How Those who were Sent Away Wept and

Introduction

him, and he bribed them to assist him whensoever he needed them. And when the night of his departure had arrived, these priests came to him in order to bid him farewell, and he took them into his own apartment, so that they might pray for him. And when they had entered and were in the apartment with him, he bound them in iron fetters for the night, and commanded his soldiers to mount and depart without sounding the trumpets. Then he took with him a company of his servants who were carrying spears in their hands, and he took those priests whom he had bound with iron fetters for the night so that they might not escape, and he went into the House of God. And he commanded the priests who were with him to carry away the Tabernacle of the Covenant of God, and then he deposited the case which he had had made to resemble it in the place thereof. And he went forth by night having with him the Tabernacle, which was carried by the priests, and he neither bade his father farewell nor allowed him to know of his departure. And this happened by the Dispensation of God the Most High, praise be unto Him! for the protection of the holy Tabernacle of His Covenant, so that it might abide for ever even as the Davidic kingdom, for even so did God make the promise to David that the offspring of his loins should sit upon his throne for ever. And in this manner, enveloped in the protection of God, did the young man set out on his journey.

And it came to pass that, when the morning had come, the children of Israel and the priests went into the House of God according to their wont to pray. And it came to pass that, when the priests had made an end of their prostrations and had presented their supplications unto the Governor of the Universe, the Tabernacle did not rise up into the air, and it did not stir from its place. And they said, “Behold, some folk have sinned “; and they ordered fasting and prayer for three days, and they searched among the people to find out who had committed sin and folly, but they found no [guilty] person.

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