From Luz to Samarra
Something in a post reminded me of the W. Somerset Maugham's version of an ancient story, "The Appointment in Samarra."
Here's the text:
There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, "Master, just now when I was in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. "The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the marketplace and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, "Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?""That was not a threatening gesture," I said, "it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra."
When I looked for the text, I came across this blog that directs the reader to compare this with the Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 53a. What's curious is that that retelling omits a very important point about Luz -- that it was a place where the Angel of Death could not enter. It's not in the original text, though Sefaria a point of mentioning it in the translation.
Here's the actual Gemara text (from the Chabad site that shares the Koren translation that matches the Sefaria translation):
הָנְהוּ תַּרְתֵּי כּוּשָׁאֵי דַּהֲווֹ קָיְימִי קַמֵּי שְׁלֹמֹה, אֱלִיחֹרֶף וַאֲחִיָּה בְּנֵי שִׁישָׁא, סוֹפְרִים דִּשְׁלֹמֹה הֲווֹ. יוֹמָא חַד חַזְיֵיהּ מַלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת דַּהֲוָה קָא עֲצִיב, אֲמַר לֵיהּ: אַמַּאי עֲצִיבַתְּ? אֲמַר לֵיהּ: דְּקָא בָעוּ מִינַּאי הָנֵי תַּרְתֵּי כּוּשָׁאֵי דְּיָתְבִי הָכָא. מַסְרִינְהוּ לִשְׂעִירִים, שַׁדְּרִינְהוּ לְמָחוֹזָא דְלוּז. כִּי מְטוֹ לְמָחוֹזָא דְלוּז — שְׁכִיבוּ.
לִמְחַר, חַזְיֵהּ מַלְאַךְ הַמָּוֶת דַּהֲוָה קָבָדַח! אֲמַר לֵיהּ: אַמַּאי בְּדִיחַתְּ? אֲמַר לֵיהּ: בַּאֲתַר דִּבְעוֹ מִינַּאי, תַּמָּן שַׁדַּרְתִּינְהוּ. מִיָּד פָּתַח שְׁלֹמֹה וְאָמַר: רַגְלוֹהִי דְּבַר אִינִישׁ אִינּוּן עָרְבִין בֵּיהּ, לַאֲתַר דְּמִיתְבְּעֵי — תַּמָּן מוֹבִילִין יָתֵיהּ.
Sefaria translation:
The Gemara relates with regard to these two Cushites who would stand before Solomon: “Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha” (I Kings 4:3), and they were scribes of Solomon. One day Solomon saw that the Angel of Death was sad. He said to him: Why are you sad? He said to him: They are asking me to take the lives of these two Cushites who are sitting here. Solomon handed them to the demons in his service, and sent them to the district of Luz, where the Angel of Death has no dominion. When they arrived at the district of Luz, they died.
The following day, Solomon saw that the Angel of Death was happy. He said to him: Why are you happy? He replied: In the place that they asked me to take them, there you sent them. The Angel of Death was instructed to take their lives in the district of Luz. Since they resided in Solomon’s palace and never went to Luz, he was unable to complete his mission. That saddened him. Ultimately, Solomon dispatched them to Luz, enabling the angel to accomplish his mission. That pleased him. Immediately, Solomon began to speak and said: The feet of a person are responsible for him; to the place where he is in demand, there they lead him.
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The Gemara's version adds an extra layer of irony in that Shlomo didn't just send the scribes to a different place to try to avert a fate of death but to a place famed for being free of death. Yet, their fate was to be taken at the entrance to the place an nowhere else.
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