The origins of various peoples

113

The ten tribes rebelled against Rehoboam, and Jeroboam established a golden calf for worship.

This led to divine punishment after his twenty-year rule.

Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, ruled for forty-five years. His visible idolatry—images, altars, and statues—resulted in the death of his wife. He continued to reign until his death, having ruled for fifty-five years.

114

…he had many accounts (stories) and wars, we wished to mention them in this book…

and it was said six hundred years, and after him ruled a ruler who favored the worship of idols, and he met and showed tyranny, so some of the kings of Babel marched towards him, and he was called Fa’ab’abs, and he was one of the great kings of Babel, and the Israelites had wars with him until the Babylonian took him prisoner and destroyed the cities of the tribes and their dwellings. And in their days, the Children of Israel (Jews) disputed over the religion, so the Samaritans strengthened their own side and denied the prophecy of David and those who followed him among the prophets, and they refused to have any prophet after Moses, and they made their leaders from the descendants of Aaron son of Imran. And the Samaritans in our time are in thirty-six lands of Palestine and Jordan, and in scattered villages like Al-Ghareeba known as ‘Ara

115

..between Ramla and Tiberias and other villages to the city of Nablus, and most of them are in this city, and they have a mountain called Tur Sareed (1) for the Samaritans, on it are prayers at their times, and they have houses of clay (or maybe a typo for ‘Ghidha’ - sustenance/food?) where they benefit at the times of prayers, and they are the ones who say ‘do not touch’ (referring to ritual impurity) and they desire that Nablus is the Holy House (Jerusalem), and it is the city of Jacob, and there is his two farms, and they are two different kinds, their scriptures are for the rest of the Jews, one of the two kinds is called Al-Lawshan and the other is Ad-Dustan (2), one of the two kinds says that the world is eternal (ancient) and other meanings, we turned away from them for fear of prolixity (making it too long), and our book is a book of narratives, not a book of opinions and impossibility (absurdity). And the rule of Ahabar until the Babylonian king captured him was seventeen years, and as for the capture of the king…

116

…A son was born to him called Hezekiah (Hizqil) son of Ahaz, who favored the worship of stone idols. During his reign, Sennacherib, the King of Babylon, marched to Jerusalem, and he had many wars with the Children of Israel, and they killed many of his companions and took a large number of the tribes captive. The reign of King Hezekiah lasted until he perished, twenty-nine years. Then after Hezekiah, his son Manasseh (Misha) reigned, and his evil spread to the rest of the people of his kingdom, and he is the one who killed Isaiah the Prophet. So God sent to him Constantine, the King of the Romans, who marched against him with armies and defeated his army and took him captive, and he remained in the hands of the Romans for twenty years, then he gave up what he was doing and returned to his kingdom. His reign lasted until he perished, twenty-five years, and it was said thirty. Then his son Amon (Amur) son of Manasseh reigned, and the tyranny appeared and the confusion multiplied…

117

.and he worshipped the idols and statues. So his orphan (minor son) went to him. Pharaoh the Lame marched against him from the land of Egypt with armies, and he carried out widespread killing and secrecy (or maybe ‘Sarr’ meaning ’evil’ or ‘swift action’), and Pharaoh (did) other than that. And after him reigned his brother, who was called Jehoiakim (Yudiham), who is the father of Daniel the Prophet. And in the era of this king, Nebuchadnezzar (Al-Bukht Nassr), who is the chief of Iraq and the Arabs from the time of the King of Persia, marched, and he was at that time leaning towards him. The story of the king’s fate was that Nebuchadnezzar engaged in widespread killing and captivity against the Children of Israel and moved them to the land of Iraq. He took the Torah and what was in the Temple of Jerusalem from the books of the prophets and the lives of the kings, and he threw it into a well. And he took the Ark of the Covenant and deposited it in some places in Jordan. It is said that the number of captives from the Children of Israel was eighteen thousand. And in this era was…