Page:Judaism and Islam, a prize essay - Geiger - 1898.pdf/146

 128 JUDAISM. AND ISL^M.

day, however will we save thee with thy body, that thou mayest be a sign to those who shall be after thee.' " l This is the quite simple meaning of the words, which has been turned and twisted about by others, because they were ignorant of the following Jewish legend : 2 " Eecognize the power of repentance ! Pharaoh King of Egypt rebelled excessively against the Most High saying : ( Who is Grod that I should hearken to His voice ? ' 3 but with the same tongue he repented saying : ' Who is like Thee, Lord, among the Gods ? ; 4 Q- d delivered him from the dead, for it is written : ' For now I had put forth my hand and

1 Not one Arabic commentator among those quoted in Blpherar appears to have had a suspicion of the explanation given above, which is so well suited to the words ; still it is not quite unknown to Baidhawi. Along with other explanations he gives (Henzii Fragm. Arab., page 201) the

following: a-t^yu ^ diyi y !Utf t\>Ju> " With thy body, i.e.,

whole and unharmed." But on the other hand the words : " That thou mayest be a sign to those who shall come after thee," are explained by him only in the ordinary way, viz. that he should be a horror and a warning to them. 8 Pirke Rabbi Eliezer, Section 43.

TTO DY$B ^ rrtnsg rq^fln tjs rf? into iVips SB$H -\m 'n ^ 'yti iks nann '

. ' . v. * v. ; ** ~

'n D^bs|i npba ^ '$ n^tti& nto?

nj-ii? ? 'y$ na ^bt ^.ai d^nan ^59 'n 'a' '|?n i

'n

inb

Comp. also Midrash on Psalm, cvi. and Midr. Yalkut, chapter 238. 3 .Exodus, v. 2, 4 Exodus, xv, 11.