes. And then he again says : " And 
 your boundary on the south shall be, from the 
 furthest eastern part of the salt sea unto the side 
 of Misr (Egypt) ; and the goings forth of this 
 boundary shall be at the gulf." That is, from 
 the isthmus of the wilderness ; by which is meant 
 the land of el-He jaz (Arabia), and esh-Sham 
 (Syria), and the pass of Haljat (?), a narrow 
 place which reaches to the sea (the Arabah). 
 
 1 Num. xxxiv. 
 
62 TUE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 " And the goings forth thereof shall be south- 
 ward of Quds-er-Raqim "; meaning thereby, to 
 the south of a place called Quds-barna (Kadesh- 
 barnea), upon the borders of esh-Sham and el- 
 Hejaz ; for the idea held by the people of that 
 time was to the effect that it came unto el-Khaq 
 (?) until it reached unto the Nil of Misr (Nile of 
 Egypt), which is the valley whose goings forth 
 are to the sea, the coast line of which extends 
 from Misr to Falastin (Palestine) and to er-Rum 
 (Greece). " And your western boundary shall 
 be the last sea." And the last sea is from Misr 
 unto esh-Sham. " And the border towards esh- 
 Sahm extends from the great sea to the mountain 
 al-Jabal (Mount. Hor) and to Ainan of Hums 
 (Hazar-enan). " The king here meaning the 
 bend in the mountain el-Libnan (Lebanon), as 
 far as the limit of its land in the district of 
 Dimashq (Damascus), until coming eastward it 
 goes around it, and returns sloping downwards 
 unto the Urdun, and its goings forth are unto the 
 salt sea, which is the final point designated in the 
 beginnings of the chapter. "And this," (said 
 Joshua) " is the smaller part of the assigned land 
 but they (the surveyors) shall make a return on 
 the half of the greater assigned territories, accord- 
 ing to the sum of the census of the nine and 
 one half tribes." Then he instructed them that 
 they should set apart forty-eight cities, out of 
 all the territories of the children of Israil, unto 
 the Liwanites, taken out from the divisions ; and 
 from their total number there should be six 
 cities of them (even three cities from the whole 
 number of the cities of the two and one half 
 tribes, and three cities from the whole of the 
 assigned lands of the nine .and one half tribes), 
 concerning which cities God — Mighty and 
 Powerful — gave command that they should be 
 set apart, and he named them •> " Cities of re- 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSUUA. 63 
 
 pulse " ; that is, of refuge to the one who flees 
 thereunto, even to the one who should kill his 
 companion inadvertently, that is, by accident, 
 or through carelessness, without intention, or 
 malice aforethought ; so would these cities be a 
 repulse to the avenger. And the slayer shall 
 not be killed until he shall have stood before the 
 judge and the assembly of the leaders ; and now 
 if he did kill intentionally, he shall himself be 
 killed ; but, if it was through carelessness, then 
 he shall flee unto some one of these cities, and 
 he shall not go forth from it until the chief imam 
 dies ; and if he do go forth outside of the bouncl- 
 iirv of this city, and the avenger meet him and 
 slay him, then shall he be innocent of his blood. 
 And the men (that is, the geometricians and the 
 estimators and they who were well skilled in 
 matters pertaining to lands) started out on 
 their journey, according as they had been com- 
 manded. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 SURVEYORS RETURNED UNTO HIM. 
 
 After this the king assembled the two and 
 one half tribes before el-'Azar, the imam — peace 
 be upon him — and the leaders ; and they thanked 
 them for their deeds and the help and assistance 
 they had rendered, and said unto them : " Ye 
 have zealously observed the covenant of God and 
 the covenant of our master Musa — the best of 
 peace be upon him — and there now no longer re- 
 mains to us an argument against you ; for, verily, 
 ye have acted kindly, and have preserved life 
 and borne hardships, and have been patient in 
 abstaining from visiting those whom ye have left 
 behind, until your brothers have gained their goal 
 
64 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 in taking possession of their assigned lands. And 
 now your standing is exalted, and your deeds 
 grow before God your Lord, who is the rewarder 
 of good deeds, with their like a thousand-fold : 
 and ye have got possession of your assigned 
 lands, which are most excellent for your people, 
 and in them ye have no opponent or oppressor. 
 And these are our wishes of good fortune to 
 you in it: may God multiply unto you in 
 addition to it, its like." Then he gathered to- 
 gether their prominent men, and invested them 
 with robes of honor, and gave presents unto them. 
 And he commanded them and enjoined upon 
 them, to go over the list of the census ; and they 
 did this, and not a single man of them was miss- 
 ing. And they did eat and drink together, and 
 renewed the covenant between them, that they 
 would remain in obedience unto God alwa}^s, and 
 in the love of His Prophet, and keep His com- 
 mandments ; and that they would come to the 
 support of one another whenever any tidings 
 should reach them, whether by night or by day, 
 in ease or in distress, in joy or in sorrow ; nor 
 would they have a falling out with each other, 
 nor pretend to be asleep ; but, on the contrary, 
 would vie with one another in showing haste and 
 speed. And they proceeded to bind themselves 
 unto this with a great oath. And el-'Azar, the 
 imam — peace be upon him — offered up for them 
 the sacrifices, and then the leaders of the congre- 
 gation of the children of Israil gathered together 
 to bid them farewell. Thereupon the king ap- 
 pointed as king over the 110,580 men (which 
 was the number of the two and one half tribes), 
 Nabih (Nobah) the son of Jil'ad (Gilead), of the 
 tribe of Manashehah, and invested him with the 
 ro}^al robe, and placed upon him "a crown, and 
 had him ride one of his chosen horses, and sent 
 forth before him a herald, proclaiming : " This is 
 

 TLLE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 65 
 
 the king of the two and one half tribes, who is in- 
 vested with their judicial matters, who shall over- 
 see their affairs ; the chief leader of their army ; 
 the chief orator among them ; the one who shall 
 be asked concerning their affairs ; and every 
 judgment of his shall be carried out, and in what- 
 ever matter of judgment he has doubt he shall 
 refer it for explanation to el-'Azar, the imam — 
 peace be upon him. O assembled men ! whoso- 
 ever shall oppose his decree, or withdraw from 
 obedience to him, the blood of this one can be 
 shed, and all the people shall be innocent of his 
 crime." Then he delivered unto him a copy of the 
 book of our master Musa, the son of 'Amran the 
 Prophet — peace be upon him — and he enjoined 
 him to read it night and day, and informed him 
 that in it were marvellous indicatory signs, show- 
 ing how life may be prolonged in this present 
 fleeting world and in the world to come, and also 
 that in its reading was protection from spirits, 
 and the evil eye, and calamities, and witchery, 
 and the skill of the enemy. 1 And he gave over 
 to him twelve tribes, whom he commanded to 
 adhere unto him and not leave him, until he 
 should have corresponded with every chief of a 
 tribe resident at the court of the king and the 
 saint of God ; and he also selected for him men 
 from the learned, who might ease him in the ad- 
 ministration of the government, and whom he 
 might consult in important matters which unex- 
 pectedly arose to him. And, moreover, he gave 
 over to him two thousand men of the Liwanites, 
 who should take up their residence in the cities 
 that had been set apart unto them among these 
 tribes, and these should receive the portion of 
 God, and the portion of His saints : tithes and 
 votive offerings ; and should perform whatsoever 
 sacrifices were incumbent upon them in every 
 1 Note 52. 
 
 5 
 
66 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 month, and should execute the judicial sentences 
 in the presence of their leaders, and should es- 
 tablish prayers for them, and oversee the matters 
 which it is unlawful for any body else but them 
 to do. Thereupon the banners were unfurled 
 before him (Nabih) and the trumpets sounded, 
 and the saint of God and the king (Joshua) rode 
 out with their assembly to bid them farewell ; 
 and it was a great day, the like of which it was 
 not possible could have existed in the world. 
 And they proceeded on their journey under the 
 protection of God, victorious, triumphant, happy 
 and rejoicing. And when the news reached their 
 friends who were watching over their affairs on 
 the other side of the Urclun, their assembly came 
 out to meet them. And they settled down in 
 their places. And Nabih divided out that region 
 according to the sum of the number of his com- 
 panions. And the Liwanites entered into their 
 places, and attended to the offering of praises 
 and halleluiahs. And glory be to God, for His 
 bountiful favors unto them. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF THE RETURN OF THE MEN 
 WHO WERE EMINENT IN MAKING SURVEYS 
 AND ESTIMATING JUST PROPORTIONS, UNTO 
 yush'a THE SON OF NUN, THE KING. 
 
 After the return of the geometricians, and 
 those who were trained in surveying the land out 
 into fields and equitably proportioning them, and 
 in rendering correct judgments as to their trees 
 and everything that would hinder their cultiva- 
 tion, the king and the twelve chiefs assembled 
 together. Now these were they to whom our 
 master Musa the Prophet — peace be upon him — 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 67 
 
 had given instructions that they should unite 
 with him in dividing out the land ; with the 
 restriction, however, that no one should obsti- 
 nately oppose him, nor should any quarrel or dis- 
 pute occur between them ; and they began to 
 arrange the division of it into ten parts, and 
 distributed the tribes over the ten parts accord- 
 ing to the greater or less numbers a tribe had, 
 until the} r had equalized all this. And when 
 they did come to an agreement with regard to it, 
 they permanently settled it, and perfected it, and 
 clearly set it forth ; and when the opinion of 
 the assembly was agreed as to the rectitude of 
 this, they brought up the lists unto the saint of 
 God, the imam el-'Azar — peace be upon him — and 
 when he had carefully perused it, he wrote with 
 his own hand a copy of the distribution and 
 divisions of the tribes. Thereupon he wrote ten 
 tickets, inscribed on which were the parts of the 
 distributions and of the assigned lands, and he 
 wrote the name of each one of the parts of the 
 tribes upon a ticket, and gave unto each several 
 chief his ticket. And then each chief went 
 apart with his people and assembled the leaders 
 of his followers, and divided out every part ac- 
 cording to the sum of the census, to every man 
 according to the size of his family. And with 
 every one (of the chiefs) there went forth some 
 of the geometricians and surveyors to equitably 
 arrange matters among them. And the district 
 embracing the excellent mountain fell among 
 the assigned lands of Yusha the king, the son of 
 Nun, and of his comrade Kalab (Caleb) the 
 leader of a whole tribe, and with which he had 
 started out on the journey (from Egypt) in com- 
 pany with him (Yusha). * Thus was every one 
 permanently located in his place. And he 
 (Yusha) distributed some of the Liwanites, every 
 1 Note 53. 
 
68 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 one in the place which had been set apart for 
 him out of the whole of the assigned lands, over 
 and above the division, that they might admin- 
 ister the affairs of the people in reference to 
 prayers and judicial matters, and also receive 
 the tithes and perform the sacrifices. And he 
 assigned unto each tribe chief-justices who should 
 correspond with the imam, and give him in- 
 formation of what happened in their districts. 
 Then Yush'a the king built a fortress on the 
 mountain to the north of the Blessed Mount, 
 which (fortress) is known as Shamrun (Samaria). 
 And his wont was to visit with el-'Azar one day 
 in each week; and one day with the learned, 
 that he might take counsel with them ; and one 
 day with the chiefs, that he might inquire into 
 their affairs ; and one day he spent in attending 
 to his own business and matters; and on three 
 days he left not the book of God, during night 
 and day. And this was his method in his ad- 
 ministration of government, when he was not 
 out waging war ; for he did not hold himself 
 aloof from them. And he built a synagogue on 
 the summit of the Blessed Mount, and collected 
 and kept in it the tabernacle of the Lord, and 
 no one, after him, did behold it, except the 
 priests and the Liwanites. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE 
 CHILDREN OF ISRAIL, AFTER THE DISTRI- 
 BUTION. 
 
 Then the children of Israil began to inhabit 
 their assigned lands and to put them under per- 
 fect cultivation, and to worship their Lord with 
 acceptable service, and to fulfil on each day 
 whatsoever sacrifices were incumbent upon them. 
 
Til K SA MA RITA N B 00 K OF JOSH UA . 69 
 
 And God showed forth with them blessings and 
 watchful care, so that calamities were removed 
 away from them ; and not a single one of the 
 kings of the enemies did have power to do any 
 violence unto them. So that there was a mul- 
 titude of their own travellers journeying from 
 every province unto the Blessed Mount three 
 times a year, along with various kings, with 
 wealth and joy and gladness ; and not one of the 
 enemies dared even to look towards them, or 
 stand up in opposition to them. And the king 
 and the leaders and the whole army continued 
 in rest and tranquillity for a period of twenty 
 years. There was no molestation or insurrection 
 since now their surrounding enemies were far 
 removed from them and dispersed throughout 
 the regions of the earth 1 ; and they who were 
 near them had made peace with them, so no one 
 was stirring up a commotion, nor was there a 
 kingdom spreading itself abroad except their 
 kingdom, or any hand outstretched except their 
 hands. And not a single day did pass but that 
 they heard news of all their companions ; and 
 thus did they continue to have intelligence of 
 them, until this period came to a close. Then 
 after this there happened those things which 
 by the will of God, and His assistance, we will 
 narrate and explain. (To Him be the praise.) 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF SHAUBAK THE SON OF HAMAM, 
 THE KING OF THE PERSIANS. 
 
 HAMAM, the son of R'awan, king of the Per- 
 sians, had been put to death along with all the 
 kings whom Yush'a had killed, then his child 
 
 1 Note 54. 
 
70 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 grew up, who was known by the name of Shau- 
 bak, 1 and he was eminent in attainments and in 
 the acquisition of wealth. And he began corre- 
 sponding with kings throughout all the regions, 
 puffing some of them up, and stirring up others 
 of them to anger, and influencing some of them 
 by promises, and conciliating others of them 
 with gifts of riches. Thereupon he said, that lie 
 wished to take revenge for the murder of his 
 father. And he also corresponded with the sur- 
 vivors of the Kana'anites, and recalled to their 
 memory what the children of Israil had done with 
 their children, their wives, their cities and their 
 possessions. Then he sent also unto the king of 
 Arminiyeh (Armenia) the Greater, and Rumiyeh 
 the Less (Asia Minor). And he joined unto him- 
 self the son of Yafet (Japheth) the giant, 2 and 
 also sent unto the king of Saida (Siclon) and of 
 el-Qaimun, 3 and to the king of esh-Sham (Syria), 
 making known unto them what army had been 
 assembled together unto him, and agreed with 
 them that they should assemble together at el- 
 Qaimun. And the opinion of the chiefs of the 
 army and its leaders were agreed that they 
 should send (as spy) a clothing-merchant, who 
 should count the men, and inform himself as to 
 the army (one who was clever in prudent man- 
 agement), in order that he might make known 
 to them the condition of the children of Israil, 
 and how was the way to them and the means of 
 getting at them. And they resolved to write and 
 forward by his hand a letter from their company 
 to Yush'a the king, so that they might obtain 
 security for him, seeing he acted as a messenger, 
 for upon a messenger rests no crime and hence 
 no fear. 
 
 1 Note 55. 2 Note 56. 8 Note 57. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 71 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 STATEMENT OF A COPY OF THE LETTER WHICH 
 THE GIANTS SENT UNTO YUSH'A THE SON OF 
 NUN, THE KING. 
 
 The letter began : 
 
 " From the assembly of the giants, the confed- 
 erated, well-known, far-famed, victorious, trium- 
 phant, mighty in courage, protected with armor, 
 and the foremost of all mortals ; to Yush'a the 
 shepherd, the son of Nun, and to his people. 
 Peace from us unto you. 
 
 We know, O murdering wolf, 1 what thou hast 
 done in the cities of our associates, and that thou 
 hast in murder destroyed all of their leaders and 
 sent them down to the bottom of the lowest 
 depths, and hast demolished the places in which 
 there was for us aid, and hast put down the 
 provinces which were our supports and from 
 which our helpers were ever providing them- 
 selves with food, and hast destroyed for us thirty 
 cities, 2 besides residences and small towns, and 
 that thou didst not reverence old men, nor have 
 compassion upon little infants, nor didst thou 
 give ear unto them and grant them protection, 
 nor leave a place unto those begging safety of 
 thee, nor grant time for good action. And the 
 reason of this (thy success) was, that then we 
 were distracted by discords and dissensions, and 
 a lack of unity in our counsels ; but now under- 
 stand, O murdering wolf, that we are coming unto 
 you with all the kings in harmonious agreement, 
 with spirits in concord, and tongues that have 
 pledged mutual covenants, and hands that have 
 1 Note 58. 2 Note 59. 
 
72 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 been struck together. With conditions all- 
 perfected, and souls full (of wrath) and accu- 
 mulated complaints, and livers, as it were, cut 
 asunder, whom no stampede can ever overcome, 
 nor a great fire put to fright. 3 
 
 And now after thirty days we will bring on 
 the battle between us and thee in Merj Balata, 4 
 in front of the mountain upon which thou wor- 
 shipest thy Lord, which is referred to as the 
 Mount of Blessing. And there will be no delay 
 on our part, or on the part of any one of us ; so 
 be prepared for those whom thou shall meet, and 
 make no excuse for thyself by saying that thou 
 art taken by surprise, or that a stratagem has 
 been employed against thee, or that the enemy 
 came against thee by night. And, moreover, 
 know that in our company there are thirty-six 
 kings, and in the army of each king sixty thou- 
 sand knights, besides foot>soldiers innumerable 
 and countless, who make sport of devices (em- 
 ployed) ; and there is also with us the son of 
 Yafet the giant, who has with him a thunderbolt 
 of steel, and when he hurls it, and it is granted 
 full success, it kills a thousand men, and when 
 full success is not granted, it kills five hundred 
 men ; and they who are with him are kings, and 
 with them are instruments and implements of 
 war, which they have inherited from their grand- 
 father Nuh (Noah) — peace be upon him. There- 
 fore take knowledge of this and act in accordance 
 therewith, and look out for thyself, for thou art 
 about to be brought to account for what thou 
 hast done. And now peace." 
 
 And the messenger took the letter, and pro- 
 ceeded on his journey at once. And they began 
 to draw up the army and arrange it in order, and 
 set out upon the journey to el-Qaimun, that they 
 
 8 See Chap. xxl. * 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 73 
 
 might unite with their confederates whom they 
 had summoned by letter to be present. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE MESSENGER, AND WHAT 
 CAME OF HIM. 
 
 The messenger executed his orders on the 
 tenth day of the second month of the twenty 
 first year of the reign of the children of Israil, 
 after their entrance into this territory : and lie 
 arrived on the fifth day (of the week), the 
 morrow being the day of el-Miqra (the Convo- 
 cation), that is the festival of weeks. And he 
 handed his letter unto the king, as he was sitting 
 upon his royal throne pronouncing sentences 
 upon such of them as were worthy of death, and 
 such of them as deserved to be burned, and such 
 of them as deserved to be stoned, and such of 
 them as deserved to be imprisoned; for important 
 cases were referred up to him at the time of the 
 feasts, and then judgment was passed upon these 
 in accordance with the light of God and the 
 command of His saint. And he (Yvish'a) did 
 not turn towards the messenger until he had 
 concluded his judgments, and had finished ren- 
 dering his judicial decisions at the end of the day, 
 then he took the letter, and read it at his home, 
 and not a single person knew about it until his 
 feast had passed by, and so the people did rejoice 
 during their feast; but he himself was distracted 
 in mind. Meanwhile the messenger was behold- 
 ing the greatness of the army, and its good 
 qualities, and the circumstances of the king and 
 his prudent management, and the affairs of the 
 Creator and His power, and the descending 
 column of fire with its majesty, and he likewise 
 
74 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 saw the saint of God and the terror which hedged 
 him about, the like of which had never been 
 beheld, or the like of it heard of in preceding 
 ages. And when the children of Israil had 
 celebrated the feast, the king gathered together 
 his assembly, and had proclamation made through- 
 out his army, and sent word to his chief com- 
 ma ude is to assemble their comrades. Thereupon 
 he brought the messenger into their presence ; 
 but placed him in confinement in a certain place 
 so that he might not witness their agitation or 
 change of countenance. And when the leaders 
 of the people were assembled, he read unto them 
 the letter of the giants, and said to them : 
 " Verily, never have I been overtaken by any- 
 thing similar to this letter ; and though I have 
 waged wars for sixty years, yet never have I 
 heard its like, nor anything approaching unto 
 it." And when they had heard the letter, their 
 color changed and their heads hung down, and 
 they said : " Never have we heard the like of 
 this performance, nor have we ever encountered 
 anything similar to it, or waged war with an 
 army such as this is; but this war is one for God, 
 and for us and for our children, and for thee, O 
 king, overseer and master ; and now manage us 
 in accordance with the guidance and grace of 
 God, and we will be obedient to thy supreme 
 authority." 
 
 Then he brought out to them a reply which 
 he had dictated, and he had dictated that 
 which he had composed in accordance with the 
 light of God — may His name be mighty — and he 
 said to them : " This I lay before you as a reply 
 that I have written, and as an address that I 
 have drawn up, and if it seem to you to be the 
 proper thing, I will send it ; but if your opinion 
 be that it should be abandoned, I will discard it." 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 75 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE REPLY SENT TO THE 
 GIANTS. 
 
 It began, saying : 
 
 " In the name of God, the Supreme King, 
 the God of worlds, the Compassionate, the 
 Merciful, the God of gods and Lord of lords, 
 the King of kings, the Knower of secrets, the 
 One resolute in wars, the God of I brain m and 
 Ishaq and Yaqub, the Destroyer of infidels, the 
 Annihilator of tyrants, the Destroyer of the 
 obstinate, the Extirpator of intriguers, the Col- 
 lector of the dispersed, the Scatterer of the 
 confederates, the One who brings the dead to 
 life, the One who puts to death the living : His 
 hand is above the highest of the highest, and 
 under His outstretched arms is eternity, the 
 heavens and the earth are in His grasp, the holy 
 angels in all their numbers and the whole 
 creation He did create by His omnipotent power, 
 and the spheres and the heavenly bodies moved 
 under His guardian care, their rapid course He 
 stopped by His mere word, and put in motion 
 moving bodies by His divine authority. Of this 
 Lord do I ask assistance, and upon Him do I 
 place my trust, and in Him do I grow strong, 
 and Him do I fear, and His mercy is a 
 shield unto me and unto my children, and 
 He is my sufficiency and excellent Protector. 
 
 But now to proceed to what follows: I am 
 Yush'a, the son of Nun, the mortal and spiritual, 1 
 the disciple of Kalimu'1-lah 2 (Moses), a child of 
 Khalilu'1-lah 3 (Abraham) ; upon me and upon my 
 
 1 Note. 11 2 Note 34. 3 Note 61. 
 
76 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 people be peace, mercy and success. But as for 
 you, ye people of unbelief and false religion 
 and profligacy and given over unto the curse, 
 corrupters throughout the land, destroyers of the 
 servants of God, worshippers of idols, who kneel 
 down unto images, who bow down unto the 
 celestial bodies, who are subservient unto spirits, 
 who are slaves unto matter ; let not the peace of 
 God rest upon you or upon your people, and 
 may He not make your way successful or }'our 
 circumstances prosperous, and may He not have 
 pity upon your young or feel compassion for 
 your aged, may He not permit you to attain 
 unto your purposes or accomplish your wishes ; 
 but may He make your condition ruinous and 
 scatter your confederation ; and this He will do 
 by the terror of His power and the omnipotence 
 of His will ; for He is a hearer and answerer (of 
 prayer). Ye have mentioned (may God not let 
 the remembrance of you remain, may He not 
 make } r ou successful in a single thing, may He 
 not bring to completion any thing which }~e have 
 begun, may He not leave any life unto you), that 
 ye are reinforced, joyful with good news, irresis- 
 tible in power, and fully able to undertake the 
 expedition towards me, and engage in battle with 
 me around the place on which I worship my 
 Lord, which is the Mount of Blessings and the 
 holy spot, even the house of our Lord and the 
 place of our God. May ye have no life and may 
 that not come to pass, and may ye not behold 
 my place with your eyes, and may the hallowed 
 plain not be polluted with your armaments, and 
 may ye never boast that ye have trodden my 
 soil, nor of even having approached unto my 
 soil, nor of having got into my vicinity through 
 any way whatever. But now as to your grant- 
 ing a delay ; God does not grant unto you a 
 delay in undertaking the journey until after the 
 
THE 8 J M Mil T. I X BOOK O F JOSHUA . 77 
 
 expiration of thirty days, and therefore I will 
 not put off the journey unto you, nor will I grant 
 3*011 any delay except only for seven days, and 
 then I will make the attack and with me will be 
 the troops which I will select; and they who 
 have been tyrannical will then find out with what 
 overthrow they shall be overthrown. Therefore 
 know for a certainty and consider and under- 
 stand and be aware, that I shall bring on the 
 battle between me and you in the place known 
 as el-Qaimun, and it is verily the place in which 
 ye shall not get away from me, nor depart 
 from it, nor flee unto another place, but there 
 destroyed by the slaughter of the sword and put 
 to death by strangling and burned with fire and 
 annihilated in vengeance ; it shall not be unto 
 you, O deluded ones, as ye now boast it shall. 
 And I do not say as ye say, that there will march 
 with me six hundred thousand men who did 
 wage war with Greater Misr (Egypt), and did 
 eat the sacrifices of the passover, and around 
 whom the angels kept guard, and who crossed 
 the sea in dryness and journeyed through the wil- 
 derness without any guide, the pillar of fire 
 sheltering them from the cold by night and the 
 pillar of cloud sheltering them from the heat by 
 day, and whose food was the manna from heaven 
 during forty years, and for whose sake the bitter 
 water became sweet, and for whose sake the 
 water was brought forth from the rock, and who 
 heard the voice of the Creator — Plis mention be 
 honored and His name glorious, and who beheld 
 the quaking of the mountain at his command, 
 and the desi ruction of Sihun and *Ug and their 
 people, and who inhabited their cities, and for 
 whose sake the water of the Urdun was stayed 
 until they had passed through it, and who fought 
 with Yariha and with the cities which ye well 
 know. I do not boast that there march with me 
 
78 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 giants, as ye boast ; but there march, with me 
 twelve thousand young men, who entered Mid- 
 yan in safety, fought with it and came out safely 
 therefrom. There is with me no thunderbolt 
 such as ye mention ; but with me is the Lord of 
 thunderbolts and the Controller of the blowing 
 winds, yea with me is the One who takes away 
 spirits and who hears the voices of prayer, the 
 Creator of the whole creation and the Distribu- 
 tor of gifts, whose greatness is glorious ; He is 
 the God whose creation is all gods and whose 
 servants all kings are — blessed be He and ex- 
 alted, in His company are three angels of His of 
 whom, one brought the water of the flood upon 
 the world to destroy corrupt transgressors, and 
 another scattered the king of Babil (Babel, Ba- 
 bylon) and his host, and demolished their fort- 
 ress and changed their languages, and another 
 lifted up his five fingers five kings of cities, even 
 Saclum (Sodom) and its buildings and riches 
 and animals and plants, and rained down upon 
 it sulphur and fire and salt. 4 He who has in His 
 company thousands and myriads of thousands of 
 angels similar unto these ; what king then shall 
 boast that he can stand before this King, whose 
 rank and dignity is so great, whose position is so 
 exalted, by whose mighty power the kings were 
 destroyed and in obedience to whom the true 
 believers believe ? What army can stand before 
 Him ? What giant can march out against Him ? 
 What great commander can escape from Him ? 
 Unto what place can any flee from Him? 
 Have ye not heard of our poems wherein we 
 say : " There is no power or might except 
 in God, the Exalted, the Great; if it (the 
 power of God) came to the water, it (the 
 water) stood still. The idols heard it and fell 
 down one after another?" Know that ye are 
 
 4 Note 62. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 79 
 
 the ones who are consumed, taken and killed : 
 ye shall not find a place unto which to flee, nor 
 a refuge on which ye may rely ; ye are ruined, 
 ye are discomfited, ye are destroyed, yea, your 
 people and your men and yourselves, and ye 
 have made 3'our wives widows and have rendered 
 your children orphans; ye have made your ene- 
 mies to rejoice, and 3-e have cut off j-our purpose 
 before its allotted season and have made weak 
 your power before its time ; ye were ungrateful 
 with the Divine mercy, and God took it away 
 from you ; ye have been rebellious against the 
 Divine compassion, and God has ceased to bestow 
 it upon you. The earth was broad for you and 
 not narrow for you, either in condition or riches, 
 but now there is no place or locality for you; 
 seeing ye have opposed the One to whom belongs 
 the great and high dominion, and have become 
 subservient unto a decaying image, and your in- 
 tentions are bent upon the destruction of the 
 holy, favorite people, who are the guardians of 
 the children of the prophets of God, and of His 
 apostles. Who did sware unto them b}' His 
 Name — mighty and glorious — that He would ap- 
 portion unto them this territory, and now this 
 Lord — blessed be He and exalted — says unto His 
 people, that He will guard them as a man guards 
 his eye. O ones whose hearts God has obscured 
 and whose understanding He has bewildered and 
 whose spirits He has extinguished and the light 
 of whose eyes He has darkened,! Have ye not 
 heard what happened through our friends unto 
 your friends, when our ancestor Ibrahim, el- 
 Khalil — peace be upon him — marched against 
 3 r our friends, and in his company there were only 
 three hundred and eighteen men ; yet he did de- 
 stroy of them five kings, the like of which was 
 never heard of. nor did their flight cease short of 
 Dimashq (Damascus) ? 5 Have ye not heard 
 5 Gen. xiv. 
 
80 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 what befell the people of Misr, and what signs 
 and wonders God — may He be exalted — showed, 
 because of their abusive revilings ? Have ye not 
 heard how my comrade did kill the Nil with his 
 rod, and crush the sea by his prayer, and stop 
 the water through the reverence and respect 
 which he inspired, and turn back the Divine 
 wrath by his intercession, and cause the Divine 
 compassion to descend by his words, and put to 
 rout armies with his hand, and how the earth 
 swallowed up those who opposed him ? Have ye 
 not heard what happened unto us in the wilder- 
 ness, and what befell Sihun and his kingdom, 
 and 'Ug and his pride, and Bila'am and his sor- 
 cery, and the kings of Midyan and their host, 
 and the kings of esh-Sham and their pomp ? 
 Have ye not heard what happened unto us at the 
 Urdun, and what happened unto us with the 
 kings who joined in a confederation and assem- 
 bled together to attack us ? Have ye not heard 
 how I called upon my Lord to prolong the da}^, 
 and the day did return after its setting, and the 
 day stood still for me like as if it had been a 
 whole year? And it will thus stand still for me 
 a second time during your destruction. I do not 
 boast that I am a giant, or the disciple of a giant, 
 or the child of a giant. I boast that I am the 
 disciple of Kalimu'1-lah, the mortal and spiritual; 
 and a child of Khalilu'1-lah, the foundation of the 
 prophets and the top branch of the pious; I boast 
 in the myriads of the holy who march around my 
 army. I am no giant, but the Lord of the giants 
 is with me ; and yet my stature from the ground 
 up is five royal cubits. I do not dress in armor 
 even, and in coats of mail and helmets ; but my 
 clothing is tunics of dark blue and purple and 
 variegated crimson, and the royal crown is on my 
 head with the name of my Lord inscribed upon 
 the crown. I ride upon a white colt whose 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 81 
 
 saddle-cloth is of purple and its saddle of pure 
 gold: these are my distingtushing characteristics 
 and these are my boastings. Aided by the pro- 
 phets, surrounded by the holy, the Lord of crea- 
 tion is my armament, and His angels my triumph, 
 and His omnipotent power my reliance. And 
 He is the beholder of your affairs as well as the 
 affairs of me and my people. We believe in no 
 lord but Him, and no king besides Him : and He 
 is our sufficiency and excellent Protector. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE 
 THE DEPARTURE OF THE MESSENGER FROM 
 yush'a THE KING. 
 
 When the children of Israil heard this address 
 and this reply, bowing down, they prostrated 
 themselves before God, and spake, saying : " How 
 adorable is He who has guided thee ! How ador- 
 able is He who has enlightened thy heart ! How 
 adorable is He who has illuminated the light of 
 thy intellect ! How adorable is He who has 
 sanctified thy spirit! How adorable is He who 
 has ennobled thy sonl! How adorable is He! 
 Thou hast consoled our souls and hast strength- 
 ened our hearts ; Thou has nerved our loins, Thou 
 hast lifted up our heads, Thou hast exalted our 
 renown, Thou hast spread abroad our glory, yea 
 our friends do exalt, for Thou hast destroyed our 
 enemies and hast annihilated their host. And 
 now we are swift and zealous subjects in Thy pre- 
 sence, ready to go unto the horizon of the seas and 
 to the abyss of darkness and unto the burnings of 
 fire. And this is the approval and opinion we 
 express to our master the king, and let him carry 
 it out by transmitting this letter ; fur in it lies 
 
 6 
 
82 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 the destruction of our enemies and their ruin, 
 and the breaking up of their hearts and their 
 purposes, through the power of God and His 
 omnipotent might/' And the king gave im- 
 mediate directions that they should make known 
 to him the list of the enumeration of those who 
 had been chosen from the army, and that they 
 make proclamation for them to mount at once. 
 And scarce an hour passed before three hundred 
 thousand men had mounted, every one of whom 
 was renowned for manly qualities and skill, chosen 
 men they were, the like of whom or better rank and 
 file than theirs had ever been seen. And the offi- 
 cers returned and said unto him : " O our master 
 and our lord, there have assembled for thee three 
 hundred thousand chosen men, and if thou wert 
 to command that there should be chosen as 
 many more as they, we would be prompt to do 
 the same, for in our lists there are other three 
 hundred thousand men, but they are separated 
 from us, and the mustering of them will be ac- 
 complished in the course of a week." And 
 Yush'a the king answered them, saying : " If He 
 would destroy our enemies with six hundred 
 thousand men, He is able to destroy them with 
 three hundred thousand men." And he com- 
 manded that the messenger should be brought, 
 for he knew that he was possessed of sagacity ; 
 and he re-read the letter to the multitude in his 
 presence. Thereupon he said unto him : " Look 
 at and behold what I have collected unto me 
 me in one single hour, with regard to whom I do 
 not need to bother myself about their provisions, 
 or look after their condition, and in three days 
 there will gather unto me a number equal to them, 
 through the power of God and His omnipotent 
 might ; so now make known to thy companions 
 what thou hast witnessed of the affairs of God — 
 Mighty and Powerful — even the power of His 
 
THE SAM ABIT AN BOOK OF JOSUUA. 83 
 
 people. And lo ! I am about to march right on 
 the tracks of my letter, with the help of God 
 and his power and strength." 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE RETURN OF THE MES- 
 SENGER, AND WHAT HE DID WHEN HE 
 REACHED THEM (i. E. THE ENEMIES). 
 
 When the messenger had heard the king, and 
 his speech, and the reading of the letter and its 
 words, and .perceived the discipline of the army 
 and its staunch condition, he took the letter and 
 immediately started out on his journey, with 
 head down-cast and heart rent asunder and color 
 changed and eyes weeping. And when he arrived 
 at the army of the enemy, he found them assem- 
 bled together in el-Qaimun. And when he beheld 
 them he wept with great weeping and cried 
 with a loud voice, and said to them : " O woe 
 unto me for you, and sad am I for your sakes. 
 Whither are ye marching? Is it unto the sea of 
 darkness ? * Unto him who does not listen to a 
 word of yours, nor sends back peace to you? 
 Unto those before whom ye are as scattered 
 dust? With them ye have "no stability or dur- 
 ability or permanency ; every affair of theirs is 
 in earnest, no jesting or secret backbiting exists 
 among them. Therefore give attention unto the 
 reply to the letter, that ye may know that God 
 is over all things, powerful, ere I explain unto 
 you what I have witnessed, and inform you of 
 what I have beheld ; for if I should continue 
 for one year explaining and expounding about 
 Him, I should not make known His substance 
 or make known any of His attributes." 
 1 Note 63. 
 
84 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF THE READING OF THE LETTER, 
 AND WHAT THE ENEMY DID WHEN IT WAS 
 READ. 
 
 He then took the letter and read it unto the 
 company of the kings. Now the inscription writ- 
 ten upon it was : 
 
 " To the company of reprobates, rebels, liber- 
 tines, infidels ; the calumniating, rebellious, pol- 
 luted and cowardly people ; the filthy, self- 
 disgraced, whose destruction is near at hand, and 
 whose ruin is just impending: 
 
 " From the excellent, the faithful, the associ- 
 ates of purity, light, glory, firmness and victory, 
 and possessed of authority and influence, the 
 celebrated, far-famed, set-apart, chosen, protected 
 by God, assisted unto victory by His power, 
 sheltered under His mercy and compassion ; 
 and He is their sufficiency, and upon Him is 
 their reliance." 
 
 Upon the reading of this inscription they 
 wept until their eyes flowed blood, then they 
 opened the letter, and a man read it in a plain- 
 tive voice, while they began beating their faces 
 and wailing over themselves to greatest excess, 
 until they had finished its reading. And the 
 letter was not completed before their inwards 
 were attenuated, and their heads bent down, and 
 their hearts broken, and their tears poured out 
 and their intellects bewildered ; and they were 
 neither able to arise from their places nor rest 
 in quiet in them, for dementia and perturbation 
 had seized them. Then they cried out while 
 weeping, and said : " Woe unto us and unto 
 our children, we have destroyed ourselves, we 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 85 
 
 have brought about the violation of our women, 
 we have waked up the sleeping lioness, we have 
 stirred up the crouching lion, we have let loose 
 the elephant that was tied, we have roused 
 the bull that was tethered." And now their 
 tongues jabbered on in their mouths, stuttering 
 exceedingly as if tongue-tied, and they neither 
 understood what they said, nor what was said 
 to them ; yea, they were deaf, they were dum- 
 founded, they were stunned, they were bewil- 
 dered, the hair of their heads stood on end and 
 they tore their garments. Then there came un- 
 to them the sheikh of the magicians, and with 
 him was the mother of Shaubak, the son of 
 Hamam, who was skilled in magic and who wor- 
 shipped the great luminary and the seven stars, 
 and along with her was a crowd of the magicians 
 and wizards and conjurers, and these calmed 
 them, saying unto them : " O ye who turn 
 back ! ye have wrecked your army before ye 
 have seen the enemy, and ye have killed your- 
 selves before your time ; not thus should the 
 leaders of the army do among the flock, ye have 
 unnerved the men with fear, ye have slaughtered 
 them without a sword being used. Sit ye down 
 with us and listen with reason unto what we 
 say, and bring hither the messenger whom ye 
 sent, and consider what he shall describe unto 
 you." So they brought the messenger, and he 
 began to describe the king (Yush'a), and the 
 feeling of awe that he carried away from him, 
 and he described the army tribe by tribe, and the 
 Divine ordinances which he had witnessed, and 
 the grand condition of affairs which he had beheld. 
 Then the messenger said to them : " O assem- 
 bled men, accept my counsel, and do not yield 
 yourselves unto any other ; for I have seen what 
 ye have not seen, therefore know what shall 
 overtake you by surprise, for after three days 
 
86 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 will come the hasty rush and flight, and the 
 abandonment of our baggage, and the saving of 
 ourselves and our possessions ; for, verily, he 
 (Yush'a,) is a magnificent commander, he is not 
 to be held as contemptible and insignificant; 
 and against this people neither sorcery nor 
 stratagem is possible. Every god whom ye wor- 
 ship and serve will flee away from before their 
 God whom they worship. Have ye not heard 
 what happened unto our master and chief Bila- 
 'am? " Thereupon the band of magicians went 
 apart by themselves and the mother of Shaubak 
 with them, and they agreed in opinion that they 
 would work out for them his (Yusha's) dis- 
 comfiture, so as that he should not come unto 
 them. And they commenced operations and 
 built their altars and offered up their sacrifices, 
 and they were answered in that which they re- 
 quested, and they sat down in order that they 
 might deliver their mandate with power and 
 force. But God delayed this unto them, accord- 
 ing as He willed. Blessed be He and exalted, 
 for the consummation which He brought about. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF THE SETTING OUT OF YUSH'A 
 THE KING UPON HIS EXPEDITION. 
 
 When Yush'a the king desired to start out on 
 the journey, he met with the saint of God, el- 
 'Azar the imam — peace be upon him, — and said 
 unto him : " Go forth, invoke a blessing upon 
 thy people and bless them, and when we have 
 proceeded on our journey continue repeating it, 
 and do not cease standing before thy Lord- 
 humbly beseeching Him, until thou nearest 
 tidings of us." And el-'Azar, the imam, went 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSIIUA. 87 
 
 forth to the tabernacle and blessed the people, 
 and invoked a blessing upon them, and then he 
 proceeded to bid farewell to the king, and to 
 weep, while the priests invoked upon him safety 
 and success and prosperity and good-fortune. 
 Then he commanded the Liwanites to make pro- 
 clamation throughout the army, in accordance 
 with what our master Miisa, the Prophet — the 
 most excellent peace be upon him, — had enjoined 
 upon them in the Holy Law at the command of 
 God, where he says: " When ye go out in bat- 
 tle against your enemies, and see horses and foot- 
 men, and a people more than ye, be not afraid 
 of them ; for God thy God is with thee, which 
 brought thee up out of the land of Misr " — and 
 so on to the end of the chapter. 1 And this hav- 
 ing been executed, at the close of the proclama- 
 tion, Finahas (Phinehas), the son of the imam — 
 peace be upon him, his cousin, sounded on the 
 two trumpets of clamor, 2 and the congregation 
 of the children of Israil shouted with one voice, 
 and the angels in heaven and on earth did trem- 
 ble by reason of their shout. And having knelt 
 and bowed down, they then mounted and journey- 
 ed forward until they arrived in the vicinity of 
 el-Lejjun. 3 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 
 CHILDREN OF ISRAIL IN THIS PLACE. 
 
 When the children of Israil arrived at el- 
 Lejjun, before they were aware of it, Yush'a and 
 those who were with him had got inside of seven 
 walls of iron, and the device of the magicians 
 against them was consummated, in order that the 
 decree of God — may He be exalted — might be 
 1 Dent xx. 2 Note 64. 3 Note 65. 
 
88 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 accomplished, with regard to exalting the renown 
 of Nabih, the king of the two and a half tribes, 
 who was beyond the Urdun ; for not a thing of 
 this work had been effected, but for the sole 
 purpose that the renown of Nabih might be 
 glorified, and his name spread abroad. And one 
 object of this was, that if the giants were put to 
 rout they would cross over with them, and, while 
 they were fatigued, follow hard after them ; and 
 it was in their purpose so (to do). And another 
 object of this was, to show up the result of the 
 counsel of the deities of the giants ; for Fin alms 
 alone did blow on the trumpet and dissolved every 
 perplexing machination which the magicians had 
 wrought. And another object of it w r as, that the 
 embarrassment of king Yush'a might continue 
 until the souls of the giants had become strong 
 and their hearts elated and they settled down at 
 ease ; that the army of Nabih might cross over 
 from the east : then would the magic from the 
 west be dissolved, and the army issue forth and 
 close upon the enemy from all directions, until 
 not one of them should escape safe. 
 
 Now this war was the last war that Yush'& the 
 king witnessed ; for the time of his death had 
 drawn near. And we will recount what happen- 
 ed, so that even a hearer shall be as if he had 
 been a witness of it ; and he will be astonished at 
 this great stratagem, and will praise Him who is 
 powerful over all circumstances and spirits. 
 Blessed and exalted and glorious be He above 
 all that the ignorant heathen mention. Mighty 
 be his name ; and He it is from whom help is to 
 be sought, and in whom trust is to be placed. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 89 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF HOW GOD FACILITATED THE 
 ESCAPE OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAIL FROM 
 THE MAGICIANS. 
 
 When Yiish'a beheld what had come to pass 
 unto him, he remained in great perplexity and 
 exceeding fear, and began to desire of his Lord 
 that a dove might alight upon him from the 
 doves of Nabih his cousin ; and he had not 
 finished expressing his desire before the dove 
 alighted in the room, and he praised God — 
 Mighty and Powerful : then he looked at it and 
 knew that deliverance was certain. And he 
 commenced and wrote a letter unto Nabih, his 
 cousin, which I am about to make mention of, 
 by the will of God and His assistance. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 A STATEMENT OF A COPY OF THE LETTER. 
 
 " I write unto thee, O my cousin — may God 
 protect thee and take care of thee, while I am 
 sad of heart, weak in strength, with weeping 
 eyes, humbled in soul, on the very verge of 
 destruction, and three hundred thousand men 
 along with me ; for the stratagem of the mag- 
 icians has been accomplished upon us, and I and 
 my people are imprisoned and perplexed inside 
 seven walls of iron, and in front of us are thirty- 
 six kings in complete joy and universal exulta- 
 tion, while we are in sadness and weeping and 
 fear thereby. And now such an affair as this 
 
90 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 had not been effectuated against us, except only 
 that there might be accomplished what God — 
 may He be exalted — desires with reference to 
 the exaltation of thy renown, and the spreading 
 abroad of thy authority ; and God, God is the 
 One, O my cousin, Who makes weak and makes 
 strong. And truly thou knowest what cove- 
 nants and compacts exist between me and thee, 
 so rise up immediately and do not sleep ; and 
 if thou art asleep, awake: and if thou art awake, 
 sit up; and if thou art sitting, stand up ; and if 
 thou art standing, walk ; and if thou art walking, 
 run ; for I and the company of thy brethren, 
 who are looking for deliverance from God — 
 exalted be He — and thee, are imprisoned inside 
 seven walls of iron at el-Lejjun, and the host 
 of the enemies are in el-Qaimun : so let not 
 slackness nor rest nor laziness nor hesitation 
 overtake thee, but outstrip the blowing winds 
 and make manifest that by which thou shalt be 
 remembered unto the end of the gliding ages, by 
 the will of God and His assistance." And when 
 Yush'a had finished folding the letter, the dove 
 did not wait until it had been tied on to its 
 wings, but snatched it in its bill and napped its 
 wings and soared aloft. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF NABIH AND WHAT HE DID. 
 
 Now Nabih was sitting upon his judgment 
 throne, his waist girded up and on him a green 
 robe and a green turban, and he was engaged in 
 looking into the judicial affairs when the dove 
 threw the note into the room, and he opened it 
 and read it, and his eyes gushed forth with tears 
 and he cried aloud, at which the court became 
 
THE SAMARITAN HOOK OF JOSHUA. 91 
 
 agitated. And lie himself then cried out at the 
 top of his voice : " Assembly of my brothers and 
 my cousins and my comrades ! follow me, and 
 reach your brethren ; for they are imprisoned 
 by magic inside seven walls of iron at el-Lejjun. 
 Assembly of men ! haste ! haste ! ! " And they 
 that were around him shouted out with a mighty 
 shout, the sound of which was heard unto the 
 horizon of heaven and to the regions of the 
 earth, which were their assigned lands. And 
 now the shout increased and voices were inter- 
 mingled, and there mustered immediately, as 
 though they had been for a long time and period 
 prepared and equipt, six thousand men whose 
 garments were white and their horses red, and 
 six thousand men whose garments were red and 
 their horses white, and six thousand men whose 
 garments were green and their horses black, and 
 six thousand men whose garments were black 
 and their horses piebald ; not to mention the 
 variously colored and renowned ones who were 
 many and without number. And the women 
 and children joined in rendering aid. And there 
 went forth of the men an innumerable mul- 
 titude ; and Nabih went forth, riding upon a 
 celebrated colt that was spotted like a leopard 
 and was fleet as the winds, and behind him was 
 his army and he was saying : " Fire ! Fire ! ! no 
 rest and no repose ! "* And the shout rose up 
 on high, and a wonderful warning presented 
 itself in the sky, so that the birds dropped down 
 one after another and fled away from the great 
 wind into the desert, and wild animals did not 
 remain quiet in their dens, and from these was 
 witnessed (an omen) the like of which had never 
 been beheld in the past. And when Nabih drew 
 near to the great meadow, 2 he halted until his 
 army had collected together. And it came to 
 
 1 Note 66. 2 Note 67. 
 
92 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 pass that the mother of Shaubak went up to a 
 lookout she had in el-Qaimun to worship the 
 great luminary according to her custom, and 
 when she beheld the luminous star — that is to 
 say Nabih — rising up out of the east, she made 
 haste to descend unto her son, and she said to 
 him : " Lo ! a luminous moon is rising up out of 
 the east, and about him are brilliant stars — 
 meaning Nabih and his soldiers ; and if he be of 
 our enemies, O woe unto thee and woe unto me ; 
 but if he be for our assistance, then it is well 
 with thee and well with me." And he became 
 enraged at her because she had hastened unto 
 him with woe, and he killed her — may God 
 have no mercy on her. And he put on his 
 armor and took his bow and arrows studded 
 with pearls and corals, and then made procla- 
 mation throughout his army and advanced alone 
 against Nabih ; and when he drew near to him 
 and beheld him, he said unto him : " O Nabih, 
 what is the matter with thee that thou bark- 
 est?" 3 And he answered him: "Yes, my name 
 is Nabih, the son of Gil' ad the son of Makir the 
 son of Manashsheh the son of Yusaf to whom was 
 given the kingdom of Y'aqub the son of Ishaq the 
 son of Ibrahim who killed the kings of esh-Sham; 
 and my lord has sent me to anathematize thee 
 and destroy thee, and as my father killed thy 
 father so will his (my father's) son kill his (thy 
 father's) son : and now, O thou anathematized ! 
 O thou unclean one ! who art thou ? " And he 
 said to him : " I am Shaubak, the son of Hamam 
 the son of Fut (Phut), the son of Ham, the son 
 of Nuh whom God did bless at the time he came 
 out of the ark. Stand for me until I shoot first, 
 and then I next will receive (thy shot)." And 
 Nabih said unto him : " Of God I ask assistance, 
 because thou shalt shoot first and kill first. Let 
 8 Note 68. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 93 
 
 drive, O anathematized, O, unclean one ! " So 
 he (Shaubak) let drive at him with the first ar- 
 row : now he was — God curse him — a man shoot- 
 ing with determination and confidence who never 
 missed the mark. But Nabih dodged his head, 
 and it passed by him and did not hit him. 
 Thereupon he shot at him a second arrow; but 
 Nabih lifted himself in the air, and it passed be- 
 tween him and his saddle. And he shot a third 
 arrow ; and he (Nabih) countered it with his 
 right hand. And Shaubak the son of Hamam 
 began to desire to flee away, and Nabih said unto 
 him : " Whither dost thou flee, O anathematized, 
 O unclean one ? I have received from thee three 
 witnesses (of thy skill), now receive of its kind 
 one witness from me : take this from my right 
 hand which God has blessed — and to Him be- 
 longs the mighty power." Then Nabih shot it, 
 and the arrow rose up to heaven and reversing 
 came down into the head of the man, and pene- 
 trated to his belly and to the belly of his horse, 
 and plunged into the earth to a depth of five 
 royal cubits, which is twelve cubits according to 
 this cubit, and in that place immediately a foun- 
 tain gushed forth, which is called 'Ain en-Nush- 
 shabeh (the Fountain of the Arrow) unto this 
 time. And when the children of Israil witnessed 
 this miracle, they shouted out in honor of God — 
 Glorious and Mighty — saying : " There is no 
 power or might except in God." And when 
 Yush'a and they who were imprisoned with him 
 heard them, God made a revelation unto him, 
 saying : " Speak unto the priests that they sound 
 with the two trumpets." And when they had 
 done so, the walls crumbled and fell down ; and 
 the army closed in upon the enemies, and the 
 trumpets of the angels were heard from heaven. 
 And Yush'a said to the day : " Stand still for 
 me," and it stood still : and to the winds : " As- 
 
94 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 sist me," and they assisted him. And while the 
 enemies were hurling from the east, the west 
 wind was returning each missile unto its hurler, 4 
 and thus was it also from all quarters. And as 
 to the man who had the thunderbolt with him, 
 when he hurled it, it leaped back upon the ene- 
 mies and killed of them one thousand men ; and 
 the sword continued doing its work among the 
 rest of them, until the horses plunged in blood 
 up to their nostrils. 5 Then said Yush'a to his 
 people : " This day has annihilated the power of 
 the confederates and of the allies of the confed- 
 erates. All the children of Israil should offer 
 praises and halleluiahs to the King of kings and 
 Lord of lords, who has rescued them and pre- 
 served them, and protected them, and delivered 
 them, and uprooted their enemies." And the 
 king was offering praise, and saying : " God is 
 the one who acts as the Hero for us in the wars, 
 God is His name." And the children of Israil 
 followed him, while all of them were saying : 
 " Who is like unto Thee, perfect in holiness ? 
 O, One who dost inspire terror ! O Revealer of 
 secret things ! O Doer of wonders ! O One 
 who dost protect His servants and those who 
 love Him, in every place wherein they dwell ! " 
 Now, this is one of the paragraphs of our master 
 Musa the Prophet — peace be upon him, in his 
 hymn of praise at the sea. 6 And Yush'a more- 
 over said : " God shall fight for you, and ye shall 
 hold your peace." And this also is one of the 
 sayings of Musa the Prophet — peace be upon 
 him. 7 * And they lodged on the field of battle 
 and rested that night ; and they ceased not to 
 commemorate God the whole night long, with 
 hymns of praise and halleluiahs, until the rising 
 of the sun, secure from any attack, amid great 
 noise and merriment and gladness and booty; 
 4 Note 69. 5 Note 70. 6 Exodus xv. 7 Exodus xiv : 14. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 95 
 
 now that their enemies were destroyed and the 
 remembrance of them blotted out. And God is 
 the Victor, the Protector, the Guardian, and He 
 is our sufficiency and illustrious Protector. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF WHAT WAS DONE DURING THE 
 DAYS OF DIVINE FAVOR. 
 
 Now the length of this period was two hun- 
 dred and sixty years. And the well ordered 
 arrangement of the days of Divine favor existed 
 during the days of Yush'a the king, and after 
 him until the termination of this period ; as lam 
 about to mention and set forth. And they (the 
 children of Israil) continued keeping the Sab- 
 baths and the solemn assemblies — I mean, the 
 new moons and the feasts, and from the era of 
 the king they continued giving the land rest, 
 one year in every seven years ; in this year there 
 was neither sowing nor cultivation, but yet 
 every one had what was needed. And the 
 children of Israil were delivering over to the 
 Liwanites the tenth of all that came to them, 
 and what they possessed of every seed-sow- 
 ing and fruit, and animal and other things. 
 And the Liwanite was delivering over the 
 tenth of this unto the high priest. And the 
 children of Israil had another tenth, which 
 before God they were disposing of, for themselves 
 and for the imams and the infirm. And when 
 they planted in the ground a new plant, its fruit 
 was not eaten, except when in the fourth year 
 the imam ate of it, and then in the fifth it be- 
 came released and made free to every one. And 
 the Hebrew slave who had served seven years 
 was emancipated, and dominion over him was 
 
96 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 taken away. And when an Israelite, driven by- 
 want, sold his child and himself, there was always 
 to him a right of ransom, and his account was 
 settled, with reference to his years of service to 
 come, on a basis of wages. And if there was not 
 found for the Hebrew slave either a near or distant 
 relative who would ransom him, he was set free 
 in the year of jubilee ; and so likewise was it 
 with their lands which had been sold. And 
 there was in every seven years a division of the 
 land among the tribes, with reference to overplus 
 and deficiency. And they always had chiefs 
 whose duty it was to write up the calendars and 
 keep a record of the things which were brought 
 to the treasury. And the firstlings of animals 
 and seeds and fruits were carried unto the min- 
 ister ; and not a single ram or sheep or ox was 
 sacrificed except upon the altar on the Blessed 
 Mount, unless it was defective and was of the 
 seven species, such as, the deer and the roebuck 
 and the buffalo and the gazelle and the antelope 
 and the giraffe. And they had judges who gave 
 decisions for .them, as to the commands and pro- 
 hibitions (to be observed) at all times, so that 
 they might keep them with right observance. 
 And no one of them was able to commit an 
 abomination, such as infidelity and other things 
 of magic, but that it was brought to light, and 
 the doer of the shameful thing, before he was 
 aware would be apprehended, even though he 
 was in the most remote parts of the assigned lands, 
 for this was revealed by the jewels which were 
 on the minister. 1 And this minister would 
 make a woman drink of the water of the temple, 
 when her husband had suspicions against her ; 
 and if she had indeed been unfaithful to him and 
 had become defiled with some one else, he would 
 curse her ; for if she was innocent in this regard, 
 1 Note 5 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 97 
 
 then she would return unharmed; but if she 
 was guilty she was detected and immediately 
 destroyed. And likewise it was that, no one did 
 kill an innocent person, but that his murderer 
 was made known by circumstances which were 
 brought about, and the truth came to light. 
 And there were transgressions and shortcom- 
 mings and brutal deeds which the slaves did 
 without due consideration, these did the min- 
 ister, the imam, assume upon himself on every 
 fast day, which is the tenth day of the seventh 
 month wherein expiation is made for souls and 
 spirits, such as for the raising of leavened bread 
 during the feast of unleavened bread. And 
 there were orders of the Liwanites, some of them 
 wrote the Law, and some of them wrote hymns 
 of praise and the genealogies, and some of them 
 watched over the treasury of the children of 
 Israil ; and some of them had charge over the 
 constant, perpetual burnt offering, and the con- 
 tinual ceremony in the temple ; and some of them 
 had charge over the anointing ointment, and the 
 aromatic incense, and the perfume of the sacri- 
 fice, and the flour and the oil, and the candle- 
 sticks ; and some of them had charge over the 
 vessels of the temple and their arrangement, and 
 the duty of looking after their condition ; and 
 some of them selected the animals (for sacrifice) 
 out from the doubtful ones ; and some of them 
 did the sacrificing ; and some of them sprinkled 
 the blood upon the altar ; and others of them 
 did place in position the victims ; yea, every 
 company was organized for its special official 
 work, and did not leave what had been pre- 
 scribed unto it. And the continual burnt offer- 
 ing was offered up before the rising of the sun 
 and after the going down of the same ; and at 
 the time when the blood of the burnt-offering 
 was shed upon the altar, the priests sounded the 
 7 
 
98 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 trumpet on the summit of the Blessed Mount, 
 and then the imams sounded in every district, 
 and it was but the wink of an eye before all the 
 children of Israil knew that the sacrifices had 
 been offered up on the altar, and they rose up to 
 pray ; and the prayer was accepted, and the bless- 
 ings were simultaneously bestowed, and Grace 
 was full and Mercy all embracing ; yea, circum- 
 stances were well ordered, and affairs were 
 known and understood through the Divine light 
 and auspicious favor ; for the union between 
 them and their Lord was close. Now this is an 
 epitome of the whole. And the children of 
 Israil were continually addressing and consult- 
 ing God, who guides with His mercy. And He 
 is our sufficiency and illustrious Protector. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE DURATION OF THE DAYS 
 OF DIVINE FAVOR, UP TO THE TIME OF THE 
 BEGINNING OF ERROR. 
 
 Yush'a the son of Nun, reigned forty-five 
 years, 1 and at the approach of his death, he 
 assembled the children of Israil and put them 
 under a covenant and bound them to an ob- 
 ligation that they would carefully keep what 
 the Prophet Musa — peace be upon him — 
 had enrolled, and he then offered up for him- 
 self and for them the sacrifices, and bid them 
 farewell ; for he did closely what our master 
 Musa the Prophet — peace be upon him, — did, 
 when he bid farewell. And he selected twelve 
 chiefs from the congregation of the nine and a 
 half tribes, and when he had tested them as to 
 their knowledge and aptitude for administration, 
 1 Note 71. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 99 
 
 he cast lots over them in the presence of the 
 congregation of the children of Israil, at Merj 
 el-Baha (Meadow of Beauty) 2 ; and the lot of 
 king fell upon a man whose name was Abil, the 
 son of the brother of Kalab, 3 of the Judaic 
 tribe. And he invested him with the royal 
 authority and jurisdiction, and placed on him the 
 crown, and had proclamation made throughout 
 the congregation that they should be obedient 
 to his commands. And lie commanded him to 
 be obedient unto the minister of God, and allow 
 him an inspection into all his circumstances, and 
 not to carry out a matter before that he had 
 made it known to him, And Yush'a, the son of 
 Nun — peace be upon him, died, and they buried 
 him in Kefr Ghuweirah 4 ; and Kalab his com- 
 rade died, and they buried him near him. And 
 this new king entered upon administrating the 
 government of the people, and lie walked with 
 them in perfect ways. And the report of the 
 death of Yush'a reached the king Mab, and he 
 sent and collected troops, and advanced against 
 his territory ; and this king (Abil) mustered his 
 people, and God assisted him to gain the victory 
 over them, and awe of him fell upon the remainder 
 of his enemies, and lie conquered territories and 
 added them unto the assigned lands. And he 
 reigned nine years, and then died. And after 
 him, Tarfi'a of the tribe of Afrim (Ephraim) 5 
 was appointed successor, and when he was in- 
 vested with the kingship, the king of 'Amman 
 (Ammon) marched against him ; but God as- 
 sisted him to gain the victory over him, and he 
 continued in rule during the period that God 
 had decreed to him, and then he died. There- 
 upon after him, up to the end of the space of 
 time, which has been previously mentioned — and 
 it is two hundred and sixty years, there were 
 2 Note 72. 3 Note 73. 4 Note 74. 5 Note 75. 
 
100 THE SAMAhlTAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 nine kings appointed to the office, who succeeded 
 one another from all the tribes, and continued 
 in their ruling two hundred and fifteen years ; 
 for Yush'a the son of Nun had reigned for the 
 rest of the years. And the last of them was 
 Shamsham (Samson) the king, who was unique 
 among them : no one was seen as handsome as 
 he, and who obtained greater victories over their 
 enemies. Yet nevertheless, strength and beauty 
 and success and perfection shall be adjudged unto 
 those who follow after them in the footsteps of 
 those who have preceded them, and who act in 
 accordance with their deeds, and offer sacrifices 
 similar to their sacrifices. 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 THE HISTOEY OF THE VICEGERENTS OF THE LORD, 
 AND OF THE MINISTERS OF THE DAYS OF DI- 
 VINE FAVOR, DURING THE PRECEDING PERIOD 
 THAT HAS BEEN MENTIONED. 
 
 When the death of el-'Azar, the imam — 
 peace be upon him, — drew near, he did as Yush'& 
 the son of Nun had done, and collected the lead- 
 ers of the children of Israil, and put them under 
 a covenant and bound them to an obligation of 
 obedience, and bid them farewell, and then bid 
 the temple farewell, and worshipped his Lord ; 
 and when he came walking out, the holy odors 
 were fragrant on the borders of his garments. 
 And having gone to Kefr Ghuweirah, he stripped 
 off the holy garments which were on him, and 
 placed them upon his son Fin alias — peace be 
 upon him — and he died and was buried in Kefr 
 Ghuweirah ; and all the children of Israil wept 
 for him, after the custom of their fathers. And 
 after him his son was installed, and he did as 
 
THE SAMABITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 101 
 
 his father had done. And when his death ap- 
 proached, he also bound them to a covenant, and 
 offered up the sacrifices, and bid farewell ; and, 
 having gone to Kefr Ghuweirah, stripped off the 
 holy garments which were on him, and jout them 
 upon the one of his offspring who was to succeed 
 him, and then lie died and was buried in that 
 place. 1 And after him there were installed five 
 ministers for the Lord, and they served Him with 
 acceptable service, and did as they who had gone 
 before them had done, even up to the period that 
 has been mentioned ; and its days were well 
 managed, adorned with the Light and with ce- 
 lestial and terrestrial happiness, up to the in- 
 stalment of 'Uzi, the last of the vicegerents of 
 the Lord 2 in the days of Divine favor, and he was 
 a young man. And the king of that time died, 
 and another king was not appointed. Now the 
 number of the years of the earth, from the time 
 of Adam up to this time, was three thousand and 
 fifty-four years. And there were gathered unto 
 them, before the death of Shams ham, a great 
 multitude, so that if it was spread over the earth 
 it would have filled the world, by reason of the 
 abundance with which God had blessed them, 
 and multiplied their possessions. But now there 
 came to pass that which Musa, the Prophet — 
 peace be upon him, — had spoken of in the address 
 that he delivered ; " Y'aqub shall eat, and be 
 satisfied ; Israil shall wax fat ; " and let it be 
 looked up to the end of the chapter in that great 
 song. 3 For then they did go astray from the 
 way which he had prescribed unto them, that 
 they should keep to and do. And the Omnipo- 
 tent is our sufficiency ; the Most Glorious, the 
 One who is slow to chastise the rebellious. 
 1 Note 76. 3 Deut. xxxii. 2 Note 77. 
 
102 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE BEGINNING OF ERROR 
 AFTER THE DEATH OF SHAMSHAM, THE KING 
 OF THAT TIME. 
 
 Now he was the ruling judge over the children 
 of IsrH.il, and took great revenge upon the na- 
 tions, and destroj'ed a multitude of them. And 
 when they were informed of his death, they as- 
 sembled and bound themselves together by oath, 
 and great zeal took possession of them. And 
 when they read in the books of Bila'am, that 
 these people could never be destroyed except by 
 unbelief and pollution, they began to have 
 recourse to devices to obtain a knowledge of how 
 to work magic, and they did not leave a place, 
 however remote in distance, which was pres- 
 cribed for this profession, but that they sent 
 messengers in search of it ; and they obtained 
 therefrom an ample share of the appearance of 
 miracles, the like of which dupe the common 
 people. And they sent some of the learned doc- 
 tors from among their companions, and with them 
 this knowledge ; and they arrived in the neigh- 
 borhood of the house of God. Now there was at 
 this time no king administering the government, 
 nor saint overlooking the holy matters. And the 
 doctors entered into dealings with a company of 
 the children of Israil who were people of pride, 
 and expounded unto them the secret doctrine, 
 and instructed for them one hundred men of the 
 people, and wrought it out through their agency. 
 And they inaugurated this audacious procedure 
 and action, on a hill to the south of the Blessed 
 i Note 78. 
 
TEE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 103 
 
 Mount, and the place, from the sum of their num- 
 ber, received the name el-Miat. Thereupon they 
 set to building up the place and offering sacri- 
 fices to idols, which effect no profit either in the 
 present or in the future. Then the company 
 removed, through fear of the children of Isiail, to 
 the west of the Blessed Mount; and on their 
 going, their like followed after them, and they 
 settled in a village on the slope of a mountain, 
 and the place, from the number of their com- 
 pany, received the name el-Miatai, and in it they 
 resided a brief time. Thereupon the} T removed 
 from it ; for they had multiplied in numbers and 
 increased and branched out, and the place, on 
 account of their great number, received the name 
 Fer'ata. 2 And God did not manifest His re- 
 buke nor anger, until the affair of these infidels 
 had reached unto all the leaders of the children 
 of Israil, throughout all their assigned lands. 
 And when they became careless and negligent 
 about rising up against them, and had turned 
 aside and become polluted ; for some of them 
 were overcome with cowardice and laziness, and 
 others of them were engrossed, each one in his 
 own possessions and wealth and riches and pride, 
 and supposed that poverty would not overtake 
 him though he might over-ride the world ; and 
 others of them were jealous, and the greater part 
 of their will was bent towards waywardness. 
 And the saints of God were overcome with blind- 
 ness and confusion and cowardice ; for envy was 
 rife in the tribe of Finahas, and discord reigned 
 among them. Now when these infamous deeds 
 and brutal affairs were carried out, the angels 
 shrunk away from them, and the Creator became 
 angry at them and took away 1 1 is presence from 
 them, and from the Blessed Mount ; and the 
 light which had shone forth in the temple de- 
 
 2 Note 79. 
 
104 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 parted, and the Divine fire which had not been 
 separated from the offerings upon the two altars 
 was taken away ; and decline was perfected in 
 them, and disaster came upon them ; for their 
 sight was blinded. And we take refuge in God 
 from misfortune, and of Him — mighty be His 
 name — do we ask assistance. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF HOW THE BEGINNING OF ERROR 
 WAS STOPPED AMONG THE PEOPLE. 
 
 When it was the morning of the second day 
 (of the week), the first (day) of the year 361 of 
 the reign of Divine favor— which day is known 
 for greatest calamity and mightiest disaster 
 and long lasting sorrow and wide-spread grief, 
 which is like unto the day on which our father 
 Adam was expelled from the garden, even the 
 day in which was announced his death and the 
 death of his seed — 'Ozi, the imam, the saint of 
 God whose greatness was spoiled and whose 
 glory was ruined and whose holiness was de- 
 stroyed and whose light was extinguished, passed, 
 in the morning of this day — the calamities of 
 which have been mentioned — to the temple, 
 and lifted up the veil of the inner holy house, 
 and he beheld none of the signs of Divine favor. 
 And he looked, and lo ! dense darkness, and a 
 black cloud spread abroad within the house, and 
 he remained performing alternate service during 
 the third day and the fourth ; and when it was 
 the morning of the fifth day, he looked at this 
 .darkness, and lo ! it had spread and enveloped 
 the foundations of the house ; and then he knew 
 that God — Mighty and Powerful — had become 
 
 1 Note 80. 
 
THE SAMARITAN HOOK OF JOSHUA. 105 
 
 angry at them, and bad taken away the light of 
 His omnipotence and mercy and compassion from 
 the place and from the children of Israil. And 
 he began to gather up the vestments of the 
 temple and the vessels of gold and silver, which 
 had been made from the days of the Prophet — 
 peace be upon him, — and went out from the 
 tabernacle. And God revealed unto him, in the 
 Blessed Mount an open cave, which no one had 
 beheld in thatplace before that day, and he took 
 all that he found in the temple and placed them 
 in that cave. And when he came out of it he 
 wrote upon its mouth an inscription in his own 
 handwriting, and made a list of what he had 
 placed in it, and distinguished it with signs ; 
 them he turned to look again, and could find 
 neither cave nor sign nor writing. 2 Thereupon 
 he lifted up his voice in weeping and wailing and 
 lamentation, and there gathered unto him the 
 company of the Liwanites, and the twelve chiefs 
 who acted with him, and likewise the seventy 
 wise men, and they made inquiry of him as to 
 his weeping and crying, and he informed them of 
 what had been revealed unto him. And when he 
 explained unto them about the Divine wrath and 
 what was befalling them and their people, they 
 rent their garments and beat their faces and bowed 
 down their heads, and assembled their company 
 and began enumerating what things God — 
 Might}' and Powerful — had bountifully be- 
 stowed upon them, and what they now beheld 
 of punishment and banishment and sorrow and 
 calamity, and they did say : " Woe unto us and 
 to our children after us, and how great is the 
 exultation of the enemies over our misfortune ! 
 How great is the joy of the confederates over 
 thee, O Israil ! thy guardian is taken away, and 
 who will now look after thee ? Thy prop is taken 
 2 Note 81. 
 
106 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 away, and who will now support thee ? Thy king 
 is taken away, and who will now help thee ? 
 Thy power is taken away, and who will now 
 strengthen thee ? The Compassionate has become 
 angry at thee, and who will now show pity ? 
 Signs were shown for thy sake, Misr was devas- 
 tated for thee, the Divine power appeared in thy 
 behalf, the sea was divided that thou mightest 
 cross, Fir'aum and his people perished that thou 
 mightest be preserved, manna descended for thy 
 sustenance, bitter water became sweet to satisfy 
 thy thirst, the voice of the Creator was heard 
 for thy instruction, the rock brought forth water 
 to test thee, 'Amlaq was put to route at thy 
 desire, the Creator let the Divine power dwell 
 round about thee for thy protection, and His 
 name alighted upon thee that thy enemies might 
 have fear of thee. He placed the pillar of cloud 
 as a sign of His tender compassion for thee. He 
 closed up the two mountains of the valley el- 
 Mujib (Arnon), 3 that thou mightest pass over 
 safel}*. He destroyed Sihun and 'Ug, that thou 
 mightest inherit their cities and possessions. He 
 struck with terror the kings of 'Amman and 
 Mab and Mid} r an, that thou mightest plunder 
 their cattle. He stopped the water of the 
 Urdun, that He might display thy power and 
 make prominent thy glory and exalt thy 
 fame. He killed the seven tyrant kings, that 
 He might give to thee their land and their cities, 
 and their kingdom. He gave over to destruction 
 those who assembled together for thy slaughter. 
 He extirpated Shaubak the son of Hamam, and 
 those kings who were assembled with him to 
 slay thee. He commanded the heavens and the 
 earth to guard thee and protect thee. He re- 
 moved the calamities of the skies and stars from 
 thee and from thy country. He surrounded 
 3 Note 46. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 107 
 
 thee with the greatest prosperity and the largest 
 blessing. He assigned unto thee the most ex- 
 alted places, and the most glorious of which is 
 the Gate of Paradise. 4 He gave unto thee a 
 kingdom in which no one boasteth besides thy- 
 self. He bestowed abundantly upon thee His 
 grace, the like of which was never heard of in 
 former ages. He assisted thee with His angels, 
 and His omnipotence. He enveloped thee with 
 His mercy, and surrounded thee with His com- 
 passion. He took thee into His keeping with 
 joy on His part, and took thee under His protec- 
 tion among His own. But thou hast forsaken 
 His worship, and renounced belief in His name, 
 which should be exalted, and thou hast wor- 
 shipped one that has not the power to remove 
 calamnity even from himself. Ye have not re- 
 garded those who became infidel, and your Lord 
 has disregarded you. Thou did r st cover up from 
 him, and He has covered up His face from you. 
 Our master Musa, the Prophet — the most ex- 
 cellent, peace be upon him — led you aright, but 
 ye did not believe him. He informed you, but 
 ye hearkened not unto him. He instructed you, 
 but ye obeyed him not. Yush'a, his disciple, 
 made covenant with you, but ye sported with 
 him. Whither does your flight tend ? Whom 
 will ye find as a refuge for 3-ourselves ? From 
 whence will ye find help for yourselves ? Who 
 will rescue } r ou from your enemies ? Ye supposed 
 that your victory resulted from the multitude of 
 men, when, lo, the victory was the result of good 
 behavior. Where are those who know our 
 leaders ? Where is the one to whom our hearts 
 plight faith ? Where is the one who has pity on 
 our infants? Where is the one who hears our 
 voices ? Where is the one who makes atone- 
 ment for our sins and transgressions ? Where is 
 
 4 Note 82. 
 
108 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 the one who makes manifest our power? Where 
 is the one who renders our glory conspicuous 
 here ? " And they now felt remorse where re- 
 morse profited them nothing, while their weep- 
 ing became great and their lamentations violent. 
 Thereupon the}' took vows upon themselves that 
 they would commemorate this sorrow, on the 
 second and fifth days (of the week) always, until 
 the favor of God — glorious be His might — ■ 
 should return unto them. And He is the one 
 who knows when it will return ; and we pvay 
 Him to remove His anger, and let fall the veil of 
 His protection over us, through His greatness 
 and compassion. Lo, He is a hearer and answerer 
 (of prayer). 
 
 CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE ERRING MAN WHO WAS EN- 
 VIOUS OF THE DESCENDANT OF FIN AH AS THE 
 IMAM — PEACE BE UPON HIM. 
 
 Discord had arisen between the descendant of 
 Finahas ('Ozi) and his cousin Hi (Eli), whose 
 name being interpreted means ; the insidious. 
 This erring man was of the tribe of Itamar 
 (Ithamar) the brother of el-'Azar the imam. 1 
 Now the right of administration belonged to the 
 tribe of Finahas, and it was the one which was 
 offering up the sacrifices upon the brazen altar, 
 and stone altar. And this man — the insidious — 
 was fifty years old, and being great in riches had 
 obtained for himself the lordship over the treas- 
 ure house of the children of Israil ; and he had 
 obtained, through the knowledge of magic, what 
 he had acquired of riches, proud rank and wealth. 
 And his self-importance being great in his own 
 i Note 83. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 109 
 
 estimation, lie gathered to himself a company, and 
 said unto them : "I am one to whom to serve a 
 boy is impossible, and I will not reconcile myself 
 to this, and I hope that ye will not be content to 
 have me do this. " 2 And the company answered 
 him : "We are under thy command, and under 
 obedience to thee : command us in whatsoever 
 thou wiliest." And he put them under covenant 
 that they would follow him unto the place where 
 they purposed going on the morning of the 
 second day (of the week). And he offered up 
 offering on the altar without salt, 3 as if he was 
 ignorant, and immediately started out on the 
 journey with his outfit and company, and cattle, 
 and every thing that he possessed, and settled in 
 Seilun (Shiloh). And he gathered the children 
 of Israil into a schismatical sect, and held corre- 
 spondence with their leaders, and said unto them : 
 " Whoever desires to behold miracles, let him 
 come unto me." And there was collected to him 
 a multitude in Seilun, and he built for himself 
 a shrine there, and organized matters for himself 
 in it on the model of the temple, 4 and erected in 
 it one altar, 5 on which he might sacrifice and 
 offer up offerings. And he had two sons, who 
 used to gather the women into the temple in the 
 morning, and lie with them, and would eat up 
 all that was present of the offerings of wine, 
 and other things. Moreover he commanded the 
 men that they should salute him before they r 
 offered their offerings. And this man continued 
 diverting the people by magic, for the space of 
 forty years ; for God — exalted, exalted be He ; 
 glorious be His might — delayed this unto him. 
 And there was Sliamul (Samuel) of the tribe of 
 Harun, the Liwanite, 6 the magician and the in- 
 fidel ; for his father had delivered him over to 
 him (Eli) when he was four years old, saying 
 2 ^ote 84. 3 Xote 85. 4 Xote s<>. 5 Note 87. 6 Note 88. 
 
110 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 unto him : " This is a son whom I have received 
 in fulfilment of a desire, 7 and it occurred sud- 
 denly to my mind that this boy ought to serve 
 in this temple throughout the days of his life." 
 So the erring man received him, and instructed 
 him, and revealed unto him hidden things ; and 
 he grew to be as potent in the working of magic 
 as he himself was. And blessed be God who 
 does not punish the rebellious, except after long 
 delay and showing mercy unto them. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF THE CAUSE OF THE DESTRUC- 
 TION OF THIS ERRING MAN, AND OF HIS SONS 
 AND COMPANY. 
 
 When the nations heard of the schism among 
 the children of Israil, there gathered together of 
 them a multitude of those who were inhabiting 
 ^ufa (Joppa) and Ludd (Lod, Lydda) and Beit 
 Jibril 1 and Ghuzzeh (Gaza) and other places, 
 and they carried out the plan of making an at- 
 tack upon the company that was in Seilun. And 
 the army of the erring man went forth to meet 
 them, but it was overthrown and put to rout, 
 and there were killed of his companions four 
 thousand men. And the troops returned to their 
 friends, and said unto him (Eli) : " Forsooth 
 the cause of our rout is, that the ark of gold was 
 not with us ; " so he delivered unto them the 
 ark, and sent forth his two sons with them, and 
 the flower of his army, in place of the first 
 (army). Now they of the nations who had as- 
 sembled had arranged an ambush, and upon the 
 sallying forth of his army, the army of the nations 
 closed in upon them, and the sword did its work 
 7 Note 89. 1 Note 90. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. HI 
 
 among them ; and the ark was taken, and the 
 two sons were slain. And one of those that had 
 escaped safe, stained his garments with their 
 blood, and came to their father, while he was 
 sitting upon his seat, and said to him : " Disas- 
 trous news for thee ; for thy two sons are killed, 
 and my garments are even stained with their 
 blood, and the ark of gold has been taken, and 
 the sword has annihilated thy people." And 
 when he heard tidings such as this, he threw him- 
 self backwards off his seat, and his neck was 
 broken, and he died. And when his daughter- 
 in-law heard of this calamity —now she was big 
 with child — the pains of childbirth grew violent 
 in her, and she died. And so this man received 
 reward for his action in this world, and he shall 
 also be brought to account in the next. Blessed 
 be He, whom no affair escapes, and from whom 
 nothing is hidden. Blessed be He and exalted. 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF BOKHTONASSAR (NEBUCHAD- 
 NEZZAR), THE KING OF EL-MAUSIL (MOSUL), 
 WHICH IS FOUND IN THE BOOKS OF THE CHRON- 
 ICLES OF HIS DEEDS. 
 
 He was one of the kings of the Persians, who 
 had conquered the countries and subdued the 
 people, and the kings obeyed him. And he re- 
 stored the authority of all the kings of esh-Sham, 
 and they went to the king of el-Quds (Jerusa- 
 lem), and entered into agreement with him that 
 they would come under the rule of Bokhtonas- 
 sar, and become submissive to his decrees. And 
 they continued so twelve years ; but when it was 
 the thirteenth year, they broke the compact and 
 revolted, and he pardoned them. And when he 
 
112 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 warned them, and they were not affected with 
 fear, he marched against them in the fourteenth 
 year, and destroyed whomsoever of them he met. 
 And he directed his march toward el-Quds, and 
 besieged it till he captured it, and he killed in 
 it with great slaughter, and took its king and 
 put out his eyes and sent him to Beit-A . . , x 
 and burned all the buildings and the edifice 
 which Sulaiman (Solomon) the son of Dawid 
 (David) had constructed. Then he turned aside 
 towards our country — that is this country — and 
 made proclamation therein, that : tw Whosoever 
 was found remaining in it after seven days, the 
 shedding of his blood would be permissible." 
 Thereupon he took to goading the people and 
 driving them out unto every country, and brought 
 people from el-Furs (Persia) and settled them in 
 this country, the home of the children of Israil, 
 who now got to the most remote parts of the 
 world, scattered and dispersed throughout the 
 regions east and west. And the word of the 
 Holy Law came true : " And God shall scatter 
 thee among all people, from the one end of the 
 earth even unto the other end of the earth." 2 
 And after a certain time had passed by, let- 
 ters were brought back from the Persians who 
 were dwelling in their (the children of Israil's) 
 territory in esh-Sham, regarding the earth's 
 refusing her crops and fruits ; for when the fruit 
 promised well the destroying blight would waste 
 it. 3 And the letters in regard to this reached 
 the king, and he had the leaders of the chil- 
 dren of Israil brought before him, and made 
 inquiry of them about this state of affairs, and 
 they said : " The cause of this is our removal, 
 and the abandonment in it of the service 
 of our Lord; and we do praise God for its 
 disorder, so that we may return unto it and serve 
 1 Note 91. 2 Deut. xxviii : 64. 3 Note 92. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 113 
 
 our Lord upon the Holy Mount, and offer up 
 offerings as He commanded us in His Book, by 
 the hand of His Prophet — peace be upon him. 
 And the king replied to them: " Go and build 
 the house of thy Lord and offer up the offerings, 
 and serve your Lord as was your custom, and I 
 will assist you." And they said to him : " Give 
 unto us a writing by thy own hand unto all our 
 brethren, who are scattered abroad throughout 
 all the regions ; for we cannot return except we 
 all go together." And the king gave them a 
 writing of his hand, permitting them to journey 
 to esh-Sham. And they departed from his pres- 
 ence, glad and rejoicing for what God had kindly 
 bestowed upon them. And the imam and the 
 king sent letters to every place, saying : " Know 
 that the king — may God make him powerful — 
 has granted us permission to go up to the holy 
 place and build it up, and offer up the offerings 
 upon it with the service that is acceptable. And 
 now it is necessary that ye make haste, you and 
 your harem and your children and all that ye 
 possess, that we may assemble and go, and carry 
 out the orders which he has commanded unto us, 
 concerning the service of our Lord — Mighty and 
 Powerful." And the people all came together, 
 and the offspring of Yehudah (Judah) said to 
 them: "We will unite all of us and go to el- 
 Quds, and build it up, and we will be one word 
 and one soul." But the offspring of Harun 
 (Aaron) and Yusaf (Joseph)* said to them : 
 " No, but, on the contrary, we will go up to the 
 Mount of Blessing, and build up the holy place, 
 and we will be one soul and one word." And 
 they persisted in the dispute, until it became 
 necessary that they should come together into 
 the presence of the king. And he decided in 
 favor of them (the descendants of Aaron and 
 * I. e. the priests and the Samaritans. 
 
 8 
 
114 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 Joseph) after this manner : the children of Is- 
 rael, the friends of the Blessed Mount, assembled 
 with the book of Musa, the Prophet — peace be 
 upon him — and relied upon what it said in desig- 
 nating the Blessed Mount, and no place else, as 
 the proper place ; and the offspring of Yehudah 
 assembled, relying upon what certain books writ- 
 ten after the days of Musa, the Prophet — peace 
 be upon him — designated with reference to Beit 
 el-Muqaddas (Jerusalem) being the place. And 
 the books were brought and read in the presence 
 of the king ; and when he had carefully consid- 
 ered this matter, he saw that the intention of all 
 was the Blessed Mount. But Zorobabil (Ze- 
 rubbabel) answered and said unto him : " O 
 king, the book which I have furnishes me with 
 arguments in favor of Beit el-Muqaddas, and the 
 offering up of offerings therein ; wouldst thou 
 then compel me to go up and offer up offerings 
 upon the Blessed Mount? " And Sanballat the 
 Liwanite 4 answered him, saying unto the king : 
 " The books which Zorobabil has are a lie and a 
 fraud. 5 Permit me to throw them into the fire ; 
 and this, my book, if he is able, let him take it 
 and throw it." And the king gave permission 
 unto Sanballat to throw the books of Zorobabil 
 into the fire, and he did this, and they were 
 burned up. Thereupon he gave permission unto 
 Zorobabil to throw the book of Sanballat, and he 
 took it and opened it, but abstained from throw- 
 ing it, and said : " My books are mine alone, 
 but the Holy Book belongs both to him and to 
 me." And the king answered, saying unto Zo- 
 rob&bil : " I see that thy books are false ; why 
 didst thou abstain from throwing his book?" 
 Thereupon, he (Zorobabil) feared lest he be put 
 to death, and he took the Law and cast it into 
 the fire ; and it jumped out of it. And he asked 
 4 Note 93. 5 Note 94. 
 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 115 
 
 permission of him to throw it in a second time ; 
 and it was not affected by the fire in the least. 
 Thereupon, he humbled himself before the king, 
 beseeching him that he might throw the book a 
 third time ; and he granted him permission, and 
 he took it and spat upon a paragraph of it, and 
 then cast it into the fire, and the place which had 
 been spit upon burned, and then it sprang out 
 into the bosom of the king. And the king im- 
 mediately became angry at the children of Ye- 
 lmdah, and put to death immediately of them 
 thirty-six souls of those who were present. But 
 Sanballat, he and his company, obtained great 
 honor with the king ; for the king gave him gifts 
 and presents and chain necklaces and bracelets, 
 and invested him with the silk robe of honor, 
 and promoted their leaders, and sent them away 
 with the whole multitude of Israil who returned 
 from the first exile, and their number was three 
 hundred thousand men. And thereupon they 
 followed the true religion, after having been un- 
 believing; and pursued right guidance, after 
 having wandered into error. And God accepted 
 them and broke the chains of their captivity, 
 through the mercy He had for them and the 
 compassion He felt, and the remembrance He 
 bad for the covenant with Ibrahim and Ishaq 
 and Y'aqub — peace be upon them. And the 
 king sent unto all the Persians who had taken 
 up residence in their assigned land, and removed 
 them from it to their own country ; and the 
 people (of Israil) entered into their assigned 
 land, which is their holy place. And they made 
 the sacred apparatus similar unto that which was 
 in the (former) temple, and the}' offered up a 
 multitude of offerings ; and the earth gave forth 
 its good things, and returned unto its former 
 b -auty and splendor; and with the carrying out 
 of this act (on God's part) nothing was withheld 
 
116 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 from them, nor did he veil to them what of Di- 
 vine power He was wont to veil to their ances- 
 tors. And to every circumstance there is a 
 cause, and to every fate there is a final limit. 
 And of God do we ask assistance, because of 
 what He has benevolently bestowed through His 
 mercy, and upon Him be the trust put. 
 
 CHAPTER XL VI. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF EL-ISKANDAR (ALEXANDER 
 THE GREAT.) 
 
 The whole number of the years from Adam 
 up to the time of king el-Iskandar was three 
 thousand nine hundred and thirty years. And 
 when el-Iskandar undertook the war against 
 Dirawas (Darius) the Persian, he saw in his 
 sleep an angel descending from heaven in the 
 form of an iin&m, and clad in his robes, who said 
 unto him : " Fear not, O hero, thou shalt con- 
 quer Persia ; for I am about to deliver him 
 (Darius) into thy hand : behold God is with 
 thee." So he (Alexander) attacked him (Darius) 
 and killed him. And when each nation was 
 subdued, its imams were brought unto him, in 
 the hope that he might see one like unto that 
 form ; but he saw none. And when he came to 
 Sur (Tyre) to conquer it, there were dwelling 
 in its neighborhood some of the Samarat (Sama- 
 ritans), and these el-Iskandar summoned that he 
 might win them over to his side ; but they would 
 not consent, for they had bound themselves by 
 an oath to this people. And he blamed them, 
 and directed his march towards the region of 
 N&bulus ; and its people came out to meet him, 
 and, when he beheld the form of the chief imam, 
 he hastily descended from his animal, and 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 117 
 
 prostrated himself before him. And when his 
 attendants saw what he did, they also hastily 
 dismounted and prostrated themselves, while all 
 the retinue wondered why he had been bent 
 upon their destruction ; and his companions said 
 to him : u Verily, these people have bewitched 
 thee." But he said to them : " They have 
 exercised no power; by God, I am not bewitched, 
 but only seized with great emotion ; for, verily, 
 at the time of my going forth against Dirawas 
 there met me a man similar to this individual 
 and like unto him in form, who said to me : 'Go 
 forth against Dirawas, and fear not ; for, lo, thou 
 shalt kill him,' and thus it did come to pass." 
 And el-Iskandar was moved with love for the 
 Samarat (Samaritans), and acted kindly toward 
 them, and said unto them : " Verily, your God 
 is the God of Gods and Lord of Lords." 1 And 
 el-Iskandar conquered all the country of el-Hind 
 (India) and Fads (Persia) and er-Rum (Greece) 
 and other places. Then an impulse led him to 
 desire to see the whole earth, whereupon it was 
 planned for him to make a journey into the land 
 of Shades, upon she-asses which had colts, and he 
 carried it out. And when they had tied the 
 colts in the light, they entered upon a journey 
 of three days into the darkness. Thereupon 
 they took of the dust which was upon the ground, 
 and then came out and examined it when they 
 were in the light, and they found that the dust 
 which they had with them was rubies and pearls, 
 whereupon he regretted that he had not taken 
 more of it than he had ; for who would not take 
 what someone has abandoned ? 2 And he said to 
 his companions and his wise men : " In how- 
 much time, forsooth, can I see rapidly and 
 quickly all the regions of the world ? " And his 
 wise men and companions said unto him : " If 
 1 Note 95. a Note 96> 
 
118 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 thou desirest to see the world in one moment 
 and in the briefest space of time, summon the 
 skilled carpenters and command them to con- 
 struct a car with screws and apparatus, which 
 will with rapidity ascend and descend, then take 
 four of thy trained eagles and tie them to the 
 four corners of the car, and hang meat to the 
 top part of the car, so as that the eagles cannot 
 reach it ; for if the eagles crave the meat, they 
 will ascend towards it, and the car will then be 
 borne aloft through the air, until it be lifted up 
 on high, and thou shalt see the buildings and 
 what is round about them. And when thou 
 hast the desire, the screws shall be put in rapid 
 motion, and thou shalt have the meat changed 
 about and hung below, and the eagles will go 
 downwards in a desire to get at it, and will 
 descend with the car to the earth unto the level 
 spot which thou desirest." And el-Iskandar did 
 so, and ascended into the air until he had seen 
 the earth ; then the eagles reversed and de- 
 scended with him, until he alighted on the spot 
 which el-Iskandar built up and called its name 
 el-Iskandariyeh (Alexandria). 3 Thereupon he 
 came to the Mount of Blessing and acknowledged 
 it to be the noblest of places, and the grandest : 
 in praise to God — Mighty and Powerful. Then 
 he proceeded to invest his companions with the 
 authority over the territories, until he had gone 
 over all the earth. 4 And when his companions 
 beheld his liberality to the children of Israil and 
 his compassion upon them, and that he did not 
 rebuke them for anything, whether it was a grave 
 affair or a trifling action, they became envious of 
 them ; and his companions said to him : " Why 
 does this nation transgress every religious ordi- 
 ance, in neglecting to comply with the estab- 
 lished statute ? Why dost thou not summon it, 
 8 Note 97. 4 Note 98. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 119 
 
 and make instant demand of them concerning 
 the establishment of idols and images ? " And 
 so he, at this time, commanded the imam — I 
 mean the chief imam — and the chiefs of the 
 children of Israil that, they should set up to 
 him in all their habitations statues and images; 
 and then said to them: " I am about to go unto 
 Misr, and upon my return let me find what 
 I have commanded. Then el-Iskandar set out 
 on his journey. And the chief imam assem- 
 bled all the leaders of the children of Israil, and 
 they went up to the Mount of Blessing and fast- 
 ed and prayed and offered praise, and humiliated 
 themselves unto God — Mighty and Powerful — 
 and He disclosed to them an excellent idea, to 
 wit, that they should name their boys with the 
 name of the king el-Iskandar. And they sent 
 unto every place, ordering them to name every 
 boy that should be born unto them with the 
 name of the king el-Iskandar; and they did 
 this. And when three years had passed the king 
 el-Iskandar returned and came up from Misr, and 
 when he came to the lands of the children of 
 Israil, he saw in them neither statue nor image, 
 and he reprobated this, and summoned the 
 leaders of the people and demanded of them the 
 reason. And they replied that they established 
 unto him images, who were endowed with ration- 
 al speech and moved like paragons of obedience, 
 and were quick to obey. Thereupon they 
 brought forward immediately their children, of 
 whom there had been gathered unto them a 
 great number ; and he said unto them : " What 
 are your names?" And they said: "We are 
 servants of the king el-Iskandar, who are named 
 with his name." And the king and his disciples 
 were pleased, and approved of what they had 
 done. And when the imam saw the satisfaction 
 of the king in what had happened, he threw aside 
 
120 THE SAM A BIT AN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 his restraint and said to him : " The reason of 
 our neglecting the setting-up of idols is fear of 
 our Lord — Mighty and Powerful — who has pro- 
 hibited us from doing this, and when He — exalt- 
 ed be His fame and mighty be His name — saw 
 the purity of the purpose, He made known unto 
 us that we should substitute our children in 
 place of idols. And the king approved of this 
 on their part, and said unto them, " I know that 
 your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords." 
 Thereupon the king bestowed upon them gifts, 
 and spread abroad the praise of their deed. 5 
 And unto God be praise and thanksgiving for 
 His kindness, of Whom we ask mercy and 
 pardon. 
 
 CHAPTER XL VII. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF ADRINTJS (HADRIAN), AND 
 HOW HE DESTROYED EL-QUDS (JERUSALEM), 
 AND WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM WITH AFRIM 
 (EPHRAIM) AND MANASHSHIH (MANASSEH). 
 
 When this king, whose name was Adrinus, 
 came to reign after el-Iskandar, he went down 
 to Misr and killed a multitude of the Nasara 
 (Christians) of those who believed in the Masih 
 (Messiah) ; and when he had built a city in el- 
 H&jar, 1 he went down and beseiged Beit el- 
 Muqaddas. Now ; prior to this, there was a city 
 there called Yusaf 2 and in it were two brothers, 
 Afrim and Manashshih, who were Samaritans. 
 And a certain Jew had gone up with some young 
 doves, desiring to enter with them and make an 
 offering in Beit el-Muqaddas for his sins ; and he 
 passed the night in Yusaf, and the two brothers 
 took the pair of young doves and slew them, and 
 
 5 Note 99- » Note 100. 3 Note 101. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 121 
 
 substituted in their place two big mice. And 
 the man arose in the night and went unto the 
 priest who was installed in the temple, and said 
 to him : wt Offer up for me tiiis pair of young 
 birds." And when the priest opened the basket 
 the cheat of the two mice was discovered, and he 
 laid hold of the man to kill him ; but he said : 
 " A trick has been played upon it. I passed the 
 night at a lodging place in Yusaf, and there were 
 none there except two Samaritan lads, and I 
 took up my journey in the night, out of my fear 
 lest the offering which I was to offer for my 
 sins might escape from me, and I knew not that 
 this trick had been perpetrated upon it." And 
 they sent unto the innkeeper, and arrested the 
 two brothers to punish them ; and when they con- 
 fessed that they had done this, they gave orders 
 that they should be put to death, but certain of 
 them said : " If we kill them their services are 
 lost, rather let them be among the servants of the 
 temple serving all their life long, eating the thorn 
 which is the food of birds and drinking water, 
 and sleeping upon the ground." And after this 
 Adrmus came down to Beit el-Muqaddas and 
 beseiged it ; but the Jews used to go out of the 
 tunnels which Sulaiman the son of Dawid had 
 constructed (one of which led) to Riha (Jericho) 
 and another to Ludd (Lydda), and (the inhabi- 
 tants of these towns) were giving unto them 
 whatsoever they could eat and furnishing them 
 with everything. And they (the inhabitants of 
 Jerusalem) would go up on top of the walls and 
 say to them (the besiegers) : " See what our 
 Lord does for us, He sends down upon us food ; 
 as He was wont to do with us in the wilderness, 
 thus now again does He do." And they used to 
 throw to them from above the wall fruit, both 
 fresh and dried, and other things, and would say 
 to them : " Eat such as our Lord sends down 
 
122 TlIE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 upon us." And they would also say: "Take 
 unto you of what we have sacrifices to the king ; 
 for behold our Lord, as much as we are in need 
 of, the same He sends down upon us ; as He has 
 wont to do with us in the wilderness, thus does He 
 with us now." And Adrinus had given cre- 
 dence to them, in as much as the war had become 
 fatiguing, and did reckon their statements to be 
 true. Now when this affair came to pass, the 
 two brothers Afriin and Manashshih came to- 
 gether, and wrote a note and worked it up in 
 clay and threw it from above the wall to Adrinus 
 the king, and it reached the king and he opened 
 it and read it, and there was written in it this : 
 "Do not deem their statements to be true ; and 
 if thou desires t that we should inform thee how 
 thou may est conquer the country — well and 
 good ; but, verily in consideration for that which 
 shall enable thee to be victorious in the war, 
 save our souls from death. Now if thou dost 
 desire to get possession of the country, send unto 
 Riha and unto Ludd and seize the mouths of the 
 tunnels, and let not anything enter into them 
 nor anyone go into them; and also seize Beit 
 Lahm (Bethlehem), and demolish the duct 
 through which there comes in unto them oil and 
 water and sesame-oil and honey," And the king 
 did according to what they said unto him, and 
 he also sent and had brought into his presence 
 the Samaritans Afrim and Manashshih, and they 
 were present with him in besieging Beit el- 
 Muqaddas. And he reduced them (the in- 
 habitants of Jerusalem) to such sore straits, that 
 women ate their daughters and men their sons. 
 And he rose in attack against them while they 
 were observing the requirements of the law, and 
 when they beheld themselves spoiled of every- 
 thing they sued for protection. And when they 
 (the Romans) took possession, Adrinus gave 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSTIUA. 123 
 
 orders that they should not molest the temple 
 until he went in, and when he entered he took 
 the priest who belonged to the temple, and said 
 to him : " For whose name was this dwelling 
 built?" The priest said unto him: "It was 
 built for the name of the Creator of creatures." 
 And when he had entered into the place, he be- 
 held a painted picture and by its side an idol, 
 and when he saw them he said to the priest : 
 " This place was built for the name of the 
 Creator of creatures and is this done in it ? " 
 And he seized hold of him to punish him ; but 
 he (the priest) informed him that it was a deceit 
 which the Jews who served the idol had made, 
 notwithstanding Harun (Aaron) had commanded 
 that they should worship the Creator of creatures. 
 And this wicked king saved Afrim and Manash- 
 shih from being killed; and Adrinus set up in 
 the city an image upon a pillar in accordance 
 with the will of Afrim and Manashshih, for the 
 purpose of showing unto them (the inhabitants 
 of the city) his rank, and it is there unto this 
 day ; 3 and he also erected two images, and named 
 the first image after the name of Afrim, and the 
 second image after the name of Manashshih ; 
 and he gave orders to the leaders of the Jews 
 that no one should pass by in front of them, but 
 only behind them ; and they are obliged to do 
 this even unto this day. And Adrinus went out 
 from there unto Qiryat el-'Arba' (Kirjath-Arba) 
 — which is Habrdn (Hebron), and did like as he 
 had done in Beit el-Muqaddas. And Manash- 
 shih said unto Adrinus: "Make in my name a 
 bell, and let the bell be rung for my name." 
 And he did so. And he went forth from there 
 to Nabulus; for he desired to destroy it, but 
 while he was in Merj el-Baha, and was elated 
 upon his passing through it, they (the com- 
 3 Note 102. 
 
124 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 panions of the king) said : " If this is carried 
 out, it (the Samaritan nation) will instigate a 
 heroic revolt, and whoever sees this in Nabulus 
 will be inflamed with the zeal of a hero." So 
 they collected together and said unto him : " As 
 far as it is possible unto thee, spare (the place)." 
 And God moved his heart to pity, and he dealt 
 kindly with it, and with those who led the 
 troops in Nabulus ; and he built there a town on 
 Mount Gerizin, and called it Saqarus, 4 after the 
 name of his father. And the doors that were on 
 Beit el-Muqaddas were of yellow brass, plated 
 with silver and ornamented with gold, which 
 Sulaiman had made, the like of which no one, 
 though strong of hand, could ever make, and he 
 (Hadrian) carried these away and placed them 
 on the door of the dome which he had built on 
 the ridge of the mountain that is over against 
 N&bulus. And after this Adrmus went to Ru- 
 miyat (Rome), and the Samaritans came to- 
 gether and purified the places wherein Adrmus 
 had been ; and the Jews plotted a wicked 
 thought against them, and went unto the king, 
 and said to him : "Behold how thou art aiding 
 the Samaritans and yet they are wishing thy de- 
 struction ; make investigation and see how they 
 have burned with fire every place wherein thou 
 wast." And when Adrinus heard their words, 
 he said: "We will kill every circumcised one." 
 And he pronounced judgment of death upon 
 the villages and upon every city, and pro- 
 hibited baptism, and interdicted (the observance 
 of) the Sabbath and feasts, wishing to ruin 
 N&bulus and destroy it, like a field laid waste. 
 And when the Samaritans heard of this mighty 
 calamity, they fled away, and were stricken with 
 terror and hid themselves from the presence of 
 this great wrath, and they did not enter into a 
 * Note 103. 
 
THE 8AMA1UTAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 125 
 
 house nor reside under a roof, and there remained 
 for them no shelter except the deserts and 
 forests and caves. And he came and burned the 
 houses, and crucified the teachers (of the people) 
 and put to death its judges, and they did die in 
 prisons by starvation, and their dead bodies were 
 thrown out and not buried, and rights were in- 
 fringed both as to themselves and their dead bod- 
 ies, and i hey were persecuted in castles and on 
 the roads. And when he came to destroy Nabulus, 
 he began from the city gate on the west until hear- 
 rived at the four pillars that were above the dec liv- 
 ity at the base of the mountain. And they capt- 
 ured there a man who was fleeing that he might 
 not be killed, and he fled into the presence of 
 Adrmus and conjured him, and said unto him : 
 " I beg of thee, by the honor of the One whom 
 thou dost worship, O king of the age, hear of 
 me one word, and after that do with this nation 
 what thou wishest. ,, And when he had bound 
 himself by oath he listened to him, and the cap- 
 tive said: " Send and make investigation into 
 the conduct of the Samaritans, for though they 
 do burn every place wherein a foreigner has been 
 that the}' may purify it from his tracks, yet we 
 have not done this out of malignity or hostility 
 to thee. And the Jews have spoken unto thee 
 only deceitfully, because that we did render aid 
 to thee in reducing them to straitened circum- 
 stances, and also because we did at once furnish 
 thee with provisions." So he (Adrinus) said 
 that he would no longer put to death anyone, 
 and he showed favor to the city and did not de- 
 stroy it. And he set up three images after his 
 likeness, in the city on top of pillars, on the spot 
 where the man fled away from being killed, and 
 also two images on the aqueduct. And after 
 this Adrinus died — may God have no mercy up- 
 on him — and he died in woe and every kind of 
 
126 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 affliction, 5 and his reign had lasted twenty-one 
 years — may God crush his bones. And the 
 space of time from Adam up to his death was 
 four thousand five hundred and thirteen years 
 and seven months. And in those days the Book 
 of Choice Selections was taken awa}% which had 
 been in their hands since the days of Divine 
 favor ; and there was also taken away the Songs 
 and Praises, which they were accustomed to 
 utter over the offerings, each offering according 
 to its merits ; and also the Hymns, which they 
 were wont to sing in the days of Divine favor : 
 now all these constituted a library which had 
 been preserved with greatest care generation 
 after generation through the time of the prophets 
 unto that day, by the hands of the chief imams. 
 And there was also taken away the Book of the 
 Imdms, which they had, wherein their genealogy 
 was traced back to Finahas ; and there was also 
 destroyed the Annals, wherein was recorded 
 their birthdays and the years of their lives, and 
 of these not one ancient book or chronicle was 
 found, except the Law and a book containing 
 their lives. But we have written up the years 
 of the life of the chief imam, and a genealogy 
 from the chief imam 'Aqbun ; and this comes (in 
 the next chapter). 
 
 CHAPTER XL VIII. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF ' AQBUN THE IMAM. 
 
 Now it was once said to him : " Brother of 
 the king ! every thing in thy house belongs unto 
 the king," and Aqbun said : The whole of it be- 
 longs unto God, and I have given over my spirit 
 unto God and I will not renounce my Lord." 
 And they (the Romans ?) went and seized two 
 6 Note 104. 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 127 
 
 men of the children of the imams, and said unto 
 them : " Seek refuge in our gods, and ye can 
 depart to your houses unharmed." But they 
 utterly refused, and said : " We will not do 
 that : " so they killed them in punishment and 
 threw their corpses outside the wall — that is the 
 wall of Sebustieh ; l and they crucified of the 
 wise men of Israil a company of thirty-six men 
 on the gate of Nabulus. In that day the in- 
 struction of Israil was like as dust ; there was no 
 imam among them, nor wisdom, nor teaching of 
 the Law, nor was any one able in the days of 
 these kings to give instruction in the Penta- 
 teuch ; except one in a thousand and two in a 
 myriad. And the children of Israil continued 
 in this calamitous state until Baba Rabba arose. 
 In those days 'Aqbun knew his wife, and she 
 conceived and gave birth to a son, and he named 
 him Natanal (Nathaniel), and this Natanal was 
 the father of Babli, Rabba who broke the brazen 
 bird which was on the Mount preventing them 
 from ascending it ; for this the Romans and 
 (their) magicians had done. After this the chief 
 imam 'Aqbun died; but before he died he said 
 at this time to his son Natanal : " O my child, 
 be not troubled with regard to these times, or 
 these calamities, or the power of the enemies ; 
 know that in a short time these distresses will 
 disappear, for these calamities are tests sent by 
 God upon us, that He may prove whether we 
 ourselves are faithful, and are not forsaking the 
 worship of God our God. O my child, these 
 calamities and straits will vanish away ; for God 
 — may He be exalted — is able to cause them to 
 disappear from us." And the imam 'Aqbun pro- 
 ceeded to make a revelation unto his son in 
 accord with this, and invoked blessing on him, 
 and said unto him : " O my child, be on thy 
 1 Note 105. 
 
128 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 guard against worshipping any other than God ; 
 for wert thou to be crushed under stones, God 
 would give thee strength to worship Him. And 
 God will raise up from thee one who will get the 
 ascendancy over this infidel oppressing nation. " 
 And the prayer of the Rabbis 2 'Aqbun was 
 granted at that time, with regard to all that he 
 invoked for his son; for there 'arose from his 
 son, Baba Rabba, and he brought about that 
 which happened to the Romans. And at that 
 the imam 'Aqbun died, and was removed to his 
 people : may God benefit us with his blessings. 
 And all Tsrail mourned for him, and wept for 
 him thirty days. 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF WHAT HAPPENED UNTO NAT- 
 ANAL FROM THE ROMANS, AFTER THE DEATH 
 OF HIS FATHER. 
 
 When the Rabbis 'Aqbun died and was trans- 
 lated to his people, Natanal took the office of 
 imam in place of his father. And he knew his 
 wife, and she conceived and gave birth to child- 
 ren, and he was granted of her three children; 
 his first born was Baba Rabba, his second was 
 'Aqbun, and the third after these two was Fina- 
 has. Now when the imam Natanal was granted 
 his first born, he was for some time perplexed with 
 regard to him, as to how he should circumcise 
 him ; for the Romans at that time forcibly pre- 
 vented them from performing circumcision, and 
 set over them curators, that they might not cir- 
 cumcise their children, and there was stationed 
 at the door of the residence of the imam Natanal 
 a deputy of the king, named Jarman the Roman. 
 2 Note 106, 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSIIU. 1 . 1 29 
 
 And when the Rabbis was granted this child, he 
 took it on the day of circumcision, and placed it 
 in a basket and put wool on top of it and under 
 it, and said unto the maidservant that was with 
 him: "Take this boy and go in advance of us 
 unto the field to the cave, and we will follow 
 after and overtake thee, that we may circum- 
 cise him ; but let no one know what thou hast. 
 Take him and go out from the door of the house, 
 while we will go out from the rear of the house." 
 And the maid took it and went out; and when 
 she issued forth from the door of the house, Jar- 
 man the deputy said to her : " Perform, girl, 
 what thou hast in mind, and fear not." And 
 the maid went with the infant to the cave, and 
 repeated unto the Rabbis Natanal the speech of 
 Jar man ; and he in fear said : " The affair is 
 God's." And they circumcised the little one, 
 and the maid-servant returned with it just as it 
 was ; and when she came to the door, Jarman 
 said unto her : " Rear him in peace, O my child." 
 And when she had passed, she repeated to the 
 Rabbis the speech of Jarman, and he was smit- 
 ten with great fear, and said : " Who has in- 
 formed Jarman of our business? I cannot mol- 
 lify his anger except with great riches. And 
 the Rabbis was worried, and went forth to Jar- 
 man, the deputy over his house, with his hands 
 full of gold. And Jarman said unto the Rabbis : 
 " I will have nothing to do with this, except only 
 I will take of this just three dinars, 1 so that thou 
 mayest not sa}^ that T am laying a plot for thee ; 
 for, verily, I will not make this known unto the 
 king." And when Jarman had bound himself by 
 oath unto the Rabbis, his heart became good, and 
 the Rabbis made it to be remembered of Jarman : 
 and it came to pass that whenever they circum- 
 cised any of their children in a cave, they would 
 
 i Note 107. 
 9 
 
130 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 invoke a blessing on Jarman, saying in the Ro- 
 man language : " May God be merciful unto Jar- 
 man the Roman priest ; " and unto this our day, 
 they invoke a blessing on him, immediately after 
 every circumcision. And the Romans did mix 
 hogs' lard in every thing that was eaten and 
 drunken, so that they (the Samaritans) might 
 be afflicted with bodily infirmity. And the 
 houses of prayer that we had were shut up, and 
 they prevented us from going up on to the Mount, 
 by means of a talisman which they fixed above 
 it. And we continued in this strait and great 
 calamity for the space of twenty years ; until 
 God comforted us, and saved us from the power 
 of the infidels, and this was brought about by 
 the hand of Baba Rabba. 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF BABA RABBA, AND WHAT HAP- 
 PENED TO HIM WITH THE ROMANS. 
 
 When the kingdom passed away from the 
 children of Israil, and the Romans ruled, they gave 
 over to judgment and crushed under the stones 
 of torture many of the Samaritans, until they 
 should abjure their faith and bow down unto idols ; 
 and many of the Samaritans perished through this 
 cause. And the Romans suffered not one of the 
 Samaritans to circumcise his child, but stationed 
 trustworthy men of the Romans over the houses 
 of the Samaritans to prevent them from perform- 
 ing circumcision. And the Samaritans were 
 wont at that time, when a child was born unto 
 them, to place it in a basket and cover it with 
 wool, and go with it to the cave and circumcise 
 it under ground by the light of candles. And 
 also then the Romans prevented the Samaritans 
 
THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 131 
 
 from ascending the Mount ; for they said : " Who- 
 soever goes up on to this Mount shall be put to 
 death ". And the Romans placed upon the sum- 
 mit of the Mount a talisman, and this was a 
 brazen bird,and it used to turn round with the sun 
 howsoever it revolved, and it was so that if a 
 Samaritan did go up, the bird would screech out: 
 " Hebraeus," and they would know then that 
 there was a Samaritan on the Mount, and would 
 issue forth against him and kill him. Arid the 
 children of Israil continued in this distress, un- 
 till Baba Rabba arose ; and in him there was a 
 spirit of resolution and zealous patriotism. And 
 Baba Rabba assembled the Israelitish community, 
 and said: " How long shall this polluted nation 
 go on dominating over you ? Arise, let us lift up 
 the children of Israil from this oppression, and let 
 us be zealous for God — may He be exalted, as our 
 father Fmahas was zealous, and there remains 
 to him a goodly remembrance unto the end of the 
 ages. And now know that I have resolved upon 
 the destruction of the Romans, and I will purify 
 Mount Gerizim of them but not a thing can be 
 accomplished for us, except by the destruction of 
 this bird which is stationed over the temple, and 
 this cannot be effected for us except by a strat- 
 agem which God has revealed unto me. Now ye 
 know that this is a time of infidelity, and they have 
 many kings, and my plan is to send Lawi, the 
 son of mybrother, to Qustuniyeh(Constantinople) 
 the city of the Romans, that they may learn what 
 they talk about what it is that makes them power- 
 ful, and may gain a knowledge of their religious 
 sects. And he shall go in the garb of a Christian 
 monk (or) priest, aud no one will know him, and 
 the Romans will not know who he is ; and he will 
 come back to Mount Gerizim, and will go up to the 
 church and make use of a stratagem to smash the 
 bird; and when they (the Roman guards) attempt 
 
132 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 to repel him he will employ stratagem and get the 
 power to ascend the Mount, and will supplicate 
 God upon it, and He will then give us the vic- 
 tory over our enemies " . And all the people said : 
 " O our master, do what seemeth good in thy 
 sight." And he said : " Give unto me your own 
 handwritings, that after his coming back your 
 souls will stand by him." And they did this 
 And Baba Rabba led forth the son of his brother 
 to Beitil (Bethel) 1 in the presence of the people, 
 and said unto him: "Be attentive however thou 
 mayest be, and set thy mind upon learning 
 every thing, and be on thy guard that thou cease 
 not to read the Pentateuch night and day, and 
 God shall help thee in all thy doings." And 
 he sent away Lawi, the son of his brother ; and 
 he pursued his journey seeking Qustuniyeh. 
 Now Lawi was an intelligent, knowing, acute 
 and pure man, yea, in him was found every vir- 
 tue ; and he arrived at Qustuniyeh, and sought 
 after learning and diligently applied himself, and 
 he obtained what he sought for ; and with his 
 keenness of intellect he continued reading for 
 the space of two years, and there remained no 
 one among all the Romans more learned than he. 
 And he arose to such eminence in learning that 
 the Romans used repeatedly to come to do him 
 reverence, and by reason of his eloquent attain- 
 ments in learning they made him Archbishop, 
 and he was elevated to the highest rank among 
 them, until kings used to come to his door, and no 
 king could assume the kingly authority without 
 his orders, nor put on a crown except by his com- 
 mand. And it came to pass at the end of thirteen 
 years that he said unto the king : " I have a de- 
 sire to visit the church which is on the Mountain 
 of Nabulus". And the whole army assembled, 
 and the king and the legions marched in his 
 1 Note 108. 
 
7Y//<; SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 133 
 
 service. And when they encamped at Nabulus, 
 the king sent for all the people who were in 
 Nabulus to come out to meet the Archbishop, 
 And when the Samaritans heard this they were 
 smitten with a great fear, and all the people as- 
 sembled, and said : ,4 We have lost hope in the opin- 
 ion we had with regard to Law! whom we sent away 
 on his journey ; for no tidings have come back from 
 him, and without doubt he has perished: and as 
 to this Bishop who has now arrived, we have 
 heard that he is the head of the nation of the 
 Romans, and they proclaim of him that he is 
 profoundly versed in infidelity, and the Romans 
 
 call him. 2 
 
 2 Note 109. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Note 1, Page 13. 
 
 In the name of God, the Companionate. This phrase 
 in its more complete form: In the name of God, the Com- 
 passionate, the Merciful, is used universally by all Moham- 
 medans at the commencement of every book they write, what- 
 ever may be its subject, they are also wont to pronounce it 
 on commencing every lawful act of any importance, and 
 even acts of a somewhat trivial nature. Lane in his Modern 
 Egyptians, Vol. 1, p. 284, referring to this custom, says: 
 "It is the custom of some to say, ' In the name of God, the 
 Compassionate, the Merciful,' on locking a door, covering 
 bread, laying down their clothes at night, and on other occa- 
 sions; and this, they believe, protects their property from 
 genii." As to how this formula particularly originated we 
 are left in doubt; for the Moslem traditions are absurdly ex- 
 travagant and mythical, as an example of which we may cite 
 the Shiite tradition, found in the Hydt-ul Kid fib. by Moham- 
 med Ibn Mohammed Taki, which states that at the time of 
 Mohammed's midnight visit to heaven, when he had "passed 
 the seven heavens and seven curtains of exaltation and 
 glory, and arrived near the place of communion with the 
 
 merciful Lord of glory the Lord then commanded 
 
 the Prophet (saying): Now you have arrived at this place 
 of near intercourse with Me, pronounce My name. Ac- 
 cordingly the Prophet said: In the name of God, the Com- 
 passionate, the Merciful ! for which reason this phrase was 
 established to commence chapters and writings," (Merrick's 
 Translation, p. 201). Sale in his Preliminary Discourse, p. 
 78, advances the opinion that Mohammed borrowed this ex- 
 pression from the Persians; be says: 'The Jews, for the same 
 purpose, make use of the form, 'In the name of the Lord' 
 or, ' In the name of the great God,' and the eastern Chris- 
 tians that of, ' In the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
 and of the Holy Ghost.' But I am apt to believe Mohammed 
 really took tins form, as he did many other things, from the 
 Persian Magi, who used to begin their books in these words, 
 Bernini Yezdan bakJishaishgher daddy; that is, * In the name 
 of the most merciful, just God." 
 
 Note 2, Page 13. 
 Khatifate. This is strictly a Mohammedan term, and by 
 Moslem writers exclusively restricted to the designation of 
 the office of successor of the prophet Mohammed. The 
 
136 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 meaning of the title Khalifis "Successor," or "Vicar"; and 
 it was originally given to the universal sovereigns of the 
 Moslem Arabs, as signifying " Successor of the Prophet " ; 
 but afterwards, in a more exalted sense, as " Yicar of God " ; 
 the Khalif being the head of the religion as well as the su- 
 preme political governor, or at least arrogating to himself the 
 right to possess such supremacy, throughout the whole Mos- 
 lem world. (Lane's Arabian Nights, Chap. III. note 27.) 
 
 Note 3, Page 13. 
 
 WMy el Miijib, the modern Arabic name for the valley of 
 Arnon. This appellation dates back at least to the tenth 
 century, for we find in the Sam ari to- Arabic version of the 
 Pentateuch, translated by Aba Said at that time el Mtijib 
 written in place of Arnon. See Note 46. 
 
 Note 4, Page 14. 
 
 Greater Sea, the Red Sea. The term " Greater" is probably 
 here applied to it to prevent all possibility of its being con- 
 founded with the Nile, for in Arabic the word Bahr "sea" 
 is indiscriminately used to designate any large body of water, 
 whether it be a large river, sea or ocean. In Chapter XVI. 
 it is called the Sea of el-Qulzum, the name by which it is 
 commonly known among the Arabs. See Note 41. 
 
 Note 5, Page 14. 
 
 Greater Misr here, I take it, means Egypt in its former 
 highest state of glory and power; but it might be interpreted 
 to mean the former metropolis of Egypt, for the term Misr 
 is applied equally to the chief city of Egypt and to the 
 country itself. 
 
 Note 6, Page 11. 
 
 ' Tig the father ofAndq. In the Bible Og is not spoken of 
 as being directly connected with the Anakim, and their pro- 
 genitor is said to be Arba (Josh. xiv. 15; xv. 13; xxi. 11), 
 yet he is classed with the Rephaim (giants) (Deut. iii. 11), 
 who are associated with the Anakim (Deut. ii. 11); but in 
 Mohammedan legends he is asserted to he the direct descend- 
 ant of 'Anaq, to those therefore our author, in all probabil- 
 ity, is indebted for his statement. That Og was of gigantic 
 stature is clearly proved by what is said in the Pentateuch 
 concerning his bedstead of iron that was in Rabbath; for we 
 read that: "nine cubits (15 1-2 feet) was the length thereof, 
 and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit" of a man " 
 (Deut. iii. 11); and many are the Oriental legends and fabu- 
 lous stories which have grown up around his name. Indeed 
 so numerous and varied are these legends, that the learned 
 imam, Jalal ed-Din el-Soyuti, who lived in the loth cen- 
 tury, wrote a long book about him and his race, largely drawn 
 from Rabbinical sources, and we know that in the early 
 church there was current an apocryphal book of king Og, 
 probably a compilation of traditions, which was condemned 
 
NOTES. 137 
 
 by Pope Gelasius 1 (cf. Smith's Bib. Diet. Og). It may be 
 well to quote one or two of these stories, just to give some 
 idea of their extravagant character. The following one I 
 translate from the Targum of Jonathan on the Pentateuch. 
 Numbers, chap. xxi. ?>■)-. "And it came to pass when wicked 
 Og saw the camps of Israel, which were spread over six par- 
 asangs, he said within himself: I will arrange in order lines 
 of battle against this people, that they may not do unto me 
 like as they did to Slhon. So he went and plucked up a 
 mountain six parasangs in extent, and placed it upon his 
 head, in order to cast it upon them. Immediately the word 
 of the Lord prepared a worm, and it rent the mountain and 
 bored a hole through it; and thereupon his (Og's) head slip- 
 ped through it. And he desired to draw it off from his head, 
 but was unable, because his jaw-teeth and the tusks of his 
 mouth caught fast hither and thither. And Moses came and 
 took a club ten cubits in length, and sprang up into the air 
 ten cubits, and hit him a blow on his ankle, and he fell down 
 and died far off from the camps of Israel ; for thus it is writ- 
 ten." The next is transalated from the work entitled Kisas 
 el-anbiyd by el-Thalabi (Cairo edition, A. H. 1801). It will 
 be noticed that it agrees strikingly in many particulars 
 with the foregoing, and is in this respect a very good illus- 
 tration of how largely Mohammedan writers borrow their 
 facts from Rabbinic sources. We here read that, when the 
 spies whom Moses sent, went to spy out the land: "there 
 met them a man of the giants who was called 'Ug, the son 
 of 'Anaq. Ibn 'Amr sajs: The length of 'Ug was twenty- 
 three thousand cubits, even three hundred and thirty cubits 
 (measured) in ancient cubits. And 'Ug used to collect the 
 clouds and drink water from them, and would catch up the 
 great fish from the bottom of the sea and roast it in the beams 
 of the sun, holding it up to it after which he would eat it. 
 And he quotes that : He came unto Nuh (Noah) in the days of 
 the deluge, and said to him, carry me with thee in thy ship. 
 But he said to him, depart, O enemy of God, for I have re- 
 ceived no command touching thee. And the water covered 
 the land of plain and mountain, yet it did not reach above 
 his knees. And he lived for three thousand years, until God 
 destroyed him by the hand of Musa. And Musa had an 
 army a parasang square, and 'Ug came and looked at them, 
 and then went to a mountain and detached from it a rock in 
 size equal to the army; thereupon he carried it, in order that 
 he might cover it over them. But God sent the hudhud 
 (lapwing) down upon it, and with him the (other) birds, and 
 they set to picking it with their beaks, until a hole was cut 
 in the rock and it was pierced through, and then it fell 
 around the neck of 'Ug. the son of 'Anaq, and collared him 
 and threw him down. Then Musa approached — now he was 
 ten cubits tall and his staff was ten cubits in length — and he 
 leaped upwards ten cubits, and hit nothing of him but his 
 ankle; for he was hurled into the ground, and he killed him, 
 they say. And a mighty crowd drew near and with their 
 
138 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 swords labored away until they had carved up his head, Now 
 when he was killed he fell upon the Nil of Misr (Nile of 
 Egypt) and rendered it red for the space of a year. His 
 mother was 'Anaq, and she was one of the daughters of 
 Adam, of his own loins; and it is said that she was the first 
 harlot upon the face of the earth, and the length of each of 
 her fingers was three cubits, and the breadth two cubits, and 
 on each finger were two pointed nails like two pruning-hooks. 
 .... And when 'Ug encountered the companions of Mush, 
 he filled them with apprehension; now there was on his head 
 a bundle of wood, and he took the twelve chiefs and placed 
 them in his bundle and carried them away to his wife, and 
 said to her: Look upon these who assert that they desire our 
 death. And he flung them down before her, and said: 
 Verily, I will crush them to powder with my foot. But his 
 wife said to him: Do it not, but rather let them go free, that 
 they may tell unto their companions what they have seen. 
 And he did this and set them free. And they (the spies) set 
 about obtaining knowledge of their (Og and his people's) cir- 
 cumstances. Now a bunch of their grapes could scarcely be 
 carried by five persons on a stick of timber between them, 
 and there could get into the rind of a pomegranate, after the 
 seeds had been taken out, four or five people." 
 
 In connection with certain phases of the abovie story com- 
 pare the statements found in Numbers, xiii. 22, 23, 28, 33. 
 
 Note 7, Page 14. 
 
 Qariin the son of the uncle of Hariin. It is important to 
 remark that the Samaritan copy of the Pentateuch differs 
 materially from the received Jewish Massoretic text in 
 Num. xxvi. 10, where the manner of Korah's death is referred 
 to, the latter plainly implying that the earth swallowed him 
 up with Dathan and Abiram and their company; while the 
 former explicitly states that he was consumed by the fire 
 of the Lord in the company of the two hundred and fifty 
 Levites of his own tribe, for it here reads : "and the earth 
 opened her mouth, and the earth swallowed them up, when 
 that company died; at the time the fire devoured Korah and 
 the two hundred and fifty men; and they became a sign." 
 With this Josephus coincides (Ant. bk. iv. chap. 3). 
 
 The Mohammedan legends about Korah are too volumi- 
 nous to be quoted in full; a brief summary of the more inter- 
 esting ones as are found in the Kisas el-ambii/d, is all that 
 can be inserted here. It is said that he was the most 
 learned of the children of Israel after Moses and Aaron, and 
 the richest ami most handsome of them, and was called el- 
 Munawwar (the splendid), because of the beauty of his per- 
 sonal appearance, and that he was possessed of fabulous 
 wealth. There was no one among the children of Israel 
 better versed in the Law than he, but he was the enemy of 
 God and excessively given to trafficking and merchandizing, 
 and behaved insolently towards His people (cf. Koran, sura 
 28). Some say that he was appointed by Pharaoh governor 
 
NOTES, 139 
 
 over the children of Israel when they were in Egypt, and, by 
 tyrannizing over them, increased in wealth and prideand pomp, 
 and acquired such vast wealth that the very keys of his 
 treasuries were a load for many strong men, some of the 
 authorities state that they were a sufficient load for seventy 
 men, and one authority goes so far as to say that they were 
 a load for sixty mules; these keys, it is said, Korah always 
 carried along with him wherever he went, and it required 
 forty mules to transport them. There is considerable dis- 
 agreement as to how he obtained all this wealth; it is said, 
 he was skilled in alchemy. The story runs thus : Moses 
 was fully educated in the science of alchemy, and Joshua 
 knew a "third part of that science, as did also Caleb and 
 Korah, and Korah outwitted these latter two and added their 
 knowledge unto his own, and through tins gained his great 
 wealth; though another account is, that God instructed 
 Moses in alchemy, and lie instructed his sister, and she in- 
 structed Korah. Some say, however, that once when Korah 
 had remained on a mountain forty years worshipping, and had 
 surpassed all the children of Israel in worship, Iblis sent 
 unto him his devils, but they were powerless over him, so he 
 came unto him himself, and set to worshipping with Korah, 
 and began to restrain him in his worship, and got the power 
 over him, and by subtle arguments seduced him; and when 
 Korah finally yielded, Iblis sat down and opened up to him 
 the doors of the world, and thus it was that he obtained his 
 riches. Others yet, contend that he found out the treasures 
 of Joseph in Egypt; (See Sale's Koran, chap. 28, note; and 
 in this connection compare what the Targum of Jonathan 
 on Numbers xvi. 19, says in regard to his having found the 
 treasures of Joseph.) His wealth was so vast and his opti- 
 lency so great, that the riches of Korah have become a pro- 
 verb; but he behaved insolently and went beyond all bounds 
 in injustice, and grew haughty and proud towards men by 
 reason of his wealth. And he used to ride forth in his pomp 
 and dign'ty on a white animal which had a purple saddle 
 with saffron trimmings, and with him went forth seventy 
 thousand persons clothed in saffron robes — and that was the 
 first time saffron robes were seen on the earth. Some say he 
 used to ride on an ash-colored mule, upon which was a saddle 
 of gold, and he himself clothed in purple, and attended by a 
 thousand purple-clad horsemen, and six hundred white slave- 
 girls wearing ornaments and red garments and riding ash- 
 colored mules. And this ostentatious pomp of his was the 
 first of his revolt and rebellion. And God revealed to His 
 prophet Moses, to command his people, "to hang on their 
 robes fonr threads, on each border a thread of dark color like 
 the color of the heavens; " but Korah was haughty and did 
 not obey him. And this also was a part of his rebellion and 
 sedition, (cf. Tco-f/um onSnm. xvi. 1, where we read: "And 
 
 Korah took his robe, which was of violet, (and 
 
 with his followers) ro.se up impudently and appointed in oppo- 
 sition to Moses, a different observance in the matter of the 
 
140 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 violet. Moses bad said, I have heard from the mouth of the 
 Holy One — may His name be blessed— that the fringes are to 
 be of white, with one thread of violet therein ; but Korah 
 and his companions made garments the fringes of which were 
 altogether of violet, a thing the Lord had not commanded." 
 See Num. xv. 37-41. After this Korah became envious of 
 Aaron's having the chief priesthood, and complained to 
 Moses that he had nothing, though he was the best versed in 
 the Law; to this Moses replied that it was God's doing and 
 not his own that Aaron had the office. Korah forthwith 
 demanded proof that such was the case, and in compliance 
 Moses had the chiefs of the children of Israel fetch their rods 
 with their names written on them, and having placed them 
 in the tabernacle before God, they were carefully guarded 
 until in due time it was found that the rod of Aaron had 
 budded. But Korah charged Moses with having effected this 
 by magic, !tnd still refused to grant him obedience ; and 
 though Moses treated him kindly because of the kinship that 
 existed between them, he did all he could to injure Moses, 
 and did nothing else but increase in haughtiness and pride 
 and insolence and enmity against him, until he built for him- 
 self a mansion and made its door of red gold and plated its 
 walls with sheets of gold, and hobnobbed with the nobility. 
 And now God, through Moses, laid upon them the duty of 
 alms-giving; and Korah came unto Moses and agreed to give 
 one thing of every thousand he possessed, but upon his going 
 home and reckoning this up, it amounted to such a vast 
 amount, that he could not reconcile himself to giving it, and 
 he proceeded to institute a revolt among the people, and laid 
 a plot against Moses, and suborned a bad woman to accuse 
 him of having committed adultery with her. And it came 
 to pass upon a certain occasion when Moses was delivering a 
 homily against various sins, among which was mentioned 
 adultery, that Korah arose and publicly charged him with 
 being guilty of this very sin; and Moses demanded that the 
 woman be immediately called, and when she came into his 
 presence, he strictly charged her to tell the truth, and upon 
 this her resolution failed her, and she frankly confessed that 
 Korah had suborned her to accuse Moses wrongfully, and at 
 her words Korah hung down his head and stood convicted. 
 And Moses called upon God to vindicate him before the 
 children of Israel; and God indicated to him to command 
 the earth and it would obey him; and Moses ordered the 
 people to separate from Korah and his companions, and then 
 he said : O earth, seize them; and the earth caught them 
 and began to engulf them, and as Korah gradually sank, he 
 humbly besought Moses and conjured him in the name of 
 God to have mercy upon him, but Moses by reason of his 
 great anger against him did not so much as look at him. 
 And we are told that God each day sinks them deeper in the 
 earth, and that they will not reach its bottom till the Resur- 
 rection Day. 
 
NOTES. 141 
 
 Note 8, Page 14. 
 
 Whom the cloud overshadowed by day and the pillar of fire 
 protected from cold hy night. The physical benefits and pro- 
 tection which the pillar of cloud and fire afforded to the chil- 
 dren of Israel in their wanderings in the wilderness, is referred 
 to more than once in the Scriptures. See Isaiah iv. 5, 6; 
 Psalm, cv. 39. It is likewise mentioned in the Apocrypha. 
 See Wisdom, x. 17; xviii. 3; xix. 7. And in Mohammedan 
 writings this is dwelt upon as the most important and well 
 nigh only function that the pillar of cloud and fire had to 
 perform ; it is so spoken of in the Koran (Sura. 2). 
 
 Note 9, Page 14. 
 
 From the rock. There is a well-known Rabbinical legend 
 that the water-yielding rock followed the Israelites all about 
 in the desert, rolling like a round beehive or barrel of stone 
 to the door of the tent, and that thus wherever they went, 
 they had abundance of water from the self-same rock. The 
 Mohammedans likewise have the same tradition; they say, 
 that Moses was commanded to carry along with him the rock, 
 and wherever an encampment was made it was placed on ihe 
 ground; this rock is described as being peculiar in its foun- 
 tain, and as having a significant sign upon it. It was light 
 in weight and square in shape, similar in size to the head of 
 a man, and was of pumice-stone; and there were in it twelve 
 springs (i. e., twelve holes). Moses did carry this in his 
 travelling wallet, and whenever there was need for water, he 
 took it out and struck it with his rod, and there gushed forth 
 from every hole a fountain of sweet water, and when the 
 people had finished drinking and Moses desired to carry it 
 again, he struck it with his rod and the water disappeared. 
 (Kisas el-anbiynd, p. 187). 
 
 St. Paul, in all probability, had this tradition of the Rab- 
 bins in mind, when he says, in 1 Cor. x. 4: "And did all 
 drink of the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that 
 spiritual Rock that followed them: and "that Rock was 
 Christ." 
 
 Note 10, Page 15. 
 
 At the completion of the 119th year, on the 1st day of the 
 11th month of the life of our master Musa. This exact 
 statement of the age of Moses at this time is not to be found 
 in the Old Testament, but the date of the month as here 
 given is mentioned in Dent. i. 3; though there it is con- 
 nected with the fortieth year (of the wanderings of the Is- 
 raelites). In Dent. xxxi. 2. Moses says: " lam an hundred 
 and twenty years old this day," and in verse 3, we read: "and 
 Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath said," 
 which indicates that Joshua had already been appointed 
 leader, as is stated in Num. xxvii. 18-23. Our author is 
 therefore probably right in put ting the appointment of Joshua 
 one month before the death of Moses; for we are told that 
 
142 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 the latter died when he was an hundred and twenty years 
 old (Deut. xxxiv. 7). Josephus in his Antiquities (bk. iv. 
 chap. 8, sec. 49) says: " Now Moses lived in all one hundred 
 and twenty years; a third part of which, abating one month, 
 he was the people's ruler," thus supporting the statement of 
 our author. The oriental legends and traditions appertain- 
 ing to Moses are far too numerous to be here collated, but 
 such as desire to investigate them, will find them in the 
 Koran, and Mohammedan commentaries. Particularly to be 
 commended is the Kisas el-anbiynd by el-Thalabi; those who 
 are unacquainted with Arabic u ill find valuable, Sale's Koran, 
 and his notes thereto; D'Herbelot's Bibliotheque Orientate 
 (s. v. Moussa); Weil's Biblische Legen.de der Muselmanner ; 
 Chronique de Tabari, traduite sur la version Persane de 
 Belami, par Zotenberg: S. Baring- Gould's Legends of the 
 Patriarchs and Prophets. 
 
 Note 11, Page 16. 
 
 The spiritual man. This expression applied to Joshua, as 
 well as the one found in chap. xxix. (" the mortal and spir- 
 itual "), is founded upon what is said in Num. xxvii. 18, that 
 he was, " a man in whom is the spirit." 
 
 Note 12, Page 16. 
 
 The profound secret, and reveal to him the vision of his 
 dream, and the science of knowledge. The profound secret 
 here referred to is that certain secret knowledge of God and 
 His nature and works, which if men were imbued with, they 
 were believed to be then able to bring about Divine acts and 
 miracles. (Juynboll, note ad hoc loco.) By the "vision of 
 his dream," is meant either, that particular knowledge which 
 had been communicated to Moses in dreams; or, that he 
 should reveal unto Joshua the knowledge by which he might 
 rightly interpret his own dreams. We read in Deut. xxxiv. 
 9, that "Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of 
 wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him;" and 
 Josephus to the same effect says: "Now Joshua had been 
 instructed in all those kinds of learning which concerned the 
 laws and God himself, and Moses had been his instructor" 
 (Ant. bk. iv. ch. 7). In Mohammedan legends Joshua is 
 excluded from the rank of prophet, hence traditions concern- 
 ing him are few. 
 
 Note 13, Page 16. 
 
 The name. That is, the Holy and Ineffable name of God, 
 represented by the four Hebrew letters yhwh; the Shein, 
 hammephorash of the Jewish Rabbins, and the Shema of the 
 Samaritans, and the Greek Tetragrammaton ; a name the 
 mere utterance of which constituted a capital offence, accord- 
 ing to the interpretation put upon the words used in Num. 
 xxiv. 16, by the priests and Rabbins. Marvellous powers are 
 attributed to it, in Rabbinic traditions: we are told that 
 
NOTES. 143 
 
 Moses spent forty days on Mount Sinai in learning it from 
 the angel Saxael ; that he killed the Egyptian by simply utter- 
 ing against him this Name; that his rod, which it is said he 
 obtained from Jethro, had inscribed upon it this Name, and 
 through its potent power he was enabled to perform all his 
 wonderful miracles; so revered was this Name that it was 
 pronounced but once a year by the high-priest on the day of 
 Atonement when he entered the Holy of Ilolies, and the 
 voice of the high-priest when he uttered it was heard as far 
 as Jericho, and all the priests and people fell on the ground. 
 It is asserted that Jesus stole it from the Temple, and by 
 means of it performed His miracles; it is alleged that two 
 letters of this Name inscribed by a cabal ist on a tablet and 
 thrown into the sea raised the storm which destroyed the 
 fleet of Charles Y. (A. D. 1542); further, that if any one 
 writes this Name on the person of a prince, he is sure of his 
 abiding favor. The true pronunciation of this word is now 
 lost, however, and has been so since the destruction of the 
 second temple; but if any one were able rightly and devoutly 
 to pronounce it, he would thereby be able to create a world. 
 
 Note 14, Page 17. 
 
 The imam. This title is applied by Mohammedans to their 
 preachers or priests who officiate in the mosques; in the 
 larger mosques two imams officiate; one of them, called the 
 "Khateeb," preaches and prays before the congregation on 
 the Friday; the other is an "Imam Eatib," or ordinary 
 imam, who recites the five prayers of every day in the mosque, 
 at the head of those persons who may be there at the exact 
 times of those prayers : but in most of the smaller mosques 
 both offices are performed by one imam. The condition of 
 the imams is very different, in most respects, from that of 
 Jewish or Christian priests. They have no authority above 
 other persons, and do not enjoy any respect but what their 
 reputed piety or learning may obtain for them ; nor are they 
 a distinct order of men set apart for religious offices, and 
 composing an indissoluble fraternity; for an imam maybe 
 displaced from office, and with his employment and salary, 
 loses the title of imam. (Lane's Modem Egyptians, vol. i, 
 page 103). Our author, however, uses the term throughout 
 theChronicle as an equivalent for the Hebrew Cohen "priest," 
 and the same is done also by Saadias in his Arabic version of 
 the Pentateuch, though in both the Arabic and Samaritan 
 languages this identical word is found, with only slight differ- 
 ence of pronunciation. 
 
 Note 15, Page 17. 
 
 Bila'dm the son of B'aur. Apart from the Scriptural 
 record of Balaam's history, numerous traditions exist con- 
 cerning him, many of them more or less interesting, and 
 some possessing quite possibly a substratum of truth handed 
 down from early times. Philo, a contemporary of Christ, 
 
144 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 records this of him: " There was a man at that time cele- 
 brated for divination, who lived in Mesopotamia, and 
 was skilled in every branch of the divining art. He had 
 learned the greatest names {i.e. names of angels and of God, 
 potent In working magic), through his knowledge of the 
 flight of birds, and did much that was wonderful by their 
 means. He predicted rain in the hottest time of summer; 
 heat and drought in the midst of winter; unfruitfulness 
 when the fields were greenest; plenty in years of famine: and 
 the overflowing or drying up of streams; the remedies of 
 pestilential diseases, and a vast multitude of other things, 
 the foretelling of which got him boundless fame, which spread 
 even unto this." (Vita Moysis, sec. 48). Josephus speaks 
 of him as, " the best prophet (or diviner) of his times 
 (Antiq. iv. 6, sec. 2.) And Origen speaks of Balaam as fa- 
 mous for his skill in magic, and the use of noxious incanta- 
 tions. (In Num. Horn, xiii.) The Targumist identifies him 
 with Laban the Aramean, and says that he became foolish 
 by reason of the greatness of his wisdom; that the place of 
 his residence was in Padan, which is Pethor, so named from 
 his name as an interpreter of dreams, and this city was built 
 in Aram on the Euphrates. (Jonathan, Num. xxii. 5.) The 
 Jewish Rabbins hold that he was one of the principal coun- 
 cillors of Pharaoh ; their traditions concerning him run thus. 
 Originally he had been in his youth a servant of Angias, the 
 king of Dinhabah, and had at an early age developed mar- 
 vellous skill in magic and the arts of witchcraft, and was em- 
 ployed by the king to foretell the future. But when king 
 Angias was defeated and put to rout in battle by Zepho the 
 king of Chittim, Balaam forsook him and went over to Zepho, 
 by whom he was received with great honor, and immediately 
 made his chief diviner and magician. He now aided and 
 abetted Zepho in stirring up the Hittites, Edomites and 
 Ishmaelites to make an invasion of Egypt, for the purpose 
 of taking vengeance of the Israelites for the defeats they had 
 inflicted upon the children of Esau in a former war under 
 the leadership of Joseph. This expedition, however, suffered 
 a complete defeat, and we find that Balaam returned with 
 Zepho to Chittim, and there remained until the death of 
 Zepho, when he departed from Chittim and came to Egypt 
 to Pharaoh, who gladly received him — for he had heard of 
 his great wisdom — and gave him presents and exalted him, 
 and made him one of his chief councillors. Among the num- 
 ber of these councillors are mentioned Jethro the Midianite 
 and Job the Uzite (Balaam is strangely identified, by the 
 Rabbins, with Elihu the companion of Job.) Balaam now 
 dwelt in Egypt in high honor with all the nobles of the realm 
 who made much of him, for they coveted to learn his wis- 
 dom. At this time the children of Israel had greatly in- 
 creased and multiplied in numbers, and the Egyptians were 
 filled with dread lest the Israelites should resolve on seizing 
 upon the supremacy and should subjugate them; moved by 
 this fear Pharaoh, at the advice of his councillors, instituted 
 
NOTES. 145 
 
 those measures of oppression and persecution spoken of in 
 the first chapter of Exodus. Five years thus passed, and as 
 Pharaoh sat on his throne one day he fell asleep, and dreamed 
 that he saw an old man standing before him holding a pair 
 of scales, and the old man lifted up the scales before Pharaoh, 
 and put all the princes and nobles and great men of Egypt, 
 tied together, into one scale, and he put into the other a 
 sucking kid; and the kid outweighed all that was in the first 
 scale. When the king awoke, he was troubled at the vision 
 of his dream, and called together his wise men and magicians, 
 and rehearsed unto them his dream, and asked them the in- 
 terpretation thereof. And Balaam, who, with his sons 
 Jannes and Jambres, was present at the council answered 
 and said: This means nothing else but that a great evil will 
 spring up against Egypt in the latter days. For a son will 
 be born to Israel who will destroy all Egypt and its inhabi- 
 tants, and bring forth the Israelites from Egypt with a 
 mighty hand. Now, therefore, O king, take counsel upon 
 this matter, that you may destroy the hope of the children of 
 Israel and their expectation, before this evil arise against 
 Egypt. And the king in dismay said: What shall we do ? 
 All that we have heretofore devised against this people has 
 failed. And Balaam suggested to Pharaoh, that he ask the 
 opinion of his other two chief councillors upon this matter. 
 And the king forthwith did so. Whereupon Jethro the 
 Midianite answered and said: May the king live forever! 
 If it seem good to the king, let him cease from destroying 
 the Hebrews, and desist from them, and let him not stretch 
 forth his hand against them; but if it be thy will that they 
 shall not dwell in Egypt, send them forth from here, that 
 they may go to the land of Canaan, the land where their an- 
 cestors sojourned. And when Pharaoh heard the words of 
 Jethro he was very angry with him, so that he rose with 
 shame from the king's presence, and went to Midian, his 
 land, and took along with him Joseph's stick (which subse- 
 quently became the rod of Moses.) Then the king turned to 
 Job the Uzite, and asked his advice. And Job repiied: Be- 
 hold all the inhabitants of the land are in thy power, let the 
 king do as it seems good in his eyes. Lastly the king said to 
 Balaam: Speak now thy word, that we may hear it. And 
 Balaam said : Of all that the king has counselled against 
 the Hebrews will they be delivered, and the king will not be 
 able to prevail over them with any counsel. For if thou 
 thinkest to lessen them by flaming fire, thou canst not pre- 
 vail over them; for surely their God delivered Abraham their 
 father from the fire fTJr) of the Chaldeans. And if thou 
 thinkest to destroy them with the sword; surely Isaac their 
 father was delivered from it, and a ram was placed in his 
 stead. And if, with hard and rigorous labor thou thinkest 
 to lessen them, thou wilt not prevail even in this; for their 
 father Jacob served Laban in all manner of hard work, and 
 prospered. Now therefore, O king, hear my words, for this 
 is the counsel which is counselled against them, by which 
 
 10 
 
146 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 thou wilt prevail over them, and from which thou shouldst 
 not depart. If it please the king, let him order all the chil- 
 dren which shall be born from this day forward to be thrown 
 into the water, for by this canst thou wipe away their name; 
 for none of them, nor of their fathers, were tried in this 
 manner. And this counsel of Balaam pleased Pharaoh and 
 his princes, and the king immediately had it carried out. 
 But God miraculously saved alive all the Hebrew children 
 that were thrown into the river. During this time Moses 
 was born, and, when a little babe, was rescued from 
 the river and adopted by Bathia, the daughter of Pharaoh; 
 and when he was three years old Bathia presented him be- 
 fore the king as he sat in state one day, with the queen sit- 
 ting beside him, and Balaam with his two sons, and all the 
 princes and wise men of the realm waiting attendance upon 
 the king. And the child Moses, as he sat in the lap of Bathia 
 alongside of the king, stretched out his hand and took the 
 royal crown from the king's head, and placed it upon his own 
 head. [Another version of this tradition is that Pharaoh 
 being pleased with the beauty of the child, took him up in 
 his arms and kissed him, and, to gratify his daughter, play- 
 fully took the crown from off his own head and placed it on 
 the head of the youthful Moses; but the child eagerly caught 
 at it, and threw it on the ground, and, alighting from Phar- 
 aoh's knee, he danced round it and finally trampled it under 
 his feet]. At this the king and his council were greatly 
 shocked; and the king asked of his councillors, what should 
 be the judgment against the boy on account of this act. And 
 Balaam answered the king before the princes, and said: Re- 
 member now, O my lord and king, the dream which thou 
 didst dream many days since, and that which thy servant in- 
 terpreted unto thee. Now, therefore, this is one of the 
 Hebrew children, in whom is the spirit of God, and let not 
 my lord the king imagine that this young child di 1 this thing 
 ignorantly; for he is a Hebrew boy, and has wisdom and un- 
 derstanding, though he be but a child, and with intelligence 
 has he done this, and chosen unto himself the kingdom of 
 Egypt. For this is the manner of all the Hebrews to deceive 
 kings and their nobles, to do all these things cunningly, in order 
 to make the kings of the earth and their men tremble. And 
 Balaam proceeded to cite various examples of the cunning 
 and trickery practised by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and 
 finally closed by saying: Now therefore, my lord king, behold 
 this child has risen up in their stead in Egypt, to do according 
 to their deeds and to act deceitfully with every king, prince 
 and judge. If it please the king, let us spill his blood upon 
 the ground, lest he grow up and take away the government 
 from thy hand, and the hope of Egypt perish after he shall 
 have reigned. But the king hesitated, and decided to take 
 further counsel; and by the Providence of God the life of 
 Moses was spared. When Moses grew up he went frequent- 
 ly to Goshen to visit his brethren the children of Israel, and 
 he observed how they were oppressed, and groaned under 
 
NOTES. 147 
 
 their burdens. And he asked, wherefore the yoke was press- 
 ed so heavily upon their necks ? And they told him all, and 
 informed him of the counsels which Balaam had counselled 
 against them, and also what he had counselled against him in 
 his infancy, in order to have him put to death when he had 
 taken the king's crown from off his head. And when Moses 
 heard these things his affections were alienated from Pharaoh. 
 and his anger was kindled against Balaam, and he was filled 
 with animosity toward him, and lay in ambush day after day 
 seeking a chance to kill him. And Balaam perceiving that 
 tlic young man Moses was bitter against him, and being 
 afraid of his increasing power, departed with his two sons, 
 Jannes and Jambres, and fled to the land of Gush to Kikianus, 
 king of Cush. And about this time Kikianus became in- 
 volved in a war with his enemies, and when he left his capi- 
 tal city at the head of a mighty army to prosecute the war, 
 he left behind him Balaam as regent during his absence. 
 And while the king was away engaged in war, Balaam con- 
 spired against him, and bewitched the people with his en- 
 chantments, and persuaded them to rebel against king Kiki- 
 anus, and refuse him admittance when he should return. 
 And the people swore allegiance to Balaam and made him 
 king over them, and his two sons captains of the army; and 
 he then set to work strengthening the city on all sides. On 
 two sides he raised immense walls, on the third side, between 
 the Nile and the city, he dug countless canals or ditches, 
 into which he let the water rush; and on the fourth side he, 
 by means of his magic and enchantment, assembled innu- 
 merable serpents. Thus he made the city absolutely impreg- 
 nable. When king Kikianus returned from the war, he beheld 
 his capital all fortified, and wondered thereat; but when he 
 was refused admittance, he knew that there was treason. 
 After several unsuccessful attempts to capture the city by as- 
 sault, in which he was repulsed with great slaughter, the 
 king then settled down to a protracted siege, convinced that 
 the only hope of reducing the city was by famine. While 
 Kikianus was thus investing his capital city, Moses took 
 refuge in his camp— for he had been compelled to flee for his 
 life from Egypt from Pharaoh who sought to kill him for 
 having slain the Egyptian— and the king" received him and 
 treated him with honor and respect, and made him one of 
 his counsellors. Meanwhile the siege protracted itself 
 through nine years, and Kikianus fell sick and died; there- 
 upon the chief captains of his army assembled to elect a 
 king, who might carry on the siege with energy, and re- 
 duce the city speedily; for they were weary of the long in- 
 vestment, and they unanimously elected Moses to be their 
 king, who was now twenty-seven years of age. 
 
 Directly he was crowned he put into execution a stratagem 
 for capturing the city ; he ordered his soldiers to go into^the 
 woods, and catch and bring back as many young" storks as 
 they could find, and then to rear them and teach them to dart 
 down upon things, after the manner of young hawks. And 
 
148 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 his people carried out all his instructions, and when the storks 
 were grown and well trained, he commanded that they should 
 be starved for three days. And when it was the third day, 
 he marshalled his army in battle array opposite the side of the 
 city where the serpents were, and then ordered his men to 
 let loose the storks ; and they did so, and the storks flew up 
 into the air, and spied the serpents, and pounced down upon 
 them, and before the serpents could flee to their -holes they 
 devoured and destroyed them all. Thereupon the army raised 
 a great shout, and charged against the city, and took it by 
 storm, and put the inhabitants to the sword, yet not one of 
 the besieging army was slain. And when Balaam saw that 
 the city was taken, he opened the gate, and he and his two 
 sons and eight brothers made their escape, riding upon a cloud, 
 and returned to Egypt to king Pharaoh, and they were the 
 sorcerers and magicians who are mentioned in the book of 
 the law, as withstanding Moses when the Lord brought the 
 plagues upon Egypt. When the plague of " grievous hail " 
 smote the land of Egypt, Balaam is said to have disregarded 
 the words of warning Moses uttered, and left his cattle out of 
 dooi's and unprotected, and they were all destroyed by the 
 hail. Some time after this Balaam departed from Egypt and 
 took up his residence in Mesopotamia. And in the thirty-sixth 
 year of the children of Israel's departure from Egypt, Sihon 
 king of the Amorites got into a war with the children of 
 Moab, and he sent messengers unto Beor and Balaam his son, 
 who were then living in Pethor in Mesopotamia, to get them 
 to come and curse Moab in order that he might gain the vic- 
 tory over it. And, in compliance with the request, Beor and 
 Balaam his son came to the city of Sihon, and cursed the 
 Moabites and their king ; and thereupon Sihon confidently 
 went forth to battle with the Moabites, and the Lord deliv- 
 ered them into his hands, and he slew the king of Moab, and 
 took possession of all their cities, and likewise took Hesh- 
 bon from them. Wherefore Beor and Balaam his son, the 
 proverb speakers, uttered these words, saying : " Come unto 
 Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and established. 
 Woe unto thee, Moab ! thou art undone, O people of Che- 
 mosh." ^ura. xxi. 27, 29.) 
 
 As to his person, Balaam is represented as being lame, and 
 it is said he squinted, or was blind of an eye. Such in brief 
 is the Rabbinic legendary history of Balaam, up to the period 
 of his life when we find him associated with Balak. (Sepher 
 ha-Jasher. See S. Baring-Gould's Legends of the Patri. and 
 Proph.). 
 
 Mohammedan traditions add comparatively little to the 
 above, they, however, state that Balaam was the son of Ba'ura 
 the son of Ba'ar the son of Aid the son of Marat the son of 
 Lut (Lot), and was a Canaanite of the city of Balqa, a city of 
 the giants (Anakim), and that he read the books of Abraham, 
 where he got the name of God, (Jehovah), by virtue of which 
 he predicted the future, and obtained from God whatever he 
 asked; this procured him renown far and wide. He is said to 
 
NOTES. 149 
 
 have been one who "answered the call," that is, professed 
 the religion of the true God, but in consequence, however, of 
 his prevarication, God became angry with him, and left him 
 to himself, so that he fell into infidelity. He is supposed to 
 be mentioned in the Koran (Sura. vii.). By many Balaam 
 has been identified with the Arabic wise man Lokman, the 
 iEsop of the East. 
 
 Note 16, Page 21. 
 
 His very Command. This corresponds very nearly to the 
 use of Memra ("the Word") in place of the name Jehovah 
 by the Targumists. Our author specifies it, a few lines 
 further on, as meaning the '"Agent," or "Agency of the 
 Creator." In the Talmud, we read, that one of the names 
 applied in Scripture to the Holy Ghost, is "Command. 1 ' 
 (See Deusch's Art. Islam, in the Quarterly Rev. Oct. 18G9, 
 page 293.). 
 
 Note 17, Page 21. 
 
 The companion of BilcC am. In Num. xxii. 22, we are told 
 that, "his two servants were with him," and these Jewish 
 tradition state were his two sons Jannes and Jambres. (Tar- 
 gum of Jonathan). The Mohammedan story oi how Balaam 
 was induced to accompany the messengers is, that when the 
 people found that Balaam, in obedience to the command of 
 God, refused to go with them, the judges of the people came 
 together and laid a plan to bribe his wife; for they say, she 
 was a holy person (fakir), and he was wont to listen to her 
 advice; and ten nobles were sent unto her. each one carry- 
 ing a gold dish full of coin, and, when they presented these 
 to her, she came to Balaam and importuned him, saying: 
 Return again unto thy Lord, and ask him to allow thee to 
 aid them, and invoke against their enemies. And she ceased 
 not until lie consented. But no answer was vouchsafed unto 
 him. Thereupon his wife said to him: Verily thy Lord has 
 left to thee the choice in the matter of invoking against them, 
 for if He allowed thee not, certainly He had expressly inter- 
 dicted thee. And upon this he mounted his ass, and rode 
 away with them. (Kisas el-anbiyd, page 181.). 
 
 Note 18, Page 21. 
 
 A place between walls in a field. Rather singularly the 
 Targum of Jonathan has here the following: " And the angel 
 of the Lord stood in a narrow path that was in the midst 
 between the vineyards, in the place where Jacob and Laban 
 raised the mound, thepillaron this side and the watch-tower 
 on that side, that neither should pass the limit to do evil to 
 the other." (Of. Gen. xxxi. 51). 
 
 Note 19, Page 22. 
 
 God put speech on the tongue of the animal. The Rabbins 
 hold that there were ten things created after the founding 
 of the world at the coming in of the Sabbath between sunset 
 
150 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 and sunrise, to wit — the manna; the well; the rod of Moses; 
 the worm Shamir; the rainbow; the cloud of glory; the 
 mouth of the earth; the writing on the tables of the cove- 
 nant; the demons; and the speaking mouth of the ass. 
 {Tar gum, Jon.). 
 
 Note 20, Page 23. 
 
 And he turned away the evil eye from them. A belief in 
 the baneful influence and power of the "evil eye" is well 
 nigh universal in the East, and dates from an early antiquity; 
 that the Hebrews likewise believed in this, is shown bj r such 
 passages as Prov. xxiii.6; xxviii.22; Mark, vii. 22, &c. As 
 to the perpetual dread and fear the modern Orientals have of 
 it, and the charms and other means they resort to, to coun- 
 teract and ward off its noxious influence see Lane's Modern 
 Egyptians. 
 
 Note 21, Page 25. 
 
 And the kings did what he recommended unto them. Ln 
 the account of the children of Israel's falling into sin through 
 the daughters of Moab, as related in Num. xxv. Balaam is 
 not mentioned as connected in any wise with the event; but 
 that he was at the bottom of it and instigated the Moabites 
 thereto is indisputably proved by the frequent references to 
 it in Scriptures directly connecting him with it; see Num. 
 xxxi. 16; Rev. ii. 14. The circumstances attending Balaam's 
 counseling this plot are more or less fully dwelt upon by 
 various profane authors, all, however, substantially agreeing, 
 in the main facts, with the account here found. Josephus 
 says: "Balak being very angry that the Israelites were not 
 cursed, sent away Balaam, witi. >ut thinking him worthy of 
 any honor. Whereupon, when he was just upon his journey, 
 in order to pass the Euphrates, he sent for Balak and for the 
 princes of the Midianites, and spake thus to them; ' O Balak, 
 and you Midianites that are here present; for I am obliged, 
 even without the will of God, to gratify you. It is true, no 
 entire destruction can seize upon the nation of the Hebrews, 
 neither by war, nor by plague, nor by scarcity of the fruits 
 of the earth; nor can any other unexpected accident be their 
 entire ruin; for the providence of God is concerned to pre- 
 serve them from such a misfortune, nor will it permit any 
 such calamity to come upon them, whereby they may all 
 perish. But some small misfortunes, and those for a short 
 time, whereby they may appear to be brought low, may be- 
 fall them. But after that they will flourish again, to the terror 
 of those that brought those mischiefs upon them. So that 
 if you have a mind to gain a victory over \ hem for a short 
 space of time, you wil' obtain it by following my directions. 
 Do you therefore set out the handsomest of such of your 
 daughters as are most eminent for beauty, and proper to force 
 and conquer the modesty of ihose that behold them, and 
 these decked and 1 rimmed to the highest degree you are able. 
 Then do you send them to be near the Israelites' camp, and 
 give them in charge, that when the young men of the He- 
 
NOTES. 151 
 
 brews desire their company, they allow it them. And when 
 they see that they are enamored of them, let them take 
 their departure; if they entreat them to stay, let them not 
 give their consent, till they have persuaded them to leave off 
 their obedience to their own laws, and the worship of that 
 God who established them, and to worship the gods of the 
 Midianites and Moabites; for by this means God will be 
 angry at them." (Antiq. bk. iv. chap. 6.). TheTargumist's 
 account is very brief, it is simply stated that: Balak, in ac- 
 cordance with the counsel of wicked Balaam, established the 
 daughters of Midian in booth-stalls at Beth Jeshimoth, by 
 the snow mountain, and they there sold various kinds of 
 cakes for less than their price; and in the trafficking that 
 ensued they seduced and led into idolatry the Israelites. 
 (Targ. of Jon.). The Mohammedan story is as follows: 
 Balaam, when he found that he could not invoke against the 
 children of Israel, and after he had said, Woe unto you! 
 this (Moses) is the prophet of God, and with him are the 
 angels and the faithful, addressed his people, saying: The 
 world and the future has gone to me, and nothing now re- 
 mains except stratagem and artifice, so I will give unto you 
 command and make use of stratagem. Prepare women, and 
 adorn them and give them wares, and send them to the en- 
 campment of the Israelites to sell and buy in it, and com- 
 mand them that, no woman shall hold herself back from 
 letting a man do with her as he will; for, verily, if a man of 
 them commit fornication, ye will have accomplished enough 
 for their destruction. And they did this. (Kisas el-anbiyd.) 
 
 Note 22, Page 25. 
 
 The chief of the tribe of Shim'aun. In Num. ii. 12 and 13, 
 we read that the captain of the tribe of Simeon was Shel- 
 umiel the son of Zurishaddai, and his host was fifty-nine 
 thousand and three hundred, and in Num. xxv. 14, that, 
 " the name of the Israelite that was slain with the Midiani- 
 tish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief 
 house among the Simeonites." Josephus, the Rabbins and 
 Mohammedan writers all relate quite a lengthy conversation 
 as having taken place between Moses and Zimri, at the time 
 the latter took unto himself the Midianitish princess. 
 
 Note 23, Page 25. 
 
 The daughter of the king. In Num. xxv. 15, we find it 
 stated that, she was named Cozbi, and was the daughter of 
 Zur who was head over a people, and of a chief house in 
 Midian; and in Num. xxxi. 8, Zur, we are informed, was one 
 of the five kings of Midian slain by the children of Israel. 
 
 Note 24, Page 25. 
 
 Four thousand men. Possibly the text here is faulty, and 
 through carelessness the word " twenty " has been omitted, 
 
1&2 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 and should read "twenty-four thousand" in place of "four 
 thousand; " for we read above that twenty-four thousand girls 
 were sent to the camp by the Midianites, and in Num. xxv. 
 9, we are told that, '.' those that died in the plague were twenty 
 and four thousand." But on the other hand St. Paul gives 
 the number as " twenty-th/ee thousand" (1 Cor. x. 8.). 
 Josephussays " fourteen thousand " (Antlq. iv. 6.), and the 
 Mohammedans swell it to " seventy thousand in one mo- 
 ment " (Kisas el-ambiyd ) ; so our author may have inten- 
 tionally, for some reason, put it at " four thousand " as it 
 now stands. 
 
 Note 25, Page 25. 
 
 Finahas (Phinehas) the imam. The memory of Phinehas 
 is greatly revered among the Jews and Samaritans, espe- 
 cially the latter, whose priests fondly speak of him as " our 
 father" and proudly boast that they preserve the unbroken 
 succession in the priesthood from him, under the covenant 
 that God made with him (Num. xxv. 13). The Eabbis iden- 
 t if y his maternal grandfather, Putiel, with Jethro, the Mid- 
 ianite, and bring this forward as adding greater lustre to his 
 zeal against Midian, and enhancing his glorious destiny. 
 They moreover identify Phinehas with "the prophet" of 
 Judg. vi. 8; and also ascribe unto him the verse which closes 
 the book of Joshua. In the Targum of Jon. (Num. xxv.) 
 the slaughter of Zimri and Cozbi is accompanied by twelve 
 miracles, and the covenant made with Phinehas is expanded 
 into a promise, that he shall be "the angel of the covenant, 
 shall live forever, and shall proclaim redemption at the end 
 of the world." 
 
 Note 26, Page 26. 
 
 He commanded TusM the son of Nun. In the Biblical 
 account of this expedition Joshua is not spoken of as com- 
 manding it, though it is true he had already, previous to 
 this, been appointed by Moses as his successor in the leader- 
 ship of the children of Israel. Phinehas alone is mentioned 
 as going forth with the troops in the war against Midian, 
 not, however, in the capacity of military leader, but rather 
 as the priest with the paraphernalia of his office; for it did 
 not belong to the priestly office to conduct armies, (Num. 
 xxxi. 6.), it is therefore highly probable that Joshua was in 
 fact the general-in-chief in this war. 
 
 Note 27, Page 27. 
 
 They cried out the Law against him, and put him to death. 
 The law here invoked against Balaam is probably that found 
 in Deut. xviii. 10, 11, 12. In the Targum is to be found the 
 following strange story about the circumstances connected 
 with the death of Balaam: " And it came to pass, that 
 when the guilty Balaam beheld Phinehas the priest pursuing 
 after him, he made use of a magic spell and flew up into 
 
NOTES. 153 
 
 the air of heaven. Immediately Phinehas pronounced the 
 great and holy Name, and flew up after him, and seized him 
 by his head and hurling him down, drew his sword and 
 wished to put him to death; but he opened his mouth with 
 words of supplication, and said to Phinehas: If thou wilt 
 preserve my life, I swear unto thee that during all the days 
 that I may live, I will not curse thy people. Phinehas an- 
 swered and said unto him: Art thou not Laban the Ara- 
 mean, who desired to destroy our father Jacob, and went 
 down to Egypt for the purpose of destroying his seed, and 
 after they hud come forth from Egypt, stirred up against them 
 wicked Amalek, and art now even aroused to curse them ? 
 And when thou didst perceive that thy works availed naught, 
 and that the Word of the Lord hearkened not unto thee, thou 
 didst give wicked counsel unto Balak, to establish his daugh- 
 ters at the cross-roads to seduce them, and there fell of them 
 through this cause twenty-four thousand. Wherefore it is 
 impossible to longer preserve thy life. And forthwith he 
 drew his sword from its sheath and killed him." (Pseudo- 
 Jon. Num. xxxiii. 8.). 
 
 Note 28, Page 30. 
 
 The deluge of fire, and the day of vengeance and reward. 
 The destruction of the world by fire, and the final Judgment 
 Day, is believed in alike by Jews, Samaritans, Christians and 
 Moslems. The words "deluge of fire " are here used ante- 
 thetically to the former deluge of water that destroyed the 
 world. In the N. T. we find St. Peter makes use of the same 
 comparison : " Whereby the world that then was, being 
 overflowed with water, perished; but the heavens and the 
 earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, 
 reserved unto fire against the day of judgment." (2 Pet. iii. 
 6,7.) 
 
 Note 29, Page 30. 
 
 Defined the time of his return unto them. The Samaritans 
 hold to the belief that in the fullness of time the spirit of 
 Moses will descend from heaven and take another body and 
 reign over all nations. Such is their doctrine as to the char- 
 acter of the expected Messiah, whom they call el-Muhdy 
 (the Guide). 
 
 Note 30, Page 31. 
 
 A pillar of divine fire descended. The tradition as 
 
 preserved by Josephus, touching the incidents connected with 
 Moses' death, is strikingly similar to the one here recorded, 
 he says: " Now as he went thence to the place where he was 
 to vanish out of their sight, they all followed after him weep- 
 ing; but Moses beckoned with his hand to those that were 
 remote from him, and bid them stay behind in quiet, while he 
 exhorted those that were near to him that they would not 
 render his departure so lamentable. Whereupon they thought 
 
154 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 they ought to grant him that favor, to let him depart accord- 
 ing as he himself desired, so they restrained themselves, 
 though weeping still towards one another. All that now 
 accompanied him were the elders, and Eleazar the high priest, 
 and Joshua their commander. And as soon as they were 
 come to the mountain called Abarim, he dismissed the elders, 
 and then as he was embracing Eleazar and Joshua, and still 
 speaking to them, a cloud suddenly stood over him, and he 
 vanished in a deep valley." (Antiq. bk. iv. chap. 8, sec. 
 49). 
 
 Note 31, Page 31. 
 
 Where is one who brought to life the dead. ..... besides thee ? 
 
 In the Bible we find no intimation that Moses ever performed 
 any such miracle as bringing to life the dead, yet the Samari- 
 tans here, as well as in their religious hymns, attribute to him 
 the exercise of this miraculous power. There is a legend of 
 the Moslems, recorded by Tabari, to the effect that, when 
 Moses went up into Mount Sinai to receive the Tables of the 
 Commandments, he took with him the seventy elders, and on 
 the Mount a cloud came down and enveloped Moses, and hid 
 him wholly from their view; and when he had received the 
 Commandments, and came forth out of the cloud unto them, 
 the elders murmured that they had not also received the rev- 
 elation, whereupon the cloud enveloped them also, and they 
 heard all the words that had been spoken to Moses. Then 
 the wrath of G-od blazed forth, and a thundering was heard 
 bo great and terrible that they fainted and died. But Moses 
 feared, and he prayed to God, and the seventy men were re- 
 stored to life again, and came down the Mount with him. 
 
 Note 32, Page 32. 
 
 Fasted 120 days, including the nights. The Samaritans 
 along with the Jews believe that Moses was three separate 
 times with God in the Mount for the space of forty days and 
 nights, and in support of this, they cite Ex. xxxii. 30, 31 ; 
 Deut. ixc 9, 18 25. 
 
 Note 33, Page 33. 
 
 O one who killed the NU with his rod! This has reference 
 to Moses' smiting with his rod the river of Egypt and turning 
 its waters to blood, so he is here figuratively said to have 
 "killed "the Nile. 
 
 Note 34, Page 34. 
 
 Mtisa, Kaldmu'l-ldh. This is the title universally applied 
 to Moses by Mohammedans. It means " the one who held 
 direct converse with God." 
 
 Note 35, Page 39. 
 
 Nabih, and his cousin, of the tribe of Manashshah. In the 
 Bible Nabih, or Nobah, as he is there called, is mentioned 
 
NOTES. 155 
 
 only but once (Num. xxxii, 42), and his genealogy is not 
 stated, but from the connection it is evident that he was a 
 descendant of Manasseh, and a prominent warrior in his 
 tribe. In Chapter xxxvii. of this Chronicle we have his pedi- 
 gree given as u the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son 
 of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, etc." His cousin here spoken 
 of is, in all probability, Jair who is associated with him in 
 the conquest of Trans-Jordanic towns in Num. xxxii. 41, 42, 
 and who was, as we are told in 1 Chron. ii. 21. 22. the son 
 of the daughter of Machir, and therefore first cousin to No- 
 bah. According to the Jewish tradition Nobah was born in 
 Egypt, died after the decease of Moses, and was buried during 
 the passage of the Jordan (Seder Olam Rabba, ix). 
 
 Note 36, Page 43. 
 
 Wlweverfleesawayis safe, bat whoever remains shall perish. 
 There is a story recorded in the Jerusalem Talmud to the 
 effect that, before Joshua proceeded to lead the children of 
 Israel to the conquest of the Holy Land he sent a deputation 
 unto the inhabitants of Canaan to proclaim unto them, " Let 
 whosoever who would escape death, leave the country." 
 (Tract. Terumoth). 
 
 Note 37, Page 44. 
 
 Bahab the innkeeper. The word translated here "inn- 
 keeper " (funduqiyeh) is the same word employed by the Tar- 
 gumist (pundekitha) in Josh. ii. 1, to describe Rahab. 
 Josephus speaks of her only as keeping an inn, and the Jew- 
 ish commentators (Kimchi, Jarchi) adopt this view. Accord- 
 ing to St. Matthew i. 4, she subsequently married Salmon, a 
 prince of Judah, and thus became the ancestress of David. 
 The Rabbinic story is. that Rahab was not a Canaanite, but 
 of some other Gentile race, and was only a sojourner in Jeri- 
 cho, that she was ten years old when the Israelites left Egypt; 
 she played the harlot during the forty years in which the Is- 
 raelites were in the desert; she became a proselyte when the 
 spies were received by her, and that after the fall of Jericho. 
 Joshua himself made her his wife, and by him she became the 
 ancestress of the eight prophets Jeremiah, Maaseiah, Hana- 
 meel, Shallum, Barueh, Ezekhiel, Neriah and Seriah, and also 
 of Huldah the prophetess. (See authorities cited in Kitto's Bib. 
 Cycl. art. Rahab). 
 
 Note 38, Page 45. 
 
 The tablets whose writing ivas of Divine light. There is a 
 hymn in the Samaritan liturgy which sets forth the belief 
 held by the Samaritans as to the nature of the inscription on 
 the tables of stone, and what is there said sheds considerable 
 light on this phrase. In this hymn (we quote Juynboll) " di- 
 cuntur duse Legis tabulae firrase fuisse, et conscriptae digito 
 divino, s. digito ignis ardentis, et fulguris instar splenduisse, 
 quin pellucidte fuisse, ita ut qiue iis inseiipLai essent, in 
 parte aversa legi possent" (Notes, page 229). The Moham- 
 
156 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 medan story of the inscribing of the law upon the tables, 
 dwells also with particular emphasis upon brilliancy of the 
 light accompanying it. The tables upon which God wrote 
 were fetched from Paradise by the angel Gabriel, and most 
 of the authorities say they were huge gems. (Compare the 
 statement of the Targum, that they were sapphire stones 
 from the throne of glory. Pseudo-Jon. Ex. xxxi. 18.) And 
 God wrote with a pen of light that was taller than the space 
 between heaven and earth, and the earth glowed with light; 
 and the letters were graven into the tables, so that they 
 could be read on both sides. (Kisas el-anbiyd.) 
 
 Note 39, Page 46. 
 
 Each one of them should write his name upon his stone. 
 There is found in the Bible no mention of any inscription 
 whatever being put on these stones; and so far as we are 
 aware, the Samaritans stand alone in this tradition, as well 
 as in the tradition that Joshua placed in order on Mount 
 Gerizim the twelve stones brought out of the Jordan by the 
 Israelites, where, it is said, they will remain, until el-Muhdy 
 (the Messiah) shall appear. {Robinson's Bib. Res. vol. ii. 
 p. 278.) 
 
 Note 40, Page 47. 
 
 The first year of the first period of seven years of the Yubtl. 
 The word here translated "period of seven years" is the 
 Hebrew word shemittah ("release "), and is employed to des- 
 ignate the period of seven years terminating with the Year 
 of Release. The words " of the Yubil " here mean the period 
 of forty-nine years closing with the year of Jubilee, which 
 consisted of a succession of seven sabbatical years, the year 
 of Jubilee in reality being the fiftieth year. From this we 
 learn that the Samaritans hold that the law in relation to the 
 cultivation of the land for six years and letting it lie at rest 
 during the seventh, became obligatory from the very first 
 entrance of the Israelites into the Promised Land, thus liter- 
 ally interpreting Lev. xxv. 2, ''When ye come into the land 
 which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto 
 the Lord." The best Jewish authorities, on the other hand, 
 hold, that the law became obligatory fourteen years after the 
 first entrance into the Promised Land, the conquest of which 
 took seven years and the distribution seven more, then they 
 cultivated it six years, and on the seventh year (i.e., the 
 twenty-first after entering the land), the first sabbatical year 
 was celebrated. 
 
 Note 41, Page 48. 
 
 The sea of el-Qulzum. This is the name by which the Red 
 Sea is commonly known to the people of the East, it is de- 
 rived from the ancient city Clysma, the site of which is near. 
 or at the modern Suez : Qulzum being merely the Arabic 
 form of the same name. Some Arabic authors, however, 
 say, the sea is so named from the swallowing up, or drown- 
 
NOTES. 157 
 
 ing of Pharaoh's host; Qulzum being a derivative of qalzam 
 which has this signification; or, according to others, from 
 its being hemmed in by mountains, from the same root. 
 Smith'' s Bib. Diet., art. Ked Sea. 
 
 Note 42, Page 50. 
 
 7 am of the messengers of God, who rule over punishments. 
 In Joshua, v. 14, this angel is stated as being "captain of the 
 host of the Lord," which, according to Jewish angelology 
 would designate the archangel Michael; for they regard the 
 angels as divided into several orders or classes, each class 
 having an archangel at its head, the head or the first class 
 being Michael, who is therefore chief prince of all the angels. 
 From the expression here used it is evident, that, the Samari- 
 tans likewise believe that the angels are divided into classes, 
 one class of which preside over the execution of punishments. 
 Probably direct reference is had here to what is said in Ex. 
 xxiii. 21, concerning the angel that the Lord said He would 
 send to accompany the children of Israel, it being there im- 
 plied that he was an angel who punished transgressions. 
 
 Note 43, Page 52. 
 
 Ancient Yariha; and this city was devoted, destroyed, burn- 
 ed and converted iiito a mound, never to be built up, or re- 
 stored, throughout eternal ages. In the Bible — Joshua viii. 28 
 — we read: " And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for 
 ever, even a desolation unto this day." It is a significant 
 fact, worthy to be noted, that the Chronicle before us makes 
 no mention whatever of Ai. The account here given of the 
 destruction of Jericho is evidently founded upon Deut. xiii. 
 16, " And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst 
 of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all 
 the spoil thereof, every whit, for the Lord thy God : and it 
 shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again." 
 
 Note 44, Page 53. 
 
 And he found therein a goodly thing of gold, and a tongue 
 of gold, their weight was 2250 mithqals. Joshua vii. 21. in 
 
 the Hebrew text, reads: " among the spoil a goodly 
 
 mantle of Shinar, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a 
 
 tongue of gold of fifty shekels weight rt The Septna- 
 
 gint has: ''an embroidered mantle." The Vulgate: "a 
 scarlet garment exceeding good." Josephus : " a royal gar- 
 ment woven entirely of gold, and apiece of gold that weighed 
 two hundred shekels." An Arabic mithqal is equal to about 
 72 English grains. 
 
 Note 45, Page 53. 
 
 And upon him were the jewels. And the jewel which was 
 inscribed with the name of Yahudah grew black- What is 
 here said coincides directly with the general belief held by 
 
158 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 the Jewish Rabbins, that the Urimand Thummim were ident- 
 ical with the twelve precious stones on the breastplate of tbe 
 highpriest on which the names of the tribes of Israel were 
 engraved, and that the mode in which Divine communication 
 was given was by the intensity or obscuration of the light 
 shining forth from a gem. Josephus gives expression to the 
 same tradition, though he apparently identifies the Urimand 
 Thummim with the sardonyxes on the shoulders of the ephod, 
 yet he agrees fully as to the way in which an oracle was 
 given. (Antiq. iii. bk. 8, chap. 9). 
 
 Note 46, Page 55. 
 
 And in Wddy el-Mtijib. What is here referred to is more 
 fully explained in Chap, xiii, where, in enumerating the var- 
 ious miracles that God had performed for the children of 
 Israel, it is said: "He closed up the two mountains of the 
 valley el-Mujib (Arnon), that thou mightest pass over safely." 
 The legend of a miracle having been wrought at the passage 
 of the Arnon is very old. and is founded upon that most ob- 
 scure citation from " The Book of the wars of Yahweh " con- 
 tained in Num. xxi. 14, which our English Authorized Ver- 
 sion, following the Jewish interpretation and the Vulgate, 
 render: " What He did in Ihe Red Sea, and in the brooks of 
 Arnon. Tn explanation of this last clause, the Targum of 
 Jonathan, giving the Jewish legend, says: "That the Edo- 
 mites and Moabites hid themselves in the mountains to lie in 
 wait for and destroy the people of the house of Israel ; but 
 the Lord of the world gave a signal to the mountains and they 
 came together each to each, and they died, and their blood 
 flowed in the valley close to Arnon." This it will be perceived 
 differs from the Samaritan account in stating that the moun- 
 tains enclosing the valley were miraculously brought together 
 rather for the purpose of destroying the enemies of Israel, 
 than that they themselves might have an easy and safe way 
 of getting across this deep valley. In all probability the latter 
 version of the legend arose from the deep, precipitous and 
 almost impassable nature of this valley, which it was sup- 
 posed the children of Israel could not have crossed without 
 Divine aid. A modern eminent geographer, speaking of the 
 canon of el-Mujib, says: "So wild a production of nature as 
 the Arnon fissure was undoubtedly well adapted in ancient 
 times to form a powerful frontier It would be diffi- 
 cult to determine how the people of Israel in the time of Mo- 
 ses were able to overcome so powerful a natural and political 
 barrier. It cannot be supposed that a whole nation, migrating 
 with all its possessions, including numerous flocks and herds, 
 would expose itself without necessity to the dangers and 
 enormous difficulties of crossing so fearfully wild and deep 
 a valley, for the purpose of penetrating into an enemy's coun- 
 try the Israelites most probably took the road higher 
 
 up — that is, farther to the east — and thus avoided the deep 
 precipices of the Arnon." (Bitter). 
 
NOTES. 159 
 
 Note 47, Page 56, 
 
 The blessed mountain. This is Mount Gerizim, the holiest 
 spot on earth to the Samaritans, the kibleh toward which they 
 pray. Here, they believe, was the seat of Paradise, from 
 which all the streams that watered the earth flowed forth; 
 Adam had been formed out of its dust, and had lived upon it 
 — the seven steps of stone used by Adam in coming out of 
 Paradise, are still pointed out on its summit; here he built 
 his first altar, and, later, here was raised Seth's altar. This 
 "was, indeed Blount Ararat, higher by 15 cubits than Mount Ebal 
 — the next highest and next holiest mountain in the world, 
 it was the one pure and sacred spot which, haying ris^n 
 above the waters of the flood, no corpse had defiled; here 
 Noah came out from the ark, and built his altar, and offered 
 up his sacrifice; this was the mount upon which Abraham 
 laid his son Isaac on the altar to offer him up; on the sum- 
 mit of Gerizim Jacob rested his head when he saw the ladder 
 in his dream, with the angels of God ascending and descend- 
 ing on it, and wmere upon awaking he said : "this is none 
 other but the house of God (Beth-el), and this is the gate of 
 heaven ;" from this sacred spot were uttered the blessings 
 that Moses commanded, and here Joshua reared his altar, and 
 in later days built a temple; in its immediate neighborhood 
 lie buried Joseph, Eleazer, Ithamar, Phinehas, Joshua the 
 son of Nun, Caleb and the seventy Ancients; here stood the 
 Beit el-Muqaddas (the holy house) of the Samaritans for 
 centuries uutil destroyed by the Jews; on this spot will first 
 appear the Messiah, and bring from their hiding-place in the 
 Mount the sacred vessels of the tabernacle of Moses. 
 
 In this Chronicle Gerizim is commonly called Tdr-berlk 
 "Blessed Mount," or "Mount of Blessing," so styled, no 
 doubt, from the circumstance that the blessings were pro- 
 nounced from its summit. (Deut. xxvii. 12). 
 
 Note 48, Page 56. 
 
 Qiryah. This abbreviated form of Kirjath-jearim is meL 
 with once in the Bible, Joshua xviii. 28. In the Bible we 
 find four cities mentioned by name in this connection, (Jos. 
 ix. 17), here the city Chephirah is omitted. 
 
 Note 49, Page 58. 
 
 Kasahah. Probably the same city as is called Azekah in 
 the Hebrew. Its site has not as yet been identified, and we 
 are in utter ignorance as to what the later name of the place 
 might have been. 
 
 Note 50, Page 59. 
 
 Mahzun. The identification of this place is a difficult 
 matter. Possibly the word Mahzun is a corruption of Mase- 
 ron, the name found intheLXX. (Joshua, xi. 8) in the plaee 
 of Misrephoth-maim. Juynboll, however, inclines to the 
 opinion that it is a corruption of Meirun, the name of the 
 
160 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 town lying some two hours distant. W.N.W. from Safed; 
 and Conder reads Maharun, and suggests that it is identi- 
 cal with the modern village of el-Mahruneh near Dothan. 
 (Pal. Explor. Fund, Quar. Statement, 1875, p. 187). 
 
 Note 51, Page 60. 
 
 They celebrated a grand feast. It is worthy to be noted 
 that this Chronicle — as does also Josephus— places the so- 
 lemnization of this festival after the successful conquest of 
 the Holy Land; while, on the other hand, the text of the can- 
 onical Book of Joshua, as it now stands, places it directly 
 after the capture of Jericho and Ai, (Jos. viii. 30-35), before 
 in fact the Israelites had arrived at Mount Gerizim, and 
 when this whole region was still in tke kands of tke enemy. 
 One is compelled to believe tkese verses in tke viiitk ckapter 
 of Joskua are not in their proper setting, but are dislocated, 
 and that tkey skould be transferred to tke end of ckapter xi. 
 where tkey seem to naturally and consistently belong. (See 
 The Speaker's Comment, ad loco). 
 
 Note 52, Page 65. 
 
 In it were marvellous indicatory signs. The Jews likewise 
 set great store by the study of the Law, and attribute to it 
 similar virtues. Their Phylacteries and Mezuzahs, as is well 
 known, are considered to possess miraculous powers in ward- 
 ing off evil spirits, diseases, death, and many other dire ca- 
 lamities. Particularly do the Jews lay emphasis on the idea 
 that the devout study of the Law will insure long life to the 
 student. 
 
 Note 53, Page 67. 
 
 The district embracing the excellent mountain. It is 
 
 rather remarkable that here Caleb is associated with Joshua 
 in the possession of the district embracing Mount Gerizim, 
 when in the canonical Book of Joshua we are informed that 
 he had assigned to him Hebron for an inheritance. As to 
 Joshua's possession, both Jewish and Samaritan tradition 
 agree in placing it at or near Shechem — Josephus says that, 
 Joshua "lived in Shechem " (bk. v. 2S). In opposition to 
 this, the attempt in modern times to identify Joshua's city 
 Timnath-serah (or Heres) with the present village of Tibneh, 
 situated far south of Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, 
 is not very satisfactory. 
 
 Note 54, Page 69. 
 
 Their enemies were far removed from them and dispersed 
 throughout the regions of the earth. Various profane writers 
 corroborate this statement and give testimony to the expul- 
 sion of the Canaanites from tke Holy Land and tkeir migra- 
 tion to other regions. Moses of Chorene, the Armenian his- 
 torian, says: " Wken he (i.e., Joshua) was destroying the 
 
NOTES. 161 
 
 Canaanites, some fled to Agra, and sought Tharsis in ships. 
 This appears from an inscription, carved on pillars in Africa, 
 which is extant even in our own time, and is of this purport: 
 ' We, the chiefs of the Canaanites, fleeing from Joshua the 
 Robber, have come hitherto dwell.' " (Hist. Armen. i. 18). 
 
 Procopius, the historian and secretary to Belisarius, in his 
 description of Tigisis (Tangiers) a city of Numidia, relates the 
 same fact, his words are: " Here there are two columns, made 
 of white stone, near the great fountain, having carved upon 
 them Phoenician letters, which read thus in the language - 
 of the Phoenicians: ' We are they who fled from the face of 
 Joshua the Robber, the son of Nun. 1 " {Be Bello Vandalico, 
 ii. 10). This is clearly the language of an eye-witness. Pro- 
 copius, it must be remembered, had accompanied Belisarius 
 to Africa. Suidas the Lexicographer mentions the same in 
 his Dictionary under the word- Canaan. (Raivlinson's Hist. 
 Evidences, p. 86). There is a story, preserved in Rabbinical 
 legends, which represents that when Alexander the Great 
 arrived in Palestine, the Gergesenes, or Girgashites, who had 
 fled to Africa, came to plead their cause before him against 
 the Israelites, for having expelled them and wrongfully taken 
 possession of their territory. 
 
 Note 55, Page 70. 
 
 Shaubak. This king is here stated to be the son of Hamam 
 the son R'awan, king of the Persians; but in Chap, xxxvii. 
 his genealogy is carried back further, and he is there said to 
 be a descendant of Fut (Phut), the son of Ham, the son of 
 Nuh (Noah). Outside of Jewish and Samaritan tradition we 
 know nothing whatever about him, or his war with Joshua. 
 In the lists of the kings of Persia no such name occurs. Ac- 
 cording to the account of him found in the book Juchasinhe 
 was the king of Armenia Minor, or that part of ancient Ar- 
 menia lying to the west of the river Euphrates. The name 
 was probably not uncommon in the East in former times ; 
 for we read that in David's time the captain of the host of 
 Hadadezer, king of Zobah, bore the name Shobach. One of 
 the leaders of the people in the time of Nehemiah was named 
 Shobek; and there is a town in Arabia Petraea at the present 
 day which bears the name Shabek. 
 
 Note 56, Page 70. 
 
 The son o/Ydfet the giant. In the next chapter this son 
 of Japhcth is said to have had "a thunderbolt of steel," and 
 to have been accompanied by certain kings who possessed 
 ''instruments and implements of war, which they had inher- 
 ited from their grandfather Nuh (Noah)." The book Jucha- 
 sin, in its description of him, makes no mention of his having 
 a thunderbolt, but only says of him that, he was a giant and 
 could wield his ppear against an indefinite number of men. 
 In the book of Genesis (chap. x. 2) we read that Japheth bad 
 seven sons. Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Me- 
 11 
 
162 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 shech and Tiras. Mohammedan legends ascribe to him eleven 
 sons; (1) Sin, the ancestor of the Chinese; (2) Scklab, the an- 
 cestor of the Sclavonian races; (3) Magog, the ancestor of the 
 Scynthians and Kalmuths; (4) Gomari, the ancestor of the 
 Franks; (5) Turk and (6) Khalos, the ancestors of the Turks; 
 (7) Khozaz, the ancestor of the Khozarans; (8) Rus, the an- 
 cestor of the Russians; (9) Souffan, (10) Ghoy and (11) Tar- 
 ag, the ancestors of the Turcomans. The Moslem writers 
 btate that he was the eldest son of Noah, and that upon 
 coining out of the ark Noah gave him a miraculous stone, 
 upon which was written the great name of God, and which 
 enabled him thereafter to cause rain at pleasure — the Turks 
 say that, by means of this stone, Noah was able to guide the 
 course of the ark without sail or oars. They ascribe to the 
 sons and descendants of Japheth great wisdom, but say that 
 no prophet was ever born among them. 
 
 Note 57, Page 70. 
 
 el-Qaimiin. This is the modern Tell Qaimfin, a command- 
 ing eminence standing at the eastern termination of Mount 
 Carmel, and overlooking the broad plain of Esdraelon. Dr. 
 Robinson describes it as follows : " From the southern end of 
 the mountain (Carmel), and along its eastern base, comes 
 down a narrow valley, Wadyel-Milh, which separaies Carmel 
 from the lower rounded hills, that stretch off southeast as far 
 
 as to Lejjun Tell Kaimon is on the eastern side of 
 
 Wady el-Milh, at its mouth as it enters the plain ; and is the 
 northwestern termination of the hills which stretch off south- 
 east. The position is conspicuous and important ; command- 
 ing the main pass from the western portion of Esdraelon to 
 the more southern plain. The name refers us at once to the 
 Cammona of Eusebius and Cimana of Jerome, situated in the 
 great plain, six Roman miles north of Legio (el-Lejjun), on 
 the way to Ptolemais. This is precisely the position of Tell 
 Kaimon." Dr. R. also identifies this place with the ancient 
 Jokneam of Carmel, where dwelt one of the Canaanitish kings 
 in the time of Joshua (Jos. xii. 22), and adds the remark : 
 " The position is sufficiently important for the site of a kingly 
 city." (Bib. Bes. Yol. iii. p. 114, 115). 
 
 Note 58, Page 71. 
 
 murdering wolf. The reading in the hook Juchasin is 
 "O wolf of the evenings" (comp. Jer. v. 6), I. e., the vora- 
 cious wolf that prowls at night. The book Shalsheleth Hak- 
 kabbalah likewise has the same reading (p. 96). 
 
 Note 59, Page 71. 
 
 Thirty cities. This does not agree with the text of the 
 canonical Book of Joshua, where their number is given as 
 "thirty and one" (chap. xii. 24). The LXX, on the other 
 hand, here reads " twenty-nine J " 
 
NOTES. 163 
 
 Note 60, Page 73. 
 
 Merj Balata. ("the Meadow of Balata"). This is the 
 great plain stretching east from the mountains Gerizim and 
 Ebal : its modern Arabic name is Mukhna. Close to the foot 
 of Mount Geriziiw, on the edge of the plain, stands the pres- 
 ent ruined hamlet of Balata, this site the Samaritans call 
 "The Holy Oak" or "The Tree of Grace," identifying it 
 with the spot where stood in ancient days the "Oak of 
 Shechem" (or Moreh). In Chapter xxix we find this same 
 plain called " the hallowed (or pure) plain," and in Chapters 
 xxxix and xlvii the term Merj el-Baha " Meadow of Beauty " 
 is applied to it. 
 
 Note 61, Page 75. 
 
 KhaUlu'l-ldh ("the Friend of God"). This is the name 
 by which Abraham is known among Mohammedans and the 
 Arabic speaking peoples of the East. The title is often 
 abbreviated to simply el-Khalil "the Friend," and as such it 
 is employed as the modern name of the city of Hebron. As 
 a title applied to Abraham it is very old, being common 
 among the ancient Hebrews (see 2 Chron. xx. 7 ; Is. xli. 8 ; 
 James, ii. 23). 
 
 Note 62, Page 78. 
 
 And another lifted up on his five fingers five kings of cities, 
 even Sadum (Sodihn) Though the num- 
 ber of the cities of the plain were indeed five (Gen. xiv. 2,) 
 still we are told in Deut. xxix. 23— and the same is implied 
 in Gen. xix. 21 — that only four of them were overthrown 
 and destroyed. In the Book of Wisdom, however, it is 
 stated that the five cities were destroyed (Chap. x. 6), and 
 with this Josephus agrees ; for he says " the shadowy traces 
 of the five cities are still to be seen " (B. J. iv. 8. 4). The 
 story here mentioned as to the part the angel took in the 
 destruction of the cities is undoubtedly connected with the 
 Mohammedan tradition of the event, which recites that, the 
 angel Gabriel was ordered by God to destroy these cities, and 
 that he went down and thrust his wing under four of them — 
 some accounts say seven — and uprooted them, and bore them 
 aloft on the feathers of his wing, and carried them so high 
 that the inhabitants of heaven heard their cocks crowing and 
 their dogs barking, and held them there until morning, and 
 then turned them upside down and cast them to the earth, 
 and rained upon them stones baked in Hell-fire, each stone 
 being inscribed with the name of the person it should kill. 
 (See Sale's Koran, vol. ii. p. 29 ; Kisas el-anbiyd, p. 80 ; Mer- 
 rick's Hydt ul-Kuldb, p. 275). The Talmud likewise asso- 
 ciates the angel Gabriel with the destruction of Sodom.' (Bab. 
 Mez. 86 b.). 
 
 Note 63, Page 81. 
 
 The sea of darkness. According to the cosmogony of the 
 Arahs the continents and islands of the earth are believed to 
 be surrounded by "the Circumambient Ocean" (el-Bahr el- 
 
164 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 Muhit), which ocean is described as bounded by a chain of 
 mountains called Qaf, which was said to be composed of 
 green chrysolite, the brilliancy of which imparts a greenish 
 hue to the sky. Scattered over this ocean were unknown 
 regions and innumerable islands, the abode of Jinns (Genii), 
 and here was the throne of Iblis (the Devil). The remote 
 western portion of the Muhit was called "the Sea of Dark- 
 ness," adjoining which lay the region of darkness, so called 
 because of its horrors, terrors and difficulties. 
 
 Note 64, Page 87. 
 
 Trumpets of clamor, i. e., trumpets of alarm, signal trum- 
 pets on which alarms were sounded. The Arabic here is an 
 exact rendering of the Hebrew words shophroth hayyovlim 
 (Josh, vi.), which in the Authorized Version, following the 
 interpretation of the Rabbins, are translated "trumpets of 
 rams, horns, "but which should rightly be translated "trum- 
 pets of jubilee," or "alarm-trumpets." 
 
 Note 65, Page 87, 
 
 el-Lejjtm. The modern Arabic form of the name of the 
 ancient city,Legio, mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome, and 
 situated on the western border of the great plain of Esdraelon. 
 Dr. Robinson has identified it with the site of the more 
 ancient Megiddo of the Old Testament (Bib. Researches, vol. 
 iii. p. 118). It lies six Roman miles distant from el-Qaimun, 
 where were encamped the forces of the enemy, cf. Note 57. 
 
 Note m, Page 91. 
 
 Fire ! Fire ! ! no rest and no repose ! . The word " Fire " 
 is used here by metonymy for "war," a thing of frequent 
 occurrence in the Oriental languages, and the whole expres- 
 sion is a stirring and impassioned utterance on the part of 
 Nabih, intended to arouse his army to the highest pitch of 
 zeal in hastening to the succor of Joshua. Juynboll, how- 
 ever, translates this phrase quite differently, his rendering 
 being : " ignem, ignem (largiatur Deus), nullus viae est dux, 
 nullus locus quietis!" 
 
 Note 67, Page 91. 
 
 The great meadow. The plain of Esdraelon, the modern 
 Arabic name of which is Merj ibn 'Amir " the Meadow of the 
 son of 'Amir." 
 
 Note 68, Page 92. 
 
 O Nabih, what is the matter ivith thee that thou barkest f. 
 There is a play here upon words which it is impossible to 
 bring out in the translation, the word tanbahuy, "thou 
 barkest" being used as a play upon the name Nabih. 
 
NOTES. 165 
 
 Note 69, Page 94. 
 
 The icest wind was returning each missile unto its hurler. 
 A miracle similar to this is related in the Moslem traditions 
 concerning Mohammed. The story runs that: "At the battle 
 of Ahzdb, Abusuffeedn ordered a division of seven thousand 
 archers to discharge their arrows in a simultaneous volley at 
 Mohammed's army. This order coming to the ears of the 
 Mnsulmans caused much terror and alarm among them; but 
 the prophet waved his victorious sleeve in the air, and when 
 the volley was discharged God sent a wind which drove each 
 arrow back to pierce and wound its master!" {Merrick's 
 Uyut ul-Kulub, p. 177). 
 
 Note 70, Page 94. 
 
 Until the horses plunged in blood up to their nostrils. The 
 same thing is related by the Talmudists to have occurred at 
 the capture of Bether, in the Jewish revolt under Hadrian, 
 A. D. 135 ; for they tell us that so great was the slaughter 
 there that ''the horses waded up to their mouths in blood." 
 (Miinter, Biblioth. Sac. 1843, p. 440). Compare Kev. xiv. 20. 
 
 Note 71, Page 9S. 
 
 Yush'd the son of Nun reigned forty-five years. In the 
 Bible we are not informed as to the length of Joshua's admin- 
 istration, Josephus (Ant. v. 1. 29), gives the number of 
 years that Joshua ruled Israel as twenty-five, but according 
 to other Jewish chronologers it was twenty-seven years. 
 Eusebius ( ''Prazpar. Evang. 'x. 14) states that some assigned 
 thirty years to it, while on the other hand some chronologers 
 have endeavored to reduce the period to twenty-one years, 
 and others to seventeen years, and still others to seven years. 
 
 Note 72, Page 99. 
 
 Merj el-Bahd (Meadow of Beauty). See note 60. In the 
 Samaritan Version of the Pentateuch, Gen. xii. 6, this plain 
 is called " the Plain of Vision," and the Vulgate here reads 
 "convallem illustrem," which seems to be quite closely allied 
 to the name Merj el-Baha. 
 
 Note 73, Page 99. 
 
 Abil, the son of the brother of Kalab. By Abil is undoubt- 
 edly here meant Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger 
 brother, who, we are told in Judges iii. 9, was the first judge 
 over the children of Israel after the death of Joshua. The 
 length of his rule is here stated to have been nine years. The 
 book of Judges does not inform us how long his administra- 
 tion lasted, but Chap. iii. 11, seems to imply that it extended 
 through a period of forty years. 
 
 Note 74, Page 99. 
 Kefr Ghuweirah. Its more modern name is 'Awertah. In 
 
166 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 Joshua xxiv. 30 the place is called " Timnath-serah," and in 
 Judges iio 9 it is given as " Timnath-heres." In later times 
 it became known by the name of "Kefr Heres." The pres- 
 ent littlo village, which marks the site of the ancient city, 
 lies but a few miles south of Nabulus on the range of hills 
 which skirt the plain of Mukhna toward the west. Jews and 
 Samaritans alike unite in identifying this as the place where 
 Joshua and Caleb were buried, and there are Jewish tradi- 
 tions to the effect that the sepulchre of Joshua was once 
 adorned with an image of the sun in memory of the miiacle 
 at Ajalon, and to indicate that it was the tomb of the man 
 who had caused the sun to stand still. The Septuagint and 
 also the Arabic Version of Saadias add to Josh. xxiv. 30 the 
 statement that in the sepulchre of Joshua were deposited the 
 flint knives with which the children of Israel were circum- 
 cized at Gilgal. See Note 53, and 77. 
 
 Note 75, Page 99. 
 
 TarjVa of the tribe ofAfrhn. This leader, who is said to 
 have waged war with the king of Ammon, is probably to be 
 identified with Jephthah the Gileadite who conducted the 
 war against the children of Ammon, though their names are 
 not at all similar and the former is said to have been of the 
 tribe of Ephraim, while the latter was a Gileadite. 
 
 Note 76, Page 101. 
 
 He died and was buried in that place. " The tomb of 
 Phinehas, a place of great resort to both Jews and Samarit- 
 ans, is shown at ' Awertah, four miles S. E. of Nablus. It 
 stands in the centre of the village, inclosed within a little 
 area or compound, which is overshadowed by the thickly- 
 trellised foliage of an ancient vine. A small mosque joins 
 the wall of the compound. Outside the village, on the next 
 hill, is a larger inclosure, containing the tomb of Eleazar, and 
 a cave ascribed to Elijah, overshadowed by two venerable 
 terebinth trees, surrounded by arcades, and forming a retired 
 and truly charming spot. The local tradition asserts that 
 'Awertah and its neighborhood are the i Hill of Phinehas'." 
 (Smith's Bib. Diet. vol. iii. p. 2513). See note 74. 
 
 Note 77, Page 101. 
 
 ' Uzi, the last of the vicegerents of the Lord. According to 
 1 Chron. vi. 5, 6, 51 ; Ezr. vii. 4, Uzzi was the son of Bukki 
 the son of Abishua the son of Phinehas the son of Eleazar, 
 the son of Aaron, thus making him the sixth high-priest from 
 Aaron. The Samaritans, on the other hand, make him the 
 seventh high-priest, their list having the name Sisi inserted 
 as the son of Abishua and father of Bukki (Chron. of Abu'l 
 Fath). 
 
 Note 78, Page 102. 
 
 The books of Bila'am. Various Rabbinic traditions make 
 mention of the writings of Balaam. One is to the effect that 
 
NOTES. 167 
 
 the account of him in the hook of Numbers was written by 
 himself, and that Moses extracted it from his writings and 
 inserted it bodily in the Pentateuch. Another alleges that 
 the " wise men from the east" of Matt. ii. were disciples of 
 his school, and had acquired their knowledge of the star of 
 the Messiah from a study of his books. 
 
 Note 79, Page 103. 
 
 El-Miat, i. e., "the one hundred," and el-Miatai means 
 11 the two hundred." 
 
 Fer'ata, i. e., " branching out." This is the ancient city 
 Pirathon, mentioned in Judg. xii. 15 as the burial-place of 
 Abdon the son of Hillel, and situate " in the land of Ephraim, 
 in the mount of the Amalebites. " The present village stands 
 upon an eminence or " Tell," six miles S. S. W. of Nabulus, 
 and about a mile and a half off the road leading from the 
 latter place to Yafa by way of Hableh (Bob. Researches, vol. 
 iii. p. 134). 
 
 Note 80, Page 104. 
 
 The year 361 This number is undoubtedly an 
 
 error, and it should be 261 to agree with the statements made 
 in Chapters XXXVIII and XXXIX. 
 
 Note 81, Page 105. 
 
 Then he turned to look again, and could find neither cave 
 nor sign nor writing. The tradition concerning the hiding 
 of the sacred vessels of the temple is a common one to Jews, 
 Samaritans and Mohammedans, though each connect the cir- 
 cumstance with a different person and time. The subject is 
 an interesting one, and it may be well to here give some of 
 these stories of this event, in order that it may be seen 
 wherein they agree and wherein they differ. The Jews have 
 several different versions of the story, the one found in 2 
 Mace. 11, is the most authentic, and there we read that, ''It 
 
 is also found in the records, that Jeremy the prophet 
 
 being warned of God, commanded the tabernacle and the ark 
 to go with him, as he went forLli into the mountain, where 
 Moses climbed up, and saw the heritage of God. And when 
 Jeremy came thither, he found an hollow cave, wherein he 
 laid the tabernacle, and the ark, and the alter of incense, and 
 so stopped the door. And some of those that followed him 
 came to mark the way, but they could not find it. Which 
 when Jeremy perceived, he blamed them, saying, 'As for 
 that place, it shall be unknown until the time that God gather 
 His people again together, and receive them unto mercy. 
 Then shall the Lord show them these things, and the glory 
 of the Lord shall appear, and the cloud also, as it was showed 
 unto Moses, and as when Solomon desired that the place 
 
 might be honorably sanctified '" Another version of 
 
 the same story is contained in tin 1 work entitled De Vitis 
 Prophetarum, falsely attributed to S. Epiphanius, this runs 
 
168 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 that, " Before the destruction of Jerusalem, he ( Jeremiah) 
 hid the ark of the covenant in a rock, which opened for the 
 purpose, and closed upon it. Then said he to the princes of 
 the people and to the elders : ' The Lord has gone up from 
 Sinai, but He will come again with His sacred power. And 
 this shall be the token of His coming, — all nations shall bow 
 before the Wood.' Then the prophet continued: 'None of 
 the priests and prophets shall open the ark, except Moses, 
 the elect of God; and Aaron shall alone unfold the tables it 
 contained. At the Resurrection, the ark shall arise out of 
 the rock first of all, and it shall be placed upon Mount Zion. 
 Then all the saints will go there and await the Lord, and 
 they will put the enemy to flight who seeks their destruction.' 
 Having said these words, he traced with his finger the name 
 of God upon the rock, and the name remained graven there 
 as if cut with iron. Then a cloud descended upon the rock 
 and hid it, and no man has seen it since. It is in the desert, 
 amongst the mountains, where are the tombs of Moses and 
 Aaron. At night a cloud of fire shines above the spot." 
 (S. Baring-Gould's Legends of the Patri. and Proph. p. 437-) 
 A very different version of this tradition, found in the Apoc- 
 alypse of Baruch, introduces an angel as the chief actor, in- 
 stead of Jeremiah. Shortly before the destruction of Jeru- 
 salem, it goes on, this heavenly being descended to Jerusalem, 
 alighting on the Temple, to save it. Having prepared the 
 Tabernacle, the Ephod of the High Priest, the Ark, the Two 
 Tables of Stone from Sinai, the Golden Robes of the High 
 Priest, the Altar of Incense, the Urim and Thummim, and 
 the holy vessels, for removal, he carried them to a secret 
 place, and cried with a loud voice, " O earth, earth, earth ! 
 hear the word of the mighty Lord, and receive what I commit 
 to thee, and keep it to the end of the times, to restore it 
 again when thou art commanded, that the stranger get not 
 possession of these things. For the time will come when 
 Jerusalem shall arise again, to endure forever!" Then the 
 earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up all. (Geikie's Life 
 of Christ, vol. i. p. 385). The Samaritan tradition as here 
 given is, so far as I am aware, the only one current among 
 them. A late traveler in Palestine gives an account of an 
 interesting interview at Nabulus with the present High Priest 
 of the Samaritans, Jacob by name. Among other things the 
 High Priest touched upon this very tradition, and recited it 
 substantially as we find it in the Chronicle. He said, " The 
 first and only real temple was built on Mount Gerizim, and 
 Uzziah (Uzzi) while once officiating in it, suddenly found 
 himself in darkness and in a cave. Then God had him take 
 up the ark, with the two tables of the law, and put them in 
 this cavern ; then the golden candlestick, the table of shew- 
 bread, the altar, the laver and all the temple vessels. "When 
 he went out, the cavern's door was closed and a Hebrew in- 
 scription appeared above it. Again Uzziah (Uzzi) looked, and 
 the inscription was gone, and so was the temple and every 
 vestige of its existence. No one now knows where are the 
 
NOTES. 169 
 
 avern and all these things. Some time or other God will 
 reveal them all again, when the prophet like unto, but not 
 greater than, Moses, shall appear, from either the tribe of 
 Joseph or of Levi, the two tribes represented by High Priest 
 Jacob's followers; but from which tribe, their interpreters 
 were not agreed" (Shepard, Christian Thought, Fourth Series, 
 1886, p. 378). Josephus has fallen into an egregious error — 
 if the text as we now have it is correct — when he says (Antiq. 
 xviii. 4, 1) that the Samaritans hold to the belief that, Moses 
 hid the sacred vessels In Mount Gerizim. The Mohammedan 
 version of this tradition is to be found in el-Mas'udi's Muruj 
 ez-Zahab, we read here that, " The head and administrator of 
 the affairs of the children of Israel, after Yush'a, was K&leb 
 Ben Yufenna, and after him Finehas Ben el-'Ozir Ben Harun 
 (Aaron) Ben 'Amran, who was twenty years the judge of the 
 Israelites. He put the books of Moses into a copper vessel, 
 shut its opening with lead, and took it to the rock of the 
 temple of Jerusalem. This was before the temple was built. 
 The rock split, and in the cavity so formed another projecting 
 rock presented itself. When Finehas had placed the vessel 
 upon this rock, the cavity closed, and was as before " (Spren- 
 ger's translation, p. 100). 
 
 Note 82, Page 107. 
 The Gate of Paradise. Juynboll, in his notes, takes this as 
 referring to the whole Land of Palestine, but I am inclined 
 to believe it is applied specifically to Mount Gerizim ; for in 
 one of the letters written by the Samaritans of Nabulus in the 
 latter part of the 17th century, to their supposed brethren in 
 England, we find the following: "In the name of the Lord 
 God, the Great King, the God of Israel, who sent Moses 
 according to the great Book, and through him set apart to 
 himself his people Israel, and revealed the holy Mt. Gerizim, 
 the house of God, the mount of heritage and of the divine 
 presence ; the great place which God hath chosen, whose 
 name is the Gate of Heaven, as it was said by our father 
 Jacob-Israel: 'This is none other but the house of God, and 
 this is the gate of heaven' — Gen. xxviii. 17." The term " Gate 
 of Paradise" being used in the Chronicle as a simple equiva- 
 lent for " Gate of Heaven." 
 
 Note 83, Page 108. 
 This erring man was of the tribe of Itamar {Ithamar) 
 The direct genealogy of Eli is not given in the Bible, but 
 from a comparison of such passages as 1 Kings, ii. 27; IChron. 
 xxiv. 3, 6; 2 Sam. viii. 17, it is proved that he was p. descend- 
 ant of Ithamar. On this subject Josephus says: " Now Eli 
 was the first of the family of Ithamar, the other son of Aaron, 
 that had the government, for the family of Eleazar officiated 
 as high priest at first, the son still receiving that honor from 
 the father which Eleazar bequeathed to his son Phineas, 
 after whom Abisbua his son took the honor, and delivered 
 it to his son whose name was Bukki, from whom his son Ozi 
 
170 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 received it; after whom Eli, of whom we have been speak- 
 ing, had the priesthood, and so he and his posterity until the 
 time of Solomon's reign; but then the posterity of Eleazar 
 reassumed it." (Antiq. v. 11. 5). 
 
 Note 84, Page 109. 
 
 " I am one to whom to serve a boy is impossible " The 
 
 Samaritans contend that Uzzi was the lawful high priest, in 
 the direct line of Phinehas and the seventh from Aaron, to 
 whom, though yet a boy of but twelve years, Eli ought to have 
 given up the high-priesthood, and because he did not, but 
 usurped the office — being a Levite, of the right tribe, but not 
 of the right family— God slew him and his sons in the days 
 of Samuel. The Jewish Rabbis, on the other hand, allege 
 that the transfer of the chief-priesthood from the family of 
 Eleazar to that of Ithamar was in fulfilment of a Divine 
 judgment upon the house of Phinehas because of the share 
 he had in the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter, for, being the 
 high priest at that time, he connived at her being offered up 
 as a burnt offering. 
 
 Note 85, Page 109. 
 
 And he offered up offering on the altar without salt. Eli 
 is here charged with having willfully violated an ordinance 
 of the Mosaic law which enjoined that salt should be used 
 with every offering, (Lev. ii. 13, comp. Ezek. xliii. 24; Mark 
 ix. 49). 
 
 Note 86, Page 109. 
 
 And there were collected to him a multitude in Seihin 
 
 According to the account found in the Bible, (Josh, xviii. 
 1), Shiloh had been established the sanctuary of the Lord, 
 and the ark of the covenant deposited there, upon the first 
 occupation of the Land of Canaan by the children of Israel 
 after their conquest of it, and that here was erected the 
 tabernacle (or "temple," 1 Sam. i. 9) of the Lord. The 
 Samaritans, however, deny this, and assert that Mount Ger- 
 izim was ever the only and true sanctuary of Jehovah, and 
 in the temple that Joshua himself built upon it were de- 
 posited the ark of the covenant and the sacred vessels of the 
 tabernacle of Moses, and that Shiloh became a place of 
 notoriety only after Eli had, impiously and rebelliously, set 
 up there his rival shrine, and "organized matters for himself 
 in it on the model of the temple," the true and sacred temple 
 which stood upon the "Blessed Mount." 
 
 Note 87, Page 109. 
 
 And erected in it one altar. In the Mosaic law command- 
 ment was given that there should be two altars in the taber- 
 nacle: the Altar of Burnt-Offering or Brazen Altar, and the 
 Altar of Incense or Golden Altar. Eli is here accused of 
 having acted in direct violation of this law in setting up only 
 
NOTES. 171 
 
 one altar in his sanctuary at Shiloh. In the beginning of 
 this chapter mention is made of a "stone altar" upon which 
 the priests were wont to offer up sacrifices; this refers to the 
 stone altar which had been erected on Mount Gerizim (v. 
 Samaritan Pentateuch) in accordance with the command of 
 Moses — Deut. xxvii. In the Samaritan Pentateuch, more- 
 over, there is added an eleventh to the list of Command- 
 ments in Ex. xx, w T hich specifically commands the building 
 of this altar. 
 
 Note 88, Page 109. 
 
 Sdmiil (Samuel) of the tribe of Hariim (Aaron), the Liwanite 
 (Levite.) From what is here said it is seen that the Samar- 
 itans hold that Samuel was a regular priest by descent from 
 Aaron. In the Bible Samuel's descent is involved in con- 
 siderable obscurity. We read in 1 Sam. i. 1 that his father 
 Elkanah was an Ephrathite or Ephraimite, while in 1 Cor. 
 vi. it is stated that he was a descendant of Korah the Levite, 
 thus making him a Levite, but not of the family of Aaron, 
 as the Samaritan account does. 
 
 Note 89, Page 110. 
 
 This is a son whom I have received in fulfilment of a 
 desire. Juinboll in his translation renders this sentence 
 thus: " Hie Puer est, quern (turpi) libidine (inflammatus) 
 accepi," and in an explanatory note adds, " Pater testatur, 
 eum Filium esse, quern acceperat secundum appetitum, id est, 
 quern generans, solum cogitasset appetitum libidinosum." 
 In support of this rendering he cites some authorities to 
 prove that such is the meaning of the Arabic words employed 
 by the author of the Chronicle. 
 
 Note 90, Page 110. 
 
 Beit Jibril (or Jibrin), is the name of the modern village 
 lying S. W. of Jerusalem on the way to Gaza. Elaborate 
 ancient ruins are found here, and Dr. Robinson has identi- 
 fied this site with the Betogabra mentioned by Ptolemy and 
 the Eleutheropolis of Eusebius, (Bib. Res. vol. ii. p. 57, etc) 
 Dr. Thomson is of the opinion that it is identical with the 
 ancient " Gath of the Philistines," the native city of Goliath 
 (The Land and The Book— Southern Palestine, p. 214. etc.) 
 
 Note 91, Page 112. 
 
 Beit A. . The text in the original is here defective, and it 
 is impossible to tell what name was originally written. In 2 
 Kings xxv. 6 it is stated that Zedekiah the king was taken 
 to Riblah, and there had his eyes put out, but whether the 
 place here mentioned has any connection with Riblah or not, 
 we do not know. 
 
 Note 92, Page 112. 
 
 Regarding the earth's refusing her crops and fruits ; for 
 when the fruit promised well, the destroying blight would 
 
172 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 waste it. In 2 Kings xvii. an account is given of Israel's 
 being carried away in captivity into Assyria, and the repeo- 
 pling of Samaria with colonists from Cuthhah, Ava, Haiuath 
 and Sepharvaim, and that the Lord sent a plague of lions 
 among these new settlers, but nothing is said about any blight 
 having destroyed the crops or fruits of the land. Josephus 
 says that they were smitten with a plague or pestilence which 
 destroyed them, and for which they could find no cure (Antlq. 
 ix. 14. 3). 
 
 Note 93, Page 114. 
 
 Sanballat the Liwanite. By Abul' Fath he is called a 
 Yiinani i. e. a Grecian; by Josephus, a Cuthean i. e. of the 
 stock of the imported Samaritans; and in Neh. ii. 10. 19 we 
 are told that he was a Horonite which by Gesenius is taken 
 to mean an inhabitant of the Moabite town of Horonaim, 
 but by Fiirst as derived from Horon, i. e. (Upper) Beth- 
 horon. Possibly our author styles him a Levite out of a 
 simple desire to attach greater honor to the name of a 
 revered champion of the Samaritans. 
 
 Note 94, Page 114. 
 
 The books which Zorobabil has are a lie and a fraud, el- 
 Mas'udi in the 5th. chap, of his Muruj ez-Zahab, in refer- 
 ence to this subject, remarks as follows : "el-Bokhta Nassar 
 (Nebuchadnezzar), the governor of el-'Irak, and the Arabs, 
 under the king of Persia, who was then residing in Balkh, 
 the capital of his empire, marched against the Israelites; and 
 after he had slain many of them, he took them to el-'Irak, 
 into captivity. He carried also the Pentateuch and the 
 books of the prophets and the histories of the king away, 
 which were in the temple at Jerusalem, and threw them into 
 
 a well The king of Persia had married a woman 
 
 of the Israelite captives, who bore him a child, and he sent 
 the children of Israel back into their homes after two years' 
 captivity. When they had returned into their native country, 
 reigned Zorobabil Ben Salsal. The town of Jerusalem was 
 rebuilt, and what had been destroyed was re-established. 
 They got the Pentateuch out of the well, and their state 
 became flourishing. This king devoted forty-six years to the 
 cultivation of the country; and he ordered them to keep the 
 prayers and other obligations prescribed by the Law, which 
 had been neglected during the captivity. The Samaritans 
 believe that the Pentateuch which was recovered from the 
 well, was not the same which Musa had given to them, but 
 that it is full of fictions, changes, and alterations. The 
 author of the new Pentateuch which the Jews have is 
 Zorobabil, who collected it from the accounts of those who 
 knew it by heart, whilst the genuine Pentateuch is in the 
 hands of the Samaritans. This king reigned forty-six years. 
 Another version of this history says, that the person who 
 married a Jewish lady was el-Bokhta Nassar himself, and 
 
NOTES. 178 
 
 that he released the Jews from the captivity." (Sprenger's 
 Trans, p. 120). 
 
 As to the dispute here recorded as having taken place be- 
 tween the Jews and Samaritans over the question whether 
 Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim was the proper place, according 
 to the Pentateuch, where the temple should be built; com- 
 pare the account by Josephus of a similar contest, which 
 occurred in Egypt before Ptolemy Philometor, wherein the 
 poor Samaritans were most unfairly treated and unjustly put 
 to death (Antlq. xiii. o, 4). 
 
 Note 95, Page 117. 
 
 The main facts of the story here told about Alexander — 
 the Jews being put in the place of the Samaritans — are found 
 in Josephus' Antiq. xi. 8. The two accounts are strikingly 
 similar, and are in fact only different versions of the same 
 tradition. The story as told by Josephus, in brief, is, that 
 after Alexander had defeated Darius in battle at Isis in 
 Cilicia, he marched down into Syria and took Damascus and 
 Sidon, and laid siege to Tyre, and while here sent a letter to 
 the Jewish high priest. " To send him some auxilaries, and 
 to supply his army with provisions; and that what presents 
 he formerly sent to Darius he should now send to him, and 
 choose the friendship of the Macedonians, and that he would 
 never repent of so doing." But the high priest answered the 
 messengers, that " he had given his oath to Darius not to 
 bear arms against him; and he said, that he would not trans- 
 gress it while Darius was in the land of the living." Upon 
 hearing this answer Alexander was very angry, and threat- 
 ened that as soon as he had taken Tyre he would make an 
 expedition against Jerusalem and punish the high priest. So 
 when after a protracted siege he had captured Tyre, he 
 immediately proceeded on to the city of Gaza, and having 
 reduced it, then directed his march toward Jerusalem. Now 
 Jaddua the high priest, when he heard of Alexander's ap- 
 proach, was smitten with great terror and fear as to how be 
 should meet him, knowing that the king was displeased at 
 his former disobedience. But God warned him in a dream, 
 that " he should take courage, and adorn the city, and open 
 the gates; that the rest should appear in white garments, but 
 that he and the priests should meet the king in the habits 
 proper to their order, without dread of any ill consequences, 
 which the providence of God would prevent." Accordingly 
 he acted upon this dream, and then waited for the coming of 
 the king. And when he understood that he was not far from 
 the city, he went out in procession, with the priests and the 
 multitude of the citizens. Now the followers of Alexander, 
 counting on his anger, thought they would have liberty to 
 plunder the city, and torment the high priest to death, but 
 the very reverse of this happened; for Alexander, when he 
 saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while 
 the priests stood clothed with fine linen and the high priest 
 in purple and scarlet, with his mitre on his head, having the 
 
174 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA, 
 
 golden plate whereon the name of God was engraved, he 
 approached by himself, and adored that name, and first 
 saluted the high priest. The Jews also did altogether, with 
 one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about : 
 whereupon the kings of Syria and the rest were surprised at 
 what Alexander had done, and supposed him disordered in 
 his mind. However, Parmenio alone went up to him, and . 
 asked him, " How it came to pass, that when all others 
 adored him, he should adore the high priest of the Jews ? " 
 To whom he replied, " I did not adore him, but that God 
 who hath honored him with his high priesthood; for I saw 
 this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was 
 at Dios in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with 
 myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted > 
 me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, 
 for that he would conduct my army, and would give me the '• 
 dominion over the Persians; whence it is, that having seen 
 no other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and 
 remembering that vision, and the exhortation which I had 
 in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the 
 divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and 
 destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will 
 succeed according to what is in my own mind." And when 
 be had said this to Parmenio, and had given the high priest 
 his right hand, the priests ran along by him, and he came 
 into the city; and when he went up into the temple he 
 offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest's direc- 
 tions ; and magnificently treated the high priest and the 
 priests, and granted all the wishes of the people. 
 
 Note 96, Page 117. 
 
 The legend concerning Alexander's visit to the region of 
 darkness is a well known one among the people of the East, 
 and with various embellishments it is recounted by most of 
 the Mohammedan commentators, by whom Alexander is 
 called BhuH Qarnayn i. e. lord of two horns, or the two- 
 horned, which title has taxed to the uttermost the ingenuity 
 of Moslem writers to explain, the most current explanation 
 being, that this title was given him because of his having 
 traversed and ruled the two horns or hemispheres of the 
 world. Merrick in his translation of the Hyat ul-Kulub gives 
 a succinct presentation of the Mohammedan version of this 
 tradition, a part of which we will here quote : Alexander, 
 they say, " travelled to the West till he found the place 
 where the sun sets in a muddy or warm spring. He then 
 traversed the East till he discovered the place where the sun \ 
 rises, and found a people scorched by its beams. He then ■ 
 proceeded to the region of darkness. Being in favor with the 
 Most High, an angel, named Rafaeel, was sent to converse 
 with him. Dhu'l Qarnayn asked him how the service of 
 heaven compared with that of earth. The angel replied that 
 the latter was nothing, for in heaven every space was covered, 
 and angels standing never sat down, those bowed in rukiV 
 
NOTES. 175 
 
 forever remained so, and those in prostration never arose. 
 At this Dhu'l Qarnayn wept and desired to remain and servo 
 God on earth. The angel then told him that God had a 
 fountain on earth, called the fountain of life, of which who- 
 ever drank would not die, till he besought it of the Most 
 High. The angel knew not where the spring was, but had 
 heard in heaven that God had created a region of darkness 
 which jinn or man had never explored. A dumb child at 
 length told the king where that realm of darkness lay. (In 
 the Kisas el-anbiyd it is stated, that a certain wise man, who 
 had read about it in the " testament of Adam " informed 
 him where this region of darkness was), and he assembled a 
 multitude of wise men to accompany him in the exploration. 
 Af Ler travelling westward twelve years, they arrived on the 
 frontiers of darkness, which, however, did not resemble the 
 darkness of night, but of smoke. Having encamped his army 
 there, he summoned his wise men aid told them he wished 
 to explore that darkness. They expostulated, but he was 
 resolved; and being informed by them that fillies were the 
 clearest-sighted animals at night, he collected six thousand 
 and mount on them as many men, of whom el-Khidhr com- 
 manded a division of two thousand, that formed the advance 
 guard, while Dhu'l Qarnayn followed with the other four 
 thousand, having ordered his army to wait twelve years for 
 his return. Dhu'l Qarnayn advanced forty marches into the 
 region of darkness, and came to a place where w r ere three 
 hundred and sixty springs. Here the king sent as many men 
 as there were springs, of whom el-Khidhr was one, to wash, 
 each one, a dry salt fish in a separate spring and return. The 
 fish of el-Khidhr, on being immersed in the fountain to which 
 he repaired, was restored to life and escaped from his hand, 
 and to recover it he threw himself into the spring, but the 
 fish was not to be taken again. However, he drank of the 
 water, which was the very fountain of life, and in conse- 
 quence will not die till Israfeel sounds the last trumpet. 
 Next the king came to an immense palace where was light, 
 but not of the sun or moon. Here a being in human form, 
 and clothed in white garments, rebuked him for his insatiable 
 ambitions, gave him a stone which the being told him would 
 be satisfied when he was, and ordered him to return. Dhu'l 
 Qarnayn, on rejoining his band, weighed the stone against 
 another of equal size, and increased the quantity to a thou- 
 sand fold, but the mystic stone out-balanced all. el-Khidhr 
 then took and weighed it against one of equal size, putting 
 a handful of earth on the other, and both were balanced. 
 The prophet then told the king that he would be satisfied 
 when the earth covered him. On the return, they passed a 
 place where a sound from their animals' feet arose as if they 
 were passing over pebbles. What is here, O king ? they 
 inquired. Take of these things, said he, and whoever takes 
 will be sorry, and whoever does not will be sorry. On emerg- 
 ing from the region of darkness, those stones were found to 
 be emeralds, and those who had taken some regretted they 
 
176 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 had not gathered more, and those who had taken none, were 
 grieved at their neglect." 
 
 Note 97, Page 118. 
 
 A legend similar to the one here connected with Alexander 
 is related, by the Mohammedan writers, of Nimrod. Their 
 story runs, that Nimrod (whom they will have was the son 
 of Canaan), being actuated by a desire to see the God of 
 Abraham in heaven, built an immense tower, by which he 
 might ascend to heaven, but finding that this was ineffectual 
 he hit upon another plan: he took four young eagles of a 
 monstrous species, and fed them on meat until they had 
 grown up and became fully matured, then " he took his seat 
 in a chest (or ark), and along With him a young man-servant, 
 and he carried his bow and arrows — now he had made in 
 this chest a door in the top and a door in the bottom — and 
 he fastened to the chest the eagles by their legs, and hung 
 meat upon a pole above the chest; thereupon he set the 
 eagles free, and they stretched and flew up in an eager desire 
 to get the meat until they ascended far into the air." And 
 when Nimrod desired to come down " he commanded his 
 young man to lower the pole and let the meat hang down 
 below. And he did so, and the eagles flew downward with 
 the chest." (Kisas el-anbiyd). 
 
 Note 98, Page 118. 
 
 Then he proceeded to invest his companions with the author- 
 ity over the territories This statement is in harmony 
 
 with 1 Mace. i. 6, where it is said, that at the close of Alex- 
 ander's life " he called his servants, such as were honorable, 
 and had been brought up with him from his youth, and 
 parted his kingdom among them, while he was yet alive." 
 
 Note 99, Page 120. 
 
 The Talmud contains a story about Alexander which is 
 closely allied to the story here told. It is there narrated that 
 when Alexander entered Jerusalem, he was conducted through 
 the Temple by Simon the High Priest. On entering, he 
 said, " Blessed be the Lord of this house." He was charmed 
 with the beauty of the structure, and expressed a desire to 
 have a statue of himself erected as a remembrance, between 
 the porch and the altar. Simon informed him that it was 
 not allowable to erect any statue or image within the Temple 
 walls, but promised that, as a remembrance, the males born 
 among his people that year should be called Alexander. And 
 Alexander was well-disposed towards the High Priest, and 
 through his intercessions granted the Jews religious freedom 
 and release from all tributary burden during the Sabbatic 
 year. (Polano's Selections from the Talmud, p. 210). 
 
 Note 100, Page 120. 
 And when he had built a city in el-Hdjar. Arabia Petraea 
 
NOTES. 177 
 
 is here meant, and the city referred to is the ancient Sela or 
 Selah, which in later times was known to the Greeks as Petra, 
 and in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian received the name 
 II<i<lriana, in acknowledgment of what- he did for it. The 
 word in the original (band) here translated "built," does not 
 necessarily mean that he founded or all anew rebuilt the city, 
 but is rather to be taken here in the sense that, he strength- 
 ened, enlarged and improved the city already existing there. 
 
 Note 101, Page 120. 
 
 Ydsiif. According to the Samaritan book el-Tholidoth, or 
 "The (book of) Generations," the ancient name of this place 
 was Yusepheh, and Neubauer identifies it with "Yussab," a 
 place mentioned in the Talmud, but which has as yet never 
 been correctly located (Journal Asiatique for 1809). Conder, 
 on the other hand, identifies it with the modern village of 
 Yasfif in southern Samaria (Palestine Exploration Fund, 
 Quarterly Statement, 1877, p. 29 ; Survey of Western Pales- 
 tine, Memoirs, vol. 2, p. 287). 
 
 Note 102, Page 123. 
 
 And Adrinus set up in the city an image In all 
 
 probability this is the same statue to which Jerome refers 
 when in his Comm. in Matt. xxi. 15, he says "de Hadriani 
 equestri statua, quae in ipso Sancto Sanctorum loco usque in 
 praesentem diem stetit." 
 
 Note 103, Page 124. 
 
 Saqarus. We learn from the History of Dion Cassius that 
 the name of Hadrian's father was iElius Hadrianus Afer, a 
 cousin of Trajan. How to explain the use of the name 
 Saqarus, therefore, is a most difficult matter. 
 
 Note 104, Page 126. 
 
 And he died in woe and every kind of affliction. It is 
 recorded in history that Hadrian died of a terrible incurable 
 disease, and it is stated as a fact that not long before his 
 death, the disorder so preyed upon him that he sunk into a 
 state of melancholy, and attempted to commit suicide. 
 
 Note 105, Page 127. 
 
 The wall of Sebustieh. Juynboll in one of his notes inter- 
 prets this to mean the wall toward Sebustieh, i. e., the western 
 wall of Nabulus. There is no good reason, however, why it 
 should not be taken in its simple sense as referring to the 
 wall that surrounded Sebustieh, especially as we find, di- 
 rectly below, particular mention made of the gate of Nabulus. 
 Josephus (Antiq. xv. 8, 5) gives an account of a great wall 
 that Herod built around Samaria, and also states that he gave 
 it the name Sebaste, which latter has become corrupted in 
 the Arabic to Sebustieh, its modern name. 
 12 
 
178 THE SAMARITAN BOOK OF JOSHUA. 
 
 Note 106, Page 128. 
 
 Rabbis (or Ribbis). This word, according to Juynboll, is in 
 use among the Samaritans as an honorary title, and signifies 
 " Virum principeiu." I am inclined to believe that it is only 
 a corruption of the Arabic ra'is or rayyis, " chief." 
 
 Note 107, Page 129. 
 
 Dinars. The former standard of gold coin among the 
 Arabs was the " dinar," which weighed a " mithqal " (or 
 nearly 72 English grains) of gold ; the average value of the 
 coin may, therefore, be reckoned at $2.50. 
 
 Note 108, Page 132. 
 
 Beitil (Bethel). As used by Samaritans this of course 
 designates Mount Gerizim, which was their Beth-el. Comp. 
 Note 47. 
 
 Note 109, Page 133. 
 
 In the original manuscript at this point the narrative comes 
 to an abrupt end, and we have no means of determining what 
 is lost, or to how late a date our author brought down his 
 history. Some scholars have conjectured that it probably 
 came down to the period of the emperor Alexander Severus 
 (222 — 235 A. D.), and Juynboll is inclined to believe that it 
 was brought down even to the time of Mohammed. The 
 Samaritans, in one of their letters written to their supposed 
 brethren in England in the latter part of the 17th century, 
 seem to refer to certain things as contained in this Chronicle, 
 which are not to be found in the part of it that we now 
 possess, and therefore must have been in the portion which 
 is now missing. In this letter, referring to the promised Pro- 
 phet or Messiah that should appear, they say: " Our learned 
 scholars have said, that this Prophet shall arise, and that all 
 nations shall be subject to him, and believe in him, and in 
 the holy Law, and in Mt. Gerizim; and the religion of Moses 
 the son of Amram will be made manifest; and that the first 
 letter of the name of this prophet who shall arise, will be M. 
 and that he will die, and be buried with Joseph Ben-Phora 1 .h 
 (Gen. xlix. 22), and that the tabernacle will appear through 
 him, and be erected on Mt. Gerizim. These are the things 
 recorded in the books found among us, and in the book of 
 Joshua the son of Nun."