Bible Animals - J. G. Wood

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Jews about to be led away to Babylon. After showing that they had brought their fate upon themselves by neglecting the worship of the true God, and prophesying that they would remain in captivity for seven generations, the writer proceeds, in a strain of scathing and sustained satire, to deride the idols which they had adored, and to censure the infamous ceremonies that formed part of the worship.

      After describing the idols, made splendid with silver and gold, whose hands hold sceptres, and axes, and wands, and yet cannot save themselves from robbers; whose tongues are polished by the workman and yet cannot speak a word; whose eyes are covered with dust which they cannot wipe off for themselves; he proceeds as follows: "Their hearts are gnawed upon by things creeping out of the earth; and when they eat them and their clothes they feel it not. Their faces are blacked through the smoke that cometh out of the Temple. Upon their bodies and heads sit bats, swallows and birds, and the cats also. By this ye may know that they are no gods; therefore fear them not."

      It is not to be expected that so strange looking an animal as the Bat would escape mention in the legends which are so plentiful in the East.

       Signor Pierotti, who has done such signal service in the investigation of the Holy Land, gives a most remarkable semi-Mahommedan and semi-Christian legend respecting the origin of the Bat. The Mahommedans, unlike the generality of Jews, have always respected the memory of our Lord Christ—the Prophet Isa, as they call Him—ranking Him as one of the greatest of God's prophets, though they deny His actual divinity. In this curious legend, they have confused the forty days fast in the wilderness with the enforced Mahommedan fast called Ramadhan, much as the writers of the apocryphal gospels attributed to the holy family and the apostles certain phrases and acts of worship which were not in existence until several centuries after the Christian era.

      Towards the west of Jericho, there is a mountain which is identified both by Christians and Mahommedans as being the spot to which our Lord retired during his passion, and which, in consequence of this supposition, is called Kuruntun, or Quarantine.

      The reader, while perusing the following legend, must bear in mind that the fast of Ramadhan lasts for a month, and that from sunrise to sunset an entire abstinence from all kinds of nourishment is imperative upon all good Mussulmans. Even such luxuries as smoking or inhaling perfumes are forbidden, and although washing is permitted, the head must not be plunged under water, lest a few drops might find their way through the nostrils. In consequence of this strict prohibition, the moments of daybreak and sunset are noted with the most scrupulous care, the tables being set, pipes lighted, coffee prepared, and every luxury being made ready just before sunset, so that as the orb disappears beneath the horizon, the fasting multitudes may not lose a moment in satisfying their wants. A similar anxiety marks the approach of daybreak, because, as the first beams of the sun break through the darkness, neither food nor drink may pass their lips.

      We will now proceed to the Mahommedan legend, as it is given by S. Pierotti: "In this wild spot the great prophet Isa retired with his disciples to keep the holy month of the Ramadhan, afar from the tumults of the world. As the view westward was obstructed by the mountains of Jerusalem, and, consequently, the sunset could not be seen, he made, by the permission of God, an image in clay representing a winged creature; and, after invoking the aid of the Eternal, breathed upon it. Immediately it flapped its large wings, and fled into one of the dark caverns in the mountains. This creature was the Khopash (bat), which lies hid so long as the sun shines upon the world, and comes forth from its retreat when it sets. Every night, at the Moghreb, i.e. at the moment of breaking the fast, this bat fluttered round Isa, who then prepared himself with his disciples for prayer.

      "As soon as they had performed this sacred duty, the Merciful caused to descend from heaven a silver table, covered with a cloth whose brilliancy illumined the darkness, on which were placed a large roasted fish, five loaves, salt, vinegar, oil, pomegranates, dates, and fresh salad, gathered in the gardens of heaven. On these the Prophet supped, and the angels of heaven ministered at table."

      This curious legend bears a great resemblance to the tales which are told of our Lord's childhood in some of the spurious gospels. It shows that both emanated from the same class of mind. In both is seen a strange mixture of vivid imagination contrasted with unexpected and almost puerile lack of invention; and, in both is exhibited a total failure in apprehension of cause and effect. Indeed, it is evident that this legend was the work of a comparatively modern Mahommedan story-teller, who appropriated the forty days' fast of our Lord from the true gospels, and the making of a flying creature of clay from the false, and modified them both to suit the purposes of his tale.

      No particular species of Bat seems to be indicated by the Hebrew word Hatalleph, which is evidently used in a comprehensive sense, and signifies all and any species of Bat. Until very lately, the exact species of Bats which inhabit Palestine were not definitely ascertained, and could only be conjectured. But, Mr. Tristram, who travelled in the Holy Land for the express purpose of investigating its physical history, has set this point at rest, in his invaluable work, "The Land of Israel," to which frequent reference will be made in the course of the following pages.

      Almost every cavern which he entered was tenanted by bats, and he procured several species of these repulsive but interesting animals. While exploring the vast prairies in which the stone for the Temple was worked beneath the earth, so that no sound of tool was heard during the building, numbers of bats were disturbed by the lights, and fluttered over the heads of the exploring party.

      On another occasion, he was exploring a cave near the centre of Palestine, when he succeeded in procuring some specimens, and therefore in identifying at least one species. "In climbing the rocks soon afterwards, to examine a cave, I heard a singular whining chatter within, and on creeping into its recesses, a stone thrown up roused from their roosting-places a colony of large bats, the soft waving flap of whose wings I could hear in the darkness. How to obtain one I knew not; but on vigorously plying my signal whistle, all the party soon gathered to my help. B. suggested smoking them, so a fire of brushwood was kindled, and soon two or three rushed out. Two fell to our shot, and I was delighted to find myself the possessor of a couple of large fox-headed bats of the genus Pteropus (Xantharpya ægyptiaca), and extending twenty and a half inches from wing to wing. As none of the bats of Palestine are yet known, this was a great prize, and another instance of the extension westward of the Indian fauna." These Bats belong to the fruit-eating tribe, and are closely allied to the Flying Foxes of Java, Australia, and Southern Africa. Therefore, this would be one of the species commonly used for food, and hence the necessity for the prohibition. The present species extends over the greater part of Northern Africa and into parts of Asia.

      The same traveller subsequently discovered several more species of bats. On one occasion, he was exploring some caves, near the site of the ancient Jericho. On the eastern face of the cliffs are a number of caves, arranged in regular tiers, and originally approached by steps cut out of the face of the rock. These staircases are, however, washed away by time and the rains, and in consequence the upper tiers were almost inaccessible. In some of these caves the walls were covered with brilliant, but mutilated frescoes; and in others, hermits had lived and died and been buried. Mr. Tristram and his companions had penetrated to the second tier, and there made a curious discovery.

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