The Book of the Cave of Treasures - The Second Thousand Years

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[THE SECOND THOUSAND YEARS: YÂRÊD TO THE FLOOD.]

OF THE TRANSMISSION OF THE ART OF PLAYING THE HARP, THAT IS TO SAY, OF MUSIC, AND SINGING AND DANCING.

   Yôbâl (Jubal) and Tôbalkîn (Tubal-Cain), the two brethren, the sons of Lamech, the blind man, who killed Cain, invented and made all kinds of instruments of music. Jôbâl made reed instruments, and harps, and flutes, and whistles, and the devils went and dwelt inside them. When men blew into the pipes, the devils sang inside them, and sent out sounds from inside them. Tôbalkîn made [Fol. 12a, col. 2] cymbals, and sistra, and tambourines (or drums). And lasciviousness and fornication increased among the children of Cain, and they had nothing to occupy them except fornication--now they had no obligation [to pay] tribute, and they had neither prince nor governor--and eating, and drinking, and lasciviousness, and drunkenness, and dancing p. 88 and singing to instruments of music, and the wanton sportings of the devils, and the laughter which affordeth pleasure to the devils, and the sounds of the furious lust of men neighing after women. And Satan, finding [his] opportunity in this work of error, rejoiced greatly, because thereby he could compel the sons of Seth to come down from that holy mountain. There they had been made to occupy the place of that army [of angels] that fell [with Satan], there they were beloved by God, there they were held in honour by the angels, and were called "sons of God," even as the blessed David saith in the psalm, "I have said [Fol. 12b, col. 1], Ye are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High." (.)

   Meanwhile fornication reigned among the daughters of Cain, and without shame [several] women would run after one man. And one man would attack another, and they committed fornication in the presence of each other shamelessly.      *      *      *      For all the devils were gathered together in that camp of Cain, and unclean spirits entered into the women, and took possession of them. The old women were more lascivious than the maidens, fathers and sons defiled themselves with their mothers and sisters, sons respected not even their own fathers, and fathers made no distinction between p. 89 their sons [and other men]. And Satan had been made ruler (or prince) of that camp [Fol. 12b, col. 2]. And when the men and women were stirred up to lascivious frenzy by the devilish playing of the reeds which emitted musical sounds, and by the harps which the men played through the operation of the power of the devils, and by the sounds of the tambourines and of the sistra which were beaten and rattled through the agency of evil spirits, the sounds of their laughter were heard in the air above them, and ascended to that holy mountain.

   And when the children of Seth heard the noise, and uproar, and shouts of laughter in the camp of the children of Cain, about one hundred of them who were mighty men of war gathered together, and set their faces to go down to the camp of the children of Cain. When Yârêd heard their words and knew their intention, he became sorely afflicted, and he sent and called them to him, and said unto them, "By the holy blood of Abel, I will have you swear that not one of you shall go down from this holy mountain. Remember ye [Fol. 13a, col. 1] the oaths which our fathers Seth, and Ânôsh, and Kainân, and Mahlâlâîl made you to swear." And Enoch also said unto them, "Hearken, O ye children of Seth, no man who shall transgress the commandment of Yârêd, and [break] the oaths of our fathers, p. 90 and go down from this mountain, shall never again ascend it." But the children of Seth would neither hearken to the commandment of Yârêd, nor to the words of Enoch, and they dared to transgress the commandment, and those hundred men, who were mighty men of war, went down [to the camp of Cain]. And when they saw that the daughters of Cain were beautiful in form and that they were naked and unashamed, the children of Seth became inflamed with the fire of lust. And when the daughters of Cain saw the goodliness of the children of Seth, they gripped them like ravening beasts and defiled their bodies. And the children of Seth slew their souls by fornication with the daughters of Cain. And when the children of Seth wished to go up [again] to that holy mountain [Fol. 13a, col. 2], after they had come down and fallen, the stones of that holy mountain became fire in their sight, and having defiled their souls with the fire of fomication, God did not permit them to ascend to that holy place. And, moreover, very many others made bold and went down after them, and they, too, fell.

   [NOTES.--This story is told at great length in the Book of Adam (ii. 20). Satan appeared in the form of one Gunnun and taught him to make horns and trumpets, stringed instruments, p. 91 cymbals, psalteries, lyres, harps and flutes. Into these Satan himself entered, and made the music which came from them. Gunnun made corn spirit, and established drinking booths, in which men assembled and drank and ate fruit. Then Satan taught Gunnun to make weapons of war out of iron, and when men were drunk they killed each other with them. Next Satan taught men how to dye their garments crimson and purple, and they arrayed themselves in gaudy attire, and began to race their horses. Little by little the children of Seth began to wish to join the sons of Cain, and when the devils had shown them a way down the mountain, one hundred of them went down to the plain, and were led astray by the women whose hands and feet were stained with bright colours and whose faces had tattoo marks on them. When the Sethites tried to return to the top of the mountain, the stones turned into coals of fire, and they could not pass over them. Company after company of the children of Seth went down to the plain, and at length only Yârêd and a few others remained on the mountain. The Ethiopic Book of Enoch (see the translations by Archbishop Lawrence, Oxford, 1838, by Dillmann, Leipzig, 1853, and Canon Charles, Oxford, 1893) supplies interesting details about the fall of the children of Seth. The leaders of those who went down p. 92 from Ardis on Mount Hermon were Semyâzâ, the commander-in-chief, Urâkîbarâmê´êl, Kôkabî´êl, Tâmi´êl, Râmu´êl, Dân´êl, Zakîlô, Sarâkuyâl, Asâ´êl, Armârôs, Batraal, ´Anânî, Zakêbê, Samsâwe´êl, Sarta´êl, Tur´êl, Yomyâ´êl, and ´Azâzyâl. Each of these was over a company of ten. The names of two of the dekarchs of the 200 angels are omitted. These angels took to themselves wives, and taught them the use of spells and enchantments, and the use of plants and trees [for medicinal purposes ?]. The daughters of Cain conceived, and a tradition in the Kebra Nagast says that the children were so large that they could not be born in the ordinary way, but had to be removed from their mothers by the umbilicus.¹ These children grew up and became giants 3,000 cubits in height, and when they had devoured all the provisions which their neighbours had collected, they began to fight against men and to eat them, and at length they ate the flesh and drank the blood of each other. Concerning these giants, the Book of Enoch (chapter xv) says, "Now, the giants, who were produced from the spirits and the flesh, shall be called evil spirits on earth, and their habitation shall be on the earth. Evil spirits shall proceed from their bodies. . . . And the spirits of the p. 93 giants shall consume, and persecute, and lay waste, and fight and work destruction on the earth and afflict [men]. They shall neither eat food of any kind, nor suffer thirst, and they shall remain invisible. And these spirits shall attack the children of men and women, for from them have they come forth." The wickedness of these giants became so great that the earth complained [to God]. At this time ´Azâz´êl taught men the art of working in metals, and the use of stibium, or eye-paint, and the art of dyeing stuffs in bright colours. ´Amêzârâk taught enchantments (i.e. magic) and the knowledge of herbs; ´Armârôs taught how spells were to be broken; Barak`âl taught astrology; Kôkab´êl taught the knowledge of signs; Tem´êl taught astronomy; and ´Asrâdêl taught concerning the moon [Book of Enoch, chapter viii.] The originals of these Seven Sages were probably the Seven Wise Men who were revered by the Babylonians.]

   And when Yârêd had lived nine hundred and sixty years, and the day of his departure approached, and came nigh, and arrived, all the Patriarchs gathered themselves together and came unto him, viz. Enoch, his first-born, and Methuselah, and Lamech, and Noah, they and their wives and their children, and were blessed p. 94 by him. And he prayed over them, and said unto them, "I will make you to swear by the holy blood of Abel that you will not go down from this holy mountain; for I know that God will not allow you to remain very much longer in this holy country. Inasmuch as [Fol. 13b, col. 1] ye have transgressed the commandment of your fathers, ye shall surely be cast out into that outer country, and ye shall no longer have your habitation on the skirts [of the mountain] of Paradise. And take ye good heed to this. Let him that is among you who shall go forth from that holy country take with him the body of our father Adam, and the offerings [of gold, frankincense, and myrrh] that are in the Cave of Treasures, and let him carry away and deposit the body in the place wherein he shall be commanded by God to set it down. And thou, my son Enoch, depart thou not from before the body of Adam, but minister before God purely and holily all the days of thy life." And Yârêd died, [being] nine hundred and sixty-two years old, on the thirteenth day of the month of Îyâr (May), on the day of the Eve of the Sabbath (Friday), at sunset, in the three hundred and sixty-sixth year of the life of Noah. And Enoch his son embalmed him, and buried him in the Cave of Treasures; and they made mourning for him forty days.

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   [NOTES.--The Book of the Bee says that Yârêd was 962 years old when he died, and that he begot Enoch when he was 162 years old. The Book of Adam says that he was 989 years old when he died, and that he died on Friday, the 12th day of the month of Takhsâs (December) in the 360th year of the life of Noah (ii. 21).]

[Fol. 13b, col. 2] [The Rule of Enoch].

   And Enoch stood up to minister before God in the Cave of Treasures. And the children of Seth turned aside from the right path and willed to go down [to the children of Cain on the plain]. And Enoch and Methuselah, and Lamech and Noah mourned over them. And Enoch had ministered before God for fifty years in the three hundred and [sixty] fifth year of the life of Noah. And when Enoch knew that God was about to remove him [from the earth], he called Methuselah, and Lamech, and Noah, and said unto them, "I know that God is wroth with this generation, and that a pitiless judgment hath been decreed for the people thereof. Ye are the chiefs of this generation and the remnant thereof, for no other man shall be born on this mountain who shall be the chief of the children of his people. But take ye good heed to yourselves, and see that ye minister before God in purity and holiness." And when Enoch had given them p. 96 his commandment in these words, God removed him to the Land of Life, and to the [Fol. 14a, col. 1] delectable mansions which are round about Paradise, and to that country which is beyond the reach of death. And of all the children of Seth there remained only these three Patriarchs in the "Mountain of the Triumphant Ones," viz. Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah, for all the others had betaken themselves to the encampment of the sons of Cain.

   [NOTES.--Then Michael, Gabriel, Suriel, and Uriel looked down from heaven, and saw the wickedness which ´Azâz´êl had done in the world, and they heard the appeal which the souls of the dead were making to heaven, and they reported the matter to the Most High. When God heard their words He sent the angel ´Arsyalâlyûr to the son of Lamech, i.e. Noah, with the command, "Hide thyself." No mention is made of Methuselah, who begot Lamech when he was 187 years old, and who lived 969 years, and Lamech, who lived 777 years, and begot Noah in the 182nd year of his age, was passed over in favour of his son. Noah consolidated his position by marrying the daughter of Enoch. The angel revealed to Noah that a flood was about to cover the earth, and told him how to escape from it. Then God commanded p. 97 Rafa´êl to bind ´Azâz´êl hand and foot, and to thrust him into a dark hole in the desert of Dudâ´êl (a place near Jerusalem ?), and heap stones and rocks upon him. There he was to remain until the Day of judgment, when he would be cast into the fire and consumed. Gabriel was sent to destroy all the children of fornication; and Michael was sent to bind Semyâzâ and the other dekarchs of the children of Seth, and to imprison them under the mountains of the earth for 70 generations, after which time they were to be taken to the abyss of fire and tortured there for ever. Book of Enoch (chapter x).]

   [The Book of the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth, by Abbâ Bakhayla-Mîkâ´êl (ed. Perruchon), says that it was the men who taught man the arts of civilisation, who caused God to bring the Flood on the earth. This work gives the names of these men and describes their inventions thus:--

   Pîpîrôs understood the sun, Rûrîdê quarried stones, Zar´êl instituted the month, Pînênê introduced horse-riding (or racing), Gâlê invented the axe, Tîgana invented the shield, Hôrêrî taught men to play musical instruments, Yuebê taught working in iron, Mêgêd taught horse-riding, Negôdî discovered medicinal springs, and made known the planetary hours when the waters were most effective, Gargê made the first corn-grinder, p. 98 Sêtêr taught men how to mix dough, Gîmêr taught the use of earthenware vessels for food, Zârê taught men to milk animals, Heggê taught men to make roofs, and Tentôreb showed them how to make doors, Sâpêr taught butter-making, Halâgê discovered how to carve wood and stone, Hêder was the first to cultivate trees, Sînô taught house-building, and Tôf invented the potter's craft, Artôrbegâs invented agricultural implements, Sêbêdêgâz introduced the use of kohl (eye-paint, stibium), Zârê invented the brewing of beer, Bêtênêlâdâs invented the oven, Nâfîl taught men to make plantations and gardens, Yârbeh discovered how to fell trees and saw them up, ´Êlyô taught dancing, Pênêmûs invented architecture and writing, ´Agâlêmûn taught the use of beasts in ploughing and how to drive furrows, Kueses invented ploughs and leather whips, ´Akôr discovered bronze (copper ?), certain men taught working in cedar and willow-wood, Wasag and ´Abêregyâ taught men the game of Tâbat, and Nêr and Zabêrêgued taught them to play the games of ´Atâwemâ and ´Akîs, and the games of the circus.]

[The Rule of Noah.]

   And when Noah saw that sin had increased in his generation, he preserved himself in virginity for five hundred years. Then God spake unto p. 99 him and said unto him, "Take unto thee to wife Haykêl, the daughter of Namûs (or Haykêl Namûs), the daughter of Enoch, the brother of Methuselah." And God revealed unto him concerning the Flood which He was making ready to produce, and He spake to him and said unto him) "One hundred and thirty years from this moment I will make a Flood."

   [NOTES.--The Book of Adam says that Haykêl was the daughter of Abaraz, who was one of the children of the family of Enos, who went into perdition. If this be so, Noah married a woman who was akin to the children of Cain. The Book of the Bee (chapter xx) merely states that Noah's wife was of the children of Seth.]

[The Building of the Ark.]

   And God said unto Noah, "Make for thyself an ark for the saving of the children of thy house, and build it [in the plain] below [this mountain], in the encampment of the children of Cain, and ye shall cut down the timber for the same [from the trees that are on] this mountain [Fol. 14a, col. 2]. And thus shall be the dimensions thereof. Its length shall be three hundred cubits according to thy cubit, its breadth shall be fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits; and above it shall be finished off one cubit. And make three storeys in it: the lowermost shall be for wild animals p. 100 and cattle, the middle one shall be for the birds and feathered fowl, and the topmost shall be for thee and the children of thy house. And make in it cisterns for water and cupboards for food. And make to thyself a striking board of eshkar`a wood which will not rot, three cubits long and a cubit and a half in breadth; and there shall be a hammer of the same kind of wood, and with it thou shalt strike [the board] three times in the day. Once in the morning that the workmen may be gathered together for the work of the ark, and once at midday that they may eat food, and once at sunset so that they may cease from their labour. And when thou strikest the board, and men hear the sound of the blows, and say unto thee, 'What is this that thou doest?' [Fol. 14b, col. 1], thou shalt say unto them, 'God is going to make a flood of waters.'" And Noah did as God commanded him. And there were born unto him three sons within the space of a hundred years, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, and they took unto them wives of the daughters of Methuselah.

   [NOTES.--According to the Book of the Bee, the storeys were to have boards and projecting ledges, each board being one cubit long and one span broad. The wood used was either box or teak, and the Ark was pitched within and p. 101 without. The Book of Adam (iii. 2) says that each storey was 10 cubits high. The first was for lions and other animals, and ostriches, the second was for birds and reptiles, and the third for Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet, and their wives. The cisterns were to be lined with lead, inside and out. Noah begot his sons during the hundred years in which he was building the Ark; during these years he ate no animal food, and he wore the same pair of sandals, which did not wear out, and the same apparel and head cloth, and carried the same staff. His hair neither increased nor diminished. His sons married daughters of Methuselah.]

[The Death of Lamech.]

   And when Lamech had lived seven hundred and seventy years, he died during the lifetime of Methuselah, his father, forty years before the Flood, on the twenty-first day of the month of Ilûl (September), on the first day of the week (Sunday), in the sixty-eighth year of the life of Shem, the firstborn of Noah. And Noah his firstborn embalmed him, and Methuselah his father swathed him for burial, and they buried him in the Cave of Treasures, and mourned for him forty days.

   [NOTES.--The Book of Adam says that Lamech was 553 years old when he died, but the Book p. 102 of the Bee gives his age as 774 or 777 years; the former work says that Lamech died seven years before the Flood.]

[The Rule of Methuselah and Noah.]

   And Methuselah and Noah remained alone on the mountain, for all the children of Seth had gone down from the skirts of the mountain of Paradise to the plain where the children of Cain lived [Fol. 14b, col. 2]. And men, the children of Seth, had intercourse with the daughters of Cain, who conceived of them, and brought forth men, giants and the sons of giants, who were like unto towers. Now because of this certain ancient writers have fallen into error, and have written, "The angels came down from heaven, and had intercourse with men, and by them these famous giants have been produced." But this is not true, for those who have written in this manner did not understand [the facts]. Behold, O my brother-readers, and know ye that it is not in the nature of beings of the spirit to beget, neither is it in the nature of the devils--who are unclean beings, and workers of wickedness, and lovers of adultery--to beget, because there are neither males nor females among them. And since the time when the angels fell, not another angel has been added to their number. And if the devils were able to p. 103 have intercourse with women they would not leave unravished a single virgin [Fol. 15a, col. 1] in all the race of the children of men.

[The Death of Methuselah.]

   And when Methuselah had lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and the day of his departure had drawn nigh, Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japhet, and their wives, came unto him. Now of all the posterity of Seth who had not betaken themselves down to the plain, only these eight souls were left, viz. Noah, Shem, Ham, Japhet, and their wives; for no children were born to them before the Flood. And when these gathered themselves together to Methuselah, and they had been blessed by him, he embraced them, and kissed them sorrowfully, and wept over the fall of the children of Seth. And he said unto them, "Of all the tribes and families of your fathers, this remnant [consisting] of eight souls [Fol. 15a, col. 2] alone is left. May the Lord God of our fathers bless you! The Lord God who formed our father Adam and Eve by themselves (and they were fruitful, and multiplied, and the whole of the blessed land which was round about Paradise was filled with their progeny), shall make you to be fruitful, and to multiply, and the whole earth shall be filled with you. He shall save you from the p. 104 terrible wrath which hath been decreed against this rebellious generation, and He shall be with you, and He shall protect you. And the gift which was given by God unto our father Adam shall go forth with you from this holy country. And these three measures of the wheat of blessings which God gave unto your father Adam shall serve as leaven, and shall be kneaded into your seed, and into the seed of your children, that is to say, Royalty, Priesthood, and Prophecy.

   "Hearken thou, Noah, thou blessed of the Lord. Behold [Fol. 15b, col. 1], I am going forth from this world, like all my fathers, but thou and thy children shall be saved. And thou shalt do everything which I am commanding you to do this day, [for] God will make the Flood. When I die, embalm my body, and bury me in the Cave of Treasures with my fathers. Take thy wife, and thy sons, and the wives of thy sons, and get thee down from this holy mountain. And take with thee the body of our father Adam, and these three offerings, gold, and myrrh, and frankincense; set the body of Adam in the middle of the Ark, and lay these offerings upon him. Thou and thy sons shall occupy the eastern part of the Ark, and thy wife and thy son's wives shall occupy the western part thereof; thy wives shall not pass over to you, p. 105 and ye shall not pass over to them. Ye shall neither eat nor drink with them, and ye shall have no intercourse whatsoever with them until ye go forth [Fol. 15b, col. 2] from the Ark. Now this generation hath provoked God to wrath, and He will neither permit them to be neighbours of [those who are in] Paradise, nor to praise Him with the angels.

   "And when the waters of the Flood have subsided from the face of the earth, and ye go forth from the Ark, and ye take up your abode in that land, thou, O Noah, the blessed of the Lord, shall not depart from the Ark, from the body of our father Adam, but minister thou before God in the Ark purely and holily all the days of thy life. And these offerings shall be placed in the east. And command thou Shem, thy firstborn, to take up with him, after thy death, the body of our father Adam, and to carry it and deposit it in the middle of the earth. And let him establish there a man from among his descendants who shall minister there. And he shall be one who is set apart (nezîrâ) all the days of his life. He shall not take a wife, he shall not shed blood, he shall not offer up [Fol. 16a, col. 1] these offerings of wild animals and feathered fowl; but he shall offer unto God bread and wine, for by these redemption shall be made for Adam and all his posterity. And p. 106 the Angel of God shall go before him, and he shall show him the place where the middle of the earth is situated. And the apparel of him that shall stand up there to minister before the body of Adam shall be the skins of wild animals. He shall not shave off the hair of his head, and he shall not cut his nails, but he shall remain alone (in his natural state ?) because he is the priest of God, the Most High."

   [NOTES.--According to the Book of Adam, (iii. 5), Shem was to appoint Melchisedek (see Gen. xiv. 18-24; Heb., chapter vii.), the son of Kainân, and grandson of Arphaxad, to be the priest of the Most High; and he was to stand and minister on the mountain which is in the middle of the earth. He was to wear a garment of skin, and have a leather girdle about his loins, and his apparel was to be humble and without ornament.]

   And when Methuselah had commanded Noah [to do] all these things, he died with tears in his eyes, and sorrow in his heart. He was nine hundred and sixty-nine years old when he died, on the fourteenth day of the month Âdhâr (March), on the first day of the week (Sunday), in the seventy-ninth year [Fol. 16a, col. 2] of the life of Shem, the son of Noah. And Noah, his grandson, embalmed the body of Methuselah p. 107 with myrrh, and cassia, and stakte, and Noah and his sons buried him in the Cave of Treasures; and they and their wives made mourning for him forty days.

   And when the days of his mourning had passed, Noah went into the Cave of Treasures, and embraced and kissed the holy bodies of Seth, and Ânôsh, and Kainân, and Mahlâlâîl, and Yârêd, and Methuselah, and Lamech his father, and he was greatly moved and tears gushed from his eyes. And Noah carried the body of our father Adam, and [the body of] Eve, and his firstborn Shem carried the gold, and Ham carried the myrrh, and Japhet the frankincense, and they went forth from the Cave of Treasures. [The Book of Adam does not mention Eve.]. And as they were coming down from that holy mountain they were smitten sorely with grief: and they wept in agony because they were to be deprived of that [Fol. 16b, col. 1] holy place, and the habitation of their fathers. And weeping painfully, and wailing sorrowfully, and enveloped in gloom, they said,

   "Remain in peace! O holy Paradise, thou habitation of our father Adam.
   He went forth from thee alive, but stripped [of glory] and naked.
   And behold, at his death he was deprived of thy nearness.
    p. 108 He and his progeny were cast out into exile in that land of curses, to pass their days there in pain, and sicknesses, and in labour, and in weariness, and in trouble.
   Remain in peace, O Cave of Treasures!
   Remain in peace, O habitation and inheritance of our Fathers!
   Remain ye in peace, O our Fathers and Patriarchs!
   Pray ye for us, O ye who live in the dust, ye friends and beloved ones of the Living God.
   Pray ye for the remnant of your posterity which is left.
   O ye who have propitiated God, make supplication unto Him on our behalf in your prayers. [Fol. 16b, col. 2.]
   Remain in peace, O Ânôsh!
   Remain ye in peace, O ye ministers of God, Kainân, and Mahlâlâîl, and Yârêd, and Methuselah, and Lamech, and Enoch! Cry out in sorrow on our behalf.
   Remain in peace, O Haven and Asylum of the Angels!
   O ye our Fathers, cry out in sorrow on our behalf, because ye will be deprived of our society!
   And we will cry out in sorrow, because we are cast out into a bare land, for our habitation will be with the wild beasts."

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   And as they were coming down from that holy mountain, they kissed the stones thereof, and embraced the delectable trees thereof. And in this wise they came down, and they wept with great sorrow, and shed scalding (or bitter) tears, and suffering sorely they descended to the plain. And Noah went into the Ark, and deposited the body of Adam in the middle thereof, and he placed these [Fol. 17a, col. 1] offerings upon it.

   Now in the year wherein Noah went into the Ark THE SECOND THOUSAND YEARS OF THE POSTERITY OF ADAM TO THE TIME OF THE FLOOD CAME TO AN END, according to what the Seventy Wise Writers have told us.

   [NOTES.--The Book of Adam (iii. 6) says that when Noah and his sons were carrying the body of Adam out of the Cave, the bodies of the other Patriarchs cried out, and asked the body of Adam if they were to be separated from it. Adam replied that he must leave the holy mountain, and told them that he knew God would bring their bodies together again on another occasion, and bade them wait patiently. Adam asked God to allow the lighted lamp to remain with the bodies in the Cave, until the resurrection. This God did, and then He closed p. 110 the Cave until the day of the resurrection. Noah and his sons marvelled greatly when they heard the bodies of the Patriarchs talking together in the Cave. Having carried away the body of Adam and the gold, myrrh and frankincense, they returned to the mountain, intending to enter the Cave once agaln; they sought carefully, but could not find the Cave, and then they knew that God had sealed it, and had hidden it from them, so that they might never dwell therein again.]

Footnotes

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¹ See Kebra Nagast (Budge's translation), chapter c. Concerning the Angels who rebelled.