The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-22

The Legends of Abraham.
The legends clustered around the per
sonality of Abraham are innumerable, but
thls one is peculiarly characteristic of the
Hebrew conception of Abraham's work
1t IS related that the whole household of
Aoraham's father were idol worshippers.
moreover they made idols and sold them
upon the streets But when a man APP
preached Abraham 10 sell him an idol he
would ask him, How much is this image?'
Ihree manas he would reply. How old
art thou" Abraham would ask Thirty
years Thou art thirty years of age, and
yet worshippest this idol which we made
out to-day" The man would depart and
go his way. Again another would come TO
Abraham and ask, How much is this idol?'
rive manas.' he would say. How old art
thou! would Abraham continue, Fifty
years. And dost thou. who are fifty years
OF age, bow down to this idol which we
made but to-day?' With this the man
would depart and so his way. When MINI
rod heard of Abraham's utterances he or
defed him to be brought before him. and
said, Thou son of Terah, make me a beau
utul god Abraham then entered his
1athers house and said. Make a beautiful
image for me- They accordingly made it,
hnlshed il, and painted it with many col
ors. He went and brought it to Nimrod
And on that day Abraham's righteous
rain fell, therefore when they were about
to thrust him into the burning furnace,
Nlmrod sat down, and all the people Of
the dispersion did likewise Abraham
then entered, and standing in the center he
pleaded his cause. After which Nimrod
asked, If not the gods, who shall server
Abraham replied, The God of Gods and
Lord of Lords, whose kingdom is everlast-
ing in heaven and on earth and in the
heavens of the high heavens I shall
worship said Nimrod The God of Fire;
and behold shall cast thee therein. Let
then the God to whom thou testifieth de-
liver thee from the burning furnace They
then Immediately bound him strongly and
tightly and placed him on the ground.
They then surrounded him with wood on
the four sides. Five hundred cubits thick
ness to the north, 500 cubits to the south
500 to the west and 900 to the east. They
then set the pile on fire. The whole house
of Terah were worshippers of idols and I'M
I'll that moment had not recognized their
Creator Their neighbors and fellow-citi-
zens assembled, and beating their heads
said to Terah, oh shame-great shame
Thy son of whom thy did say that he
would inherit this world and the world to
come, has Nimrod burnt in the fire. I'm
mediately then Gods mercy was moved
so that he descended from the habitaton
of his glory, his greatness. his majesty
and the holiness of his great name and
delivered Abraham our ancestor from that
shame, from that reproach and from the
burning furnace, and it said, 81 am the
Lord who brought thee out of the fire of
the Chaldeans.'
The Loss of the Ten Tribes.
There has been strange fascination
about the loss of the Ten Tribes of Israel
and Hebrew legend attempts TO supply an
account of the fate of those Ten Tribes
in various ways. There is a peculiarly in
teresting legend respecting the so-cailed
Children of Moses. connected, of course
with the exile of Nebuchadnezzar, when
they arrived at Babylon, their enemies
and captOrs said to them, Sing us a song
of Zion. and they replied How can we
sing a song of Zion upon strange ground?'
Now, retorted their captors, we shall
sing by force but they al once cut off
their fingers with their teeth and cast
them before them and they replied How
can those fingers, which struck the strings
of the heart and the temple, strike them
here in strange land?' And God ex-
claimed, If 1 forget Jerusalem, my right
hand snail be forgotten
"A cloud then descended and lifting all
the Children of Moses with their sheep
and cattle, brought them to the east of
Havla. In the night they were let down
and on that same night they heard a
great noise surrounding them like THAI
q
descending, but heard only the rolling of
stones and sand where they had never
been river. This river then rolled great
stones and the sand without any water
made noise as of a great earthquake
This continued until the Sabbath The
river they called Sabbatyon or Sabbatian-
us. On the Sabbath it ceases to flow
and on the eve of Sabbath a cloud ascends
full of smoke. No one is able 10 approach
them. There are no wild beasts. no I'M
clean animals nor any reptiles or creep
ing things. Nothing except their flocks
and herds. They leap and SOW and they
ask the others and thus they learn of the
destruction of the Second Temple" Ii is
behind this region in which the Children
of Moses dwell, that the rem
nants of the Ten Tribes are said 10 be
found. tine Tribe of Isaacharr owen on
the mountains of the great deep in the
nethermost parts of Media and Persia, and
there they fulfill the commandment The
Book of the Torah shall not depart from
their mouths nor do they take upon
themselves the yoke of any earthly King
dom, but only the yoke of heaven and
he yoke of the law. They have many cap
tains of the army. but never fight with
any man, but discuss the Torah. They
dwell in peace and tranquility and no re-
beliouS thought of evil enters their minds
They possess a country whose area COW
ers land of ten days journey, and they
have an abundance of cat le, camel and
servants, but do not bring the horses. nor
do they possess any warlike Instruments,
except knives for preparing food and to
kill the animals for thet purpose. They
are men of great faith, hating oppression
or robbery.
THE children of Zebulun encamp on
the mountains Of Paran and pitch their
tents made of the hair of Armania, and
stretch as far as the Euphrates- The
Tribe of Reuben dwell opposite them be-
hind the mountains of Paran and between
them there is love, unity and peace. The
Tribe of Ephraim and half the tribe of
Menasseh dwells opposite the city of Meu-
ga" In a similar way each and every one
of the Ten Tribes is located in this fabu-
lous region 80 the east of Havila, which
every Bible reader will easily connect with
the garden of Eden as located by the
second chapter of Genesis.
Many legends Of Moses, Daniel and all
of the other famous Bible characters are
included in this great chronicle. 1t will
attract the attention, not only of scholars
who have found so much that is interesting