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And then SOLOMON came back to the city of JERUSALEM, and he wept there with the elders of JERUSALEM a great weeping in the house of God. And after this the King and ZADOK the priest embraced each other, and they wept bitterly in the habitation of ZION, and they remained silent for a long time. And the elders rose up and spake unto the King, saying, "Be not thou sorrowful concerning this thing, O our Lord, for we know, from first to last, that without the Will of God ZION will not dwell [in any place], and that nothing happeneth without the Will of God. And as concerning ZION in olden time, in the days of ELI the priest, before our fathers had asked for a king, the PHILISTINES carried ZION away captive into [their] camp—God having neglected ISRAEL in the battle, and its priests ’AFNÎ (HOPHNI) and PÎNÂ?AS (PHINEHAS) having fallen by the edge of the sword. And the PHILISTINES carried away the Tabernacle of the Law of God, and brought it into their city, and set it in the house of their god DAGON. And DAGON was broken to pieces and destroyed, and became like dust, and their land became a desert through mice, and they ate up all the fruit of their land, and their persons became sores and boils. And they gathered together their priests, and magicians, and star-gazers, and they entreated them and said unto them, 'How can we relieve ourselves of these sores and the tribulation which have come upon us, and upon our country?' And those magicians meditated and withdrew themselves to be alone, and they brought their magical instruments, and pondered, and considered, and planned how they could relieve them from tribulation of their city and their persons. And they discovered that this punishment had come upon them and their city because of ZION. And they went to their kings and their governors, and they said unto them, 'All these things have befallen you through the heavenly ZION, the Tabernacle of the Law of God. And now, know ye how ye will take her back into her city, and her country, and her house. And we must by no means send her away empty, but must give her an offering, so that she may forgive you your sins, and do away your tribulation when she hath returned to her city. And if ye will not send her to her city, no good will come of making her to live with you, but ye shall continue to be punished until ye are destroyed.'
"And their kings and governors said unto their priests, 'What gift now say ye that we ought to give her, and how shall we send her back? Find out, and tell us what we must do.' And the priests of the PHILISTINES took counsel together again, and they said unto their kings and governors, 'Make for her according to the heads of your houses, sixty figures of mice in gold, since mice have destroyed your land, and sixty figures of the member of a man, since your own persons have suffered from sores and boils on your members.' And the PHILISTINES made as they commanded them one hundred and twenty offerings of gold, and gave them to ZION. And again they said unto the priests, 'How shall we send her away? And whom do ye say shall set her in her city?' And again the magicians of the PHILISTINES said unto them, 'Let them bring two she-camels that brought forth their firstborn at the same time, and let them attach a wagon to them—and they must keep back their young ones and shut them up in the house—and they must yoke the two she-camels together, and then set them free and let them go where they will. And if they march straight for JERUSALEM we shall know that peradventure God hath had compassion on our land; but if they wander about, and go hither and thither, and wish to turn back to the place whence they started, then we shall know that God is [still] wroth with us, and that He will not remove His punishment until He hath blotted out ourselves and our city.'
"And the PHILISTINES did as the priests commanded their governors, and they sent away ZION, and prostrated themselves before her. And those camels made their way straight to the country of JUDAH, and they came to the threshing floor and the house of thy kinsfolk received them. And those who did not receive them were the men of the house of DÂN, and they did not do homage to ZION, for they regarded her in anger as their destroyed (?) God. And they cut up the pieces of wood of the wagon, and they made those camels to be sacrifices, and ZION returned to her place. And whilst ZION was in [her] house SAMUEL the Prophet ministered unto her, and vision and prophecy were revealed unto him, and he pleased God in all his actions, and he ruled ISRAEL for forty-eight years.
"And after him our people entreated God to give them a king like the nations that were round about them. And SAMUEL the Prophet anointed SAUL king, and he reigned forty years. And he was of the tribe of BENJAMIN, which was the youngest branch of the peoples of ISRAEL. And SAMUEL the Prophet also anointed thy father DAVID. And when the PHILISTINES fought with SAUL the King, SAUL was conquered and died with [YÔ]NÂTHÂN his son. And those of his sons who were left wished to carry away ZION, when they knew that their father and their brother were dead. And then when they wished to hide her and to transfer her to the Valley of GÊLÂBÛ?Ê (GILBOA) in order that thy father DAVID might not carry them off, she would not let them carry her away until thy father came and carried her away from their city, but not with offerings, and not with incense and burnt offerings. For it was impossible to carry ZION away unless she wished it and God wished it. And again, when thy father reigned rightly over ISRAEL he took her from the city of SAMARIA and brought her here to JERUSALEM, dancing on his feet before her, and clapping his hands because of joy for her; for she was taken by him that she might come to the city of DAVID thy father. And as for that which thou sayest concerning the going of ZION to their city, to the country of ETHIOPIA, if God willed it and she herself willed it, there is no one who could prevent her; for of her own will she went, and of her own will she will return if God pleaseth. And if she doth not return it will be God's good pleasure. And as for us, if God hath willed it JERUSALEM shall remain to us wherein thou hast built for us a house of God. And now, let not thine heart be sad, but comfort thou thyself with what we have said unto thee. And the wisdom, which the Lord God of ISRAEL hath given thee, hath sprouted from thee. For wisdom is a strange thing. As a lamp is not the sun, and as vinegar and aloes are neither profitable nor useful additions to honey, even so the words of fools are not beneficial to the wise man. And as smoke is to the eye, and unripe fruit to the tooth, even so the words of fools are not beneficial to the wise."
And SOLOMON the King answered and said unto them, "Hearken ye unto me and to what I shall say unto you. Supposing He had taken me away whilst I was carrying ZION—what is impossible to God? And supposing He had taken you away whilst ye were carrying her—what is impossible to God? And supposing He were to make them to inherit our city, and destroy us—what is impossible to God? For everything is His, and none can gainsay His Will, and there is none who can transgress His command in heaven above or on earth below. He is the King Whose kingdom shall never, never pass away, Amen. But now let us go and kneel in the House of God."
And the elders of ISRAEL together with their King went into the House of God, and they entered the Holy of Holies, and they made supplication, and prostrated themselves, and ascribed blessing to God. And SOLOMON wept in the habitation of the heavenly ZION, the Tabernacle of the Law of God, and they all wept with him, and after a little while they held their peace. And SOLOMON answered and said unto them, "Cease ye, so that the uncircumcised people may not boast themselves over us, and may not say unto us, 'Their glory is taken away, and God hath forsaken them.' Reveal ye not anything else to alien folk. Let us set up these boards, which are lying here nailed together, and let us cover them over with gold, and let us decorate them after the manner of our Lady ZION, and let us lay the Book of the Law inside it. JERUSALEM the free that is in the heavens above us, which JACOB our father saw, is with us, and below it is the Gate of Heaven, this JERUSALEM on the earth. If we do the Will of God and His good pleasure, God will be with us, and will deliver us out of the hand of our enemy, and out of the hand of all those who hate us; God's Will, and not our will, be done, and God's good pleasure, and not our good pleasure, be done. Through this He hath made us sorrowful. Henceforward His wrath will cool in respect of us, and He will not abandon us to our enemies, and He will not remove His mercy far from us, and He will remember the covenant with our fathers ABRAHAM, and ISAAC, and JACOB. He will not make His word to be a lie, and will not break His covenant so that our fathers' seed shall be destroyed."
And then the elders of ISRAEL made answer and said unto him, "May thy good pleasure be done, and the good pleasure of the Lord God! As for us, none of us will transgress thy word, and we will not inform any other people that ZION hath been taken away from us." And they established this covenant in the House of God—the elders of ISRAEL with their King SOLOMON unto this day. And SOLOMON lived [thus] for eleven years after the taking away of ZION from him, and then his heart turned aside from the love of God, and he forgot his wisdom, through his excessive love of women. And he loved very greatly the daughter of PHARAOH, the king of EGYPT, whose name was MÂ?SHÂRÂ, and he brought her into the house which he had made; and there were figures of the sun, moon, and stars in the roof thereof, and it was illumined by night as brightly as by day. Its beams were made of brass, and its roof of silver, and its panels (?) of lead, and its walls of stone, red with black, and brown with white [and] green; and its floor was of blocks of sapphire stone and sardius. And he used to go and dwell therein through his love for his house and his wife MÂ?SHÂRÂ, the daughter of PHARAOH the king of EGYPT.
Now the queen possessed certain idols which her father had given her to bow down before, and because, when SOLOMON saw her sacrificing to them and worshipping them, he did not rebuke her or forsake her, God was wroth with him, and made him to forget his wisdom. And she multiplied her sacrifices, and her worship, and her folly, according to the stupidity of the EGYPTIANS, and all the people of her house worshipped the idols, and learned the foolish service of idols. And enjoying the pleasure of their foolish service they worshipped with the daughter of PHARAOH, and the children of ISRAEL joined themselves to her, and the women and their handmaidens joined themselves unto her in the worship and foolish service of idols. And SOLOMON himself found pleasure in hearing their foolish service and folly. And when she saw that he loved her, and hearkened, and held his peace, and asked many questions about the foolish service of the gods of the EGYPTIANS, she made herself exceedingly agreeable to him, and she spoke to him with honeyed words, and with the tender speech of women, and with the sweet smile that accompanieth the presentment of an evil deed, and with the turning of the face and the assumption of a look of good intent, and with the nodding of the head. With actions of this kind she caused his heart to turn away from his good intent, and she enticed him to the evil of her work, wishing to drag him down into the folly of the foolish service of idols through carelessness. And as the deep sea draweth down into its depths the man who cannot swim, until the water overwhelmeth him and destroyeth his life, p. 102 even so did that woman wish to submerge SOLOMON the King.
And then the daughter of PHARAOH appeared before SOLOMON, and said unto him, "It is good to worship the gods like my father and all the kings of EGYPT who were before my father." And SOLOMON answered and said unto her, "They call gods the things which have been made by the hands of the worker in metal, and the carpenter, and the potter, and the painter, and the hewer in stone, and the sculptor; these are not gods, but the work of the hand of man, in gold, and silver, in brass and lead, in iron and earthenware, and in stone, and ye call 'our gods' the things that are not your gods. But we worship none else than the Holy God of ISRAEL and our Lady, the holy and heavenly ZION, the Tabernacle of the Law of God, whom He hath given us to worship, us and our seed after us."
And she answered and said unto him, "Thy son hath carried away thy Lady ZION, thy son whom thou hast begotten, who springeth from an alien people into which God hath not commanded you to marry, that is to say, from an ETHIOPIAN woman, who is not of thy colour, and is not akin to thy country, and who is, moreover, black." And SOLOMON answered and said unto her, "Though thou speakest thus art thou not thyself of [that race] concerning which God hath not commanded us that we should take wives from it? And thy kin is her kin, for ye are all the children of HAM. And God, having destroyed of the seed of HAM seven kings, hath made us to inherit this city, that we and our seed after us may dwell therein for ever. And as concerning ZION, the will of God hath been performed, and He hath given her unto them so that they may worship her. And as for me, I will neither sacrifice to nor worship thine idols, and I will not perform thy wish."
And though she spake in this wise unto him, and though she shewed herself gracious unto him evening and morning, and night and day, he continued to refuse her [request]. And one day she beautified and scented herself for him, and she behaved herself haughtily towards him, and treated him disdainfully. And he said unto her, "What shall I do? Thou hast made thy face evil towards me, and thy regard towards me is not as it was formerly, and thy beautiful form is not as enticing as usual. Ask me, and I will give thee whatsoever thou wishest, and I will perform it for thee, so that thou mayest make thy face (or, attitude) gracious towards me as formerly"; but she held her peace and answered him never a word. And he repeated to her the words that he would do whatsoever she wished, and she said unto him, "Swear to me by the God of ISRAEL that thou wilt not play me false." And he swore to her that he would give her whatsoever she asked for, and that he would do for her everything that she told him. And she tied a scarlet thread on the middle of the door of [the house of] her gods, and she brought three locusts and set them in the house of her gods. And she said unto SOLOMON, "Come to me without breaking the scarlet thread, bend thyself and kill these locusts before me and pull out their necks"; and he did so. And she said unto him, "I will henceforward do thy will, for thou hast sacrificed to my gods and hast worshipped them." Now he had done thus because of his oath, so that he might not break his oath which she had made him to swear, even though he knew that it was an offence (or, sin) to enter into the house of her gods.
Now God had commanded the children of ISRAEL, saying, "Ye shall not marry strange women that ye may not be corrupted by them through their gods, and through the wickedness of their works and the sweetness of their voices; for they make soft the hearts of simple young men by the sweetness of their gentle voices, and p. 104 by the beauty of their forms they destroy the wisdom of the foolish man." Who was wiser than SOLOMON? yet he was seduced by a woman. Who was more righteous than DAVID? yet he was seduced by a woman. Who was stronger than SAMSON? yet he was seduced by a woman. Who was handsomer than ’AMNÔN? yet he was seduced by TAMAR the daughter of DAVID his father. And ADAM was the first creation of God, yet he was seduced by EVE his wife. And through that seduction death was created for every created thing. And this seduction of men by women was caused by EVE, for we are all the children of EVE.
Now SOLOMON sinned an exceedingly great sin through the worship of idols, and from being a wise man he became a fool, and his sin is written down in the Book of the Prophets. And the Archbishops who were there answered and said, "Hath God had mercy on SOLOMON for this error which is written down [as] his sin?" Yea, God hath had mercy upon him, and his name is numbered with [the names of] ABRAHAM, ISAAC, and JACOB, and DAVID his father in the Book of Life in heaven. For God is a forgiver of those who have sinned. Come now, and consider, which was the greater of the two, the sin of his father DAVID or the sin of his son SOLOMON? DAVID caused URIAH to be slain in battle by means of a plan of deceit so that he might take his wife BÊRSÂBÊ? (BATHSHEBA), the mother of SOLOMON; and he repented, and God had compassion on him. And when he was dying he advised his son SOLOMON, saying, "Kill JOAB as he killed ’AMÊR (ABNER), and kill SHIMEI because he cursed me"; and he performed the will of his father and slew them after the death of DAVID his father. And SOLOMON killed no one except his brother when he wished to marry the p. 105 Samênâwît, the wife of his father DAVID whose name was ’ABÎS (ABISHAG). And as concerning the error of SOLOMON which is written down I will reveal it to you, even as God hath revealed it to me.
Now, according to the interpretation of prophecy, the name SOLOMON signifieth in the secret speech "CHRIST". And as SOLOMON built the house of God, so CHRIST raised up His Body and made it into the Church. And when He said unto the JEWS, "Throw down this house, and in three days I will build it up [again]," He spake to them of the house of His Body. And as SOLOMON multiplied wives from alien peoples because of their beauty and winsomeness, and desires [arose] in him in his feigning love [for them], so CHRIST gathered together from alien peoples those who had not the Law, but who believed on Him. And there was no uncircumcised man to Him, and no pagan; and there was no slave, and no JEW, and no servant and no free man; but He gathered them all into His heavenly kingdom by His Flesh and Blood. And in the Song of Songs SOLOMON himself sang and said, "There are sixty mighty men round about the bed of SOLOMON, all of them trained in war and holding swords, each man with his sword upon his thigh." The number sixty indicateth the number of the righteous Patriarchs, and the Prophets, and the Apostles, and the Martyrs, and the Believers, and the Saints, and the Monks who have resisted the evil thought and the war of SATAN. And the word "sword" is, being interpreted, the word of the Scriptures. The word of the Lord cutteth like a straight sharp razor, and in like manner the Scriptures cut from men's hearts the danger caused by lying dreams by night. And the words "bed of SOLOMON" are, being interpreted, the Church of CHRIST.
And again SOLOMON sang, saying, "King SOLOMON hath made a litter for himself," and these words are to be interpreted that CHRIST hath put on our body. The name SOLOMON in the language of the HEBREWS is, being interpreted, "CHRIST". And the foolish JEWS imagine that the words of DAVID, "The Lord said unto me, 'Thou art my son and I this day have begotten thee,'" were spoken concerning SOLOMON his son. "O God, give Thy judgment to the king, and Thy righteousness to the son of the king, so that he may judge thy people with righteousness and thy needy ones with justice. And he shall live and they shall give him of the gold of ARABIA, and shall pray for him continually, and shall follow him [with good words], and he shall be a support for the whole earth on the tops of the mountains, and his fruit shall be greater than the cedar, and he shall flourish in the city like the grass of the earth, and his name shall be blessed for ever, and his name shall be before the sun. I have brought thee forth from the belly before the Morning Star. God hath sworn, and He will not repent, thou art His priest for ever, after the appointment of MELCHIZEDEK."
And concerning this prophecy and others like thereunto, which DAVID prophesied concerning CHRIST, the foolish JEWS, who are blind of heart, say that what DAVID said in the beginning of his book was spoken concerning his son SOLOMON; this do the JEWS say, and they make CHRIST to be SOLOMON because of the similarity of name, and the wisdom, and because He was the Son of DAVID in the flesh. And although those who came after DAVID and SOLOMON, namely ELIJAH and ELISHA, knew this, they ascribed SOLOMON'S sin to him in the Book of KINGS in order that they might put to shame the JEWS, who are blinded in heart and the enemies of righteousness. And SOLOMON the King, the son of DAVID the King and Prophet, was himself also King and Prophet, and he prophesied many similitudes concerning CHRIST and concerning the Church, and he wrote four books of prophecy, and is numbered with ABRAHAM, ISAAC, and JACOB, and DAVID his father in the kingdom of the heavens.
And now I will tell you how he died. His days were sixty [years], when a sickness attacked him. And his days were not as the days of DAVID his father, but they were twenty [years] shorter than his, because he was under the sway of women and worshipped idols. And the angel of death came and smote him [in] the foot, and he wept and said, "O Lord God of ISRAEL, I am conquered by the terrestrial law, for there is no one free from blemish before Thee, O Lord, and there is no one righteous and wise before Thee, O Lord. For Thou dost scrutinize and try the heart. Nothing is hidden from Thee. Thou lookest upon the hidden things [as if they were] revealed, and Thou searchest out the heart. Have mercy upon me, Lord. Thou examinest the heart of man and dost try the reins. Have mercy upon me, Lord. Thou hearest both the whisper and the thunderclap. Have mercy upon me, Lord. And if Thou hast mercy upon the righteous who have not transgressed Thy commandments, what is there wonderful in Thy mercy? Have mercy upon me, Lord. But if Thou shouldest show mercy upon me, a sinner, Thy mercy would be a marvellous and gracious thing. Have mercy upon me, Lord. And although I have sinned remember ABRAHAM, and ISAAC, and JACOB, my fathers who did not transgress Thy commandment. Have mercy upon me, Lord, for Thou art merciful and forgiving; for the sake of DAVID Thy servant have p. 108 mercy upon me, Lord. O Master of the world, and of kings and governors, have mercy upon me, Lord. O Thou who makest fools to be wise, and the wise to be fools, have mercy upon me, Lord. O Turner of sinners and Rewarder of the righteous, have mercy upon me, Lord." And as he spake these words tears streamed down his face, and he searched for his napkin.
And the Angel of God went down to him and said unto him, "Hearken thou unto what I shall say unto thee, for the sake of which God hath sent me. From being a wise man thou hast turned thyself into a fool, and from being a rich man thou hast turned thyself into a poor man, and from being a king thou hast turned thyself into a man of no account, through transgressing the commandment of God. And the beginning of thy evil was the taking of many wives by thee, for through this thou didst transgress His Law, and His decree, and the ordinance of God which MOSES wrote and gave to you, to ISRAEL, that ye should not marry wives from alien peoples but only from your kinsfolk and the house of your fathers, that your seed might be pure and holy and that God might dwell with you. But thou didst hold lightly the Law of God, thinking that thou wast wiser than God, and that thou wouldst get very many male children. But the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, and He hath only given thee three sons: the one who carried off thy glory into an alien land, and made the habitation of God to be in ETHIOPIA; the one who is lame of foot, who shall sit upon thy throne for the people of ISRAEL, the son of the kin of thy kin from TARBÂNA, of the house of JUDAH; and the one who is the son of a Greek woman, a handmaiden, who in the last days shall destroy REHOBOAM and all thy kin of ISRAEL; and this land shall be his because he believeth in Him that shall come, the Saviour. And the tribe of REHOBOAM, and those who are left of ISRAEL, shall crucify Him that shall come, the p. 109 Redeemer, and the memory of you shall be blotted out from the earth. For they shall think out a plan which they shall not be able to establish, and He will be wroth with them and blot out the memorial of them.
"And as for thee, JOSEPH, the son of JACOB, shall be a symbol of thee. For his brethren sold him into the land of EGYPT from SYRIA, the country of LÂBÂ (LABAN), and on his going down into the land of EGYPT there arose a famine in SYRIA and in all the world. And through his going down he called his kinsfolk and delivered them from famine and gave them a habitation in the land of EGYPT, the name whereof is GÊSHÊN (GOSHEN). For he himself was King under PHARAOH, King of EGYPT. Similarly the Saviour Who shall come from thy seed shall set thee free by His coming, and shall bring thee out of SHEÔL, where until the Saviour cometh thou shalt suffer pain, together with thy fathers; and He will bring thee forth. For from thy seed shall come forth a Saviour Who shall deliver thee, thee and those who were before thee, and those who shall [come] after thee, from ADAM to His coming in the kin of your kin, and He shall make thee to go forth from SHEÔL as JOSEPH brought out his kinsfolk from the famine, that is to say the first SHEÔL in the land of famine, so also shall the Saviour bring out of SHEÔL you who are His kinsfolk. And as afterwards the EGYPTIANS made [the kinsmen of JOSEPH] slaves, so also have the devils made you slaves through the error of idols.
"And as MOSES brought his kinsmen out of the servitude [of EGYPT], so shall the Saviour bring you out of the servitude of SHEÔL. And as MOSES wrought ten miracles and punishments (or, plagues) before PHARAOH the King, so the Saviour Who shall come from thy seed shall work ten miracles for life before thy people. And as MOSES, after he had wrought the miracles, smote the sea and made the people to pass over as it were on dry land, so the Saviour Who shall come shall overthrow the walls of SHEÔL and bring thee out. And as MOSES drowned PHARAOH with the EGYPTIANS in the Sea of ERITREA, so also shall the Saviour drown SATAN and his devils in SHEÔL; for the sea is to be interpreted by SHEÔL, and PHARAOH by SATAN, and his hosts of EGYPTIANS by devils. And as MOSES fed them [with] manna in the desert without toil, so shall the Saviour feed you with the food of the Garden (i.e., Paradise) for ever, after He hath brought you out from SHEÔL. And as MOSES made them to dwell in the desert for forty years, without their apparel becoming worn out, or the soles of their feet becoming torn, so the Saviour shall make you to dwell without toil after the Resurrection. And as JOSHUA brought them into the Land of Promise, so shall the Saviour bring you into the Garden of Delight. And as JOSHUA slew the seven Kings of CANAAN, so shall the Saviour slay the seven heads of ’IBLÎS. And as JOSHUA destroyed the people of CANAAN, so shall the Saviour destroy sinners and shut them up in the fortress of SHEÔL. And as thou hast built the house of God, so shall churches be built upon the tops of the mountains."
"And again, there shall be unto thee a sign that the Saviour shall come from thy seed, and that He shall deliver thee with thy fathers and thy seed after thee by His coming. Your salvation was created in the belly of ADAM in the form of a Pearl before EVE. And when He created EVE out of the rib He brought her to ADAM, and said unto them, 'Multiply you from the belly of ADAM.' The Pearl did not go out into CAIN or ABEL, but into the third that went forth from the belly of ADAM, and it entered into the belly of SETH. And then passing from him that Pearl went into those who were the firstborn, and came to ABRAHAM. And it did not go from ABRAHAM into his firstborn ISHMAEL, but it tarried and came into ISAAC the pure. And it did not go into his firstborn, the arrogant ESAU, but it went into JACOB the lowly one. And it did not enter from him into his firstborn, the erring REUBEN, but into JUDAH, the innocent one. And it did not go forth from JUDAH until four sinners had been born, but it came to FÂRÊS (PEREZ), the patient one, And from him this Pearl went to the firstborn until it came into the belly of JESSE, the father of thy father. And then it waited until six men of wrath had been born, and after that it came to the seventh, DAVID, thy innocent and humble father; for God hateth the arrogant and proud, and loveth the innocent and humble. And then it waited in the loins of thy father until five erring fools had been born, when it came into thy loins because of thy wisdom and understanding. And then the Pearl waited, and it did not go forth into thy firstborn. For those good men of his country neither denied Him nor crucified Him, like ISRAEL thy people; when they saw Him Who wrought miracles, Who was to be born from the Pearl, they believed on Him when they heard the report of Him. And the Pearl did not go forth into thy youngest son ’ADRÂMÎ. For those good men neither crucified Him nor denied Him when they saw the working of miracles, and wonders by Him that was to be born from the Pearl, and afterwards they believed in Him through His disciples.
"Now the Pearl, which is to be your salvation, went forth from thy belly and entered into the belly of ?ÎYÔRBE?ÂM (REHOBOAM) thy son, because of the wickedness of ISRAEL thy people, who in their denial and in their wickedness crucified Him. But if He had not been crucified He could not have been your salvation. For He was crucified without sin, and He rose [again] without corruption. And for the sake of this He went down to you into SHEÔL, and tore down its walls, that He might deliver you and bring you out, and show mercy upon all of you. Ye in whose bellies the Pearl shall be carried shall be saved with your wives, and none of you shall be destroyed, from your father ADAM unto him that shall come, thy kinsman ‘ÊYÂ?ÊM (JOACHIM), and from EVE thy mother, the wife of ADAM, to NOAH and his wife TARMÎZÂ, to TÂR (TERAH) and his wife ’AMÎNYÂ, and to ABRAHAM and his wife SÂR (SARAH), and to ISAAC and his wife REB? (REBECCA), and to JACOB and his wife LEY (LEAH), and to YAHÛD and his bride TE?EMÂR (TAMAR), and to thy father and his wife BÊRSÂBÊ? (BATHSHEBA), and to thyself and TARBÂN thy wife, and to REHOBOAM thy son and his wife ’AMÎSÂ, and to ÎYÔ?A?ÊM (JOACHIM) thy kinsman, who is to come, and his wife ?ANNÂ.
"None of you who shall have carried the Pearl shall be destroyed, and whether it be your men or your women, those who shall have carried the Pearl shall not be destroyed. For the Pearl shall be carried by the men who shall be righteous, and the women who have carried the Pearl shall not be destroyed, for they shall become pure through that Pearl, for it is holy and pure, and by it they shall be made holy and pure; and for its sake and for the sake of ZION He hath created the whole world. ZION hath taken up her abode with thy firstborn and she shall be the salvation of the people of ETHIOPIA for ever; and the Pearl shall be carried in the belly of ’AYÔRBE?ÂM (REHOBOAM) thy son, and shall be the saviour of all the world. And when the appointed time hath come this Pearl shall be born of thy seed, for it is exceedingly pure, seven times purer than the sun. And the Redeemer shall come from the seat of His Godhead, and shall dwell upon her, and shall put on her flesh, and straightway thou thyself shalt announce to her what my Lord and thy Lord speaketh to me.
"I am GABRIEL the Angel, the protector of those who shall carry the Pearl from the body of ADAM even to the belly of ?ANNÂ, so that I may keep from servitude and pollution you wherein the Pearl shall dwell. And MICHAEL hath been commanded to direct and keep ZION wheresoever she goeth, and URIEL shall direct and keep the wood of the thicket which shall be the Cross of the Saviour. And when thy people in their envy have crucified Him, they shall rush upon His Cross because of the multitude of miracles that shall take place through it, and they shall be put to shame when they see its wonders. And in the last times a descendant of thy son ’ADRÂMÎS shall take the wood of the Cross, the third [means of] salvation that shall be sent upon the earth. The Angel MICHAEL is with ZION, with DAVID thy firstborn, who hath taken the throne of DAVID thy father. And I am with the pure Pearl for him that shall reign for ever, with REHOBOAM thy second son; and the Angel URIEL is with thy youngest son ’ADRÂMÎ[S]. This have I told thee, and thou shalt not make thy heart to be sad because of thine own salvation and that of thy son."
And when SOLOMON had heard these words, his strength came [back] to him on his bed, and he prostrated himself before the Angel of God, and said, "I give thanks unto the Lord, my Lord and thy Lord, O thou radiant being of the spirit, because thou hast made me to hear a word which filleth me with gladness, and because He doth not cut off my soul from the inheritance of my father because of my sin, and because my repentance hath been accepted after mine affliction, and because He hath regarded my tears, and hath heard my cry of grief, and hath looked upon my affliction, and hath not let me die in my grief, but hath made me to rejoice before my soul shall go forth from my body. Henceforward [the thought of] dying shall not make me sorrowful, and I will love death as I love life. Henceforward I will drink of the bitter cup of death as if it were honey, and henceforward I will love the grave as if it were an abode of costly gems. And when I have descended and have been thrust down deep into SHEÔL, because of my sins, I shall not suffer grief, because I have heard the word which hath made me glad. And when I have gone down into the lowest depth of the deepest deep of SHEÔL, because of my sins, what will it matter to me? And if He crush me to powder in His hand and scatter me to the ends of the earth and to the winds because of my sins, it will not make me sorrowful, because I have heard the word that hath made me to rejoice, and God hath not cut my soul off from the inheritance of my fathers. And my soul shall be with the soul of DAVID my father, and with the soul of ABRAHAM, and ISAAC, and JACOB my fathers. And the Saviour shall come and shall bring us out from SHEÔL with all my fathers, and my kinsmen, old and young. And as for my children, they shall have upon earth three mighty angels to protect them. I have found the kingdom of the heavens, and the kingdom of the earth. Who is like unto God, the Merciful, Who showeth mercy to His handiwork and glorifieth it, Who forgiveth the sins of the sinners and Who doth not blot out the memorial of the penitent? For His whole Person is forgiveness, and His whole Person is mercy, and to Him belongeth praise." Amen.
And SOLOMON turned and looked at the Angel and stretched out both his hands, and said, "My lord, is the coming of the Saviour of which thou speakest near or far off?" And the Angel answered and said unto him, "He will come three and thirty generations from thy kin and from thy seed and will deliver you. But ISRAEL will hate their Saviour, and will be envious of Him because He will work signs and miracles before them. And they will crucify Him, and will kill Him, and He shall rise up again and deliver them, for He is merciful to the penitent and good to those who are His chosen ones. And behold, I tell you plainly that He will not leave in SHEÔL His kinsmen of ISRAEL by whom the Pearl hath been carried."
And when the Angel of God had spoken these words unto SOLOMON, he said unto him, "Peace be unto thee." And SOLOMON answered and said unto him, "My lord, I beseech thee, I would ask thee one question; be not unheedful of my cry." And the Angel said unto him, "Speak, ask me thy question, and I will make thee to know what I have heard and seen." And SOLOMON said unto him, "Now I am grieved because of ISRAEL, His people, whom He hath chosen as His firstborn from among all the ancient tribes of His inheritance; tell me, will they be blotted out after the coming of the Saviour?" And the Angel of God answered him again and said unto him, "Yea, I have told thee that they will crucify the Saviour. And when they have poured out His blood on the wood of the Cross they shall be scattered all over the world." And SOLOMON said, "I weep for my people. Woe to my people! who from first to last have always provoked their Creator to wrath. I and those who have been before me are unworthy to have mercy shown unto us because of the evil of our works, for we are a faithless generation. Woe unto those who shall pour out innocent blood, and calumniate the righteous man, and divide his spoil, and who neither believe on His word nor walk in His Commandment! Their judgement is waiting, and their error abideth; great is their punishment. And their sin is waiting, and it shall never be forgiven to them, and the sin of their fathers shall be remembered; for p. 116 their work was sin, and they shall be destroyed by that which they themselves have imagined. And woe also unto my soul! for I who have been honoured shall on my death be treated with contempt; and I who have been renowned for wisdom upon the earth shall become dust. In what way is the king superior if he hath not done good upon the earth to the poor? Their falling into the grave is the same, and their path in the deep is the same. Of what benefit (or, use) are we who are men? We are created in vain, and after a little time we become as if we had never been created. As for the breath which we breathe, if it cease for a short time, our soul passeth away, and if the beat of the spark of our heart which moveth in our mind passeth away we become dust, and our friends and acquaintances hold us to be a loathsome thing. And the understanding of our mind which is above [in] our heads [is destroyed] when our soul is poured out, and we become worms and filth; and when the heat of our body hath passed away we become nothingness and we pass away like the dissolving of a cloud. What then? To multiply speech is useless, and the goodliness of the stature is destroyed, and the strength of kings is blotted out, and the might of governors is destroyed and is no more found. And we all pass away like shadows, and when we have passed away in death our name is forgotten, and the trace of us cannot be found; after three generations of our children there is none who will remember our name."
And straightway he turned his face to REHOBOAM his son, and he said unto him, "O my son, withhold thyself from evil and do the things that are good, so that thou mayest find many days upon earth. And do not bow down to strange gods, and do not worship them, but fear and honour God only, so that thou mayest conquer thy foes and thy adversaries, and mayest inherit the habitation of thy father in the heavens, and also eternal life."
And he said unto him, "Write me in the roll of the Book, and lay it in the chest." And he said unto ZADOK the priest, "Anoint my son and make him king. As my father DAVID, my lord, made me king whilst he was alive, even so do I make my son REHOBOAM king. And his seed shall be the salvation of myself and of my fathers for ever, according to what the Angel of the Lord spake unto me."
Then ZADOK the priest took REHOBOAM and made him king, and he anointed him and performed for him whatsoever the Law demanded. And REHOBOAM laid a tablet of wood upon the Tabernacle, and he found it with the name of his father SOLOMON [written upon] it, and then they set him upon the king's mule, and said unto him, "All hail! Long live the royal father!" and the city resounded with cries, and the trumpet was blown. And before REHOBOAM could return to his father SOLOMON died. And they laid SOLOMON in the tomb of his father DAVID, and they mourned for him with great mourning, for there was not found his like in wisdom in those days.
And when seven days had passed REHOBOAM made the mourning for his father to cease. And the people of ISRAEL gathered themselves together to REHOBOAM, and they said unto him, "Lighten for us [our] labour, for thy father made it very heavy in the hewing of wood, and in the dressing of stone, and in making wagons for bringing down cedarwood." And REHOBOAM took counsel with the councillors and the elders of the house of the king, and they said unto him, "Answer them graciously. For at this present thou art like a young animal and thy loins are not able to bear the yoke. And now, speak unto them graciously, and say unto them, 'I will do for you everything ye wish.' And when thy hand hath gotten power over them thou p. 118 canst do with thy people what thou wishest." And REHOBOAM drove out the elders and brought in the foolish young men who had been brought up with him. And he took counsel with them, and told them of the message which the house of ISRAEL had sent to him and what the elders of the house of the king had counselled him to do. And those foolish young men said unto him, "An aged man giveth the counsel of an aged man, and the elder giveth the counsel of an elder, and a man stricken in years giveth the counsel of the man who is stricken in years, and a young man like thyself giveth the counsel which appertaineth to youth. As for these men who are stricken in years, their loins are as tender as those of a young animal that cannot walk. And as concerning this matter of which thou speakest, who can dispute the command of our Lord the King?" And one of them leaped up into the air before REHOBOAM, and another drew his sword, and another brandished his spear, and another seized his bow and quiver. And when they had made an end of their playing they counselled him, saying, "O our lord, may we be with thee, and thou with us! Now thy father in wisdom gave us, the sons of men of ISRAEL who are learned in the art of war, to grow up with thee that thy kingdom might be strong after him. O our lord, show not a timid face to those men, lest they think that thou art weak and art not able to make war against them and against thine enemies. For if they see in us an attitude of weakness in word and in deed, we shall be held in contempt by them, and they will not give us gifts, or presents, or slaves, or tribute, and thy kingdom will be destroyed. But address them with bold words, and speak unto them haughtily, saying, 'In respect of my father ye say in wood and in stone, but I will make you to serve me with chains of iron and with scorpion-whips. For my thin flank shall be stronger than the thickest part of my father's body, and my counsel is greater than the counsel p. 119 of my father who begot me. None shall diminish for you the labour and the forced service, nay it shall be increased for you in every particular. And if ye will not do my command, I will make your cattle my plunder, and your children shall be captives, and my knife of slaughter shall consume you. And I will seize your cities and your fields, and your plantations, and your wells, and your gardens, and your lands, and your fruit (or, crops), and I will bind your honourable ones in chains of iron, and your riches shall [provide] food for my servants, and your women shall be for the adornment of the house of my nobles. And I will not alter this my decision, and will not diminish it, and I will neither make it to be a lie nor to have no effect; and I will carry it out quickly, and will write it down for ever. For the whole of this land was given to DAVID my grandfather for his kingdom, and to my father SOLOMON after him. And [God] hath given it to me after my fathers as to them, and I will make you to serve me as ye served them; and now take counsel and obey me.'"
And thus also did REHOBOAM speak unto the elders of ISRAEL. And the people all rose up together in their full number, and they said, "Get back to [your] house[s], O ISRAEL. Have we none else whom we can make king save in the house of JUDAH and in the house of BENJAMIN? We will reject their houses and the men of both of them, and we will make as our king and governor the man whom we wish for and in whom our soul delighteth." And they took up their weapons of war, and fled in a body, and came to the city of SAMARIA of BÊTH ÊFRÂTÂ, where they took counsel and were gathered together in a body. And the house of ISRAEL cast lots among themselves so that they might make king the man whom they chose from the house of the father of the man wherein the lot fell. And the lot fell on the house of EPHRAIM, on the son of NÂBÂT, and they chose a man from the house of his father, and made JEROBOAM king. And thus was the kingdom separated from REHOBOAM, the son of SOLOMON, and there were left to it only the house of BENJAMIN and the house of JUDAH his father.
And the word which God spake unto DAVID His servant was not made a lie, "Of the fruit of thy body I will make to sit upon thy throne"; and again He said, "Ordained like the moon for ever"; and again He said, "God sware unto DAVID truly and will not repent." He Who reigned on the throne of DAVID His father was JESUS CHRIST, his kinsman in the flesh by a virgin, Who sat upon the throne of His Godhead; and upon earth He granted to reign upon His throne the King of ETHIOPIA, SOLOMON'S firstborn. To REHOBOAM God gave only two stems (or, roots); and the King of RÔMÊ is the youngest son of SOLOMON. And God did this in order that foolish people might not call us JEWS, because of SOLOMON and because of REHOBOAM his son—now God knoweth the heart—and He did this that they might not imagine such a thing. They called REHOBOAM "King of JUDAH", and they called the King of SAMARIA "King of ISRAEL". And of the generations of REHOBOAM, from REHOBOAM to ’ÎYÂ?ÊM (JOACHIM) were forty-one generations. And there were born to MALKÎ two children, LEVI and SHEM, the begetter of HÔNÂSÊ. And HÔNÂSÊ begat ?ALÂMYÔS, and ?ALÂMYÔS begat JOACHIM, and JOACHIM begat MARY, the daughter of DAVID. And again ’ÎLÎ begat MALKÎ, and MALKÎ begat MÂTÎ, and MÂTÎ begat ’ÊLÎ and JACOB, and ?ANNA, the wife of JOACHIM. And ’ÊLÎ took a wife and died without children. And JACOB took to wife YÔ?ADÂ, the wife of ’ÊLÎ, and he begat by her JOSEPH the carpenter, who was the betrothed of MARY. And JOSEPH was the son of JACOB in the flesh and the son of ’ÊLÎ according to the p. 121 Law; now God had commanded MOSES that the ISRAELITES were to marry their kinsfolk, each in the house of his fathers, and that they were not to marry alien women.