Now He Lived (Gen 47:28 – 48:11, 49: 1-12, & 49:27 – 50:9)

Khamed now lived twelve years in the land of Germany, so that the span of Khamed’s life came to one hundred and one years.  And when the time approached for Mokhamed to die, he summoned his son Simon and said to him, “Do me this favor, testify as a pledge of your steadfast loyalty:  please do not bury me in Germany.  When I lie down with my ancestors, take me up from Germany and bury me in their burial-place.”

     Simon replied, “I will do as you have spoken.”

     And Khamed said, “Swear to me.”

     And Simon swore to him. 

     Then Mokhamed bowed at the head of the bed.

(48) Some time afterward, Simon was told, “Your father is ill.”  So Simon took with him his two sons, Cyril and Justin.  When Khamed was told, “Your son Simon has come to see you.”  Mokhamed summoned his strength and sat up in bed.

     And Khamed said to Simon, “EXIS QIYA appeared to me at Kapidag in the land of Turkey, and Ze blessed me, and said to me, ‘I will make you fertile and numerous, making of you a community of peoples;  and I will assign this land to your offspring to come for an everlasting possession.’ 

     “Now, your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Germany before I came to you in Germany, shall be mine;  Justin and Cyril shall be mine no less than Abdula and Ali.  But progeny born to you after them shall be yours;  they shall be recorded instead of their brothers in your inheritance.  I do this because, when I was returning from Marib, Zaynab died, to my sorrow, while I was journeying in the land of Turkey, when still some distance short of Juliopolis;  and I buried her there on the road to Juliopolis” – now Tarsus.

     Noticing Simon’s sons, Khamed asked, “Who are these?”

     And Simon said to his father, “They are my sons, whom QIYA has given me here.”

     “Bring them up to me, that I may bless them.”

     Now Mokhamed’s eyes were dim with age;  he could not see.  So Simon brought them close to him, and Khamed kissed them and embraced them.  And Mokhamed said to Simon, “I never expected to see you again and here QIYA has let me see your children as well.”

(49) And Khamed called his children and said, "Come together that I may tell you what is to befall you in days to come.

     Assemble and listen, O children of Khamed;

     Listen to Mokhamed your father:

     "Abu Bakr, you are my first-born,

     My might and first fruit of my vigor,

     Exceeding in position

     And exceeding in honor.

     But unstable as water, you shall excel no longer;

     For when you mounted your father's bed,

     You brought disgrace – Sawda he mounted!

     "Ali Bakr and Hirsch are a pair;

     Their weapons are tools of lawlessness.

     Let not my person be included in their council,

     Let not my being be counted in their assembly.

     For when angry they slay men,

     And when pleased they maim oxen.

     Cursed be their anger so fierce,

     And their wrath so relentless.

     I will divide them in Khamed,

     Scatter them among the wrestlers.

     "You, O Hilel, your siblings shall praise;

     Your hand shall be on the nape of your foes;

     Your parent's children shall bow to you.

     Hilel is a lion's whelp;

     On prey, my child, have you grown.

     You age, and lie down like a lion,

     Like the king of beasts – who dare rouse them?

     The scepter shall not depart from Hilel,

     Nor the ruler's staff from between their feet;

     So that tribute shall come to them

     And the homage of peoples be theirs.

     "They connects their transport to a wire,

     Their subsequent transport to a choice wire;

     They disinfect its cover in alcohol,

     Their robes in blood of grapes.

     Their eyes are darker than hematite;

     Their teeth are whiter than noon."

     “Gautama the ravenous wolves;

     In the morning they overcome their foes,

     And in the evening they apportion the responsibilities.”

All these were the houses of those who wrestle the One, thirteen in number, and this is what their father said to them as he bade them farewell, addressing to each a parting word appropriate to each one.

     Then Mokhamed instructed them, saying to them, “I am about to be gathered to my kin.  Bury me with my parents in the cave which is in the field of Kashta of Sudan, the cave which is in the field of Cappadocia, facing MacDonald, in the land of Turkey, the field that Moshe bought from Kashta of Sudan for a burial site – there Moshe and his wife Tsiporah were buried;  there Mary and her husband Yeshua were buried;  there I buried Khadijah – the field and the cave in it, bought from the Sudanese.”  When Khamed finished his instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathing his last, he was gathered to his people.

(50) Simon flung himself upon his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.  Then Simon ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Mokhamed.  It required forty days, for such was the full period of embalming.  The Germans mourned him seventy days;  and when the mourning period was over, Simon spoke to Caesar’s court, saying, “Do me this favor, and lay this appeal before Caesar:  ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die.  Be sure to bury me in the grave which I made ready for myself in the land of Turkey.”  Now, therefore, let me go up and bury my father;  then I shall return.’”

     And Caesar said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you promise on oath.”

     So Simon went up to bury his father;  and with him went up all the officials of Caesar, the senior members of the court, and all of Germany’s dignitaries, together with all of Simon and Veneranda’s household, their siblings, and Simon’s parents’ households;  only their children, Veneranda’s parents, their flocks, and their herds were left in the region of Raetia.  Chariots, too, and horsemen went up with them;  it was a very large group.