Page:Psychology of the Unconscious (1916).djvu/277



"Then he followed his course further until he came to the place where the sun rises"

If now we wish to know who is the unknown servant of God, we are told in this passage ''he is Dhulqarnein, Alexander, the Sun; he goes to the place of setting and he goes to the place of rising''. The passage about the unknown servant of God is explained by the commentaries in a well-defined legend. The servant is Chidher, "the verdant one," the never-tiring wanderer, who roams for hundreds and thousands of years over lands and seas, the teacher and counsellor of pious men; the one wise in divine knowledge—the immortal.[31] The authority of the Tabari associates Chidher with Dhulqarnein; Chidher is said to have reached the "stream of life" as a follower of Alexander, and both unwittingly had drunk of it, so that they became immortal. Moreover, ''Chidher is identified by the old commentators with Elias'', who also did not die, but who was taken to Heaven in a fiery chariot. Elias is Helios.[32] It is to be observed that Ahasver also owes his existence to an obscure place in the holy Christian scriptures. This place is to be found in Matthew xvi:28. First comes the scene where Christ appoints Peter as the rock of his church, and nominates him the governor of his power.[33] After that follows the prophecy of his death, and then comes the passage:

"Verily, I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

Here follows the scene of the transfiguration: