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Article TALMUDIC ALLEGORY* Page 1 of 1
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Talmudic Allegory*
TALMUDIC ALLEGORY *
SOLOMON IN OLD AGE . —Wealth , honour , and voluptuousness had dazzled and deluded Solomon , in his manly years , to that extent that he forgot tiie bride of his youth—Wisdom—and his heart was turned to folly and vice . One morning , as he walked in the magnificent garden of his gorgeous palace , he heard the flowers , trees , and birds converse , for he understood their language , and he inclined his ear to listen .
" Behold . '" said the lily , " here comes the king ; he passes me proudly ; and I , the meek one , am nobler than he . " And the palm-tree waved his branches , and said , " Here he comes , the oppressor of his country , whom the sycophantic court-poets compare to a palm-tree . Where are his branches and his fruits , by which he refreshes the people ? " He proceeded furtherand heard the nihtingale say to her mate
, g , " As we love each other , Solomon does not love , and is not loved by any of his concubines . " And the turtle-dove said to her mate , " None of his thousand wives will mourn for him as I shall bewail you , my dearest . " Enraged and furious , the king quickened his step , and arrived at the nest of the stork ,- who bred the young ones , and caught them up by the wings , as he was teaching them to fly . " Thus , " said the stork to his
young , " King Solomon does not with his son Rehoboam , therefore his son will not prosper , and strangers will rule over that which he built . " The king then withdrew to his inmost chamber , sad and melancholy . And when he thus sank in deep meditation , the bride of his youth—Wisdom—stepped invisibly before him , and touched his eye . He fell in a deep sleep and saw a dreadful vision of future days . He saw his empire divided by the precipitate reply ofhis unwise son ; he saw a stranger rule over the Ten Tribes which had been oppressed
, and which had fallen away from him . He saw his houses decay , his orchards entombed hy earthquakes , his city destroyed , his country . devastated , and the temple of God in flames . He started from the heavy sleep . And , behold ! there stood the friend of his youth , her eyes big with tears , visibl y before him , and said , "Thou sawest what will happen after you , and of all this thou hast been the cause . It is no more in thy
power to alter the past ; as thou canst not command the stream to turn back to its source , so also thou canst not order thy youth to be restored . Thy soul is faint , thy heart is exhausted , and I , the beloved of thy youth , the abandoned of thy manhood , cannot be thy comforter in old age . " She disappeared with a compassionate glance ; and Solomon , who had wreathed his youth with roses , wrote , in his old age , a book on the vanity of all things ou earth .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Talmudic Allegory*
TALMUDIC ALLEGORY *
SOLOMON IN OLD AGE . —Wealth , honour , and voluptuousness had dazzled and deluded Solomon , in his manly years , to that extent that he forgot tiie bride of his youth—Wisdom—and his heart was turned to folly and vice . One morning , as he walked in the magnificent garden of his gorgeous palace , he heard the flowers , trees , and birds converse , for he understood their language , and he inclined his ear to listen .
" Behold . '" said the lily , " here comes the king ; he passes me proudly ; and I , the meek one , am nobler than he . " And the palm-tree waved his branches , and said , " Here he comes , the oppressor of his country , whom the sycophantic court-poets compare to a palm-tree . Where are his branches and his fruits , by which he refreshes the people ? " He proceeded furtherand heard the nihtingale say to her mate
, g , " As we love each other , Solomon does not love , and is not loved by any of his concubines . " And the turtle-dove said to her mate , " None of his thousand wives will mourn for him as I shall bewail you , my dearest . " Enraged and furious , the king quickened his step , and arrived at the nest of the stork ,- who bred the young ones , and caught them up by the wings , as he was teaching them to fly . " Thus , " said the stork to his
young , " King Solomon does not with his son Rehoboam , therefore his son will not prosper , and strangers will rule over that which he built . " The king then withdrew to his inmost chamber , sad and melancholy . And when he thus sank in deep meditation , the bride of his youth—Wisdom—stepped invisibly before him , and touched his eye . He fell in a deep sleep and saw a dreadful vision of future days . He saw his empire divided by the precipitate reply ofhis unwise son ; he saw a stranger rule over the Ten Tribes which had been oppressed
, and which had fallen away from him . He saw his houses decay , his orchards entombed hy earthquakes , his city destroyed , his country . devastated , and the temple of God in flames . He started from the heavy sleep . And , behold ! there stood the friend of his youth , her eyes big with tears , visibl y before him , and said , "Thou sawest what will happen after you , and of all this thou hast been the cause . It is no more in thy
power to alter the past ; as thou canst not command the stream to turn back to its source , so also thou canst not order thy youth to be restored . Thy soul is faint , thy heart is exhausted , and I , the beloved of thy youth , the abandoned of thy manhood , cannot be thy comforter in old age . " She disappeared with a compassionate glance ; and Solomon , who had wreathed his youth with roses , wrote , in his old age , a book on the vanity of all things ou earth .