Page:Folk-lore of the Holy Land.djvu/59

Rh At last El-Khalil, who had been watching him with surprise and pity, inquired, “ What ails thee, O Sheykh?” “It is the weakness of old age,” was the reply. “How old are you?” asked Ibrahim, and, on hearing the answer, “What!” he exclaimed, “shall I, when I am two years older, be as you are now?” “Undoubtedly,” replied the stranger. At that El-Khalil cried out: “O Lord God, take away my soul before I reach so pitiful a condition!” Hereupon the sheykh, who was Azrael in disguise, sprang up and received the soul of the Friend of Allah.

Ibrahim was laid to rest in the cave of Machpelah at Hebron, by the side of Sarah his wife. His son Isaac and his grandson Jacob were also, as time rolled on, buried in the same place. However it is a mistake to say that they are in tombs and dead, for as a matter of fact they are not dead, but living. These prophets, like David and Elijah, still appear sometimes in order to save God’s servants in times of danger or distress, as in the following story, which I relate as it was told me by the chief rabbi of the Jews at Hebron. Some two centuries ago, a pasha, deputed to collect the taxes in Palestine, came to Hebron, and informed the Jewish community that, unless within three days they paid a large sum of money, their quarter would be looted and wrecked.

The Jews of Hebron were very poor, and had no hope of procuring so much money. They could only fast and pray for succour in their dire extremity. The night before the day on which the