LXI. THE CHILDREN OF MOSES
(1) The banishment brought about by Titus, Vespasianus, and Hadrian,
occurred on the eve of the ninth of Ab, on the outgoing of the Sabbath and the
Sabbatical year. The Levites were then occupied with their ministrations, and,
with their harps in their hands, were singing their hymns. But Scripture saith, 'He
hath brought upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own
evil.' The words 'He shall cut them off' were not yet fully uttered ere their
enemies came upon them, slaughtered many of them, and sent the rest into exile.
Thus, also, when Nebuchadnezzar the wicked sent them into exile it fell upon
the eve of the ninth of Ab, the outgoing of the Sabbatical year and the Sabbath,
when the Levites were standing on their 'Duchan,' being sixty myriads in
number, who were, moreover, of the seed of Moses our instructor. While the
harps were in their hands, the verse 'He hath brought upon them their own
iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own evil,' was not yet fully uttered, ere
the enemy came and exiled them to Babylon. When they arrived in 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?'
(2) 'Now,' retorted their captors, 'ye shall sing by force.' But they at 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 harps in the temple strike
them here in a strange land?' And God exclaimed, 'If I forget Jerusalem, My
right hand shall be forgotten.'
(3) A cloud then descended, and lifting all the children of Moses, with their
sheep and cattle, brought them to the east of Havila. In the night they were let
down, and on that same night they heard a great noise surrounding them, like
that of a river, without seeing a drop of water descending, but heard only the
rolling of stones and sand, where there had never been a river. This river then
rolled great stones, and the sand, without any water, made a noise as of a great
earthquake, so that if anyone came near that river, he was dashed to pieces. This
continued until the Sabbath. The river they called Sabbatyon or Sabbatianus. In
some part the river is less than sixty cubits in width; there the people stand and
speak with those of the other side. On the Sabbath it ceases to flow, and on the
eve of Sabbath a cloud descends full of smoke. No one is able to approach them,
neither do they approach us. There are no wild beasts, no unclean animals, nor
any reptiles or creeping things; nothing except their flocks and herds.
(4) They reap and sow, and they ask the others, and thus they learned of the
destruction of the second temple. Behind the sons of Moses we do not know who
may be dwelling; but Naphtali, Gad, and Asher came to Dan after the destruction
of the second temple; for Isaachar, who lived at the mountains of the deep,
quarrelled with them and called them 'the sons of the handmaids.' At length,
being afraid lest they be coming to battle, those three tribes went away until they
came to Dan, and these four tribes were thus living in one place.
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