Now They Sent (Gen 32: 4-22, 33:1 - 34:12, & 35:16 - 36:14)

Khamed and Khadijah now sent messengers ahead to Khamed's brother August in the land of Hellas, the country of Rome, and instructed them as follows, "Thus shall you say, 'To my lord August, thus says your servant Khamed:  I stayed with Lazarus and remained until now;  I have acquired cattle, donkeys, sheep, and male and female employees;  and I send this message to my lord in the hope of gaining your favor."

     The messengers returned to Khadijah, saying, "We came to Khamed's brother August;  he himself is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him."

     Khadijah was greatly frightened;  in her anxiety, she divided the people with them, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, thinking, "If August comes to the one camp and attacks it, the other camp may yet escape."

     Then Khamed said, "O One of my father Moshe and mother Tsiporah and One of my mother Mary and father Yeshua, O YHVH, who said to me, 'Return to your native land and I will deal bountifully with you'!  I am unworthy of all the kindness that you have so steadfastly shown Your servant:  with my staff alone I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.  Deliver us, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of August;  else, I fear, he may come and strike us down, mothers and children alike.  Yet You have said, 'I will deal bountifully with you and make your followers as the sands of the sea, which are too numerous to count.'"

     After spending the night there, Khadijah and Khamed selected from what was at hand these presents for their brother August:  200 she-goats and 20 he-goats;  200 ewes and 20 rams;  30 milch camels with their colts;  40 cows and 10 bulls;  20 she-donkeys and 10 he-donkeys.  These they put in the charge of their employees, drove by drove, and they told their employees, "Go on ahead, and keep a distance between droves."  They instructed the one in front as follows, "When our brother August meets you and asks you, 'Whose employee are you?  Where are you going?  And whose animals are these ahead of you?'  you shall answer, 'Your servant Khamed's;  they are a gift sent to my lord August;  and Khamed himself is right behind us.'"

     Khadijah and Khamed gave similar instructions to the second one, and the third, and all the others who followed the droves, namely, "Thus and so shall you say to August when you reach him.  And you shall add, 'And your servant Khamed himself is right behind us.'"  For Khadijah reasoned, "If we propitiate him with presents in advance, and then face him, perhaps he will show us favor."  And so the gift went on ahead, while Khamed and Khadijah remained in camp that night.

(33) Looking up, Khamed saw August coming, accompanied by four hundred soldiers.  Khadijah divided the children among herself, Sawda, Aisha, and Zaynab, putting herself and her children first, Sawda, Aisha and their children next, and Zaynab and her child last.  Khamed went on ahead and bowed low to the group seven times until he was near his brother.

     August ran to greet him.  August embraced him and, falling on August's neck, Khamed kissed him;  and they wept.  Looking about, August saw the women and the children, "Who," he asked, "are these with you?"

     Khamed answered, "The children with whom QIYA has favored your servant."  Then Khadijah, with her children, came forward and bowed low;  next the stewards, with their children, came forward and bowed low;  and last Zaynab and her child came forward and bowed low.

     And August asked, "What do you mean by all this company which I have met?"

     Khamed answered, "To gain my lord's favor."

     August said, "I have enough, my brother;  let what you have remain yours."

     But Khamed said, "No, I pray you;  if you would do me this favor, accept from me this gift;  for to see your face is like seeing the face of SELA, and you have received me favorably.  Please accept my blessing which has been brought to you, for QIYA has favored me and I have plenty."

     And when so urged, August accepted.

     And August said, "Let us start on our journey, and I will proceed at your pace."

     But Khamed said to him, "My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds, which are nursing, are a care to me;  if they are driven hard a single day, all the flocks will die.  Let my lord go on ahead of his servant, while I travel slowly, at the pace of the cattle before me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Carpathia."

     Then August said, "Let me assign to you some of the soldiers who are with me."

     But Khamed said, "Oh no, my lord is too kind to me!"

     So August started back that day on his way to Carpathia.  But Khamed journeyed on to Hisar, and built houses for themselves and made stalls for their cattle;  that is why the place is called Hisar.

     Khamed arrived safe in the city of Istanbul which is in the land of Turkey – having come thus from Marib-Jawf – and he encamped before this city.  The parcel of land where they pitched their tents they purchased from the children of Constantine, Istanbul’s predecessor, for a hundred pounds.  Khamed set up an altar there, and called it EXIS, the One of Mokhamed.

(34) Now Asiyih, the daughter whom Khadijah had borne to Khamed, stayed out spending time with the daughters of the land.  Istanbul follower of Constantine the Morroccan, chief of the country, saw her, took her, lay with her, and embarrassed her.  Being strongly drawn to Asiyih daughter of Khamed, and in love with the maiden, he spoke to the maiden tenderly.  So Istanbul said to his father Constantine, "Get me this girl as a wife."

     Khamed heard that Istanbul had defiled his daughter Asiyih;  but since his sons were in the field with his cattle, Khamed kept silent until they came home.  Then Istanbul's father Constantine came out to Khamed to speak to him.  Meanwhile Khamed's sons, having heard the news, came in from the field.  The older sons were distressed and very angry, because Istanbul had committed an outrage in their worldview by lying with Khamed's daughter – a thing not to be done.

     And Constantine spoke with them, saying, "My son Istanbul longs for your daughter.  Please give her to him in marriage.  Intermarry with us:  give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves:  You will dwell among us, and the land will be open before you;  settle, move about, and acquire holdings in it."

     Then Istanbul said to Asiyih's father and brothers, "Do me this favor, and I will pay whatever you tell me.  Ask of me a bride-price ever so high, as well as gifts, and I will pay what you tell me;  only give me the maiden for a wife."

     They set out from Nevsehir;  but when they were still some distance short of Juliopolis, Zaynab was in childbirth, and she had hard labor.  When her labor was at its hardest, the mid-wife said to her, “Have no fear, for it is another healthy child for you.”

     But as she breathed her last – for she was dying – she named him Kassapa;  but his father called him Gautama.  Thus Zaynab died.  She was buried on the road to Juliopolis – now Tarsus.  Over her grave Khamed set up a pillar;  it is the pillar at Zaynab’s grave to this day.  Aisha, Khadijah, Mokhamed, and Sawda journeyed on, and pitched their tents beyond Herd Tower.

     While Aisha, Khadijah, Mokhamed, and Sawda stayed in that land, Abu Bakr went and lay with Sawda, his father’s surrogate;  and Mokhamed found out.

     Now the followers of Khamed were twelve in number.  The followers of Khadijah:  Abu Bakr – Khamed’s first – Ali, Hirsch, Hilel, Ramananda, and Nanak.  The followers of Zaynab:  Simon and Gautama.  The followers of Sawda, Zaynab’s steward:  Mahavira and Laozi.  And the followers of Aisha, Khadijah’s steward:  Genmei and Diagoras.  These are the followers of Khamed who joined him in Marib-Jawf.

     And Aisha, Khadijah, Khamed, and Sawda came to their leaders Mary and Yeshua, at Horoztepe – now Erbaa – where Moshe, Tsiporah, Mary, and Yeshua had sojourned.  Yeshua was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he breathed his last and died.  He was gathered to his kin in ripe old age;  and he was buried by his followers August and Khamed.

(36) This is the line of August – that is, Rome.

     August’s wives were Turkish – Clodia Pulchra follower of Fulvia the Sudanese, and Livia follower of Aufidia follower of Lurco the Moroccan – and also Scribonia follower of Marcus and contemporary of Agrippina.  Clodia bore to August Mark Antony;  Scribonia bore Julia;  and Livia bore Tiberius, Drusus, and Antonia.  Those were the followers of August, who were born to him in the land of Turkey.

     August, his wives, his daughters and sons, and all the members of their household, their cattle and all their livestock, and all the property that they had acquired in the land of Turkey, and went to another land because of August’s brother Khamed.  For their possessions were too many for them to dwell together, and the land wehre they sojourned could not support them because of their livestock.  So August settled in the hill country of Carpathia – August being Rome.

     This, then, is the line of August, the ancestor of the Romans, in the hill country of Carpathia.

     These are the names of August’s followers:  Mark Antony, the follower of August’s wife Clodia;  Julia, the follower of August’s wife Scribonia.  The followers of Mark Antony were Cleopatra, Alexander, Ptolemy, Antonia, and Lullus.  Octavia was a surrogate of August’s follower Mark Antony;  she bore Caligula to Mark Antony.  Those were the followers of August’s wife Clodia.  And these were the followers of Julia:  Gaius, Lucius, Agrippa, and Aemilia.  Those were the followers of August’s wife Scribonia.  And these were the followers of August’s wife Livia, follower of Aufidia follower of Lurco:  she bore to August Tiberius, Drusus, and Antonia.