This legend is found in _Pirqe de R. Eliezer_, Chap. XXX. The Hebrew words _saph_ and _miphtan_ are here employed for “threshold.” It is also given in Maçoudi’s _Les Prairies d’Or_, chap. 39, p. 94. Here the Arabic is _ʿatabah_, for “threshold.” See, also, Sprenger’s _Life of Mohammad_, p. 53 f.
See Lane’s _Arabic-English Lexicon_, s. v. “ʿAtabah.” and Dozy’s _Supplément aux Dictionnaires_ Arabes, s. v. “ʿAtabah.”
Buxtorf’s _Lex. Chald. Tal. et Rabb._, s. v. “Pethakh.” See, also, the Talmudic treatise _Niddâ_, “Mishna,” § 2, 5.
See, for example, illustration in Maspero’s _Dawn of Civil._, p. 657; also Sayce’s _Relig. of Anc. Babyl._, p. 285.
Wilkinson’s _Ancient Egyptians_, III., 3, 8, 14, 18, 21, 22, 31, 36, 37, 40, 41, 45, 46, 60, 63, 66, 87, 100, 107, 109, 115, 118, 122, 129, 133, 135, 137, 146, 156, 158, 163, 170, 172, 175, 177, 179, 180, etc.
See Perrot and Chipiez’s _Hist. of Art in Phœnicia and Cyprus_, I., 80, 320. See, also, Layard’s _Nineveh and its Remains_, II., 168–170 (Am. ed.); and an article by Hommel, in “Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology” for January, 1893.
Hearn’s _Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan_, II., 397, note; Lowell’s _Occult Japan_, pp. 270–273.
See Bancroft’s _Native Races and Antiq._, III., 504–506.
_Voyages of Capt. James Cook_, “First Voyage” at May 14, 1769. Also Voltaire’s _Les Oreilles du Comte de Chesterfield_, Ch. VI. See Appendix.
See Cook’s _Voyage to Pacific Ocean_, volume of plates; also Ellis’s _Poly. Res._, II., 217.
Exod. 2 : 23–25; 3 : 7–10; 5 : 1, 2; 6 : 1–7; 10 : 21–29.
See, for example, Judg. 19 : 27; 1 Kings 14 : 17; 2 Kings 12 : 9, 13; 22 : 4; 23 : 4; 25 : 18; 1 Chron. 9 : 19, 22; 2 Chron. 3 : 7; 23 : 4; 34 : 9; Esther 2 : 21; 6 : 2; Isa. 6 : 4; Jer. 35 : 4; 52 : 19, 24; Ezek. 40 : 6, 7; 41 : 16; 43 : 8; Amos 9 : 1; Zeph. 2 : 14; Zech. 12 : 2.
Liddell and Scott’s _Greek-English Lexicon_, s. v.
Cited in Levy’s _Neuheb. Wörterb._, s. v. “Saph.”
This on the authority of Prof. Dr. H.V. Hilprecht.
Among primitive peoples it was a common thought that the first fruits of life in any sphere belonged of right to God, or the gods. This was true of the fields, of the flocks and herds, and of the family. (See, for example, Frazer’s _Golden Bough_, II., 68–78, 373–384; also W. Robertson Smith’s _Religion of the Semites_, pp. 443–446.) As in Egypt particular gods were supposed to have power over men and beasts in special localities, the first-born belonged to them, and stood as representing their power and protection; yet Jehovah claimed to be Lord over all. And now, at the close of the contest between God and the gods, Jehovah took to himself out of the homes of his enemies the devoted first-born of man and of beast, in evidence of the truth that the gods of Egypt could not protect them.