Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets and otheatacters from Various Sources

523 before Christ, Cambyses, having reigned a brief time, was succeeded by Smerdis, the Magian, who is called, in the Scriptures, Artaxerxes. He, being ill-disposed towards the Jews, withdrew from them the gifts made by Cyrus, and arrested their work.

Ezekiel was a prophet, and he exhorted the men of Jerusalem to war, but they would not go forth to battle. Then God sent a pestilence, and there died of them every day very many. So, fearing death, a million fled from the city, hoping to escape the pestilence, but the wrath of God overtook them, and they fell dead.

Then those who survived in the city went forth to bury them, but they were too numerous; therefore they built a wall round the corpses, to protect them from the beasts of the field; and thus they lay exposed to the heat and cold for many years, till the flesh had rotted off their bones.

Once the prophet Ezekiel came that way, and he saw this great multitude of dead and dry bones. He prayed, and God restored them to life again, and they stood upon their feet a great army, and entered into the city, and lived out the rest of their days. It is said that among the Jews there are, to this day, descendants of those who were resuscitated, and they may be recognized by the corpse-like odor they exhale.

Ezekiel, whom the Arabs call Kazquil, was the son of an aged couple, who had no children. They prayed to God, and He gave them a son.

The prophet announced to the priests and wise men of Egypt that when a virgin, who had borne a son, should set her foot on Egyptian soil, all the idols should fall.

Before the destruction of Jerusalem, he 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.”

The work entitled De Vitis Prophetarum, falsely attributed to S. Epiphanius, contains some apocryphal details concerning Jeremiah. It is said that he was stoned at Taphens in Egypt, in a place where Pharaoh formerly lived

Isaiah thought, “If I excuse myself, I shall only increase his guilt and not save myself;” so he answered not a word, but pronounced the Incommunicable Name, and a cedar-tree opened, and he disappeared within it.

Manasseh reigned in the room of his father, and was a cruel tyrant. He worshipped idols, and sought to make Isaiah partake in his idolatry. And when he could not succeed, he sawed him asunder with a saw of wood.

“And whilst Isaiah was being cut asunder, Melekira stood up and accused him, and all the lying prophets were present, and they showed great joy, and they mocked him.

“And Belial said to Isaiah; ‘Confess that all thou hast said is false, and that the ways of Manasseh are good and just.

“‘Confess that the ways of Melekira, and of those that are with him, are good.’

“He spake thus to him, as the saw entered into his flesh.

“But Isaiah was in an ecstasy, and his eyes were open, and he looked upon the spectators of his passion.

“Then said Melekira to Isaiah: ‘Confess what I shall say, and I will change the heart of those who persecute thee, and I will make Manasseh, and the heads of Judah, and his people, and all Jerusalem worship thee.’

“Then Isaiah answered and said: ‘Cursed art thou in all that thou sayest, and in all thy power, and in all thy disciples!

“‘Thou canst do nothing against me; all thou canst do is to take from me this miserable life.’

“Then they seized the prophet, and they sawed him with a saw of wood, Isaiah, son of Amos.

“And Manasseh and Melekira, and the lying prophets, and the princes of Israel, and all the people, beheld his execution.

“Now before that the execution was accomplished, he said to the prophets who had followed him: ‘Fly to Tyre and Sidon, for the Lord hath given the cup to me alone.’

“And whilst the saw cut into his flesh, Isaiah uttered no complaint and shed no tears; but he ceased not to commune with the Holy Spirit till the saw had cloven him to the middle of his body.”

“He will do all his pleasures; he will ill-treat the Well-Beloved, and will say to him, Lo! I am God, and before me there is none other.

“And all the world will believe in him.

“And sacrifice will be offered to him, and a worship of adoration, saying, He alone is God, and there is none other.

“Then the greater number of those gathered together to receive the Well-Beloved will turn aside to Berial;

“Who by his power will work miracles in the cities and in the country;

“And everywhere shall a table be spread for him.

“His domination shall be for three years seven months and twenty-seven days.”

This is the prophecy of Isaiah concerning Antichrist: “And when that time had passed, Berial, the great angel, the prince of this world, Berial will descend from his place in the form of a man; an impious king, the murderer of his mother, a king of this world.

“And he will pluck up from amongst the twelve apostles the plant that they had planted, and it will fall into his hands.

“And all the powers of the world will do the will of the angel Berial, the impious king.

“At his word, the sun will shine in the darkness of the night, and the moon will appear at the eleventh hour.

Whilst Isaiah was speaking to the king Hezekiah, he suddenly stopped, and his soul was borne away by an angel. He traversed the firmament, where he saw the strife of the angels and demons, waged between the earth and the moon. He entered the six heavens and admired their glory; then he penetrated into the seventh heaven, where he saw the Holy Trinity, and there the events of futurity were revealed to him. When he returned to himself, Isaiah related to Hezekiah all that he had seen and heard, except what concerned his son Manasseh.